Potty time!

We are potty training Frankie! We're in the beginning stages, and it's going well, although it is, as promised by my friends who have been through it, a bit messy.

We started slowly maybe two months ago, trying out the potty, going every once in a while, every once in a while wearing panties (and then soaking them...). We then hit a period where she was terrified of wearing her panties and wanted to have nothing to do with the potty, so we backed off.

About two weeks ago, she started asking several times a day to use the potty, and was willing to wear her panties again. I was amazed by this - I'd heard from people that especially with girls, they just hit a point where they're ready, and it's not a huge struggle. At least for Frankie, this appears to be true. Not that it hasn't been hard or without plenty of accidents or some resistance on her part, but we're gaining ground, and having successes regularly now!

This week the Murrys are back in town (which has been so, so, so wonderful, more on that with pictures later!), and Hannah is potty-trained, so I think that's what's helped push us over the edge. I think Sarah's been training Rachel and me as much as helping Frankie to understand what it means to potty train a child.

For example, Sarah is a wonderful cheerleader - this is no surprise to those who know her. For those times Frankie has shown resistance, Sarah has a way of singing/dancing/cheering her right to the potty where I would have just given up before (this says a lot about me as a mom...) Sarah has also taught me that I need to tell Frankie it's time to go to the potty every hour or even every 30 minutes, not just ask her or wait for her to tell me.

Hannah has added a great deal of encouragement and incentive on her own this week. Frankie has been so excited to use the big potty just like Hannah, to keep her panties dry, just like Hannah, and has even been borrowing Hannah's princess panties this week. It makes convincing her to go easier when Hannah's also using the potty every hour.

Thanks to the Murry girls, and persistence on behalf of Rachel, Frankie, and myself, we are making progress! She's been wearing undies for three days now, with 2-3 accidents (mostly small, maybe one large) during the day. Rachel's still been putting her in her diaper for naps, and again at night.

I'm hoping in the next week or so we can eliminate those accidents during the day, and the diaper for naps too! Go Frankie!

Providence Children's Museum

I have to highly recommend the Providence Children's Museum for families in the Boston area with children under 5. We have a pass to the Boston Children's Museum that is well-loved, and as a change of pace, Chris and I took the munchkins down to Providence on rainy Saturday morning a while back. It only too about an hour to get there (advantage of living South of the city!). It opened at 9, which is fantastic for our early risers, there was free parking out front, and our pass to the Boston Children's Museum got us in free! The museum felt much more geared towards pre-schoolers, and while smaller, it packed a punch! It was also shockingly empty. Not like creepy-empty where no one was there, but just the right amount empty - all the fun, none of the chaos.

We hit this bakery/restaurant for lunch. Yum.

We all had such a good time, we're definitely going back!


Who is that baby?






One of Dex's favorite games right now is taking items out of a box/bag, and putting them back in.


Doing some "shopping"

Buzzy-bee

I think you'll need to click on these videos to watch them in my Picasa web album. Sorry about that, Google's not given us the "embed" feature yet for videos in Picasa web albums apparently!

From 2009 May

From 2009 May

From 2009 May

A laugh for your Friday

Here the promised video of Dexter laughing hysterically while climbing in and out of the tent:

Baby Elsie!

Elsie Freeman Doreian is here! Beth gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on May 26th, and we had the priveledge of meeting her last night at Brigham and Women's. The new padres seem to be handling it all in a stride. Congratulations, Beth and Ian!

Chris holds Elsie

Frankie sings to Elsie:

Favorite Things

I'm done with my root canals, done with my Java class, and ready to start enjoying summer! It's been beautiful here the last few days; last week it was in the '90s and Rachel took the kids to Carson Beach where they played all morning in the sand and surf.

More pictures will be coming soon, but until then I will entertain and inform with some of my favorite things (a la Oprah - get ready for that crazy boost in sales and activity, recommended products!)

1. This American Life podcast. I love This American Life, and you can subscribe to the free podcast on their website. In particular, I highly recommend last week's No Maps episode, particularly the prologue which features a cop's story of a car accident involving a man and his well dressed chimpanzee. The chimp was driving, and therefore, the man maintains, the accident was not his fault. The story is hilariously told.

