The Salad Days

A few weeks ago, Lori took the kids to a place called Party Playland. It's a lot like that place we used to go to in Texas called Pump It Up - it's full of inflatables. As expected, they had a blast.

Last night, about fifteen minutes before bed, Sean jumps up from where he was lying on the floor and says "I need to look in the mirror!" So I take him into the bathroom and he lifts himself up onto the counter so that he can see himself. He strokes his upper lip and says, "nope - no mustache!" Then ten minutes later while I was helping him into his pajamas, he said to me "daddy, can you see my mustache?" And then again, while I was tucking him into his blankets and giving him a kiss, he asked again - "daddy, do I have a mustache yet?" I have no idea what put this idea is his head, but isn't it adorable?

The kids saw a kid on TV doing competitive cup stacking, and they have been doing it themselves ever since. Sean is getting pretty good at it, as you can see. He does a great job, and is so intense about it. It has to all be perfect, or he starts over.

Last weekend, Sean was running laps around the house. On one pass, he bumped his sister on the way by, and knocked her flat on her butt. So we asked him to stop, come back, and tell Carter that he was sorry for knocking her down. So he comes up to her, gives her a hug, and says "I'm sorry I knocked you up, sister." Lori and I just looked at each other and busted out laughing. Then we told him to say "knocked down", not "knocked up", as the difference is quite substantial.

The other day, Carter found Sean's pirate costume from last Halloween, and she insisted that we put it on her. Doesn't she look so sweet? They've been watching a show called "The Wiggles" lately, and there is a character on that show called "Captain Feathersword", the friendly pirate. So both of the kids have been obsessed with pirates lately.

A few days ago, we decided (based on his pediatrician's recommendation) to go cold turkey on daytime diapers with Sean. After all the resistance he's been giving us over the last couple of months, I expected a disaster. But we told him he was too big for diapers, and that he was responsible for his own potty training at this point. We told him that we weren't going to remind him to go anymore, and that if he had an accident he would have to clean it up himself. And guess what? He's been 4 days now with no daytime diaper, and he hasn't had a single accident. It's been good for him in more ways than one - he's so incredibly proud of himself, and it gives him a new sense of responsibility. I only wish we'd tried this sooner.

Lori and her mom took the kids to the town beach today. As you can see, they didn't have any fun at all. Heh heh. Carter is finally starting to warm up to the water. I am starting to wonder if the only reason she was so hesitant earlier this summer was just due to the temperature of the water.

We spent this morning in North Conway for the "Day Out with Thomas" event. We had high hopes, because Thomas is one of Sean's favorite things right now. But I think it was the combination of not getting enough sleep the night before (sister is sick and kept waking up coughing, which kept us all awake), and being overstimulated by all that was going on. It was more crying and throwing fits that smiles and happiness. We had one brief moment of fun - once we were actually seated on the train and it was moving, Sean was all smiles as he looked out the window and talked about everything he was seeing. But it took a lot of frustration to get us there. Maybe next year we'll have better luck, and plan a bit better for keeping things manageable for him.