Potty training is of the devil. Since my little Maxie is an adorable little demon, I thought they'd go hand-in-hand. Boy was I wrong. First, he was officially on the downhill slide from 3 1/2 to 4 before he'd even entertain the idea. As I pictured another year at home with him because no preschool would take him and his God-forsaken Pull-Ups, I pictured myself at the end of that year curled up in the fetal position with bald patches on my head from where I tore a little more hair out each day. Although it would be less hair to color, this thought drove me to push through the nightmare and get the task done. Secondly, the Mom version & Dad version of potty-training are quite dissimilar. Mom feels Max should pee however he wants to as long as it hits the general vicinity of the toilet~as the bathroom cleaner, that's my focus! About 6 months ago, when Joe & I were ready for Max to potty train, we bought a cute, portable potty seat, so that's what I was using with him. Dad felt Max should pee standing the correct way (I would assume to prepare him for some ridiculous form of male bonding later on in life.) Joe showed him how to pee "the boy way" a couple of times-then he MOVED AWAY & COULDN'T HELP ANYMORE. The result was a very confused 3 year old boy...
Even now, he has to get fully undressed~and what he settled on to find middle ground between Mom & Dad was not fully sitting, but not fully standing, either. Just cops a squat! To fully share the fun times I had, this is also the stance he assumes (no pun intended) when he poops. I realized that Max is a pretty smart kid, and also in more control of his bodily functions than he'd let on, when he started squeezing out partial poops about 5-6 times PER DAY. He only got rewarded with M & Ms (which he could then sort into color piles) for poopies, so he MAX-imized his opportunities for reward. When he maintained his control through a tummy bug, I stopped the rewards to remind him that he is a brilliant little tike, but I'll always be smarter than he is (I hope!) Final result~ Max is fully potty trained...FINALLY!! It happened just in time for Joe to come home for the weekend, which was packed full of fun!
After attending Mykah's last soccer game, we began our Easter celebration. First up, coloring eggs! (get the "vinegar" part of my title?!) Joshie Bear napped through the whole thing, so he's absent for the pix, but we decorated one for him, too.
Next, we hit up Montgomery Park for our last Dryden Easter Egg Hunt...Max & Josh got to take part in a "hunt" on the basketball court, but Mykah is officially too old this year, so she helped the boys. After that 30 seconds of our life, Josh met the Easter Bunny. Max wouldn't go anywhere near him, even with Mykah promising him that he could stand on her other side. I guess Maxie feels the Easter Bunny is as evil as Santa Claus! He did, however, think it was awesome that the Easter Bunny came to the park via the fire truck because that's all he talked about the rest of the weekend! Of course, the best part of the park for me was having my family all together after 3 very long weeks of being without Joe and getting to see friends from Dryden, some for the last time.
This is Mykah's friend, Alexis Coon~we thankfully don't have to say an official good-bye to the Coons because they are moving to Michigan and will only be a couple hours away!
The "rodents" part of the title began with the Easter Bunny, but ends with yet another woodchuck. These damn things have taken up permanent residence here at 3 Pebble Drive and just keep multiplying (are they distant relatives to rabbits?). If they're not under our deck, taunting Bodie, then they're under either of our sheds. That's where this little guy was venturing out from when he got caught in our neighbor's live trap. Here in Ithaca, they don't shoot things, they relocate them. This one can now be found in the Dryden Lake region. Bodie is feeling awfully tough in this picture, but you should've seen him take off when the chuck swiped at him from inside the cage! Such a wienie...this one is half the size of our other ones! Warning~the first one of you that makes a joke about Bodie being a rodent instead of family is gonna lose access to my blog~I will block your email address! Don't mess with my 4th child...
While the rest of us were napping, Daddy hid the eggs in our backyard in preparation for the Borich annual Easter egg hunt. The previous 2 years here in NY were so cold on Easter that we needed winter coats, gloves and hats. Imagine our delight this year when we hit 82 degrees and had to wear sunscreen! Everyone had a blast, including Daddy, finding their eggs. Mykah's were bigger and hidden in more difficult places and the boys' were small and out in the open. Since Maxie had already done it once, he knew just what to do and did it very quickly! It was a good thing Joshie Bear was happy with one in each hand, because Max kept the majority for himself, and proceeded to sort the candy inside each right away in the safety of his basement!
Bodie's Easter feast was grass, which I got to clean up the next day when he coughed it all up in a ball. Love my Boders, but he's not very bright!
Easter baskets (is the Easter Bunny under the impression that the Boriches live for sports?!) found their way onto our hearth the next morning, and this ended the novelty part of our Easter.
The real part of our celebration was the Easter morning spent together~reading the miracle of the resurrection of our Savior directly out of the Bible and talking about how incredibly blessed we are. We get so selfish sometimes, especially with being separated, that we lose focus of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for each and every one of us when he died on the cross for our sins. Joe & I are so grateful for our salvation. We don't talk of it nearly often enough, but Easter provides the perfect opportunity to do so. We are anxious to find out what God has in store for us during our next chapter, and we hope that we are open enough to Him that we understand the ways that He is at work in our lives. We thank Him for all of our blessings, the ones that we celebrated with others and even those which caused tears of anguish and lack of understanding...for now.
We had an early dinner, which we cooked together, and got Joe back on the road to Ohio. We pray now for strength~to finish all that we need to here in NY and begin our life in Ohio. If you have an extra prayer, toss it up on our behalf, will you?!
"Family"~These last pix are of the blessings that God entrusted to Joe & I in the form of our children. The kids & I are so tired of being without Joe, but we try to make the most of our time left here. We've been fortunate enough to have incredible weather, so we've taken a couple of family walks to the park. It's such a great time for me to just watch my babies and marvel at their individual beauty. Then we come home & "play colors", which is Maxie's term for coloring our driveway with sidewalk chalk!
To my husband, the love of my life~you are 432 miles from me and I feel every mile of it, every day that you're gone. But I'm so proud of you. We are behind you 100%~even when you can't see us. No matter what school you coach for, you'll always have your own team. It's almost Sunday night, babe~ time to put this NY game behind us and start preparing for the next one! I love you...so much.
To the rest of you~thanks for stopping by and choosing to be part of our journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment