Goodbye diaper... Hello Kitty!

I look at this week as either being uneventful and unproductive, or absolutely exhausting and totally effective. It's hard to know what to think when the whole week has been centered on our Jane, who decided she was ready to try the potty. I don't know who is crazier, her for wanting to train so young, or me for actually pursuing it. We got very little else done besides extra laundry, lots of trips to the potty, and watching Dumbo, Jane's favorite. But, she has blown us away with her progress and maturity with the whole potty thing, that makes me think that maybe this week hasn't been wasted.

Isn't she darling? This is her in her "kitties" (Hello Kitty underwear), watching Dumbo and drinking LOTS of fluids. There's something so fun about having her out of those bulky diapers and wearing underwear where you get to see her cute behind. And it's cute.

My friend, Heather, told me of a time when she was talking to another mother about potty training. When this mother asked what Heather's potty training theory was, she said, "I sat Scarlett down and told her if she went wee I'd give her a sweetie!". The lady looked at her and said, "that is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard", and turned around and walked away. So, every time I gave Janie an M&M for performing her duty, I thought of this story and felt like a wonderful mother, of course. But, can't argue with results, right?

My favorite potty moments have been when Jack is home with me and he can celebrate with us! He has taken my original "potty dance" to a new level, adding moves that make Janie laugh so hard, it's a good thing she's still sitting on the potty. Yesterday was our first day with big outings, and Jane was a champ. She even conquered the dreaded squatters. She's my hero. Anyone read Dave Barry? He wrote a hilarious article years back about taking his daughter into a public men's room for the first time, and I couldn't stop thinking of it this week. I was hoping to find it online, but had no success. If anyone has read it, or can find it, please let me know. I remember laughing out loud as I read it, and I didn't even have children yet.

After a week of lots of juice, clean ups, Dumbos, and wet "kitties" (and she actually asks Kitty if she's okay when she gets her wet), we can look back and smile because of all the successes, potty dances, and high fives that have made it actually quite fun. What a week.

Even during potty week, life goes on...

Occasionally, Jack will get himself started on some computer games in the office. I love it when Jane pulls up the ottoman and stands there to watch. It's fun to come around the corner and see them quietly enjoying this together.

A doll, isn't she? I love that toothy grin. Anybody else just want to EAT their children?

I've mentioned before how much Jack loves school, but he does NOT like the bus. We started something new this week. I take him to school in the morning, he rides the bus home, and it works GREAT. It's more money(taxi fare) and an extra hour in the morning, but my boy is happier, and I get a chance to visit with more parents at the school, which is always a treat. So, we are moving into a new phase that I think will work even better.

This is us in the tuk-tuk on the way to school one day. We can't take this everyday, but when it's available, the driver is so nice to take us there!

Jack does "quiet time" instead of a nap most days now. He usually spends his time reading, listening to books on CD, or just playing in the play room. This day, he marched into the play room with cardboard, paper clips, and his rope. I decided I'd better check it out. He instructed me on how to put this thing together (I still don't know what it is), but he knew exactly how everything should go together. Here it is! I explained to him what an inventor is, and he thought that was the coolest thing ever, so I think he was going for inventing something. I haven't seen one of these before, have you? You should see this kid tie knots now-a-days. Pretty impressive.

Janie LOVES pizza. She asked for it all day Friday and seemed so surprised when we didn't have it. So, we ordered pizza that night to celebrate her potty successes! This was her and Jack with fully tummies.

Jack wanted to wear Jeff's mp3 player after he got back from his run. It doesn't fit around his arm, so he decided the leg was a good alternative. This is his running pose.

Saturday, we went to a new park in the morning. It was SO hot, and we couldn't find the place to rent the bikes, so we just walked around a bit and ate coconut milk ice cream, delicious! The kids were in heaven when they saw this broken sprinkler head. It took them hours to dry off, but they were happy and cool! Isn't this park beautiful?

