Merry Tape-mas

There is just something about tape. For our boys, it's a must have item for all kinds of things. They're always asking for a piece of tape. Tonight it was the magic for CSR in his stringing up Christmas lights in the living room.



He used blue electrical tape (I kinda wish we had green). I hope the electrical tape is better for the lights than what would have been the other choice-- packaging tape. But we ran out of that this morning. We now have an official tape shortage-- there is no more packaging, masking, double-sided or Scotch tape left in the house.

Potty All The Time

The adventures in RTR's potty training continue. On Sunday, he made it to the bathroom but not exactly on target with the toilet-- mostly going on the floor and step stool. On Monday, he did really well at preschool-- actually peeing in the potty chair two times. Although one of those times ended with a change of clothes due to some unfortunate aim-- which was my fault. The M&Ms are a pretty good incentive as long as I have some onhand. I need to get a bag of them since the supply from the Halloween candy has been used up. I ended up buying a handful from a candy machine at the Senior Center this morning. Now it's on to Whoppers-- from the Halloween stash-- just don't tell the boys.

Potty Training

It's on to a new phase with RTR. He is doing away with the diaper. At least part of the time. After promising for weeks to find the big boy underwear (in the hand-me-down bins in the garage), I finally found them and pulled them out. So RTR had his first run in them today. As incentive I told him that every time he went pee in the toilet he could have an M&M. But I think I didn't make myself very clear. He ran into the bathroom, stepped up to the toilet-- on a stool-- pulled down his underwear, made a "sssss" sound with his mouth and then demanded his "M". I explained that he had to really go in the potty in order to get the candy. He wasn't so impressed with that idea. I never got him to pee in the toilet, but did hand out three M&Ms. I figure it's a first step. Of course, I also had to change his pants two times.

Aloha!

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to Maui. Nothing like sun, sand and surf. Mai Tais and banana pancakes don't hurt either (not together of course).

The Dog Ate My Home Work

Okay, after more than a month of not posting anything, I'm trying to get back in the saddle. The absence isn't because of a lack of anything noteworthy to blog about. But here's a recent incident. CSR got the idea to build a candy house using some of his Halloween loot. So while I was off at a meeting TSR and CSR got out the graham crackers, frosting and candy. CSR might follow in his dad's and grandpa's engineering footsteps. He put together a pretty good house... a lollipop tree, a Kit Kat bench, gum drop berry bushes. But then disaster struck. While home alone, the dog, Abby, munched down the whole thing. The only things we found were the lollipop and the paper plate the house on which the house was built. CSR was crushed. I was quite shocked-- the house had made it through one night and much of the day with little attention from the dog. Apparently when you let your guard down, that's when this dog strikes.