KayTar said grace yesterday...

And this was what she prayed before our meal with my parents...

Dear God,

Thank You for this food, but I do NOT appreciate the cheese so I will not eat it. I will eat turkey and mashed potatoes, but I will NOT eat the cheese. AMEN!

We got a huge kick out of it at the table. Gotta give her credit for telling it like it is!

Wordless Wednesday: Last night

Miscellany

1. KayTar is potty trained! She took to it easily and we are beyond thrilled. NO MORE DIAPERS! It took her less than a week once SHE decided to do it.

2. BubTar and KayTar are learning to cook. It started on BubTar's scout trip...he made bacon and french toast for the whole camping group! This week, Josh has taught them to make tuna casserole and macaroni and cheese with sausage. Tonight we are doing french bread pizza. They are so excited about it and the best part is, next semester when Josh is taking an evening class and I've got the kids, THEY can do the cooking. Heh. They are better than me in the kitchen already!

3. BubTar got a bunch of badges at his Cub Scouts award ceremony. He got one for fishing, camping, his Bobcat badge, and his golden arrow (for accomplishing 10 goals). He is doing such a great job! He set a goal of selling $1100 worth of scouts popcorn and he did it! He got a microscope and telescope set for his hard work and will also be getting a gift card.

4. BubTar is reading at an average of a 5.3 Accelerated Reader level, which is FIFTH grade. Quite impressive for my little 2nd grader. He's reading these books in a single day mostly and always gets a 100 on his AR tests.

5. KayTar and I had a girls' weekend when the boys went on their camping weekend. We went out to dinner on Friday (IHOP, she had the grilled tilapia and devoured it..she also stole my bacon). We rented Monsters VS Aliens that night. Saturday we went to the mall, which is was insanely excited about. It was fun traipsing around the mall with her. We looked at kids' clothes and made a turkey (who she named Candace) at Build-A-Bear. We planned on having lunch out, but she was too exhausted from all of the walking. I sometimes forget about how easily she fatigues, but by the time we were leaving the mall, she said that she was feeling hot and shaky and NEEDED A PEDIASURE. I gave her a can in the car and she guzzled a bit and went right to sleep. She was pooped! We came home for her to get her nap out and then we went to the toy store for some browsing, then out to dinner with my sister-in-law at Applebees. It was such a fun weekend! She's at the age where she is great company, funny and smart and well-behaved. Who could ask for more? Both my kids are at really wonderful ages and we are enjoying them so much.

6. I'm sick with some little upper respiratory infection. Josh is on vacation today and it sure has been nice to get a chance to totally laze around on my sick day for a change. I took the kids to school this morning and picked KayTar up (after taking a nap for a couple of hours) and that is the most I've done all day. I don't have class tonight and I couldn't be happier about that! I'm curling up with my book, blanket, and DVR remote and taking it easy. Ahhhh.

Wordless Wednesday: Proof

A tattered flag, cross-stitched by Josh.

27 things about Josh!

1. He is a criminal justice major.
2. He is going to be a game warden.
3. He enjoys hunting and fishing and all kinds of outdoorsy things.
4. He is my opposite in many such ways.
5. He always gets a day off on his birthday (Veteran's Day).
6. He painted KayTar's fingernails and toenails for her today.
7. He enjoys video games.
8. He likes Sci-Fi shows.
9. He's a horror flick fan.
10. He makes some yummy jerky.
11. He does all the dishes, plus most of the cooking and kitchen cleaning.
12. He is a bit of a homebody.
13. He is very funny.
14. He is probably the ONLY person I'm really, truly myself with.
15. He dislikes sports. All of them.
16. He is the scout leader for BubTar's pack.
17. He has migraines.
18. He loves peanut butter candy.
19. He gets Milk Duds at the movies.
20. He makes a mean baked potato.
21. He has a red beard, but brown hair.
22. He likes to wear his t-shirts until they practically dissolve into nothingness.
23. He likes girly drinks.
24. He can cross-stitch.
25. He is very supportive.
26. He is a super amazing dad.
27. He is the love of my life!

Happy 27th birthday, Joshie. We love you!

The Potty Report: Day 3

This might be the most stereotypically mommyblog-esque post I have ever written.

The Ups:
* 2 out of 3 days, no accidents at school
* 3 accident-free nights
* All but one pee made it into the toilet
* Several twosies made it into the potty

The Downs:
* One pants wetting accident yesterday on the playground
* Several partial twosies have ended up in the undies

She is still very enthusiastic about it and is making a great effort. I think the Miralax is to blame for the partial twosie accidents. The current consistency is more like what you might expect from a newborn which makes it somewhat difficult to control, as you can probably imagine. We're playing around with her dosage to try and get something a little less unpredictable, but that doesn't totally shut down production (in the poop factory, as she affectionately refers to her colon) altogether. That is a whole different problem!

I'd say, so far, so good. She's happy with her pretty little princess under-roos and I'll be happy when my years of bottom cleaning finally come to an end.

She's wearing underwear today.

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you probably know that I have a 4.5 year old who previously had global developmental delays but now only seems to have ONE major delay, POTTY TRAINING. We have tried and stopped, tried and stopped, tried and stopped. KayTar has chronic constipation (and a level of intelligence that makes bribes and other motivators a little bit beneath her) and every time we have tried, she has ended up badly constipated and we've had to quit. Honestly, though, she has never been too terribly motivated to use a toilet. She has even been known to say that it would be too much work to use the toilet all of the time, why stop and potty when you can keep playing?

You can imagine my (delighted) surprise when she walked into my room yesterday and said, "I'd like to wear underwear. This diaper feels like PAPER! Ugh!" I said, "Okay, sure." And she said, "I mean TONIGHT." in a tone that suggested that I get up NOW and put her in some underwear, STAT! She used the toilet and then she put on undies. She stayed dry and clean until bed. We then put her in a diaper for overnight, but she woke up dry this morning and used the toilet. She insisted on underwear at school today, too. We will see how it goes!

We always said it would have to happen this way, one day SHE would have to decide it was time, we just never really believed she would get there! I was shocked when she came in and demanded some underpants yesterday. I'm sure it will take some work on all of our parts, but I've got my fingers crossed that it is important enough to her to stick with it this time and we will be able to work through the other issues, as long as she is motivated to keep trying. This might be it!

Wish her luck!

A Girl and Her Dumptruck