Saturday night, we met some friends for dinner. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures except this one of Jack and Sasha playing. This is one of our favorite restaurants. Not because of the food ("it's rubbish" as Heather says), but because there are toys there for the kids! We met this family at Scarlett's birthday party and decided to get together. They moved from Arizona and are here with the Embassy. They are having a rough time with the transition, but are so great, and we enjoyed spending the evening with them, and plan to get together again soon. It was fun to talk with Americans (well, Liza, the mother, is actually Russian, but she is more American than most here!), and find parents who have similar values as we have.

Jack and Sasha played together at the restaurant for 3 hours!

Other favorite moments in the week:

1. Hearing bumping noises coming out of Jack's closet, only to have him appear moments later in his superman pajamas, in full superman character.

2. Surprising Jane by tickling her, and thinking her mouthful of sticky rice was going to come out of her nose.

3. Jack was supposed to bring his favorite toy to show and tell on Monday. What would you think my boy would choose? His rope with a magnet he taped on the end. The possibilities are endless with this toy, if you didn't know.

4. Jane started swimming lessons again, and it took her all of 3 seconds to remember how much she loves the water. I LOVE swimming with her. She is learning how to come up and get a breath before going back under. The second she comes up, she says, "again!". Where did this girl come from?

5. At the restaurant on Saturday, I ordered Jeff's dinner for him while he was playing with the children. I asked for the hamburger. The waiter looked right at me and said, "we don't have hamburgers..." (I was very confused, because I was looking right at it on the menu!) "... we only have beef burgers".

So, I continue my quest for going out of the house minus diapers and wipes. I know the journey has only begun. And what's funny to me is that it's NOT easier to be rid of the diaper stuff. I've traded in a diaper and wipes for an extra pair of shorts, a shirt, plastic bag, towel (just in case we are in a taxi!), extra "kitties", AND a diaper and wipes. I feel like I'm leaving for a week every time I leave the house! The things we do as mothers... good thing she's so worth it.

Veal anyone?

A lot of highlights to this week. It was my last couple of days before Jack started back to school, so we decided to play, play, play! The week started off with a very hot and LONG visit to Lumpini park, which is always fun. We played at two different playgrounds there and also learned that not very many vendors are out on Mondays, so it's a good idea to bring extra water! We went through our two bottles pretty fast in that heat! We ran into the sister missionaries at the park, who we adore, and had a nice visit with them while the kids were in the swings for at least 45 minutes. No pictures from this outing, but believe me, we had a blast and were very hot and quite sweaty!

Tuesday, our last day before school, we met friends at the children's museum. It was fun to let some of our friends meet for the first time. Scarlett and Heather met us there, along with Mary Jane and her girls, and Jeanette Nielsen and her 5 kids, who she homeschools. It was a GREAT time together, and a great way to spend our last morning before Jack and Scarlett started school. Plus, that night, Jack was exhausted and went to bed quite early!

This is Jack, Narissa, and Scarlett in the huge bubble maker. It surrounds them with bubble until it closes in on them, or more often than not, they karate chop it. They were a fun bunch.

There was an entire house made out of sweets. It was real food that they had hardened somehow, but it looked so good, I caught Jane with green frosting on her lips a couple of times! Very cute!

Jack has really wanted a mo hawk forever, so we decided to give him one. It lasted as long as it took to take this picture. He thought it was pretty cool. We promptly buzzed him to his usual cool cut with absolutely no maintenance. He likes that he looks like his dad, and I like that I don't have to comb his hair anymore, only to have him try to make it spiky the second he walked out of the bathroom. This is his "tough guy" face, if you were wondering. I think his eyes just keep getting greener. You can really see them in this picture. I swear they used to be brown!

Jeff was sick for a couple of days this week, so he stayed home to recover. We loved it. It was nice to have him home, even if he wasn't 100%. He also had a lot of church work to do this week in the evenings, so it took a lot out of him. I loved this picture of him reading to the kids one of the days he was home. He does this all the time, but we rarely catch it with the camera.

