I'm sorry - I don't know why

Honestly.  I don't know why I wanted to eat at this place.  It sounded good.  I know - how is that possible?  How does Long John Silver's sound good?  I don't know and I only had half my meal.  It was gross.  It didn't taste like real food.  And what's worse?  I already knew this!!!  Why did I want to see if I would like it this time?  Ugggggg...  But I got great pictures!!!  :)

New Bed... almost

Bennett is a sleeper.  He always has been.  When he was an infant and he wanted to sleep, he did.  Just like that.  You would be holding him and he would fall asleep.  He would be playing on the floor and fall asleep.  You put him in his crib and he fell asleep.  It was just the way it was.  (I know, we were lucky.)  

His love for sleep turned into a love for his crib.  As he got older he would almost dive into his crib from your arms.  There was no last hug or cuddle time once you got within 1 foot of the bed.  You should have gotten that out of the way a lot sooner!!!  So when I decided that he was ready for his twin bed I didn't know what kind of challenge we would face.  Would there be tears?  Would there be excitement?  I just didn't know.

A few weeks ago we had some friends spend the night and we had brought Bennett's twin bed up so that their kids could use it.  Instead of taking it downstairs I thought this would be the time to try for the switch.  We brought it into his room and made a big deal of putting monkey sheets on the bed and laying on the bed and saying what a big boy he was.  That night, primed for success, we put him in his new bed.  Didn't make it out the door.  Tears and terror.  Straight back into the crib and asleep in minutes.  

This routine continued for about a week before I gave up and just put him to bed in his crib.  A couple days later I had the idea - take the crib rail off!  This will be the transition!  It was a little rough, because there was some novelty to being able to get up whenever he wanted but overall it was a success.  So today I decided that we would take the crib down for good and roll with what the weekend brought.  I hate to get ahead of myself but I think the transition may be over!  We took the crib down, washed his sheets and he climbed right in and laid down.  It was the cutest thing ever!  It was only 6:00 pm!!!  He just laid there and then sat there with the biggest smile on his face.  Way cute!  When Chris finally did put him to bed, there were no tears and he only got up once.  

Oh - the almost part.  I have to finish painting the head board and the foot board so the bed is actually not a frame right now.  Soon!!!!

It may be time...

Bennett just came into the office carrying a diaper.  He looked at me and said "Poop."  Sure enough - poopy diaper.  Time to get out the potty chair!!!!!!

Side note -  When Harrison potty trained, he was not only strangely good at it, I was his secondary teacher in the process.  Uncle Sam's, Mary Ann and Delila, were the primaries in the process.  This will be interesting for me!  Maybe I should buy a book... 

Hats

Sometimes there is no reasoning with a child.  And it really is a pick your battle moment with some of those things.  Two days ago it was a hat.

For what ever reason Bennett wanted to wear a hat outside.  Off to find a hat.  It's been a while since we have had anything but stocking caps around here so it took a couple of minutes.  All I could find was Harrison's Cubs hat.  Well, Bennett has a hat and now Will wants a hat.  Ugggg...  Off to find another hat.  I come across an Iowa State hat but I haven't been forgiven for my first Will/Iowa State stunt so I think I better not go there!  Finally, the green John Deere hat!

Anyway, I get Will his hat and then go to size the hat on Bennett.  He wants nothing to do with me taking that hat off his head.  We were outside for more than an hour and I don't think he once saw the sky.  It was hysterical.  I wish I would have gotten a better photo.  I was sitting on the ground just to get this shot!

Duck Pond

We were on track to get some weather today.  We were supposed to get rain, Ames was supposed to get freezing rain and north of there was supposed to get snow.  Boy did we get rain.  Lightning, thunder, rain, and sleet.  In less than a half an hour my backyard looked like this.

Harrison called it a duck pond.  "I think 100 ducks could land there, Mom!"  There whole back yard is covered in about 4 or 5 inches of water.  I am a horrible parent.  I sent Harrison out to get a picture.

He was too cold to follow directions very well.  I wanted him in a different part of the lawn where I knew the water would have been up to his knees but his teeth were chattering too much for him to hear me.  When he got in he told me his toes were frozen together and he was sure that he was now a duck with webbed feet.  I guess he had ducks on the brain...

This was the entry up to the house.  That is a mix of water and hail.  If you would have tried to get in that way, your shoes would have been soaked.  Thank goodness it was at least warm enough to rain here and not snow.  We didn't have our rain-gage up because it has been so cold we don't want it to freeze so I will have to report later how much total rain we actually got.

Push - Pull

I love wooden toys.  If I had my way we would only have wooden toys here at my house (and Legos of course, who could be without Legos?).  But, alas, wooden toys seem to be some of the most expensive toys you can buy.  Frustrating.  

For Christmas, Pam got Bennett a wooden snake that is on a string.  You undo the string and take all the pieces off the snake and then put it back together.  So far this has been a relatively boring toy.  I, of course, love it.  The boys on the other hand, don't.  They like to take it apart and throw the wooden balls about but that is about it.  I still push the toy on them like any horrible parent pushes toys they think their children should like.  Well today it worked.  And they love it!!!  Bennett and Will spent 30 minutes stringing the beads onto the snake, saying 'Ssssss' and  then pulling them off to do all over again.  And what a challenge!  "Push the string through the hole.  Now pull the string through the whole.  Oops!  Try again."  And they did.  They tried and tried until they could do it.  Such concentration.  Push, pull, push, pull.  And then they would lose a little focus and forget that they had to hold onto the bead and it would drop off onto the grounds.  "Oops!  Try again."  And they did!!  What proud boys they were.   

