Dancing With the Star

Here's the mover and shaker in our household. Presenting Mr. Duke Rath.

Just try and top this show ABC!

I'm Three!

Happy Birthday to my big boy Jack. I can't believe just 3 years ago I was laying in a hospital bed holding a tiny, (and at just 6lbs he was TINY!) baby boy. That was truly my last real vacation, HA! But by all means, a wonderful memory for me of just how precious he is to me and how fast time passes. Why just this morning when he woke up at 6am he announced he was "Almost 3"...which was actually true, since he didn't really enter the world until about 9:15. By the time we got to school however, he was announcing to everyone we ran into that it was his birthday and he was 3.



We had a great time this weekend in Tennessee with Grandma and Grandpa (with the exception of the stomach bug that hitched a ride with us and bit Jack on Saturday afternoon). But we were recovered enough to partake in the Lightning McQueen cake which Grandma made and enjoy all the neat Cars presents she got us. We had to break out the pajamas the night before, after messing up our last clean pair on the last bout of bug. Bleccchhh!



And to celebrate at home Cory and I walked into his room this morning with a cupcake lit with 3 candles singing Happy Birthday, he was VERY EXCITED. Especially when he saw the cupcake was adorned with Luigi and Guido, from yes, CARS. (Aunt Lisa, feel free to just wrap whatever you have in hand for Christmas, no need to buy the boys gifts, used CARS paraphanelia will be just fine!)



And more cupcakes at school along with a birthday crown and an entire room of 2-3 year olds singing a resounding "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to him. Again on the way out, everyone we ran into was presented with Luigi and Guido to view.



And finally, here we sit, watching CARS for oh, maybe the 10th time since last weekend, and playing with Mack, Frank the Combine, all three Lighting McQueen's, Luigi, Guido and occaissionally pre-empting the punch lines "Boy, You're in a HEAP of Trouble".



Here a few pics from the past few days.


Happy Birthday Jack. Even though you prefer CARS over the ever cute Curious George movie (or maybe I just like the variety a little and listening to Jack Johnson over Rascal Flatts), I will continue to play Upside Down on my iPod whenever possible and believe that someday the words will truly describe you, my big boy. (If I knew how to add music to my blog it'd be playing right now!)

Something from My Previous Life Returning?

For several years now, including a few prior to having kids, I have volunteered with Children's Hospital here, specifically working with the Auxiliary. It's been a great experience, including volunteering for Parents Night Out - a Thursday night once a month where all the parents that have children in rooms that night are invited to the cafeteria for a meal (from outside the hospital) and bingo and prizes - all donated by a sponsoring group; as Secretary of the Auxiliary - keeping all the volunteers up to date on the opportunities and needs for volunteers; the Christmas Tree Lighting - scheduling entertainment, clowns, and making sure Santa is all ready to arrive in the lobby to visit with the kids the first Friday in December right after the lights "magically" shine on the holiday trees for the first time and even heading up the Teen Scholarship Committee who chooses which teen is deserving of a $2,500 scholarship to college given by the Auxiliary each year.

I've been able to meet and get to know some great people in my work downtown at the hospital and my only regret has been not being able to participate on a more regular basis. With Cory's schedule on the road, it's hard for me to commit to just about anything that requires a definitive day a month or week. However, I do whatever I can just to keep in the loop and involved hoping someday that might change...or even change enough that the kids could join me. When Jack was a baby, he sometimes came with me to the Auxiliary board meetings - and I was tickled this week when Howard Holmes, one of the CHS Volunteer Staff told me that was the highlight of his first meetings with us. He so enjoyed watching Jack crawl around under the table, getting into whatever he could, while we attended to whatever business we had to.

This Tuesday, I was able to work things around and get downtown to interview teens that had applied for a limited amount of volunteer spots that are open for them for the fall semester. Priority goes to returning teen volunteers, so that left only about 10 spots and we had 30 or so that had applied.

It was a great experience, not just to get out of the normal routine of getting the kids, home, dinner, bath, etc...but to see what is out there in the form of our future. I spent about 10 minutes with each of the 7 that I interviewed and am glad I only have to give the input and not make the decision on who to choose. Of course, some amount of dedication is expected by someone who goes ahead and not only fills out the application, but also writes an essay and gets two letters of recommendation from teachers or church members.

Ironically, my top interviewee of the night was my last. She was an eager junior, eldest of four, who shared her gift for coming up with spur of the minute ideas to keep kids busy/distracted, which is often a huge need in the emergency room at Children's when there is a several hour wait to see a doctor during busy times. (Children's never turns away a junvenile patient, no matter insurance or no insurance, so you can imagine in a metropolitan area like Birmingham, what that can lead to.) I was thoroughly impressed by her ease at speaking with an adult she had just met as well as her other volunteer experiences so far in her high school career. And when I asked her what it was about her that was unique as it pertained to the hospital volunteer experience she shared with me that her now 10 year old brother was diagnosed with cancer at 18 mos old and how she remembered all the treatments, the care and the experience that she was a part of in a family that had such a difficult thing happen to them.

