No pizza till when?!

Hello again dear friends and family! The boys have been great this week. Wy is experimenting with new words. I am worried that he isn't saying full words, just the first syllable. On the other hand, his vocabulary is growing rapidly and if you listen carefully you can understand what he is saying. He loves to sit in someone's lap to have a book read to him. He knows when to turn the page and after doing so he will clap his little hands and say "Yay! Yay! Yay!"

He was looking at mom's computer the other day. (Her wallpaper is a hodge-podge of family photos.) Wy kept pointing and saying something over and over. I kept trying to move him so I could check my e-mail, but he would not be moved. I finally realized he was pointing to a picture of John and saying "Da-ee! Da-ee! Da-ee!" I told him he was just right and did a great job! He says "Key! Key! Key!" whenever he sees the cats. He has learned about the color "bwu-bwu-bwu." He can say and point to his "shoe, shoe, shoe." And if you say "OK!" he will reply with "K! K! K!" And I pray no one hears him when he does that.

The boys got their flu shots yesterday. Wyatt knew something bad was going down the second Gammy took his pants off. He was not having it and began to throw a fit. I sent Gammy to grab a few lollipops from the nurse's desk. Mama and I were waving lollies all around the place as the boys were getting shots. Let me tell you, there may have been screaming coming from the other rooms (it was a flu shot drive at the dr.'s office) but there was minimal crying from our little cubby! Mommy's diversionary tactics win again!!!

Have I told you that the wrasslin has begun? So far these two like to wrassle in the middle of a love fest. Hugs and kisses abound and then they start tickling each other and 3 seconds later there is virtual body slamming and they are squealing with delight. I'm just waiting for someone's head to split open...

Jack has finally accepted the fact that "I'm free!" and displays 3 fingers proudly. We have been working all week on "What is your name?" "Where do you live?" and "What is Mommy's phone number?" He has some success with our address: it comes out something like "aa-ee-aa firty one Ha-yee!"

Jack now likes to eat "popScorn" and asks to have candy or ice cream for breakfast. I simply suggest cereal or eggs. He looked at me the other day and said "Mommy, Wyatt's a siddy goose" and walked off. He has also found a tiny toy camera (the viewfinder kind that comes with a happy meal) and has started walking around the house taking pictures: "Smile!" click. "Say cheese!" click. And "Smile 20, Mommy." (I don't understand that one at all so we are all out of luck.)

He has also taken to being a ghost. He loves to toss a blanket over his head and walk around saying "I need a yetter BEEEEEEE!" in a VERY convincing ghost voice. I had no idea what the "letter B" business was about until someone at work started chanting it. He said there is a ghost on Sesame Street who searches for letters.

I must tell you it is really funny to hear a three year old say "Awesommmmme..."

Finally I come to the pizza portion of the evening. I am almost at wit's end. I have no idea what else to do about getting Jack to fully use the potty chair and do it consistently. I have tried having him go around naked - but after about 30 minutes he goes and puts on a pair of pull ups and says "I DID IT!" I have finally given in and switched to the cloth "unaware" (as Jack calls them) and plastic panties. I have tried to avoid this route because I just can't deal with cleaning out 'unaware' every hour... But I hear that being a mommy isn't always about what mommy likes and doesn't like and so we are switching to cloth panties. That doesn't really mean anything to Jack. What he doesn't really understand yet is that I have decreed that Jack shall not have pizza till he "poops in the potty chair." This is a pretty big deal at my house. Because of this, everyone is now chanting about poop at my house. "Jack, do you have to poop?" "Jack, do you want to poop?" "Jack let's try to poop." Every other word at my house is poop.

To be honest, I was surprised when no one said my tactic was too harsh. It is just the only thing I can think of that might actually MOTIVATE him to go somewhere other than in his pants. (I'm sure one day he will read these and be horrified with me.) Anyway, with all the poop talk going on this week I have been running around thinking "poopin for pizza" like it's a game show or something.

Dear friends, every week I think to myself "just a short one today." And it seems to never fail that I write a mini novel. Well, I hope we bring a little sunlight to your otherwise drab day! Some of you we will see sooner than others, but we wish God's blessings on each and every one of you.

love, a, j, j & y