I'm cuter than Benjamin - look at me, look at me!

Don't I look like my godmother in this picture?

Liam comes a-calling

Not to forget our new little friend Liam Gimbel! Here is Zoe's baby brother at a visit to our house on Tuesday - isn't he precious? He is sitting up so good for only 7 weeks old! And he only spit up in his mommy's hair one time during the visit....

Putting the "train" in potty training

(An apology to my gentle readers who do not have children and have no desire to read about the potty training exploits of my wonderful son. As banal and unsavory this subject might be to the the average mortal, when you are the parent of a VERY big three year old boy, this topic becomes VERY important! So, without further ado and satisfied that I have warned you about the sensitivity of the subject matter.....)

OK - I think I see progress on the horizon. We are now trying the "no pants" approach to potty training and it seems to be working (with the exception of the "Train Table Fiasco" I noted in the last entry...) and every day gets better. Since he has been doing great for two days running around naked at home, today we are actually trying training pants. While I was shopping at the educational/teacher's store on Tuesday, I found a potty training chart and started to remember a great suggestion from Heather. Along with the chart, when Danny stayed dry all day (or all morning/evening, whatever I choose), he would get a small present. I have a huge bag of McDonald's toys that I've collected when I got toys too old for the babies and I thought they would be perfect. Danny loved the idea and although he wasn't completely thrilled when he reached in and pulled out a flexible flying bat stuffed animal the first day, he was still thrilled to be getting presents. So - onto stage two. Presents for poops. He has been so attached to keeping those in his pants that I knew I needed something special. So I had a few Thomas train/video sets I was saving for Christmas, but I figured - what the heck? So I told him that each time he went poop in the potty, he would get a Thomas toy. Two hours later - he sneaks off behind my back while I'm working and does a very good poop in the potty and runs up to me asking for his Thomas toy - YEA! One less poopy diaper to change is SO worth it! So - so far, so good. Keep your fingers crossed! Anyone have an idea who is the patron saint of potty training? I'd like to say a few prayers...

Extremes

OK - I've got two of the smartest, most adorable boys ever. I understand that and appreciate it, honestly. But sometimes the extremes I have to swing between on the emotion level really rock my sanity. Examples:

Yesterday. Low end of the scale. Figure Danny's really been getting a reprieve from potty training because it just hasn't been working, so it's time to do something again. All his friends are potty trained. It's just him left. And his diapers - and what they contain - are just way too big for me to change anymore! So, when he wakes up I declare it "no pants" morning and that he can put diapers back on after his morning "poop", knowing he would never do anything on the floor. He's okay with it. Whenever he has to pee, he runs right for the potty and "ta-da!", we have no problem. Benjamin goes down for a nap, I attempt to pickup the toys in the TV room and Danny goes downstairs to play. He comes up. Tells me he went. On the floor. By the train table. But he picked it up and put it in the potty - so doesn't that count, he says? OMG....

Today. High end of the scale. Darling Benjamin is in our room for early morning train-playing and general baby shenanigans while George and I get showered and dressed. He loves the book "Zoom City Zoom" and I read it to him again. But this time when I turn the page to the red stop sign, he says "Stop" before I can read it. When I get the picture of the towtruck, he says "Truck" before I do. The little rascal can follow along and "tell" me the story - I am amazed, humbled and so happy! My baby is growing up so fast...

Itty Bitty Benjamin

Well, after the Incredible Growing Danny got us used to enormous and enormouser, Itty Bitty Benjamin just keeps getting littler! Went to his 18 month old check up yesterday at the pediatrician (can you believe our littlest baby is 1 1/2 years old already?) and got the weigh and measure treatment. He was only in 6 weeks ago for the ear infection appointment, but had already grown a 1/2". Good boy. But no weight gain. So from starting out at the 25 percentile group in weight (50% in height), he has now fallen to the 5-10 percentile group in weight. Height is still okay, he's eating like a pig and mooching food off anyone who will feed him, but the weight's just not hanging on. So we'll take him back in October for a weight check and see how he's doing. In the meantime, I'm feeding him at every possible opportunity while Big Brother Danny has trimmed his "acceptable food list" down to 3 things - waffles with peanut butter on them, yogurt and peanut butter crackers. Along with milk and juice, these are the only things I can get him to eat and he's still humongous! Oh, well...The good news is that Benjamin is done all his baby shots until he's 4 years old. Yea!!!

