Our Life... The Musical

Let me start off by saying I am a horrible singer!  HORRIBLE.  But that does not stop me from trying.  In front of my boys I can sing high, low, opera style or with a twang.  I sing about food, play time, the potty and plain, old, kid songs but I am the best at singing my own made up songs about anything and everything.  And it rubs off!

The other day I put Arlo to bed for the night and 10 minutes later I still hear him in there talking... loudly.  I  got up about to bust him, but when I heard what he was saying I stopped and listened and then I walked away.  Arlo was not talking, he was singing I am a Child of God.  It was one of the sweetest moments I've had as a mother.

Most of the time music is not quite so sweet, it is mostly just plain fun.

Yo Gabba Gabba is both my boys favorite show right now (its on netflix) but my boys are glued to it.  They dance with the show, they sing the songs, they love it.

Cohen is now doing motions to songs like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and Popcorn, Popping.

We play musical instruments almost daily.  For anybody with kids... go get them a musical instrument!  My kids love them, we turn on music and play to music, we sing songs and play music or we just beat, shake and hit those instruments as loud and hard or as low and soft as we can.

They Dance, they sing.  I dance, I sing.  Tim sings... yes he loves to make up songs almost as much as me.

We are a living a musical life and it is wonderful.

A Bunch of Nothing

For the past month we have been battling sickness, that came in the shape of runny noses, throw up, diarrhea, spots, temps... you name it, my boys have had it.  And I am tired of it!  But, in spite of all the sickness, our lives have continued on and we have been so busy while accomplishing nothing!!!!

One of Arlo's biggest projects... making OJ.  Arlo will not drink any kind of juice except for OJ and he would drink a whole craft in one morning if I let him.  So with our tree being full of oranges and Grampy having the best juicer I have ever used (and we have a cuisenart) Arlo and Grampy spent a few hours picking, cutting, juicing and drinking OJ.

Thanks Grampy!!!!

Tow is working on learning to brush his mouthful of teeth!

We play outside EVERYDAY for a few hours! 

Arlo has finally learned how to drive the dune buggy around the yard without getting frustrated and giving up!!!

Cohen and Arlo are obsessed with sports.  Hockey, soccer, baseball, football, basketball, (probably in that order) any sport that requires a ball, they love it!!!!

We try to do interesting fun things.  Most stuff we do I get off pinterest.  This is flour playdough!

The boys wrestle ALL THE TIME!!! 

The Boys are learning Yoga! 

Sometimes it's so relaxing, Tow falls asleep.

Every once in a while Uncle Bryce comes over and the boys get so excited!

Cohen learned how to talk on the phone!! 

We went to the train park!  Always a blast!

Now that Arlo talks pretty much nonstop he says some pretty hilarious things.  He uses because ALL the time.  Even with things he does not need to explain he still feels the need to say because.  I think it's caused by me enforcing a no whining rule in our house, where he needs to use his big boy words and tell me what is going on which usually includes a reason.  But he uses it for things like "mom, I love my caterpillar because I love him."  or "I love your beautiful hair because my hair is so beautiful, Do you love my beautiful hair?" 

And now that Arlo is potty trained and talking nonstop, his favorite subject to talk about is poop and pee.

Examples:

90% of his prayers ask Heavenly Father to help him go poo poo and pee pee in the potty.

Arlo was waking up his dad and was laying on his tummy, after a few minutes he said, "dad, it tastes like poop!" (Tim's stomach was growling and Arlo heard it and he is still using tastes like for every sense... so he meant it sounds like.)

After he goes to the bathroom, he likes to tell everyone how big it was, or how much there was.

In the tubby I was washing his hair and there was sand in it so I asked him "what's in your hair?" and he replied "maybe poop?  I think it's poop mom."

Speaking of talking, Cohen has started talking, his first word is......

dada.  

Not only is he saying it, but he says it when he sees his dad.  It's pretty cute!

Last thing that is really worth mentioning is our Tow, the dance monster.  He loves dancing, only when I get out my camera or phone he likes those things better than dancing so it always stops before I get it on camera, so here is a semi dance in the tubby...

I sure love doing nothing with my boys!  Their nothing keeps me so busy!!!!

It's Done!!!!!!!

ARLO IS POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know what your thinking...

What???  I thought you already potty trained him months ago.  or...

But, you always post pictures of him with underwear on, he's not potty trained yet????

No and no.

To give you a clue, let me start at the beginning...

Christmas 2010:  We knew that potty training was going to be happening the coming year so we decided to get him a potty for Christmas.  He was so excited about it, he used it that day and went poo poo in the potty for the first time that day.  And for the next week he would randomly want to go pee pee or poo poo in the potty and I would put him on the potty when he wanted to, but he hardly ever did anything.  Which was fine by me because I did not think he was ready to potty train yet.  Tim on the other hand kept insisting that since he wanted to go to the bathroom on the potty, I should potty train him.  Needless to say, I did not try very hard and so he was never potty trained that Christmas or in the next few months.

Around April (Arlo's 2nd birthday) he started showing the first real signs of being ready to potty train.  He was always telling me when he went potty in his diaper and wanted me to change him.  So, I decided that I would try to properly potty train him, but every time I put him on the potty he would cry and scream.  So, potty training ended after the 1st day.

