Long Time Coming

It has been a looooong time coming, but it's finally here. Charlie being potty trained, that is.

At 17 months, the kid was very interested and pretty motivated, so I got out the potty...



... and let him start watching "Once Upon A Potty" (or the Potty Show as we call it around here). But my personal policy is not to try to train until 2 years old. So in early December 2010 we began. He was doing great. This little guy has amazing bladder control. As long as we remembered to take him to the potty at regular intervals (once every hour or two), he didn't have accidents, even when we were out and about (except #2). The problem was that when he told you he needed to use the toilet, he would say so very quietly. So if I was distracted, he wouldn't push the subject. This wasn't a problem until Dave's family came to visit for Christmas and I, as hostess, was very distracted and busy. And then we were taking a trip for a week to Dubai and Istanbul. I didn't want to be urgently searching all over as a tourist for a decent bathroom. So we abandoned potty training at the end of the month.

We took it up again at the end of February 2011. Again, he was doing great, this time with #1 and #2. He went a couple weeks with no accidents. Then we were evacuated. Complete regression. It was so disappointing, especially since I was 6 months pregnant at the time so I wanted this boy trained before the next one came! So I planned to try again when we got to Abu Dhabi. We had nothing to do all day, might as well potty train. But I quickly abandoned that plan when I realized he would probably just regress again once the new baby was born.

And once Henry was born, well, it took a long time for me to get motivated to do it agian. But, now he's three, and here we are, finally potty trained. Once I decided I wanted it enough to enforce it and he decided he wanted to do it, it was done in a day. Now he is in underwear full-time (even nights) and has only wet his bed twice - when he was sick.

Way to go Charlie-bear!

Rolly-Polly

Our sweet little Henry is now seven months old. He is sitting well, though still toppling over sometimes. He loves to roll... back and forth, back and forth he goes. And spin around on his belly. Our floors are all tile without a lot of rugs so I was trying to lay out large blankets every time I put him down to play but he just rolls right off and has learned to cope with the hardness anyway...

... showing off his skills, laying his head on his arm as he rollls.

He is still waking twice a night to eat. Eating solids well, though he takes a while to warm up to each new food. This is my first time making my own baby food (of necessity) and I am impressed with how easy and cheap it really is. I should have done it before. So far his favorite food is pumpkin with sweet potatoes in a close second. One wonderful thing is that the last few days I have given him formula in a sippy cup and he doesn't seem to mind it. I am having visions (dreams, I know) of him taking an entire formula feeding and getting to have a break for day... or at least more than 3 hours. We'll see.

He loves his brothers so, so much. Daddy too. All any of them has to do is, well, anything and he will laugh at them. There is no chance getting him to nurse if any of them are around. He loves to throw his toys on the floor and playing with a large spoon on the tile floor, for the sound it makes.

He still doesn't like being in his car seat and has stopped taking a pacifier. We still have to swaddle him when he sleeps but he is slowly getting better about scratching his head when he's upset. Still no teeth but lots of gnawing and chewing on things. He takes naps well every other day.

He gives me hugs. It is so sweet and I've never had a baby do it at this age. When I'm holding him he'll lay his head on me and put his arms "around" me... what a little love he is.

Pictures

Here are a few recent pics of my boys...

Best buds in their "brother shirts"

And a silly one

An overstuffed playpen...

... can still be fun for this little cutie.

Ready for a winter fun day at school. He was so excited but I think he said they just crumpled up paper and pretended it was a snowball. I expected something more from the expensive, private school but I'm sure it was still fun for the kids.

After playing in the yard with Aysha.

First Tooth

This tooth was so loose we were worried about him swallowing it, so Dave finally pulled it out when Davey was in the bath. The tooth fairy decided to leave him 1BD, or $2.67. The second was lost a couple weeks later at school. The first tooth was replaced at an amazingly fast rate, halfway up in the first week.

He's Three

Poor Charlie with his birthday three days after Christmas. Since his birthday falls during Christmas break, I justified putting off a party by telling myself no one was in town anyway. Pretty much all of the expats leave the country, as would be expected I guess. There were two girls from my playgroup that were in town so I invited them over for a playgroup on his actual birthday.

