Come On, Ride the Train

Yesterday was the Big Day--we "threw away" the last of Huck's diapers and put him in Big Boy underwear, and started our 3-Day potty training boot camp. I was really, really nervous about it, considering our previous two attempts did not go well. But this time we went into it with a plan, and so far it seems to be working great! The method is basically that I don't leave his side for all of his waking hours (he's napping now, which is why I am able to post this), and I ask him to tell me when he has to go, and if he starts to go, I scoop him up and get him to a potty. We do this for three days, and by the end he's supposed to be a champion potty pooper (and pee-er). He has only had one major pee-pee accident, but it was the first pee in regular undies. He did poop in the underwear, but we've only had one poop training opportunity so far, so I'm still hopeful. As for peeing, he mostly manages to stay dry, but he resists sitting on the potty until he hits absolute crisis point, at which time he will pee just great in the potty. Even if he obviously has to pee, looking like he will explode any second, if we sit him down he will not go. So he runs around the house frantically for about 15-20 minutes, clutching his goodies, telling me that he's keeping his underwear dry and that he won't pee, and I sit next to the bathroom reminding him that when he's ready he should tell me. And he does! It's exhausting and somewhat uncomfortable to watch, but he makes it and the last few times he hasn't wet his undies at all. So I'm very encouraged that he'll eventually figure out that he can pee without getting to that emergency point. Stay tuned for news of the poops! Exciting!

Uncontested

Attention! Huck has won the very first coloring contest he has ever entered! He colored Larry the Lobster for our local Trader Joe's and they gave him a huge bag full of juice and cookies and gummy penguins and organic mac'n'cheese and more! His father and I are obviously pleased as punch! We hope that this is an indication of great things to come for our budding artiste--perhaps an art degree, tens of thousands of dollars in graduate school debt, and, (dare we hope it?!) moving back in with us at age 30 with his pregnant wife in tow! Way to go, Huck!

H. Huckleberry Haske
Larry the Lobster
Mixed Media, 2009

Statement by the Artist
I am always hesitant to collaborate with other artists: my intensely personal vision can so often clash with the pedestrian renderings of others. However, the re-imaging of the prefabricated “Larry” both as a common crustacean and cultural symbol sparked a similacritude of interest. Someone hands you a black and white image and says, “Here you go, kid, color this. Maybe we’ll give you some candy and juice.” But to simply color Larry with crayons, daring not to venture beyond the lines, would, I believe, be a grave injustice. Larry the Lobster is us, we are the lobster. Americans. America.
Before I made my first penstoke, there was already a lot going on in this piece. My job was to wrench out the essence of Larry. To suck his soul from the black and white lines, and bring his spirit force to the surface. I mean, look at the hands on this guy. They’re big and menacing. What does that say about us as a culture? I wanted to bring attention to that. Green was a deliberate choice. It is both unexpected (and therefore thought provoking) and representative of capitalism, consumerism and the American Way. We need these ideologies to be what we are in the global power structure, but it’s destroying us at a base level. The bold, untamed strokes reflect individual flights of introspection. Those moments when we say to ourselves, “Hey, I’m gonna buy that diamond even if it kills a hundred African babies because I’m an American, dammit, and I like shiny things.”
There’s a disturbing element here of bugs swarming over Larry’s face, covering his eyes, coming out of his mouth. It’s about degeneration, death, and, therefore, life, freedom, spiritual castration. All against a backdrop of fireworks and stars. Beauty and destruction. Transgression and redemption. Boom! This is Larry’s Independence Day.

-H.H.H.

Things That Are Happening

Happy 6th of July! We had a nice weekend. Steve had a half-day on Friday, on Saturday we threw the kids in the pool (pictures to come), ate BBQ dawgs and burgers, and Sunday I did a whole crapload of long-overdue laundry while Steve took the kids for a walk and to the grocery store.

I also managed to pick up my book again this weekend, which I put down, then Steve picked it up and finished it, then it sat for a month staring at me. It's really fun and so seamlessly written--I can't imagine Pride and Prejudice without the zombies now.

We are getting down and dirty serious about potty training this weekend. We were dabbling in it, and it wasn't going well, so I buckled down and we're following a 3-day method with a detailed plan. It will require me to give Huck my absolute undivided attention--meaning I don't shower, poop, cook or play on the internet for three days! We start on Friday. Wish us luck!

Milo isn't weaned yet. Of course, I have to talk about it for months before I actually do it. He's definitely nursing less, though. He doesn't nurse for comfort or to go to sleep anymore. Mostly I nurse him when he's starting to stir awake. I use it as a way for me to keep him asleep and allow me to snooze a few extra minutes.

Huck is talking so much lately. Every now and then I look at him and it strikes me how much of a kid he is now--not my baby any more. Not my toddler, but a little boy. Most of his little friends are starting preschool in the Fall. We've decided not to do it this year. I think preschool for 3 year-olds is mostly a socialization thing, and socially, Huck is easy-going and open to new experiences. Leaving me is not a problem for him. As for the educational aspect of preschool, I think I can handle teaching him his ABCs and 123s and such. The only reason he would do preschool right now would be to give me some extra free time and to keep up with the Joneses. Which, granted, sounds really nice, but I can't justify the cost for that. So I think I am going to do a structured, twice a week homeschool preschool with him. Maybe add in a weekly organized sports thing offered by the city. . . for now I'm done fretting about it.

