Geronimo

Our last posting was in April and in that posting I enthusiastically proclaimed that I would begin making updates on a weekly basis. When that didn't happen I thought to myself okay, I'll post monthly. Wrong again. As the months went by and I considered posting I became overwhelmed with the task of summarizing all that had transpired so I avoided it altogether. Now I have a new plan of attack. I'm just going to start with current events and fill in the blanks as needed. So, welcome to our world.....

Molly and Aidan turned two at the end of October. It's a terrific and trying time. Both are very verbal and the house is filled with their voices. Aidan provides a continuous play by play of his life whether anyone is listening or not. He strings four and five words together. Some of it is able to be understood by non-family members but I seem to be the best at interpreting. We are surprised by his non-stop talking as he was a man of few words until a short while ago. Molly is putting together three and four words together and her pronunciation is crystal clear. It is really neat to hear them talk to one another. We often stand outside their bedroom door and laugh as we listen.

We visited our friends the Petrachenkos in their hometown of Welland, Ontario over our Thanksgiving Day holiday. It was a whirlwind trip and the kids did very well. They were comfortable around the new people they met (this is a huge change for Molly as she has always taken a good bit of time to warm up to strangers). One of our Canadian friends has an 18 month old boy who was smitten by Molly. He spent much of the time trying to hug and kiss her. Aidan continued his play by play much to the entertainment of everyone. We did have one meltdown on the trip home but a stop for something to eat and stretch the legs put everything back on track. We've made tentative plans to visit again in the summer.

The potty training initiative has begun. We've been at it for five or six weeks and it's going slowly but well. Aidan is just about there. He will come running from another room shouting "on potty, on potty" when he needs to go. He will ask to sit on the potty if he is in his high chair. Today we were at the zoo and he told me he needed to go but unfortunately I wasn't able to take him. He has been trying desparately to poop on the potty as well. He'll ask to sit on the potty and then say "too hard" and get off. He knows he has to go but isn't quite sure how to make it happen. Molly is doing well but rarely initiates a visit to the potty. She'll go at our suggestion, sometimes willingly and some times in full protest, but she doesn't always stay dry between trips. She has such a strong will and I think that part of this is a stuggle for power and control. And forget pooping on the potty. She will run and hide in one of her "spots" to do her business. If you happen to catch her in the act she'll say "bye bye mommy or bye bye daddy". Interesting how things are working out since many people told me boys were much harder to train.

We have discovered that Molly is a nudist. For the last several weeks she has been peeling of her pajamas sometime after we put her to bed. We've been concerned that she will be cold but it doesn't seem to impact her sleep. Last night after the kids were asleep I sneaked into their room to check on them. Their cycle lately seem to be to poop after they are tucked in at night so we've had to check and wake sleeping children for a change. Such was the case last night as I discovered as soon as I opened the door. Not knowing which child was the offender I flipped the light on low. I peeked into Molly's crib (hers is closest to the door) and their she lay buck naked and sound asleep. I'm happy to report that she was not the offender. We did howerer change Aidan and diaper and re-dress Molly (somewhat futile effort as she was in only a diaper when I went in to get them this morning).

So, I'm back to Blogging. It feels good.