Exclamation!

Kaya has such an exciting life that even her scratches attest to that fact!

Victories of One Kind and Another

March Madness hits our house every year in a big way. Which is interesting because I'm not a huge sports watcher. I like to watch the Jazz play every so often, and I'll watch Utah State whenever they are televised; sometimes the World Series can capture my attention if it involves a team we like; very rarely I'll watch a football game. When the SuperBowl is on every year, Kalen calls me in when the commercials come on. But the college playoffs are different. We LOVE March Madness. A few years ago we started filling out our brackets to see who had the best picks--the kids chose their teams too. It has been so much fun. The overall winner gets to pick a fun family activity of his or her choice, and the person who ended up having the most teams in the Final Four chooses a special dessert. If it happens that the overall winner also had the most teams go to the Final Four, that award goes to the second place winner. (We had to add that rule because more often than not, the overall winner who has been Me pretty much every single year, usually has the final picks too). There is also a booby prize for the lowest scorer who gets to choose what music we listen to on our family activity trip. We all look forward to this every year. And every year Kalen determines that he will win this time. He doesn't. It's actually kind of funny. I don't really ever know anything about the teams so I just look at their season record, allow for a few upsets and pretty much just guess. It's been working out pretty well that way. Taylor and Kendall tend to choose teams based on cool mascots or if we have lived anywhere near that school. Lynnsey and Spencer choose their teams completely at random--usually if it's an unusual name that's fun to say, they'll pick that one. Then there is Kalen who is an avid sports fan and watches all kinds of games and knows many facts about each team and can probably tell you their past records for the last decade or so plus who the players and coaches are and were and maybe even what they all had for breakfast...okay, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but you get the idea. And somehow he has yet to pick them better than I do. I told him it's because he analyzes things too much. But he continues to do it his way and the rest of us do it our way. And it is really a lot of fun. So far I'm in the lead but actually Kalen is catching up! Kendall is in 3rd, Spencer and Taylor are tied for 4th and Lynnsey is last the best of all the game. We'll see how the next set of games turn out. This time we're counting each win as two points, so a win can really help and a loss can really hurt. I actually wouldn't mind if someone else won this year. I'm running out of ideas for fun family activities. I can always think of desserts though!

But now on to the biggest (tentative?) victory: Spencer is really, actually, amazingly going potty! Can you even believe it? I always comfort myself with the thought that my kids won't go to the junior prom in diapers, but I was starting to have my doubts with this kid. He is 3 years, 7 months and 23 days old. Most of the kids we know who are his age have been potty trained for a year already. I was starting to despair. But I am also one of those parent's who believes that if you try to potty train before the child decides to do it, then the child ends up training you. I've heard all the stories about the kids who were potty trained at 15 months. I recognize that this world actually does have some prodigies who may really figure it out at that time. But for the most part I don't buy it. If I were willing to haul my babies in to the potty after every bottle and meal and at half-hour intervals in between, they might use the potty at the right exact time. I don't call that potty-trained though. When a kid can come and tell you that he has to go potty and when he can play at least some role in the procedure like pulling up or down pants and climbing up on a stool to reach the potty, then I think you're getting somewhere. So my kids have all been past their third birthdays before they figured things out. But by that time we have had to deal with very few accidents and they seem to become independent at it all much faster. And finally, at long last, Spencer is jumping on the band-potty! (Ha, ha. See I changed the name band-wagon to band potty...get it? Ha, ha.) It happened last Friday. After dealing with such sick kids all week long I woke up with a combination cold and stomach bug and was feeling really awful and wishing that Kalen could cancel classes or that my Mom was back from Kentucky so that someone could take my kids and I could crawl into bed again. Instead, after the big morning rush of getting the three older ones to school in a haze of head fog and stomach cramps, I got some clothes and a diaper so that I could get Spencer dressed. I took his diaper off and realized he was still dry after an entire night. As awful as I felt, I had to ask the question: "Do you want to try to go potty?" I expected his usual response: "Tomorrow I'll go potty" but instead got "okay!" And he went. And then he went again later. And again later. He had one accident that day, unfortunately it was the kind that makes you just want to torch the clothes and buy new carpet, but still I was ecstatic that he was going at all. I was still wishing I could just lie down for a few minutes but he seemed to need the potty everytime I closed my eyes. The next day we made him a sticker chart and once it's full he is planning to go and buy the Thomas the Train toy from Target that is way more money than I care to spend on a toy but which in a fit of desperation I bribed him with if he would only go potty. Kids have great memories sometimes. Sticker charts haven't worked with my other kids but Spencer is loving it and I'll catch him looking at it throughout the day and counting his stickers. He points to the last spot and reminds me all the time what happens when that one is filled up. That's okay, he's definitely earning this toy. He hates pull-ups and wants to just wear underwear to bed so I think he's trying really hard to stay dry at night but so far hasn't managed it. Yesterday was our first experience with public restrooms. I had just planned on putting him in a pull-up for church, but he wasn't having that at all. He did okay but Kalen ended up taking him because he was freaking out about having to go in the girls bathroom. I finally had convinced him to come in with me just before church started (and Kalen was already on the stand) but he wouldn't go. He was afraid that a girl would come in and see a boy in the restroom and then once I got him on the potty he started yelling that the seat was too big and his "peanut" was not pointing the right direction. So we finally just waited until after the meeting and Kalen was able to take him to the boy potty. It's been an adventure, but it looks like we may actually succeed this time. Four down, one to go. Maybe Kaya will be a prodigy and I can brag that she was potty trained at nine months!