Jack's first day back to school! Yay! He was SO excited to be in K2 (the big kids!), although a little apprehensive about entering the purple door, instead of the white. Jeff went in late that morning so he could watch Jane while I accompanied Jack on the bus and sat in class with him for the first bit. He has a darling teacher, Teacher Harmit, who has taught at his school for 23 years now. Out of the 16 students in his class, there are 10 different nationalities. Anything from Finnish to Japanese. Jack is the only full American. I love hearing his classmates talk because they all have unique accents, and most speak a different language at home. I love that he can be around such diversity.

Jack and Jane being silly before going down to catch the bus. I didn't get school pictures this week because I didn't want to add to the chaos and excitement of it all by making him stop and pose all over. I'll get some good ones after Jack gets back into his groove and it won't seem like a big deal.

Jack missed the last week of school last year because of our trip to Utah, so they sent home a bunch of his things the first day. I especially liked this painting of me. Doesn't it look just like me? This boy does more crafts and projects at this school than I've ever seen! He really loves the paints and clay.

This is Jack and Janie waiting for the bus the second day. I think Janie wanted to go with him. I know so many people here that think I'm crazy to not have her in school, but she's just SO young! It's hard to explain that I want her with me. At this age, I'm better than any school!

We went down to get dinner from our favorite chicken lady, only to find her so busy that she only had one chicken breast left. She sent Jeff home with three chicken wings instead of another breast. I wasn't sure if the children would eat it, especially Jane who doesn't eat meat. She grabbed one herself out of the bag after seeing Jack with one and started in on it (Jack, by the way, is about as carnivore as they come!). These are real wings too. Not the fried stuff from pizza hut. Wing shape and everything, just stuck on a stick and grilled. She ate every bit of that wing. I couldn't believe it. I took pictures and even kept the bone because I knew Jeff, who was out for the night, wouldn't believe me. What do you call a girl who won't eat meat, fruit, and very few veggies? This was a huge breakthrough for us! Way to go, Jane!

One day this week, I went to the grocery store and had them deliver the groceries because I was on my way somewhere with the kids. I wasn't there to receive them, so I was in for a surprise when I got home! There was all kinds of stuff there that I'd never seen before! I discovered that I was missing some juice, cereal, and veggies. BUT, I had all kinds of expensive farang food in my fridge and on my counter! We had American juice, taco sauce, canned tomatoes (name brand), fancy peppers, zucchini, and some veal cutlets! I couldn't believe it. After we realized they mixed some bags up, Jeff sprinted to the freezer hoping to find some ice cream. It was an exciting moment for him, but he was disappointed in the end. Poor Jeff. I didn't know what to do about the mix up, so I just emailed the market to let them know what had happened. I never heard back, so we are now enjoyed our brief taste of some farang foods that we definitely wouldn't have paid for ourselves!

So, this picture is of Jane helping me make zucchini bread, because I actually had zucchinis. Yum! My kids are the best "baker's assistants" I've ever had!

We had the privilege of having two of our friends from church over for lunch after our church meetings today. This is Manu and Rajesh, both from India, although different parts. They have both joined the church since we have been in the ward, and we were privileged to be at both of their baptisms. It was fun to hear about their experiences in Bangkok, their background, and especially talk about the church. Jeff handed out home teaching assignments today, and for two brand new members, it was a new concept, but I have a feeling, they will both be fantastic home teachers. They've already contributed to our ward in such a great way. They are so happy and positive and have such a fresh perspective on the gospel and life in general. We felt so blessed to have them in our home and really hope to have them again.

Is Janie cute or what? We call this the Peter Pan pose. I love when they stand with their hands on their hips. Especially when you can see these darling legs of hers! I don't think she even wore pants at all this day. Who would want to cover them up if you don't have to?

Today was a big day at church because Bishop Sampson was released. He is moving back to the U.S. for a bit, then onto the Philippines or Singapore. We will miss him dearly! They had an open house to say goodbye to him tonight at one of the member's homes. He has been fantastic, and we feel lucky to have even had this short time with him.

