- Dan seems to be winning the battle that is potty training! He uses the toilet now, rather than the potty, and often takes himself without prompting. He hasn't yet gotten the hang of "number 2" in the toilet, but the vast benefit of not changing his diapers every hour throughout the morning is well worth putting up with a little mess. He'll get it eventually!
- Caleb is teething. Oy. One bottom tooth has cut through, but I think there are more on the way, gauging by his fussiness. He's still delightfully cute, though.
- I'm fighting disease and contagion, in the form of a sore throat (which makes for quite a manly voice) and headache. I'm determined to win, though! After all, "ain't nobody got time" to be sick...
- Thor isn't doing too well. He's been on the downhill slide for a while, and it's getting worse. His hips hurt and his back legs regularly fail him, he often needs to be carried up or down the stairs, several times a week he relieves himself in the house (often right next to someone), and now he's started throwing up. In my room. At 3am. It's not looking good - I foresee a vet visit soon...
- I've been noticing a couple of habits in my kids that need to see some change. Right now, there's been the morning chores - rarely do they get done without me, at some point, bellowing like a bull moose about how they all need to get done before playtime. The thought eventually came to me (I'm a little slow) that I'm training Dan to use the toilet with positive reinforcement (m&ms, in this case), so why not the others? So, the deal is, they have 30 minutes (a timer is set) to complete all their chores without me reminding them. If they get them all done without my nagging, they can have a couple of m&ms. It's early days, but it went well today. My kids are pretty short-term thinkers, so I know that yummy food that they don't normally get would speak to them. I'd love to do something longer term, like if they do it for a week or month, we'd do something special, but we'll start small and see how we go.
- There are some other areas we're working on, namely acting selfishly and stirring up division. There is prayer and discussion going on, but practical measures are still so new and unsure that the jury is still out on their effectiveness. Time will surely tell!
- Noah is learning how to cut wood. Amazingly, there have been no stitches or severed fingers...yet.