We seem to be phasing out of a serious bout of Terrible Twos. There were a few weeks there where every thing I asked Huck to do was met with "NO!"s, tears, and defiance. Ridiculous defiance, like I'd say, "Hey, Huck, do you want to go to the park?" and he'd freak out and run to his room and scream "NOOOO! Huck stay hooooome!" Seriously frustrating. He's a good kid, though. Even at his worst, his tantrums were relatively mild and wouldn't last for too long. And he always would obey me eventually, be it grudgingly so.

Milo has the walking thing down for sure. He never crawls anymore. He loves to tackle Huck and will "Hop on Pop" if he catches any of us lying down on the floor. I wish I could show people how silly is when he is with just us. Everyone thinks he is so serious, but he is just as much of a goofball as his brother when he is in a place where he feels comfortable. I think he is like me a lot, actually. When we went up to see Sara and her family for graduation, I mentioned something about how shy I am to Sara's parents, and they both kind of guffawed and thought that was one of the most ridiculous things I could say. But they've known me since I was a baby, so with them I have this gregarious, obnoxious smart mouth that I reserve for people I am comfortable with. I see that in Milo, even as a baby. Not a baby! A toddler. . .

Milo is talking more now, too. He has lots of words, although I think I'm the only one who understands them. He is good at communicating his needs, though, and signs for food and points to things he wants. He is still going through the peak of separation anxiety, which can be difficult. But I rarely leave him with anyone, so it's only an issue once in a blue moon. Oh, and he is a kissing fool. He loves to give and get kisses. And he likes to sneak his tongue in there, so watch out or he'll French you!

Aaaand, he's waking up. I promised Huck we'd go out and do something fun when Milo woke up. Sooooooo. Off to do something fun!

Sally Sells Sea Shells

Milo woke me up this morning around 4:30. After twenty minutes of trying to wrestle him back down, we finally just got up for the day. Huck wandered out of his room (yup! HIS room! He's been sleeping in his own bed all night for the past week!) and joined us. So I cooked up an Apple Pancake Puff, brewed up some coffee, and felt sorry for myself. We had a poor attempt at potty training the day before, and I stayed up way too late reading about potty training techniques.
So after reading some info from a friend, I have developed a whole new approach to potty training. A more focused, serious approach that will require more attention and a clear plan. We will start real undies and say bye-bye forever to diapers in two weeks! I'm a little nervous, but I think this new plan is going to work.
Which brings me back to today. We headed out to WalMart to buy a whole bunch of Big Boy undies (our new technique requires throwing away every last diaper in the house), new sheets for Huck's bed (we're doing daytime and nighttime training in one go), and a waterproof bed pad. Both of the kids were sooooo good for me in the store! Usually it is a battle of wills and both of them are constantly trying to escape from the cart, but today they were just perfect for me.
We were done shopping by 10:00 AM, so instead of sitting around the house, I decided on an impromptu trip to Mother's Beach. This is the beach/park where we had Milo's birthday party (see Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! for details on that), but at that time we never actually made it to the beach part of the beach because there happened to be an end-of-school-year giant party going on that same day. So today I thought it would be fun to go back and sit in the sand and make sand castles. I didn't bring any swim diapers or swim trunks because I figured that we wouldn't go in the water.
I was really, really wrong about that. After about ten minutes of making and destroying sand castles, both of the boys started heading for the water. At first I just rolled up Huck's pants, thinking we'd just wet our feet a bit, but soon Milo plopped his little butt down right in the water, and Huck followed suit, his jeans soon were weighed down with water and sand and were falling off of him. After an initial "Oh, crap!" moment, I just gave into it and we had the best time. They were so cute playing together and laughing hysterically and splashing in the harbor. Huck was super excited about the boats and kayaks that would come by, and Milo loved to sit at the edge of the water and dig with his little shovel and watch the wet sand go plop plop plop. I felt like it should've all been recorded on Super 8 film.
The three of us were an absolute mess, but it was the most fun I've had in a long time. I stripped them down to diapers, showered them off and used our one sandy towel to semi-dry my poor, shivering babies. We rushed back to the car, changed into dry diapers and nothing else, and I drove home barefooted. They had a nice warm bath and got to splash around even more in the tub. Then it was grilled cheese sammiches and juice all around, and we all cuddled down for a nice long nap.

Then I woke up and Michael Jackson was dead. How's them apples?

Proper Documentation Required

Accusations have been flung about! Horrible lies and accusations brought on by the last post!

I am happy to admit that our pre-Milo life was better documented, and Huck's first 21 months were faithfully and frequently recorded in pictures and blog entries. But since Milo has been around I've had a few people mention to me that I don't post pictures of Milo. There seems to be a general consensus that I take and post more pictures of my first born son than I do my baby boy. I am deeply disturbed by this! So I did what any sane, rational person would do: I counted!

For the record, from June 17, 2008 - June 17, 2009 there are 160 pictures of Huck and 154 of Milo on our Flickr.

So THERE! THERE! I only love Huck 6 pictures more than Milo!

A Year of Milo

One year ago today, I was doing this:



which hurt a lot. But by the end of the day we ended up with this:



which was pretty well worth it. And soon we had this:












And a little too much of this:







And now we've got this:





And all in all, we think it's been a pretty good year!

Pancakes

Things are happening. Things are getting done. You may not think so on account of all of the time I've spent on Facebook, but some serious progress has been made by way of getting my house in order.
Huck's room has been completely rearranged and a spot has been reserved for Milo to move in once weening is complete.
Yes, you read that right. We're already getting serious about weening. It's funny how different things are the second time around.

Here's a picture of Huck's breakfast this morning:


I need a snack now.