That pretty much sealed the deal for me in my choice. Up until that point, I saw a lot of myself in her. After learning what she and her family had been through, I realized she was way ahead of me already.

YEA JACK!

Just logged into the daycare "Watch your kid while you are at work" webcam, which I rarely do anymore. But, as you can read in previous posts, we have been on the potty train this week. We have been in pullups all week, but have stayed dry every day with the exception of a few instances of #2 (blech!) And so I have been telling him that he's doing great and soon he will get to wear a pair of big boy underpants, of which we currently have an assortment on display in a basket in his bathroom to entice him, including Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Ernie, Thomas the Train and his favorite - 3 pairs showcasing the Pixar film - Cars. Last night as he made the last trip into the bathroom for the night, he picked up his favorite pair of underpants - featuring the ever cool Lightning McQueen, laid them on the bathroom floor, smoothed them out and bent over and kissed them. Lightning has a power in our house that is unsurpassed by anything.

So, I had to check to see if he's still in the same shorts I sent him in to school today because as we were getting dressed today he picked up his Lightning McQueen big boy underpants and held them out, looking at me with those big blue eyes as if to say,

"Mommy I can do it, I promise...please can I wear them?"

And so off to school he went.

And he's still in those same shorts and it's 3:15pm.

My little man is, as he says, "getting BIGGER!"

Ah the power of Cars continues to dominate the Rath household.

Progress

If I'd written this post on Friday, the title would have been something like "Looks Like We'll Wait a While" or "Regress" but alas, just when you think you know what the heck is going on as a parent, BAM! New day.



So, last week Jack was on the rollercoaster of potty training. Went to school in big boy underpants everyday and stayed dry all the way ...not a small feat when you consider we have about a 45 minute drive, and one day it was more like an hour. However, once there, although he would wake up from nap and RAN to the potty and made it, for the most part the days were filled with "accidents", sometimes in the middle of the room and sometimes standing right in front of the potty.



On Wednesday, the day of his graduation party, I dreaded thinking how he would likely have an accident, especially with all the extra parents and siblings in the room. And although I initially wasn't planning on going, the teachers convinced me to change my mind since they had a short program planned with a song and a little ceremony where each child was given a small construction paper medal to wear around their neck with a "best" moniker...Jack Rath - "Best Nature Lover". (I'm told he likes to lay on his cot at nap and look out the windows into the woods behind the center and watch for deer - go figure.) Cute moment, eh?






Not so cute moment - as the class sat in a circle ready to sing the song they likely practiced for months, my child turns facing me and all the other parents (instead of his friends) and says "I don't want Mommy be here!" Fabulous, and I was fighting the guilt the whole day that I had sacrificed being there later in the week for Duke's party. I'm thinking now I should have stuck with the 20 month old celebrations.


He did have an accident, 30 seconds after both his teacher and I asked him if he needed to sit on the potty. So by Friday when I picked up and learned that he'd had several accidents that morning and was in a pull up, I was fully prepared to go right back to the safety of his Cars pull-ups to try again in another month.



But that's just when BAM! shows up.



Saturday were a day of firsts:
First time tells me on his own that he needs to sit on the potty.
First time he makes it nearly an entire day dry between trips to the potty.
First time he calls me back to his room (by the way he is now in a "big boy" bed") so he can sit on the potty because he has more "pee pee coming out" and actually makes it to the toilet.



So, how about that! We are still relying on the pull ups rather than big boy underpants, mainly because he transitions to a new room at daycare Thursday and I really don't want to dump on the teachers a child who will likely be more interested in his new surroundings than keeping track of his body telling him when "it's coming!"



Of course, might be the cool new Melissa and Doug stamp kit his Mommy bought him on Friday to use as a reward if he actually puts his pee pee in the potty.



Either way, on we go.

Potty Training...I Think We Started?

in March...we started wearing Pull Ups that month. My mistake, if I had any idea how this was supposed to work I would not have been paying through my nose to only frustrate myself for nearly 6 months knowing that eventually the kid might actually tell me when he's ready.

I have not pushed, in fact I would like them both to be in diapers/pull ups for as long as possible because then I don't have to repeat myself 20 times an hour "Jack? Are you still dry?" "Jack? Do you need to sit on the potty?" "Jack, tell Mommy if you need to tee tee." Or worry on our 45 minute commute if my car is going to smell like pee for the rest of the time I own it.

Usually I am ignored when I question him. This weekend I got a new response, "Don't talk." or "Stop Talking Mommy!"

Hmmmm...do I read this as progress?

The girls at daycare assure me it is. He pleaded to wear "the highway ones" (Cars underpants) today and I let him. And he went through all 3 pairs of extra shorts and Elmo underpants I left at school with him. But I am told that's normal.

Let's hope so.

Duke isn't far behind.

And based on my level of stress with it, I may hire someone to deal with the second round.

How Cute is My Kid?

I'm not that into myself, you know that, but since I haven't had time to upload new pics, I will just direct you to my sister in law's site, where she did!

How cute is this, I love you Natalie!