Avacado Farmer

Don't forget...Tomorrow is FIRST DAY!  

<a href="http://www.journeytojosie.com"><img src="http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr321/thehanchan/firstday.jpg"></a>

Set out your camera and snap away tomorrow.
Come back here on Saturday to show off a day in your fabulous life!

We just wrapped up our unit on plants.  It was a great month.

Here's our last experiment.  We sprouted an avocado.

It's been a couple weeks since we did this one.  

It cracked and we can see something growing inside, but it hasn't turned into anything yet.  We will keep watering it and see if anything happens.

FYI, avacado goo makes an excellent Quiet Time game.  Girlfriend was in Heaven.

Super Gabe

Who's wearing the World's Tiniest Superman Undies?

Gabe is!

Seriously.  

The smallest size I could find is pretty much falling off his little booty.  But, boy oh boy, is he ever proud to be sporting Big Boy Undies!

He thinks he's pretty big time now.

I'm still pretty mad at him for growing up so fast.  He's downright disobedient about it.

We've been testing out the undies in the afternoons when I have more time to ask him every 5 minutes if he has to go potty.  I've never thought I'd hear myself saying, "Don't pee on Superman," 100 times a day, but I am.

He's doing awesome.

He has had a few accidents when he's really in to whatever he's playing with, but for the most part he's getting to the bathroom in time.

I had to document his first day in undies.  Gabe was a good sport about it and used the photoshoot to show off his mad modeling skills.  He's got skill.

I think our Diaper Butt days are numbered.

staying in

So we've been down to one car for a couple months now.

The brakes on my trusty old 1996 Altima were going out and I had more important things (like spending a month on vacation in Arizona) to spend our money on, so it sat in the garage.

We finally took it to the shop last week and, like every other time we've ever taken it to the shop, they found 800 other things wrong with it resulting in a bit of sticker shock at the quote.  I'm not doubting our mechanic seeing as how parts of my car literally fall off if you shut the door to hard.  Problem is, the car is seriously old and has over 240,000 miles on it so we just aren't sure it's worth fixing.

We went back and picked it up and it is, once again, sitting in my garage.  Useless.  

I've been carless a few times in the past 3 years.  Only difference is now my husband uses his car at work all day so I can't just drop him off and take the car.

I was a supportive wife and assertively declared that I don't have any real need for a car.  Target will survive without my weekly treks in to hunt orange stickers.  But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have myself a little internal pity party.

Boo to being stuck home indefinitely.

I spent a few hours feeling pretty sorry for myself and then I had an epiphany.

I like being home.

I'm not sure if it's that I'm growing up and finally seeing how much I do have or if I just think it's too much work to pack up two kids for pointless errands, but I don't need a car because I'd rather stay home.

I like watching my kids play with all of their toys instead of going out and buying more and having no time to play with any of it.  Seriously, I've never seen our toys get played with as much as they have the last few weeks.

I like letting Josie pick out her and Gabriel's clothes and not having to undo her proud choices to make sure they match.

I like throwing a blanket in the grass and dodging the freezing cold water from the hose while Josie and Gabriel run through the sprinkler.

And I really like listening to Josie plan a birthday party for her horse for two days and then getting a special invitation to the festivities.

It was awesome.  She made gifts and wrapped them and hung wrapping paper on the walls for a birthday puppet show.  And we played hopscotch in Horse's honor.  It's his favorite.  Girlfriend's got some serious party planning skills.

My days feel longer in a good way.

We aren't rushing around trying to make more minutes fit in an hour.  Everything just fits.  School, chores, play.  I think we are all feeling extra happy and content.

Of course, I'm still praying that something opens up and we can make a wise decision on the whole car situation.  But it turns out having to spend my days at my house just isn't as big of a bummer as I thought it was.

And I think Horse agrees.

Mini Buckets

Seven things I will do this week to make the days matter.

Inspired by: Kelle at Enjoying The Small Things
She's been inspiring the mess out of me for months now.  If you could use a perspective check, she's your girl.

Growing Beans

Josie and I have tried growing bean seeds inside for the past two years.

We used a baggie and a wet cotton ball the first year and a cup with soil the next.  Last year we got a tiny sprout, but nothing too impressive.

