Heritage

There is something miraculous about the way God combines a mother and father to create a new life. Jordan and I have very different roots. We often joke to each other about where Silas' antics come from...the age old "He gets that from his mother/father/uncle/grandmother..." routine. Of course everything that Jordan thinks is weird, Silas gets from me and must be dutch. If you spent time with Silas and Jordan together you would quickly see that this son is just like his father...but perhaps I claim just a few of his fabulous traits.

When Silas wakes up in the morning, we come downstairs and snuggle on the couch with our coffee. This of course is my cup of coffee and his milk warmed up in a cup (sometimes with just a little touch of hot chocolate mix!). He is convinced he likes coffee and drinks coffee. Although Jordan's parents and siblings are all coffee drinkers, coffee time isn't an "event" in his family the way it is in mine. His family drinks coffee like normal people, to perk up in the morning or for an afternoon jolt. My very Dutch family drinks coffee because it is known to stimulate deep conversation and create warm memories. Even if you are starting to get a little tummy ache from the amount of coffee you have had, if the conversation is still going you are required to continue to fill your cup (or someone else will do it for you). So, Silas' fascination with our morning coffee time is certainly the Dutch side of him.

Tonight Jordan and I walked with Silas through our neighborhood admiring the Christmas lights. Every now and again Silas was shouting out "a moose!". We had no idea what he was talking about and were trying to be supportive parents by saying things like "oh yes, Silas, a moose," as to not stifle his imagination. Then we made the connection that he was seeing the lit reindeer on the front lawns of the houses we passed. Now Jordan does love to hunt, but I have to say that it is my Alaska born heritage that is cause for this mix up. Of course a little boy who's grandfather has roamed the tundra of Kotzebue on the lookout for a moose would assume these four legged creatures were just that.

So, those big kissable cheeks certainly come from Jordan. His love able personality and desire to entertain the world, for sure from his dad. His second toe being longer than his big toe is no doubt Bury. But there are a some certain, precious pieces of me in that little boy. I would have to say his is a pretty fantastic combination.

Potty Trained!

Silas and I have spent the last 36 hours, holed up inside our house with gallons of juice, packages of new underwear, and not a single diaper to be found. The result? A fully potty trained nearly 22 month old little boy looking devilishly handsome in his boxer briefs.

Yes, it is true! I need to give a shout out to my cousins who tried this potty training method before me (along with many other concepts I have adopted after seeing their success...it is why God have Jasmine kids before all of us, she always does her research and we all reap the benefits!) and to the Self Proclaimed Potty Training Queen (www.threedaypottytraining.com). Her pamphlet on potty training can be purchased through her web site for $24, which is worth every penny since I just returned an entire box of unused diaper wipes to Costco this morning which nearly paid for it.

On top of using this great method, Silas was just really ready for this. We had several accidents the first day, less the second, one on the third, two out of three dry nights and three dry naps! This morning when he woke up he called for me, asked to go potty, and had his normal (totally disgusting in a diaper) morning poo poo ON THE POTTY!! I was so delighted I had to call Jordan at work and then call my pals to tell them of my excitement. Following breakfast we went to the park, the library, and Costco (to get rid of the useless wipes) without one single accident.

He is so totally proud of himself which is my favorite part. We started with the potty chair, but the anatomy of a boy makes the potty chair a little more challenging unless you are willing to get a little more involved with the process than I was. So, we opted for the big toilet. His little buns are too skinny to sit forward (he would drop right in), so he sits backwards facing the tank. This is also convenient for him so that he can watch everything that is going on. The routine goes something like this...I have been reminding him to tell me if he needs to go, all of a sudden he does and is running toward the bathroom saying "potty, potty, potty", we strip off the pants and underwear and I lift him on to the toilet, he starts peeing, stops and looks up at me to make sure I am really excited, and then finishes going. Prior to this, nothing that ever happened in the bathroom was cute to me.

This does make public restroom use a little more difficult as we found out today, but I would say it is totally worth the extra 10 minutes in the stall to be done with wiping stinky buns for Silas! I know there will be days when he has more accidents, or when we digress and have to focus on the skills again, but overall I am just so proud of my little boy!




You can't make a kid pose like this...he is a natural! Watch out Michael Jordan, Silas is taking over the HANES adds












Gotta have one of the cute buns... Plus check out his calves!

Thanksgiving

I am sure we have to talked to most of you, and shared with you the craziness of our Thanksgiving. No story is fully complete without the pictures to give the visual.

Things I am thankful for...
1. My extremely hard working husband who sacrifices so much to be able to provide for our family
2. My joyful little boy
3. The family that we were able to enjoy over the weekend
4. Reminiscing
5. The very kind woman at the park who in the midst of the craziness offered to take Silas and I home, risking blood dripping all over her car seat
6. My very stable cousin, Shilo, who helped me to remain sane as I looked into the face of my boxer faced little boy
7. The fog that settles on the back roads through Brush Prarie
8. Being the one Silas wants in a room full of people
9. Having people stay at my house
10. Knowing Who I am thankful to


So here is the low down on our little boy. He took a major spill at the park last week. I cannot think of anything this monkey is afraid of, so to demonstrate his strength he was swinging from the hand rail of the upper set of stairs on the play structure and because it was wet he lost his grip and flew off. He caught the first set of stairs on his way down directly up the nose. I saw the entire thing happen and I have to confess I let a swear word slip as I dropped my camera and cell phone (yes, the only belongings I had with me from my cousin's minivan which we had conveniently locked ourselves out of) to run over and pick him up. There was blood instantly along with the kind of screaming and crying that makes a child's body stiffen and shake. Shilo gave me her mitten which I tried to use to catch some of the blood. On our way back toward the van (to do what I don't know since we had no way to get into it) we saw another mom and her son walking towards the park. Shilo and I felt extreme mommy humility as we explained our super blond situation to this mom who then whips out a full on first aid kit from her car (she had her keys obviously), she gave us an ice pack and wipes and then offered to take Silas and I home. After getting calmed down and cleaned up (and waiting 2 hours for the lock smith to come unlock the van), Shilo and I enjoyed a much needed cup of coffee while the kids napped.

Getting Started

OK, I have tried about 10 different ways of sharing stories and pictures with family...maybe this one will stick!

The emails are too hard to for sending videos, the familylobby page is so last year and doesn't lend itself well to story telling, and not everyone has facebook, so here I am with a blog. I am hoping that I can keep things current with stories of our little family, while also being able to share the pictures and videos that bring it all to life. I hope you enjoy!