Boys in Boxes

Dada made a box into a car for Harrison, who insisted that Hewitt join him.

And then insisted that Hewitt got his own box.

Baseball Game!

Gambob, Josh, and Harrison did a boys night out to the Braves game! We've been talking about the game all week, and we're not sure whether Harrison knew what "baseball" or "baseball game" meant, but we do know for sure that he was excited about it!

When they got home from the game, Harrison said, "I go baseball game!" as soon as we opened the door. Even now when he saw this picture, he said, "Gambob, Josh, baseball game."

More photos to come from Gambob's camera...

Six Flags!

One of the biggest perks of my job is that one night each year, Six Flags (the amusement park in Atlanta) is open only to Coca-Cola employees and their guests. Oh, yeah! As a roller coaster junkie, I look forward to this night all year! Will Harrison be a roller coaster junkie, too? Hope so... This year he seemed to be okay with (and even enjoy!) the rides that stayed on the ground (the log ride, the train rides, the truck ride) but did not like the flying rides much (the flying pirate ships, the kiddie "free fall," and the sky buckets). That's okay -- I'm afraid of the sky buckets, too!

Let's do this!! And there they are -- all six flags.

First ride!

"Ooh! A pirate ship!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa -- Nobody said anything about going in the air..."

He insisted -- even when we found out that he would have to go by himself. This one was scary -- he remembered it enough to say "Scary" when he saw the photo later. Poor honey!

But we more than made up for the scary ride with this truck ride!! Harrison rode in the cab and steered us around and around the track; Mama and Dada rode in the back of the truck. Rode this ride more than once!

Harrison got to drive on both of the steering wheels!

First of two train rides -- Thomas the Tank Engine

Second of two train rides -- the big train that loops around the park. Harrison is serving as the ambassador. :)

Will we go back next year? Oh, yes, we will!

Preschool Update

Hewitt's teachers told me that he settled in today and finally did a long nap. I've been telling them that he usually naps for 3 hours at home, but until today he'd been maxing out at about 1 hour at school. There are some girls in the baby room that get a bit shrill when they're upset, and Hewie just did not know how to sleep through all that estrogen!

For a special treat today (for the teachers, I'm sure, as much as for the boys!), one of the baby teachers took Hewitt over to visit Harrison. They told me that Hewitt acted like he recognized Harrison and that Harrison yelled "Baby Hoo-gee!" and ran over to kiss him. :)

First Day of Preschool!

Harrison has been waiting for this day! Finally he gets to march his little brother in to school and show him how it works. :) Mama was sad when it was time for all of her boys to go (Chris drops the kids off in the morning, and I pick them up in the afternoon) but then was okay once they were gone.

Both boys did just fine with drop off -- Harrison's been going to school all summer, so today was nothing new for him, and Hewitt even gave Dada a smile as he was saying goodbye!

Mail-Checking Outfit

What do you wear to check the mail? This is what Harrison wears...

I said, "Hey, bud -- Want to go check the mail?" He said, "Yes!" and then ran to accessorize with the penguin visor, the drum, and the frog boots (on the wrong feet, as usual...).

Scotch Tape and Bandaids

Before I Had A Toddler Living With Me
I used to struggle to make the decision between spending big bucks on "real" Scotch tape and scaling down for the store brand. The real stuff seemed overpriced, but the store brand was undereffective. When I splurged on the good stuff, I could wrap a present using only 2 piece of tape. When I got economical and bought the bad stuff, it probably ending up costing more because I used half a roll to wrap a gift.

Also, I never gave much thought to the price of Bandaids. Two young adults don't use many Bandaids, so I bet that Chris and I have bought one box in all the time we've been married.

Now That I Have A Toddler Living With Me
The expensive-versus-cheap-Scotch-tape decision is much easier to make! Always go with cheap because Harrison is going to use the whole roll no matter how much it cost.

Also, Bandaids are expensive, so now I know to keep them up high and not be afraid to suggest fixing something with tape instead of a Bandaid.

