Little mover

Maybe Austin is not the only budding musician in the family. Bennett had fun discovering Chris' bass guitar this afternoon.

Bennett is definitely on the move these days. He crawls out of sight pretty fast and in very fascinated by about anything new that he can see from floor level. He loves Legos, especially shaking the box and pouring them out. He also is starting to like power strips, plugs and other forbidden things. I am saying NO firmly and swatting his hand. He now will stop when I say no and look at me a minute...then usually smile and go right back to whatever he was going for. He slept a little better last night, though he still wakes up b/w 2 and 2:30 am like clockwork. Today he has a runny nose. I hope it is teething and not another cold...he has had about 4 or 5 colds in his short 10 months of life already.

Here is a short clip of him crawling...he is already much faster than he was last week when I filmed this. ( We were actually trying to get him to clap in the video, but he obviously wasn't in the mood)



As for potty training, I was feeling very frustrated and impatient this morning- we had several big accidents (one on the couch, one on the rug and poop in the underwear) and he fought every time I tried to get him to sit. But then, before nap he agreed to try and peed in the potty. Before dinner I could tell he had to go and he finally agreed to sit and immediately peed on the potty. And then, before bathtime he sat down on the potty on his own initiative and peed! That was a milestone for sure. He got pretty excited the last few times...maybe he is starting to get it, or at least not hate the idea. I am sure there are many more accidents ahead, but we ended the day well.

Regressions

Well, we have had some regression in both the potty training department and the cry-it-out at 2 am department (for Bennett). Austin refused to go potty or wear underwear on Monday (he kept crying to wear a diaper, so I caved, I didn't want to associate potty training with torture). Today was better- I just told him he was not wearing diapers today. This morning he had quite a few accidents and he just doesn't want to stop doing whatever he is doing to sit on the potty. He did a little better this afternoon and he had two successful pees in the potty and one outside (I did pull his pants down and he peed in the grass- it is what every other kid does here). He still hasn't really initiated that he needs to go yet, but we will get there (I hope).

Bennett has developed quite a will of his own and now has a very mad cry. At 2 am he has been screaming and if you pick him he stops and put him back in bed he screams- you can just tell he is mad. So we have been letting him cry between midnight and 5 or 6 am (he still wakes about 10 or 11 pm to eat, but that is ok for now). He was getting better, but then last night he was awake and crying on and off for close to two hours ( not screaming straight for two hours, I am not that cruel, but awake for that long). So, I am in a battle of wills and coercion with both boys in different ways...and learning lots of patience.

Another funny story:

Austin and I made an "Austin obeys God by helping" plate- that has a hand that points to one of four pictures, representing ways he helps. We can turn the hand to show how he has helped that day. One is a picture of a bowl(he takes his bowl to the sink after meals), one is a picture of Bennett (sharing toys, making him laugh when he cries), one is a picture of toys (cleaning up his toys). I will share the conversation that led up to the last picture.

Mommy "How are you kind to Bennett?"

Austin "I share with him"

Mommy "Who else can you be kind to?

Austin "Aiyis and shushus"

Mommy "That's right, how are you kind to them?"

Austin "You (meaning I) don't scream when they come to see you when you are outside"

Well, I guess that is kind to not scream when someone comes to talk to him :) Well, that last picture is of an "aiyi"- a chinese woman. WE have been working on being polite to the many people who always want to talk to the cute foriegn child outside...I guess the first step is not screaming and running away, which has happened. We have not quite moved on to actually saying hi back or answering questions, but I guess that is progress. It is hard on him and so I don't want to push him, but also want to at least be polite. Ok, pictures or video soon, I promise.

Potty Training 101

Big boy underwear

Sticker chart with 3 stickers for success!

Well, we took the plunge today and started potty training Austin. I had been talking about it with him all week. We had read all our potty books and yesterday he got to watch his new Elmo's Potty video. This morning we got out a sticker chart and talked about the promised chocolate chip for every successful time he went in the potty. Still, I felt like I missed a monumental parenting seminar- as if you should be born knowing how to potty train a child but I felt sort of clueless.

