A boy and his chicken

At Bubba's school there are 3 chickens. They are free to roam the school grounds during the day. They are amazing chickens as they allow the children to chase them and carry them around. Bubba loves one of the chickens..the poppy chicken. Poppy chicken just happens to have the same name as his grandfather. Very sweet coincidence.

Here is my little boy and his chicken...

Now...I have to admit, in all my years at the school I have yet to be brave enough to reach out and pick up any of the chickens even though I have watched many children do so. Maybe this year I will be brave enough. I'm sure Bubba would help me.

Bubba's 1st day of school

Here's my baby boy ready to head off to his first day of school. He was so excited especially after watching his big brother go to school the day before. We had a lovely first day. The weather was in the 100's in town so it was a very nice low 80's in the mtns. What a treat! It's quite a hike from the parking area to the outdoor classroom. Bubba had to carry his own backpack and it was little touch and go. I wasn't sure if was going to make it up the .5 mile incline in one piece. But when he made it to the top and the redwood grove came into view and he could once again see the sandbox and the teepee, the trucks and rakes and the kids playing he was all smiles again. He quickly handed off his backpack and settled into the sand. We later made our way over to the creek. Bubba had fun following his cousin and teacher over tree logs and navigating the rocky waters. So much steadier on his feet than last spring! He found two banana slugs and had his teacher move them so they could be together and out of the way of little rainboot covered feet.

The rest of the morning included snack time, story time, going for a hike, playing in the sand box, singing songs, circle time and lunch box time and meeting new friends. It looks like it will be another fun class with lots of great people.

I'm so happy that we are carpooling again with my lovely nephew and my sister. Bubba had a great day and I'm sure he will do just fine on Auntie's day to drive. Good luck to her!

Brothers for Life...

I'm always amazed how well these two can play together, work together and just be together. Yes, they have their unsibling moments of hitting, yelling, taking each others toys, throwing things at each other. But for the majority of time they are great friends. I love listening in on their play. As I'm typing this they are playing in BW's room. I have a video monitor with sound on my desk so I can see what they are upto during their "nap" time. I think they forget that even though I'm downstairs I can see one boy sneak out of his room and join the other boy. They are being super silly right now. BW helped his younger brother take off his shirt as that is the one article of clothing that Bubba can't get off. BW talked him through it while he pulled and yanked if off. They have stripped down to nothing and are flying around the room being super naked heros. Jumping off the bed and just laughing so loudly. Anyone else have boys that prefer their own skin to anything else? Their belly laughs dominate much of what they do. They are so silly together and can entertain each other for a long time. They seem to bring out the best in one another. I see that when they are together they support one another and help one another. It's amazing to me they do get along so well and have so much fun as they really are as different as night and day. I do hope that their relationship continues to strenghten with age. How lucky they are to have one another...brothers for life!

Potty training

Raising kids continually amazes me...you just have to roll with the punches and follow their lead. A lesson I'm contantly learning. So Bubba has been using the potty since he was 16 months old. His older brother is only 2 years older so when Bubba was just a year old he pretty much spent much of his time in the bathroom as his older brother was 3 and we were in there a lot for big brother. So it wasn't too surprising when he at 16 months wanted to sit on the potty too and was doing both #1 and #2 pretty quickly after. But I didn't hold my breath and expect that he would be potty trained by 2 years. I figured by 3 years like brother for sure, as that seemed to be the magic age I saw with all the kids in my playgroups and preschool.

So sure enough he turned 2 and suddenly wasn't that interested in it anymore. We backed off and if he didn't want to go that was fine. He was in pulls ups now and we packed away the changing table and diaper genie into future sister's room and became used to the new routine of pullups and dumping the load into the potty and flushing it so Bubba got used to the idea of the potty. Too much info...I know, if you wanted to skip this post I'm sure you wished you had now!!

So imagine my surprise when we were on vacation and suddenly Bubba was dry everytime I would check. Okay..roll with the punches..not expecting new changes while on vacation but we can do this no problem. So we increased our times visiting the potty. When you are on vacation and you have to visit every public bathroom you become pretty efficient about what you have to accomplish so your child is not touching everything in that 2' space. Yuck!! Total sidenote: I really hate public bathrooms and I especially hate to visit a restaurant that I just enjoyed eating at and then see how nasty and unkept their bathroom is. Makes me wonder what the kitchen looks like and their santitation habits...you know what I mean? So I was very surprised that this was the time Bubba decided he wanted to be potty trained. We went with it and took him as often as he needed.

