Thanksgiving Randomness

I love Thanksgiving! It kicks off the holiday season and the break comes just as it is needed. Add the Black Friday shopping and sales, you have a perfect holiday!

I just placed my Amazon order that I have been stewing on for about 6 weeks. I feel good and can't wait for the big delivery. I knocked out a HUGE chunk of my kids' gifts as well as finishing up the other kids' gifts that I needed to buy.

I have my lists ready on blackfriday.info for Friday morning. As of now my mom and I are hitting the streets early. I am considering going to Toys R Us at midnight, but I doubt I will do that and be at K-Mart by 6:00AM. Gary's parents are keeping the kids, so options are endless!

Caedyn's Green Birthday party is shaping up. I hope to have invitations ready by tomorrow. All she has asked for is a green birthday party - since August. So, we are doing the best we can to honor those wishes. We are also asking people to donate to Toys for Tots in lieu of birthday gifts. I am following my cousin, Lisa's lead in this. I want to teach my kids to enjoy each other and not the gifts that people give. I also want them to learn to give to others. When I told Caedyn that we were going to give toys to kids that don't have toys at home, she wanted to see them. She said, "Where are they? I want to see them." Then again last night we were talking about it, and she asked, "Who are they mommy?" I want to give them my toys. We have lots of toys here!" Too sweet!

Caedyn has also been asking for her friends to come over to the house and to her birthday party and to her gymnastics, etc. It is so cute how she has become so social!

I have blogged before about Caedyn loving Dora and Diego. She is hypnotized by them when they are on TV. We did great at keeping her away from the TV for 2.5 years, but she has now discovered children's television. Gary put on Monster's Inc the week before Halloween. Now she asks for it by name. She and Eli both will sit on the couch staring at the tv. It is crazy!

The villain in Monster's Inc. is Randall. In Dora, it is Swiper. Caedyn has started announcing to us very seriously that "Swiper, Randall, and The Big Bad Wolf can NOT come to our house!" One night this week, she even told Gary to "Lock the doors so Swiper, Randall, and The Big Bad Wolf can't get in our house!"

Eli is talking. He says anything he needs and wants to say. He loves naming everything we see as we go down the road, "tractor, horsey or neigh-neigh, big truck, car." He has started calling animals by their names instead of their noises. He actually says horsey and cow instead of neigh-neigh or moo. He calls the phone "home" and he has started calling his paci "fassy."

I think that Eli's I-teeth are finally coming in. He is chewing on everything, drooling, and has a low fever on and off. He is extra cranky at night too.

Last night at IHOP Eli ate part of a crayon. P-Pop said, "At least he's eating his greens!"

Eli can color finally! He always acted like he couldn't color before. Now he is a pro! He is also getting the hang of feeding himself. I am to blame on that delay. I have been trying to avoid the mess. He does really well until he gets mad and throws the food or the whole plate.

Eli may be in a crib forever. Caedyn was out at 21 months, but Eli is 20 months and that is not even a topic of discussion. We still use a changing station for him! This makes gift-buying difficult. When we take the crib and changing station out, we will have more room for bigger toys. I already know what I want to get him next year. I know, I know - I am CRAZY!

How on earth do you potty train a BOY! Eli is aware and tells us when he pee-pee's in his diaper, but if I put him on the potty he panics. He isn't even 2, so I am not going there yet. In fact two and a half is a normal age to start potty training, so maybe he will hold out until then. Dr. Mac says that if they can't even pull their own pants up and down then they aren't ready. I want him to be potty trained, but I am not interested in being Mommy-Trained!

Well, I am going to wrap up my day off by doing some cleaning and enjoying this cold weather!