Ride 'Em Cowboy!!!

Play Time!

Evelyn has just been a blast lately. She's been coming up with the funniest games. When Michael tipped our couch over and turned it into a cave, Evelyn called it "The Cave of Wonders" and demanded that daddy play the alligator pillow who was trying to eat her. Michael is such a good sport and can play on the floor with her for hours....I don't know how he does it, but somehow he finds the energy, and she adores him.

The point of this next game is to hit the ball with a book, while standing on the pillow, of course. It simply cannot be done without the pillow. Evelyn hits the ball every time Daddy throws it. Of course, when Mommy throws it, she misses, because mommy hasn't figured out quite how to throw it correctly. And Evelyn glares at me in a "What's wrong with you, can't you do this simple thing?" kind of way.

Last week we took Evelyn to a Princess Party at the local book store. They gave her a pretty princess crown and ring and she made a bracelet, colored a picture, and ate a princess cupcake. But she never quite felt comfortable as a princess...

Aaah.....that's better!

Pregnancy Announcement

Now, Don't get too excited. I'm not pregnant. Sorry.

No, it's just that Father's Day coming up in the anniversary of when we announced to Michael's parents that they were going to become grandparents. We had an awesome idea, and I thought I'd share my genius with you ;).

General Conference that spring had a talk (I'm thinking by Pres. then Elder Eyring, but I'm not sure) in Priesthood about how it was the priesthood's responsibility to assembly emergency essentials: food, 72-hour-kits, etc. So we decided to get Michael's dad an Emergency Preparedness Kit.

So on Father's Day we gave him his Blue-Tupperware Emergency Preparedness Kit. Honestly, he didn't look too excited for it; kind of that politely Do-I-have-to-be-grateful-for-this look, until he opened it and beheld the contents. We had filled it lovingly with all the things a grandparent needs.

It took Michael's parents a few minutes to figure out what was going on. The first thing Michael's dad saw was a package of diapers, and he was busy thinking, "What kind of a cruel "Old-man" joke is this?"

But when it finally sunk in, we got the reaction we wanted:

A Whole New World

This is Eya playing Pyincess Dasmine, flying on her magic carpet (actually, I think she's flying on her magic purple alligator named Starsong).

"Over, sideways and under on a magic-purple-alligator ride! A Whole New World!"

Imagination

I watch suspiciously as Evelyn pushes the chair across the kitchen toward the stove. I wonder when I'll have to launch myself out of my comfortable chair and prevent tragedy from striking the Adams' household once again. My daughter who, by the way, is a notorious klutz--even for a two-year-old, stops the chair directly in front of the oven and clambers up. As I laboriously pull myself out of my chair and start making my way toward her, I notice she's not moving. She's standing on the chair, not touching the stove top, staring up at the microwave.

"What are you doing, Evelyn?" I ask.

"Watching a movie!"

Evelyn has been absolutely shocking me with how well she is doing at potty-training. She's just a natural. I'm really wondering why it took me so long to acquiesce to her sitting on the toilet. We've been doing it for almost four days now, and the last two nights she woke up dry! She hasn't made any wet mistakes in two days either.

I really think that the method I've been using suits her. I let her practice sitting on the toilet, and for every five times (she gets to stick stars up on a chart to keep track) she gets a practice treat (a single skittle). That way she doesn't get sick of sitting on the toilet with no rewards. If she actually does her business in the toilet she get a big potty treat (a taffy or smarties) and a cheer. If she makes a mistake we practice five times in a row and then she gets a practice treat. But if she starts to wet her pants, and catches it and holds it until she makes it to the toilet, we count that as making it, because those are the muscles she needs to develop. She loves all the attention.

Yesterday she was drawing pictures. I asked her what she was drawing and she said, "A snakey on the toilet."

"Did he go potty?"

"Yes! Hurray for snakey!"

"Did he get a potty treat?"

So she drew him a little candy.

The Big "M"

Proper Motivation. That's all I needed. I didn't think I'd find it in me to potty train Evelyn until she started kindergarten. But lately, feeling pushed and prodded and a wee bit competitive, I decided to make my preparations. Nothing serious, you understand, just enough to enable me to start potty training whenever I felt the urge to.

But I found, much to my surprise that the preparations I made were all I needed to get myself excited for the task. And what preparations did I make? Observe:

We coated all our carpet and our couches with sticky plastic! Now you ask, "But Pamela, was spending $50 in order to potty train your daughter worth it?" YOU BETCHA!!! There was no way I was going to let her do such a thing on my brand new carpets. Plus we like popping the air bubbles as we walk down the hall.

Evelyn, I don't think, will ever want to go back to real carpet again. She lounges and rolls around and makes plastic-flooring angels. I think she likes the feeling of the cold plastic.

For Sebby

Believe it or not, this is Evelyn giving her blue balloon a car wash.