This year we used a glass jar and lined in with a few paper towels.  I had Josie pour in a cup of water then put the seeds in half way down.

Then we put it in the window and waited.

And then we watched a seed turn into new life!

It was awesome!

Such a great learning experience.  Those two bottom leaves are actually the original seed!  I never knew that the old seed shell became part of the plant.  We planted it in the garden, but it's not doing too hot out there.

I found this Plant Observation Book on Soaring into Second.  It was great for recording the changes we saw in our bean seeds.

Fontan Surgery

We've been doing some research to learn more about the options we have for Gabe's heart.

I say options, but we really have no choice in the matter.  His heart will either get stronger and we will have the Fontan Surgery to complete the series of heart surgeries he started days after birth or his heart will continue to weaken and we will add his name to the transplant list.

Part of me thinks the transplant would cure him so that's the best option.  But in reality, heart transplants come with an insane amount of risks and lifelong medications.  The thought of a doctor putting my baby to sleep, taking out his heart, and putting someone else's in his tiny body makes me want to throw up.  It's scary stuff.

So I'm trying to learn all I can about the Fontan Surgery.

It's still scary, but for some reason, not nearly as sickening as a heart transplant.  I recently found this video on a HLHS Blog.  It explains the entire series of surgeries and I thought some of you might be interested in learning about it too.

                               

Isn't it crazy what they can do?  

I'm in awe of the whole thing.  I still can't believe that my baby had these big surgeries just days after being born.  He is such a rockstar.

Too Grown

While most of my friends are trying to get their toddlers out of diapers, I am apparently raising another Potty Prodigy.

Gabriel has decided that diapers just aren't cool.

He used the potty the first time when we were in Florida in February.

My brother said, "I think Gabe needs to go to the bathroom."

I smirked at his naivety.  "He's just turned two.  He's not potty trained."

But Gabriel kept pulling at his diaper and I couldn't deny that it did sound like he was saying, "potty."

So I took him.  And he went.

I figured it was a fluke, but he did it a few more times on our trip.  If I wasn't lazy about it, I think he would have been out of diapers by now.  But I am lazy and taking a diaper off and on isn't really all that fun.

The past few weeks, he's gotten pretty serious about it.  

He wants to go as soon as he gets up and cries if I don't take him when he asks.  I haven't had to change a poopy diaper in over a week.

Josie potty trained herself at 2 too.  I remember how proud I was and rushed out to get her big girl undies. But then I cried.  If you've ever had a baby go from diapers to undies you know, there's a mourning season for the loss of Diaper Butt.  I'm not ready to upgrade Gabe just yet.  I'm hoping he'll indulge me just a little longer.

I think I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that my baby is growing up.  Without my permission.

Andrew said we need to throw out his paci soon.  Potty trained and no paci?  That might push me over the edge.

Wiggly Worms

We had a rainy week right as we started talking about how worms help gardens grow.

I figured it was perfect for us to go dig for worms and do some experiments.  I went out in the rain and dug in the mud, neither of which I enjoy, twice and we came up with zero worms.

So Daddy came to the rescue.

We still only found one measly little worm, but it was good enough for our projects.

She was so excited to play with her worm.

Which she named "Stephen."  I could not love this child more.

I read her a few books on earthworms while she got to know her new buddy.  

Then we did a few experiments.  We tested to see if he liked wet or dry paper towels, sand or soil, and water or vinegar.  The little bugger moved quick!  I've never looked at a worm up close so it was neat to see the segments and watch how they move.  

When I thought the poor worm could use a Josie Break, we worked on our Wormery.  He got quite the upgrade from the rock we found him under!

I found directions online, but we didn't have everything that we needed so we improvised.  You basically want to put something in the middle of the jar or bottle to force the worm to make it's tunnels towards the outside where you can see it.  The baggie of warm water is to keep it a good temperature for the worm.

We alternated soil and red clay so that we could see how a worm mixed all the soil together.  We watched him for two days and then let him go since I had no idea if he needed food!

We wrapped up the week with this worm observation book and worksheet.  The worksheet is meant for an older child, but with a little altering, it was great for her level.

This ended up being one of my favorite units!  I had no idea worms were so interesting!