10 Things

10 Things You're Likely to Hear While Spending a Day with the Grimes Fam

1. "To the mall...to the mall...to the mall...to the mall" (sung in 4 part harmony, barbershop quartet-style, usually on our way to the mall or just for the heck of it)
2. "Hey, wanna lick tongues?" said by either of the girls.
3. "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!"
4. The sounds of little feet running and jumping off of furniture.
5. Constant giggling.
6. The dishwasher.
7. A five-year-old girl talking to herself.
8. The phone ringing.
9. The tapping of a keyboard.
10. The sounds of toys being dumped out of a bin.

Notes from the Trenches: Potty Training, Day Six

I'm gonna go ahead and call it. It's a done deal. This kid is a 100%-undies-wearin' potty trained girl! Since Tuesday, I have carried around a little bag of extra clothes, pull ups, and undies for when we are out and about and she has not needed to use it even once. She has even been completely dry at naptime. We haven't been brave enough to do it at bedtime yet, but this morning her Pull Up was dry. Great job, Elly!

Notes from the Trenches: Day Five

Elly had her first accident in 3 days this morning...no big deal, just a little oops! then run to the bathroom! I am still impressed with this girl :)

Notes from the Trenches: Potty Training, Day Four

She is most definitely potty trained! Today I took her twice and then she has successfully gotten herself to the potty the rest of the time! No accidents for 36 hours and counting!

Of course since Elly was so easy now I think I am the expert ;), so here's my two cents on potty training for any of you moms with little ones who care what I think :)
It doesn't always go as smoothly as this--Eden was not quite as easy and she also had accidents for at least a month after I would have called her trained. But there are some good ways to do this without stressing about it. My first tip is not to use Pull Ups...I think this just prolongs it. Another thing is to take regular trips to the potty (every 30 min or so) and take books with you. This helped my squirrely girly sit long enough to actually get something accomplished and got her quiet and focused. I also loaded her up on drinks and snacks the first day so that every time we went in there she would go without much effort. That built muscle memory and also gave her success after success so she felt confidence. My other tip- don't start it when you are pregnant and nauseous! I did that with Eden and I was so grossed out I had a terrible time! That's my advice :)

Notes from the Trenches: Potty Training, Day Three

Wow, this kid is amazing. My mom always said you could potty-train a kid who is ready in two days. She might be right. Elly went all day, from 8am-2pm today with no accidents, using the potty IN A PUBLIC RESTROOM at the mall. She is asleep now without a Pull Up on...I thought I would give it a try...she is doing great!!

I am cautiously optimistic that she may just be the world's easiest potty trainer! I'm sure there are still accidents in our future, but for now, I am excited that she has done this well! Way to go Elly Belly!

Late Night with Eden O'Grimes

Eden fell asleep in the car on the way to Walmart last night, so this is how she fell asleep last night at 10:30pm...on the couch with us. She is a beauty though :)

Dough! (read with Homer Simpson voice)

We made homemade play dough today. The kids always love when I let them mix together random ingredients, but they weren't so keen on this today because it was wet and gooey and both of them got annoyed at it sticking to their fingers. Elly skipped her nap today so she was cranky with a capital Crank. Eden was tired as well from staying up late the night before, so she was a bit out of it as well. Nonetheless, they stirred together the ingredients, picked their color, and then I finished it up by making sure the dough was formed and working it into a ball before turning them loose with it. It is a very simple recipe from the First Christian Church Cookbook (thanks Maggie Merrick!):

1 c. flour (more if it needs thickened)
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix together! Add food coloring.

Here are the pics of our fun:





To those of you with a keen eye for detail, you might wonder why Elly is wearing Hot Pants on this wintry day...we ran out of undies (see Notes from the Trenches) so she's actually wearing her bikini bottom!



PAY NO ATTENTION to that mess behind the cute kids! We were having fun!! :)

Wintry Day

What a day! We got TONS of snow...but we actually got to enjoy the outdoors a bit. Dan went in early so he got off of work at 3pm and we played in the white stuff til 4:30! We made snow angels, had a snow ball fight, and started making a really pathetic snow man...and that's just what Dan and I did! :)


This is Eden climbing up our neighbor's snow pile and getting up into their tree...

You can see just how much we got...it was up to Elly's waist.



Leave it to the cheesy Grimes Fam to take a picture like this...14 inches...though that was the sidewalk that we snowblew...so we're thinking more like 12-13 or so.



Eden loves the snow--love, Loves, LOVES it! She cannot get enough. Elly is more liker her momma. When she gets wet and cold, she's headed inside!

Notes from the Trenches: Potty Training, Day Two

Day Two is going better than Day One. She had a small accident, but then got to the potty and was able to go on the potty, and I think, for the first time, actually emptied her bladder all the way instead of just going a little and then getting so excited the stream stopped :)

She has been dry now for an hour and she seems to know what to do...

Last night we ran errands in the car and she actually sat in her carseat and stayed dry the entire time! The we came home and she immediately wet her pants :) Oh well...that's all part of the learning!

Notes from the Trenches: Potty Training

Day one of Panties:

It's not going so well. Elly peed three times on the floor and in her panties. Apparently, she is not as pumped about keeping Hello Kitty dry as she was with Dora. She did, however, have a BM in the potty! I kept a good eye and her and fed her snacks until I thought she was ready...then we sat and read books til the time was right and she did it! She is not scared or anything, we just have to hit the right timing. She is telling me when she is going, it is just mid-stream, so to speak.

RANT

This is my rant for the day:

I CANNOT STAND TO BE IN THIS HOUSE FOR ANOTHER DAY! I AM GOING INSANE HERE PEOPLE. THERE IS SO MUCH SNOW OUTSIDE, I AM ABOUT TO PUKE! ICE, SNOW, RAIN, ICE, SNOW, RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, SNOW, AND ON AND ON AND ON...THIS HAS BEEN THE LONGEST WINTER OF MY LIFE! THE KIDS ARE ABOUT TO CRAWL UP THE WALLS!!!! HOW MANY TIMES CAN WE PLAY PLA-DOUGH AND MARKERS AND CHUTES AND LADDERS AND WATCH DORA VIDEOS BEFORE WE IMPLODE?

Ok, I feel better now.

Look How She's Grown

This was a collage we made of Eden a few weeks after she was born...she is not that tiny baby anymore! Where does the time go? I miss my snuggly baby but I certainly enjoy my conversations with my intelligent, witty, and beautiful little girl. She makes us laugh daily with her quirky comments and her unusual outlook on life :)

She's Really Doing It!

Elly is seriously potty training herself! Today she went 3 hours in panties without wetting them! She is serious about keeping Dora dry! I think we're gonna take the plunge and do this thing without Pull Ups. That seemed to work well with Eden. We'll do Pull Ups at night and at naptime (and maybe the first few days in the car ride to preschool) but the rest of the time we'll go for it! We may need a carpet cleaning at the end of the month, but we should (hopefully) emerge with a potty trained gal and a whole lot more expendable income! Diapers are expensive!!! :)

She's so funny on the potty. She loves sitting up there, though she is so little (and we don't have a little potty for her) she perches right on the edge. So I try to hold on to her so she doesn't fall off and she yells, "NO MOMMA! Don't hold me, I don't want to tinkle on you!"

Here is another recent family pic...we have to have several pictures for our dossier we send to Ethiopia.

Nothing to Say

I have nothing to post. I am just posting so that my last post isn't the gross one. :)