melted umbrellas

our neighbors have two big shade umbrellas on their back porch that are closed today. ava looked out the window at them and said, "mommy, those umbrellas are melted." makes sense to me!!

big love

roofus deserves a little blogging love. his membership in our family was touch-and-go after eli was born and i think he knows it. since recovering from his slip down another notch of the totem pole, roofus has been an almost perfect pooch. don't get me wrong...there are still large puddles from dripping water after he drinks, many days that he requires extra attention before eating, he goes equally nuts when he sees neighborhood cats or when a slight breeze moves a leaf in an unexpected direction...but that's just roofus. in his big body is stashed a big big heart for our family.

roofus and ava racing in the back yard. he usually lets her win!

eli & roo

ava (3 months) & roo

hats

no words...

"training" has no antonym. according to my short google search, no word describes the opposite of training. this explains my week...

after much reading, research, talk with other moms and mental deliberation, monday was the inaugural day of ava learning to go potty. we were ready. a bear to help show her how. special treats for staying dry. even more special treats for successes. salty snacks to promote thirst. tasty drinks to quench it and give us great learning opportunities. a 4.6 (out of 5) star potty chair. cotton panties (thick and thin). training diapers. enthusiasm! everything we needed right?

well, no.

ava WON'T go!! she'll be dry. then sit on the potty for a while, get up, sit some more, get up and have an accident almost immediately. while sitting, i've tried EVERYTHING. singing her a fun potty song (made it up myself. she loves to sing along). quiet for concentration. reading a book. watching short videos on youtube. helping her do relaxing breathing exercises (thanks yoga). obviously, the potty chair is a great place to be and she's eager to sit on it.

but then....nothing.

nada.

give up?

i've considered it.

repeatedly.

something deep inside me won't throw in the towel. do i want this to be an example to her that giving up is ok? even if it means trying again later?

puzzled.

that's the best word i can come up with to describe it!

jumping, jumping, jumping

of all the baby entertainment items clogging our house, this one is my favorite. probably because the kids adore it. my mom says i loved it when i was a baby so maybe they did inherit something from me...just not their looks!!

ava loved it so much that she wouldn't want to stop jumping even when she got really, really tired.

ava - 7 months

giggling ava would jump and swing simultaneously and so wildly that we thought the molding would collapse.

eli's not quite at that point yet, but i can tell he will be soon!