Bet On It

This is a short (very, very short) video of Max doing his best Zak Effron impersonation. No comments from the peanut gallery about his future...

We sang and danced all morning. Avery got in on the action with Star Station with a moving rendition of "Who Let The Dogs Out". That's something one has to see for themselves to truly appreciate!

Resolution #1 Play more. Check.

Potty Watch 2008

3 Successfull poops and 5 pees is just plain big news to share! And Avery wants the world to know! Potty Watch 2008 continues and a diaper free world is within reach. While Avery still think that a fart equals a poop, and insists that everyone inspects the potty after said fart has occurred....she's catching on quickly! Yeah Avery!
Instead of forcing me to sit on the tiny little stool each and every time she tries, for the duration, I am now banished occassionally because "I need pivasy mommy, I need pivasy like max". At least she's listening to some things I say!
She has also mastered putting on her pull up all by herself, along with her pants. Sometimes they are backwards, but, whenever I try to help her, she gets a very condescending look in her eyes and tells me "me do it mommy, go way".
Each attempt is a lot of work for a little girl who's 2 going on 21, so afterwards she kicks anyone out of the recliner because it's "my seat, mooove" and takes some time to relax.

The conversations one has with Avery are hysterical. I'm convinced that she's even funnier than Max at the same age, which is quite an accomplishment. Yesterday as we sat in the bathroom, she told me a story about a baby lion. She said "I wuv baby ions mommy. Baby ion is sad, let's find mommy ion" I said OK and it turns out this all came out of a book that has a picture of 3 lions on the front. So, we went all through the book and then there was a page of ponies. Avery said "I wuv horses. I want one mommy" I said "Oh, you want a horse?" She nodded her head and looked at me so earnestly and said " I want that horse mommy. Horse has my blanky and I want it back. My blanky has a number on it. Horse took it from me". There are not any numbers on any blankets anywhere in our house, much less in her room, but it was her story and she's sticking with it.

Her interactions with me are serious and very conversational. Her interactions with daddy are another story altogether. Recently, she wanted something and Kurt told her no. She tried crying, we laughed. She tried hugging and we told her sucking up won't work. She looked right at Kurt and said "you suck".

Last night at dinner, Avery was not enamoured with the vegetable beef soup that was on the menu. I know, alert the presses, we've found a food the girl won't eat! She did however, really enjoy the rolls that went along with the soup. Kurt was busy bargaining with her to take a bite of her soup before she could have another roll. Avery took a bite and immediately spit it out saying "I no want any of that daddy" Max thought this was extremely funny and started with this new somewhat maniacal giggle he has been practicing. Avery continued trying to bargain for a roll. Between the two of them, I lost it and started laughing. That made Max laugh harder. Avery stopped, looked at Kurt and said "evewyone laughing at us daddy" She wasn't going down alone!

Max is very patient with her, most of the time. She has really started to get jealous whenever Max is playing with a friend, wanting him to be with her and play. It's quite cute. Max helps teach her coutning, letters and spanish. He's better than Dora! He does get frustrated with her though, as we all do. Her response is count "1,2,6 time out max go in woom now!" Luckily, Max just laughs at her when she does that and will say "Avery you are not the boss of me". Which is exactly where Avery learned to say that to me when I informed her that should could take her pants off and leave them off for the entire day. "You not boss of me mommy. Go way!" She shouted.

It's hard to be stern when you're hiding your face and Max is calling you out saying "Mom, that's not your mad face, that's your trying not to laugh face". Thanks for the support Maxwell.

In Max news....he is hard at work being dad's helper in the great remodel of the basement. What started out as an idea to paint, has turned into drywall, mud then paint. Max appears to enjoy working with the power tools, and regularly runs upstairs to give me updates on what exactly dad is doing. "You've got to come downstairs and see what dad has done mom. It's amazing." They had moved a couch.

Max is also doing very well in school and enjoying playing outside, playing inside, really playing anywhere and everywhere. We're looking at getting him into a starter karate class. They focus on "Stranger Danger" and some basic self control things. I think this will be a good way for Max to start with the concepts of "practice", having something to participate in, etc to get him ready for team sports.

That's about it from our front. Not an especially exciting week, but one filled with a lot of laughter and love. Potty Watch will continue, as will the humilating pictures to torture Avery with in the future. The Basement Caper will continue and next time we'll have some great before and after shots to wow all with!

Random Resolutions

It's that time...a new year, new resolutions, promises we make to each other and ourselves so we have something to fail at, ignore, use as a crutch and more throughout the year. Stuff like not carrying the weight of the world, being the worlds only living martyr, single handedly bringing about world peace, you know, the little things in day to day life! Actually, those things didn't make the list. Starting out a little smaller seemed more realistic so, without further ado, here is our list of new year resolutions...

1. Play. It's that simple. Take more time to play with the kids. Games, toys, outside. Taking the time to enjoy each other, without worrying about picking up the toys, cleaning the toilet, or what to make for dinner. On Christmas Eve, we had a ton of snow and we bundled the kids up and went outside.

We had a ton of fun. Max and Avery ran around the yard, throwing snowballs and making snow angels.

