In the Trenches: Fundamentals of Toilet Training

With a title like that you KNOW this is going to be a post worth reading, right?

I'll sum-up by saying I'M the one being schooled on this matter, by THIS kid.

After potty training 4 kids you'd think I would know a thing or two about it. I thought I did.
#5 has had me stalled out on square one for some time. Every time I broach the topic, he either changes the subject like he didn't even hear me, or if I push the issue he gives me responses that cause me to question whether he knows what I'm talking about AT ALL. I've explained the mechanics and read books to him about it. Then we drink and sit, sit again, sit again, drink and sit....Nada. But as soon as the underpants are pulled up again...BAM! What? Why? We're still just trying to have ONE success to get us off the launch pad. I mean, he is THREE YEARS OLD.
Whatever. Anyway, a couple of things:
#1. It's tougher than you would think to get poop out of a skeleton costume.
#2. Before flipping out about the 3rd or 4th puddle of pee on the floor in one day, it is good to remind one's self that urine is sterile...so we're told.

I currently have 3 books on the subject checked out from the library. I think only one of them will be useful at all for #5. One of the others, Diaper Free Baby, is all about toileting your infant. Like from a few weeks old. Sooooo...we're a little late on that technique for Sully...but hey, who knows, maybe Ab? Perhaps we'll get them trained at the same time.
he he he.
Good vibes and suggestions are welcome in the cause...or you can donate to the diapers-till-middle-school fund. :)

Reflections on a Dictator

It's been an astonishing year for North Africa and parts of of the Mideast. Watching the Arab Spring has been kind of reminiscent of watching the Soviet Bloc unravel 20-something years ago (has it been THAT long?). With the news this week of Muammar Gaddafi's death I couldn't help but think about the odd intersections of his rule with mundane American (my) life.

As a little kid I vaguely remember the Lockerbie bombing and the subsequent attempts on Gaddafi's life. I remember "Get Gaddafi" target t-shirts, Ronald Reagan calling him a "mad dog" and didn't Weird Al make a music video or something? Gaddafi even popped up in a small local paper a few years ago with this mention in an article about my old Cross Country Coach from High School (highlighted paragraph).




Weird. I have to tell you that Mike and I had some good laughs over that one. Especially when we thought of the cute lady at the Riverton Post Office with a national security threat on her hands. How absurd it must have been. But then again Gaddafi was a poster-boy for absurdity.
The thing about dictators/totalitarians is that laughing at them helps us deal with their atrocities. Maybe it's the world's way of getting back at them.

*Related digression*

Some years back we attended a wedding reception in my parents' neighborhood. The father of the bride was totally decked out in some unidentifiable military dress uniform. It didn't fit any US Service branch that any of us knew of. Even my dad, who served in the military was completely puzzled. We smiled politely and shook hands with the guy. Later, my Dad leaned over and said, "I felt like saying, 'I know you're a dictator, I just don't know from where.'" We couldn't stop giggling. That crack is legend in the family.

Mike pointed out last night that the SV Journal story has lost some of its humor after the events of this year, and specifically this week. Yeah. That's true. I found myself really uncomfortable this week when I saw footage of a badly wounded Gaddafi stumbling around in a jeering crowd. Mob justice is unsettling. I think it quickly crosses a line and becomes blood thirst. He had to go. Sorting out the humanity in it all is more difficult.

When it's fall

We had some time Friday so we took the kids and the Space Donkey up AF Canyon to see some beautiful fall color and to have a cook-out.

We had 5 votes for a repeat soon. Unfortunately, I think the weather is headed south this week and we aren't likely to see many more warm-ish Fall days this year.

I L-O-V-E this time of year.

October in chronological order (pretty much)

Here we go...

 Sully cleaning up after his escapade with the talcum powder (this took up an hour and half one day - this is why I am so unproductive).

Our neighbor took Noble's scout troop up in his plane. They had so much fun.

Especially the zero-gravity part.

 

 We had our family pictures taken. The weather was uncooperative - but our photographer pulled together some great shots.

Especially this one. (I think I might die every time I see it.)

And then, we busted a move to the pumpkin patch.

The on-going potty training saga. (It's not going so well. But dang-it, he's cute.)

Then, of course, there was the road trip to LV for the wedding we've all been waiting for (and waiting, and waiting...). Mike's little bro, Gary, finally found the woman of his dreams, Val. Woohoo! We love her!

(I totally horked this photo from Val's FB. I didn't have any of my own pictures of the newlyweds. At the time we were contending with a diaper malfunction and a sick kid.)

Outside the Las Vegas LDS Temple.

We had some fantastic times. The house we stayed in was great. We loved being all together in one place with our cousins and siblings! So HAPPY.

I really regret not getting any pictures of the girls in their flower girl regalia. Grace recovered from 'the vomiting disease' (her words) in time to perform her petal-tossing duties at the ring ceremony in the afternoon. Then she spent the rest of the weekend in her flowery head piece. Both of the girls were lovely.

Grace at breakfast with Uncle Tim. 

 A sunset stop in Holden on the way home to visit the cemetery.

A road trip was actually EXACTLY what I needed. It was quiet. It was removed from all the craziness of our lives. It was together. The DVD player wasn't even working so we just listened to tunes, read books, talked, laughed. So nice.

And that is the last three weeks of our lives in a nutshell. 

Must...Keep...Up...

