Thursday, November 21, 2013

R: I Will Read


KK-

Tuesday was my birthday. 

Big D asked me what I was going to do on my birthday.  I told him I wanted to go to the beach.  And so I didn't schedule anything on my birthday.  No school, no babysitting co-op, no visiting teaching, no appointments, no play dates, nothing.

On my birthday, the weather was terrible.  Cold, heavy rain, wind... just plain yucky.  I didn't really have a backup plan for my birthday.  

I decided I should do something with my boys, that I like to do with them.  

I took them to the library.  We spent a lot of time looking at books, checking out books, playing with activities they had there.  The boys were well behaved and we had a great time.

When we got home we read, and read, and read.  I love to read books to my boys.  


Finally, the three of them gave me their present.  They all fell asleep at the same time for 45 minutes.  I could not believe it.  I curled up with some hot chocolate in my bed and enjoyed a peaceful, quiet house.  It was absolutely lovely.

I am grateful that our Cutler family motto included the phrase: "I will read."  I do enjoy reading myself, but right now I enjoy reading to my boys even more.  I am thankful for their grandparents who all have passed down a love of reading.

And now someday we can go back and read this post about what a lovely birthday I had in 2013.

-Miss T 




Sunday, November 17, 2013

Fall Photo Shoot with Jane

Hi Miss T-

We made up our own fall photo shoot with Jane. In her little white blessing dress that Miga made her. No funny stories here, just some irresistible pictures.

 Shadow of the photographer there...
 With the quilt Miga made her.
 Pondering the heavens?
 In the leaves.
 Looking up.
Full body shot.

We are not even what you could call amateur photographers, but when you have a cute subject you are bound to get a good picture at some point! Happy fall.


Friday, November 15, 2013

"My Legs are Cold"


Dear KK - 

Here is what we have been up to lately.

The Background
Cub has officially been potty trained for over a year now.  We still struggle with him having little accidents.  He just goes a little pee in his pants before he decides to run to the bathroom.  Nothing seems to work to fix this problem - not rewards, time outs, making him wear them wet, making him change his clothes himself, etc.  So we have been trying to "wait it out."

The Story
Yesterday, I took the boys to Vancouver for Troy's Teddy Study appointment.  They scheduled our appointment at a satellite location, a fire station.   The boys were excited to see the fire station after we finished the appointment.  Cub wore his firefighter jacket, hat, and boots. While we were in our appointment, we heard the alarm sound and the fire engine race out of the garage.   The boys were disappointed that the firefighters were gone and they were not going to tour the fire station.

On our way home, I decided to take them to our neighborhood fire station to console their broken hearts.  We rang the doorbell at the fire station, and some happy and energetic firefighters answered the door.  They let us in and gave the boys a great tour of their fire engines and garage.

As we were getting ready to leave, one of the firefighters started quizzing T Bear about what to do in case of an emergency.  He told T Bear than our family needed to have a meeting location outside our house in case of emergency.  He told us some fun ways to practice meeting at our spot.

After dinner at home, I announced that we all needed to get shoes on because we were going to test the smoke alarms and practice going to our meeting spot.  Cub came to me and said,"My legs are cold." I looked at him.  Earlier he had one of his "little accidents" and was currently only wearing underwear.  He had his boots on, but no pants.  He knew he was going to be cold outside in the dark, rainy weather at our meeting spot.

I looked at him and said, "Well then you shouldn't have wet your pants. You peed in your pants and you are not getting new ones, so yes, your legs are going to be cold.  Sorry." 

Big D overheard our conversation and said to me, "Wow, you're a jerk but that's why I love you!"  I decided to take that as a compliment since I felt ok with what I had said to Cub.  And just so you know, Cub took it like a "man."  He marched out to our meeting place and stood out their in his underwear and boots and didn't complain one bit.

The Moral
I can be a cool mom one minute, and a mean mom the next.  Don't mess with me!  And I have no idea if what happened will help Cub, but I know he loved his visit to the fire station.

Love,
-Miss T

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

A Writer is Born


T Bear tossed this note into the room as I was putting the other boys down for naps today.

Translation: "Dear Mom Please get some more clear tape."

T Bear is loving to write down everything.  He is writing stories, cards and apparently reminder notes to his mother.

-Miss T