Avery also decided to be daddy's little helper while he was snowblowing the driveway. Her effectiveness in this role is debatable, but she was having so much fun with her little plastic shovel and pail, who could stop her?


And then there's inside play! Avery and mommy have created a game that Avery calls "DIVAS!" Avery pokes mommy in the eye while forcing her to put sunglasses on and then put hers on and shouts "DIVAS MAMA". (I didn't even teach her the word diva.....I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on what the content of Dora and Diego actually is) After this, Avery usually spends some time yelling at Kurt for something that he can't understand and I have to translate. Avery, in taking more after her dad than me, lives by the belief that if not understood the first time she states something, all she needs to do is say it again but louder.

Of course, we cannot neglect our educational play, so, we've spent hours covered in chalk dust writing letters, drawing pictures and fighting over the last piece of chalk. We have not made the jump to finger painting yet....though Avery and Max both have assured me they are ready.

2. Get healthy. In part, so we actually have the stamina to complete resolution number 1. Also because both Kurt and I acknowledge the need exists. So, we've begun addressing this in a number of ways. Kurt has completely quit smoking! Yeah Kurt, way to go! Kurt has also decided to enjoy a "SlimFast" diet during the day. MMMM.... I've been upping my yoga, dancing with kids (the "Cha Cha Slide" is quite a workout) and no, there are no pictures of either of those events because really, no one needs to see it. Avery has been attempting to do some yoga with me...I will try to get a picture of that because it's quite funny. Unfortunately, her favorite part is jumping on me at various times which doesn't really help the meditative aspect of yoga.

Anyways, we've been making a lot of better choices in our food. Which means we can't eat sausage gravy and biscuits quite as often, or pizza, or an entire bag of bold chex mix (ahem, Kurt) Max is not a fan of Hummus, while Avery and I love it. So, we'll keep working on it. I've already lost 6 pounds and feel a bit healthier. It's too bad that it's so expensive to eat healthy. Of course, I have sociological theories that are class based explaining why this is, and why the current political structure in our country does not acknowledge this. It has a lot to do with capitalism, survival of the fittest ideologies and upper class, older white males not being in touch with.....hmm....anything.

Actually, from the way my stomach feels, 3 more weeks of the f-ing "abs yoga" and I'll have a 6-pack. It may be one that's way at the back of the fridge, well hidden by the "good stuff" in front, but it will be there. Next summer, we will not look like this:

Yeah, I actually put a picture of me in a bathing suit on the internet. Public humiliation is my new diet plan. And like I'd put one of me ABOVE the water. Right.

3. Put as many political yard signs as possible in our neighbors yard. All democratic ones. Obviously, stop drinking is not a resolution and having a fun, drunken activity as a goal just gives us something we might really accomplish! You can't make all of the resolutions unreachable, because there has to be some sense of accomplishment throughout the year.

4. Spend more time with family and friends. Grandma DeYoung (Jen's grandma) is living in Michigan again, we had the chance to spend time with her at Christmas. It was great to see her and she really seemed to enjoy spending time with the kids. And there's always that whole multi generational stuff that is so beneficial for kids...

And, my cousin Amanda just had new little baby. Blake Harley made his debut in the world on December 12, 2007. It's really hard to believe Amanda is old enough to have a kid of her own. I still tend to think of her as "Alec's favorite babysitter" and want to "do" her hair and stuff when I see her. She also lives within walking distance, so there is absolutely no excuse not to spend time together. Here's a picture of her little cutie:

Then there's the new addition to Honey and Grandpa Kelly's family, Eddie. This is one cute puppy. Avery wasn't so sure about him when he got up close and personal, but clearly Eddie and Levi has a very special relationship!

5. Get Avery fully potty trained. I want to live in a diaper free world. She's so close. She believes she doesn't need diapers anymore. She believes she can do EVERYTHING herself, including going potty. She also believes that every time she farts, she has pooped. She's trying. I've never spent so much time in my bathroom. Frankly, we need to re-do the bathroom. At least from my perspective sitting on a tiny little stool directly in front of the toilet for hours on end, because, while Avery insists she can do it all herself, I am apparently not allowed to leave the room, at any time, for any reason whatsoever!

6. Get Jen's daycare up and running. Nearly everything is in place. I need to have my doctor sign a form, Kurt and I need to get a TB test and then send the application in. I'm really excited about this. I will still feel like I'm using my degree. There's a definite need for quality, education based daycare in this area. I will get to be home with the kids and not pay out the rear in daycare expenses (I'll be the one getting paid out of someone elses rear.....the irony) But, I need a good name for it. Any and all submissions are welcome. Maybe it can be a contest. The winner can have the kids for a weekend. I like it!

7. Paint the kitchen. This is more for Kurt.....I figure if he's given a year to do it, it might actually get done.

8. Be a better person. This is for both of us. Just be nicer, having more patience, reaching out and helping others, and so on. It's not that either of us think we're not currently good people (well, I do tend to believe I'm a little better than Kurt, but that has more to do with other issues...really, I kind of think there's others I'm better than. Hmmm....)

9. Figure out how to lick our elbows.

10. Not think I'm better than others. After some brief introspection while working on resolution #9, it would appear this might be a good thing to add.

11. Live, Love and be happy.