Some days it's just not pretty....

Well, sometimes I have to post the "reality check" days for you folks out there who only get the happy news from Fort Varga. Yesterday was a "lost day", courtesy of Daniel Brent. Friday was a busy day with two playdates and while I was doing something with Benjamin upstairs, Danny quickly and quietly fell asleep on the living room sofa at 5:30pm. This can be good...sometimes. I carried him upstairs at 6:30 still sleeping and tucked him in bed. George and I had a nice quiet dinner, chatted like normal folk, put Benjamin to sleep at 8:00, worked on eBay and setting up Erin's new computer (my old desktop) while Danny stayed happily snoozing until.....2:00am. And he was wide awake. For the day. George was still awake at 2:00 when he woke up (of course!), so George stayed up with him as long as he could...until 5:00am. Then he collapsed into bed, tagged me, I rolled out and heard Benjamin crying and Danny watching TV. Day had started. George and I kept tag teaming and trying to nap to catch up through most of the day, but it was a day lost in fog and delirium.

Today? Both up at 5:30am. The boys and I have already had breakfast, I've done dishes, started reading the Sunday paper, the boys have watched a little TV and now are chasing each other around the house. I'm just waiting until a decent hour so I can wake up George with a clear conscience and crawl back into bed until we have to get ready for church.

Gooooooood Morning, Vietnam!!!!!! :)

Happy sleeping to all you civilians out there..

Banky...Banky!

The guilt we feel as parents. It can only be described as heart-wrenching, overwhelming, sometimes silly...and thank the good Lord, easily forgotten by our children. Case in point: George and I had a rare, but welcome, night out last night courtesy of our friendly babysitter and almost-son-in-law E.J. He is so great with the boys and called us at 8:15 to let us know they were both happily asleep. E.J. did mention he had to rock Benjamin a few minutes to get him to sleep (which is highly unusual at home), but that he went to sleep fine. I found out the next morning why Benjamin couldn't fall asleep right away. When George brought him in to our room at 6:00 this morning, darling Benjamin just looked at me, looked at the blanket in his hand, then looked at me again and said "Banky!". Wrong blanket. It was the Evil Twin of the REAL Blankey. The one and only true "Banky" has satin edging. I found the real one hiding near the train table in the basement and once he had his pudgy little hands on it, Benjamin grabbed it, put it under his sweet little head, blissfully said "BA-nky"....and laid down on my bed for some well deserved rest. Ah, if only all our problems were so easy to fix as adults...

Stop and Go with Percy

Today's little Danny-ism:

We listen to "kid-music" in the van when we drive to cut down on the car-fever hysteria that inevitably happens. Our favorite if the Veggie Tales "On the Road with Bob and Larry". Bob being a tomato and Larry a cucumber - um, you have to listen to it to get it. Anyway, one of the "road songs" is a nice revival song called "Stop and Go with Mercy" that fits nicely into the transportation theme and is very upbeat. Even Benjamin chimes in - very loudly - at the chorus. Today, however, I listened to the words that Danny was singing and, true to form, he had substituted his favorite Thomas the Tank Engine character, Percy, into the chorus line! So we all sang "Stop and Go with Percy" today....

Just a little refreshing reminder of Life with Danny...

Love and the Lord's Blessings to all!!!

Our Day Out with Thomas

Here we are in our natural habitat! The Varga family at the Day Out with Thomas at the Strasburg Railroad. We had a GREAT time which I'm sure you all heard about and Danny has Daddy tell him the story of going to see Thomas every night when he tucks him into bed. We'll probably be back to see him in September and have more stories to tell you then. I have a faint hope that our interests might broaden, though...Benjamin has started to get interested in....CARS!

My favorite summer pic of Benjamin

It took me a while to get this on here but I have this pic framed and sitting on my dresser with my other family photos because I love it so much! It was our first time this summer outside with the baby sprinkler and Benjamin was fascinated with the pure awe that is childhood....