Except I think I'm probably not.
Quick update.
Wait.
I don't have time.
All you need to know is that it's nut-so over here. I've had some serious thoughts about going radical and pulling out of the rat-race, loading up the family and heading out. Somewhere......where the phone doesn't ring, the calendar is not triple booked, and I have a second to breath and get my bearings...and NOT miss my childrens' childhood because we're too busy. Do you know where that place is? Call me if you do.
I'm hoping to get some catch-up posts up next week...if I can find time after our trip / the big wedding this weekend. That's a big 'IF'.

If you feel as crazed as me, I'm pulling for you. Cross your fingers for me, would you? I've found myself saying things like: "How am I going to survive this phase of my life?" and "I'm going to run away!" For reals. A little melodramatic maybe...but listen, when you are running 24 hours a day (50 things going at once) non-stop with no end in sight you can get a little bit goofy.

Time is precious.
Gotta go.

A-Team Dancing

The kids like to select the A-Team Theme on the iPod maybe more than anything else. I have no idea why. It's kind of random...but they ARE big fans of the old TV series on Netflix. Anyway, here's Sully getting his groove on a while ago to it. I noticed that his dancing is kind of more of a choreographed fight, which is apropos, I guess. My favorite part of this little vid is the martial arts-y sequence towards the beginning.
Sure to be a classic. Enjoy.

A-Team from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

Try this link if you're having trouble viewing it here.

This might give you nightmares.

Noble has a sixth-sense when it comes to finding crazy, sometimes dangerous stuff.

Like this black widow.

Tonight he ran in, head lamp on, to report that he had discovered it while searching for "nocturnal creatures".  (not his first encounter with a black widow, btw)

He found its nest in the rocks next the basketball hoop on the driveway. Spiders give me the willies (especially black widows) - and this one was HUGE. Really huge. Like an inch and half across. It must have been making a pretty good living in these rocks.

It retreated under the rock as we watched it & Noble lured it back out by dropping a cricket into the web. (I know. Don't be mad at us.) We snapped the above picture as it moved in for the kill. It was so scary-fast.

Be warned: this video is disturbing. Poor little cricket. I'm still traumatized.

When Black Widows attack from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

I was a little concerned about this spider living in such close proximity to where little kids (Sully) play. So after I stopped filming, Noble got the wasp spray (Noble's idea. He's more rational than I in tense situations.) - and we dispatched the black widow.

Sorry spider. Sorry cricket.

Teenager in the House & Return to State.

Our baby is officially a teenager.

 Here she is wearing the same happy birthday crown on her 2nd birthday.

Where did the time go?

Finally. A cell phone. (She was completely surprised.)

On her birthday - she drove with my parents south to Salina for the State 4H competition where Mike joined them two days later. By all accounts it was a pretty exciting 3 days. Drama, re-runs, a horse collapsing and dying mid-stride with rider aboard, rain, lots of fun, and more rain.

 Jessie placed in the top 20 for over-all speed events out of 102 in her division.

(Yay Jess!)

She's come a long way.

The Vampire Room gets a face-lift, and other adventures in paint

We're painting. Again.

 The "Vampire Room" is going to need a new name. I know. I know. We're all disappointed about losing the most perfect Halloween party location in history. But it had to be done. Noble's Lego Robotics Team needed a place to meet this year. And you can't ask a bunch of 11-ish year old boys to be creative and scientific in the dark gloom of a black and blood-red room. It's just not healthy. Pretty soon they start wearing all black and listening to Nine Inch Nails and stuff. They don't need that. So...

Noble bringing a little cheer to the vampire room.

 Actually, all we've managed so far is to get up a good coat of primer. (If ever there was a need for primer, it's here.) When I get the final color up, I'll post an "after" shot. But already the room is so much brighter.

Credit: my mom painted quite a bit of this - when I got sick with that kidney infection last week, she stepped up (again)...

...and once she got started she couldn't quit. So she also started in on the girls' closet.

 As soon as I was feeling a little better, I joined them.

Sometimes I wonder if I would ever get a project finished around here without her.

Kidneys, don't fail me now.

I have gone through two of these (plus several gallons of water) in the past few days.

What a week. I haven't slept much this week. Here's why: kids with stomach flu, puking in the night, a toddler who wants lots of attention at 2 'oclock in the morning, a very needy newborn who likes to be held and fed and snuggled all the time and also cries just for the heck of it - 24 hours a day. All this while getting sicker every day with what I thought was just a minor UTI (my first, so what did I know?). I've been running a fever most of the week and finally went to our doctor yesterday when my fever spiked really high (about 103) and my lower back started to ache. She wasted no time in telling me that I had a full-blown kidney infection, & pulled out some weapons-grade antibiotics which was administered immediately via hypodermic needle. They made me stay around for 15 minutes after, to make sure I didn't react badly...that scared me a little. I am supposed to appear today same time, same place for round two of the same, after which I will start an oral antibiotics regimen. I imagine when I'm done there will not be a single living bacterium anywhere in or on my body.
I just need to get better. The laundry is piling high and my kids need their mom. Our parents and neighbors have helped out so much, babysitting, driving kids to and from school, helping Mike with Lego Robotics last night, painting in the basement, cooking - and just making me feel loved and supported. I layed there in bed yesterday and felt so grateful for all the people and things that make being sick less uncomfortable. I am blessed.