Spirit Week

This week is Spirit Week at Aidan and Leo's school. Today is crazy hair or hat day. Our kids went with crazy hair!

Leo's been dying to spike his hair up and wear it to school! Viola!

Aidan's hair always looks beautiful because he has luscious locks! -- which I proudly take credit for. It's a Foster thang!




Word big bird!




Yesterday was pajama day which they loved and Tuesday was twin day. Aidan and his friend Max dressed alike.

This is the first year we've really been into spirit week. It's fun!

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1st Day of School

Well the day finally came-the end of summer and the beginning of the new school year.

Aidan started 3rd grade and Leo started kindergarten. Leo got the teacher we hoped for, Mrs. Stewart. She was Aidan's kindergarten teacher whom we adored.

Last night we let the boys choose the menu for their last night of summer vacation meal. Not surprisingly we had papa johns pizza and ice cream sundaes. Our friend Tina came over to celebrate the last night of summer vacation and we challenged her to bit of Wii dance party. She rocks the Katy Perry songs!

This morning the boys were up at around 7am got dressed in some new school clothes and we took a few pictures. Breakfast was a bit thin for both of them due to nerves but they were both in high spirits.

Doggy snuck away to school in Leo's backpack. When we arrived at school Leo got right in line with his class. You could tell he was a bit nervous because he got quiet and his face was serious but no tears and he was ready to go. He has dropped off and picked up Aidan from school for 3 years now, I think he was happy to get to do it all on his own this year too. Aidan wanted Jason to walk him to his classroom and when he arrived he had a few tears due to the nerves but marched into class like a real trooper. We are so lucky that his best friend William is in his class too and about 4 or 5 friends from soccer are also in his class!

Mom on the other hand had lots of tears when we left school. I know that Leo is more than ready for school but I still find it very sad for all that it represents, growing up, independence, separation, years if schooling ahead, etc. They have done amazing and we couldn't be more proud but the tears are flowing today. I'm at work for a few hours trying to keep distracted then will go home for pickup! I really can't wait!











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Success! We have two boys that don't need training wheels

Aidan and Leo both set their minds to learning how to ride their bikes with no training wheels and we had super success!
It started out a little iffy after they first tried it on Thursday. They were whining that it was too hard, that they couldn't do it, and that they were tired. I gave them a pep talk and told them that they had to have a positive attitude, that everything they did the first time was hard and that they have to keep practicing. And once they got it, they wouldn't even have to think about it. That day, I proclaimed that they would be able to ride their bikes without training wheels by the end of the 4th of July holiday weekend!

They didn't prove me a liar! By Friday, Aidan changed his whole attitude. When I said "you guys are going to be able to ride your bikes!" Aidan yelled "yeah!!" and guess what?? they did it! Leo's attitude changed by about Sunday but we went out everyday to practice. Their bikes are a little small for them but they mastered it! And their mother and father high-fived because we achieved another huge hurtle in parenting. It's up their with potty training, reading, and eating with a fork!

The look great on their bikes!

Preschool Graduation

Friday, June 3rd was Leo's preschool graduation. We were all so excited, even Leo. At home we had been doing cheers and chants in preparation. Leo was so proud but not sure what it all meant. Aidan got to stay home from school to attend because we think it's a big deal and wanted Leo to have the support of his whole family. Aidan was excited to see Leo's school because he'd never been and has asked about it numerous times.

When we first arrived Leo was happily playing puzzles with a couple of his teachers and other students. Then it hit, they had to line up and march across the classroom and sit in front of dozens of parents and siblings. He did not like that! He cried when they were lining up and his teachers were trying to console him but he didn't like all the fan fare and attention. Still he put on the little cap and marched out, crying, and sat down in the chair. One little girl said loudly "why is leo crying?!" It was heart breaking. He was crying, and gasping for breath and he shut his eyes and sat until he was calm. I almost thought he was sleeping. I wanted go up and grab him and say "you don't have to participate in this! Who cares anyway, let's go home and have ice cream and celebrate!" When they handed out the diploma's they were supposed to walk up and shake the assistant principal's hand and take their certificate. The principle just bent down and handed Leo his. Thank goodness.

But he made it through. I'm not sure if he is better for it but he did it. Some times I don't know why we have to do these things. I guess sometimes you just don't know how they will react and other times they are important moments. I know how he and Aidan both feel about this kind of stuff. I don't like it at all.

On Sunday, Aidan had one of this last soccer games and afterwards the team and the parents went out for pizza. It was nice but those types of events are really hard for me too. I don't feel comfortable in these situations either. I think about them a lot afterwards and later I feel completely exhausted and drained. Jason is amazing. You could drop him in the middle of a room with 20 strangers and he could stay for 2 hours talking. It's really a gift. A gift, I think he gets from his mom.

I'm really not ready for Leo to go to Kindergarten. He's ready but I am not. Check back with me at the end of summer.

Leo and his preschool teachers: Ms. Alayna, Ms. Emma and Ms. Pokeress

Happy Halloween

We had a fun Halloween! We did so much today. Before lunch Leo and I went to Tuesday Morning looking for a new bath mat. On the way home Leo put some fun sunglasses on that Sarah bought me for Halloween and he looked like a Diva. Okay, maybe not a Diva but he is Cute with a capital "C".

After a little shopping we came home and carved pumpkins. We have some pretty great pumpkins. The boys got totally into it. For the first year Aidan actually got his hands dirty and cleaned out the guts of the pumpkin. Go Aidan. Leo designed his own pumpkin with fangs and everything.

After carving pumpkins, we made caramel apples. And after that we had some friends over for pizza, salad, snacks, apple cider, and a Halloween cookie! Doris came over, Aidan's friend William, his sister Queenie and mom Elsie. Also our friends Mauricio, Misty, Magda (the pretty fairy), and baby Santiago. 

Aidan was a clone trooper and Leo was Iron Man. William was Darth Vader and Queenie was a cheetah. Magda was a pretty fairy and is two years old. She was cracking me up because she left one house and said "that was trick-or-treating" and she said it like "Now THAT is how you trick-or-treat!"

Pants Down Races

Last Thursday, Jason told me a really funny story about the boys so I told him to write it down so I could put it on the blog. So here it is, as told by Jason:

I was in the kitchen making dinner and I could hear the boys running around upstairs and having a good time. After I was done, I went up stairs to see what all the noise was about. Here what I was told:

Jason: "What are you guys doing up here?"
Aidan: "We're having pants down races."

Without wanting to know too much, here's the explaination of a "pants down race." You pull your pants down to your ankles and then race to a stuffed animal.  I didn't ask but I'm hoping at that point the race is over and you pull your pants back up until the next race. Leo was cracking up hysterically playing pants down races.

Now pants down races has become a family game. Just kidding!!

So for those of you checking in, Leo is doing fantastic after his surgery. He is eating, sleeping and behaving as usual. He is in such great spirits. We have to remind him that he can't run, jump, or play too hard. We are still resting a lot and yesterday he took a really long nap and then at night at about 8pm he asked if he could go to bed. I said, "you want to go to bed?" and he said, "yes. it's so dark outside." I can't believe how well and how quickly he has recovered but I couldn't be happier. He is such a big, big boy. Thanks so much for all of the checking in.

Questions and Answers

Aidan and Leo came up with some really great questions they wanted answers to tonight. Aidan suggested that we find the answers on the internet. So here you go...these are mostly Aidan's questions:

1. Why do mosquito bites itch?
A: Normally when you get a cut, the blood clots up. Otherwise, you would bleed to death from a little tiny cut. This is a problem for the mosquito, because the mosquito wants to suck your blood, not get stuck in a clot! So the mosquito injects some chemicals that prevent clotting. A side effect of those chemicals is that they cause itching. It is interesting that humans have more of a problem with this than, say, rabbits. Many animals don't have any sort of an allergic reaction to mosquito bites. -see Scholastic for answers to other cools questions about insects.

2. How long do ladybugs live?
A: A ladybug can live from one to two years, but the life cycle, from egg to adult, is about a month. - WikiAnswers

3. Why do horses wear horseshoes?
In the wild, horses walk on meadows, dirt and other softer surfaces. But horses in captivity walk on gravel, roads, rocks plus they are carrying an extra weight. The horseshoes provide protection to the hooves and maintain a relatively flat surface.  - WikiAnswers

4. Does marking an "X" in a mosquito bite stop the itching?
There doesn't seem to be much concensus on this one. At least that we could find in the 10 minutes we spent searching the internet. eHow suggests that you should "get yourself a butter knife and place it directly on the mosquito bite. Press down and make an X with the knife. This spreads out the protein in the bite and stop it from itching for about an hour or so. Works just like your fingernail, just cleaner. Unless of course you have completely sanitized your fingernails."  - Read more: How to Stop Itching Mosquito Bites. Other people have given other explanations like it distracts you from the itch and pain, spreads out the pain into q"quadrants" and all kinds of other silly things. For some (40!) great tips and remedies for mosquito itch see tipnut

5. How does liquid soap turn into foam?
A: The process is incredibly simple - the foaming pump works because it injects a bunch of air into a small amount of soap as it pumps. --And to discover how to make your own soap solution to refill the a foam pump click on the link.