However, I am happy to report we had a very successful first day! (warning, if you have no interest in details of a toddler's first attempt at the toilet, you might want to stop reading). He sat on the potty about 45 minutes straight while watching the aformentioned Elmo video while drinking a cup full of Gatorade (which is a treat of a drink for Austin). We also read two books after that and then he finally peed in the potty (and got a chocolate chip and a sticker on his chart). After that, he wore his big boy underwear around, but then he had about 3 accidents in a row (all within a span of fifteen minutes- I think he would stop peeing every time he had a little one so it took awhile to get it all out). But then he went in the toilet about 5 times by lunch (with about the same number of accidents)- but half of the time successful seemed pretty successful for the first day. I put a diaper on him at lunch, but he stayed dry and then peed in the potty right after lunch. Diaper for nap of course but then he had no accidents in the afternoon- however I probably asked every ten minutes if he had to go and he peed about a tablespoon at a time out over several times. He did not poop all day, so we had no attempts or messes but that should hopefully happen tomorrow. Anyway, he had a postive experience and some success, so I am pleased. At the end, he wanted to do everything himelf...get his shorts and underwear off, sit on the potty, dump the pee from the little potty into the big potty himself and flush. He did everything really well except the flushing- out toilets are hard to flush actually. By the end of the day though he was tired of sitting on the potty ( and I wouldn't let him play on the couch, which he wanted to) and just wanted to play, so we put a diaper on for the dinner hour. I hope once the novelty wears off he will still be as into it. But all in all, a good first day.

Golden Five Star

This morning Chris, the boys and I all went to Golden Five Star. GFS is a wholesale market of sorts, that sells, well, there isn't much they DON"T sell. It is building after building filled with stall after stall of stuff, cheaper than you can find most other places. It is sort of like a similar market I used to shop at in the other city we lived in, but this one is indoors. For example, this was what was on our shopping list for today:
unroasted (raw) coffee beans
allen wrenches
pipe (a smoking pipe, for Chris. Actually this was not on our list, but it made it home)
dry erase markers
trash bags
toilet cleaner and toilet paper
fabric for curtains
foam and fabric to cover it for a window seat in the office
microphone cable
glass measuring cup
dimmer light switches for our living room

As you can see, it is quite a varied list. In the past I have also bought things like a French press, beer can-shaped lighter, alarm clock, wardrobe and bookshelf for Austin's room, my living room carpet, custom framing for pictures, an umbrella stroller, our bathtub, all the fabric for our curtains and throw pillows and many articles of children's clothing. Now, I almost always go by myself, as it is usually an adventure just finding everything. So having all three boys along made it interesting, but Chris was determined to find a mysterious, hard to find seller of raw coffee beans and I know the place much better than he, so we all went along. Austin got pretty bored once his snack was done and books read, but he became quite entertained in the fabric aisle by hiding behind rows of curtains. He did pretty well, considering this place is a prime place to be patted and asked how old you are and told how cute (and white and like a foreign doll) you are over and over again. Bennett slept in the Ergo and was easy. So, we managed to get most things on our list and a few more things besides, but I was exhausted when we got home. Because Austin was so patient, we ended up ordering McDonald's delivery for lunch. Well, off to bed.

Turning the corner

I think we might have turned the jet lag corner, finally. Austin is in bed but not napping for the second day in a row...a sure sign he is back to normal. And Bennett went to bed at 7 pm, woke once to eat at 11 pm and then slept till 5 a.m....still not an ideal night, but much better than the rest of the week. And I THINK Bennett has learned to clap. Yesterday he responded to "pai pai shou" (the Chinese for clap hands) several times. I am not positive it wasn't a coincidence, but I think he might get it. The term "pai pai shou" has a much more sing-songy ring than "clap" and Bennett seems to like it. He smiles every time I say it. Xiao Ji, my helper, came back today too (she had been out of town since we got back) and that was a nice way to start my Saturday.

So we are getting back into the swing of life here. I have actually done laundry, made granola, unpacked and thrown away trashbags of stuff that needed cleaning out (like our medicine cabinet for one, with things like antibiotics from 2005, clothes and my old set of pots and pans I no longer use). We went outside from 7:45 am to 9 am- and it was SO hot by the time we came in. We are running our AC units all the time, but it still feels warm. Welcome to July in #*@&%.

Aunts and Uncles too

I can only put so many pictures in one post, so here are more with aunts and uncles. Since the previous post was so Austin-centered, here are some of cute Bennett (who is still awake at night, by the way. I think it is partly jet lag, partly teething and a cold and a lot of a new habit of screaming till someone comes to pick him up. He definitely has object permanence now- he knows we are there even when he can't see us).

Kaboom with Uncle John

Arm shake with Uncle Mark

On the playground with Aunt Char

Content with Aunt Emmy

USA part 2

Watering with Bop...this became a favorite daily activity. Austin loved the water, pouring and playing with the hose. He also loved picking cucumbers and tomatoes and being outside in general.Blueberry picking. We went to a farm to pick blueberries. It might as well have been "Blueberries for Austin" (like the book Blueberries for Sal if you have read it)- Austin left with no blueberries in his bucket and lots in his tummy!

We spent 4th of July at the Enghauser cabin- Austin joined several other kids in a parade around the flagpole, dressed to celebrate.

At the same 4th of July party, Austin got to paddle with Daddy in the lake and later go fishing with Bop. They caught one fish, a very exciting moment.
At the end of the day on July 4th. It was fun to celebrate in the USA.

