Marathon Time!

Sunday was the annual Chicago Marathon. This is the third year that we've made the trek down to cheer Papa on as he runs! This year (and last too) Uncle Bryan joined him. It's gotten to be a bit of a family tradition chasing runners around in hopes of catching them at various points on the course to support them!
The morning started eeeeearrrrly!! It was especially early for Carolyn and us because she was up until midnight the night before, singing to us, of all, things, about the potty. We listened to over an hour of "potty training, go on the potty, go on my potty, want to use the potty," and other related comments from the pack n play. Next time we go somewhere, Carolyn sleeps in a different room! She's just too loud!! We left Michelle and Bryan's before 6, hopped a train, and started the long day of walking.
This year we were joined by Ashlee and Hannah who were cheering for their husband/daddy. Baby Hannah is about a year old. I love the name Hannah- we're seriously considering it as a potential name for Baby Sister; this little Hannah makes the name seem so sweet because she is so sweet!
We were able to see Dad at Mile 11. The picture's a little grainy, but he's there- fully focused; I don't think he even realized we were there- and he was so fast that he was just a blur going by!
Aaron (Ashlee's husband) and Bryan were out for a bit more fun- though they still finished the marathon in under 4 hours!
Here are the unsung heroes of the day: Brad and Bryan's dad Tom- master stroller pushers! There were several times along our chase where we had to cross the runners- with the strollers- without getting run over or running into anyone else.
Carolyn was a real trooper. We continued to stuff her full of many yummy snacks to keep her happy and she seemed to enjoy clapping for the runners. She said "Go runners! Run fast!" whenever she saw them go by.
It was an exceptionally long day- I am sparing you the details of my own struggle to keep up while escorting a newly potty trained girl and carrying her little sister who grows bigger by the day! I was very sore and very tired and finally collapsed in the grass, too exhausted to push through the crowds to the reunion point. Carolyn enjoyed some liberty from the stroller and the chance to play with Daddy's hat! Eventually we all found each other and we were able to congratulate the victorious runners! Bry and Aaron finished under 4 hours, and Dad finished in 3 hours, 32 minutes- an amazing time that qualifies him to compete in the Boston marathon in April- a dream come true for him. We are so excited for him- but somehow I very much doubt we'll be tagging along for that one... not this year anyway...
I love this adorable little girl! And every single moment of discomfort when my body is ill-suited for long and strenuous walks through the many hot miles of downtown Chicago is SO worth it when I think of having ANOTHER sweet girl to love and enjoy! I try to take moments each day just to soak in the wonder of nuturing another life. It is truly a miracle I don't want to miss just because I'm busier this time! Today I saw the little one's feet start to poke out of my tummy! It looks so freaky but I love it! She grows stronger by the day and I am cherishing these months of bonding with her even before I see her sweet face. We women can complain all we want about the hormone craziness that comes no matter what age we are, but I still say that we are the lucky ones because we alone have the capacity to be God's vessel for His creative work.

Recentness

Here are some of the pictures I've taken the past week. Carolyn was wearing one of Daddy's shirts because we had been doing some painting and never bothered to change. I thought she looked so funny with her huge shirt, crazy hair, and lopsided sunglasses helping me get dinner ready! :)
Last Friday we went to Post Family Farms with my MOPS group. The expression on Carolyn's face will give you a good idea of what the day was like for us. She was definitely not on her best behavior and I was definitely not on my best mommy game either. Suffice it to say it was a learning experience in grace for both of us! I am grateful that small children forget their parents' imperfections quickly. I wish I could forget my own shortcoming as easily. It's now a few days after this event and the emotions of it have calmed down significantly, but I still recall it as one of the more difficult parenting days I've had thus far on our journey. Thank goodness for good friends and wise mothers who are well past this stage!
This trip was not my favorite fall experience so far, though I had been really looking forward to it (something about an obstinate 2-year-old who either runs away every time you call her or sits down on the ground as if to challenge you to go ahead and pick her up even though it smashes baby sister every time you do it makes what should be a fun day... not so fun)- but there were bright moments when Carolyn was interested enough in what was going on to stop being naughty! She liked the soft little chicks the kids got to pet; also she liked feeding the goats and petting the small horses.
If you look closely you might detect a smile on Carolyn's face here. It was the closest we got all day! She liked sitting in the pumpkins- but was too mad at me to be cooperative about taking pictures. Retrospect being 20/20 I can now think of many things I should or could have done to make the situation better- and ditching the camera would be one of them! There are times when the overwhelming need to document everything is a burden and a needless distraction when there are more important things to focus on.