Leo had some great questions too but much more difficult to answer:

1. Why is this (binder) clip so hard to push?

2. What is stuff made out of?

3. Why do airplanes have wheels?--Aidan answered this questions: so the bottom of the airplane does get scratched.




 

Favorite article of clothing

I am getting ready for bed. I undertook my usual ritual of walking in the door after getting home from work, heading upstairs to change out of my work clothes and putting on my comfy clothes, usually my pajamas. So I look into my closet and my go to shirt is an OLD, OLD shirt. It is a nursing shirt from when I had Leo! I know! It is totally OLD. I love it. It is black, loose but not long, light weight, three quarters sleeve and it is the softest cotton I have ever felt. I don't know why I love it more than any other shirt that I own but I wish I could keep it forever. I CAN NOT keep it forever. It is so much better than an old t-shirt. I have never really had a favorite old t-shirt.

What is your favorite article of clothing? The article of clothing that you wish would last forever. That you could wear every day if could?

I'm upstairs sitting on our bed. Leo is sleeping, snoring actually. He feel asleep at about 6:50pm. Jason is downstairs playing Wii FIFA Soccer with Aidan and he is losing. Aidan just ran upstairs saying he beat Daddy.

Weekend Update

FRIDAY: I was planning to stay at work a little late. Doris had left a little early to go to the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit. At about 5:55pm Becs sent me an email to ask if we wanted to have dinner at Mi Rancho in Silver Spring. I called Jason immediately and asked if he wanted to go too. Sometimes Friday's are tough for Jason to go out to dinner because he's had a long week at home but even though he had already cooked the boys a couple of burgers (though they hadn't eaten them yet) he was totally up for it. I sent an email back to Becs telling her "YES!!" She couldn't believe it. She thought it was totally a long shot and wasn't even going to ask us but I told her, "invite us to dinner where we don't have to cook and throw in margaritas and Jason and I will almost never say 'no'". Becs, Jake and I all rode the metro to the restaurant and Jason packed the boys in the car. Even with the rain, we had a great time. The pitcher of strawberry margaritas and Dos Equis helped but best of all it was the great company and Doris surprised us and showed up too (we texted her on her way to the restaurant).

SATURDAY: Saturday had it ups and downs. On the up side, we had a nice morning. Aidan and I played Wii tennis before breakfast. He said if he wins, I had to make him breakfast in bed. I took on that wager and ended up making him breakfast in bed. He loved it, took full advantage of me and acted like a king!

After getting ready we went into my office. Leo was so cute and asked "am I going to work with you?" I told him "yes" and his face lit up and he said, "thank you so much mommy. I get to go too? and Aidan?" He was so excited. The boys helped me clean up my desk. My cubicle was a disaster. It looked like a paper hurricane had landed in my cubicle. There were papers on the floor, on my desk, still sitting in my printer, in the overflowing recycle bin, everywhere! The boys had the run of the office and they loved it. They ran back and forth between my cubicle and the recycle, we filed stuff in the filing room (Aidan thinks the filing room is 'spooky'), we cleaned up my bookshelves, they washed my coffee cups, cleaned out my drawers, shredded papers, put books on other shelves and wiped down my countertops. Aidan and Leo loved it, Jason was a good sport and a super helper. Jason went to the potbelly's and got us sandwiches and we ate in our conference room. They asked if I had meetings in here and where I usually sit. The boys had so much fun that Aidan asked if we could go to my work on Sunday.

Aidan also had a birthday party to go to later in the afternoon. On our way home from work he asked if he could take a nap. I told him "yes" but that we were almost home and he had to go to his party. He started to cry and said he didn't want to go. Jason was frustrated because he hates it when Aidan rsvp's for a party and then the day of the party doesn't want to go. I hate it too but sometimes when you get there he warms up to it and ends up having a good time. I offered to take him but Aidan wanted Daddy to take him. So, nervously I watched them head out the door. Leo wanted to go to the party too but since he couldn't I promised him we would do something. We ended up making a St.Patrick's Day cake. Halfway through mixing the batter, I heard two car doors slam shut. I looked out the window and saw Aidan and Jason, unhappy as can be, walk up the stairs. Jason said Aidan cried when they got to the party and didn't want to go in so Jason took the present inside and said Aidan wasn't feeling well (which obviously is true). The birthday was at some sportsplex-a place Aidan had never been.