Time to open presents!

In addition to trains, this little guy loves Hot Wheels cars. Though he plays with trains most of all toys, he carries a car around with him everywhere he goes. His teachers even tolerate him bringing one to school every day.

Blueberry pan"cakes" for breakfast :)

Make a wish!

Playgroup kiddos

Singing to the birthday boy

Grandma and Grandpa Adams really spoiled Charlie this year... and we were so excited to show him his new car when he woke up.

Big brother taking him out on his first ride

Charlie is getting better at driving each time he tries

Having a bit of fun

I can't believe my little Charlie is three years old now. I think I'll always think of him as my "little Charlie." He's such a spunky, bright little guy who loves both of his brothers to pieces. He is going to school three days a week and his teachers rave about how well behaved he is, though he always puts on a show for me when its time to say goodbye. He still takes naps but I can't let him sleep more than an hour or he doesn't sleep at night - he'll sit in bed and sing and talk for two hours sometimes. He loves to sing. He taught himself counting, colors, shapes (long ago... I'm so late in an update) and I've been working with him on letter sounds. He would watch tv all day if we let him. He loves shows that are scary (to him) and "daddy movies," especially Star Wars but just about anything we'd let him watch, so we have to be careful. His favorite foods are yogurt, chicken with ketchup, carrots dipped in italian dressing, and salad with vinaigrette or lemon-garlic dressing and, of course, any kind of candy but especially chocolate. He loves to laugh and make jokes, listen to daddy's story-telling and trying to tell his own.

Christmas Cookies

Dave left the day after Thankgiving for 2 weeks to Houston. Luckily I had the forethought (unlike me these days :) to decorate the Christmas Tree before he left or I knew it wouldn't happen until he returned, which wouldn't be very fun for the kids to not have it up very long. It was so nice to have the tree up longer and get the feeling of the Christmas season going. Especially since the sand and sun here don't lend themselves very well to feeling like Christmas for this Michigan girl.

D & C had fun decorating their own little tree Grandma & Grandpa Paulson gave them a few years ago

Dave was gone for two local holidays, so to keep ourselves busy, we planned a little cookie decorating party and invited our friends the Matlocks, Kings and Custers.

Sheldon helping Charlie decorate. He and his wife, Connie, were huge helps to me with the boys, especially at church, when Dave was gone.

With Dalia & Mallory

Nonnie & the King children

Someone snapped this of Davey... I think it makes him look so old!

Cute girls having fun with Henry

Thankful Turkey

My brother and sister-in-law have been doing the Thankful Turkey with their kids for many years now and I have been meaning to do it with our kids for several. I finally did it this year - pretty pitifully - but I'm happy that it at least happened a little bit. The boys really enjoyed it and now that the turkey is drawn, hopefully we can be better next year. The idea is that every day in the month of November, each member of our family writes something they are thankful for on a feather and puts it on the turkey. I think we only did it like 5 times... the extra feathers are from doing it with our Thanksgiving dinner guests.

Here are the things that managed to make it to our list: The Gospel, eating oranges, home, prayer, friends, color green, being five, my parents, climate control, food, going somewhere, playing, City Centre Mall, our family, Book of Mormon, Oman, good books, going downstairs, Thanksgiving, sleeping, color purple, Henry, being healthy and the bathroom.

Thanksgiving

Last year Dave worked on Thanksgiving and, although I made the full meal, it didn't feel too much like Thanksgiving. So this year I asked Dave to take the day off and that was nice. Plus, I really needed the help since it was a busy, busy day!

I kept Davey home from school as well, but he had a field trip that I didn't want to make him miss. They were going to the Waqif Souq, a fruit and vegetable market, that is right down the road from us so it worked out well to have Dave bring him there to meet the Kindergarten classes.

Davey's class at the souq

When they returned, we all headed to our friends', the Kings, home for some Thanksgiving crafts and fun. Nonnie read a story about the first Thanksgiving and had several fun crafts...