Highlights

Well, the jetlag is still going strong. Austin has a good night and then a bad night- night before last he slept till almost 6, right now it is 5:50 am and he is awake, talking in bed- and has been since 3:30 am! Cruel parent you say? Well, maybe, but he has been content and playing and pretending all sorts of things, so I saw no need to get him up. Bennett has not really had a good night (maybe in months though, it is just made worse by jet lag). Usually he awakes by 2 or 2:30. The last two nights I fed him, then we put him back in bed and he cried angry screams for awhile but did eventually go back to sleep. He also has started rocking and kicking the pack and play so hard it slides across the floor. We have temporarily put him in our bathroom to sleep. He is so loud and aware if we are in the same room, Chris needs his office a lot this summer and there is no way he can be with Austin yet if any of us want sleep. So, thus that left our (rather large) master bathroom. Bennett is VERY opinionated lately. I bought him teething biscuits and last night had a big chunk in his mouth so I took it out for fear he would choke. He was so MAD that I took it- he just screamed, but you could tell he was mad. When I gave it back he immediately smiled. Chris and I think he might be a sanguine.

Well, enough of that. Here are some highlights of our time in the U.S. with the Gaertner side. More from the Haneys another day.
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Revisiting the old train in downtown Sanford (and the fountain beside it, thus the diaper-only attire) with Uncle Jason.Swimming in the pool in the backyard- what a summer treat.

hSwinging on the porch swing with NaiNai- Austin was a little out of sorts here (as he often is lately, unfortunately).

Walking in the woods (the backyard) with Grandpa.

Visiting the NC zoo in Asheboro. This was a very fun day- though it started out rough. They advertise you can feed giraffes at the zoo. Austin was so excited to do it, probably especially b/c he had fed a giraffe last summer at the Chiang Mai zoo and of course remembered it. But the giraffes here are more finicky (and well-fed, probably) and were not in the eating mood. So we had to literally drag Austin kicking and screaming off the feeding podium when it was time to go. I feel like I am now in this stage where most non-parents (and probably me, before I had kids) said when you see a screaming child in public and think- my child will never act like that. But of course they probably will. The day got much better though and we all enjoyed the zoo.

Home again

We arrived home safely and healthy - thanks to so many who were lifting us up. The flight seemed long this time. You might be thinking- duh, of course it is long. But while coming it seemed to go by quickly, this flight the boys only slept about 2.5 hours each, so it seemed to drag on. About half way through I asked Austin if he wanted to walk around and he said he wanted to walk around outside. After explaining that you cannot walk outside an airplane in the sky, he said he wanted to be all done with the airplane. I agreed. Once we landed, we had to wait on the plane while the authorities came on the plane to check everyone's temperature before letting anyone off. I was imagining that "the authorities" would be wearing space suit-like hazmat gear, but it turns out they just wore goggles, facemasks and gloves. I was a little disappointed :). No one on the plane had a temperature, as far as I could tell. They then check your temperature two more times before you clear customs and we passed a makeshift hospital in the airport as well.

Thankfully we are home now and working on jetlag. The first night Austin slept till 3 am and Bennett was up from 10 pm to 2 am. Chris and I have been taking turns- Chris more than me, which is nice. Chris is NOT traveling this week after all, which I am glad about. Here are a few pictures from our return. Next week I will post some of the highlights from our time in the U.S.

Wrestling in the airport...I love that Austin and Bennett are starting to interact more. Bennett's favorite entertainment these days seems to be Austin. He will follow his every move and laugh often. Austin is starting to enjoy Bennett more too.Laughing together

Bennett- our little crawler. He started crawling a few days before we left and hasn't stopped. My life just got more complicated.

Who, me?

The jet lag, post-nap hour. After multiple attempts to wake Austin, including a snack, drink and video, this was all I had to show for it. It is rough.

In case you thought we fell off the planet

We are still here and I am recovering well.  We fly back home tomorrow morning.  Funny thing about that- we were supposed to be flying today July 8.  So on July 7, I got out our itinerary to check on our flight time and saw that it said- return on Sunday July 5.  What?!?!  We had originally thought about the 5th and then changed it to the 8th...we thought.  We did it over the phone and it was a crazy day the day we left, but we aren't really sure if the error was ours or United's. In any case, we were NOT on the flight today, so we had to pay a fee but are going tomorrow.  Life is always a little crazy.  We are definitely praying for a healthy flight...for us and everyone around us on the plane.  THey have stepped up quarantine measures so apparently even a somewhat elevated temperature is suspect.  Also they are making the airlines check everyone's temperature throughout the flight, not just when we land.  So please pray with us for a healthy flight :)  When we get back I will post pictures of our time here in the US.