When Aidan came home, I told him he had to go to his room for a while. Surprisingly, he went without a fuss. I sent Jason to the book store and movies (this is clearly the only fun thing he got to do), Leo and I finished the cake, and I went up to talk to Aidan. I told him that the reason that we were upset was because he had told us earlier that he wanted to go the party so his friend's family paid money for Aidan to be at the party, they had planned for him to eat pizza and cake, so we had wasted their money and that most of all his friend was looking forward to him being at his birthday party and he was disappointed on his special day. If he RSVPs to a party it is important for him to go because people are planning on him being there. Jason said that even if they would have gone inside he would have hated it because it was loud and crowded and unfamiliar--all the things Aidan hates. I don't know if it was the right talk but it was the talk we had. The rest of the night went really well. They were all in a good mood, ate a super dinner (even Leo) and we frosted the chocolate cake with green frosting and put on green sprinkles.

SUNDAY: Aidan started swimming lessons again and again, it was another activity he didn't want to do. I didn't put up with that one. My whole shpeel about swimming is that once they can swim easily in the deep end of a pool without any help they can cut the swim lessons but until then they will go. It simply a matter of safety. No ifs and or buts. How parental is that? Sounds like something my parents would say.

After swimming the boys dropped me off at Doris' house for the monthly Creative Memories scrapbooking event. I had a great time but I realized where Aidan gets the anxiety of crowds and noise because there were lots of people at Doris' and lots of loud talking which towards the end gave me a little anxiety. I worked on Leo's first year album (no comments please) and made some great progress. I am on the very last month (February) and working on his 1st birthday party. I love the pictures. The boys are adorable and I can never get enough of looking at their baby pictures. They are too sweet for words. After I got home, as is tradition, we looked at the new pages I did and we looked at both their albums. They love looking at them too, maybe not as much as me but they like it.

While I was scrapbooking, Jason took the boys with rain boots and all to the airplane park. They walked around in the mud and the puddles for a little while. Jason sent me a cute picture of Aidan and Leo standing in the middle of a gigantic mud puddle.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Sorry there are no pictures.

Weekend Fun

It's Tuesday and it is shaping up like a crazy week. Last night I left the office at 7pm again. By the time the boys picked me up it was close to 8pm. Leo didn't have a nap (Jason doesn't consider sleeping in the car for 5 minutes a nap-go figure) so when they picked me up he was already asleep. Aidan was awake but it was already time for bed by the time I scarfed down a piece of meatloaf, some mashed potatoes, and a salad. Of course everyone had already eaten.

This week I have decided to bring my little netbook to work and take some time at lunch to eat a place that has free wi-fi (love Starbucks!) and spend some personal time blogging and searching the job announcements. Right now as I type I am at the Potbelly's close to work and using the Starbucks' free wi-fi (Starbucks is right next door to the Potbelly's).

This past Friday I left work early and after we picked up Aidan from school we headed down to Richmond for the night. Once we got down there we met Thotlady and Bogey at a local pizza place for beer and pizza which was really fun. After dinner, Jason and his brother, Bogey, went to the Alice in Chains concert. Jason's Dad is cousins with the father of the drummer so that makes Jason the second cousin to the drummer (I think). In any case, Dennis called his cousin and they got free tickets to the concert. They really wanted to meet their second cousin (the drummer) but it just didn't work it. I can't believe the drummer didn't want to meet Jason and Bogey! The boys and Cindy and I went back to their place and got the boys ready for bed and we all watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was a lot of fun.

In the morning Cindy went and got bagels from Einsteins (which we love!) and around lunch time we went Careytown Teas which has some super amazing tea choices. We bought a couple of different kinds (my favorite is vanilla rooibos (an herbal red tea grown in South Africa)). After that we had lunch at a sub shop and then we went for a nice walk downtown along the river. It was a beautiful day. I think we all enjoyed being outside and the boys loved throwing rocks in the river. After that, at about 4:30, we left and headed back up to DC. We had a great time and enjoyed the time away and the wonderful hospitality.

On Sunday, we had an appointment at Target to have Leo's four year pictures taken. If you recall from last year, Leo hates getting his picture taken and we barely managed to get a 3 year photo of him where he is not crying. This year, after a bit of preparation, he was all ready. The photographer managed to get 5 shots of him and that was it. Three shots were great and the other he had his eyes closed or he was on the verge of tears. She took a couple of pictures of him standing up, with his hand in his pocket, he smiled his ever charming smile with dimple, and after that he was done. She asked him to sit on a stool and he started crying. Thus ended the photo shoot.

