No Astronaut Here

Despite the funny picture above, we are pleased to report that Lily is potty trained! She still sometimes misjudges the length of time it will take her to get to the bathroom but we are officially done with diapers. She's stayed dry for 20 days straight now at night too!

We had a little scare with Lily this weekend though. I was working out and Chris came in and asked if I had seen Lily. I hadn't, so we both started looking for her. After three or four times through the house and multiple trips around the house outside, we still couldn't find her. And, we were starting to panic a bit. She was last seen just wearing underpants. I could just see that information on the Evening News and explaining to the cops why she was only running around in underwear (she's not a fan of clothes; she's 3).

After we enlisted Jamisen's help, we were just about to fan out over the neighborhood when we heard a shout from the pantry where we found Lily, hiding, crouched in her standy-thing, surrounded by sugar EVERYWHERE. She had pulled the sugar container down (jackpot!) and was eating it, crouched down in a manner that we couldn't see her. And, she's no dummy; of course she didn't answer our increasingly frantic please. We would have taken away the sugar!

Jamisen continues to impress us with his kind and helpful ways. That kid is going to make a great husband someday; that is, if we can ever get him to leave. The other night, I was reading an astronaut book to him and innocently said, "Would you like to be an astronaut when you grow up?"

He clutched my arm and said, "No way; I would never want to leave you and Daddy!" So then, forgetting I was talking to a five year old, I said, "Well, sweetie, you'll need to leave us to go to college." At which point, his lower lip poked out, wobbled, and a tear rolled down his cheek. And another. Until he was actually crying and clinging to me, crying, "I don't ever want to go to college; I never want to leave you!"

Lily was also reading with us and she followed the lead of her brother, saying "I don't want to go to college! I don't want to go to college."

I assured Jamisen that he could live with Mommy and Daddy and go to Western Washington University right here in our hometown. That appeased him ... a bit. And when Chris heard what I gad done, he was like, "He's FIVE. You just committed him to which college he's going to attend at the age of FIVE."

Yeah ... hindsight. Not such a smart discussion to have with a five year old who loves, loves, loves his Mama so very much right now. He's in that phase and it's very sweet.

Summer Camps Galore

Jamisen has had quite a fun summer of camps so far. He did a cooking class at his Montessori school and then was introduced to the great sport of soccer. Since his Dad excelled at soccer, we're thinking he might have a knack for it. It started off slowly with him hanging back, watching and not participating but by Day Two, he was rarin' to go and had fun every day.

Phew! I have been told by multiple other Moms that I definitely don't want to get him into soccer because all of our weekends will be spent watching him on a rainy field and we'll be doing long drives to Spokane for soccer tournaments before you know it but on the other hand, I love the idea of a team sport for him and that camaraderie that comes through teamwork.

He's in the Y summer camp now. This morning, I dropped him off and asked him what he was most looking forward to. He proclaimed, "The climbing wall and swimming!" I asked him if he would like his sister to join him at camp or if that was something he'd just like to keep for himself, and he said, "I would like Lily to join me next week!" When I asked for more details, he said "I want her to come because she would have so much fun!" Awwwww ...

Lily remains charismatic, friendly and dynamic. We walked to Haggen last night for cottage cheese and eggs and, another very important dairy product: ice cream. While Lily was sitting at the cafe, eating her ice cream, an elderly woman shuffled by. Lily called out to her, "You can sit with us! We have an extra seat" and indeed, we did have an extra seat. The woman did not take Lily up on her generous offer so Lily went one step further and said, "There's a bag on the seat but I will move it for you" and then proceeded to move the bag off the seat. She continued to engage with the solitary senior until she was done with her ice cream. It was heart-warming to see such generosity of spirit from our little girl.