Weekly portion of Simon and Caitlin

1. Morning commute

2. Happy Katie

3. Go Texan day (Katie got tired waiting for Si to smile for the camera)

4. Mommy’s helper

A friend’s birthday party

5. Jumperoo

6. Despite the face, she went straight back up

7. Si mostly played basketball with himself

8. But he isn’t adverse to sliding either

9. Quality control isn’t too happy with something

10. When it’s too late to play basketball outside, he plays baseball inside

11. Season ticket holder

12. Quality control isn’t sleeping on the job

13. Time to read

A video for Rhonda

My little singing star agreed to do it on video today. For those of you that haven’t figured it out, the “cc” button turns the caption on, which make it easier to understand

I’m brining home a baby bumble bee

Weekly portion of Simon and Caitlin

1. Little diva chose this dress for the reunion with other divas

2. Not just a diva, but a dancer as well

3. Basketball player made me promise that I would inform the world of his talent

4. Valentines from family. (Having gotten a five dollar bill in the card, Katie said “mama, open my money”)

5. Rockets game, and their biggest fan

6. Belated, but beloved, Christmas present

7. Snow princess

8. Feeding baby Oksana

9. Ready..

10. set, go

11. Of course I am better than the Rockets players

12. I am great as well!

13. Aren’t I ?

14. Not a happy princess

15. The party is over there

Since my princess decided to throw me a show instead of sleeping tonight, here are some of her latest hits. The videos have no image, as it was dark in her room, I just don’t know how to embed audio files

1. Mary had a little lamb

2. Itsy bitsy spider

3. Twinkle Twinkle little star

4. ABC

Katie

Katie was transfered to a older group this Monday. She wasn’t supposed to yet, but apparently there is a little group of girls that the teachers affectionately call “the Divas”, and Katie was the only little diva left in her class after the older ones got moved. Well, that was not a happy situation. However, since Katie magically potty trained, the divas are now reunited and Katie is ecstatic about it.
Speaking of potty training, NO accidents for a week with absolutely zero effort from us. She tells us when she needs to go and uses any toilet available without using her toilet seat anymore. She is in underwear only during the day, and I never even think about it anymore. Those mom that are thinking “what on earth am I doing wrong with my child” I assure that it’s absolutely luck of the draw. This time around I got a magic child. And those that are thinking that she should’ve been potty trained a year ago, pfft!

Weekly portion of Simon and Caitlin

1. My young pizza cook

2. Observer

3. Want some?

Simon has collected a small sum of money, thanks to various gifts for various holidays, so we went to the store to see if he could spend it. Well, he zeroed in on one particular toy, one that cost about twice what he had. So we figured it’s a good time to have “the money talk”. Not only did he start getting an allowance of 3 dollars a week, but he also got an opportunity to learn the word “retroactively”. He got just enough so that he would have to wait for a week to have enough money for the toy. Si steadfastly held to the decision to wait, even telling me this weekend that if he doesn’t have enough yet, he’ll wait till he does. His patience was rewarded by a trip to the store to get the coveted space shuttle.

4. First bought toy

5. Doesn’t she look ready to go to school?

6. Katie’s haul from mama’s trip to the store

7. Railroading

8. Writing valentines

9. I am a little hedgehog, short and stout

Weekly portion of Simon and Caitlin

1. Red robin

2. I’ve been told that I don’t post pictures of cats anymore. So here you go. My boys

3. Puddle jumper

4. The rain doesn’t stop me

5. Pizza making at it’s finest

6. The kids also had a hand in it

7. And why shouldn’t I sit on my butt?

8. Great fun

9. What else can I get into?

10. It’s a family affair

11. Things got a bit colder and wetter, but that was easily cured by a change of clothes

12. Cookie

13. Big boy

We went to the zoo today. Since it was cold, and don’t you dare laugh at our 50 degrees, it was practically abandoned. But the animals loved it, and so did our children

14. Washing hands in the restroom (Si is freezing). I didn’t even notice that the toilet ring is visible in the backpack until I looked at the photo.

15. There are lots of warm indoor places at the zoo

16. Are you sure he won’t eat me?

17. Lone riders

18. Want some salad?

19. Hey, that’s my hand!

20. Hey, any more salad down there?

21. Don’t let him eat my brother!

22. And then we met up with friends at natural science museum

23. Pink witch. Her words, not mine

24. All underwear, no accidents!

25. Watching Superbowl

26. It was a tense game, but they won!

Potty

After a long and tragic potty training with Simon, I pretty much thought that parents who said “we just gave him m&m one weekend, and that was it” were just straight out lying. I mean that couldn’t be true could it? Well…

Two weekends ago, we’ve decided to see if Katie was ready. The daycare was beginning to try, so we figured why not, and put her in underwear. Six pairs of underwear and leggings later, plus a few fits about not wanting to sit on the potty EVER, we decided that it’s not time yet. Oh well. If it’s not, then it’s not, no big deal. And then, a week later, or rather on Friday evening, Katie suddenly tells Stacey that she needs to go potty, they run to the bathroom, and success! The next day after that she goes potty again in the morning, voluntarily, and then the miracles just kept happening. She pooped on the toilet(voluntarily) before we went out, then told me at the zoo(!) that she needed to go, and what’s more importantly did in fact go! Do you think that’s impressive? Well, as we were pulling away from the zoo after our visit, Katie told me she needed to go potty. Obviously the parking lot was crazy, so there was no option right then. Mental inventory of available restrooms nearby showed that my work is less than 10 minutes away, and that’s probably the closest available bathroom. Katie told me that it would work, so we drove there, hitting every light red along the way. Shockingly she did in fact wait till I sat her on the toilet, and went. As an aside, we do have a potty seat ring, so I was very happy with myself for having brought it!

At daycare she went on the potty at least several times a day every day this week, and a day or two even stayed dry there. That’s not to say that there are no accidents, but after we come home, I just switch her into underwear, and she does pretty well. It amazes me that Katie will actually tell me that we need to find a restroom long enough before she has to go that we can actually find one, like she did at the store today. And at home, she didn’t even tell me one of the times, she just went by herself, did her business (including washing her hands), and just informed me that she needs m&m’s. What? I haven’t told you that it’s all because she gets m&m’s afterward? That’s because now I am the parent that says “we just gave her m&m’s one weekend, and that was it”

Tragedy

Simon has the best teacher in the world. Every parent and child love her, all the kids in her class are happy and doing extremely well. So what’s the problem you ask? The problem is that she quit! And it’s a tragedy of enormous proportions, and I am not kidding. I am pretty sure that every mother, and maybe even a few fathers, of her students cried today. I hope the next teacher is at least half as good.