Milestones

Large strides have been made this week.  It hasn't just been the general progress and growth, it seems as if every member of the family has reached a major milestone.


AMPHIBIANS O

Starting with the youngest and newest members of the household: Larry, Dr. Jean, and Buddy-our tadpoles.  Larry sprouted his two forelegs on Friday/Saturday, Dr. Jean almost has two hind legs and Buddy, well, not much is new with Buddy-but he seems to be surviving and that's got to count for something.

Observing the life of a tadpole has been great entertainment during mealtimes.


 

NEWBIE O -  HALF WAY THERE

Just had our 20 week check up on Thursday and once again, everything seems to be going great.  We were happy to learn that she has all her limbs, 10 fingers and toes and her head measurements are normal.  She is now the size of a 12 ounce soda can.

Here she is, fully cooperating and waving to everyone.

Here's me and Newbie O at exactly 20 weeks (this one is for you, Mom).  According to other people, I look great, but I know that's just what you are supposed to tell a pregnant lady.  If you told me I was on my way to looking like Bea Arthur-which is how I feel-I'd probably clobber you.  I would also like to add that I haven't completely given up on my platform shoes.  If you know me well, you know that I never leave home without them.  We'll see how long it lasts....

BABY O

Baby no longer.  For a child who climbed over baby gates before he could even walk, Baby O has never attempted to climb out of his crib.  Until last weekend.  We were under a bit of a time crunch, considering he needed to transition to a bed (without bars) by midsummer and this was just the push we needed.  For now we have just taken one wall off and will put him in a real bed in a couple of months.  He felt like he had won the lottery and the picture below shows him 'practicing' sleeping before the first night. 

We were anticipating at least a week of no sleep, but it went off without a hitch.  He wakes up every morning, gets out of his bed, slams his door shut, runs down the hall to our bedroom and proclaims (for all the world to hear), I got up all by myself!

Potty training is going better after a weekend of potty boot camp.  We switched to underwear during the day and are making more of an effort to get the ball rolling.  There have been a few accidents and mop-ups, but he has asked to go to the bathroom a couple of times.  Sometimes I wonder who is potty training who though...

BOY O AND THE MARBLE JAR

The marble jar has been going on since late October.  It has been a fantastic method to encourage good, responsible behavior and discourage other bad habits at the same time.  Daddy O and I got really tired of reminding Boy O time and time again to brush his teeth, put on lotion, make his bed, turn off his nightlight etc...

So, if he remembers to do these things without being told before school, he gets a marble for each chore in the Spiderman jar.  If we have to remind him-there is no punishment (no marble in the villain jar), but there is also no reward.  Sometimes good deeds that go above and beyond the call of duty are also cause for a Spiderman marble.

Behavior that warrants a marble in the Mysterio jar are lying, arguing, talking back, not being nice...you get the picture.  As you can see from the photo below, we are very lucky parents-we don' have too much trouble.  We told him that when he filled up the Spiderman jar he could choose a fun activity to do (within reason).

It took a few months but he finally filled it up!  And after much thought and debate, he decided he wanted to see a movie at the theater.  We went this past weekend to see the movie of his choice (3D of course) and we made sure to record our fun in the photo booth after the movie got out.

MOMMY AND DADDY O

We kind of bought a house.   I say 'kind of' because we still have about a week until we officially close, but it looks good.  Inspections went as expected, minor repairs are underway and we are incredibly excited to move in after Boy O finishes out the school year in this neighborhood.   I feel like we have been living in and out of boxes for the last eight months-I can't wait to have space for all of our things and find my bleeping bowls and cookbooks again.

To recover from such a big week, we are relaxing at home on Spring Break for the time being.  Not much to do except soak up the sunshine and walk to the park.  Not a bad way to spend the time... 

Runs in the Family

I am one proud Mom today.  Boy O finished his first 5k (3.1 miles) race!  Not only did he finish, but he didn't stop once and finished first in his age group of 6 other kids, not to mention that he passed quite a few kids older than himself (including adults) as well. 

Signing him up was no big deal, the flyer came home about seven weeks ago and I thought it would be neat if we could all participate and run as a family.  We were all fired up and made a plan to train 3 days a week until race day.  It sounds ideal right? 

It was harder than I thought.  There was no doubt in my mind that my son could do this, after all-he had run 2 miles with me just one year ago and has been known to bike ahead of me for up to 10 miles while I run.  He's no slouch. The thing that I failed to account for was the attention span of a six year old versus the attention span of two competitive adults (aka his parents).  Some days were frustrating and some days we managed to remember that he is only just 6 years old, doesn't care about a steady pace and would much rather spend his energy and thoughts hopping from from rock to rock, high-fiving the branches above him and racing down the hills at break neck speed. 

In seven weeks of training Boy O managed to log in 25 miles in preparation for this morning.  He kept track by adding 1 bead per mile to a necklace he kept for himself.   Not too shabby.

Race day packets are like goodie bags in this family...who doesn't love endless brochures, magnets, key rings and other junk?

Just before we left for the starting line.

Boy O, all smiles after the race and one proud, tired mom.  It's hard to keep up now...

A few hours later at the awards ceremony and a typical response to, Hey everyone, look at the camera!