After the photo shoot picked up a few things for Aidan's room. After a terrible night Saturday night of getting Aidan to sleep we offered to help Aidan redecorate his room to something that he loved. He was complaining and crying Saturday night that he didn't like his room so I calmly offered to help him on Sunday redecorate it. Don't get me wrong, I was not calm during the whole escapade. He wanted to change his desk and dresser around and we got him a small cube of shelves with baskets to store some of his things. He did a great job cleaning and organizing. By 8:30 we had to order him to stop cleaning and when he woke up on Monday morning he jumped out of bed and went straight to organizing his desk. He is so cute!

All in all we had a fun weekend. We hope yours was great too.

We also hope you all have a great week. It is sunny and 60 on our side of the continent.

THANK YOU Auntie Rushell!!

Auntie Rushell sent Leo a package with his birthday present. It came in a gigantic Disney box and Leo was so excited to get it. We couldn't torture him by not letting him open it. So even though it was a little early (his Birthday is on Tuesday) we let him open it. Inside the box was a Disney Cars tool set (did you know Leo loves Cars?) with an electric paint sprayer and electric drill with different drill bits. He was so excited he said, "This day just keeps getting better and better" and "I love it so much." He has also been walking around the house saying, "Now I can fix our car." I don't think we will let him at the Saturn any time soon as it is our only car but maybe, just maybe, he will grow up knowing how to fix cars and other mechanical things. We should be so lucky as no one else in his immediate family is that talented. Let's just say the car repair shops love it when the Holma family drives up!

Leo is so excited for his birthday it has been hard for him to contain the excitement. He is also very anxious for it to arrive. The other day he started crying a little bit saying "It take so long, it take so long." It's tough being almost four. Aidan is having a little bit of a tough time with all of the Leo Birthday talk but he is managing very well also. Originally we planned on staying a night or two at a hotel for his birthday. He wanted the hotel instead of a party. I told you...the boys love staying in hotels as does their Mama! But given all the snow and the weather issues past and possibly in our future we just didn't think it was a good idea so instead we have put together a little impromptu birthday party of very kind and wonderful friends. We will have a little brunch and cake and ice cream. Leo picked out an ice cream cake from Baskin and Robbins that has Iron Man on it. He loves Iron Man. We also picked up a few Spiderman plates and we got a few balloons. I hope he likes it.

Auntie Rushell also sent the boys two totally awesome t-shirts from Hawaii. She got them at an ice cream shop and they are super cool. The boys tried them on immediately after opening and wore them for the rest of the day. THANK YOU Auntie Rushell!

BINGO!!!

We found Doggy!

Actually Leo found Doggy. We were upstairs getting ready for bed and I was looking for our missing tv remote control (can you see a pattern here?) and I opened my closet door and Leo saw doggy in my closet, on the bottom shelf, on top of a box of sweaters. Leo grabbed him and said "Doggy's not lost" and we all jumped up and down, screamed, hugged doggy and hugged Leo. We are all so happy to see him. Last weekend, Doris and I scrapbooked and she a couple of pictures of Leo and Doggy and it was so sad to see him in the picture when he was actually lost.

I guess you can imagine how happy we all are right now!!!

Just quickly, it is snowing again. We are supposed to get 7 inches of snow. I am hoping and hoping and hoping we get that and more so that we get the day off work. Oh, how glorious that would be!

MIA: Doggy

REWARD

For the safe return of "Doggy"$2 from Aidan

1$ from Leo

We have sent out the search and rescue. Doggy is missing in action. Leo's special stuffed animal known to everyone as "doggy" is missing. We have searched high and low, retraced our steps, and called in the reserves (Doris) to look for doggy with no luck.

We have cleaned the boys' rooms from top to bottom, tore off the sheets, removed all the stuffed animals, picked up their closets, searched under the beds and we can not find doggy. We looked in our room, in our closets, under our bed and we can not find doggy. We can not find him downstairs, under the couches, in the car, or in the extra bedroom. We can not find him any where!?!

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being "whatever" and 10 wailing crying Leo is about a 5 and Aidan is about a 7. Leo said he was sad, yelled at Doris one day that he "didn't wanna talk about it" and asked me if I thought Doggy was scared. Aidan wants to know why Leo isn't more broken up about it and if I was sad. This was good opportunity to talk about Aidan's new vocabulary word, "grieve" that he learned during their school lesson on "Hansel and Gretal". I explained to him that people "grieve" in different ways...some people cry, some people just want to be alone, and some people are their normal selves but that all ways were okay.

