Howdy.

It's Tuesday. What can I say. It's beautiful, gorgeous morning wake you up sunshine, with a chance of snow and hail sometime today.

I work today, and fortunately it is something I can take the boys with me.

Preschool today, and NO, it is not show-n-tell. Inside joke. Caleb asks EVERYDAY if it is show-n-tell day.

This weekend was calm. It had to be, I was with the kids alone from Friday at 2pm until Saturday night until 10:00 pm. Any they were a bit sick and running fevers again.

Yesterday, we made it to a playdate at a Burger King in Snohomish. The boys and I packed lunch so there wasn't any cost outlay other than gas... Play dates are so rare, I went for it, 10 miles each way.

Joshy is into saying "You hurt muh fweelings". And yesterday we went without his pacifier from 11AM to 2PM. And shirts, no shirts for that same time too! Baby steps to leave babyhood behind. And Potty Training Scheme No. 98A: put big boy underwear on, with a pull-up over it (for our protection, the bed, the carpet, the couch, etc). Does it work? I don't know. Will it work? I don't know. After there is an accident, each time I take the pull up off and let him feel the underwear and we have a chat and ask him if he likes that feeling... if the answer is no, we change right away. If the answer is yes and a giggle and running off, then I wait for him to come to me and complain about it. Cruel, probably, but I'm willing to live with that if it works. I'm so over buying diapers! And so over being told he is too little to fart, but too big to use the potty.
Maybe the Veggie Tales story of little David and big Goliath will have an effect, the premise was that even though he was a little guy, David still won against the giant (or "BIG pickle, in the case of Veggie Tales) with the help and power of the God of Israel. Which leads me to Potty Training Scheme No. 99: I'll sit Joshy down and pray with him about using the potty. Bizarre, probably, but I'm willing to live with that, if it works.

As for Caleb, there should be applause****%%%%*** and an earthquake of triumph####!!!! for his success with words and letters. He can sound out any three letter word (and some 4 & 5 letter words) as long as the word is straightforward. No silent E's, no OO (like Moo), no TH, etc. No tricks. So he can spell verbally or write after being told the word and sound it out for him. He's got: cat, rat, bat, can, ran, pen, pan, pet, cabin, sand, box, fox, zap, and lots more. He is truly doing awesome. And to really shock him, I give him some of the words in order, add the The/and/it/in/is/a and he sees we wrote a sentence. Then he is really impressed with himself. Then he wants to call Daddy and tell him. I think that today, I might have him show off for Miss Cheryl. This will be great. Parent teacher conferences come up in May; I expect something like, impressive spelling, still can't cut straight. Oh well. It means I'll have a blissfully ahead reader for Kindergarten with unsaveable *rappy art. Heartless, probably, but I can live with that. (And I do save SOME anyway. Although, I wonder with 1-3 art/papers a day, for the next 12 years... do I really really really need to save it today, if I'm going to toss it in 3 years?)

So that's the update. Come back soon.