sybrowsky quote of the week - rhetoric

Mr. Crazy Pants here has developed quite an interesting use of language as of late.

Me: grumbling under my breath about the construction workers on our street and their never-ending traffic stops.

Adam: "Suck it up, Mom!"

Me: "What? Where did you learn that, Adam?"

Adam: "From Grandma."

Me: "Uh, I highly doubt that. Did you maybe hear it on Sponge Bob?"

Adam: "Yeah, I learned it from Sponge Bob."

Really, my three-year-old is telling me to "suck it up?" Maybe we need to limit the Sponge Bob watching for a while. Or Grandma's visits. (Although I'm pretty sure I've never heard my mom say "suck it up", but you never know, I guess.) He also responded with, "Blah, blah, blah" the other day when I was getting after him for something. However, he has spouted a few nice statements lately, too, such as "Great job cleaning the kitchen, Mama!" and "You're a genius, Mom!" So I guess that evens it out.

world's best house guest

This last week Grandma Holly came for a visit. Hooray! For the third year in a row, Christian was gone for my birthday (someday I'm sure he'll make up for it!), so my mom came up again to keep me company. It was so fun to go out to lunch and shopping with her, two things I almost never get to do anymore. And the kids were so excited they could hardly stand it! Maybe that's why they had to go to the bathroom FOUR TIMES while we were at the mall, or why Adam thought it was a good idea to take off his underwear, throw it on the floor, and then pee on it. And maybe that's why James thought it was a good idea to join him. Sheesh! I'm raising a couple of hooligans up here!

Grandma also took us to Jump Planet, the inflatable party center of the universe (their words, not mine)! We had to drag the boys out of the place. It was a blast.



I couldn't get a clear photo of Addy--he was constantly in motion, as per usual.

Not only did Grandma take us to Jump Planet to play, to lunch at Nordstrom's Bistro, to Walmart to pick out a movie, and to Costco to pick out a book, but she was the most incredible house guest in the universe (those are my words). It was like having a personal maid for a week! She watched the boys so I could sleep in on my birthday, she was doing the dishes every time I turned around, she vacuumed the house while I was picking up Christian, she fed and put the boys to bed while I went to an HOA meeting, she cleaned up urine-soaked carpet while I was doing some "secret shopping", and she cleaned her bathroom and washed her sheets and towels before we left for the airport. Not much of a vacation for her, you think? Hopefully these sweet faces and a few slobbery kisses made up for all her hard work.






We love you, Mom! Thanks for coming and making my birthday so special. We hope you can take us to St. George on your private jet, soon! After you learn how to fly it, of course. And James says, "Bring Grandpa Brent with you!"

sybrowsky quote of the week - noses and elbows

For a while James had a strange obsession with smelling everything he put his hands on. He smelled each fruit snack before he ate it; he'd put his pajama top to his nose before putting it on; he'd even stop to sniff out his Hot Wheels car during the middle of a big race. I thought it was weird, and I didn't want him wiping his nose on everything, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Jessica's son who is about the same age was doing the exact same thing, and we would watch them do it and giggle.

Christian, however, got very frustrated with all the smelling and was constantly asking James to stop. My favorite quote from Christian (and this demonstrates his parenting method) is, "James, you may not smell anything ever again!" To which James replied, "I'll never stop smelling." Kid one, Parent zero.

He's mostly stopped with the sniffing game, but he's become very vocal about the various odors he encounters. He has a super-sniffer, which he inherited from either his father or Grandma Holly. Either way, he's not stingy with his super-smelling abilities and is always willing to share with whoever will listen what odors are perturbing his senses. For instance, when we walk into a public restroom, he'll very loudly comment, "It smells stinky in here! Like diarrhea!" Once he went with Christian into Harborview Medical Center on a quick errand, and when they returned to the car, all he could talk about was how stinky the hospital was. So one day while he was talking about how he is going to be a bone doctor just like daddy,

I asked him this:

Me: James, how are you going to work at the hospital if it's too stinky?"

James (without missing a beat): I'll just have to plug my nose and do it with my elbows."

Apparently he'd already thought it through and decided, yes, this is something I can work around.

addy's his own man

When it was time to potty train Addy, I was extremely reluctant. I had a very bad experience with James, and I was dreading doing it over again. We waited a little longer with Ads and tried not to push him. He's seemed ready for a long time. So about a month after his 3rd birthday, I finally threw him a "Potty Party."