We hadn't been sleeping as well as our normal routine at home. Sometimes the kids were going to bed at 10pm or 11pm at night and once their heads hit the pillow they were out. This one night it must have been 2:30am and I hear at the foot of my bed a thump and then the bathroom light goes on and a "mommy help." Bless his heart, in the middle of his sleep, Bubba had thrown himself over the edge of his play and pack and navigated an unfamilar room, made it to the bathroom and was all tied up in his pjs bottoms trying to get them off. We were in time and he made it, but that told me..he wants this. He's continued being dry at home and so we made the trip to the store to buy his his big boy underwear. Never a prouder child have I seen. He has shown anyone he can that he wearing his new big boy underwear and makes such a big todo about which new pair to wear each time...elmo, spiderman or lighting mcqueen..such important choices!! He has had a few accidents and at night time we still put him in his pullups with his underwear over or under them depending on what he chooses. But this is a choice he has solely made and he is trying so hard and we are so proud of him. You go Bubba!! I guess with Bubba almost out of pullups I'm that much more ready for bringing home my baby girl!!




Update Sept 13: So I started the above post awhile ago and in the meantime, Bubba is still using the potty but we have had a few more relapses since school has started. He was pretty dry throughout the entire day since coming home from vacation and having accidents just in the evening and over the past 2 weeks we have had a few more accidents during the day. I know it is party my fault too. I got a little sidetracked with school starting and adjusting to the new schedule and haven't been as diligent about having him go as often. Shame on me!! I hope to do better this week. The good news: Bubba can now get his own pants and pullup off and climb on the potty himself and we are working on getting his legs in the right leg holes and once they are on he can pull up his pullups himself.

Update on Napping

Bubba has been actually sleeping these past 2 weeks during his rest time in his room. Yeah!! I hope this continues as he really seems to need it. Hopefully its more than just a growing period. We have actually had to wake him up most of the days. I've probably just jinxed myself by writing about it...we'll see.

Bathroom Talk

Bubba and I were sitting in his bathroom this evening as we do every evening as part of the routine for getting ready for bed. Well.. he was sitting on the toliet and I was keeping him company while we were waiting for him to make his "splashing poo poos" as he calls it. I noticed his legs were really dry from being out in the sun all day. I got the lotion out and was massaging his left leg and was asking him if that felt good. Bubba pauses, and then replies..."delicious." "what?" I say. "It's delicious," he replies. It was too funny and not quite the response I was expecting. Bubba cracks us up. We just never know what he is going to come up with.

What have you done for me lately??

Bubba...my very dear and difficult child. The child who makes me laugh so hard one minute and the very next is throwing a very public war of wills making me wonder if I am being an effective parent, had his dad home this week due to spring break. It was nice having daddy home, helping with the boys as we are trying to get through the final weeks of remodeling and there are so many last minute meetings and trips to the store. Somewhere during the week my clingy baby...the one who only wants momma...who has out and out meltdowns for me only, fell in love with daddy. And that was that. Only daddy...can wash my face, help me get dressed, bathe me, feed me, comfort me, put me to bed. It was nice in the beginning...my day was freed up to allow for all these hectic trips to the house and store but then it hit me and hit me hard. My baby didn't need me. It was like a switch turned on and I was out. It was driving me bananas. I tried so hard to get back into Bubba's good graces. The harder I tried the louder he hollared for daddy. I was trying to keep in mind how great that was for hubby...it is such a nice feeling to have your child need and want you so much...but it was still painful for me.

As I was complaining outloud one night...my very gracious hubby reminded me that our little bubba was of the what have you done for me lately type and as my hubby had been the one earlier in the week to get up Bubba, feed him breakfast, play with him so that I could get other things done, naturally he was wanting daddy to do it all for him. Sounded like a good theory although in the back of my mind I was thinking what if he is wrong about this theory.

To lessen my loss...I had boy wonder. Oddly enough, boy wonder wanted me more. He asked for me more and more especially during bed time which generally is daddy's time . It was great having that special time with boy wonder as I don't often get to put him down at night, just at naptime. He has such an active imagination and came up with all kinds of fun games to play after we read our final bedtime books. His favorite game of the week was pretending he was momma and I was him and we had some very interesting role playing.

This morning was the first day daddy went back to work. I was a little nervous going into Bubba's room and wondering what kind of loud tantrums were in store for me when he realized daddy was not there. I imagined I was going to have a very long day. He didn't even seem phased..didn't miss a beat when I poked my head in and said morning sleepyhead. He immediately started talking about his stuffed bear and I slowly picked him up and gave him many, many kisses, he started to laugh his silly boy giggles. So good to have you back little man. "Let's see brother," and he took my hand and led me down the hall and my little what have you done for me lately boy was mine, all mine again or until daddy walked in the door at 4pm.