The Park, a Play and the Potty

Last week Charles was out of town from Monday – Saturday and it made for quite a long week.  I had ambitious plans on Friday to go and do something fun with the kids since it was my birthday and I was wanting to get out.  So to the park we went… Me, Audrey, Will and Julia too ;)

Such a pretty park with lots of grass – a rarity in the middle east and thankfully some shade.  We played hard, Julia slept hard!

Poor child, her pictures are always asleep and in the car seat.  3rd kid syndrome.  She had a belly full of milk so she snoozed the whole time we were there.

While at the park, Audrey started to recognize some of the Arabic letters in the rubber floor of the playground:

I brought their scooters so they could cruise on the big sidewalks.. lots of fun.

we have two sets of these amazing “Micro Scooters” one here in AD and one in Lake Charles… they are kinda pricey, but the best scooter – they can enjoy riding them even on the bumpy road because they are a super smooth ride… every single kid we know in our compound has one – so I have made each kid’s name out of vinyl lettering and applied them to their scooters so they don’t get confused.  Will’s is the kind on the left, Audrey’s is on the right with the adjustable bar… last Christmas Santa brought them in gender neutral colors since Will will eventually just take Audrey’s and Julia can take Will’s.  - Ok, back on track here…

 

Here is a video of Audrey singing one of her songs from the play…

Later that day it was Audrey’s final performance of the Sound of Music… She was in the children's’ chorus and got to go on stage twice to sing during the play with a group of other kids.  As we walked in she wanted to stop and look at all the pictures posted of the cast..

Here she is on stage:  There was no video or flash photography allowed.. hence the grainy pictures. 

here is her other costume:

She did a great job… during the other performance earlier in the week, the group came on stage – but there was no Audrey… I started to worry that maybe she had a stage fright issue, or something must have happened??? Well about 1 minute into their song, Audrey busted thru the side curtain and scurried quickly to her spot and joined in the song.  I couldn’t help but to giggle.  After the play, I asked her what happened and she said: Someone accidentally poked her in the eye and when her eye got watery the black eye makeup ran all over her face.  She had to go to the bathroom to wipe it off and while she was in there her group had already left to go on stage.  I was proud of her for going out anyway – no chance I would have just gone by myself like that at her age.

Here were the Vontrap children:

This was my date to the play: (Sleeping in car seat once again). LOL.  She did get fussy at one point so I took her out and gave her a bottle – I didn’t mind missing a little of the play since it was my second time to attend the 3 hour production in the same week.. of course Audrey's parts were only at the very beginning and again at the very end.

She was thrilled to get flowers from Mama after both performances

Me and my girl.. so sad Charles missed it!

Now for the Potty portion of this post.. LOL I’m sure you just couldn’t wait. ha.

Well, oh well – it is finally happening for William. I have been waiting for his signs of readiness for about. hmm. a year now.  He suddenly is ready.  Like a magic light bulb went off and voila he is like, “lets do this.”  He is having tons of successes and very few accidents so far.

**Reader beware – if you have a weak stomach, you may want to stop here**

One day last week – the day after his very first potty victory – he really wanted the prize I had promised him if he did it again… I was tending to baby when I heard, “MAMA!!! I DID IT, I POO-POOed!!”  I responded with, “Will, WHERE did you poop?!” (since it could have been anywhere).. he said, “IN THE POTTY!!”  oh the joy.. music to a mother’s ears!! I came running to him to sing, celebrate, and jump around.  When I got into the bathroom the poop smell was just a little too fresh, if you know what I mean, like it didn’t happen in the potty – but it was in there, the poop was in the potty. hmmmm. I scan the floor, nope not there, then check the trashcan and sure enough a diaper with a little evidence that there had been poop in it before. I ask again, “Will, did you really poop in the potty?”  I got a big brown eyed grin as I showed him the diaper in the trash and he fessed up by shaking his head no. What a little scam artist. ha! He did his business in the diaper and them dumped it into the potty in an effort to earn his prize…We will certainly have to keep an eye on this kid… smart little booger.  He then asked, “I get my prize?!” uh no, Son – sorry.

Yesterday, I came in from brining Will and Julia with me to the mall – I had pushed my time limit and needed to feed her immediately.  Of course simultaneously Will notified me that he needed to go potty, so with one arm, I helped him get undressed as I’m holding/feeding Julia. He ran off to the bathroom and I hear the words, “I did it!” and then a loud spray.  {see the picture above and notice the sprayer next to the toilet}.  I put baby sister down, mid feed – to which she is just pissed about – and ran in… I knew exactly what had happened… He had potty trained for a couple of days now and has watched me dump the poop in the potty and use the sprayer to clean out the small potty on the floor (the one he sometimes uses).  Well, apparently he thought he’d save me the trouble and clean it out himself.  Let me give you a visual.. he dumps the poop in the big potty, some of it is left behind in the little potty. He then takes the high pressured water sprayer and tries to spray it out, only the water blasts out, liquefies the poop and it is splattering all over the bathroom!!!!!!!!! I am trying to get close enough to get the hose away from him, but far enough to not get sprayed down with the crap water. what. a. mess!!!!!!! I cannot even describe how disgusting it was.  He just grins and is so proud of himself for what he had done and asks, “I get candy!?” {sigh}, yes, Will, you get candy.  Note, sister is still mad about her interrupted milk supply while I scrub down like I’m about to preform surgery.  I finish feeding her to find that she has now had a blow out. DUDE!!. can a mother get a break?! Are y’all wondering where Espy was to help me deal with this? Naturally it was all during her scheduled break time and she was taking a nap in her room… must be nice LOL.

The coinciding of Audrey’s play at school and Will’s potty training with Charles gone was wild.

Why is it that the busiest weeks are the ones Charles is travelling for? ha.  We all survived, haven’t gotten E-coli poisoning yet and had some pretty funny stories to tell daddy.

here’s julia trying to fill him in on all that happened:

can you see the blonde tips to her hair? It is just so crazy.  Love that fat girl.