All in all, I was glad to put this day behind us and move on to the next. I am forever grateful that tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it!

Better Late Than Never!

Well, the week somehow slipped away from me. I'm reading a new series after everyone I know at work became obsessed with it and it "caught" me, too. It's been a nice week to curl up with a book so I really can't complain. But that (and the many other projects I have going on right now) has kept me from getting to my blog in a timely fashion. Sorry! :)

But, better late than never! I got some great pictures on Monday, despite not feeling well! My goal will have to be for next year to actually figure out how to work some of the cool features of the big camera because if they turn out this great just pushing the "dummy button," they could be even cooler if I actually learned how to use the thing!

Anyway, here is the rundown on our trip to Klackle Orchards on Monday. You can see last year's pictures here. The kiddos sure have grown (and so have a couple of us... :))

The man was nice enough to let our adorable two-year-old clan ride the pumpkin train even though it is only supposed to run for school groups and weekends. :) Two years in a row! We sure are lucky! :) Too bad the weather didn't cooperate with us this year either! It was muddy and wet and kind of chilly!
I love this picture of Caimon and Rachel- they're both smiling and sitting peacefully next to each other. :) A bit of a rare occurrence in our playgroups. :)
I also love what the autofocus did to this picture of Rachel and Carolyn picking apples.
And I think Aidan's mommy dressed him in the perfect colors for the day- I love the orange!
Very characteristic Caimon- everything she does is so intense!
And this is Rachel- tasting the apple before she decides to bite in.
And Carolyn, who doesn't like to face me if I'm holding the camera. I get a lot of good profile shots. :)
Carolyn and Aidan munching together.
Not sure why everyone's leaning over to the side, but it's a cute picture of the kids!
Reach for the apple!
Mommy and Carolyn. I got pictures of all the kids and their mommies, but I think I am posting enough pictures to be getting on with. You can check their blogs for more. :)
Such a sweet little girl! She had a really good time.
The pumpkin patch was a bit of a letdown after the apple orchard this year, too. As soon as we got there, Carolyn declared that the place was "Scary!" Interestingly enough, this was the same announcement Rachel made on her first visit this year. Her face says it all. :)

A Little Sample

Today was our big fall playgroup trip to the orchard to pick apples and enjoy the fall-ness. We seem to be ill-fated when it comes to weather for this trip (last year it was even colder and rainier)- but at least this time we all came prepared for cool, wet weather! I haven't been feeling very well today- I think I have some kind of GI bug that has sapped my energy and made me feel really yucky and painfully crampy most of the day today. My entourage of doctors say that there's nothing to worry about... but I can't help being a little fretful. Little is still so... little. She needs to stay inside quite awhile longer! But I think she knows that I need a little reassurance that she's doing okay because she sure is whomping away at me from inside! She's getting so much stronger! Anyway, I just thought I'd share my favorite picture from the day as I'm much too tired to really blog tonight. Hopefully more to come tomorrow...

Fall's Here!

In the midst of all the potty drama, it's been a beautiful fall weekend! Sunny but crisp, it was a perfect opportunity to sneak out between potty breaks for a trip to the park.

Carolyn enjoyed crunching through the leaves and bringing me some of the yellow leaves as "presents."
I love how the lighting made the colors look just right in this picture.
One of Carolyn's favorite things at the park is this noise maker.
She gets really excited about it!

I can't believe what a big girl she is becoming!

First Steps... into the Big Girl World

Well, as you may have guessed, we've spent the last 3 days in crash course of potty training! I hadn't really expected or planned to start this with Carolyn this week... but I couldn't say no to such a clear opportunity!

On Friday morning, we gave Carolyn some very special undies. She quickly grasped this as a sign of budding independence and staunchly refused to allow me to help her put them on! "Do it myself!" she said. Her motor skills are still improving and she isn't quite ready to get the undies on all by herself- though that didn't stop her from trying really hard! Sometimes she felt like trying to get more than one pair on at once. :)

She was very proud of herself- and her big girl undies- and danced around the house in them (and some extra bling) for about an hour before I could convince her to put clothes on. You may notice that they are inside out. :)
The first day was... challenging. I should know enough about myself by now to NEVER read any of those "formula" type books that suggest that if you do A, B, and C, then "X" will be the guaranteed result. But our disastrous attempt at early sleep training has somewhat faded from memory... I attempted one of those potty training strategies, followed the rules, and it didn't exactly make things pan out the way I thought they would. I think all the sweet rewards got to my sugar-sensitive daughter and she turned into this wild child who wouldn't even sit still for 15 seconds, let alone enough time to actually "produce" on the potty! She still has little to no conscious control over #2, so we are working on this... but it was a messy day. I was so frustrated by the afternoon of that day that I made one of those desperate "WHEN are you coming home honey?" calls, practically in tears.

