Own The Podium

We realize that the Olympics are well forgotten, but the "spirit" lives on at our house. We were able to watch some of the action on DVDs that were sent to us, and the boys really enjoyed it. All of the sports looked fun and have been added to the list of things to do on our next trip to the US. Does anyone know where we can even find a nice ski jump?
On second thought, why wait until the winter, when we can have our Olympics right here in the Tropics, and even in our house no less. Aden and Wiley have really adopted the "Own the Podium" mentality and are throwing themselves (sometimes literally) into "owning" each and every Olympic sport. What do you do though without any snow or even any skis?
Well, you use what you can find and make do. Polyester house slippers seem to be the equipment of choice for all of this year's Olympians. Not only do they provide great speed on the wood floors, but they look good. Snowboarders and skiers have been flying around the course these last few days and weeks. Let us introduce you to these up and coming "podium owners."

Meet Ski and Snowboard:



How prophetic of their parents to name them after the exact sports that they would later dominate. Incidentally, these two also play hockey and speed skate. I think they must be saving Curling for later, since it doesn't seem to have the same sort of age concerns. Look for them in Russia 2014.

Potty Training, Again

This time, it's Wiley's turn. And although he had somewhat of a slow start, he has enjoyed great success. Mommy has been eager to have only one boy in diapers for a while, something we only enjoyed for a short time before Noah was born. So as Wiley's hand-me-down three-year-old cloth diapers literally began to fall apart she got rid of them one by one. Soon he barely had a day's worth of cloth diapers, and when Daddy announced that we were running out of disposable diapers, Mommy decided it was time to potty train.

We used the same technique that ultimately had given us success with Aden - we gave him a day or two to prepare him for it, and then switched to big boy pants (which Wiley called "bubu pants"). We knew there was no going back once we started, but after one experience under our belts, with accidents and a stubborn boy, we decided we could outlast a second boy, too.

We underestimated Wiley a bit, however. At the end of four days with not even one success on the potty (and Wiley's waning desire to even try to use it), Mommy was ready to give up and acknowledge that perhaps she had started too soon. One night Daddy was getting the boys ready for a bath and began firing questions at Wiley, getting instant responses. "Who wants to wear big boy pants?" "Me!" "Who wants to get a treat?" "Me!" He pressed his luck, "Who wants to sit on the potty?" "Nobody!" came the quick response.

But we stuck with it anyway. We went away for a weekend in Hagen with some friends, and Mommy took the opportunity to tell Wiley that they did not want messes all over their house (even though they were potty-training their own two-year-old); he would have to use the potty there. Our scare tactics worked, and in the entire weekend away, Wiley only had two accidents! After returning home, his success continued, and soon he even began telling Mommy when he needed to sit on the potty (without being prompted). While we are not completely finished with the training process, we are encouraged that we are on our way.

Interestingly, both Aden and Wiley independently discovered that wearing sunglasses while potty training adds to the experience.

New from Noah

As we noticed when Wiley was a baby, Noah doesn't get much attention on the blog. Part of that is because the other boys are constantly saying and doing so many funny things, that they seem to upstage Noah's activity. However, Noah has actually accomplished quite a bit since we posted "Mr. Milestone."

* He has started eating solid food. He hasn't had too much variety yet, and really didn't like much of anything mixed with water. He has found that when Mommy mixes in a little formula too, most everything is palatable.



* At about 5 1/2 months, after an especially fussy night, Noah's first tooth popped out!

* Just like his big brothers, Noah has his very own quilt. Unfortunately, it's already falling apart and in need of repair. Noah has been "breaking it in" by rolling all over it and baptizing it with spit-up.


* Noah is now quite skilled at rolling over, and has found rolling to be an effective way to get closer to the action of his brothers. He scoots some, too, though he doesn't seem to be close to crawling any time soon.

* At six months, Noah weighed in under the charts, so we've been trying to encourage him to eat more. For about the last 24 hours, he's been wearing Mommy out, eating every 2 hours again! We're hoping for a return to our 3-4 hour feeding routine and more sleep at night very soon.

* He is quite a curious boy, and really seems eager to explore the things around him. It's been interesting to see the boys' personalities when we look at how they responded as babies when we put them in a baby seat. Aden was content to sit and look around at everything, usually only rocking if someone did the work for him; Wiley discovered how to rock the chair himself, and would rock in rhythm to watch the toys swing above the chair; Noah rocks the chair because he moves so much, trying to reach for the toys to interact and play with them.


* Noah has been practicing sitting on his own, though he can't hold his weight for too long yet. Since he can support his weight more now, his big brothers are thrilled to find it easier to hold him.