Ahhh Sweet Silence

Now that Captain Chaos has an ever-expanding vocabulary, he loves to try out his words. All the time. Loudly.

I know what you're saying...just wait, and you asked for it...this is true. I know there will be harder things to bear coming as the kids grow...HOWEVER...why do toddlers feel it necessary to wander through the house, shouting at the top of their lungs "POOP!" This is Captain's favorite new word and I can only thank the good Lord that he has not decided to shout it while we're out shopping...but I know that too will come...All afternoon yesterday he was walking with his determined walk (the one where he sounds like he's stomping through the house), swinging his arms, and yelling that one word over and over and over. I admit, BB and I could not find a better word appropriate for anyone in our house to use as we enter the early stages of potty training, and we have been asking him "Did you poop?" when he is stinky...so I can only say I brought this on myself.

In my defense, I do read to him, lots of books throughout the day, and through our "Picture Bible" (which is set up like a comic book...very cool!) at bedtime, but do you suppose he could walk around the house yelling "NEMO!" or "bear" or any of the other multitudinous words he DOES know? SIGH

As I said...it could be worse. Last night at bedtime, and again this morning, during diaper changes, he would not stop touching his bum. Normally, we say "Yes, that's your bottom. We don't touch our bottom with our hands while its dirty." and he stops and says "Blech!"

Is this one step closer to being ready to actually USE his potty chair as a potty, rather than a stepstool, or a chair to read his books on? He drags that thing all through the house (thankfully it's never been used), so I know he's used to it...should we now begin the sitting without the pants and diaper?


But I digress...the silence today is golden. Tiny Princess had her checkup yesterday (see below), and after a blessed 3 hour nap, she awoke, cranky, irritable, and SORE. Poor little girl! As a result, she was, to quote Anne Shirley, fretful. She would not stop whimpering, did not want to be held, or in the swing, or in the bouncy, or in bed, or on the floor, or in the car seat...it was an ordeal. To add to that, because I was trying so hard to keep things normal, Tiny Princess would go from whimpering to SCREAMING if I put her down for more than 10 minutes at a time. Then, because I was interrupted in story reading, or Lego building, Captain Chaos would get jealous and either throw things to the floor in anger, or start crying himself. It was all I could do NOT to go get the bottle of Jack Daniels and lace Captain's naptime milk with a shot, and worse, take a shot myself!

Thankfully, about 3pm, Tiny Princess fell into an exhausted sleep, which lasted 1 hour. At the same time, Captain Chaos also crashed for an hour. I took advantage, threw them both into their beds, and ran around the house like a crazy woman trying to finish up BB's tax papers for his business, so we can send our info to MIL (our accountant). Just as the kids were waking up, I remembered I had to run something to the post office RIGHT AWAY! or it would be late, which would be bad...so I threw the kids into the truck, and zoomed out of the driveway. I returned some things to Target, and we were wandering around the store (I was not about to let the effort of getting them into the car and then into the cart at the store be only for a 5 minute stop) when my folks called the cell phone. They, bless their hearts, had invited us to dinner. I jumped on the chance, and we met them at the restaurant, and enjoyed a peaceful dinner. The kids were perfectly behaved! Of course, then BB was mad because we ended up splitting dinner...when he thought that because we were invited to join them, they were paying...oops...well, its a good thing that March is in the home stretch, because he's looking at our finances and getting stressed out.

His annual review is coming up, so be praying that this year he'll get more than he's had in the years prior. He would really feel better if we had more money coming in. I keep reminding him that about 30% of his salary is going to buy stock and into his 401(k), and asking if we could not do that for a year...that extra 30% would make the payment on our stupid timeshare...but he's concerned about our future too...

SO, today, when the Tiny Princess and Captain awake, we're going to get the girl's birth certificate, find out about state aid (not that I think we'll qualify), and then try to meet BB for lunch at his friend's restaurant. mmmm...pizza again...ick...