Thursday, December 11, 2008

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Today Jeff and I became an aunt and uncle! Ellie Aiken Shoup was born to Jeff's sister Jill and her husband Steve at 7:23 a.m. this morning in Austin. Though things didn't go quite as planned (do they ever?) and Jill ended up delivering via c-section, all turned out well and Mom and daughter are both doing great. We've seen a couple of early photos and she looks beautiful! (Yeah, I know everyone says that but this little one really is a looker and she's not even 24 hours old yet. Crazy.)

This certainly counts as one of those times when it's difficult to live so far away from family as we'd love to be able to pop down the street to spend time with our new niece and support Jill and Steve as they take on a newborn. But given that is not in the cards since driving from Portland might take a while, we'll have to settle for frequent pictures (hint, hint) for now. And, we'll be counting the days until we go to Texas for a visit early next year.

In the meantime, we wish Ellie a very Happy Birthday!

Until I write again.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Appreciating today

I started off writing today's post on something we'll just say is related to holidays and retail. But that post has been preempted by other, larger events. Actually, it appears we have two other, larger events happening in our family right now - but for now I'm only going to talk about one of them.

So Ian's been physically ready for potty training for at least six months now. By last July, he was showing most of the major signs. I was so encouraged/scared to death of his readiness that one day I decided it was time to take the "all or nothing" approach to potty training. This is where you just wake up one morning and announce that Target has stopped carrying diapers altogether therefore you must go in the potty now and wear underwear. Now, let me just say here that this is actually a recognized and accepted approach to potty training that is recommended for parents who have the time to devote 24/7 to training their child and who also have no need to leave the house for a period of three or four days straight. And since I basically fell into that category, I decided to go for it.

Well, by the end Day One I came to the conclusion that this tactic may have been one the dumbest ideas I've ever had. This kid clearly seemed to have no concept of the whole "tell me when you have to go and I'll get you there" thing. The only person that was being trained that day was me in learning the best techniques for cleaning rugs and floors. No thank you, I actually like my things just the way they are. So of course I did what I always do and posted an SOS message on DCUM for advice on how to proceed. Everyone immediately agreed that I needed to abort Operation Potty Training and try again later which frankly, I was more than happy to do.

If we were at Square One in July, by September we were back to Square Zero. Meaning, he showed very little interest in training. Our hope was that starting preschool in September and seeing other kids sit on the potty would help things progress, but by October we still had nothing. Around that time we did force some progress by announcing one day that we had a new rule in the house that Ian would sit on the potty every morning when he woke up and every night before bath time. And being the general rule follower that he is, he was pretty much okay with this. But it hasn't been without its challenges. Like, at first he figured out that the longer he sat on the potty the more books I would read to him. Well, I'm no dummy and it only took me about two weeks to catch on to that little trick. So, we had to make another new rule that Ian could look through books but was not going to be read to while on the potty. Also, sometimes his version of sitting on the potty was to be down and up within about a millisecond. So Jeff told him he needed to at least count to ten before he could get up.

One of the things I've heard about potty training is that "incentives" work well for many kids. Of course we all know that this is parent speak for bribery. The key is discovering what makes your kid tick and then using that against them (I mean, to "incentivize" them to use the potty). For many kids, candy does the trick (I've heard M&M's or jelly beans are popular) but for Ian it's all about the stickers. He really loves stickers. Well, one day I was at Freddie's and came upon this pack of Sesame Street stickers that I knew he'd love. Originally I was going to buy them for him just because I'm a nice mom like that. But then I remembered that word - incentivize! Once at home with stickers in hand I announced another new rule: that Ian would get a sticker every time he went in the potty (and that he would get to flush because he loves to flush).

While there was much excitement over this new rule - there wasn't lot of action. His teachers told us that he's still on the earlier end of training for boys and not to worry yet. So, we've continued to be patient and generally encouraging. (Except for that one time that I told him he needed to learn how to use the potty because I was sick of changing his diapers. Hey, I was having a bad parent day - it happens to the best of us.) We periodically remind him that if he ever feels like he needs to go, he can just tell one of us and we'll help get him to the potty. This is generally met with a look that says, "Yeah, whatever Mommy, I'm all over it."

But then enter today (!!). We had been home from preschool for a bit and he said, "Mommy, I need to go the potty." Now again, being the nice mother that I am, my first thought was, "he's lying". (He has done this before just to try and get a sticker by sitting on the potty.) But of course I had to give him the benefit of the doubt so in we went to start the process of taking off the slippers, taking off the pants, taking off the diaper... Once he got up there he had a very focused look on his face. Immediately I knew this was not our typical potty-sitting exercise. And a minute later, he was going!!!! I was so excited you would have thought I had just been given that million dollars I've been "needing". And then Ian was all excited and there were many hugs and kisses. Then he flushed, we washed hands, called Daddy at work to report the good news and of course picked out a sticker. A head shot of Elmo was today's choice. Now, I know enough to recognize that it may be another year before this happens again, but sometimes you have to just appreciate today and not worry about tomorrow.

Until I write again.

Monday, December 8, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We were very busy in the Burpo household this weekend decking the halls with boughs of holly. Though just to be clear - there wasn't actually any holly involved, but there was definitely a real Christmas tree and several fake items like berries and snowmen. But moving along, after a Friday evening of pizza and Rock Band with the Hyders (well, except Zach who just watched because apparently he's too good to play with the Stumptown Burpies) we sprang out of bed bright and early Saturday morning to begin our holiday extravaganza weekend.

Our first stop was at Village Inn so that we could all indulge in a highly caloric and generally extremely unhealthy breakfast (but boy was it tasteee!). It's good to know we can always count on the ole' VI to start our weekend off right. And this breakfast was particularly important because it was the fuel that would get us through our next stop and perhaps the main event of the weekend: securing the 2008 Burpo tree.

Now, there are a lot of Christmas trees in Oregon. In fact, not too surprisingly, Oregon is the #1 producer of Christmas trees in the United States. And where you get your tree determines how much of a True Oregonian you are. For instance, someone who goes to a grocery store lot is clearly not even eligible for their True Oregonian card. Actually, don't even bother applying. Now, if you've advanced to one of the plentiful "U-Pick" farms out in the country - then you are eligible for what they call a Semi-Oregonian card. And True Oregonian status? Well, that is awarded when you actually get your $5 permit from the U.S. Forest Service, pack up the car with safety gear and a sled, and hike into the Mount Hood National Forest to cut down your own tree. Some folks probably do some mountain climbing while they're at it because that's the type of thing that True Oregonians do for fun on the weekend. But seeing as how we clearly have not yet reached that status - we opted for one of the "U-Pick" farms. We chose the same one that we attempted to go to last year on perhaps the coldest, rainiest, windiest day of the winter. And let me just say that was a really good time until we decided that our lives were more valuable than U-picking our tree and aborted the mission in favor of heading to our local nursery on a lovely sunny day the following weekend.

This Saturday, we had much better weather. And now that I had the chance to get a good look at it this year without fearing for my life, this little farm called Lee Farms has everything a good tree farm should have: a store with ornaments, hand made wreaths and garland on site, and homemade apple cider donuts - which unfortunately we were not able to partake in due to the bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, french toast, etc. still sitting like a brick at the bottom of our stomachs. So our tree experience went like it usually does: We wandered around for a bit while Jeff and Ian patiently trailed along. And then once we hit about say, the 30 minute mark, Jeff started to get that look in his eyes. You know, the one that says, "Just choose a damn tree now because Ian is getting impatient and I'm ready to go home." Which of course only made me feel more indecisive because now there's major pressure on me which is really more than I can handle. But I worked through it and finally we all agreed on a beautiful nine-ish foot Noble.

The next stop was of course back home so that we could get the tree in the house, in the stand and begin the all-important decorating process. Jeff had already given us a head start by checking and organizing all the lights earlier in the week. The whole process went very smoothly until we started on the light application later in the afternoon. We had a few issues there, but nothing that a little spiked hot apple cider couldn't cure. By early evening our pretty tree was almost complete minus a little ornament project we were saving for later. We fed Ian dinner and then got him off to bed while Jeff finished up a very yummy "let's celebrate because we got the tree up" dinner for us of his special Cowboy steaks, crab legs, pasta and some tomatoes with a basil, pine nuts and melted cheese topping (or something like that). All quite delectable. Oh, and of course all washed down with an Oregon pinot. Later that evening we watched 12 Angry Men which I had never seen before but highly recommend.

On Sunday the festivities continued with outside lighting. At first things were a little touch and go because unlike the sunshine we had the previous few days, the weather had turned quite cold, rainy and foggy - and Jeff looked pretty comfy cozy on the couch watching football. But late in the afternoon we got up our energy and headed outside to complete the holiday preparations. This year we added a few little fake snowmen to the front yard that I think add the all-important cute factor. Plus, Ian appears to be a fan of the whole snowman concept. Then we went back inside and had a little impromptu ornament painting party. I had purchased a few unpainted ornaments from Michaels (which, by the way, might be deserving of its own post later on due to my new obsession with this store) and each of us decorated our own ornament and hung it on the tree. I like Jeff's snowman a lot, but I have to say that Ian's little teddy bear is my favorite.
So, I guess it's safe to say that our halls are officially decked. Now on to all that other stuff.
Until I write again.