Body parts, M&M's and potty training

Let's start with the good news. Brennan is using the potty! Pretty consistently. And staying dry most of the day.  At least for number one anyway. He's still pretty stubborn when it comes to number two. But hey, we'll take a win wherever we can get one these days. Even if I had to use m&m's to reward/bribe him into doing it.

We've been trying to encourage, without pushing, him to use the potty for several months now. Probably since right after we moved. Finally I decided we needed a little pushing because we registered him for preschool in the Fall and he has to be potty trained to attend. So, when we ran out of diapers last week I bought one more pack and declared them "for bedtime only." And I let him pick out whichever training pants he wanted. Side note: he must be picking up some thriftiness from me because he actually picked the CVS brand over the Pull-ups with Cars on them.

Well, that still didn't seem to help at first. So I tried to come up with some rewards to motivate him. Still not interested in anything we offered, even the $1 from Dada. Until I said "M&M." Those two little letters were like a magic key.  We were pretty confident he was already capable of it. It was just his stubbornness stopping him. Now we're one step closer to being diaper free! Woohoo! I'm not really proud of bribing him. Especially with candy. But boy will I be one happy mama when I never have to buy a diaper again and that day is very soon.

And just in case the potty training story doesn't embarrass Brennan enough when he's older I've got another goody for you. This is one of those cases where I'll just have to beg forgiveness later because it's too good not to share.

Lately Brennan has been obsessed with his nipples. He plays with them constantly. Watching a show, snuggling in bed, sitting at dinner, pretty much any time his hands aren't otherwise occupied. I even went to pick him up from child watch at the Y the other day and caught him with his hand up his shirt.

I'm not really sure if this is normal but we've pretty much just been ignoring it (to his face anyway, behind his back we laugh like 6th grade boys) and hoping it's a phase he'll grow out of soon. Or, at least before he starts preschool.

On a related note, he's been obsessed with the mole by mouth pretty much since he was a baby. He's been showing more interest in it again lately and calling it a "mipple." When I try to correct him and tell him it's called a mole he very matter-of-factly corrects me and insists its a "mipple." Perhaps it's time for me to consider removing the offending mole. Do people look at me and think I have a nipple on my face? That might be more embarrassing than having a child in preschool who plays with his nipples and still poops in his pants.

Love Potion No.9

Thanks to the lovely world of Pinterest and another snow day, I was inspired to do a little science experiment with the kids today. Being Valentine's Day and all we decided to make "love potions." Plus, it's super simple. Baking soda, food coloring and vinegar. All things we had in the house.

As you can see, and easy experiment with high impact and excitement value for kids.  Absolutely love seeing the excitement on their faces as it bubbled over.

We ran out of vinegar but they didn't want to be done so they started mixing their jars together to see what would happen.

And then Brennan did this for at least another half an hour.

I tried explaining what a love potion was but Brennan wasn't listening and I think it just confused Kaelyn. Luckily they're both so lovable they'll never need a potion.

I don't know if they really learned anything about science but it was a fun diversion and hopefully it at least got them thinking and wondering about the world around them and asking questions.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Frozen

Another snow day here. It really looks pretty coming down. But, since I think most of you are sick of the snow by now I'll share with you something that never gets old. Watching my kids sing along to Frozen songs. They might be slightly obsessed. They know most of the words to most of the songs from the movie. At least Kaelyn does. Brennan fills in a lot with his own version. Certainly can't say I blame them. It was a good movie with good songs. Even the adults enjoyed it.

Hopefully next time I can get a video of Brennan dancing along to In Summer sung by Olaf. That's one Frozen performance that would be sure to warm you up even on the coldest winter day.

Snow Day!

It's the first official snow day here in Concord. I think we're expecting somewhere between 6 and 10 inches when all is said and done. Not crazy. But the timing was just right to make the roads too dangerous to send kids to school. And even though it's been a pretty mild winter here in New England (at least compared to what's happening back in the Midwest, guess we got out of there just in time) we've already had a few fun snow adventures. And since I'm feeling a little under the weather and not so sure I want to take the kids out today (even though Kaelyn has already asked about 10 times when we can go out and build a snowman) I'll share with you some of our previous snow fun.

In Wisconsin:

Snow angels with Auntie Jen-Jen:

Sledding in Maya and Buppa's back yard:

Aren't they cute little snow bunnies?

