The Big Catch Up Post Part 2

I've been really bad with taking pictures. I take one or two here or there but really haven't taken any GOOD pictures. I noticed that half my pictures have them not looking at the camera.

The kids have gotten quite good at using the iPhone and iPad. I think Kaylie self-taught herself. They love using the kid friendly apps.

Here they are at a place called Kidz Village in Kenilworth, NJ. A play place that had a theme set up for each room. They enjoyed the diner and food store the best--like I said in my previous post, pretend play has been kicked up a notch and I love to listen to what they are pretending. They really enjoyed it for the first hour or so and then a camp/daycare invaded and we had to leave. It got too chaotic. Again, not many pics taken.

Painting al fresco.

We went to our county fair and saw and fed some animals. They loved feeding the animals. Then we ate and we went on their first ferris wheel (Kaylie chose the ride) ride. Poor Kaylie is not 36 inches tall (I don't think Ryan is either--he's almost there) and that was a requirement for riding all the rides. Thankfully the guy let her go on because that is ALL she wanted to do. I mean come on it's a ferris wheel not a roller coaster--and we were with her.

Baby calf born in April. So cute...

Kaylie meeting her 'Prince'--that's the name of the horse if you can't see it on the hat. Yeah a horse with a hat right?? The things that make you scratch your head.

What else is going on:

I hired a mother's helper for two mornings a week allowing me to take them to some of these places and well just to give me a break too. I usually run errands, food shop, and have even gotten a few pedicures. Wahoo!

Kaylie has a poop issue--she holds it for 3-4 days! It gets so bad that she ends up just laying around on the couch. Of course the prod to go to the bathroom gets a resounding NO! She holds it until she literally can't hold it any longer. Now in the beginning of training, she was scared to even sit on the potty and then we progressed to me putting her on the seat without a fight when I saw her 'cues' --never once saying to me that she had to poop. Now she has been laying on the couch on day 3 or 4 of no pooping with a huge stomach. She has told me recently that she has to poop but she sits and then nothing. Then within the hour she poops her pants--sometimes I can get her rushed to the toilet but the last two times have been in the underwear. I mean I can't watch her face every second of the day. So on one hand I feel she made another progression by now saying she has to poop but why the heck won't she just go??? I have been giving her Benefiber too and that has helped with softer stools but the frequency is concerning--although to be honest she always was an every other day pooper. I just hope she gets over this fear of pooping. I'm thinking of asking for a laxative for her until she gets over this control issue. Once she goes, she bounces immediately back to herself. Thankfully no poop problems for Ryan.

My Gym: I'm really glad I signed up for this class. They have improved so much with listening skills--including following directions. It really has been good to get them ready for preschool and having a teacher to listen to, although Kaylie has taken to doing a lot of not listening there which drives me insane. Kaylie has taken 2 and half months to say her name and answer the question of the day however. I just about passed out when they asked her name and favorite color and she answered both about a week ago. She has even been taking part in the circle time warm up and doing the instructed activities. Ryan jumps right in and does most of the stuff but when he says his name/answer to question it's like a whisper to the group.

FIRST MOVIE: A week or so ago we took them to see Toy Story 3. This was their first time at the movie theater. They did really well. They were surprised at how dark it got in there and asked a million questions during the movie which would have been fine but they were loud about it. Oh well what are you gonna do? They are learning. To my surprise, no one needed the bathroom the whole time. They just sat (K on my lap) and watched.

I have to say that age three is challenging. I think, well I know, I might have said that for age two too but three is ROUGH! More and more tantrums and now I get a lot of "Go away Mommy," and just in general bossing me around which I don't stand for. Oh and the eating issues???? I think my kids exist on crackers. Their food repertoire has diminished to nada and they never want to sit at the table for any extended amount of time to eat. All I can think of is how did we get to this point? Someone please tell me they will eat a variety of food again. All of this makes for a frustrated mommy who dreads mealtimes. On the other hand, they are so cute trying to make sense of their world and the conversations are priceless.