Googled

A few people have told me about some funny search terms that led people to their blog. Now, I have one of my own. Someone found my blog by searching on these words "ways to make a stubborn teenager wear a diaper" Thank goodness I don't have that problem.

Turtle mania

Those of you that know David, know that he loves turtles. I guess I was wrong when I thought it was just a temporary phase. It's still everything turtles. In fact, he could be this kid. At school they had to write a page on what they would do if they caught a leprechaun. I just thought it was cute and I wanted to share. I'll leave the original spelling intact and use parentheses when you might need a little translation.

If I caught a leprechaun on St. Patricks's Day and he grantid me 3 wishes. This is haw I would do it. I would make a trap with fake gold in it and a fore lefe clovr. "I caught a leprechaun" I sead. "I get 3 wishes. I wish I got a turtel. I wishes I got a turtel take (tank) I wishes I got turtel food. I love turtels ther oswm (awesome) fantastik amazing!" I sated (stated? I'm not sure) "I get like turtels, turtels, turtels, turtels!" "a turtel?" I shated (shouted?) the turtel was a panted (painted) turtel.

I guess he's not letting this turtle craze go anytime soon. I just thought it was cute that each wish was something else for the turtle. It's probably because when he keeps asking for a turtle I tell him that we would need a bunch of other stuff - like the tank and the food. I guess he just wanted to make sure his bases were covered with the leprechaun.

One Lucky Boy

David's teacher at school suggested a motivational tool to help David stay on task and complete all his work at school. Each day she will send home a sheet with 10 squares and if he finishes his work, he gets a smiley face stamp. If all the squares on the paper are stamped, then he gets a reward at home - that's where I come in. The school counselor said a "grab bag" works really well. Put 40-50 things on slips of paper and put them in a bag. These things are simple - pick what's for dinner, mom reads you a story, 15 minutes extra at bedtime, a quarter, mom puts your clothes away, etc. Things that would motivate a kid and something that can be given or done that day. Then, if they have had a good day at school, they get to draw out one slip of paper. She suggested that one item be something really big - like $5.00, so that they have the excitement of maybe picking out that big item. So, today after school we brainstormed a bunch of ideas. Several papers had very small money amounts - a nickel, a dime, a quarter. I put one paper (out of 40) that had 5.00 written on it. The rest were similar to the suggestions, basically a special time spent with David. Anyway, you can probably guess what happened today, the very first day that we tried it - David pulled out the slip with $5.00. You are supposed to put that paper back in the bag, but I think I'll leave that one out. With his luck, he could be pulling in $25 a week! Hopefully having some motivation of something special at home will help him stay focused at school.

I want to be a missionary now

I had been waiting until David was 8 to get him a little suit to wear to church. While it does make them look very nice, little boy's suits can be expensive and they grow out of them pretty quickly. Since Easter was coming and David turns 8 in May, I thought that his new Easter outfit could be a suit and it would save me from buying 2 different Sunday outfits. I saw that the dress up clothes were on sale at Sears. So, I went hoping to find something for 30-40 dollars. I found some suits that were originally 59.99 and the sign said 30% off. So, I went to the register preparing to pay about 40 dollars. I was pleasantly surprised when it rang up at 17.99. I thought maybe at that price I should get one for Josh as well. I found a suit in Josh's size. I was a little worried because it was a different brand. I had someone check the price and again I was surprised - 13.99. I would almost spend that much just getting him a pair of pants! So, even though it wasn't Easter yet, my 2 boys were dying to wear their new Sunday clothes. On Saturday they each got a haircut as well. So, my two little boys went to church looking quite sharp. Now I just have to make sure they keep them clean - they are dry clean only!

After nearly 10 years...

I am done changing diapers! I can hardly believe it. Since Emma is the youngest, I didn't really have as much motivation in potty training her. I am pretty busy during the day and it is a little more convenient to have a child in diapers. But, I decided it was time. She is going to be three in a few months. I had forgotten how hard the first few days are. Even though I have 4 kids and I have done this 3 times before, you always forget - kind of like how you forget how hard it is to be pregnant. But, after 3 days, she really caught on. Now we've gone a full week with no accidents of any kind. She has no problem using the potty at church or at the gym. She always tells me and is capable of holding it if we are not near a bathroom. I even have half a package of diapers that I probably won't ever use. She is still not dry at night, but is very stubborn - she refuses to wear a diaper. So, my last bit of dealing with diapers is taking off a wet pull-up in the morning, and that is pretty easy to deal with.

One reason I didn't want to potty train Emma was that she still wanted to sleep in her crib. I thought I can't have a child in a crib that is potty trained because they won't be able to get up and use the bathroom if they need to. So, I came up with a solution that works pretty well - I took the side off of the crib. It's pretty much my own homemade toddler bed. I guess I never thought of it before because we were always using the crib for the next baby. So, my littlest one is sleeping in a "big girl bed" and is potty trained. I think my problem now is that I don't have a baby anymore. Which makes me sad, but also happy at the same time. I guess I should probably enjoy these few years in between having a baby and having teenagers.