funny things they say

several years ago for christmas a friend of ours gave us a digital picture frame. it's great! the girls love looking at pictures as they eat their meals (good entertainment, i guess). it hangs in our kitchen at about eye level- let me clarify: adult eye level. it just so happens that there is a rocking horse underneath that frame that our girls like to take out and ride on from time to time. well, anyway, tonight while we were eating our dinner ella says to ted, "daddy can you stand on the rocking horse and turn on the pictures?" i almost peed my pants! however, i'm not sure if i was laughing harder at the fact that she came up with that or the idea of ted climbing on this little rocking horse to turn on the photo frame. at any rate, it made good entertainment for mommy. thanks ella!

braindead

the reason i have been absent from blogging is because i have been suffering with pretty bad morning sickness. lately, i've been taking an anti-nausea medicine commonly given to cancer patients- great, huh? so, a few times here and there the girls and i have made it out of the house during the week without daddy. this week, for instance, ted is in minnesota on business, so today i decided to take the girls out for a short outing to target (exciting, i know). it was after their naps and everyone was in a good mood. i had drinks and snacks in hand and we set off (after looking for one particular vest ella wanted and her princess hat). we were doing great in target, corinne was riding in the cart happily munching on fishies and ella was pushing her tigger around in the pink stroller she got for christmas. everything was going great that is until we got to the cashier and i realized i had forgotten my wallet on the kitchen counter!! i NEVER forget my wallet, in fact i am always teasing ted because he often forgets his. what was i going to do?! there was actually a purpose for going to target and i found just about everything on my list. there was no way i had the time to come back and re-do this shopping. i appologized profusely to the cashier and asked if they could hold the stuff for me while i ran home and retrieved my wallet. well, getting around with a "bump" while holding a squirmy 18 month old, while trying to direct an unwilling 3 year old who is pushing a toy stroller with her beloved, stuffed buddy in a busy parking lot is NOT easy! i was so flustered by the time we got to the car! i plopped corinne in her seat and got ella in hers. we were on our way to get the wallet. all of a sudden as i'm sitting at the light getting ready to get on the freeway i look back at corinne and she is NOT buckled in her carseat-God help me! and that basically what i cried out as i frantically buckled corinne in, hoping as i did so that i wasn't smooshing the "bump" too much and wondering what was going through my 3 year old's mind as she frowned at me. we finally made it AND back and purchased our things at target. then we indulgently went to in-and-out burger for a very late dinner. "dear jesus, can i please have my brain cells back? i REALLY need them!"

misadventures in potty training

we have begun potty training ella. it hasn't been fun-of course, we didn't expect it to be. this weekend was no exception. after one week of fits when i told her it was "potty time" and trying to coerce her using tigger i tried the 3-day method. that didn't work and by saturday ella was on a pee strike. she would hold it in pain for hours! it was awful. well, we decided we would get her a little mermaid doll and sit her down with a small bowl of warm water, and of course, bribe her with chocolate. we were ecstatic when finally around 6:30pm she peed in the potty! here's where it gets good. i had to go to vocal rehearsal for our church's christmas eve services, so ted was solo with the girls sunday night. when i got home i nearly had an accident as he told me this story:

i took both girls upstairs and got ella settled in with her little mermaid and bowl of water on the potty. of course, corinne kept trying to get in the bathroom and play with ella's toys so, i took her into the girl's room and closed the door. corinne and i sat for a while reading books when i heard the toilet flush. i thought this was odd as i hadn't heard the potty song (ella's potty plays a song when you "deposit" something in it). i opened the bathroom door to see ella with the tray for her potty in hand flushing the toilet repeatedly. there was a clump of toilet paper stuck and so the water started overflowing! by now corinne had made it into the bathroom too, so i grabbed both of them, stuck them in their room and shut the door while i tried to clean up the mess of water pouring over the sides of the toilet. while cleaning up ella's potty i realized that she must have had the tray part (the part you pee into) because it was missing. so i went in their room to retrieve it only to find ella putting it on corinne's head like a hat! i asked ella if she had peed and she said "yes", but the tray was dry so i hoped that she hadn't and was just confused about my question. i put the potty back together and finally got the girls settled down for bed.

so, when i (denise) got home later that night corinne woke up (because i had to clean ella and her bed of an accident) screaming- due to the fact that she's also teething. as i rocked her i couldn't help but notice the overwhelming odor of...pee on her head. hmmm....

the silver lining

so, we have started potty training ella...sigh. gone are the days of nobody needing to coerce ella into the bathroom. gone are the days of pee-less smelling laundry. gone are the days when my days didn't consist of meltdowns. there is one silver lining for one member of the family, however. while ella spends lots of time trying to go potty someone else gets all the toys. any guesses who?

thankful

today i was explaining thanksgiving to ella. she's two so i tried to break things down in pretty simple terms. i told her that we were going to have a feast to celebrate being thankful and glad for all the things jesus has given us. then i asked, "what are you glad for, ella?" and she said, "i'm glad for corinne, mama."

time away

this weekend ted let me get out of the house for a while on top of singing at church. so, i was gone most of saturday. it was a really nice treat! while i was at church singing this morning ella looked at ted and said, "daddy, i wanna go home". ted of course said, "ella, you are home". the same two sentences were repeated (if you have or have had a 2 year old, you understand this) and then ella said, "daddy, where's mommy? i want mommy"...sometimes it's nice to know you're needed.

bonds

i love these sweet moments. corinne was upset because she was tired and ready for a nap. ted put her in her carseat and by the time i got in the car there was no more crying. ella was comforting her by holding her hand.