THREE!!

I am just amazed at how fast the last 3 years have gone. Each phase has brought about new and exciting things, and being the parents of these kids just keeps getting better and better. For this post I'm going to do my usual thing, but then Adam is also going to add his perspective.

Ladies first...

Eden continues to light up our lives with the sunshine of her smile. She approaches life with amazing curiosity, a clever and analytical mind, and a joy that oozes out of her. Eden is always asking questions and wanting to figure things out. She is first and foremost a daddy's girl, but has a sweet relationship with me as well. Eden is intense in some ways, yet as happy as could be. She is good to Violet and interested in helping to care for her.

Eden in Daddy's words...

Eden is very physical. She has a very high body awareness. She is a graceful jumper and climber. She likes frequent hugs and touches. She will often initiate spinning or being thrown in the air. She will dance, but prefers to dance with someone. She likes to read books with Bash or a parent. She likes to understand the world. Her vocabulary is excellent because she uses words to define the world. When someone misuses a word (either accidentally or in an attempt at silliness) she will let them know. She loves to eat fruits and vegetables. She has an passion that sometimes requires her to slow down and take a deep breath, but she's three years old and her job is to embrace that zest. Our job is to help her handle it. She will sometimes say the funniest things that leave us all scratching our heads, not because of the words, but because it is amazing that this little girl came up with something so creative and clever.

The eldest...

Sebastien is our goofy, sweet darling, just as always. He is musical and creative and happy. He has a sensitivity to him, and yet at times he seems impervious to those around him. Bash can be satisfied to live in his own little world, though he is quick to let Eden in. His imagination continues to astound us, and he combines that with his love for music - he'd rather make his crayons dance and sing than actually color with them, he uses almost anything as a horn (of varying types) and he often makes up songs or changes the words to his favorite ones. Bash loves to cuddle, and he is so affectionate.

Sebastien in Daddy's words...

Bash is very musical. He will sing songs, fill in his own words for those he doesn't know, hum, dance, and play musical instruments. He has an imagination that knows no bounds. Sometimes it takes him a few minutes to come back from wherever he is when we need his attention. He is just as happy with a stick as with an expensive toy. He does not need constant attention, but when he does needs a moment of connection he really needs it. He cuddles and sometimes breaks down for seemingly little reason. He is kind. He shares well. He can be mischievous, but this flows out of his non-stop imagination, not because he is trying to do something he shouldn't, and his accompanying head tilt and smile let you know that he's just loving life.

And together...

Eden and Sebastien are absolutely best friends. They adore each other. Whenever we do things with them separately, they greet each other with big hugs before anyone else. They play together so well, and want to do everything together. They both enjoy (amongst other things) dress-up, racing, books, swings, learning Spanish words, acting like characters and animals, and ketchup. They giggle at each other's "jokes" and recite their favorite books, songs and shows together. At this point, they rarely "fight," I just can't express enough how much the enjoy each other. My heart just melts at this unique and wonderful relationship.

Daddy says...

Eden and Bash love each other. This is evident in the way they ask about each other when one is sleeping too long, or off to the doctor, or even just in the other room. They cuddle, and hug, and laugh and it is one the best sounds in the world when giggles erupt from their bedroom when I'm doing dishes after supper.

p.s. several of these pictures were taken by Mikaela - thanks KJ. :)

I Promise...

This blog will not turn into Caryn's Running Blog. But I do want to say that running is going well. Better than I thought it would, actually. I have continued to chip away at my best 5K times. Saturday I ran 5K in 33:20, and then tonight I ran for 45 minutes and ran 4.27 miles, according to my Nike+ (which, by the way, if you run and you don't have a Nike+...GET ONE!) But the best part of tonight's run was that I ran my best 5K time yet as part of this longer run. I ran 5K in about 32 minutes. This is not a great time for everybody, but considering that this is only week 4 of my running, and considering how my first run went... it's a big improvement for me. I no longer feel the need to run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes. Tonight of my 45 minutes of running, I only walked for 2 minutes, total.

So my training is going well. Pretty soon I'm going to start the fundraising part! So watch for more on that to come.

Also watch for birthday posts coming soon - Bash and Eden turn 3 on Friday!!!

P.S. I know I could jazz this post up with some stock photo of something related to running, but when I search for such photos, all I see are running girls/women/ladies who look nothing like me, running on terrain that looks nothing like the places that I am actually running. So you are just going to have to deal with text only.

Potty Update

You have to really love to hear about my kids' development to appreciate this long post about bodily function... Chalk it up to another post that really is mostly about helping me remember later...

