Bad news -- for mom

Since my last post, a new Walmart has opened very close to our home. We went on opening day, 'cause that's what we do. It is very nice. I'm not sold on it yet, as I don't know my way around, nor does anyone else. The good news - we made it in and out without a potty stop. The bad news came later that day when my sister called to tell me that they had also visited said Walmart. (What else do you do in the continually pouring rain in Logan?) Here's the bad part -- my sister and her kids didn't make it out without a potty stop. The worst part -- she informed me that the family bathroom has a child-sized toilet and the women's restroom has a pint-sized sink. You know that I can't keep this news from Rachel forever!! Once this precious information reaches the awareness of my daughter, I will NEVER, EVER be able to go to Walmart without visiting the restroom! Kid-sized toliet and sink - that's just too good!

Control Issues?

Since becoming a parent, I have learned far more from my children than I ever learned at any educational institution. Mostly I learn that I think I know what I'm doing, but then I quickly figure out that I don't generally have a clue. I think that part of the problem is that I had Matthew first. He is a great kid. He's always been a great kid. Sure, I spent his first year of life trying to figure out how to parent a baby. Then we spent some toddler years chasing his fast little heinie all over creation. Then we had to potty train a boy and well, that's just different plumbling than I'm used to. He had to have his tonsils removed at 3, and then had a fairly serious blood disorder at age 5 (that lasted a year). So, we had our challenges. Mostly though, we just had a false sense of security.

So then Rachel came along. We waited five long, difficult years for her. Maybe the Powers Above knew that we really, really, Really had to want this baby. The sweet little gal screamed for a solid year because she had such horrible reflux and colic. She finally outgrew that - thank heaven above, but has kinda kept on screaming. :) Rachey is, as the old Russian ladies in Patricia Polacco's books say, "such a person." We love her fiercely -- she is the sweetest, funniest, dearest little thing. At the same time, she is the strongest little spirit that sometime struggles to be squished into a little body. In short, in September of 2005, our sense of security was shattered...into smithereens.

Toilet training Rachel was completely different than it had been for her older brother. We exercised a LOT of patience. For her the key was kind of following her lead and not letting the whole thing become a power struggle. It worked. It was on her terms and happened really quickly when she decided she was ready. It was almost over night and she did awesome. There are indeed more details to the whole process, but none that are pertinent to us at this moment. So even though she did great, as a parent, I was still, for a long time, very cautious. As I don't so much enjoy cleaning up waste fluids, when the girl says she has to go, I jump. You know how little kids are - they wait until the last bitter second and then panic. Even though she's been a proud member of the "big girl panties club" for quite a long time now, she still is infamous for the very last second "I gotta go potty!" panic. This brings us to the present and our bathroom dilemma.

Every single time I take this child into a public place, you guessed it, she's gotta go. It doesn't matter if she just went to the bathroom right before we left the house 15 minutes prior. After a while, one starts to wonder if this 3 year old is legit. Is she crying wolf?? Remember me who doesn't like cleaning up accidents -- especially in public? She says she needs to go, and mostly I don't dare tell her no. Sometimes I throw caution into the wind and tell her to wait. This is the kicker, though - not to give too much potty info, but every single time I take her potty; she goes. Does the girl have a never-ending supply of urine? Does she ration it so she can visit every bathroom in Logan, Utah? I know she has at least decent bladder control because she goes all night without accidents. But, when we're standing in the dairy aisle at Walmart and she's doing the dance with a vengeance, I panic and drag the whole program to the bathroom. One time, just jokingly, I asked her if she really had to go or if she just wanted to check out the bathroom. She said "both."

So in the meantime, I think I've seen just about every bathroom in town. At least the bathrooms in every place we visit in town. We've been to large bathrooms with automatic toilets, sinks, and towel dispensers. We've been ushered to tiny dark employee-only bathrooms through mazes of halls in the back of small businesses where you use bar soap and tear the paper towel off a roll of Brawney. I actually find myself noticing and admiring colors and tile. Sadly, I have my favorites - clean, big stalls, nice smelling soap. If she sounds the cry in one of those places, it's a smidge better.

I guess for now it will remain a mystery as to what kind of "control issues" we're dealing with. Until we either figure it out or she just outgrows this phase, I'll see you in the bathrooom.

School's Out!

Yahoo! It's been a great year, but hooray for summer!

Run, run as fast as you can...

At the end of the school year, our school district has a district "Fun Run" at the high school track. The fourth and fifth graders from all the elementary schools get together and do a mile run/race. It was a lot of fun and the kids all did a fantastic job.

Matthew was awesome! His goal was to run the whole way. He did it! The High School track team was there helping the kids by running with them, pacing them, and encouraging them. Among the team was a boy in our ward who's just a great kid. He ran by Matt nearly the whole time.

The next week was Matt's school's annual Wildcat Run. This is also a mile run, but just the school is involved. It's amazing. There is so much preparation and work put in to it. The kids have to train for at least 6 weeks prior to the race. They do this at school and are expected to put in so many miles at home as well. The neighborhood next to the school is closed off for the morning and each grade takes turns running the mile race. I just have to tell you, I adore the Wildcat Run. Steve was able to go for the first time last year and he was sold on it, too. We all were looking forward to it this year.

Matthew, again, did terrific. He ran the whole way and cut his time almost in half from last year. He was so proud of himself and we were so proud of him.

Now, I am not a runner. Not anymore, anyhow. I just love the Wildcat Run, though. I love that kids have worked hard to be there and they are accomplishing something great. Parents and students line the streets and cheer for the runners. Here's the slightly embarrassing part -- most parents are cheering, clapping, smiling... Okay, Steve and I are cheering, clapping, and sucking back tears. I cry every dad-blamed year! I love that children are pushing themselves to excel and everyone else is cheering them on. It just doesn't get better than that! (For the record, Steve may tell you differently, but he is just as embarrassingly emotional. :))

We love our school and feel so fortunate to live so close to such a great school.

