Taking a Plunge

Bryan was keeping the kids this afternoon, and look what a mess Brynn got into this time!! Apparently, she started by using the plunger and splashing the toilet water all over the bathroom. At that point, Avery came and told on her. Before Bryan could get himself in there, Brynn had already stripped down naked. I guess she didn't want to get potty water on her outfit? No, it seems that a plunger on your tummy is quite HILARIOUS to a 2 year old. Instead of telling her to stop IMMEDIATELY, in typical fashion for us, Bryan went and got the camera. Next, Brynn thought it might be fun to plunge HERSELF inside the potty, so in she went! The camera battery died before Daddy fully captured that shot. Then to top it all off, she tried to dry off with her bed comforter! I swear she doesn't get this from me!!

First Kiss

Avery: Mommy, guess what I played at school today with the boys?
Mama: What?
Avery: Kissy Face!
Mama: And how do you play Kissy Face? ( I think I already know this one because I used to play something similar, but I wanted to get her story.)
Avery: The girls chaseted the boys and when we catchted them, we said, "Kissy Face!" And then you know what?
Mama: What... (please don't tell me this...)
Avery: I kissed a BOY!
Mama: Really? Who did you kiss?
Avery: Jake
Mama: Girl, you're only 4 - you shouldn't be kissing boys!! (Had to get that in!)

So, Jake Prather was the first boy Avery ever kissed. I had to write the story down for posterity.

The Faith of a Child

Avery was QUITE upset one night last weekend because she lost her new bedroom slippers that Grandma Shirley and PaPa gave her for Christmas. She came to me crying hysterically over it. I was trying to dry her hair, and the drama was starting to get to me! You know how it is. Here's a glimpse of our conversation...

Mama: Avery, do you really think that all this crying and fussing is going to actually help you find your bedroom slippers? What can you DO that will actually HELP this situation? (the answer I was looking for was to actually LOOK for them!)
Avery: I can PRAY about it! (and she did, VERY sweetly, I might add.)

At this point she was convinced that they were going to immediately show up, and I had to explain that God might HELP us find them, but we might not find them tonight, this week or ever. Maybe God wanted to teach her to take better care of her things or to put things up where they belong? We looked EVERYWHERE I could think of, but no slippers. So…she prayed again about it! I am beginning to think that I have GOT to find them because this is breaking my heart. I called the grandparents, and she hadn’t left them at any of their houses, which left me with the option of explaining that sometimes God tells us to wait, and she’d have to wait for His answer.

About 15 minutes later, Avery comes into my room and asks,
Avery: Mama, how do you spell bedroom?
Mama: Why?
Avery: I’m writing a letter to God to ask Him to help me find my bedroom slippers. (Now that's what I call persistence! It was so cute! I helped her spell the words, and this is the letter she wrote….(in case you wonder, it says, "Dear God, please help me find my bedroom slippers." She put it in an envelope and wrote "To U God" on the outside."
Avery: Now, how do we send it to Him, Mama?
Mama: (not out loud) – Great question, how DO you send a letter to God? (out loud) Let’s put it in the pages of your Bible and see if He comes to get it. (So that's what we did, and of course God eventually did remove the letter from the Bible, much to her delight.)

Now, the original slippers still have not turned up, but a certain grandmother felt the need to intervene. I guess you can say that God provided a NEW pair of bedroom slippers. I gave them to her on Monday.

Mama: Avery, look what I found!
Avery: (SOOOOO excited) God got me some new bedroom slippers! I like these better than the other ones! (Guess God knows that she likes princesses.) She tries them on and they are a tad snug.
Avery: I think they are too small!
Mama: Oh well, I guess we’ll have to go buy a bigger pair.
Avery: No, Mama, I’ll wear them. I don’t want to hurt God’s feelings!

I love conversations like this! When I thought back on the whole ordeal, it made me realize that Avery taught me alot about God and prayer! She reminded me that the Lord wants us to come to him with childlike faith - realizing that He cares about the little things in our life, that He truly does hear our prayers, the He has the POWER to act, that He appreciates our persistence, that He will answer in His time, and that He wants us to be grateful to Him in the end. I'm just glad she didn't ask me why God didn't already know her shoe size!

No More Diapers for Brynn!!

HOORAY!!! I am no longer diapering 2 bottoms at the same time! Brynn decided that she was ready for big girl panties! (Yes, I've learned to let my children decide when they're ready, as opposed to frustrating the heck out of myself doing the "potty training" thing.) I tried to potty train Avery in a day, and I quit the same day! Then, a few months later, Avery told me "I'm ready to wear my panties, " and that was it! I decided to take the same approach with Brynn. She has been going to the potty every so often up until now, but in the last few days, it's become a regular thing. It's been interesting this go round with Avery being so involved in the process. She's Brynn's #1 cheerleader, standing right there peering into the toilet to see if Brynn was successful. Such a funny sight to see. Whatever happened to PRIVACY?

So, time to celebrate!!! We had a "No More Diapers for Brynn" party with a cake and candles and sang No More Diapers For You...to the tune of Happy Birthday! Brynn felt very important and special...like a BIG GIRL!!

I'm SICK of This!!

Well, since I last posted on our anniversary, we've had our share of sick kids! Avery's stomach virus turned out to be fine after about 12 hours. My parents kept all 3 kids for us to go out on New Year's Eve, and shortly after they brought them home, I was with Asa in the kitchen when he started throwing up. He threw up all over me while I tried to get him to the bathtub. I thought he was done, but he puked on me one MORE time before we both had to hop into the shower. Don't know how it is that I'm like some kind of puke magnet. I'm always holding them when it happens. Asa's bug only lasted about 12 hours too, but I had to take him to Dr. Vernon the next day for his ears. He's on his 4th round of antibiotics, and if these don't work, we'll be visiting the ENT center. Amazingly, no one else got sick until this past Wednesday when Avery started complaining again. The virus hit her for round 2 and then Asa started up again yesterday!! The second round, they both only threw up once, and luckily it wasn't on me this time. Avery did completely drench our sofa cushions though. At least my new sofa is scheduled to arrive NEXT week! She thinks we are getting a new sofa "because I throwded up on the old one!" (love that verb usage, don't you, Mom?) As of now, that's all from OUR house that have gotten sick, but I'm sorry to say that Grandpapa, Grandma Shirley and PaPa have each had it too in the last 2 days, compliments of my kids! Gotta hate that!!