The Final Day

Besides next weekend, summer vacation is over. I really enjoyed my summer and could use a few more weeks. Some years I'm ready to go back, but not this year. Going to the pool after nap time, hanging out with the boys and 'sleeping in' has been great! I'm not looking forward to getting up to an alarm tomorrow; I must admit, it has been over a year since I really had to get up to a clock. But, we will survive; Gerrit's bed time has been moved up and I think he will like a routine again. I will miss him during the day but look forward to the evenings and treasure the time I can watch him ride his bike and play golf (and tackle Adam in football) as those are the favorite activities when we go outside. I'm getting emotional now...stupid hormones!

Anyways, we had a fabulous day. Church, Bridget's, naps, and then off to the farm again. This time, the Dahlen family was there too so we got a ton done! Adam took his bike and snuck in a bike ride on roads he normally doesn't travel. Gerrit had his bike and couldn't get enough of it. The only time he was off it was when he fell into a hole (he has a few scrapes to prove this happened more than once) and to eat guac and chips that was made fresh! Luke was put in charge of Gerrit and I was able to help pick tomatoes for nearly 4 hours! It was so relaxing to be out in the cool temps, with the sun shining and the only things to listen to is our conversation and nature. Gerrit saw the horses again and had a blast! He pushed his bike up the hill where the house stood and then 'coasted' down, usually singing or watching Luker on the little purple girls' bike. It was fun to take a break and watch them. Before we left we took a walk to the river and put our feet in it - cold! Gerrit even dipped his feet in and said it was cold.

We were able to walk away with some more veggies too. I'm going to try and make zucchini bread for the first time and try to fix the beets for Adam on the grill. (No, I did not eat any last time as the smell reminded me of childhood and I couldn't stomach the thought of eating one - now that I'm an adult and have the choice to eat it or not).

Once we were home, I quickly showered and cleaned up Gerrit. I headed to the movies with the girls - saw 'The Proposal' (cute and worth seeing). Adam put Gerrit down and did some work.

We are going to try and head out to the farm next weekend too as there are a ton of tomatoes that will need to be picked again! Michael, Deb's hubby thought we picked over 200 lbs of tomatoes today - give Anne and I a job and we do it well! Although after the farm, we will head to Lake City for the last pool party of the season too.

Tomorrow afternoon we will find out the fate of our family...if it will be symmetrical or I will forever be outnumbered...

Dinner

Tonight's conversation at dinner:

Dad: Gerrit, would you like more ham?

Gerrit: Pam? Dave?

This is Pam and Dave! We couldn't help but laugh, no matter how much we emphasized the 'h', he didn't get it!

The Farm

I posted pictures of the farm visit from today in the post below this one but I'll tell about the trip here...

Deb from the bike shop has a farm not far from Z-town and has a lot of veggies that need harvesting...so I thought I'd take the boys out to the farm and help her out. Well, Paul didn't feel well so he stayed home so it was Luker, Gerrit and I. Gerrit was excited about the farm all day. I told him that after nap time we were going to the farm to see the horses...that made nap time come a bit quicker than usual! :) Anyways, we saw 4 of the 5 horses (one was on the other side of the stream) and Gerrit did not want to get too close to them but liked seeing them. Then we got to work - we helped with beans and I learned how to pick potatoes. Gerrit helped bring the weeds to the brush pile with Luke in the wagon and then they rode bikes. It was great, they could ride all over the place and not get into trouble! Amber, the dog loved chasing them too. We stayed longer than I thought and had a blast. It came time to wash the veggies and Luke was in charge of the hose...lets just say Gerrit got a 'little' wet. He liked putting his hand in the stream and watching the splash it would make. Soon he was running right thru the stream and was soaked! We tried to wash the potatoes between Gerrit running in our way and managed to get most of the dirt off the potatoes and other veggies. Gerrit would laugh and lose his footing and fall over - onto the freshly mowed (long) grass! So not only was he wet, he was full of grass by the time we were done. I let him have his fun and when it was time to leave, stripped him naked, tried to hose him off again (for some reason he didn't want to be sprayed by the cold hose water any more!), and put him in the car in just a diaper. This was beneficial because he ate crackers and finished off my 7-up which was spilled down the front of him! Anyways, before we left, we took one more trip out to see the horses. By now, only 2 were left on this side of the stream but that was just fine. Gerrit actually touched one of them and was starting to warm up to them. Luke was kind enough to pick him up, sopping wet, to get close to the horses. I was fine, taking pictures from a distance! We hope to head back to the farm and help out some more before the harvest season is over. I truely enjoyed myself and felt so relaxed! I love that Deb did the planting and the tough part and I could help reap the benefits of a long summer of gardening for her.