Oh, and here's a picture of our diaper graduate. Apparently wearing underwear made him feel so grown up that he decided he wanted to wear his necktie which we've been trying to get him to wear since he was two. He was so thrilled with it. When he saw himself he said, "I look just like a little Daddy, except I'm not little!"

And when we got home from church he refused to take off his Sunday clothes and said: "I have to wear them still so that I can keep handsome." Cute boy!

Round Two

I know that you are all just enjoying hearing all about vomiting kids, so I thought I'd update. You can stop reading right here if you really don't care to learn more.

Spencer is MUCH better now and it is wonderful to have him back to normal again. Kendall and Lynnsey who were both sick-ish on Monday, both got better and returned to school yesterday. Taylor came home yesterday with a stomach ache and a fever (that's a new symptom), and Kalen has had a stomach ache for the past couple of days as well. This morning I noticed that Lynnsey didn't eat much breakfast before school and I asked if she was feeling okay. She said her tummy hurt a little bit but insisted that she would be just fine to go to school. I think what she was really saying was "I look so cute with my curly hair today that I just have to go to school no matter what, plus you finally let me pack a lunch from home and that's an event that is just too exciting for me to have to miss out on!" So against my better judgement, I sent her to school.

At noon, the school called. Lynnsey's stomach contents had erupted all over herself and the lunchroom and would I please come and get her as quickly as humanly possible. The problem: Our aged mini-van is in the shop having a thousand dollar surgery with a few nips and tucks thrown in just to make sure that we won't have anything left of our tax return. The other problem: Mom and Timothy are gone this week to Kentucky so neither of them would be able to retrieve Lynnsey from school. So I called all my stay-at-home mom friends who evidently weren't staying at home today. Finally I got the husband of one friend who said she was out running errands. He knew she was going to the pharmacy near our house so he called the pharmacy who told her to swing by here on her way home. She did and finally 45 minutes after the initial call from the school, she was able to go and get Lynnsey for me. And now I have a pale-faced sick-again daughter who is back in bed feeling miserable--but with cute curly hair, so I guess it's not all bad.

It's a Small World Full of Sick Kids

We had another church adventure yesterday but not the laughing kind. More like the kind where when you see it happen to someone else you are SO glad that it isn't happening to you. Saturday afternoon, Spencer threw up. We were hoping that it was something that he ate. He threw up one more time and then seemed to perk up a bit. He slept well and seemed much improved yesterday morning, so we went ahead and got everyone ready for church. We arrived a little early and got ourselves situated. Spencer wandered off with one of the Young Women in the branch. A few minutes later he came back and I took one look at him and knew he was not better. Right then he gagged and I grabbed him and made a dash to the bathroom where I held him over the toilet. But it seemed to have passed and he didn't throw up. So I went and found Kalen and told him that one of us would probably have to take Spencer home after sacrament meeting. See, our branch is renting the building we have now and the lease is up at the end of the year. The church has purchased some land on which to build a new building but so far our attendance hasn't been high enough for our building to be approved. Well, this month of March is our last shot to get our building. That means our attendance has to be much higher than it has been. So of course, sick kid or not, every body present counts. So even though I knew Spencer wasn't recovered, we stayed. He made it all the way through the meeting. Afterward, I needed to make some copies for Relief Society and get one of the other presidency members to conduct for me. Of course, someone else was using the copier and I had to wait. Once I had done that, Kalen found me and told me that Lynnsey was refusing to let anyone else take her to Primary. So I dragged her in to her class and came back to gather my things and retrieve Spencer. It was too late. In the 20 seconds I had been out of the room, he had thrown up. All over my mom and a good friend of ours and ALL OVER the beige carpet. Did you know that Kix and blue gatorade make the most ghastly green glop ever??? We managed to get it all cleaned up while onlookers gave us sympathetic encouragement and Sunday School began. I was finally able to get poor Spencer who was as white as a sheet out to the van and home to a comfortable spot where he spent the better part of the day sleeping and throwing up. When the rest of the family arrived after church, Lynnsey was nearly as pale as Spencer and complained that her head and tummy hurt. Fantastic. Luckily she hasn't thrown up but she also hasn't eaten much either.