Putting My Knowledge To Work
Recently Harrison was seeing how many things he could get to fit in the back of one of his dumptrucks while it was balanced on top of the trash can. Needless to say, the truck eventually rolled off the trash can and crashed onto the floor. Harrison got all upset ("My truck! My truck go boom!"), so we got out the first aid kit to fix it up. He told me the truck needed medicine (no joke!), but I got him to settle on just some Bandaids. Specifically, the Bandaids that he needed me to put on his knees for no good reason earlier that day and which were stuck to the floor at that particular moment. So we peeled the Bandaids off the floor and put them on the truck. When Harrison told me that the truck needed more Bandaids, I offered tape instead. The result? A dumptruck in a body cast.

Any guesses on how much this repair job would have cost had we used only Bandaids or expensive Scotch tape?
And the napkins in the cab are "booster seats" we use in another truck.

Tummy Time

Hewitt hasn't shown much interest in rolling over yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if he was crawling by next week. He's built like an offensive lineman, and all the bulk is muscle!

Don't worry, little honey, it's not a real airplane

Hewitt finishes the drill! Complete with a headbutt to the airplane!

Super-Hubby and His Sidekick

Yes, my husband both vacuums and wears a baby! And even takes precautions to protect little Hew's delicate ears. :) I'm so lucky!

The Leader and the Follower

My "vacation" ends after this week, so Hewitt and I have been doing some practice time in the baby room at preschool, and Chris and I told Harrison that Hewitt would be going to school with him starting next week. Harrison's concept of time (past / present / future) is a little underdeveloped, so he decided that "next week" meant "right now" when we told him the news one morning this week while he was putting his shoes on. A few minutes later when Chris announced that it was time to get in the car and go to school, Harrison looked at me and Hewitt and said, "Come on, Hoo-ee." :) How many times will we hear "Come on, Hewie" over the next few years? How long until it's preceded or followed by "Wait for me, Harrison"?

Brothers. :)

"Uno ... Dos ... Tres"

Sometimes when Harrison is "having trouble hearing us," we'll do the "One ... two ... three -- okay, now you're in really big trouble" trick that parents have used since the base ten counting system was developed. We don't do it often because we don't want to teach him that he can do whatever we're asking once we say "three" instead of doing it right when we ask, but I'll fall back on it sometimes when I have my hands full with a really big baby and can't use them to physically help Harrison comply with my request.

Well, he thinks the threat can be directed upwards, too. The other day I was doing something he didn't like, so he told me, "Mama, no. No do dat" ("don't do that"). What I was doing needed to be done, so I told him that I would be finished soon and then we could do something else. He didn't like that answer, so he said, "Uno ... dos ... tres." :) I didn't give him any response but cracked up inside and a few other times when I told people about it. He counted on me! And he did it in Spanish! Ha!

"Hep me. Hep me, peeze!"

The post-nap rule at preschool is, "You wait on your mat until the teacher calls you to go potty." Harrison knows this and apparently follows the rule, but yesterday he wasn't being released from his mat quickly enough and decided to remind someone that he was still waiting.

Hewitt and I were at school earlier than usual to do some practice time in the baby room when one of Harrison's old teachers (who loves him) came in laughing and told me that she had just gone into Harrison's room for something. The lights were still off because naptime wasn't officially over yet, but she heard a little voice say, "Hep me. Hep me, peeze" ("Help me. Help me, please"). She looked down to find cute little Harrison begging to be set free.

Another teacher was still laughing about it today and told Chris about it when he dropped Harrison off this morning, so it must have been pretty funny!

Update to Potty Training Update

Any ideas on how to get Harrison to sit on the potty to do his business? He has decided that he will stand for all calls of nature, and his aim is not improving too quickly... He's still shooting for the potty everytime and hasn't had an "Oops -- I just peed on the floor" incident since his first day (so we're very happy about that!), but now the incidents are more like "Mama -- Look at me peeing in the potty / on the floor / in the potty / on the floor" followed by "Harrison, honey, please sit down to do that." Maybe I'll put something interesting to look at on the bottom of the potty and hope that keeping his eyes on the potty will help with the aim -- along the lines of how your car or bicycle tends to go in the direction you're looking...

