Amazing feats of a one-year-old

If you've ever been around our kids, you know that they excel in the area of physical development. They may lack in speech and other areas early in life, but that is because they are putting all of their energy and brain cells into trying to overcome gravity and pushing their little bodies to the limits. Here is a fine example. Megan, climbing up the bunk bed ladder at less than a year of age. She was quite proud of herself and her amazing feat. For the record, she walked at 9 months, climbed a slide all the way up at 10 months, and basically never sits for more than one second at a time. Diaper changes are like wrestling an octopus.

She does have a black eye in this picture... the day before this was taken she was toddling along and fell head first into a drawer knob. Poor thing! And she LOVES necklaces as you can see in the picture. She is always finding them around the house and putting them on.

Do "Wii" have a problem??

Our boy is obsessed with the Wii. There. Now it is out in the open. He would play Wii all day long if we let him. The first thing he asks for in the morning is the Wii. The last thing he says before nap is, "I play Wii after nap?" When he isn't "playing" the Wii, he is doing one of the following things:

1. Asking to play it (actually it is more like whining to play it)
2. Carrying around a Wiimote cover/glove everywhere he goes
3. Studying a Wii game manual intently.
4. Searching for pictures of Wiis and Wii games in the Sunday paper ads and saying "Look mama - Wii!" (always followed by #1 above)
5. Watching Papa and Mr. Johnson play the Wii.
6. Trying to convince us to let him play the Wii by picking up toys.
7. Referring to his sister as "player 1" or "player 2" while playing
8. Sleeping or eating

The thing is, he is actually pretty good. In fact, he can beat some adults at golf, sword fighting and bowling (they will remain nameless to protect their pride). His favorite games are bowling, bicycling in resort sports, and most recently Wii Fit plus. Awhile ago I bought the kids a Jumpstart game for the Wii that is made just for preschoolers. He refuses to play it. *sigh* I guess his tastes are just more mature! After seeing the picture above, you may be wondering if Megan is a Wii-lover as well. The picture is deceiving. She appears to be in a stance to bowl or something amazing. Rest assured, at this point she just enjoys chewing on the nun-chuck controller knob. (And throwing them into the toilet)

Halloween 2009!

The kids were very excited for Halloween this year! Well, Grace was. Nathaniel wasn't so sure about the costume part of it, but I found some Superman pjs that met with his approval. Auntie April and Uncle Jeff were up visiting for the weekend and so we had an expert face painter on hand. Thanks Auntie April!! As you can see, Grace was a cute white bunny, Nathaniel was Superman, and Megan was a ladybug. We first went to the Harvest festival at Lake City Church. They had a ton of carnival games, a bouncy house, cotton candy, popcorn, hot dogs, pictures, and more. Grandma Dodge was also visiting that weekend, so she, April and I took Grace and Nathaniel to the carnival. John and Jeff stayed home with Megan. After we got home we took the three kids to a few neighbors for trick or treating. They got the hang of it really quick. Megan even scored some candy which I grudgingly consumed on her behalf : )

Some more pictures from Sept & Oct...

Blue-eyed girl loves her baths!And getting into mischief...

Grace loses her first tooth... and then another one a few days later! Megan & her wheels!

Some Schocks...

A sleeping boy and his cat...

A girl and her balloon...

Grace's First Day of School aka Mama's Baby is Growing Up!!

Grace was very excited for her first day at school! The only one nervous was Mama. She is in morning Kindergarten. There are 16 boys and only 5 girls in her class. Isn't that crazy? We are confident she will keep those boys in line though. Isn't she cute in her new outfit?! Mama and Grace went out shopping for school clothes on Monday and had fun picking out some new things. I can't wait to hear how her first day went!

Megan takes her first steps at 9 months!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Nathaniel!

We celebrated with a party full of Nathaniel's favorite things on Saturday - chicken nuggets, messy painting, Baby Einstein (yes, he still LOVES it!), juice, cake, face painting (we put on our favorite animal faces), ice cream, friends & family. He loved the caterpillar cake we made for him. About halfway through singing "Happy Birthday", he realized we were singing to him and a big grin came over his face. It was so precious. Then he blew out the three candles, one at a time with all his might. I wish I would've videotaped it. My little boy is growing up *sigh*. He got lots of great presents, but the Diego soccer ball with matching shin guards, cones, and ball holder thingy were definitely his favorite. He insisted on sleeping with the soccer ball that night! Thanks Auntie April & Uncle Jeff!! It was a great day. We love you little guy!

Forget the swine flu... help cure Lackus Appreciatis!

Lackus Appreciatis (lak-us ap-re-shee-at-us), n: A condition primarily afflicting mothers and/or maternal figures who provide constant and unselfish gifts of love and attention; condition is characterized by an overwhelming feeling of recurrent unappreciatedness and seasonal ingratitude; most strains are curable and inoculated through simple acts of compassion and/or appreciation by recipients of the aforementioned love and attention.

The Center for the Prevention of Lackus Appreciatis is here to help. AWARENESS IS HALF THE BATTLE. SPREAD THE WORD AND HELP CURE LACKUS APPRECIATIS.

Join the Mom-a-thon to send your free cure today. If you don't save your mom, who will?

http://www.mom-a-thon.com/

Grace and her baby

Sleeping with her baby "Daisy" and Minnie mouse, all swaddled up.

Grace rides a two-wheeler!

Questions

On average, a 4-year-old child asks 437 questions a day. That's all I have to say today!

