G made the front page of the paper!

In the Anderson family the 4th of July is a MAJOR holiday!  I recently asked Grammie if she had to choose between celebrating Mother's Day and 4th of July, which would she choose and without hesitation she responded with Independence Day.  This year was the 28th annual floating of the Lake Gaston Boat Parade, led by none other than Grammie and PopPop.  In the picture below you can see Big G peaking out the back of the boat.  When we showed him the picture, he was much completely unimpressed with his own picture but excitedly yelled "look mommy, the candy boat!"  (The boat to the left of ours in the picture threw out bags of candy during the parade.)  I'm so proud of my little guy for not letting his fame get to his head.

You can read the rest of the story here.

Busted!

I just tried to pull one over on G and got busted. I grabbed 2 Joe Joe's, popped one in my mouth in kitchen, and headed back to the family room with the other hidden in my hand. G was standing at coffee table eating pears (he's sick so I'm slacking on the rules) so he couldn't see me so I popped other one in my mouth.  Just after I close my mouth he turns around, looks at me and says "mommy what are you eating?". I could only shrug because I have a mouth full of cookies so he asks again. I shrug again, still trying to hide the fact that I'm eating his favorite treat right in front of him without letting him have one. He then says "mommy, open your mouth! Let me see!  Let me see!!" and crawls up onto he couch and tries to pry my mouth open to see. At this point I'm laughing so hard I just about spit out the cookie. He looks at me so confused and says "What mommy? What?" and all I could do is hug him.  Then I guess he figured out what I was eating because he says "Mommy, I gotta go potty. I want a cookie tooooo."  You know I could have never, ever, not in a million years imagined how much I love these boys.

The Power of Candy

Warning: This story is not for the queamish, bodily functions will be discussed.

Many of you know what a roller coaster potty training has been for us. For those of you who don't, basically G took us by surprise back in December by deciding all on his own that he wanted to start potty training. R and I were truly not prepared. I was honestly thinking he'd be three when he got started, but if he says he's ready, who are we to argue, right? He did really well through that initial weekend (much thanks to the Guenther Gang for assisting while they were here visiting) and we told the teachers on Monday. They tested him out for a week and then let us know that they thought he was ready for full on potty training. After only two weeks of training at school they told us to send him to school in underwear and then we were scared. But off to Walmart we went

He was doing really, really well for weeks. He had even gotten to the point that he would just go into the bathroom on his own without even telling us and take care of business. But through it all he's only ever pooped once in the potty. We've had more accidents than we care to discuss and were getting very, very frustrated. He would go into the potty and pee, leave the potty and 5 minutes later we'd have a mess. I was starting to rip my hair out. Last night, despite R disagreeing with this tactic, I looked at G and said "If you poop in the potty for mommy I will give you a piece of candy". After dinner, we took him into the potty, sat him down and told him we needed to sit here for a while. About 30 seconds later he asked me for some "privacy" and seconds after I left the bathroom he yelled to me to bring him a book (seriously, this kid cracks me up). No luck that time but a short time later Ryan took him back in and he did it!!! NEVER in my life did I think I would get so excited over a bowel movement. I wish we could have gotten his reaction on camera because he was shaking with excitement.

Well, tonight, just like last night we took him straight after dinner and sat him down on the pot and told him to try (rather than waiting for him to have the urge on his own). Soon as he sat down he looked up at me with a HUGE smile and said "if I go poop mommy I get candy" and I said "yes sir". So tonight he went not once, not twice, but three times!!! Some might think he's having some intestinal issues, but I think he's just one smart cookie because he ended up getting two "conversation hearts" and a Candy Cane Joe Joe. I seriously think he's playing us, but you know what? I don't care!!!


Note to self:  buy conversation hearts after Valentine's Day on clearance!!!

Seaworld, neat! Disney, wow!! South of the Border...MIND BLOWING (for a2 year old)

I know I have a ton to report on after a week on vacay, but just a quick note so I don't forget. At just after 11 after a long day of driving, the kids are still awake but thankfully calm. Ryan LOVES Blenheim ginger ale and one of the few places that we know to get it is South of the Border just on the South Carolina side of the NC/SC border. For those of you who are not familiar, the best way I can think to describe it is a red neck Times Square. Basically think neon. As we're pulling off I95 G says "oooooh pretty" followed by several "look mommy" "look daddy" and "it's Christmas time". I swear, this kid cracks me up. Now if they can just hold on another 2 hours, we'll be home!!

Shhh, don't tell mom!

We had a great time having the Guenther Gang over last night. In my usual unorganized style it was taking a little longer than everyone would have liked to get dinner in the table, especially the kids. Aunt Meg came to the rescue with what some parents might consider an inappropriate appetizer of Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe-Joe's (holy cow are they delicious!). She did this by saying "G, shh, don't tell your mom we're having cookies before dinner!"

Fast forward to today, just before lunch, when G spotted the cookies on the counter that Meg so kindly left here (thanks Meg, thanks!! Like my fat hiney need a box of cookies in the house). He, of course, wanted one and when I told him he could have one AFTER he ate a good lunch he proceeded to launch into meltdown mode. I took one out I the box and showed it to him and said "look, here is your cookie. Let's put it in the table for you to know that you get to eat it AFTER you eat a good lunch." Thankfully that calmed him down. Then I explained "last night was a special treat that Aunt Meg said you could have a cookie before dinner"" G's priceless response was "Aunt Meg says shhh". I couldn't help but smile. Nothing gets by that kid!