Thankful

I am thankful for so very much this year!  Within one week, I was able to celebrate another trip around the sun for that guy, snow, time off from school, and food with wonderful friends.  It had been a crazy week leading up to Thanksgiving break-- John had obligations with his class and the Outing Club in the evenings and I had Parent-Teacher Conferences and a massive pile of grading to do.  We all seemed to pass like ships in the night-- even on the night of John's actual birthday.  However, once Friday came along, we were all ready to start celebrating all for which we are thankful.  I was able to take my sweetheart out to dinner and the kids got a night with their Uncles Scotty and Tommy.  And the next day we packed it up and headed up to Montreal.

We don't have many pictures...... because you DON'T keep your iPhone on in Canada.  But we had a great time with the Mahoney's.  We ate crepes and fondue and drank wine in Old Port, visited the Science Museum, and had an amazing dinner near our hotel in the heart of the city.  It's hard to find dining that is suitable for kids in Montreal-- let alone in the city center.  However, we stumbled upon an Italian restaurant.  We almost walked by it because it looked too "nice".  When Claire inquired, they told us we could have a room to ourselves in the back of the restaurant.  The kids drew pictures and the waiter/part owner brought them scissors and tape to make puppets.  At the end of the night he told us how happy he was to see children engaged without using iPhones or iPods.

We only went for one night because I had to work on Monday.  Hazen had daycare, but Cally didn't have Poker Hill, so she and John had "date day".  They went to a meeting at school, put the snow tires on the car, and went out to lunch at a diner.

Because I had to work two evenings the week before for conferences, I got to take Tuesday off.  This time, I got to have a day with Cal, while Dad took Hazey to use Austin's wood working tools:

John had started a little home improvement project this summer, but got slowed down by not having the right tools and then his broken scapula ended all efforts to see the "breakfast bar" come into fruition.  Thanks to Austin's equipment and John's fine woodworking skills:

We've got ourselves a new space to eat, draw and entertain:

While the boys were doing their work, I got to see Cal do some of her "stuff" at gymnastics, we picked up our 22 lb bird, and did a little more grocery shopping for Thanksgiving.

We offered to host our "friends" Thanksgiving this year.  This year there were 4 families (9 kids between the ages of 2-11 and 8 adults).  We have alternated for the past 4 years between the Plimpton-Harris house and the Ganz Clan's place.  I knew that we had less to offer for the kids to do, but I hoped everyone would be happy to be together.  

Claire and I woke up with the birds and got our own fun out of our systems before I had to be home to cook the aforementioned bird (which I had brined overnight).  The skiing was amazing and it set the day up in such a perfect way.  

The families all got here and the kids set out to sled, while the dad's got an outdoor fire going and the mom's made the finishing touches on the meal.

We set up a table for the kids:

And a table for the big kids:

There were several outfit changes:

And we felt like we were moving and grooving:

In the end, it was a fun gathering.  The adults and the younger kids had a great time.  Unfortunately, the older gals got "bored".  I can't really blame them, as our house is not really equipped to entertain "tweens", and felt bad that we didn't have "stuff" to do.  It's so foreign for me to have the time to be bored these days, so it's not something I fret about too much.  I know that the time will come for my kids to say the same thing.  I will recite a saying that my mother always said to me, "only boring people get bored", but I'm sure that it will come up with resistance.  I'm hopeful that I will be patient and understanding, but something tells me I might not.

The rest of the week was filled with sunny ski days, a Christmas tree lighting, a hockey games, a trip to the Swimming Hole, and a visit with cousins:

I'm really thankful for my family, good friends, sunshine, snow, home improvement projects, time off from work, sleep, relaxation, and all the love in my life.

Milestones

It's official, we are a diaper free family!  I'm still not willing to say it was "easy", but it sort of was this time.  Everyone told me not to rush boys...... "if they aren't ready, they aren't ready", I was told.  But I was still really, really wanting to stop the flow of waste to the dump, the grossness factor, and the expense of diapers.  H really didn't show ANY interest this past summer, whereas Cally was interested right when she was a few months past two.  She, was a whole complicated story in terms of being fully diaper free.  She was great with the pee by 2.5 years and was diaper free at 2 and three quarters. 

 

For the past few months, we've offered Hazen jelly beans, gummy bears, lollipops, stickers, etc. to get him to use the potty.  We were getting nothing.  No interest in the potty and no interest in the aforementioned rewards.  

A week and a half ago, I had this moment of weakness where I mentioned to Hazen that Santa just might give "big boys"  (aka boys who use the potty) more presents.  The words came out of my mouth and I was horrified.  He asked a few questions about Santa and his elves and how they knew what he was or was not doing.  I made up something and then let it go.

Later that day, we were at a kids consignment shop, looking for pants, and Hazen was hiding behind a rack of clothes, informing me that he was "pooping".  We had dropped Cally and John at the grocery store to get some stuff and killing time, so I walked him to the bathroom to change him.  When I looked at his diaper, I realized it was clean.  I immediately sat him on the potty and he didn't fight me (as he usually had).  He was all proud, even let out a little fart, and then someone started knocking on the door.  I gave him a minute or so, but nothing was happening, so I decided to let that person go and then return to the toilet to try again (there was only one bathroom in the place).  

