Oh did I mention...

that the vomiting has started? This may be the last you hear from me until we have dug ourselves out of this sickness.

And then there was...

poop. Lots of it.

Dropped the kids off this morning and came back to get some work done at the house. Had just finished with mowing the lawn and weeding when I got a call from school. "Jack has had a BM accident." (That's parent-speak for "your kid pooped in his pants" for those of you sans kids) "And the teachers have tried to clean him but it's pretty bad so we think he needs to be showered off. Could you come in and get him?"

Well. That's one call I haven't gotten before. I got there and Jack is buck naked in the bathroom with a teacher still trying to clean him off. She said she just threw away his shorts they were so bad. She also said another boy had the same thing happen yesterday and then vomited, so I hope there's not a bug going around. So we came home and showered clean and Jack said he would just rather stay with me. So here we are hanging out.

Yesterday was the open house for the elementary school that Jack will attend in 2 years. It is a brand new school and we thought it would be neat to go check it out all spankin' brand new. So we took the kids up there. Jack was fascinated. He calls it the "big school" and he loved looking at the big classrooms and the cafeteria and the gym. He just kept saying "wow". The he announced on the way out that he was ready for high school. JOhn told them that we could look into it as soon as he poops on the potty all the time.

Being a big brother

Last night we were having playtime before bedtime and Jack was playing the harmonica and trying to show Alex how to play it. She loves to watch Jack do anything, just gets this great smile on her face.

Then Jack found my yoga strap and decided Alex needed to have it tied around her waist































Alex didn't like this much. But Jack stepped in, telling her "It's OK, Baby Alex."

Ladies and Gentlemen...

it's official. We have just completed Jack's first accident-free, no-dirty-underwear, all-toilet-all-the-time weekend. Thats right. And no, in case you're wondering, we did not stay in the whole weekend with Jack running around naked. ...That was last weekend in Florida, thank you very much. Our weekend included a variety of errands and car rides and swim time in the pool. And what it did not include was changing any dirty diapers (except the 4o or so of Baby Alex) or dirty underwear.

And that, as they say in the biz, is a wrap!

Beach delight

I'm back after a week at the beach filled with kids, sunblock, and intensive potty training. Here's my motherly advice on that...when you are exhausted with potty training and all of your reasonable discussions get you nowhere closer to getting your little one to poop on the potty, it's time to bring in reinforcements in the form of older children. We had 3 older children at the beach with us, all of whom are pooping in the potty, and I made the announcement that anytime any child went to the bathroom during the week, they were to take our son with them.

Anyway, whatever toilet karma happened, by the end of the week, Jack was pooping in the potty, even public ones, and even coming and telling me when he needed to- with a few lapses here and there. We may have turned a corner. Please god, let us have turned a corner!

Anyway, here are some cute pics from the beach...


















Nothing like a "Pile On" session with Uncle Chris
















Jack and his BFF cousin, Katy






















Playing in the fountains...

















Jack with his fabulous cousins Grayson and Katy and new friend Jesse

















I swear, those little ones and their Starbucks- we just couldn't drag them out of bed until they had their Tall Double-Mocha Half-Caf Skim Caramel Frappuccino. Jeez, talk about high maintenance...