While Scott was gone to Las Vegas, a circus came to town. It was just a small circus, it wasn't anything like Ringling Brothers but it was fun to see the tigers, bears, elephants and all the other acts. Eric liked the tigers the best, Lisa liked the ladies that did routines in the air on ropes because they wore pretty outfits, and David liked going up and down the stairs in the aisle ;)
I think it is because David is my last baby that I am in no hurry to have him move on out of each baby phase.
He had been using sippy cups for a while, but he preferred a bottle - especially in the morning for breakfast. We were always running low on sippy cups (David has a bad habit of thowing real dishes, cups & utensils away. I've found a lot in the trash, but I'm sure I've missed seeing quite a few), so I let him go ahead and keep using a bottle sometimes. He would go to the drawer where we kept the bottles and if there was one in there, he wanted to use it. If the drawer was emtpy he was fine using a sippy cup. About a month ago I decided that this was ridiculous that a 2 year old was still using a bottle sometimes, so when I unloaded the dishwasher I just put all the bottles in the top cupboard and that was that. The next meal he looked in the drawer and saw it was empty and he's happily used a cup since.
Hand in hand with the bottle-thing is the temperature of his milk. With my first 2 kids I never warmed up their milk because I didn't want them to require warm milk so when we were out and about I could mix up some formula and they were good to go and we didn't have to find a microwave etc. It worked great. This kid thought he needed warm milk, especially in the morning. He actually wouldn't drink it unless it was warmed a little. I feel like such a push-over giving in to him. The same day the bottles went away, warm milk disappeared too. The first breakfast he had cold milk, he took a drink and said, "Brrrr" I told him, "Yea, isn't cold milk yummy?"
Finally is the paci. David loves the paci! I loved the paci because it would make him stop screaming. Lisa bit the tip off of hers a few weeks before she was 2. Scott cut the tip off of Eric's the day after his 2nd birthday. Here David is 4 months after turning 2 and he's still sucking away strong. (At least I weaned him to just having it when he sleeps and when he screams during sacrament meeting at church) I decided enough is enough and it is time for paci to go bye-bye. Scott was going out of town for a week, so I thought that would be the perfect opportunity so only one parent has to endure the screaming. So two weeks ago on Sunday night I cut the tip off of his paci. When it was bedtime I gave it to him like normal and said "Oh no, paci is broken!" He looked at it and thought it was pretty funny. I told him good night and turned off the light and there was silence for about an hour and a half. I couldn't believe it - it couldn't go so easy could it? Oh, no. He finally realized this was no game Mom was playing, this is for real. My paci is really broken and I need it to go to sleep! So the crying began and continued and continued for about 45 minutes until he was finally so tired he just fell asleep. The 2nd night he cried for about 15-20 minutes. And that was the end of that. No more paci and no more crying at bedtime. But that also means my cute baby isn't a baby anymore.
The last hurdle is potty-training. I don't even want to think about that right now...
The other day I was reading a magazine and found a quote that I loved relating to raising kids. "The days are long, but the years are short." Ain't that the truth!
A couple weeks ago when it snowed, our kids and the neighbor kids played outside ALL DAY long until they were so cold in the evening they couldn't stand it anymore. They had so much fun making this sledding ramp.
I thought the kids annual picture turned out pretty cute. They were all in good moods and excited to get their pictures taken which really helps.
I thought it was cute that the photographer wanted David to hook his thumb in his jean pocket for a relaxed look. He was concentrating so hard on keeping his thumb in there, that the other fingers are poking out - I love it!
I love those kids!!
I few weekends ago we went out to the desert. Eric has a hard time remembering if the correct word is desert or dessert, and it usually ends up as dessert.
Scott had gotten some new shooting gear for his upcoming training class, so he wanted to try it out.
We started by hiking up a hill. 
About 10 minutes into it, David started whining and crying and wanted to go back to the truck and look at his books. There was a bitter cold wind, so I don't blame him. 
So, David and I headed back while Scott and the other kids kept going. I had a feeling David wouldn't last long, so I was prepared and brought some magazines to keep me entertained while we waited.
When the others got back, we drove around a while. Later, we found a place where the wind was blocked. David found a rock that was just his size for a chair.
Lisa and Eric turn into little explorers out there and probably would have kept walking until we couldn't see them anymore.
Needless to say, on the way home they all crashed.
I guess when it comes to the Federal Government and the US Postal Service the answer is yes.
The other night I was at work and they sent around a memo for everyone to read reminding us of the Randolph-Sheppard Act (20 U.S.C. 107 et seq.) What is that you ask?
Under the provisions of the Randolph-Sheppard Act (20 U.S.C. 107 et seq.), people who are blind and licensed by a state licensing agency must be given priority for the operation of food vending services in Postal Service facilities. Because of this provision, the new vending supply guy has a seeing-eye dog so management was informing us all how to act around a service animal.
I fully support not discriminating against anyone, especially those with disabilities, but it just amazes me the extent that the government legislates little things in our lives.
I haven't posted a 'Kid Talk' post for a while, but Eric has been saying and doing some funny stuff so I have to write it down before I forget.
-When I was getting ready to take the Christmas tree down, he said I could hand him the feathers and he would put them on the floor for me. I asked him what feathers he was talking about and he pointed to the pine tree branches and said "these feathers"
-The other day I was vacuuming and was taking off the head to get in the corner and he was intently watching me. Then very thoughtfully he said, "Interesting..." Throughout the day he kept watching me do stuff and kept saying, "Interesting" Finally I asked him if he had just learned that word and he said "Yes, am I using it right?" He was, it just was a little odd to me that a 4 year old was talking to me like that.
-Eric is very aware of letters and their order and how they spell different words. Today he was looking at the box of Rice Chex and said "What does R-I-C-E spell because it has the same letters as my name." I told him it spelled rice. Then I teased him that we should just call him Rice instead of Eric since it had the same letters. He has always gotten really mad if we call him anything other than Eric (Scott used to call him Rick and Eric would go ballistic and almost start crying) and it was no different today, he insisted I can't call him Rice because I named him Eric when he was a baby.
-Lately Eric has been fascinated/infatuated with space and the solar system. He knows all the planets and little facts about lots of them. To his delight, this week in preschool they were studying the planets and they went to the Planetarium. That really kicked it up a notch with him. He's been running around the house and when I tell him to stop he says he can't because he's a comet. He even drew me this diagram today of the solar system and told me each of the planets names and some of them were gas planets and even though he drew Pluto it isn't really a planet and that all the pink lines on the outside are comets and the yellow lines are shooting stars.
-The other day the older kids were at a friends house playing while David was taking a nap. When he woke up they were still gone. David was searching EVERYWHERE for Eric and calling his name. The kids play hide and seek with Scott everyday when he gets home from work and David was checking all of Eric's typical hiding spots. I kept telling him that Eric wasn't home, but he wouldn't believe me. He found Eric's blanket and pillow pet in a pile in the living room and decided he was going to get in and pretend he was Eric until Eric got home. I dont' know what his drive was to find Eric because they have been fighting a lot lately, I thought he would be glad he wasn't here to bug him. On the other hand, Lisa totally caters to David and gets him anything he wants, but David wasn't in the least concerned about where she was. As Eric would say...Interesting.