Then, just when I was thinking what a miserable day it had been, I got a phone call from my brother Andrew. He said he was just calling to tell me what a small world this is. Turns out Marni got talking with another mom out in the hall at church and made the connection that she used to be my roommate Misty Shearer! I was so excited! The only people worse at keeping in touch with old friends than I am are Misty and her sister Marla who were some of my favorite people in the whole world and who played a giant role in my getting together with my husband. I had felt so bad that I'd lost touch with them over the years and I had actually been trying to locate them both. And here one of them was! I told Andrew that he'd have to get her address for me so I could write to her and he said "Well, she's right here. Do you want to talk to her?" Of course! So after years and years and years, I got to talk to Misty. It was so great to hear from her and know what she's been up to and to hear how her family is as well. It's so funny that all that time she was right there in the same ward as Andrew and Marni. Amazing.

This morning I went to see how Lynnsey was feeling. She said her tummy was still hurting so I decided I'd better keep her home. I went to get Kendall up and when I did Spencer sat up in bed. I said "Hey, buddy! How are you feeling?" He contemplated for half a second, then his face crumbled and he said in the most disappointed voice "I'm still sick." Poor kid. And he sure is. He hasn't had any food to eat at all today and is barely drinking anything. Then when he does, it comes right back up. I'm watching him for signs of dehydration and just hoping this can end soon. About 9:15 the phone rang. It was Kendall's school calling. Guess what for??? Yeah. Here we go again.

DI

Okay, for all you westerners who read this, "DI" is not a thrift store out here. It is short for Destination Imagination. Kendall was involved in one of the groups here this year. It really is a pretty amazing program. They started in January and each group is given some sort of a challenge; could be building something like a robot or a bridge or it could be a creative challenge. That is what Kendall's group ended up with. They had to write and star in a play that had to have something to do with animal communication. They have a team leader (usually a parent) who basically is only there as a facilitator--she kept them on track but everything had to be their doing. They researched their topic,wrote everything, made costumes and props and starred in their production. Theirs ended up being about a group of wild horses who encountered a cougar during the course of their day, and in it, they had to show how horses really can communicate with each other. They did such an amazing job with all of it. Very impressive for a group of 8- and 9-year-olds. After they work hard for a couple of months they go to the regional competition to show their stuff. The first thing they had to compete in was what they called an "Instant Challenge" where they are given some materials and a few minutes to come up with the required challenge. Families weren't allowed to go in for that one, so we only learned later that the kids had to make sock puppets, come up with a short skit, and act it out with the socks on their feet!

Later that afternoon, it was time for the main event. The kids enter the gym and have to stand in one marked off spot to prepare for their performance.

Here they are meeting with one of the volunteers who is going over everything with them and answering questions, etc.

Here they are still waiting. Kendall was looking a little nervous. He had an extra job in the program. He had written a poem about the play that he had to read aloud before they began their skit. It was right about this time that we noticed that he was losing an ear! He realized it too and when he tried to fix it the whole band came off. He gave us this funny look like now what???

It's a little blurry, but here you can see one of his teammates trying to fix the problem. It took awhile before anyone could alert the team leader. But once they found her, she ran for her tape and they patched him up in the nick of time.

Much better! This was right before they moved over to the main square to begin their performance. He doesn't even look nervous at all anymore! He did a fantastic job reading his poem (which I will post at the end of this). I recorded it but the sound was lousy so I decided not to post it here. And this is during their performance where the horses have just begun their day and are prancing around.

Horses have to sleep too, you know! Plus it was exhausting running from the cougar.Here they are getting a refreshing drink from the stream they found.

Great job Kendall! We are so proud of all your hard work.

Here's his poem that he wrote:

A herd of horses was walking by.

The dirt was cracked and

the sand was dry.

They stopped for a rest near a green bush

Then out jumped a cougar!

It made a sound like a whoosh.

The cougar chased them around

until the cougar went away.

Then it was the end

of the horses' long day.

When the horses woke up,

They looked for some food.

All of the horses

were in a good mood.

The lead mare smelled water

They galloped around

They looked in the air and

they looked on the ground.

Then finally they found it--

The Great Water Valley!

There were so many green bushes

they had to tally.