Not to get too far down a tangent but Hansel and Gretal is a crazy story for 1st graders to read.

Here are the major points of the story:

1. Dad remarries to a mean lady

2. Dad abandons children deep in the woods

3. Children are on the verge of starving (other vocabulary word taught was "famine")

4. Children pig out on candy house

5. Crazy old lady kidnaps kids

6. Crazy old lady forces Gretal to be her domestic servant

7. Crazy old lady locks Hansel in cage to plump him up to eat him

8. Gretal pushes old lady into burning oven

9. Old lady dies a terribly painful death

10. Children return home and live happily ever after with Dad because Step mom dies

Great! That is not at all scary for 7 year-old first graders.

Back on point: So we are all sad we can't find doggy and we are all totally perplexed as to where he could possibly be. Leo asked me if I thought doggy was scared and I told him probably not because he gets to sleep all day which doggy loves and when Aidan asked if I was sad I said "yes" but that doggy lived a long and good life. Aidan totally agreed. We reminisced about doggy's history, born in Switzerland, entered our life as a gift from Jennifer and Craig (our special friends in Geneva) to Aidan and then was specially selected by Leo to love.

Any ideas of where doggy could be. If you find him there is a $3 reward!

Surprise: Aidan and Leo

Hi Aidan and Leo. I have hidden a surprise for you in the house. You have to follow these directions to find your surprise: Good Luck, and Have Fun.

Start: Stand in the middle of the kitchen with your pinky finger on the freezer door handle.
1) Walk to the living room and look under the couch. Not there?
2) Walk down stairs to the basement
3) Go into the bedroom in the basement
4) Stand in front of the mirrors
5) Turn around 3 times
6) Run upstairs to mommy and daddy's room
7) Look in Daddy's dresser to find your surprise

I hope you love it.

I love and miss you so much!

A trip to the Dentist

Aidan and Leo went to the dentist last Tuesday. Aidan has been to the dentist a number of times before this visit but this was Leo's first visit to the dentist! Whoo-hoo! The day before (Labor Day) we were over at Doris' house for dinner and I remembered they had their dentist appointment and excitedly told Doris that Leo was going to the dentist for the first time. To my surprise he cried and said he didn't want to go! We stopped talking about it immediately! Uh-oh, this did not look good for Tuesday. Let's just say he was not impressed and there is a slim chance that Leo will aspire to be a dentist.

Aidan went first in the chair and as you can see he is an old pro. The dentist said that his teeth look great! She said that he is getting his adult molars and that soon his other baby teeth should loosen and fall out. That was pretty neat.

When the dental assistant came in and wanted to check out Leo's teeth he cried and pretty much refused. She was very nice and didn't force herself or her tools on him and said "let's just wait for the dentist."


When the dentist came, Leo layed on Jason's lap and the dentist's lap and he did really well. No crying and he let her look at his teeth. He allowed her to look at them just enough to count his teeth. She said the first visit is really just to get the kids familiar with the dentist and the procedures and so all they really need to do is just look in their mouth and count their teeth. That was done! So there was a major success there!

Finally Something to Write About

Our week was pretty quiet. Besides Doris finally coming home from Puerto Rico on Tuesday we haven't really been doing very much. But that all changed on Thursday when Patrick arrived from Seattle. We were so happy for him to get here. He arrived in the early evening so we went out to dinner to Uncle Julio's a Mexican Restaurant. We hadn't been there since Patrick was in DC celebrating his birthday 2 or 3 years ago. The boys had a busy day, they all came in to town to have lunch with me and Doris and Becs and visit my friends and colleagues in the office. When I got home they still seemed to be pretty happy so we decided to go out and they were great at dinner too. By the time we got home, they were exhausted so putting them to bed that night was a piece of cake.

Yesterday (Friday) was also a very important day (VID). Aidan had his open house where he got to meet his new teacher (Mrs. Hornstein - Aidan got the good teacher!), see his new classroom, find his desk, and see what friends are in his class. He wasn't exactly excited about it but I have a feeling that this school year will go really well, especially the first day. There may be some nervousness, an upset stomach and possibly some tears but I'm confident there will be no throwing up! Mrs. Hornstein is great and we are so happy Aidan is in her class! We also went to see Mrs. Stewart his Kindergarten teacher last year-she is fantastic. Afterwards we went out to ice cream and celebrated the start of a great school year. Aidan seemed happy and talkative so I am happy for and proud of him.