Potty Training Update

The weekend went great! We ended up only doing potty training in the mornings because we decided to run errands and do outings in the afternoons (and weren't brave enough to attempt those diaper-free), but Harrison caught on really quickly in just those few hours. Turns out that unna-pants get in the way sometimes, so Harrison spent this past weekend's mornings in his birthday suit. After a few "Oops -- I just peed on the floor" episodes, Harrison got on a role and was nailing the potty left and right! Mama kept him well hydrated with milk, water, juice, and cantaloupe, so he had plenty of opportunities to show us what he could do. At first we asked every 10 minutes if he needed to go potty, and after a few good hits into the potty and some wild "pee-potty" celebration dances, he realized how fun it was and started putting himself on when he needed to go. One time he got fancy and did it standing-up (his aim was 50/50). The boys (well, Harrison) even did one off the front porch, which I'm sure the neighbors loved. :)

Preschool asks that he wear diapers there until he goes a weekend without any accidents, which might be a while since we can't work on it full-time, but we'll keep practicing while he's at home and hope to be down to one little guy in a diaper soon. We're all very encouraged so far!

Streaker!

A pint-sized streaker was sighted recently near downtown Atlanta. The victims report a non-violent home invasion followed by a pair of little butt cheeks running down the hall as fast as they could go. The perpetrator is a Caucasian male, approximately 3 feet tall / 25 pounds, and was last seen wearing nothing.

If you have any information on the owner of this bottom, please contact your local police department.

New Photos in "Week in Florida" Post

Got some extra pictures off of Grandmom and Grandpop's cameras!

Splat!

No, Hewitt did not fall from an extreme height while trying to escape from prison (the Milk Bandit returns!)-- he was gently and lovingly placed in his bed by his mother and then squirmed around to this position.

Potty Training!

Yes -- the time is upon us! Harrison has been sitting on the potty at school for a month or two now and likes to fake-pee all the time at home ("fake-peeing" is aiming at something -- usually a potty or a plant, sometimes the shower drain -- and making a "psssssssssssst" sound), so we decided last week that it was time to give it a real go.

I told him over the weekend that we were going to the store to get him a potty today so that he could pee in it whenever he wanted. I also told him that we'd get some underpants and explained what those were and who wore them (basically, I listed every guy that Harrison knows and confirmed that they wear underpants instead of diapers), but he didn't key in on the underpants as much as on the potty, so I focused my excitement on the potty.

Both boys are at home with me today and tomorrow (the official first day of school is Wednesday of this week, and school is closed to students these two days), so Harrison and I talked all morning about going to get his potty once Hewitt woke up from his morning nap. We even went to the Ikea website and pre-shopped potties. :) Harrison told me that he wanted a red one, and he wasn't kidding because every time I asked what we were going to get today after he saw the red potty on the computer, he answered "A red potty!" Oh, boy -- I really, really hope that the Atlanta Ikea store has red potties in stock...

Finally Hewitt wakes up and we hit the road -- celebrating red potties all the way to the store! And does Ikea have a red potty? It does!! We got two. And also two green ones, just for good measure. It's Ikea -- stuff is cheap! Plus, that will give us one potty in each bathroom. Harrison wanted to hold his red potty all the way to the car, but then he told me that it would be okay to put it in the way-back with the other potties when it was time to unload the cart.

Next stop : Target. Now that we have our potties, I start getting us all excited about underpants ("unna-pants"). "Harrison, what are we going to buy in this store?" "Unna-pants!" My biggest challenge with this purchase was going to be avoiding the branded (superheroes, Cars, Buzz Lightyear, Dora and Diego the Explorers, etc.) underpants -- we've done well so far in keeping the brands out of the house (the bike helmet was the biggest challenge, but we eventually found a blue one with a monkey on it -- not Curious George). In my dreams (I dream about toddler underwear?), I would buy alot of pairs of solid briefs. In the Target toddler underwear buyer's dreams, I would buy Marvel, Mickey Mouse, and Thomas the Tank Engine briefs. After some serious scouring of the toddler underwear aisle, the Target toddler underwear buyer's dream came true. The only solid underwear I could find was white undershirts, which did not meet our needs, so I asked Harrison to choose from all the branded stuff (somehow he knew who Mickey Mouse was, but he didn't know any of the others!). He took his job very seriously -- even sending a few back to the wall of underpants. We ended up with three 7-packs, which should last us a day or two, right?? :) He looked like such a big boy holding up all of the packages I put in his lap and deciding which ones he thought would look good on his little bottom. I was so proud of him but managed to only *almost* cry when we were choosing the underpants -- I didn't *actually* cry.