Confessions from a not-so-perfect mama:

• I went down to 24-hour fitness a couple of weeks ago and got a free trial pass, just to get a break!! My kids had a great time in the childcare for almost 2 hours and I had much needed alone time. The funny thing is that I didn't even work out (they wouldn't let me near the machines since I had megan with me, she was too young for the childcare). I did get my bible study done though!
• Once I switched the time on Grace's clock so that she would stay in her room longer at rest time (I know - this one's bad!!).

A blogging vacation...

I know, I know... It's been a month and a half since I updated my blog. Those of you that keep coming back, hoping to see something new are probably wondering what in the heck is wrong with me. I have no decent excuses, except that I've been on a blogging vacation (otherwise known as personal procrastination and laziness). Hopefully this cute pic of Megan on the day she was dedicated at church will make up for my laziness:

Megan at her dedication on February 22nd, 2009. Isn't she so cute??!

Anyway, what's new with the Schocks? Megan has rolled over and is very pleased with herself. I am a bit disappointed that my duct tape didn't restrain her in the supine position, but what's a mom to do? She is also exercising her legs and likes to be held so she's standing up. She loves reaching for her toys and screeching (that is her latest feat). She also recently moved out of mama and papa's room and into sister's room. I think it was hardest for Mama, but Grace is loving it. Grace talks to her in the morning when they wake up; Megan loves that!

Grace had an exciting trip to Disneyland February 10-14 with Grandma! She had a great time, especially meeting the princesses at Ariel's Grotto and riding the roller coasters. She rode the Matterhorn three times! She definitely has my sense of adventure. We were so grateful that grandma took Grace; it was a special time for them.

I'm sure you're dying to know the results of my last blog post.... *drum roll please* Nathaniel is not potty trained. However, he has mastered the art of putting chapstick on his toothbrush, deleting emails out of my inbox (sorry to anyone that may have emailed and didn't get a response), saying "NO!" and "Hi Grace", deleting Mi's off of our Wii (once again - sorry to anyone that has a missing Mi on our Wii), and climbing the shelves in his closet (yup - all the way to the ceiling). Oh, I almost forgot - he also can pee out the top of his diaper if he arranges certain body parts just so. It's been a busy month!

John and I have been busy with the daily grind as well as a few notable events. John's parents arrived at home on January 20th, I got my first facial ever (cheap at the beauty school on 38th), John went skiing twice, spent a long weekend up in Kirkland with John's family, and Valentines Day at the Cliff House restaurant - fun! Most recently we were down in Portland at a memorial service for John's grandpa whom passed away on February 23rd. It was very emotional as he was a godly and influential man but we are so happy that he is up in heaven and not in pain anymore.

The "Potty Diaries" take 2 will be coming your way soon! Along with a bunch of pics, hopefully. (I must clarify that the bunch of pics will not be of the potty training...)

Potty Diaries / Diary of a potty-training mom (or rather Diary of a mom potty-training her son : )

*** Warning: the following contains potty-training language and descriptions suitable only for mothers with small children ***
Day 1 (January 8): 6 outfit changes; no pee or poop in the toilet. Attempted every 30 minutes ALL DAY LONG - poor Megan had many interrupted feedings and some feedings in the bathroom. Nathaniel would sit on the toilet for 10-15 minutes and produce nothing. The second his underwear and pants were back on, he would go. After he went, he would waddle with his feet really far apart saying "peepee". The reward M&Ms left untouched in the bathroom. Naked boy and pee on floor found in bedroom after nap. What am I thinking??!!! Potty training is not for the faint of heart (or stomach)...

Day 2: Nothing in the toilet, soiled all 8 pairs of underwear and 6 pairs of pants. Offered reward of TV - declared ban on TV until he goes in the toilet! (I later regretted this but had to follow through). A boy who is normally obssessed with TV suddenly stopped touching or asking for TV. I think we have some control issues going on here!
I'm beginning to hate that stupid timer that goes off every 30 minutes! When you're taking a kid to the bathroom every 30 minutes, there's not much time left to do anything else. Mama leaves in the evening to regain her sanity. Meanwhile, Nathaniel gets potty demonstrations from Papa and is fascinated, but still no results. Peed on the hardwood floor despite our deligence in watching him every second... he even pulled up his pants afterwards. Hmmm, not sure if this is progress or not.

Day 3: Poops in a book, closes it and puts underwear and pants back on during naptime. Lovely. So much for instilling an appreciation of literature. Put a cheerio in the toilet for a target but all he did was find random cheerios through the house and put them in the toilet; I hope I haven't started something bad.... Nothing else to report other than the same stuff from Day 1 & 2.

Day 4: Picked out a potty chair hoping it would be the answer - maybe he wants his very own throne??!! Pooped a tiny bit and pulled his pants down. We rushed to the bathroom but he adamantly refused to sit on the potty. Stayed dry overnight and during naptime. Still no TV but I'm starting to enjoy the lack of TV. We made wands tonight out of foil and streamers.

Day 5: Around 10am ran into bathroom and peed his pants. At least he's making it into the bathroom! Progress - YEAH! Went to the library right after that - his first outing with underwear on. Hey - I'm celebrating the little things. After we got home, I was feeding the baby and saw him starting to take off his underwear and pants. I threw the baby aside (gently, of course) and picked him up and sprinted to the bathroom. He sat on his new potty. I stepped out for a second, came back and he was standing up, pooping and peeing at the same time. The poop made it in the pot; the pee all over a book, but we can work with that! I've never been so happy to see poo in my whole life!!! The glorious potty party began! We celebrated with praise, M&M's, cookies, and the coveted Dora on TV. Stay tuned for Day 6 - potty-training or potty-trained?