Brennan made himself comfortable on the sidewalk while having his snow snack:

Remember how good you thought snow tasted when you were a kid?

First down-hill sledding experience at White Park:

Brennan cried most of the time, went down with me twice and then resorted to digging in the snow with his sled:

This one had a blast and has become quite a fearless sledder. Hoping she shows as much excitement and courage when we try skiing.

Finding out what hockey is all about at the Black Ice Pond Hockey tournament:

Warming up by the bonfire:

They watched hockey for about two minutes and then spent about an hour "ice-sliding" and playing on the playground. Kaelyn found her best friend. Brennan wanted to hold a hand the whole time so I have no pictures of him sliding.

 

Second sledding excursion. "Incoming!!!"

 Bren had more fun this time but still wouldn't go by himself. Which was probably for the best.

Anyone in the mood for hot chocolate?

A star is born; learning about the moon

Back on New Year's Day Kaelyn asked us what a resolution is. She then decided that she wanted to learn more about nature this year. When we got back from Wisconsin we made a list of different nature topics she was interested in. We decided to start with the moon since a lot of the list was seasonal and we could study the moon any time.

She started by making a little book about the moon phases. Her favorite is the crescent moon. She's also been charting the moon phases all month on a calendar. We've read The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons, Full Moon Rising (a book of moon poems) and she explored the moon and a few other planets on our iPad app Skywalk.

Last Friday when I heard about a special full moon event at Carter Hill Orchard I got really excited and knew it would be the perfect way to wrap up our study of the moon.  We learned about the moon from an expert from the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center. 

Thanks to a reporter/photographer from The Concord Monitor this is the only picture of her from the night.

The sky was clear when we got there and we could see a ton of stars. But when we went outside after the presentation to check out the moon through the telescope clouds had come in and covered most of the sky. I was super disappointed for Kaelyn. But we hung around and got a glimpse of Jupiter through a break in the clouds.  I was ready to call it a night and head home after that but Kaelyn really wanted to go on the moonlit hike. And I'm so glad we decided to go. She loved it. All the adults were impressed with what a trooper she was. 

Unfortunately this is the best picture I could get

Then we came to a clearing by the pond toward the end of our hike and saw that all the clouds had disappeared and we could see a beautiful (almost) full moon and plenty of stars. So we rushed back over to the telescopes and got to see the moon up close and Betelgeuse (the red star) before we headed home for a late bed time.

To top the night off, our little star made her second appearance in the local paper. Which was helpful since I didn't get any good pictures even when we were indoors. And I thank the photographer for blurring me out in the background.

Here are the things she wrote in her notebook that she's learned about the moon:

• Phases
• Eclise (Eclipse)
• Telescopes help you see better
• Alan Shepard landed on the moon
• He is from New Hampshire

On to the next adventure!

Traditions

It was a pretty crazy holiday season this year. But somehow we managed to carry on at least a few traditions. I think traditions are important. I still remember my family's traditions when I was growing up.  Christmas cookies, tinsel, peanut butter balls, chex mix, going to grandma's Christmas morning... I think traditions add to the anticipation and magic of the season. Even for adults. Some traditions may not last. New traditions may be created down the road. The thing that makes all traditions special, old and new, is the memories they help create and the time we spend with our loved ones. 

Cutting down our Christmas tree. We may not be able to do this every year based on travel plans, but when we can it's a fun part of the season.

Decorating the tree. New ornaments from Maya and Buppa.

Christmas cookies! We had just enough left Christmas Eve for the kids to each have one for dessert and leave two for Santa.  Brennan just woke up from a nap - love his bedhead.

After Christmas Eve Mass

I was going to skip this but Kaelyn insisted on making treats for the elves like we did the last two years

Reading The Night Before Christmas. Kaelyn rung her jingle bell after every page.

Tracking Santa

Reading The Night Before Christmas again because Bren refused to sit and read it with Kaelyn.

Christmas morning. They look so cute in their matching Christmas jammies. I never thought about doing it before but we may have to make that a new tradition.

Going to look at Christmas lights around the neighborhood before bed. Sometimes we do this Christmas Eve instead of Day. Elsa and Anna joined us for the adventure.

Bookworm

Reading Chapter books. Growing up too fast.

Not a big surprise that the only thing on her Christmas list (until we saw Frozen the day after Thanksgiving) was books. Maybe I should put more bookshelves on my Christmas list this year.