Brother Andersen is now Bishop Andersen. You might remember him from our Thanksgiving post. We spent Thanksgiving night with his family. There's even a picture of him unscrewing the chair that Jack somehow managed to get his little body stuck in. Oh, that boy. We love Bishop Andersen and are excited to also love him as our bishop.

Also, at this open house, we got to say goodbye to the DeZoysa family. Jeff home teaches them, and Bro. DeZoysa has also been the ward clerk, so we will miss seeing him at the door greeting us every single Sunday morning. They are just waiting on Visas and then they will be off to Canada to start a new life!

I've kind of thrown this post together, so I apologize. It's been a crazy and wonderful week. I'm looking forward to getting back into our school mode, which creates some sort of schedule for us. We love you all!

Did you know...?

The last two weeks have been pretty stop and go for us. We'd have a few days of craziness, only to be followed by so much down time we're ready to pull our hair out, and then it starts all over. But this week, we've really enjoyed this necessary down time. We had less play dates, less errands to run, so the kids and I spent more time at home than we have in a long time. It was fun. But, of course, we don't take a lot of pictures when we are just doing the everyday things, so here are some pictures of our latest outings.

My kids entertain themselves at the sky train by plopping down in front of the huge plasma screens. I'm happy with it because it means I don't have to stress too much about them getting too close to the "yellow line" which results immediately in a very loud whistle blow from the smiling guard at the end of the platform. It's safe this way, so I'm happy to let them watch away, no matter how many "bad mom" looks I may get.

We visited a science museum not far from home this week and had a great time. There was a very small aquarium, a display on robots and they had a great area for young kids with a tree house, pirate ship, crafts, huge legos, and lots of things to climb on.

This is the kids in the mini market. They loved filling the baskets up and putting them back after they paid their money. I loved watching them play together in here. They even let me be the cashier once!

Janie was hilarious how she was ringing up each item from the basket, punching the numbers on this fancy calculator so carefully! Nothing is more fun than playing store for this girl.

A great little climbing frame for Jane. She loves to climb and slide, but mostly she loves to dangle. She will swing and dangle from everything she can. Jack's like this now, but I didn't remember him being like this when he was so young, so it's pretty fun.

Last Saturday, we decided to hit story time at the library again. The reader was fantastic, the kids loved it and it's always nice to visit with new people. Plus, this was a special one because the reader (who's actually an author of some great Thailand kid's books) did face painting afterward, so Jack got a pretty impressive spider on his hand. Very cool. We took the plunge and paid the money to get the library membership, so it was exciting to actually take books home with us! We are feeling pretty spoiled this week! This is Jane coloring after the stories. This girls loves to color! She also loves to eat the colors, take off all the paper and get the wax under all her fingernails. As long as she's happy, right?

After story time, we went to the church for a stake talent show. It was fun to see the different talents that were shared, although we didn't understand everything because we were some of the few non-Thais there. We saw some Thai traditional dancing, ballroom dancing, a pretty impressive lip-sync, incredible violin and piano playing, and my favorite... magic. I discovered that magic is very similar to music and dance, in that it is an international language. Everyone, no matter the culture or language, can still enjoy and understand the fun of magic. I thought it was great.

This is Emily Quan, a new friend in the ward. Her family just moved into the city from Washington DC. She was reading this book to Jack while we waited for it to begin. The Quans spoke in church today and as much as I already admired them, I think I love them even more now. Their girls are amazing, and Alice and Steve are so sweet and loving. What a blessing they will be to our little ward.

Faa came to visit this week! Earlier in the day, I had told Jack about how I used to make blanket forts with my sisters when I was little. Of course, we had to build one and Jack was in heaven. It was still up when Faa came that night, so they spent the good part of 2 hours reading and playing inside this fort in the playroom while Jeff and I had our Thai lessons. She is SUCH a good sport!

Jack loves to wear his hair spiky or in a mo hawk. This started after we saw a Thai "cool kid" on the train one day that had his hair all spiky. Jack just stared and stared at him. For some reason, he especially likes to do it right before bed when he's only in his underpants (which is all he'll ever sleep in). But wow, what a great smile, eh?