For those of you unfamiliar with this concept, it's basically an all-day potty training session, which at the end of your child should be 100% potty trained. It ends with a big party with a cake and presents and lots of hooplah. And it works--for about one day.

Addy actually did great for a few weeks, with only minimal accidents. He even rode 16 hours in the car without a problem. He was a pro the whole time we were in Utah for Christmas. But something happened when we returned. Suddenly, he was having an accident every time. He wasn't going in the potty AT ALL. For three weeks I felt like I was beating my head against a wall. My friends watched me freak out as he had multiple accidents at every play date. I was sick of washing a load of wet/poopy clothes each night, and ready to put him back in Pull-Ups full time. We even tried a "potty watch" (really just my running watch that has a timer) that sounded an alarm every hour to remind him to go potty. Nothing worked.

Then one day I was out of Pull-Ups, and I didn't want buy a huge box from Costco, or to go all the way to Wal-Mart for a small pack. I stopped by the Fred Meyer down the street and was totally shocked by the price of the Pull-Up brand there. So I opted for the small, cheap Fred Meyer version, determined to get this kid trained before they were gone.

The next couple of nights I put Addy in a pair of the cheap training pants to sleep in. One night that week, Christian went up to quell a disturbance (as is his nightly ritual), only to find Addy running around his room buck naked. He had removed him jammies and training pants and refused to put them back on. He wanted to wear big-boy underwear because he's a big boy now, and the training pants felt "yucky." Christian, no doubt wanting to get the kid back in bed so he could return to his TV show, relented and put him in underwear. Best parenting decision ever.

The next morning, to my great surprise, he was dry. And from that night on, he hasn't had a single accident. I haven't had to remind him or drag him to the bathroom--he has gone completely on his own. I guess he just needed to decide for himself that he was going to do it. A testament to his independent nature. You gotta love this kid.

So if you're struggling with potty training, try switching out the cushy Cadillac training pants for the cheapest things you can find. Or go a size smaller so they're really uncomfortable. You can tell them they're getting too big for Pull-Ups. And maybe they'll decide on their own like Addy did. Or not. Who knows--this parenting thing is definitely a crap shoot sometimes.

so thankful for friends

Thanksgiving has got to be near the top of my "favorite holidays" list. I love being allowed to eat as much as I want of the most divine food in one day! Unfortunately, that mentality often finds a way to stretch across my entire weekend, which is probably why I thought it was okay to have pumpkin pie for breakfast today. (Christian started it!) But I really don't care. Eating until you're so full you just want to lay down and die is what the American way of life is all about.

Christian was on call this Thanksgiving, so we felt so blessed to have an invitation to the Myrup's for dinner. I just knew that if I cooked all that food by myself that he'd get called in just before it was ready and the boys and I would be sitting there eating without him. And since the boys hardly eat anything, it would be me eating all that food alone. And that is just sad.

As luck would have it, he did get called in, about an hour before we were supposed to be there, to take care of a kid who had a TV land on him. So I was especially grateful to be at the Myrup's (not to mention not having a TV on top of my kid!). He joined us a few hours later, just in time for said-pumpkin pie and first hit of the leftovers.

The food was de-lish. Jess outdid herself with a p-e-r-f-e-c-t turkey (despite all her worrying), and Christian and the boys and I were happy to gorge on my famous Thanksgiving yams (you've never tasted a vegetable like this before). We're still mind-boggled that Jess and "Tevin" didn't try them--you're crazy! I was basically offering you dessert in the middle of the meal! Maybe next year. I made Aunt Paige's homemade rolls (and ate way too many), and we also made homemade cranberries (no canned stuff for us!). But the piece de la resistance was the made-from-scratch pumpkin pie by Jessica. Oh. My. Gosh. Who knew the pumpkin pie had ginger in it? It made Costco's yummy version seem blah. I could taste each individual spice, though they blended in a perfect melody in my mouth. Yum. And the crust was tender and flaky. Now you understand why I couldn't resist a slice this morning. She's going to teach me how to make it some day in exchange for a roll-making lesson. Aren't friends great?

We spent the rest of the evening talking and browsing the Black Friday ads. No, I didn't make it out this year (first year in a long time!), but it's all good. Nothing we "had" to have. I was just a relaxing, fun evening. Thanks for hosting, Jess--next year at my house!