When we got home, we immediately took off his shorts and diaper and tried out each potty. :) I left him freeballing (can I say that in a family-friendly blog?) in the kitchen while I took Hewitt up to settle him in for a nap. Suddenly I hear, "Mama! I pee potty!" so little Hewie and I run downstairs as fast as is possible with a sore knee and a baby drinking milk. Harrison had indeed "peed potty" -- in addition to a tower of Legos and the floor that was unfortunate enough to be located between the tower and a potty, so I just finished washing a sinkful of Legos in hot, soapy water... I was so proud of him. He showed me the one drop that made it to the potty, and we all celebrated. Then Hewitt and I sat down on the floor while he spent some more time on the potty and we talked about how proud we were of him and what a good job he did to go sit on the potty and to tell me what he had done. Once Hewitt got over the initial excitement of Big Brother's achievement, I dropped him into bed and then went back down to look at all 21 pairs of "unna-pants" with Harrison. He told me that he's going to wear his Goofy pair first. They're all in the laundry now and will hopefully be ready when he gets up from nap.

Harrison's army of unna-pants

Potty training tips are welcome! We've heard about rewarding with M&Ms or stickers or something but aren't doing that right now for two main reasons -- 1. He's really excited to sit on the potty for the pure joy of sitting of the potty, so why waste the bribes? 2. How do you stop giving treats each time he goes? Would it tell him that the first 50 times he went on the potty were good but the 51st time was nothing worth celebrating so why bother?

My big boy is getting even bigger!!

If you read this entire entry, award yourself 50 points. If you read this entire entry without taking a break or rolling your eyes, award yourself 100 points. If you read this entire entry and clapped and cheered at the exciting parts, award yourself 200 points. Yay for Harrison's fan club!

Week in Florida

We all spent last week in St. Augustine with my family -- Gammom and Gambob (my parents) were there all week, and JossshhhYara (my brother Josh and his girlfriend Laura) were there for the first weekend. If you were to ask Harrison what we did, he would tell you that we did "many tings."

We lounged around the condo...

The essentials : Adirondack chair, foot rest, trucks, side table, and drink.

Not posed -- Chris caught him when he didn't know anyone was watching.

Harrison's snack station.

Cooling off in the snack station. :)

Chilling on the couch.

Giggling with Gambob.

We went to the beach...

Ahhhhh!

Mission : To move all this sand from here to there.

On break...

Back to work!

Hard at play.

Look at the definition in those arms -- especially just below the elbows...

He reached out and grabbed that ring all by himself!

Hewitt on his way to try out the ocean.

"You want me to do WHAT?"

"Einh -- I could take it or leave it..."

Mama, Dada, Harrison, and Hewitt

"Dada, if you ever do that to me again..."

Everybody (or "eh-vee-bah-dee," per Harrison)

Relaxing -- Hewitt knows that his lady will protect him from the ocean.

But even she can't keep the paparrazi away!

We lounged in the pool...

This is more Hewie's speed. Please note the mohawk.

He did do a little kicking, though.

Harrison's pool trick this summer? Going all the way under!

We rode wicked water slides...

That's way high up, but we're not scared!

We like it!

Again, again!

Rode a lazy river...

Ahhhhhhh...

Harrison says, "Lazy river, my bottom! This is hard work!"

We ate...

Everyone is at the table and no one is crying!

"Wait -- I'm only here to observe?"

We went to the Alligator Farm...

Harrison did not want to play "alligator" with Mama.

"Meh-nee ah-luh-gay-TORs."

Where is the biggest alligator? "Rite der it is."

Hewitt was not impressed : "Wake me up when you find a gator that can swallow me..."

Gambob touched the snake and the alligator. Harrison touched the snake.

And we went boating...

The captains.

Sightseeing with Gammom -- "Yuk at dat!"

Harrison has the helm.

Thumbs up for the week -- we'll do it again next year!