Look Ma! No hands! (and no clothes?)

N took M out on her bike last night… first time with the training wheels off. (We’ve been talking about doing that for about a year!) He said he didn’t know if he’d ever let go because she was so zig-zaggy. But he decided to just do it, and she picked it up right away. She can go a pretty good distance on her own and usually “stopped” only because she swerved off the path and into the grass. She was using her hand brakes and everything. I got a few pictures, got a little video. It was funny. I had to keep reminding her to watch where she was going and not to watch me and the camera! …because her bike usually ended up where she was watching. If her eyes were turned toward me, then her bike eventually came right towards me, too.

In the car today, L went year by year and told me which kids were going to be in school and which were going to be home with me. She started with the fall and said how she and M would be gone, but I’d still have three at home. It’d be like that for 2 years, and then B would be in school. Then the next year, S would join, and I’d only have T at home. She eventually got to T in school and no kids at home (“unless, of course, you have more kids by then,” she let me know). She was like, “Wow, Moma, and then you’ll get some quiet rest time everyday, don’t ya know?!” I asked her what she thought I’d do all day with no kids around the house. “Aww, Mom. You’ll go shopping and decorate the house cute.” What’s that supposed to mean… I don’t have a cute house?!:-)

B has been quite the ornery guy lately. At random times throughout the day, he has been quite opposed to wearing clothing. I’m literally forcing his clothes onto him. A couple of times, he’s come out the front door when I’ve been outside, and I turn and see him, and he’s completely naked. He goes into the house hollering and fussing because I’ve told him he needs to get dressed. This morning, I fixed his cereal, and after I’d poured the milk in, he started crying because he didn’t want kid milk (whole) in it, he wanted some of that adult milk (skim). Too bad, go eat it anyways! He fussed, but I went about my stuff. I left the room to do something, and I came back to the kitchen. S wanted some more cereal, so I went to the bag of mini-wheats to refill her bowl. I noticed milk on the bag, and then I noticed milk in the bag, and then I noticed that the mini-wheats were sorta soggy. I asked why there was milk in the (new) bag of cereal. B says, “I didn’t like that bowl of cereal.” Evidently he just dumped in back into the bag, milk and all.

When B was on the potty this afternoon, S went in the bathroom doorway and started pulling off her pants and diaper. I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty. She shook her head no, but she continued pulling off her pants. B got off, and I put the potty seat on and plopped S up there. She cried and said “nu-uh” but we all stood around and cheered for her when she went wet-wets in the potty. Then she was very proud and smiley. She just came down from her nap, and L has got her on the potty again. L opened the bathroom door to let me know that S had gone again. S just said “yay!” Moma says “yay” too!! Maybe I can get M and L to do some potty training for me this summer!!

T has been a good little sleeper lately. He’s been going down for the night at a nice, early (relative to prior bedtime!) time (about 10) and usually sleeps all night long. He’s still a happy, easy baby. He is full of grins. During church Sunday, he kept cooing and “giggling.” M likes to "mommy" him. She does a pretty good job of comforting him. Earlier he woke up from a nap and was crying to eat. She picked him up and was soothing him. Then I spy her out of the corner of my eye and she's lifting up her shirt. Guess she thought she'd take a stab at nursing him, too. I snatched him away and explained that was for moma to do.

Well, I'm smelling a stinky S, so I guess I'd better change her. Too bad she didn't take care of that while she was on the potty!

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