Happy Saturday...

It's supposed to be beautiful outside today. I'm hoping for some quality playing outside time/bike riding time for the boys. I may even bring my camera out of hibernation. It gets really old taking pictures of the kids in the same old living room setting all winter. LOL. So it hasn't come out much in the last month or so.

Tom and his dad are starting work on our laundry room makeover this morning. Today's activities don't actually involve the laundry room though. They are doing some shelf building in the attic and putting in some more floorboards to make room for a lot of the things we'll need to move out of the laundry room. (and will help IMMENSELY with the organization up there). I'm excited for the coming year because once Three comes, the giant purge-o-baby-stuff will begin, one box of clothes at a time. I'm saving the nicest things for whoever has a boy next and I'll hang on to the toys that have held up the best over six years. But for the most part, I am on a clearing out mission. About 3/4 of the contents of my attic right now are baby clothes, maternity clothes and baby gear!!!

Simon and I test drove our new pediatrician yesterday and were immediately won over. Simon was pretty apprehensive when we were walking back to the exam room, but then the doctor came in and immediately got him laughing and he didn't stop for the entire time we were in there. Surprisingly, Simon did not have an ear infection as suspected but the doctor is putting him on preventive antibiotics until his sniffles are completely gone to keep him from getting one. (even HE was surprised Simon didn't have an ear infection) Hello, can we say brilliant? He said hopefully with this tactic, we can avoid any more ear tube placements and the adenoid surgery that Ben had. So yay for that!

Anyway, off to get some chores done and then enjoy this sunny Saturday! :)

Two Things...

1) I put a homemade South Korean flag in Ben's lunchbox today as a surprise. (he's been bugging me to print one out on the computer) I'm betting he's the only kid in the history of kids to think this is the coolest lunch bag surprise EVER. I kept looking at the clock to see if it was 11:30 yet because that's when lunch starts at school. ;)

2) Don't tell Simon this, but he has officially pretty much become way too big for me to physically force him to do anything he doesn't want to do. He was resisting going upstairs for his nap today and I had to trick him into racing me up the stairs because truly, I could NOT lift him to carry him up. I can pick him up under normal circumstances, but definitely not when he's resistant. Thankfully, he falls for a lot of my tricks, plus, we have a very well-established "sit on the naughty step" routine for when he doesn't listen. Lately, all I have to do is threaten the naughty step and he straightens up. Have I mentioned he weighs 34-1/2 pounds these days? SHEESH.

Cat in the Hat and My Computer Junkie...

It was Dr. Seuss' birthday yesterday and Ben came home from school like this. ;) Too cute.


And here's Simon... who I kid you not, would sit here, at the kitchen table, all. day. long. and play on PBSkids.org. I especially love the open-mouthed stare.

LOL!

I asked Simon if he wanted to go put some socks on and replied,

"No. I want naked feet!"

I Think We've Been Watching Too Much Olympics...

Last night, Tom was watching part of Pirates of the Caribbean with the boys before bed. Ben had brought one of his flags down that he had deemed a pirate flag. During a huge battle scene, Simon jumped up, started waving the pirate flag around and yelling, "Go Pirates!!! Go Pirates!!! Go Pirates!!!!"

ROFL.

Funny Simon...

Simon was begging me earlier to play on the PBS Kids website. He had already spent a ton of time on there this morning before Ben left for school, so I told him no.

The response I got?

"Mommy, THAT is not the word I want you to say. You are supposed to say the word 'yes'! Now say the word, 'yes'!"

LOL!

(the answer was still no)

Such a Great Big Brother...

A little backstory: Simon has hung out around 90% potty trained since summertime. He's great with the #2 but there are days where, if I don't take him to the potty every so often, he'll just pee in his pants and THEN tell me he has to pee-pee..,. over and over and over. True, it's no big deal for me to make him go every so often, and it mostly beats changing diapers, but that is not technically "potty trained" and it certainly won't cut it for preschool in the fall. I've been paranoid that we're going to be stuck in this rut forever and have vowed to never again let a two-year-old insist on not wearing a diaper... that I will definitely wait until Three is much closer to Three before even attempting it.

Anyway, so Ben has heard us begging Simon with every pants/underwear change to please tell us he needs to go BEFORE he pees his pants.

So miraculously, for three straight days, Simon's been doing AWESOME. It's like he turned a corner out of nowhere.

Yesterday morning, after Simon emerged from a successful bathroom run, Ben said, "Can we go upstairs now?" I said sure and we trudged upstairs.

Ben said to Simon, "Okay buddy! Now you get to pick your Lego guy! Which one do you want?"

He then proceeded to explain to me that he had told Simon three days ago that if he told Tom and I that he needed to pee pee and kept his pants dry, that he would let him choose a Lego guy. Come to think of it, I had heard him mentioning something about choosing a Lego guy to Simon on and off for the last few days. So he had offered him the reward AND kept reminding him of it.

(jaw drop)

Is he not the best big brother ever?! Gosh, I love that kid...

Simon is 33 Months Old Today!

Dear Simon,

Today you are 2-3/4! :)

You are such a big boy these days. You try to do everything for yourself and of course, want to do everything the way Ben does. I was walking you down the stairs this morning (since you seem to be my child who has a penchant for falling up and down the stairs constantly) and four steps from the bottom you shook my hand off of yours disgustedly saying, "Let GO of me!" We also hear plenty of "I can do it." and "I'll do it all by myself!!!"

You are definitely my lovebug baby... always ready with kisses and hugs. One of your favorite things to do lately (since we've been spending so much time inside) is something we call "snugglebuggle" where you climb right next to me, lay your head on my chest and snuggle right up. I love it. :)

As always, you keep us laughing. These days, you have even taken to doing impressions of things you hear, which is a riot. You chatter non-stop about this and that and really are just quite the little clown.

Your darker side though is that you definitely like things to be your way or the highway...you have less staying power than your brother when it comes to this though, so usually just ignoring you for awhile gets the job done.

You love to paint and you love to sing. Lately, you've been really into the Zoom Zoom Airplane song from school. You also love your books and are especially a fan of Curious George lately.

We're planning your third birthday now. You are old enough to pick out your own cake this year. I suspect it will be a sports theme of some kind. ;) The question is, how will you decide from among all the sports that you love so much! I'm thinking a bowling cake might win out. ;)

People keep asking me how you feel about a new brother or sister coming along and honestly, you are pretty much oblivious, as was your brother at the same age. I'm a little more nervous about how you will take it than I was with your brother, but we'll figure it out. You have a strong enough personality, are so outgoing and have so many wonderful things that make you YOU, that I suspect you will never feel upstaged even in the middle of a threesome of siblings. That's my hope anyway...

That's this month, Little Dude. We're getting ever closer to three!

Love,
Mommy