Unfortunately, the woman waiting to use the toilet was in a wheel chair with an oxygen tank and she offered to let another little boy go before her.  I sat H on my lap and told him to be patient, we'd return to the toilet.  As we waited, we got a text from John saying that they were done at the grocery store........ After 10 minutes, we finally got back into the bathroom.  I sat him on the toilet, told him how proud I'd be if he pooped in the potty and then heard someone else knock on the door?!?!?!?  We waited a minute or two, nothing happened, so I aborted the mission and we headed to pick up John and Cal.

We needed to stop at Bed Bath and Beyond, so I decided to try one more time.  Still nothing.  On the way home, we all spelled a poop and lamented about how sad we were to have missed the opportunity.  When we got home, I got distracted by unloading groceries and he asked me to change him.  I reluctantly went up stairs to change another dirty diaper and found it was still empty.  I sat him on the potty and told him to just try to do it in the potty and then offered a whole lot of high fructose sugar options.  Low and behold, it worked!  He pooped in the potty!  Then he peed and pooped in the potty the rest of the weekend and the next day at Tammy's, like he'd always been doing it.  

On the following Tuesday, known as "Mission Day with Dad", he had three accidents by noon.  John said he "asked" Hazen if he had to go to the bathroom plenty of times, but didn't bring him to the potty.  Since then, he's had no accidents. We are so amazed at how easy it ended up being, and proud of H.  

While it is exciting to be out with the diapers and changing table and all that, it is a little bitter sweet.  It means we really don't have babies in the house anymore.  But fortunately, our good friends, Cath and Ty, just welcomed a new bundle of joy to our world.

Mazzy Pearce Merritt was born on November 2nd and she's just what we all need.  A beautiful newborn baby that we can hold and rock and love, but not lose sleep over. 

In other news, we've been sledding and skiing!  And that makes all of the Abbott's happy!

But the snow didn't stick around, so we got back on those horses at Medora's and both kids are feeling so much more comfortable on this gentle giant:

Milestones are just that.  Place markers, of sorts.  They are timestamps that we remember for the rest of our life.  It's not that I want to rush my kids and have them grow up more quickly.  In fact, there are many moments where I just want to freeze the gingers in time.  However, for me, potty training is one of the most sought after milestone to reach.  Knowing just how hard it can be, I am so happy to have this is behind us. And we couldn't have reached this milestone without the best "cheer leader" of all.  Big Sister Cal!

Halloween

Here's to my little monkey and dragon!  These guys LOVE halloween!  I kind of don't, but it's hard to be a curmudgeon about it when they are so excited about dressing up, carving pumpkins, and seeing the pumpkin glow.  Part of the problem is that I'm not very creative.  I've got friends who come up with costumes like this:

And I pull off last minute costumes like this: (note everyone else is creative here, but me)

I was supposed to be "spring", but I forgot the main part of my costume.   Here is Hazen wearing my one attempt at creativity.

When I showed up at one of the two adult parties we were to attend without my "head piece", my friend turned to me and said, "Who are you????? Cally?".  It doesn't help that this time of year is always the end of the marking quarter for me, a kid or two is usually sick, and we never know if we are going to pull off a sitter.  But I am learning to get into it for the kids.

On the Sunday before Halloween, Cally and I went on a girls date with Thompson and Susan to Shelburne Museum.  The girls had a ball, the weather cooperated, and we even got to see some culture.

Meanwhile, this guy was home with a cough..... which turned into difficulty getting enough oxygen and a late night visit to Dr. Parker on Sunday night.  As luck would have it, I noticed Hazen "belly breathing" right before bed.  We dreaded having to take him to the hospital (his respirations were about 48 per minute), but are lucky to have an amazing doctor who was willing to open up his office and meet John and Hazen at 8:30pm on a Sunday night.  When Hazen arrived, his oxygen levels were too low, but after a few sessions on the nebulizer, his saturation level went up and they came home with a new machine to help him cope with his new diagnosis of asthma.

He doesn't mind sitting with his dinosaur mask at all.  Fortunately, within a few days, he was doing a lot better, so we got to hit the Pumpkin Glow in Jericho on Wednesday night. One of my colleagues who has retired, coordinates the growing and carving of hundreds of pumpkins.  We make it a part of our Halloween tradition every year.  This year, John had class, so I took the kids on my own.  It gets a little scary dodging all the cars, but is worth it, for sure.

On Halloween, the kids woke up and were thrilled to wear their costumes all day at Tammy's.  Kids aren't allowed to get dressed up at Poker Hill, so Cally was very excited to be at Tammy's for the day.  Apparently, they did take them off for a  few hours during quiet time, but they put them right back on in the afternoon-- ready to take to the streets of Jericho Center right after a quick dinner of real food.

The Jericho Center Store has a really great "haunted barn" and we hit about 7 homes on the green before heading home.  Tom and Cara joined us in the rain, which was totally sweet

A fun "day after Halloween" hike at Mills Riverside Park with Mt. Mansfield in the background.

A colleague and his wife decided it would be funny to dress as the Abbott's for Halloween this year.  The costume was pretty accurate, except that I've never broken a bone nor been in a sling and it wasn't Zephy's tail that got hurt, it was her rear leg......... 

My boys: