we're the coolest parents ever

because we are getting this for Q for his birthday:

my mom saw it posted on craigslist yesterday. i am sending jeremy to some random town in western massachusetts that i've never even heard of despite living here for the first 22 years of my life to pick it up tomorrow. it's a gravedigger power wheels. considering that the boy has 6 different gravedigger hot wheels and insists on sleeping with them every night, i think he will go bananas for this, even if we don't let him drive it for a couple of years. what was that about not getting a big birthday gift for Q this year? oh well.

it's time to get the donuts

we were outside hosting yet another yard sale at my parents' house today. Q was running around in the front yard, playing. he hopped on this sweet pink and lavender big wheel bike my mom got from freecycle and told me, as he pedaled toward the road, "i'm going to get donuts. good bye."

the cool

it's another hot one here in the land of no air conditioning so we jumped at the opportunity to go swimming in my sister-in-law's grandmother's pool (or as quentin referred to it - "the beach", and then "the cool") - neither kid had ever been in a real pool. they were both hesitant at first, but warmed up to it quickly. quentin pretended to be a dolphin being chased by a shark. caroline tried to eat her floatie turtle. all in all, a success.

fluffernutter!

caroline had her first fluffernutter today, and obviously enjoyed the heck out of it. quentin, on the other hand, refused to touch his, even when we told him it was marshmallow jelly. kid demanded a jellywich and nothing but a jellywich.

bouncing nemo

this thing is being delivered for Q's birthday party on sunday. yeah, he's the only kid who will use it. we are renting this for the day in lieu of a big gift for him. plus the poor kid is a little confused what with the moving, the never ending visit at grandma's, and the lack of daddy. he LOVES jumpy houses, but always gets upset when bigger kids get in or if there are too many other kids inside. so he will get to jump as much as he wants and no one will get in the way. (and hopefully he will sleep well!) - i have been asking him all week if he wanted a jumpy house for his birthday party and he kept telling me, "no. jumpy house at church." (the last time he was in one was at the children's' sunday carnival at church back in june.) finally today he answered yes.

brocky and rettus

quentin is a regular little peter rabbit. the kid really, really loves veggies. so he is in heaven here at casa bard with my parents' ridiculous backyard garden. every day my dad brings in the bounty and every day Q eyes it with desire. he has already eaten every piece of "brocky" my dad picked on sunday, he keeps asking for the head of cabbage, though he thinks it is "rettus", and he and caroline are eating "cumbers" as fast as they come in the door.

that was easy.

since pickle turned one, i was starting to think about weaning. she hadn't been nursing nearly as often as she once did, but she would still do it 2-4 times a day. during the last stages of the packing and moving, i sent the kids to my parents' house to get them out of the way / protect them from the horrors of seeing their belongings packed up. i sent tons of baggies of frozen mommy moo along for caroline and then tried to pump while she was gone. but i got nothing. i've run dry. my guess is that she's been humoring me for a while and using nursing as a soother and not a means of food consumption. i thought she would at least want to return for the soothing when we were reunited. i've been back with her for over a week and nothing. she has shown zero interest... no tugging at my shirt or latching on my chin. she's done with me. i have to admit. i am pretty sad. i am glad we aren't going through a painful weaning process but i kinda hoped she'd maybe humor me for a little longer. oh well.

#3 exists!

for the longest time, quentin would count, "one, two, nine, ten, eleven, twelve..." sometimes we would add in 5, 6, 7, and/or 8, but 3 and 4 were never part of his number set. but over the past few days, they have been added and he now consistently counts to 13 correctly. i think he thinks he's counting to 15 though, because he repeats 13 three times.

rucky ducky

we have been taking a lot of baths here at hotel gramma/grampa due to the easy access Q has to the outside, the sandbox, and regular old dirt. (he sneaks out the dog door and plays in yard - fenced in, thank goodness.) gramma has some super awesome vintage bath toys (i.e. the ones we played with as children) including a few rubber duckies. quentin loves them, but the way he pronounces it quacks me up (heheh) - rucky ducky.

e&es

quentin thinks the letters on the m&ms are e's. i try to tell him that they are m's, but he won't have any of it. they are e's. and he is right, if you hold them sideways.

a glimmer of H-O-pee-E

so about a month ago, quentin became terrified of the potty. he wouldn't go near it. the minimal progress we had made was flushed down the drain. after a few weeks of barely even mentioning the potty, i started to casually mention it again, read the books again, but not force him to sit on it. we also bought a costco-sized bag of m&ms to see if all out bribery would work. yesterday he asked to sit on the potty. he only squeezed out a few drops and was all done. i gave him a m&m and left him diaper-less. he asked to sit on the potty two more times last night, actually producing substantial amounts of pee each time. i left the jar of candy in the bathroom and have been giving him one while he's still sitting on the pot to really drive home the connection. it must be working because he has asked to go to the potty three times already today, peeing each time. he did poop in his pants already once today, but otherwise his diapers are dry. as Q has been saying each time he gets a m&m, "candy is good."

beach(ish)

yesterday, the kids and i hit the "beach" in my hometown with aunt kristin, her friend bonnie, and bonnie's son AJ. quentin loves the beach but his general mood is so unpredictable that it would be crazy to drive a couple of hours to hit a real ocean beach like the cape or one in CT, RI, or NH. so fairly gross pond water it is. he had a blast and went willingly in the water all the way up to his chest. he never put his head or face in, but he did sit down a few times with the water up to his neck. he loves digging in the sand and pouring buckets of pond water on himself. caroline was amused and liked the water, as long as she didn't splash herself in the face. she also really wanted (and succeeded a couple of times) to eat sand and rocks. lots of pics for daddy who misses his babies.

- one of the coolest things - the F15s from barnes air national guard base right next to the ponds were out doing some training maneuvers. my camera doesn't have the greatest zoom, but it still got some pretty good shots.

homeless

we finally closed on the house on monday. it was originally scheduled for last wednesday, then delayed to thursday morning, thursday afternoon, friday morning, friday afternoon, and then finally to monday morning. the issue was with the closing for the house our buyers were selling, but we were stuck until they got thier paperwork problem sorted out. but after a few additional nights on an air mattress and many additional drive-thru meals, it's done. good bye cute little new england house. you were good to us and we will miss you. now to find a job so that we can buy this awesome philly house that i am completely obsessed with!

-

"big bear" abby the beagle thwacked her tail in some wet paint, and then thwacked her tail on the door. think the new people will notice?

also, new people only had one medium uhaul of stuff. i (who filled three PODS) am amazed.