Friday night I went out to dinner with some girl friends-we were celebrating a special birthday. We started off at the Russia House in Dupont Circle and then had dinner at Buca di Beppo. We drank great beer at the Russia House (maybe a little too much) and then had good Italian food but all together we had lots of fun. The Russia House is known for its vodka but after reading the reviews I was a little afraid of getting into the vodka so I passed and had some great Russian beer. Becs is my beerfriend. The boys all had Ledo's Pizza for dinner.

Today, Saturday we had bagels for breakfast and then we all went to Mt. Vernon, Washington's Estate. It was a bit hot and humid but great fun because we had not been there for a really long time. It has changed so much. They now have this fantastic museum and education center that was really fun to wander around in. My favorite part of the visit was sitting on the back porch of the house and looking out into the Potomac.

After a couple of hours at Mt. Vernon we all went to Elevation Burger in Arlington (don't be jealous Heid!). It is a great burger place that uses organic, free-range, grass feed cow meat and olive oil for its fries. It is all about the ingrediants they say. The have great milk shakes too! Plus it's nice that they buy their meat from humanely raised cows.

Tonight Jason and Patrick are going to get out of the house and see a movie. I'm not sure if they decided which one to see yet but let's see if I can convince Jason to write a movie review. Don't get your hopes up but I'll try.

One last exciting thing that has been going on over the weekend...BIKES! Jason finally put together Leo's Thomas the Train bike. Leo got his bike from Pa and Crow for christmas but his mom and dad have been slackers and only now put it together. The boys have been riding their bikes like crazy. They rode yesterday afternoon. The rode before we went to Mt. Vernon and they rode after we came home from Elevation Burger. We left Mt.Vernon because the boys were exhausted but in the same breath they asked if they could ride their bikes when we got home. Leo has only been riding for two days but he is already a pro and Aidan has really become much more confident on his bike. He rides fast, wants to ride up the curb, and while he disagrees, I think he is ready to take off the training wheels. I predict it won't be long. They are both super cute on their bikes.

Voicemail Message

The video is just sound (no picture) but I received this message on my telephone at work from Leo when he was just learning to use the potty. In particular, he was learning to go poop in the potty! It is such a wonderful, happy message so we wanted to share it. As you can hear it was a very exciting moment for both Leo and Daddy.

"I go potty in the toilet, I go potty in the toilet" - Leo Holma

This weekend we started in on the potty training again. While we were home we would let Leo run around with underpants on. They had to be Cars or Buzz Lightyear, occassionaly spiderman and Wall*e were acceptable. We had success here and there but he wasn't totally into it or committed. To give incentives or not to give incentives: that is the question. We tried incentives (read: bribes) of toys. We told him that if he went potty on the toilet he could have a toy (we keep a stash of toys for such occassions). Over the past two months or so he has earned about three toys. We also told him that if he went poo on the toilet he could have a *BIG* toy-one that required a trip to the toy store. The *BIG* toy really didn't do much for him. He wasn't going potty on the toilet and he especially wasn't going poo.

Early on in the process, he really only went once per day on the toilet. So he got one toy. Over the weekend though he went two or three times on the toilet. Of course, he expected two or three toys! We told him he had to go potty twice in one day to get a toy. He was actually quite upset that he wasn't getting multiple toys and didn't really understand the concept of going potty two times in one day. So we changed the incentive scheme on Monday: one toy, and 5 m & m's for going potty the other times and a poo in the toilet was still worth a *BIG* toy. m & m's could be earned morning or night. On Tuesday morning Jason, Aidan and Leo were downstairs playing and Leo said he had to go potty (did I mention he has his own little potty?) and Jason replied "great. you know where the potty is". Leo ran upstair and went potty and guess what? He poo'd! He came running downstairs to tell Jason and Aidan, "I went poo in the potty, I went poo in the potty!" He said he heard it drop in the toilet! and he asked "I get toy?" He was so, so proud. It is great to see him so proud of himself. He wanted to go to Toys R Us immediately so they did. He got a Star Wars Mugg. So the rest of the week he has pretty much been going in the toilet. He is wearing pull-ups and regular underpants. Last night I forgot to take his underpants off of him before he went to bed and no accident! Today was his first day of going on the potty all day (poo x 3). Not in the diaper, not in the pull-up. When they went to the pool today and they finished and were showering, drying off and trying to get dressed, he told Jason he had to potty. Jason told him to wait just for a minute because they were trying to dry off and get dressed and he held it and then went a lot in the big potty. He is doing GREAT!