2. With the hopes of many trips to the beach this summer, I ordered this tent for the kids to take naps in or get out of the sun for a little while. It's fantastic. As promised, it pops up and down with ease, requiring only one hand (and one person). It's roomy enough for both kids, and an adult can squeeze in if needed. You can fill the pockets on the sides with sand to help weigh it down so it doesn't blow away, and it only weighs 5 lbs! I'll post video soon of Dexter laughing hysterically as he plays in the tent. I had technical difficulties trying to upload it the other day. It's been a big hit!



In action at the beach with Rachel:


3. Clinique long wearing Mascara. I've tried many mascaras - waterproof, non-waterproof, Aveda, Maybeline, Revlon, regular Clinique, and so on, and this mascara is so far the best I've found. It takes some getting used to - you have to be rather exacting otherwise it will clump, but it washes off with soap and water, and last all day without smudging. Seriously, I go for runs with this stuff on and not a hint of black under my eye when I return. It's not so great at volumizing, but if smudge-proof is what you're after, she's your girl.

4. FailBlog.org

5. In a similar vein to FailBlog, I love the ABC show Wipeout, which starts up again tomorrow!

I have a backlog of pictures and events to post about, so this week I'll be featuring events that happened in our recent past to catch you up on all the going-ons of our family!

And yes, today is our 8th wedding anniversary!

Come back, summer!

Last week we enjoyed 70 degree weather, and pulled out all our summer clothes. The flowers have popped, we opened the house (for those of you who live in warmer climates, that means we pulled up all the storm windows and pulled down the screens) and even had to get the AC units cranking on the 3rd floor for Rebecca and Rachel. On one delightful *90* degree day (in Boston! in April!) Rachel even took the kids to the beach to splash around.

It's a little chillier this week, and rainy, but the taste of summer we got last week was sweet. Come back summer!

Frankie and Maisy ponder the back yard one early morning last week
*Note the "jellies" She loves them!

Tooth update

The root canal drama continues. Last week, on Monday, my temporary filling came out (again! what, am I eating stones in my sleep??). Having learned the world of hurt that can occur when this happens, I went to the dentist Tuesday to get it put back in. Wednesday I went for a scheduled visit to have my root canals "finished". She was not able to finish (have I mentioned that normal people have 3 canals per tooth, but lucky me, I have 4 and they are teeny-tiny). By the time the nova-cane wore off Wednesday night I was back to excruciating-percoset-needing pain. I took all the percoset I thought I was allowed to (which was way less than I was actually allowed to) and didn't sleep Wednesday night. Fool that I am, I thought I was feeling a little better in the morning, and went to work. By 2:30 I was in so much pain I left work in the middle of a meeting and called my dentist. She referred me to a specialist, an Endodontist, and I went to get my teeth drilled for third day in a row. She got me out of nerve pain with her specialized skills and high-powered microscope (read: *expensive*), but by this point I'd had my teeth worked on so much in the last two weeks that my jaw and gums were so inflamed, I was still in excruciating pain. I took all the percoset I was allowed, and fell asleep in a drug-induced stupor. Friday morning I was no better, took more percoset, and stayed home from work to sleep off the drugs and the pain. Since Friday night I have been much better. I'm still in some pain, and can't open my jaw all the way, but Advil can take care of it. I have to go back to the Endodontist this Friday to get the root canals finished, and then I'll have to get two posts and two crowns installed. I'll have had my root canals drilled 5 times by the time this process is through (hoping she can finish Friday). Colin Ashe and I have discussed how nice it will be in the future when we all just get bionic teeth. This is also the future that is run by Robots (note the respect I offer the Robots by capitalizing their name).

If you've read this far, you deserve some pictures. These are from the hike we went on two weekends ago with the Ashe and Radbill families. Heather gave an excellent report in her blog if you want the details!





Boston skyline









The "baby race" on the beach - notice Dexter refusing to put his feet down. I have a feeling we're going to have a late walker...