July came and once again I decided it was time to potty train Arlo.  This time I decided to try the naked method, where basically you just let your kid go around naked.  So for 1 week Arlo ran around naked, we did not go anywhere except to the toilet every hour or two or when he said he needed to.  We had potty treats, gummy worms for pee pee and m&ms for poo poo and for one week we did nothing but focus on potty training.  The next week we put on underwear and once again focused on nothing but potty training.  After many accidents, and lots of treats, love and encouragement I could actually claim that Arlo was 90% potty trained.  He still had problems with pooping and still had to wear a diaper at nap/bed time but while he was awake he always went pee pee in the potty and with poo poo he would go if it accidentally came out while on the toilet, but if not I had to catch him hiding somewhere and go and put him on.  Anyways, it was good enough for me.  Unfortunately, after 2 weeks of hard work, we were going to Utah.  Usually when we go to visit Tim's family it is a very laid back trip.  This time it was BUSY.  Sadly enough, Having him 90% potty trained was not good enough in someone else's home and always in the car going places.  About 3 days into the trip I started putting a diaper on him when we went places and by the end of the trip, Arlo had a diaper on more than underwear.  When we got home I tried to go right back to underwear, but the damage was done and he was old enough to realize that diapers were easy and underwear were a lot of work.

There was one other time when I did try pull ups, but those were a waste of money.  They are too much like diapers and he knew it, so no matter how many times I told him not to go in his big boy pull up, he would go in his pull up.

So after 3 half attempts and 1 real attempt, I gave up.  For those of you who will be attempting potty training in the future, here is where I went wrong... We started to early, I didn't think it would hurt to just give him a potty, but the excitement was there when he was not ready, so when he was ready, the excitement was not there.  And then do I even need to explain the vacation and pull ups?

Then it all changed!!!!!

In December 2011 I decided to get back out the underwear and let Arlo choose if he wanted to wear diapers or underwear.  Because, on January 1st, I was going to potty train Arlo for the last time.  I got a potty chart, stickers and treats.  We talked, we read books, we learned potty songs and we got ready for the new year without diapers.  Arlo was super excited about his chart because when we finished it, he got to go to the store and get a sword. The pee pee part of the potty training was going wonderful.  As long as I kept time, I had to take him every hour and a half to two hours.  I also had to learn to say "Arlo, lets go potty" instead of "Arlo, do you need to go potty?"  I put a plastic cover on his bed and did away with diapers during nap time as well.  I wanted to dive all in at once so there would be no turning back.  By the end of the week,Arlo was beginning to tell me more often when he needed to go and I would only take him if it had been 2 1/2 hours since his last bathroom break.  But, by the end of the 1st week, he was still going poo poo in his underwear everyday.  He always went poop around the same time (right after nap) so starting Thursday after his nap, I made him sit on the potty.  We played games on the potty, sang songs, and even got the ipad out, we spent about 30 minutes on the potty.  I would catch him holding his bum later on and we would go straight to the potty and spend another half hour playing on the pot.  What ended up happening... He got constipated.  He was so worried about going poop on the potty, he was holding it in, and when I would not catch it... in his underwear.  For 2 weeks this went on,  I was supportive, always kept a smile on my face and let me tell you after 2 weeks of cleaning out poopy underwear I wanted to ring his little neck!  I looked on the internet to find out why Arlo would be so good with pee pee, but would be scared to death of pooping in the pot.  They give many wonderful solutions such as: don't get mad, just stay positive; talk about what poop is and why it needs to leave your body, make going potty fun, give treats, etc.  After I realized I was doing everything I could have done and I was not going to take "he just may not be ready yet" as an answer.

Here is OUR solution: it is one I did not see on any of the internet sites... but it worked.

Since Alro was not scared of going poop in his diaper/underwear, I told him when he needed to go poop, he did not have to go on the potty, I would get him a diaper and he could go in the diaper.  The catch?  He had to stay in the bathroom when he went.  I had to watch for when he showed signs of needing to go to the bathroom and when they came we ran to the bathroom, put on his diaper, he would do his business, and then when he was done, we would take the diaper off, put the poop in the potty and finish the bathroom routine.  After a few days, Arlo was comfortable enough to tell me when he had to go to the bathroom.  After a few more days, I made him sit on the potty while I went to go get a diaper (I purposely took a while) then I would put on his diaper, and then he would sit back on the potty when I wiped him.  On the second day of sitting on the potty before and after the diaper, he told me after I finished wiping him, that he needed to go some more, and he did... ON THE POTTY!!!!  A few more days after that he was going while I was getting the diaper.  And for the past 2 weeks, he has gone everyday on the potty, without a diaper.

So, why am I waiting till now to tell you about Arlo being potty trained?  Well for the past few nights we have also lost the diaper at night.  With out accidents.  He even wakes up in the night by himself and wakes me to take him to the bathroom when he needs to go.

Arlo is officially Diaper Free!!!!

* An embarrassing story to go along with the great news.
We play outside ALL the time!  And because I watch so many kids, it is so much easier to let my boys go pee pee outside, because to unshoe 5 kids to run inside for 2 minutes is way to hard.  There are rules, they have to pee on a wall (somewhere where the kids don't play) and they have to make sure nobody is in the way.  We also go to the park 2+ times a week.  When we were at the park one day, I was pushing Cohen and Brynlee on the swings and Arlo was playing on the playhouse.  I took my eyes off Arlo for 1 minute and when I turned around to find him I saw 2 moms looking at something and laughing, so I moved to see what they were looking at and I find my son with his pants around his ankles peeing in the sand.  I ran over to him and started to pull up his pants while he was yelling "I did it mommy, my underwear are dry... see?  Are you so happy and proud?"  I quickly apologized to all those who saw my naked boy and apologize for the poor placement of the urine and quickly ran back to get the babies.  If it is possible to be proud and embarrassed at the same time, I was.  Because I know how hard it is for a 2 year old to get busy playing and forget about the bathroom but he remembered... And I was so happy and proud of him!

A Year in Review... A Year to Look Forward to!

Yes, I am at home at 10:00 on New Years Eve... I let my boys stay up till 9 tonight and that was to late, by 8:45 Arlo was breaking down.  So, the boys are in bed and I thought... what would be better than posting 1 last post before the new year while watching Dick Clark's New Year's Countdown.

In 2011...

Arlo started talking and has not stopped!

Cohen has learned to crawl, walk and run.

We moved out of the parents house and move into a little house in East Phoenix.

Arlo went camping, ice skating, rode a quad, went on water slides and roller coasters.

Cohen is now giving and blowing kisses, mimicking words, making shooting and car noises, puts his finger to his lips and says 'sssss,' throws away his diapers and everything else.

Tim has gone back to school and started in a new position at his work.

Arlo learned to jump off diving board, ride a tricycle and balance bike, play hockey, soccer and football.

Cohen loves to show off for the camera and pose with a beautiful 'cheese' face! Uses signs for please and milk and climbs non-stop.

I've been a stay at home mom and a daycare provider for 3 other little ones.

2011 has been so busy, and our boys are growing up way to fast.  They have learned so many new things (this list is puny compared to what has really happened!) and continue to amaze us every day.

Here are some random pics of our boys in 2011.

Our new cat... for the night!

Arlo was showing us his hurt finger in this pic.

Zupas, one of my fav restaurants, decided to open right next to our house!!!!

This is the cheese face!

This is the sign for please.

2012... please slow down!!!  OR... Give me more hours in the day and an extra day in the weekend!!! Please. And. Thank You. 

Red, Green and Blue Christmas

Christmas was wonderful and oh, so heartbreaking this year.  Arlo has been so excited all month for Christmas to arrive and this year for Christmas he got 2 ear infections and strep throat.  He started to get sick the day before Christmas eve, that night he woke up with a temperature of 104.8!!!  I was in panic mode.  I started in with rotating through advil and tylenol to keep his temp down, and the next day his temp spiked up past 104 two more times with being on the meds.  So on Christmas Eve we went to urgent care.  No one wants their child to be sick, but I was grateful that when we went to urgent care they didn't just send us home and tell us there was nothing they could do.  When Arlo and I got home, it was already 7:00 PM, so for our Christmas eve program my dad, brother, husband and kids all listened to Tim read the story of our Savior's birth, opened our christmas jammies, and piled in the car to see Christmas lights.  When we got home, we put the kids to bed, and then quickly remembered that we forgot to put out cookies for santa, so we got Arlo back out of bed, put cookies and milk out and an apple for rudolph.

 My poor sick boy

 Tow's new Say Cheese face

 Opening Christmas Jammies

Wearing Christmas Jammies

Even Bryce got some!

We had to drive by our favorite house again!  On our way home from lights we noticed a red light flying through the air so, Arlo and Daddy went out to investigate and decided that is was, in fact, Santa and Rudolf!!!!!!

Looking for Santa!!

 Leaving Goodies out for Santa and Rudolf!

When Santa did come... he left no stocking unfilled and brought way to many presents!!!!

We have no fireplace so we improvised!!!

Santa and Rudolf loved their cookies and milk and even left the boys a note!!!

The Power Wheels was a gift from Grampy and Uncle Bryce!!!!

The Christmas Day Bomb!!!  And this was still with us picking up wrapping paper throughout the morning!

Santa thought I was extra good this year and brought me a new ipad!!!!

After a morning filled with presents, church, more presents and a much needed nap (after another horrible night with a sick child) we went over to grammy's house for Christmas dinner with my family and of course... more presents!!!!!! 

Arlo and Lani got so carried away with opening presents, they started to open every present the touched, not caring who's it was!  It was pretty funny!!!

 Grammy opening up her new mop... (that was what she wanted!)

 Brycie opening up his new shoes?????

Brycie, being Bryce and showing our sister Niki his unmentionables on facetime on my new ipad!! (It was so nice to have her there with out being in AZ!)

We made it though Christmas alive, but our poor baby spent most of the next day like this...

Overall it was a wonderful Christmas!  I just pray that next year we will all be healthy for it!!!!