He called me and left me a message on my phone at work, "I go poo in potty mom! I get toy?" How can you say no to that sweet voice? You can't!

We are on the up swing of this potty thing. Let's see how the rest of the week and the weekend go. We need to cut off the incentives but to be honest I'm afraid to. Let's see how he reacts.

A Day with Thomas the Train

On Saturday, May 2, we drove up to Baltimore and went to the B & O railroad museum and spent the day (or half of it) with Thomas the train. Just to set the scenery, it was pouring down rain when we left the house around 9am. We went and got some breakfast and some coffee, juice and chocolate milk and then headed up to Baltimore (about 45 minutes away). A few months ago, we got tickets to ride a train that looked like Thomas, well sort of. Our tickets were for 11:30 am and we were told get there an hour early. We got there around 10:30 am and parked and went into the roundhouse. The museum is great and had a number of trains inside that you could walk around in and a number of trains outside (though, again it was pouring). They also had a number of Thomas the Train (TT) activities for the kids include a huge Lego train and town set up, Thomas trains and tracks, TT coloring station, TT temporary tattoos, Sir Topham Hatt and a TT gift shop.

When it came for us to ride Thomas, it was still raining. Leo was really excited when he saw the train. The front of the train looked like Thomas and the rest of the train was comprised of Marc train cars (the commuter train line). We got on and waited for everyone else to get on and Leo kept saying “this take too long.” Once we started to go, Leo said “this train go faster?” For the first five minutes of the train ride, he kept asking if the train was going to go faster. He even asked the conductor that was walking around. The conducter said “No, we’re not going to go faster. We have one mile of track and we have to stretch this trip out for 25 minutes.” Now that is a slow train! One other thing…the Museum is not located in the best area of Baltimore so the scenery left something to be desired. We went two miles an hour in a Marc train car with sticker bushes and a parking lot on one side and dilapidated houses, mud, and sticker bushes on the other. Next time, I think we need to take Leo on a much faster train. He wants to go on a bullet train. I think we should go to New York.

On a some what unrelated note, but important to the story...Aidan was not excited about going on this trip at all. Because Leo loves trains, he thinks trains are for babies. We are now at that stage where it is hard to find things that they both will like. To be honest, I think he actually enjoyed himself he just didn't want to admit it. I'm also having a hard time getting Aidan to be supportive of Leo's excitement and be excited for him. I'm disappointed he can't say and with a smile, "yeah, Leo this is fun" even when he doesn't really mean it because it would mean a lot to Leo. I guess he is just being honest.

How Experience Changes Us

If you would have asked me only a couple of weeks ago whether I thought it was appropriate to give gifts to the sibling(s) of the birthday child I would have said "no way!" I always thought this was such a silly thing. Surely, I thought, kids could manage adequately, even successfully, to be happy for their siblings on their birthday. These were my thoughts until Leo had his 3rd birthday on Monday.

Aidan was deeply bothered that Leo would get presents, receive special attention and treatment all day on his birthday. I tried to reason with Aidan and tell him that on his birthday Leo would not receive any presents either. We even talked about how Leo's birthday was a day to celebrate Leo and be thankful that he was born and that he was a great little brother who loved Aidan and looked up to him and wanted to do everything that Aidan did. As much as Aidan new all that was true he couldn't get past that Leo would get all of these special presents and attention and Aidan would not. Aidan asked days before if he could use the money that he saved to buy something special for himself on the day of Leo's birthday. (He already bought Leo a special birthday present).

I thought about this for a while. Was Aidan capable of understanding or learning a lesson that sometimes it's not always about us or that sometimes we have to think of other people first and watching other people happy is what makes us happy? Giving is better than receiving and giving a gift that you are excited to give and that you know the other person will love is more fun and important than getting gifts? Or at this age is he really incapable of learning that lesson? Watching Aidan for a week worrying (maybe that is too much of an exaggeration maybe just preoccupied) with Leo's birthday changed my mind. I let Aidan spend his own money on Leo's birthday and buy something special for himself. Do you know what Aidan wanted as well? He wanted me to buy something for Leo too because he didn't want Leo to feel left out or not have something special.

This whole experience has changed my mind about buying gifts for siblings on the birthday child's special day. I don't think it is good idea for other people to buy gifts for the siblings but I do think it is not a bad idea for parents to have something special for all their children on a child's birthday. Of course this does not last forever but 5, 6, or 7 is probably about right but I guess I will have to wait and see.

So that is what I learned over the last week or two.