Jack wanted claws one day so he could climb, so this is what he came up with. He strapped these monkeys on his hands with rubber bands and off he went!

We met our friends at the park one afternoon and played for hours! Janie was still relatively clean at this point, and not even sweaty yet! She loves the swings, and she especially loves this butterfly shirt. She's very particular about her clothing, which I think is hilarious. It was a happy day when I pulled out this shirt I bought several months ago. She loves everything about butterflies, and can almost say the word correctly!

One of the favorite times of day in our home is story time with Daddy. He is so creative with the stories that he tells. Janie is just now starting to get in on the act. Most of the time, Jack will recommend a topic (superheros, lizards, tigers, etc.) and occasionally give a scenario. Jeff will get started, but sometimes doesn't have to say much because Jack gets so into the story, he practically tells it himself. Jack is a fantastic storyteller and has the most amazing imagination.

This play area we visit regularly is one of the kids' favorites. Janie has a special friend there who always comes right over to play. She helps Jane get her socks on, chases her around on the toys, and is almost constantly by her side whenever we are there. It's fun to have someone to look forward to seeing each time, and we definitely do. Janie gives her a HUGE hug when we have to say goodbye.

Yesterday was a very exciting day because it was Scarlett's birthday party! We were lucky to celebrate with her family on her actual day, but this was her "proper" party, as Heather called it. I didn't even tell Jack it was coming up until the day before when we watched Scarlett while Heather went grocery shopping, because I knew he'd be too excited. The Preens live in a home not too far from us, so it was great to have a driveway and backyard to play in! They had a bouncy castle, played "pass the parcel", had lots of "sweeties", a treasure hunt, and a pinata to finish it all off. For being one of my most grounded friends, Heather really produced a HUGE affair, but in a very fun way. Heather and Jim made the whole thing into a family affair. The parents stayed the whole time, in many cases both parents, and we got to visit, eat and meet a lot of new people.

Jim led the older of the 17 children on a picture treasure hunt, which Jack was completely into. This little team below ran from one clue to the next, loving every minute of it. They were all completely soaked with sweat afterwards, but surprisingly, not at all worn out yet. This is Dylan, Jack, Scarlett, Sasha, and a darling dark haired girl, I'm not sure what her name was, unfortunately.

The pinata is always a fun part of any party, but it was at this point that I thought, "why do we do this?". There was laughing and screaming, and even louder crying, as the candy fell and the kids were overwhelmed with emotions. They were all SO tired from the 2 hours of partying, and I'm sure some of the sugar high was wearing off so kids were getting a little grouchy. There's just very few ways a pinata can ever be done fairly, but in the end, and with a couple extra bags of candy brought out, everyone was happily reaching their sugar high again. Check out Jack in this one. He will sacrifice his body for almost any "sweetie".

If you haven't noticed, my Jack is quite the character. He has so much spunk, some days I don't really know how to manage it. He has always loved to read and hear almost any story. He loves the silliest stories about when Jeff or I was young. He loves to hear about his Grandparents, cousins, childhood pets, or anything about having special powers. He will sit and read with us for hours on end if we can. He and Jeff finished the "Mouse and the Motorcycle" series last night. We highly recommend all three of these books, and many others by Beverly Cleary.

I found a great new motivational tool for Jack this week. His favorite reward is to sit at the computer and look up random things. Sometimes he doesn't even know what he wants to learn about, just something. Our most recent topics are giraffes, sharks, bats, volcanoes, bears, lightening, and spiders. Did you know that Giraffes can drink 12 gallons of water at a time? Did you know that a shark has to keep swimming or it will sink because it lacks the swim bladder that keep other fish afloat? I didn't either. Jack and I have enjoyed learning about a lot of things, and I'm amazed at what he remembers! I love that this boy loves to learn. I feel like I need to study up so I have something new and interesting to share the next time he asks. This boy keeps me hopping, and as challenging as it is some days, I really can't get enough of him!