Jan. in review

Sydney told me that today in primary she learned her body is a church… (temple maybe?)

For several months we have been training Jackson to use the bathroom. He still needs a lot of help and needs us to remind him. He has not made it through the night yet, probably because he can't do it by himself yet and we haven't been getting up with him. But starting this week, he comes in sometime between 3 and 5 am with Sydney. They come greet me and whisper, "Dad - we have to go PP." so we all go. Its kind of cool - he hasn't had an accident all week.

We have had some cold mornings lately. The design of our bathroom is that it includes the washer and dryer, toilet, then shower/tub. There is a normal glass window to the outside world in the tub. I have long since painted the glass so onlookers would only see a sexy showering silhouette, but when its freezing outside, the shower stays pretty cold. It even forms ice on the inside of the window. Brr. Some of these mornings I have brought my outfit in with me, then throw it along with my towel into the dryer. Then after the freezing shower I put on a warm towel and such. Its nice.

We got some snow, and tried to make a snowman, but when I was walking one of the larger snowballs across the yard I slipped and hit my elbow on the sidewalk. So I pouted after that and didn't make any more snow balls. But the girls made a nice mini snowman.

Jackson helped me make dinner. We made open face tuna melts. Together we were cutting the cheese (go ahead, laugh). I left him on the step stool in front of the block of cheese, cutting board, and knife while I went to put the sliced cheese on the sandwiches. Quickly, I grabbed the knife, so he was left alone with only the block of cheese and cutting board. By the time I made it across the kitchen and back, he had sunk his teeth into the block of cheese. Good for dental impressions, bad for the block of cheese.

We were sitting around the table talking and eating cheese and crackers. Jackson asked Keresa a few times for more crackers, but she didn't notice because she was paying attention to our conversation. So after a few polite tries, he got louder and said, "Stop talking! Stop talking!" Maybe you had to be there.

On the way home from church, Sydney complained of her ears. I figured she needed to pop her ears. Thanks to a trip I took with Chris and Summer a few years ago, I observed a good method of teaching kids to pop their ears. I had Syd blow her nose into a tissue, but halfway through the blow I plugged her nose entirely. She looked at me with glad eyes that her ears were now cleared, and she practiced clearing them just by opening her jaw. Thanks Chris.

Sydney’s bday came and went. Thanks to everyone who sent gifts and packages for her. We had a birthday poptart breakfast, special lunch, and pizza place dinner. Since she’s four now, that means Keresa and I are coming up on our 5 year anniversary! Where has all the time gone?!

MK KGW SRW JGW