By Kendall Oswald

Kaya's latest tricks

Kaya is now 8 months old and she is one busy kid! In the past few weeks she has just had a developmental explosion. She is still just as cute as ever and is starting to love when she sees me with the camera. Here she is (yes, that is an apple core and yes, I'm aware that it's probably a choking hazard, but she was mostly just sucking on it and was enjoying it so much that I didn't have the heart to take it away) doing "SO BIG". It's always very cute. I love it when she does it without anything in her hands because she grabs her finger and lifts her arms up to her forehead like a little baby ballerina. So far I haven't been able to catch her at it with the camera though. I'll keep trying. And here she is doing a high-five with Taylor. (Can you believe how gigantic his hand is getting???)

And this, of course is one of my favorites. She already takes after me--"devouring" books!

Kaya will play "peek-a-boo" with just about anything. Here she is hiding her face...

Peek-A-Boo!

She now has the ability to pull herself up to furniture! The problem is, she doesn't know how to get down again, so we've had a few bumped heads when she finally gives up and just lets herself fall backward.

And, yes, she is mobile now! She worked tirelessly to perfect the trick of crawling. I actually think she was miserable when she was first learning. She'd cry and fuss so much especially when she'd end up pushing herself backward. But she couldn't seem to help herself and just kept at it until she finally mastered it. Now, she gets herself around all over the place.

And this last heart-breaking one is one we are less than thrilled about. She has been waking up at night again which she hasn't done since she was 2 months old. But instead of going back to sleep, she uses her new pulling up trick and stands in her crib crying pitifully for someone to rescue her. Of course I have to! Who could resist such a pleading face??? Let's just hope this one doesn't last very long.

Playtime Problems

I can just see a future time when my children are all grown and we gather for a reunion to sit and share old memories. I'm guessing that it may start out something like this: "Hey, that reminds me of that one episode of Spongebob where ..." or "Remember when Zach and Cody decided to trick their mom that one time..."

At MOPS today we watched part of a documentary about the kind of play that kids these days have compared to those in previous generations. And it got me thinking. And feeling some guilt. When I get together with my siblings and tell "remember when" stories, it is so much fun to reminisce about our childhoods and the experiences that we had growing up. One quote from the documentary had a guy saying that todays kids spend way more time "looking at screens than they do looking at streams". When I was a kid in rural Utah, we roamed around for miles all the time. We'd build playhouses and forts in the trees and go on hikes just to see what new discoveries we could make. "Going swimming" consisted of playing in the river or tubing down the canal (with no adult supervision, of course). Actually when I think of some of the things we did as kids, there is no way I'd let one of my kids do those things unsupervised! But even our indoor play was different. We'd role-play elaborate stories with our dolls and dress-up clothes or we'd play "office" with old junkmail and scratch paper, or we'd make up all sorts of silly games with ever-changing rules. There was no such word as "playdate". We played with our siblings and cousins most of the time and on occasion we would have a friend over for a sleepover or we'd go to their homes. Mostly we just went with the flow of things.

The documentary pointed out that now there are kids who could tell you everything you could ever possibly want to know about the Amazon rainforest, but they don't have a clue what's in their own backyard. Some people would say that's the problem with living in a city. But actually the documentary says the city is a lesser problem than the suburbs. Suburbanites spend hours scheduling their kids playtime and activities and then driving them to each location. Then when they aren't "playing" at those things, they are at home glued to the TV or computer or texting, texting, texting.

The guilt I am experiencing is because my kids seem to be headed in that direction at least as far as the tv is concerned. Part of it is the time in which we live. I don't feel entirely comfortable leaving the kids alone in our un-fenced yard. I wish I could, but there really are some scary people out there, and I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to them that I could have prevented had I just been with them. The same goes for letting them walk or ride their bikes all over town. Kendall walks to his friend's house one block over sometimes and it's all I can do not to follow him to make sure he's okay! The other thing is, I get really busy doing all of my mundane list items every day and it's a lot easier to turn on the TV to occupy the kids instead of having them whining and following around at my heels constantly. But then, it's easy for an hour then two and sometimes three to go by before I realize that the blasted TV is still on and my kids have slipped into a tv coma where it's impossible for them to hear anything I say to them or be aware of anything going on around them.

I do okay most of the day when I'm babysitting because I try to keep the kids occupied and playing and I plan activities and games that we can play. But even then, I feel like if I'm not in the middle of it, they suddenly don't know what to do with themselves. I don't want to be an entertainer. I love playing with the kids, but it would be nice to be able to go to the bathroom and have them continue playing and developing their own imaginations. I can remember only a few occasions where my parent's were actually involved in our playtime activities.

So, my new resolve is to turn off the TV more (or maybe even completely) and get the kids playing more and being more creative and imaginitive so that they can have fun memories like I have. What do all of you do with your kids to help facilitate that? And how do you still find time to do the things on your list that need doing if the TV is not involved? I am open to as many ideas as you can throw at me!