Making necklaces, feather hats and painting vests

Grocery stores around here only have plastic bags (one time I saw paper, but things like that are fleeting) but I knew of a restaurant who delivers their take-out in paper bags, so we both ordered from Nu Asia one night and asked for extra bags and they didn't mind our request. The bags were used for making the vests. They are cute.

The boys enjoyed playing croquet and Davey, in his typical style, was making sure they had everything set up just right and followed all the rules correctly.

There was even a Turkey Bowl game (of dodgeball, however)....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Then it was time to head home to finish up our big meal. Our church District Conference was being held here the next day, and since Dave attends the District Presidency meetings (via webcam) as the clerk and is the only one living in Bahrain, we were asked to host to members of the presidency and their families for Thanksgiving dinner - and Elder Pieper, the General Authority. Talk about pressure! Of course I knew no one would judge me or have expectations but I definitely felt stress about it.

I didn't have to worry about dessert or rolls, which definitely helped, but I was throwing in a new stuffing recipe and needed to make sure I could handle making all the dishes, plus I wanted to have a Thanksgiving dinner with people of my choosing (not that I wasn't happy to do the second one), so we did a pre-Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before with the Harris' and Youngs. Somehow pulling it off on Saturday was much more relaxed than the on actually on Thanksgiving, though we did take 2 hours out to go to the Kings but I prepared many of the dishes the days before the 2nd meal and had done it all on the day of for the 1st. Oh well, it turned out well. I had a little hiccup when I asked my housemaid to rinse and dry the pumpkin I planned to use as a vase for my centerpiece and she started peeling it... it was the perfect pumpkin and they are hard to find here, but Dave found me a couple small squashes that morning at the souq that worked just fine.

The Prices, Phipps and Elder Piper
(If Dave had taken my maiden name we'd fit in better with this group ;-)

Their kids

Our silly little ones

The dinner conversation was quite interesting and afterward we did the traditional "what I'm thankful for" and added feathers to our Thankful Turkey.

It was a really neat experience to get to host a General Authority in our home. He was so kind and accessible - the kids totally treated him like a member of the family, jumping all over him and asking him to tickle torture them.

I certainly couldn't have pulled this off with a 5 month old without having my housemaid. Especially since my dishwasher broke on Saturday... I'm quite sure Aysha never wants to see my kitchen again (I'd rather not for a while either). Even with the help, it was still tough but worth it! I am thankful for experiences I'd likely not get living in the U.S.!

Things Are Heating Up Again

Sent from the U.S. Embassy...
Demonstration Notice - November 20, 2011
Spontaneous demonstrations take place in Bahrain from time to time in response to world events or local developments. United States citizens should keep current with media coverage of local events and be aware of their surroundings at all times. If you encounter a large public gathering or demonstration, depart the vicinity immediately.
From 20-27 November broad protest activity has been called for throughout Bahrain to coincide with the release of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report.
- 20-21 November: Demonstrators plan to disrupt traffic at a number of locations throughout Bahrain, including the International Airport, financial district, diplomatic area, near Safriya Palace, and along all major roadways.
- 22 November: A demonstration is planned at the International Exhibition and Convention Center to coincide with the opening of the Jewelry Arabia exhibition.
- 23 & 27 November: Demonstrators plan to burn tires, disrupt traffic, and have threatened to use Molotov cocktails against police throughout Bahrain.
Demonstrators continue to employ tactics such as placing debris and oil on roadways and have been known to throw steel spikes at police vehicles. These actions often result in adverse driving conditions, an increased police presence, and significant traffic delays. Please use caution as you drive and plan additional time to arrive at your destination.
We remind U.S. citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. U.S.citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations if possible, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations.

Growing Up

Tonight while flossing Davey's teeth I was noticing how his perfectly spaced teeth seemed to be shifting. Then I noticed one in particular that was quite out of place - bottom front left - and a flash that it was probably loose if it had moved that much -- and I was right. I can't believe my baby is growing so fast, but my baby is elated to have a wibbly-wobbly tooth!

I had to snap a couple photos before his cute tiny-toothed smile changes forever...