Friday, July 29, 2011

Tiki Island

A few weeks ago my dear friend Lauren invited us to a bay house in Galveston owned by some friends of hers on Tiki Island, a little community of bay houses near Galveston.  We decided to take advantage of an inexpensive weekend getaway with friends and drove overnight on Wednesday night, hoping Avery would sleep most of the way.  She slept two hours.  Total.  Kids always find a way to surprise you, huh?  But she was an angel and didn't fuss or cry at all the other 7 or so hours.

We spent the long weekend hanging around the bay house, fishing, eating, and getting some sun.  Avery had a great time playing in the water and hanging out with Davis (2) and Elisa (5).    

Checking out a little crab














Playing pool















































































Some people are slow learners...













Cute ice cream parlor in Galveston













Playing in the sand
Being silly with Uncles Tim & Stephen
Galveston isn't known for their beaches
Schlitterbahn Water Park

So sweet


Lauren asked me to pick up a Mexican dress for Elisa when we went to Mexico in March.  I found one so cute I had to get one for Avery too.  Little did we know that we'd get pics of them in their matching dresses!


















































Friday, July 22, 2011

Potty Training Diaries

Sounds glamorous, eh?

Aye.

Avery does very well potty training at daycare.  She is the youngest one in her class, but according to her teachers she does extremely well and according to her daily sheet, she is using the potty about 4 times a day (and having a wet/dirty diaper 1 or 2 times).

At home it's a different story.  We reward with an M&M, a sticker on her chart, a sticker to keep, and of course lots of encouragement and positive reinforcement.   I am probably not as consistent about asking her as they are, because, well, I forget.  And when I do ask, a lot of times she says NO.  We have had some success in the mornings this week, so that's great.  What happened last night was not so great.

Rob and I were getting dinner ready (a gourmet dinner of grilled chicken, green beans and corn, and oven fries) and Avery said she needed to go potty.  Great.  BUT.  You cannot help her get her clothes and diaper off.  She has to do it herself.  And if you just take her diaper off, she will get so frustrated that she will try to put it back on so she can take it off herself.  Stubborn much?  So that's a 5 minute ordeal in and of itself.    Finally, she sat on the potty.  I stood in the doorway of the bathroom for a minute and went back into the kitchen to do something.  I went back in a minute to check on her, and she had gone into her room and got her black patent leather dress shoes and was sitting on her potty chair, putting them on.  


Awwwwwwww, how cute, I thought.  Oh, gotta put the fries in the oven.


Time lapse of maybe 2 minutes.

Rob goes back to check on her, and we found out exactly what a 2 year old can do in 2 minutes given a) poop b) black patent leather shoes c) carpet.

She had pooped in the corner of her room, stepped in it, tracked it across the carpet of her room, onto the floor in the hallway, and into the bathroom.  Looking back I really should have taken a picture because words cannot express how much poop was on the carpet.  It was astounding, really.  And the smell...

Cue 5 minutes of mass hysteria trying to contain the toddler, keep the dog from eating any(more) poop, and cleaning 3 types of flooring and, of course, the black patent leather shoes.  Of course we're laughing the whole time because that's what we do, but it was a mess to say the least.  THANK GOD we are already scheduled to have new carpet installed next week.

Of course we had a talk about not pooping on the floor, only pooping in the potty, etc. to which she heartily agreed (no poop on floor, ONLY in potty).

And then she had the nerve to demand to "EAT, EAT" once we got everything cleaned up and got back to making dinner.

Oh, excuse us that dinner is a little late tonight, Avery.  So sorry to inconvenience you.  You must be starving...



Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

Well, a few words.  Avery's hair has a striking resemblance to Florence Henderson's.

Something must be done, and soon.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

4th of July

July is almost halfway over (WHAT?) and I'm just now catching up on the 4th.  Seems like I've been so busy with work and school, I haven't had time to blog.  And when I get home I honestly don't have the time or inclination to sit at the computer!

We had a fun 4th of July weekend.  It was busy, HOT, and the lake was nearly closed from the presence of toxic algae, but it was still better than last year.

Friday afternoon Rob returned from Vegas and we picked him up at the airport.  Friday evening we just hung around the house.  Saturday we met Lynn and Lauren for lunch and headed to the James' pool party.  






































That evening Drew and Lynn came over and we played in the yard, went to the pool, and cooked out.

Sunday morning we got up and headed to the lake, leaving Avery with Mimi.  The presence of toxic blue green algae prevented us from getting in the water and it was HOT.    We made the best of it, though, and the fireworks show was great!


































We picked Avery up Monday and all of us enjoyed long naps that afternoon.  That evening we went out to eat and picked up some little fireworks for Rob Avery.













We got tanks, a train, an egg-laying hen (which didn't lay eggs), smoke bombs, etc.




















Despite her apparent zeal in this picture, she was ambivalent about the fireworks but enjoyed playing outside nonetheless.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

When Daddy does hair: