Grandparents return

We are so excited that CiCi and PaPa have returned from Texas. We stopped by on Wednesday evening to get some kisses. Zander also raided CiCi's kitchen as he always does. I swear the child doesn't eat anything at home, but the minute he walks into her house, he wants one of everything. He also got to ride on the lawn mower while PaPa spread out the fertilizer. When we went home that evening and got ready for bed, Zander said his prayers. It went something like this:
God bless CiCi and PaPa, CiCi game me apples,
God bless Aunt Jennifer,
God bless cookie monster,
God bless our Tarheels,
God bless Rayshawn Terry, his throat hurts,
God bless Wright and Lawson and Green, they had a bad game,
God bless Hansbrough, he was crying on the TV the boys had to go back to Chapel Hill and he fell down and got blood on the floor,
God bless Roy Williams, make him have a happy face,
Oh yeah, God bless Granny, Aunt Tracy and Uncle Steve.

You never know who is going to get God Blessed, it is always interesting. God Bless you all until next time.

No more pull-ups!

This is a picture of Zander at Halloween with his favorite chef, Mr. Tony. He dressed as Mr. Tony from Arigatos for Halloween this year. What has that got to do with potty training you ask. Just keep reading. I took home all of the pull-ups from school yesterday. Zander has done great with potty training. We struggled there for a few days trying to get him to understand that you shouldn't hold the stinky in because you don't want to get your big boy underwear dirty. I tried everything that I could think of to bribe him with. All of the usuals, m&m's, suckers, TV, etc. Nothing seems to work, until I remember his favorite thing - Japanese cooking. I simply told him that if he put the stinky in the potty he could go to the dollar store and pick out any spatula that he wanted. Well, that was it. We now have 4 new spatulas and a new bowl. We have been really lucky, there have not been any accidents! I am very proud of his new accomplishments. Next week we tackle the pacifiers!

Tears for a ram

I think that I am still in shock over the recent loss to Georgetown on Sunday, however that feeling has been replaced by the sadness that I feel for Jason Ray's family. On Friday night after halftime of the game, we learned that Jason Ray (wears the costume of Rameses) had been hit by a car and was in critical condition. He had been walking back from a convenience store before the game. I just kept thinking about the Michigan game the week before. It was Zander's first game and he loved Rameses. He didn't take his eyes off of him between plays. He had been the mascot for 3 years and was getting ready to graduate in May of this year. He had a job lined up and was ready to start his adult life. I can't imagine as a parent getting that phone call. I only hope that Jason and his family knew how much joy he brought to everyone at the games. He will be greatly missed. I will think of him each time I see Rameses from now on.

Ouch!!!

I talked with Summers on my way home from picking up Zander at daycare and he said that he was picking up his tools and he would be home soon. I proceeded to drive 20 minutes, get home, fix supper, eat supper and realize that he is still not home. I cleaned up Zander and called Summers to see what his delay is. He said that he would be home in about 20 minutes, that he had cut his hand a little and had stopped to get some peroxide. Oh well, I thought, he cuts his hands alot so I didn't give it a second thought. When he got home, I realized that he had fallen on a board with nails sticking out of it. He had hammered the sharp part of the nails back through the boards so that no one would step on them. When he fell, the heads of the nails went into his hand. I will spare you the gory details, but needless to say we needed to go to the hospital. By this time it was time for Zander to go to bed. I called Tracy and couldn't find her, so I called Vicki and Alana. As always, they were ready and willing to help out. We took Zander over and he stayed with them until we got home. At the ER they took Xrays and irrigated the wounds. They left them open in hopes that they will not get infected. He will have to take antibiotics for a week. He got really lucky. His hand is not broken, though very swollen and there doesn't seem to be any tendon damage.
On a lighter note, this morning as I was getting ready in the bathroom, I heard Zander yell, "Mom, I need my scissors!" I couldn't imagine why he needed scissors because he was supposed to be playing basketball. When I got into the living room, he was standing on something and had the net of his basketball goal in his hand. I said, "What do you need scissors for?" He looked at me like I was stupid and said, "So I can cut the nets down, I won the championship." Very cute.

UNC vs. Michigan State

The excitement has been building all day. Zander and I put on all of our Carolina gear and head to Steve's house. He and Zachary are waiting for us. We get to the coliseum and could not believe the parking situation. For those of you that are locals, we had to park way over at the lot at Whitaker Park! They had turned the coliseum annex into a giant sportsbar and it was free for people that did not have a ticket to watch the game, so needless to say, there was not any close parking. Normally, this would not be a big deal, but we had a two year old with us and did I mention, it is still freezing outside! We finally made it to the coliseum. We had planned to arrive early enough to look around and shop a bit, but there was only a minute left in the Boston College game. So, we headed up the steps to the top of the coliseum. We had a great time! It was a very close game. Carolina could not seem to pull away until about 3 minutes left in the game. Hansbrough had a fantastic game (he took his mask off early in the game). Check out his website at www.tylerhansbrough.org. There are some pretty good youtube entries on there. Zander did pretty good. Considering the game did not start until after his bedtime, I thought he did well. He loved Rameses! His favorite players are Terry and Hansbrough. He loves Roy Williams. We have to bless all of the Tarheels before he goes to sleep each night. What will he do after the tournament is over? Looks like it might be a UNC/Texas match up. Go Heels!

The Madness Continues

I am driving home from work on Friday afternoon, and what do I hear on the radio? There are a limited amount of tickets left for the Saturday NCAA Tournament game between UNC and Michigan State. The game is at our very own LJVM Coliseum. The tickets go on sale at 10:00 AM and you can only get them at the coliseum. Let's see, Summers has to work, Mom and Dad are in Texas, Steve and Tracy are away for the evening for Steve's birthday, and Alana and Vicki have Brady's soccer game early in the morning. I must have tickets. What else can I do but devise a plan. Well, it is supposed to be 30 degrees and very windy at daybreak. I start packing a bag and thinking, what kind of mother am I? Who would take their 2 year old child out into that kind of cold for hours and maybe not even get a ticket? I decided that I would go and if it looked impossible, I would leave. I put coloring books and a DVD player with Bambi into the bag. Oh yeah, did I mention there is no access to a bathroom? I put Zander into a pull up which he was not happy about. He was still dry when we got home.

The clock wakes me up at 6:30. I get up, throw on as many clothes as I could and start to dress Zander. I put on 3 pairs of pants, 3 shirts, a sweat shirt and a huge winter coat. He also had on a tobaggan, 2 hoods and 2 pairs of gloves. He tried to shoot his Go Tarheels ball on the way out of the door and fell over. He had on so many clothes that Daddy had to carry him to the car. Now, I realize that I forgot to warm the car - Oh, well, what is the point? I arrive at McDonalds to get Zander some breakfast and they said that the credit card system is down. It then takes them 15 minutes to get me change for my breakfast. I am about to freak out as I can only imagine that everyone has already gotten in line for the tickets. When we finally arrive, I see right many people in line. I put Zander in the stroller, grab his bag, breakfast and my chair. When we get to the end of the line, the man in front of me tells me that I am 45 th in line and they have been told that there are approximately 200 tickets for sale. Each person can buy 4 tickets. I was never any good at math, but I realized that it was going to be very close. We proceeded to eat breakfast, watch Bambi and talk to everyone in line. We also had to watch very closely to make sure that no one broke in line. It would only take 1 or 2 extra people for me not to get tickets. A couple of people did try, but the crowd quickly turned on them and the police asked them to leave. Did I mention that by this point, the adults are popsicles. The wind was blowing so hard, I don't have any idea what the wind chill factor might have been. Zander on the other hand, never complained once. He sat on my lap and we kept each other warm. All you could see was his eyes and nose sticking out of his hood. At 10:00 the tickets went on sale. Everyone quickly packed up their items and anxiously waited to see if they were going to be the lucky ones to leave with tickets. It didn't make it any easier to have the coliseum manager greet you and shake your hand and tell you good luck. It was our turn. The lady said that she had 4 tickets left and they were all together. I could not have been more relieved! We got our tickets and walked quickly to the car. Two people behind me got tickets and then everyone started booing and approximately 300 very sad people headed for their cars. We were still frozen but very excited. Now we call Steve and let him know that he and Zachary also have a ticket. We headed home to warm up. Zander took a 3 hour nap. Go HEELS!! What an adventure!

March Madness

For those of you that know me, you know that UNC basketball is very important to me. As I woke up yesterday morning, just knowing that they were in town only 2 minutes from where I work made it very hard to concentrate. On my way to work, I heard them say that the practice schedules had been announced. Well, that was it. I could focus on nothing else. When would it be their turn? Was it free? Could I work it out to take Zander. So, I am quickly off to the web to find out the answers to those questions. Yes, it was free and open to the public! It also started at 5:00 so I would only have to miss about 30 minutes. Now on any other day, Zander would have either had on his Go Tarheels hat or it would have been in the car, but not today! I had taken it in the night before to wash it. He loves that hat and usually wears it all day at school. I could not take him to see his beloved Tarheels without being dressed appropriately, so at lunch it was off to Target. Of course they had some really cute items for babies and boys, but nothing for his size. I had to settle on the UNC shirt in a size small. IT was huge on him, but he loved it. When I arrived at school to pick him up, I told him that we were going to watch the Tarheels play basketball. He was so excited. He told his teachers that he had to go, "We are going to Roy Williams house". OK he didn't quite understand. He had the best time. We cheered and Roy really let them put on a show. At least 15 minutes of their practice time was show off dunking time. The kids loved it. Roy was smiling and even playing a little defense during the drills. Zander didn't get to see Rameses or the cheerleaders and there wasn't any music, but the crowd constantly did chants during the practice. He had a ball. When the Tarheels went in the locker room and it was time to go, he cried all the way to the car because it was over. I think he will be my little side kick for games next year. We took some great pictures on my cell phone. I will upload them, if I can figure out how to get them on here!

Streaker!!

Yesterday, when I went to pick up Zander at school, I saw the funniest thing. I always sit and watch him for a minute if he is playing on the playground. When I first spotted him, he was chasing a ball. So, I proceeded to get of the car. I looked up again and now he was pushing a dumptruck all over the playground, but the funny thing was that his pants and underwear were all the way off in the back and his whole hiney was shining in the air for everyone to see. He was either totally unaware or just did not care. The teacher saw it at the same time that I did and she ran to pull them up. I couldn't stop laughing. Just when I thought he had outgrown all of his clothes, suddendly without a pull-up on, they are too big. Hate I didn't have my camera!

Big Boy

Where has my baby gone. All of the sudden it seems that I have a big boy. It happened so fast. He has done a great job this week with the transition to under wear. However, he has not done a stinky in the potty yet. We have created what he calls his book center in the bathroom to make it a relaxing time, but still not luck. It is naptime of day 3 with no stinky. I am afraid that he is holding it in because he doesn't want to get it on Go Diego and he is afraid to put it in the potty. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! What makes it hard, it that they do not have a bathroom in his classroom at school. He spends 10 hours a day there. By the time we get home and cook dinner and have a bath, it is time for bed. What little play time he has with his toys is being taken over by potty time. After nap we will be having some grapes and juice. Hopefully he will go after that. Gotta go watch the UNC game. After that it is off to Alana's surprise birthday party. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

You have got to be kidding me!!!

Last Saturday was our first day to try big boy underwear and of course it is my day to do everything else! Daddy was at work so we decided that we would start out by going to breakfast. We gathered everything that we might need (extra clothes, etc.) and started for the car. It was then that I got that feeling. You know the one, where instantly you know something is wrong. As we got closer to the car I realized what it was. I didn't have my keys. There sat my pocket book and my cell phone in the locked car. The phone wouldn't have done any good as it was not charged. That was on my list to take care of right after breakfast, buy a new charger. It was really cold outside and I went back to sit on the porch and think. I couldn't pick the lock because all of my credit cards were in the car. All of the neighbors looked to be gone except the one across the street with a small baby. I didn't want to knock on the door unless I had to. We checked the backdoor, it was locked too. So, I started checking all of the windows. Luckily the office window was unlocked. I put Zander in the window and realized, he can't open the door, it has a child proof door knob cover on it. And to make matters worse, he is now in my office destroying everything in his path as I realize I can't climb in the window. I finally decided to get his 4 wheeler out of the backyard and stand on it. OF course when I am half way in, it rolls out from under me and I almost fall back out of the window. Finally we are in and get my keys. What a way to start the day. However, we did great with our big boy underwear. No accidents!

Potty Marathon

We found out last week that Zander will not be able to go to the state of the art top research and lab school starting this summer unless he is potty trained. I normally would not be worried about that, but the school that he is in right now, does not have a bathroom in the class room. He has actually regressed in his training. I know that pushing training can literally causes holes in brain development and have not made it a top priority, but this changes everything!!! For those of you that do not know, our first daycare lost Zander and has been charged with Child Neglect. He is no longer there. The new daycare is OK, they haven't lost him yet, but he is not learning anything. He is almost 3 and has been put in a class of children that starts at about 20 months. The other children only say about 2 words at a time. It is very important to me that he is in a good school. So Zander choose Go Diego Go, Elmo and Spider man underwear and he has worn them all day. All day is to Mickey's for breakfast, to Walmart for grocery shopping and home for nap. No, I did not put a pull-up on at nap. As long as Mom remembers to send him, he will pee -pee in the potty; however stinky is a whole other story. He has never done a stinky in the potty. I am anxious to see how the rest of the day goes. Any advice would be appreciated. Let the games begin!!