Linking up with Katie, Naomi, Faith today!

I’m sitting at my desk enjoying the quiet and dark before everyone wakes up, the sun gets hot, and the boys get a little crazy. Is it possible that I’ve become kind of a morning person? Weird lol, I’ve always been a night person but I guess toddlers have cured me of that.

It makes sense though. I’m generally able to work on freelance projects, clean up a little, and make breakfast without anyone trying to tackle me or hide inside my shirt, and the days just run so much smoother. I realized a while ago that waking up early is the way to go, but it wasn’t until much more recently that I realized I’m starting to enjoy it. Coming from a (former) die-hard night owl, that feels super weird!

As a family, our biggest accomplishment this week is the same as last week — another week with Micah in underpants! We’ve made trips to the grocery store, the zoo, to drop off Kinsey, and even the movies, and he’s done so well! He’s had a couple of accidents, but ironically only at home, and usually only when he’s really tired.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised a few times that I kind of expected accidents too. Even after a long car ride and a nap in the cart, he managed to hold it and make Costco shopping completely uneventful. I still carry extra underwear and a pair of shorts in my purse for now, but I really think he’s gotten the hang of this. So proud of him!!

On a related but not completely relevant note — is it just me or is it a little weird that the zoo has somewhat open air bathrooms? Micah made it through our last trip without any accidents, but we basically stopped at every bathroom we passed and this one was a little off-putting to me.

Other than that, the zoo was awesome for the second week in a row. Kinsey has been off for fall break, so I wanted to take advantage of that time and make sure she got plenty of chances to enjoy the zoo before going back to school (it’s easier for us to go during the week than on the weekends because of t-ball and soccer). Bringing the Ergo and a single stroller instead of a double was a huge success! Jonah could see everything better from my back so he was happier, and Micah is tall enough that it wasn’t as big of a deal for him to ride in the stroller. I let him walk for a bit too, but he started running off so eventually he had to settle for seeing everything from the stroller.

They especially loved watching the baby orangutan learn how to climb on a rope inside the enclosure. It was so adorable!

We also tried out one of the splash pads and it was a huge hit! Jonah isn’t usually a splash pad lover but he begged for Kinsey to take him in the water….and then promptly threw a HUGE screaming fit the minute that she did. He napped in the Ergo for a while after that, and was in a much better mood when he woke up.

We also found time for a play date with a local homeschooling group, which made me really happy. I’m planning on homeschooling the boys and it’s really nice to find other moms for support and socialization. We’ve already been working on colors, shapes, numbers, animals, and all the basics for a few months, but I’m hoping to find a group that wants to do occasional educational play dates in this area. At this age, a lot of the research supports learning by play rather than school-style learning, so we use playdoh, blocks, trains, coloring, and anything else they want to do to sneak in some learning. So far it seems to be working well, and I’ll probably do a homeschooling post soon for anyone who’s curious. 🙂

Once Jonah woke up he had a blast with Kinsey and her new friend (I love how easily she makes friends!).

Climbing up and down this little wall was his favorite though — who needs a huge field and a ton of playground equipment when there’s a big stack of bricks? 😛

Now that the t-ball season is over, Micah is SUPER excited about soccer starting next month and he kicks balls around as often as possible. In this case, he stole someone else’s ball and ran off so he could kick to his heart’s content. I had to take a picture before I made him return it lol!

Before Kinsey had to go back to her Mom’s, we took everyone to the dollar theater to see Finding Dory, and they were amazing. A few weeks ago we tried the same thing with BFG, but they were running all over the place, fighting, being super loud, and just generally making the adults wish they’d never heard of a movie theater. We had the stroller for Jonah this time which probably helped a little, but they were all total angels!

We went with individual popcorn and drinks this time too, which probably also helped. When Jonah finished his popcorn towards the end and got a little fussy, the other kids donated some to him without even being asked. I love how much they look out for each other!

Can I just say that the dollar theater is one of the best business concepts of all time? I could never afford to take the entire family to a regular theater all the time (even with the popcorn t-shirt and two collector’s cups, it’s still at least $40 for the 5 of us. We can generally get tickets and snacks at the dollar theater for under $20, especially if my purse happens to contain a water bottle and some $1 Walmart candy. I feel a little bad sneaking stuff like that in, but seriously most parents have more important things to spend $6 on than a tiny box of Milk Duds. It also gives me something I can do with just the kids when the hubby is working, it’s over 100 degrees out, and they’re stir crazy from being in the house too long.

This was Micah’s last hit of the season. It was a little rough at times, mostly because baseball is a rough sport for fidgety 3 year olds with a short attention span, but I really feel like he improved a ton over the 6 weeks. We’re trying to keep him in some sort of sport as often as possible just to keep him active and to help him make friends. My hubby is a little worried that he won’t be socialized enough because he’s not going to a school with other children, so this is part of our compromise. He’s pretty shy, but he’s slowly getting more comfortable in new situations. I think soccer will be easier on him because there’s less waiting around for other people to finish, and I’m hoping he’ll make some new friends in our area. 🙂

I know this is a bit of a weird picture, but I just couldn’t get them to stay still and I have no idea what Micah is doing. The hubby cut their hair and I think they look adorable! (Not that I’m biased at all…) They look so cute and grown up, and I don’t have to worry about spiking anyone’s hair before we leave the house!

I’ve managed to be pretty good with workouts and eating, but it’s getting late so I’ll put those in another post. Off to workout, do dishes, and hopefully hang some laundry before my little mess makers wake up!

What are you proud of accomplishing this week?

Have you ever considered homeschooling? Why or why not?

Any tips for overnight potty training that don’t involve limiting water before bedtime?