Cheering Section

Soccer season is wrapping up. There's only one game left. We've had so much fun and Matthew has had such a fantastic experience. It's been such a blast watching the games with the other families.




All season the games have been held in the same place. Up until the last two, Matt's team has played on the same field, on one side of the larger field. The last several games, however, have been on a different field on the opposite side. I guess it had to happen... Rachel discovered that there really is a playground there.



Good times. We'll look forward to soccer again next year.

As for now, we've got the kids signed up for swimming lessons this summer. Not quite the same excitement in watching swimming. I don't know, though. It will be Rachel's first time with lessons - and she'll be in the same class as her cousin Jack. So, stay tuned. It should be pretty amusing.

Soccer

It's soccer season. This time of year stirs up so many memories. Early Saturday mornings at the field, bright sun shining through the morning chill, the slight breeze pinking your cheeks while running across dewy grass, the excitement of a great block, and the pure thrill of a perfectly placed kick and GOAL! Okay... so really, those are more like Steve's memories of soccer. Mine would be more accurately a little something like this: Standing with the other defenders chatting about who-knows-what, practicing cartwheels because the forwards are pretty good and the ball rarely comes to you, making dandelion crowns, anticipating snacks and those little orange wedges with the peel still on them... Yah, so I wasn't a real competitive player. Anyhow - it's soccer season.



Matthew had kind of a weird experience with soccer last year (long story), and wasn't so sure he was going to play again this year. We are so glad he decided to. His coach is amazing! He had the same coach for basketball and the guy is wonderful. He teaches the kids about the sport, but he also teaches them how to play hard and fair. He praises the kids and builds them up - a stark contrast to last year's coach who yelled a lot and ran around acting like he was pulling his hair out because the boys were "blowing it." Now, I know I really shouldn't be judgemental here, as the coaches are all volunteers, but we'll just say that we are super fortunate to be where we are this year.
There is a boy on Matt's team (who was also on the basketball team) who has some delays. He's a good kid. Sometimes he's right with the game and trying to keep up and other times he's lying on the ground kicking his shoes off. :) We have been so impressed with how the coach works with this boy. He's awesome. During the last b-ball game of the season, Coach pulled the kids together during the last half of the game. He told the team that their one goal for the rest of the game was to get the ball to this one boy so he could shoot. Now, our little friend had not scored one basket during practice or a game the entire season. So the whole team just kept playing with the mere purpose of passing the ball to this one boy. What a great coach and what a great team of boys! The last five minutes of the last quarter of the last game of the season, our little guy scored! You'd have thought that the coach had won the National Championship by the way he was running up and down the court jumping, screaming, and cheering! The whole team was cheering and going crazy. All of the parents were yelling ourselves hoarse and sucking back tears. Our team won only a few games during the season, and I can't even tell you what the final score of that game was, but every single boy left feeling successful and proud. Amazing.

One thing about soccer in Logan is that one week you're sitting on the sidelines freezing your knickers off, and the next you're toasty and smathering sunscreen on to avoid sunburn. The last game (no pics) was played in the pouring rain. Steve braved that one while the girls and I stayed warm and dry inside. Love spring in Utah.

Steve and I love watching the games and cheering for our team. The girls do their best, but don't quite feel the love like we do. :) We come to each game prepared with our arsenal of snacks and treats. It usually works for about half the game.

Rachel put together this lovely soccer-watching ensemble. She wore her homemade foamy visor because of the sun and the flowery giraffe spotty leotard over her clothes because... she could. She's usually "bored as a baby" (not quite sure where she got that) by the end of the game, but she does tell us that she's going to play soccer, too when she's a little bigger.

Easter

We love Easter. We love celebrating Easter for religious reasons, and we also love celebrating the coming of spring.
The kids always enjoy coloring eggs and I have finally learned how to take a deep breath and worry less about the mess. In the spirit of relaxed motherhood, I even hard boiled more eggs this year so we could enjoy even more.

Dying eggs turned out to be really fun and they turned out great. Matthew was much more careful about colors and designs. His eggs were colorful and detailed. Most of Rachel's eggs ended up purpley-gray. She loved the colors -- a little too much.

On Saturday morning some of our neighbors had an egg hunt for the kids. It was a lot of fun. Rachel was sooo excited and ended up with a good haul. Matthew helped with the hunt and took pictures of the whole thing. He's quite the photographer and got some really good shots of some of the neighbor kids.

That evening we headed to Ogden to my brother and sister in law's house for Easter dinner and another egg hunt for the kids. Dinner was wonderful! The kids all had a blast playing together, and yes, getting more candy.

Easter morning the kids were up fairly early to have the official Easter Bunny egg hunt and to find their baskets. They got some fun outdoor toys - bubbles, a soccer ball, a playground ball, sidewalk chalk, etc. Steve had to work, so he got to watch the hunt, then had to head out. Bummer.

This picture of the kids in their Easter duds was taken after church so they look a bit bedraggled. They looked darling, though, in their new clothes. Church itself was another story, but at least the kids looked good. I won't go into detail about our church experience, but we'll just say that one of our finer moments involved Rachel lying on the chair during singing time while the other reverent Easter clothed children sang the "Hello" song to the new children. Rachel sang too... her song went a little something like this, "I'm not having fun. I don't like Primary. This isn't fun for me..." Yah. I don't know why I would even hope to think that just because it was Easter that my Sunday would be any different than any other.

After church the kids spent some much needed time outside drawing with their sidewalk chalk. We are officially ready for spring!