So. Potty Training. Let's review. In the archives, you'll notice that in November of last year there was a post called "Potty Training Day 1." I spent the majority of that month in the bathroom with Eden and Sebastien with very very little progress to show for it. We did rather conservative approach including pull-ups, lots to drink, promised "prizes" of stickers or tic tacs for pee, M&M's for poop. The month passed with only 4 or 5 successes, which all were Eden. I was exhausted, the kids were indifferent. I decided to take a break. I ate the M&M's myself. Adam helped.

In January of 2011, we spent 3 days doing a 3 day potty training approach recommended by a few sources, which is basically a cold-turkey approach. All-in. Put your kids in undies and wait for some sort of bodily function to happen, then rush them to the potty. We basically spent 3 days chasing kids all over the house, cleaning pee out of the carpet, and dealing with children with bad stomachaches who were holding in their #2's. Until they stopped holding them in, and then we had poo's in undies. By the end of day 3, we were impressed by dry nights and dry naps, but other than that, Sebastien had not once peed in the potty, and Eden was juuuust starting to have a few successes. (Still no #2's anywhere near the toiley.)

Overwhelmed kids and exhausted parents led to abandoning that effort. In retrospect, I probably should have let Sebastien go back to diapers and let Eden keep some of the momentum going... but whatever. I didn't. Instead, we put pull-ups on and went back to sitting them before baths, and once and awhile to practice. The kids didn't seem to mind one bit. They were showing little to no interest in the potty.

This served us well when we went on vacation, by the way, since 18 hours in the car with pull-ups is better than pit stops every hour for potty training kids!

But around late April, Eden was beginning to talk more about the potty, and since she was the one who seemed to be having more "success" on the potty, we decided to divide and conquer. Around mid-May, I started putting Eden in undies for several hours each morning. On day one, attempt one, she peed on the potty! I actually teared up the first time, I was so proud and so relieved! At first I was sitting her every 15 minutes, and she did not complain at all about sitting and trying. Initially she was actually peeing a little every time. So I started extended the time in between.

She has been doing very well. We've increased her time in her undies slowly, and at this point, she only wears pull-ups at nap and at night. (And once in awhile if we're going somewhere for awhile and would need to use a public bathroom...she's afraid of the loud hand dryers.) She's had a few accidents here and there, but that's to be expected. She sits on the potty about every hour and she usually stays very dry. Two things we're still working on: she does not usually tell us when she has to go and she does not want to go #2 on the potty. She usually waits until the pull-up goes on at bedtime. Once in awhile she holds it in too long and gets really crabby. We're trying some things to help her go on the potty, but mostly we're taking the stance of giving it time and not putting too much pressure on her.

So, now for Sebastien. This is just crazy. This boy had shown so little interest in the potty until just the last couple of weeks. Noticing this, I put him in undies one morning for just about an hour and a half...We sat backwards and drank and drank... and we went through like 6 pairs of undies in that time, and one of them had poop in them.

On Tuesday I put him in undies for awhile, and it was clear that he was going little bits and then stopping... actually aware that he didn't want to go in undies. Progress! Then he was sitting and he peed on the potty for the very first time!! Just a tiny bit and kind of on accident. But it happened. :) I didn't get another chance to work with him until Friday. The undies went on and the child stayed dry for 2 1/2 hours, but he did not pee on the potty once! Mind you, I gave him lots of extra liquids and I sat him every 15-20 minutes. So the pull-up went on at naptime. He woke up from his nap just SOAKED.

So Saturday afternoon the undies went on again. He was dry for about 2 hours, no pee on the potty until finally he was sitting and a little came out. Then a little more. Then a little more. Each time I cheered, and then I said, "Bash, you've just peed on the potty 3 times!" He smiled a sly little smile and said, "Is it going to be 4 times?" Then he peed a tiny bit and laughed and said "FOUR!" This went on and on, this little game, until we got to 9 times and finally he just let it all out. It was hilarious. And awesome.

So, now we suddenly have a boy that pees on the potty regularly. Even if he's wearing a pull-up, like in the car or if we are going out, he keeps it dry. He will also poop in his undies though if he's gotta go. So while with Eden we can sort of let her play and we don't have to worry about it, we're quickly learning that we need to keep an eye on him for signs of #2's.

That's the potty update. Eden's further in the process, but it's amazing how quickly it is happening with Sebastien. It's like it just clicked. Which is what people say happens but it's hard to believe when you're on the other side of it.