La Copa de la Vida

It only happens every four years.

And to be honest, this is only the 3rd time I've even given it any thought.

But the World Cup has invaded my house. And just like the other 2 times, it has taken over everything.

The first time I ever thought about it was 8 years ago when I was trying to plan a wedding date with this cute guy I used to know:
Anyway, I believe I was aiming somewhere around the beginning of June for the Big Day. He told me "no way" because that was the first round of something called the World Cup.
I was willing to be flexible. So I suggested the next week. And then the week after that.
That was when the handsome fella really started to push his luck. He told me that the competition lasted ONE MONTH and that we would have to wait until it was finished to get married.
It was either agree with him or spend the honeymoon watching futbol on the tele.
And that, my friends, is why we got married the 2nd week in July. In case you were wondering.
That memory makes me smile. And here are a few other things about the World Cup (a.k.a. the best sports tournament ever) that make me smile.
Shakira's song isn't doing it for me this year, but the official song of '98 always makes me happy.

I know some folks out there have complained about the noise, but, honestly, vuvuzelas don't bother me. Mini ones keep little boys happy for hours at a time. GOOOOOL!


And if cuteness could get you into the next World Cup, W would be in Brazil in 2014. Check out that skill!

ole, ole, ole, ole...ole...ole

How's that workin' out for ya?

We have entered week two of the officially un-official potty training in my house. And may I say that it's rather inconvenient, to say the least?

In summary...the dynamic duo are on-again, off-again potty goers (well, W is mostly off again). N has successfully peed on the potty 7 times and pooped 1/2 a time (yes, that's not a typo...HALF a time... he had to finish up in his pants). W has not once peed on the potty and has pooped once. He screams and cries at the thought of actually putting something in there, despite the bribery. I'm thinking Shorty will be trainied before hard-headed W is. sheesh.

We may have to take some more drastic measures. What those measures are, I haven't a clue, but I'm about to take them.

I hear some stirring that signals the end of naptime and a trip to sit on the potty so they can read the books they like and get a happy face sticker for sitting there more than 25 seconds.

Ahhh the sweet smell of success.

La Dolce Vita

The hubby has been dying to watch this movie with me. So Saturday night, after all the kiddos were in bed, he found it on one of our 2 favorite online movie-viewing sites.

However, as the movie began to play, we realized (quickly) that there was a problem.

No Subtitles.

Granted, we did spend nearly a year living in Italy & worked really hard to have a working knowledge of the language. That, though, was 6 years ago. And we were talking with human beings who could speak more slowly, repeat, and even rephrase if necessary. The classic Fellini film, on the other hand, was going to prove to be more of a final exam than a relaxing pseudo date night.

So a-searching he did go.

And seemingly found a site where we could watch this movie for free with subtitles.

Clearly, it was not our night. A very strange virus quickly attacked our little laptop, which was already on it's last leg -- what with missing keys, random freezes, and a 30-second battery life.

Hooray.

The price of a sweep to the laptop was not worth it, considering the aforementioned condition of said computer. We took a deep breath & purchased a new one.

Aren't unexpected expenses fun?

This weekend we didn't think la vita was all that dolce, honestly.

Potty Training Weekend

Let the games begin!

We'd been talking it up for weeks. Bought stickers. Made the motivational chart. Picked out some Big Boy Underpants. Brought in some chocolate-flavored bribery. Practiced sitting on the potty like big boys. Learned that Elmo Can Use the Potty. Got the Pull-Ups and cloth training pants, too.

We were SO ready.

On Saturday morning, I rushed to the boys' room as soon as I heard movement. I reminded them about our Big Adventure this weekend where we would Learn to Use the Potty. They were excited to begin their morning with a bathroom trip.

On went the cloth training pants & down we went to breakfast. Within minutes, I noticed that both boys were squatting on their chairs rather than sitting. Upon closer inspection the reason for this was noted: each of them had a large puddle beneath them on the chair.

Yay.

Day 1 progressed with little change to the pattern. A timer would sound every 45 minutes. To the potty we would go, sit, sing, read. Pants would go back on. Several minutes later, someone would comment, "Uh, oh. Mess."

I was beginning to think they just might not be ready. Although the fact that they never peed on the floor gave me pause.

Day 2 started with a bang. As I escorted Mr. N to the bathroom for his first-thing-in-the-morning potty sit, I could feel that he was beginning to pee in his diaper. I quickly asked if he could stop. "Yes," he responded. We took off his pants, he hopped up on the potty and peed.

Everywhere.

But we celebrated. When I told the boys about N's reward for peeing on the potty, W stated matter-of-factly in his broken English, "He no pee potty. Pee stool." I couldn't disagree, but N got his reward anyway.

We had a short break from training so that the childcare workers at church didn't have a mess on their hands. In the afternoon, N had another success!

W on the other hand, informed me that he didn't want to pee on the potty. He wanted to save his pee for his pants. It may be a slow road with that one.

One Little Speckled Frog...

sitting on a speckled log, eating a most delicious fly-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay!

The boys love this song. We sing it all day long. Frogs are pretty much an obsession around here. We sing about them. We search every drop of water in the hopes that we will find one. We pretend to be them.

Ribbit.

So when the hubby found one while helping to dig a trampoline pit (how cool is that) for a friend of ours, he decided without hesitation to bring it home and show the boys.

He put it in an empty planter.

In the sun.

Without water.

For several hours while they napped.

When they awoke, he immediately told them he had a surprise for them outside. They ran with him down stairs, out the back door, and into the back yard where they peered over the side of the planter and saw:

a very, very dead frog.

Did you know that rigormortis could set in in just an hour or so? It can. This poor little speckled frog was stiff as can be.

B even gave the planter a nice shake and a bang on the patio just in case the little guy was just sleeping so soundly he was unable to move (which, in fact, is pretty much what he told the boys the frog was doing).

What's funny is that seeing this dead frog didn't just make their day -- it made their week. They are still talking about the frog that Daddy surprised them with & how it was sleeping & that then it went to live at its new house, a.k.a the trash can.

blah-ging

blah

We need to spice things up a bit this afternoon. I think we're going to pull out this baby:

There it is. Our ridiculously ornate, constantly sprinkling kiddie pool. The photo I found doesn't do it justice. It's silly, I know.

But I can honestly say that I didn't buy it myself. That's some consolation, isn't it? I think the boys would be just as happy if it were one of those $10 plastic pools they keep in the garden section of Wally World.

Oh, well.

It's either break out the pool or shop for underwear and training pants as I try to brace myself to actually TRY to potty train the twins.

Gee, I wonder which one sounds like more fun for the afternoon.

In case you can't figure it out, I'll give you a hint: I've been having nightmares about washing dirty big boy underpants.

Maybe I should just wait and train all 3 of them at once.

Or maybe we'll just play naked outside all summer.

I think I'll go set up the pool now.