Spring!

Asia and Kara's Easter dresses. As soon as they put them on, they were twirling and dancing around the house. They wore them all day. Here is a picture of Asia twirling...

Tyler has been the stay at home mom lately. I have been studying for my board exam, which I took today. I won't find out how I did for 2 weeks. Anyway, I usually take the kids on their preschool field trips, but this time Tyler took them. They went to the farm. They got to see all the baby animals. They even got to feed a calf, which was the highlight of Asia's day.

Potty Training: DONE. I cannot take any credit for potty training Asia. Unless you count taking everyone’s advice and waiting until she did it on her own. I can’t say I didn’t try to help her along. 4 months ago, I bought her pretty panties. She wanted to wear them but did not want to go potty in the toilet. So I told her she couldn’t wear them until she would go potty in the toilet. She seemed okay to let them sit in her drawer. Then 2 months ago, I bought her “soft panties”. This time she would go potty in the toilet once and then have an accident immediately later. I told her that she couldn’t wear her “soft panties” until she wanted to go potty in the toilet all the time. Again, she was content to let them sit in her drawers.
Then amazingly enough 1 week ago, she woke up and told me she wanted to wear her panties. She only has had 2 accidents the whole week. She has gone to daycare with panties, church with panties, and naps with panties. Of course, Kara is helping her a lot. She always keeps Asia company when she is sitting on the toilet, waiting to poop. And Asia does the same for Kara. (Infact, one of the accidents Asia had was while patiently waiting for Kara to finish pooping. – Asia was devastated and it look 10 minutes to calm her down.) She is so proud of her panties! I am so happy it has been so smooth. No potty charts, poopy underwear, or anal tantrums.

Here is Asia showing off her "soft panties".

Asia: “Bye, bye poo-poo. Bye, bye.” (as she is waving to the toilet, watching the poop twirl down the drain. Then, when it disappeared…) “Dad, where did the poo-poo go?”

Tyler: “It went in the toilet, down the drain.”

Asia squats down, looking at the base of the toilet, “The toilet is getting fat!”

Asia is getting a little, tiny bit better at sleeping in her own bed, but only if she is as exhausted as she is in these pictures....

But, when we do leave her to fall asleep, Asia finds ways to entertain herself while waiting to get tired...

Here is a "library" Asia made for us. I think she wanted us to check out books, but she fell asleep before we came back to check on her.

But this is the funniest story... Kara got a new scripture bag with a Book of Mormon from her primary teacher. Kara was so excited, she carried the bag everywhere for a week. One night I went into her room and she had the scriptures on her lap, open to Alma and she was fast asleep. She is taking her duty seriously, to read the scriptures every night! Even if she can't read yet.

Dad: "Kara, do you know why it is important to learn to read?"

Kara: "So when you grow up you can tell stories to your kids."

Dad: "Also you can read about things and learn a lot. Like about animals and snowflakes."

Kara: "And you can learn a lot from reading the scriptures too, Dad."

Dad: "Kara, do you ever doubt that you have your mother's genes."

(That is for anyone who knew me as a kid.)

Kara's arm

Today Tyler called me at work. Kara’s daycare had called him and asked him to come and pick up Kara, because she may have broken her arm. I was worried, but also knew how hard Kara could cry over a simple bump on the head. Tyler got to the daycare before me and called to say that he thought her arm was only dislocated and not broken. This, of course, brought back many memories of my childhood. I dislocated my arm many many times. Mom finally had the doctor teach her to reduce it herself, so she didn’t have to keep bringing me to the ER.

When I got home I took one look at Kara and knew it was simply a dislocation. I had reduced many dislocations in the Urgent Care center, where I used to work. Kara screamed as I held her arm, but within seconds it was done. Once Tyler her the clunk of it going into place he smiled. One more ER visit avoided. After a few more seconds of crying, Kara was moving her arm all around and pain free. Last night we had a family home evening about missionaries. For an activity Kara wrote a letter and drew a picture for Brett. When I saw the picture, I laughed my head off. Lets start with Kara. Notice how her hair is long and thick and “beautiful”. Then her shoes (which are high heeled shoes). She wanted to make Tyler “a funny person”. So she made a bow for his hair. I am not exactly sure why he is the only one in the picture who is naked. Me and Tyler have only one nostril, while everyone else has two, not sure what that means either. Of course the dresses have “puffed sleeves” They do look suspicious for something else though. And clouds in the sky… tells you about the weather here. So enjoy the picture.

I tried to get Asia to draw Brett a picture, but she was too distracted. She knows that after family home evening we have treats so she was anxious for the treats.

Right now my children are in the bathroom. No, Asia is not potty trained yet, but whenever Kara has to go to the bathroom, she invites Asia in and they “go potty together”. I guess it starts young. Asia plays in the bath tub while Kara works on “getting [her] poop out”. The funniest is when I go into see if she is done and she says: “There is one more and it is hard to come out” Oh, kids have no shame.

Speaking of funny things kids say, here is a conversation I had with Kara.

Kara: “Mommy, are giants real?”
Mom: “No Kara, giants are not real.”
Kara: “Mommy, are little people real.”
Mom: “Well there are some little people, but they are still about your size.”
Kara: “How about fairies? Are they real?”
Mom: “No Kara, fairies are not real.”
Kara: “Except for the tooth fairy, she is real huh?”
(This is when I realize that I should have seen this coming)
Mom: “Oh yes, the tooth fairy. I forgot about the tooth fairy. But I have never seen the tooth fairy. (Trying to cover up my mistake). Because she only comes when I am asleep.”
Kara: “How does she know when we are asleep”
Mom: “She just knows, like Santa Claus knows.”
Kara: “I think she knows when we are asleep because Heavenly Father tells her, and he knows everything.”