Beauty and the Beast

Harrison and I went to the Beauty and the Beast wrestling/gymnastics meet at Hilton Coliseum last night.  It was a lot of fun and the first time Harrison had been to Hilton.  There were over 7000 people there which surprised me, but I guess the promotional 'Beauty and the Beast' stuff worked.  It was also the last home meet for the wrestlers.  

Harrison liked the gymnastics the most.  There was more 'action' there for him than the wrestlers.  I of course was fascinated with the wrestling.  I don't know why I don't go to meets more often.  I have always loved wrestling.  It is such an individual strength sport.  Anyway...

My dad went with us the meet and bought Harrison popcorn and a can of soda.  This excited Harrison the most as I learned when he told his dad about it today.  "Grandpa got me a WHOLE can of pop.  Just for me!  I shared too!"

It was late when we got back home but Harrison hadn't fallen asleep in the van.  I went into his room and brought out his pajama's and it was 9:55 pm.  I told him it was time to get to bead and he said "Seriously?  We just got home.  I want to stay up for a little bit!"  There wasn't much of a discussion - Harrison had an apple and then he decided it was time for bed.  Once in bed he was asleep in a record 30 seconds.  One of the plus's to a late night for Harrison is that he will nap today!  Maybe I will watch a movie!!!  

Oooo - I forgot.  About halfway thru the meet, I saw Cy the Cyclone mascot.  I pointed him out to Harrison and said "Look, there's Cy!"  He didn't get super excited but smiled none-the-less.  A couple of minutes later he smiled real big and said "Look there's Herky again!"  I told him that was Cy!  He looked at me and asked who Herky was.  I simply told him I had no idea who Herky was and that mascot's name was Cy.  He looked at me kind of funny and I just looked away.  My dad finally took pity on him and explained the difference between the two mascots.  Traitor!!!

Ry-an

Greg, Pam, Kaylee and Ryan came this weekend.  Pam's bday was last Saturday and Ryan's is today so we are celebrating by going to Ohana's tonight for Saki-bombs. 

The last 2 weeks, Christopher has been teaching Bennett how to say Uncle Ryan.  The process has been quite amusing.  Chris repeats Ryan over and over and Bennett practices saying it.  He is real deliberate and moves his whole mouth with the word.  Ryyy - aann.  And it is in such a high, squeaky voice.  Very cute.  We are trying to get him to say Kaylee as well but that just comes out as a low sound and a high sound!

Bennett has also done better with everybody this time.  Over Christmas, he was pretty shy and tentative.  He wouldn't really go to anyone but myself, Chris, and Gpa.  This weekend he has been going up to everybody to play and has been having a great time.

I guess he just keeps changing and changing.  This morning he was sitting on the couch and I swear he grew an inch in the night.  He just looked like such a big boy.  I can't even list the number of words he knows and uses.  Egg, 'Where'd he go,' stuck, broke; and that is just a small helping of what I try to decipher every day.  

Computer time

Harrison watches enough t.v. so I don't really encourage the computer for him.  We play a couple of games here and there but mostly he stays off.  Unless, it is Monday or Tuesday and Ian feels like playing computer.  Ian is the 8 year old that I watch after school and Harrison adores him.  I won't go into detail, but this is not my shining moment as a parent.  While I love Ian and know the good in him, it has taken a lot of patience and extra parenting skills to undo the 'harm' he has taught Harrison.  I digress.  Nothing horrible, my son just didn't need an older, naughtier, brother-with-attitude in his life.

So, Harrison watches Ian play on the computer and they have a grand time.  Last week, Bennett decided to get in on the action.

Ian and Harrison always sit like this.  Ian in the chair and Harrison towering over on the stool.  Bennett went and got his chair, pushed it into the office and sullied right up.  It was adorable!

Obsession

I'm sorry.  I am lax on my blog and I will get back to it soon.  I am actually surprised that my family has been fed and that the house is still standing around me.  I have been so engrossed in the Twilight series that I couldn't tell you much else that has really gone on lately.  Horrible.  I really don't like to read books like that.  I miss so much, not only in the book...  But, what a series!  Forbidden love is just a page turner and this one did it for me.  I finished the last book last night and I am still thinking about it.  Mulling it over in my head.  Longing to be in Forks, WA.  Totally unrealistic, but really fun!  I also found the online, 12 chapter Twilight companion, Midnight Sun, (Jen - this is for you if you haven't found it already!) that is told in Edward's voice instead of Bella's and that is great as well!

Oh - and I guess my children are still nourished and my house still stands because even though I read each book in less than 24 hours, I did take a day off in between books.  I will read them again soon.  I just need to get book one back from my aunt!  I read the libraries copy so I don't own that one!  Happy reading Aunt Pat!

Anyway - I am a little obsessed and a little embarrassed.  I mean - this is technically a teen series - but then again, I loved Harry Potter too!