Monday May 26

The other night Nathan, Noah, and Zach were out watching television. Noah came in and went to bed but the other two were still out watching television. After 30 minutes with neither coming into the bedroom I went out to see why. The picture above explains why, Zach fell asleep on Nathan and Nathan couldn't get out from underneath him. When asked what happened Nathan responded, "Zach was so tired so I told him to put his head down on me."

Zachary is working hard at not wearing diapers anymore. I'm a firm believer in waiting until the child is ready to potty train to train him. Last Thursday Zach decided he didn't want to wear diapers anymore. He was not really ready for underwear on Thursday and we had lots and lots of accidents but now at 9 days into the underwear program we are only have poop accidents for the last 48 hours. He doesn't even want to wear the diaper at night and has been waking up dry but I'm not quite daring enough to let him skip the diaper at night. It took Nathan 4 1/2 years to want to give up diapers but the day he decided to give them up we never had an accident. He's sleeping through the night without a diaper now. I've found that waiting for them to be ready puts less stress on me and the child. Noah is pretty close to being trained too although he will not give up a diaper. However nighttime training for him is a long way off.

Sunday May 18

The kids are so tired they can't sleep. I hate when that happens. They have been cranky little suckers for the last week but yesterday and today have put me over the top. I'm really hoping they go to bed early tonight.

On a brighter note the kids are really going to town with the birds. They can identify several different birds and let me know when the feeders are empty. They also know which birds like which food and can get the food for them if needed.

Nathan is plugging along at reading. He finished one book and we are starting on the next book of sounds. He can count to 100 but needs help with 13, and all the 10's (like twenty, thirty, etc.), and he recites the ABC's.

Noah and Zachary like to copy Nathan so they've picked up how to count to about twenty. The can do the abc's although they get confused. Noah can also read the same book Nathan can. Both are close to potty training. I'm one to wait until they are ready so I don't have to deal with accidents. It worked great with Nathan as he woke up one morning and decided to wear underwear and we've never had an accident. Zachary for the last 4 days has insisted on underwear. He's had a few accidents mainly when I'm not hounding him about going to the bathroom.

Wednesday May 7

We've been busy little bees the last few weeks. For Earth day we took the kids to Antelope Island again. Nathan wasn't pleased with the smell that day. We were also told by the kids they didn't want to try the beach again (see older post about the horrible beach experience). They loved all the fun activities there. Favorites again:

Fielding Garr ranch house

seeing the buffalo up close

playing with the chickens

getting the roosters to talk to them

playing cowboy and using the lasso

the old wagon camper

A new favorite of the kids and mine: bird watching. Noah will sit at the window with the three bird books we have and call out everytime a bird comes to the feeders. The blue jays are providing us ample watching time. All three boys know the blue jays, robins, and chickadees by name. I'm sensing a trip to Tracy Avairy and some new books on birds for the boys.