It was another one of those moments of truth as a mom for me, where I realized (again) that some of my personality traits that help me be successful in other areas of my life- are really liabilities when it comes to parenting- because unlike in work or school, the end result is not 100% the product of my efforts- my efforts only get me so far; increasingly, as Carolyn grows, the end result of whatever we are working on is dependent on HER, not me. I pour myself into a problem and expect positive results in line with the diligence of my efforts and easily become discouraged when things don't turn out as I feel they should. I struggle with not letting this spill over onto Carolyn as excessive pressure. She doesn't respond well when I get pushy about things- which is totally understandable! I don't think I would like me either when I get like that.

I have to constantly remember that my value as a person and my success as a parent really has very little to do with Carolyn's "performance" in any venue of life, whether potty training or ballet class, or anything else she does. She is a separate individual who will undoubtedly have successes and failures throughout her life and will have to learn to navigate through them just like we all do. My job as a parent isn't to ensure her continual success but to give her the tools and encouragement she needs to succeed, then step back a bit and let her determine what she does with them, to the extent that she is able at each age that she is. I need to be there to cheer her on and celebrate with her when she succeeds and be there just the same to help her learn to pick up the pieces when she doesn't. There are moments when it seems to me that being a parent is so much... bigger... than it seemed to be when we brought her home from the hospital and figured out how to keep her clean and dry and fed and safe. I hadn't really expected that potty training would bring us around to life lessons that go so much further than just figuring out how to eliminate appropriately!

So anyway enough blabber. Day One wasn't exactly a resounding success- but not a total failure either... and after recognizing first-hand my own utter lack of control over the situation- and after Brad came home and gave me a much-needed BREAK- I was able to relax a little more. Day Two was a surprising improvement- Carolyn had only one accident- and she caught herself halfway through and was able to make it to the potty to finish up! Today so far has been good. She stayed dry through church and Sunday School and even went on the potty there. She is learning, and I do think she is ready. It may be a while before she's really "trained," but, well, that's OKAY. We're on this road together and we're all in it for the long haul. So, in sum, it's been an interesting weekend- with a few bumps along the way- but I think we have made progress, and I am so proud of my little girl who is growing up so fast!

Expert Opinions

****Edited: FOUR times today, so far! Always her idea.******

Hello all you potty training experts out there! Give a first-timer some advice! We've been working on "potty appreciation" for about 6 months- basically building up the potty as a positive and wonderful thing and helping her become familiar with it. She's "gone" a few times, though always at my suggestion, not hers. I haven't wanted to be in a hurry (though of course looking at the calendar, it would really be nice if we could get it done sometime in the next 4 months!) because the last thing I want is a battle of the wills with a stubborn 2-year-old. I could get another year of diapers like that! :)

Anyway, I read Gary Ezzo's book "Potty 1-2-3" a month or two ago, and the training method made reasonable sense to me- it's one of those wait til they're really ready for it and then just ditch the diapers, give lots of fluids, snacks, reminders and praise, and expect accidents for awhile ideas. At the time I read it, she didn't really show all the signs of being ready so I put it on hold. I don't want to make a real effort unless I'm reasonably confident we'll be successful. Carolyn shows a lot of the physical signs of readiness- she stays dry for several hours at a time, even over naps sometimes. But until recently she didn't demonstrate many of the emotional/mental signs.

However, just in the past few days I've seen some of what I've been looking for. I've been talking to her about recognizing that point just before she goes so that she can tell me before it happens. And twice yesterday and today she told me that she wanted to go potty while she was still dry, then proceeded to go as soon as she sat on the potty. She was duly praised and rewarded and I think she is starting to get the idea! Yay! She is excited and interested in the potty (or maybe the jelly beans?)

I really wasn't planning on pushing this skill for a few more weeks yet at least because we have an airplane trip planned to Virginia the 18th-23rd and I was afraid to take a partially-trained 2-year-old on a trip like that- nervous that we'd lose any ground we'd gained and it would be harder to do it again. But now I'm wondering if I should capitalize on this opportunity while her interest is there? Maybe I'm being a bit overly optimistic and she really isn't ready? Am I ready for the commitment to training? What do you guys think?! Should we take the plunge (no pun in intended :))?