I am thankful for "my three boys!"

Another reason I am very thankful for Jessica is that she very patiently taught me how to cut the monkeys' hair. I *LOVE* the way my friend Chandra cuts it, using the scissors on top. It always turns out so handsome. I am less of a fan of the all-clipper look on my boys. Their hair needs texture. But like everyone else, we're really trying to save our pennies, and this could be an easy $15 a month to save. And if Christian will let me try it on him, that's another $20 a month! Hopefully Lind and Code will give me a lesson with the scissors when we're there for Christmas. (wink, wink!)

So here is my first attempt with the clippers. The hardest part was getting the boys to sit still and turn their heads the way I wanted them to (another thing Chandra is a genius at doing). But they were pretty patient with me, too, and they turned out all right. Thanks again, J-My!

"Hi, Haircut!"

We missed all our family this year, especially my parents' perfect meal and seeing Bond with the Sybrowskys! We hope you know how thankful we are for all of you. We can't wait to see you in 18 days (the countdown to Grandma's has begun)!

It's flood season in Western Washington again. Luckily we live in pretty good spot--no huge rivers nearby to overflow like these poor people have to deal with. But it has been so wet! Most of the year the rain is just a mist or drizzle, but in November and December we get the deluge. It rains buckets for hours on end. I kinda like it. But I'm glad it's only a few weeks out of the year.

©seattletimes.nwsource.com

Before the storms came, we were able to go apple picking at a local orchard. We must have been a week or two late, because most of the really good varieties were completely picked over (pun intended), but we did get some delicious Jonagolds. And the boys couldn't believe I was letting them pick them themselves. I did have to slow them down a little--I was paying by the pound and they weren't very discriminating. But it was an experience!






Cool! There's a slug on my apple!


Goofball 1.

Goofball 2.


We caught a ride with the Myrups--thanks for including us in your family outing!

No posing for mom today (as per usual).

Me and my boys. No Daddy today (also as per usual)! :(

The gorgeous sunflower field at the orchard.

can halloween please be over now?

Halloween is the biggest day of the year at our house. The only thing that could make it better, according to James, is this:

"Mom, what if we could have Halloween, my birthday, Christmas, fly to Utah, and go to St. George, all on the same day?"

Talk about fun overload. I feel like we've been celebrating Halloween all month long with the Halloween birthday party and all the Halloween ideas I posted on my other blog. So when the actual day finally arrived, I was kind of done. We didn't even carve our pumpkins! We did enjoy a Halloween party with the ortho gals on Monday, the carnival at the church on Tuesday, plus trick-or-treating and a party at a friend's house on Halloween, so the kids got plenty of fun (and candy) in. I don't even think they noticed the lack of pumpkin carving.

We got to meet up with our friends the Pierces at the carnival while they were in town getting ready to move to Japan. We're going to miss you Jared and Ethan!

James was very specific about the costume he wanted: a black ghost with his skeleton showing and blood dripping down his face. I was actually ready to try and create this costume myself (sans blood) to save money. But when I saw this glow-in-the-dark skeleton on sale at JoAnn for $7, I convinced him it was exactly what he wanted. And boy does he love it! He's been wearing it for a week straight.

James has been telling me everyday I can have whatever candy of his I want. Luckily he doesn't like any of my faves, like Almond Joy and Baby Ruth.

Addy had been telling people the week before that he was going to be Iron Man for Halloween, but I reminded him how much he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear (a costume we already had). Wow, I sure wish this power of persuasion stuff was going to last with them!

Halloween was also James' first day of soccer! Grandma Holly gave us money for soccer lessons for James' birthday this year to go along with his new soccer ball and shin guards from Mom and Dad. We found a cool indoor soccer league for kids called Scott's Soccer Tots. Scott is amazing--he is so good with the kids. I think James was the only kid who hadn't played before, so he was a little shy about the whole thing. But Scott worked with him individually and he ended up doing great! He even blocked a couple of goals while playing goalie. He asks me everyday if it's soccer lessons today. He isn't the most athletic kid, so I think this is going to really help him learn some coordination and other skills he needs.


They were moving so quickly I could hardly get a shot!

Taking a water break.

I've got lots more pics and updates to post, so don't give up on me! I'm still here!