Pictures of the birthday girl (and her brother)

On Thursday, our little girl celebrated her 2nd birthday.  This post is purely to post some pictures of her and DJ.

Saturday Morning Antics

This morning, the kids played on our bed.  Some amusing moments were captured on video, including DJ singing his version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star....

As always, to view the video, click here: http://faststeak.blogspot.com/2010/09/Saturday-Morning-Antics.html, and then click on the video to watch it.  Alternatively, you can go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRVVPG5K_XM






For those of you who want to know the text of DJ's lyrics:

Twinkle twinkle little star
How wonder what you are
Up a little star so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle twinkle little star
How wonder what you are.

DJ update

DJ, like Elektra, has his own potty chart, and he's starting to fill it nicely with star stickers.  After 7 or 8 (usually gray - "I love gray!") star stickers, DJ gets a sparkly flower sticker.  He likes being able to put the star on the chart by himself, too!

He's been going pee nicely at home, though usually I have to give him the 5 minute warning (I get "No!" for an answer), and then also tell him that he'll be able to come back and do whatever it was I'm interrupting. 

I've also noticed that he's not fully emptying his bladder at one time, except maybe in the mornings after he wakes up (if I catch him before he goes in his diaper).  Last night, for example, he peed 4 times in 2 hours.  I think he likes the idea of getting more star stickers faster!  I'm not really complaining if it's teaching and motivating him!  Though I do feel like I'm spending half of my evening in the bathroom with him!

Unfortunately, he's not at the point where he will tell you reliably before he needs to go.  Yesterday, he didn't have one potty success at Eleanor's.  So I've decided that we really do have to just keep putting him on the potty whether he thinks he needs to or not.

In other news, we've been finding DJ sleeping in the hallway in the mornings.  When I ask him why, he says it's because his bed is too small.  Eleanor asked him what we should do with the car bed, and he said to give it to Elektra.  Well no kidding!  I guess he is ready to give up his car bed for a true big boy bed!  Now the question is, do we just get a bed and frame or do we buy a whole set since we already have a dresser?  Decisions!!

Elektra's 1st potty!!!!

So Elektra just came into the kitchen where Steve and I were talking and said, "Potty?"

"You want to go potty?" Steve asks.

"Yes!" Elektra replied emphatically.

As Steve starts to take her to the bathroom, she tosses Bunny to the side rather unceremoniously and says, "Munny, wait there!"

I hear Steve take her into the bathroom and as he's stripping off her diaper says, "One of these days, you're going to surprise yourself and actually do something while sitting on the potty."

I hear Steve talking to her while she's sitting on the potty, and then I hear Steve say to her that the water comes out from right.....there. He said that he gently touched her.

Three seconds later, I hear water coming out... And I paused and thought, that doesn't sound like the sink...

"She's doing it!!" Steve yells. I go running in to see a little girl going pee pee on the potty!!! I jumped up and down, clapped excitedly, said "YAY!!" very loudly, and she got so excited that she clapped and squealed in delight.

Steve wiped her, and then picked her up and held her high in the air (sqeeeeee! of delight).

I asked her what color star sticker she wanted, and to my surprise she didn't say red (because every time I ask her what color something is, it's red!), but yellow!

Elektra got to put her first yellow star sticker on her potty chart!

Steve and I are so surprised!! Way to go Elektra!!!

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Kids update

Yesterday, after asking for an early nap, DJ slept for 2.5 hours. He still skipped lunch but had a half decent dinner of some roasted chicken breast and half a banana (part of the Hiney Binder Special diet).

Not to be outdone by how much this bug is affecting her, Elektra had 3 explosive bowel movements in 3 minutes - I'd change her, she take off to the living room, immediately turn around and run back to me, and we'd go to change her again. This must have worn her out because she fell asleep in a chair watching tv at 12:30, and didn't even fuss to get out of bed at 5, though she was wide awake and feeling a little better when I went in to check on her. She also had a half decent dinner.

Both kids went to bed relatively early, as did Steve, who slept from about 4pm until 3:30 AM (with one wake up between 6-7PM) because he felt rotten. He at least is functional today.

Meanwhile, DJ seems to be feeling better today, having eaten eggs with cheese for breakfast and some pancakes for lunch. He actually said he was hungry while we were at the playground with Leo and his caregivers (Damian and Jenn). DJ climbed all sorts of playground equipment today, trying things he'd never tried before! DJ also said on the way home that his tummy feels good. Let's hope that's really the case!

Elektra is still a mess. She is in a good mood, though, and despite the fact that she explicitly asked for pancakes this morning when she woke up, she didn't eat more than half of one and a bit of a peach. She basically had no lunch...she refused everything! She's had 3 massive diapers already, too...poor girl. But she had a good time at the playground going down slides (with Daddy - tandem slide and all by herself)!

Both kids are napping now, and hopefully they'll take good naps!!!


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School has started...

...and my kids are sick. Coincidence? I think not!! Both kids have some kind of intestinal bug. Elektra has had it since Tuesday and DJ started showing signs of it yesterday.

Today, we were supposed to drive to Lancaster to see the Schramms and celebrate Papou's birthday. Those plans fell through when:
1. DJ refused breakfast (very unusual).
2. Elektra refused breakfast (also unusual).
3. DJ had diarrhea and after I changed his diaper, he vomited all over the rug in the hall. Outfit change #1.
4. Elektra has her own less severe case of diarrhea.
5. DJ blew out his diaper to the point where Steve had to drop him in the tub. Outfit change #2.

DJ has consistently said all morning (whenever we asked) that his tummy hurts. Poor guy. And we don't think he's just saying that. But neither he nor Elektra are running fevers. There is a positive! Oh and another positive, the weather is so awesome that we have all the windows and doors open such that we can air out the house from the vomit/diarrhea smell we have infesting the house!!

Elektra had 2 blowouts yesterday (and 1 on Thursday) like the one DJ had today, but I managed to escape with no tub time for those. She hasn't had a diaper like that today, yet. Update: see the end of this post... I'm hoping that means she's on the tail end of this thing now, and that it might be indicative of what's in store for DJ.

The kids ate goldfish crackers for sustenance this morning and have been drinking water/milk.

Then, a few minutes ago (11:00 AM), DJ came to me and said he wanted to go to bed. I said ok, followed him to his room, he laid down with Tiger and I covered him with his blanket. I asked him if he wanted me to lie down in his car bed with him. He said no, to sit in the chair (in his room). Within 10 minutes, he was asleep. So he's skipping lunch today for an early nap!

While I was writing this, Elektra punished a diaper. I changed her and although it's still diarrhea, it wasn't just straight water. That's a good sign... I'll just keep telling myself that, anyway!!

Steve and I are, so far, unaffected, but we'll see if that lasts!


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