This and That

I have written a bit these last few days but havn't posted pictures so here goes:



Top left (and moving clockwise):

• my great Sunday afternoon idea - Adam ride to Red Wing and meet us at a cool park with a great play gound...only Gerrit didn't want to play on the play ground!
• 'washing' off the potatoes at the farm
• reading the phone book is a new past time
  
• Gerrit had a bit too much fun with the hose washing the veggies. He went home in just a diaper after getting soaked and rolling around on the fresh mowed grass!
• riding bikes with the neighbor's granddaughters
• spending a lot of time lining up the cars on the window sill
• visiting the horses and actually petting one of them after not wanting to get too close!
• biking around the farm
• the fruits of my labor: beets (for Adam), carrots, onions, unique tomatoes, 4 kinds of potatoes - even purple ones!
• potty training getting goofy!
• riding bikes to see the horses
  

On Hold

So I decided today that the potty training is going to be put on hold (I think Adam is relieved). We are more trained to when Gerrit has to go than he is, so its not worth forcing. Plus the thought of dealing with diapers during Adam's race schedule this fall is more appealing to me than finding a bathroom! (Sometimes they are hard to find at parks etc where they have the bike races.) I think next time will be easier as he has the idea of what to do just needs to know how to listen to his body more. I said I'd give it a try before school starts and we did, so now we can go places and not worry about the time or if there will be an accident!

We are off to celebrate our anniversary and Adam's birthday tonight at Axel's (in Lilydale) - a fav. of ours. Gerrit will be in heaven playing at Dahlen's and won't miss us. Tomorrow on Adam's birthday, we had to Dahlen's for dinner with our cycling friends - the friends from France are in town for a bit.

Cool temps and rain makes me think falls on its way...I am not quite sick of the pool yet, summer needs to stick around a little longer - I know Gerrit would like that too, the little fish that he is in the water!

Day 3

We are still working on the potty training and havn't given up. He did fairly well at daycare, more in the potty than out! Now that we know his 'clock' we can plan to sit on the potty accordingly. Thanks to great books by Richard Scary, Gerrit enjoys looking for Goldbug and Lowly Work and doesn't realize how long he'll be sitting on the potty (thanks Aunt Cara for the books!). He still isn't telling us when he has to go, but seeing we are moving in the right direction, I'm hoping we can turn that corner in the near future. He will tell us when and where he just went potty which is thoughtful.

He's become a big fan of getting out of bed lately. Monday he decided to take his nap on the landing instead of his bed. I would think a soft bed and pillow would trump the carpet on the stairs, but I guess not. Tonight he has gotten up a few too many time for our liking that Adam put the baby gate up and gated him in his room. Before the gate was up he would make it to the landing and sit, when Adam would notice him, he'd close his eyes! Too funny. We shall see if he now prefers the hardwood floor of his room to his comfy bed! It's always something and never a dull moment around here.

Update

I think there was as much pee in the potty today as there was on the floor...in case you were wondering. It is a step in the right direction (I'm trying to stay positive, work with me here).

Tomorrow is daycare day, it will be the test if we continue or throw the towel in for a bit and try again later...until then.

"It's Like Training a puppy"

The title quote was spoken out of the mouth of Adam Birr today in regards to potty training Gerrit. I thought about training Gerrit this weekend but didn't want to be confined to the house by myself all weekend without Adam...but seeing today was suppose to be rainy, I thought we'd give it a go, and seeing Gerrit doesn't go back to daycare till Tues., we can give it a whirl for 2 days and then decide if its working...as of today, it's NOT working! 4 pairs of underwear, 2 pull ups, a lot of paper towel and I don't know if he is getting the idea. Adam wanted to go for a walk this afternoon and I said I didn't want to be too far from home with the potty training. At first Adam thought I was weird but by dinner and who knows how many accidents, he was totally on board with me!

I would like a few months of no diapers and even a few weeks of no extra bags with kid stuff in it...we shall see.

I had to laugh at Adam and his comment on the puppy. I have never had to train a puppy and can only imagine the similarities. I havn't given up as Gerrit has shown signs he is ready (so I think) but will throw in the towel if necessary. Stay tuned...

11 and Counting...

It's hard to believe it was 11 years ago that Adam and I were married. Amazing where we started out and what we've done in these years. I don't think I would've thought that we'd be in Minnesota (still), living in a small town with a child and one on the way! But I wouldn't change it for the world.

Adam surprised me by having these clam back chairs refinished as an anniversary gift. 3 years ago when we moved into the house, Adam's dad brought them from MI, they were Adam's grandparents. They needed some serious work and so I spent a good week stripping the paint and getting them ready to be sanded (what else is there for a teacher to do in the summer pre-kids?). Adam was to sand them and then paint them...remember this was 3 years ago. So there they sat, tipped against the garage for 3 years. Finally Adam called a company (down the street from our house) and they said they would sandblast them and paint them for a decent price. While Gerrit and I were in MI, Adam had them taken care of. Our color choices were limited seeing the company actually makes iron railings for homes etc so white was it. I am pretty excited to sit in them now (or someday when Gerrit will play in one spot) and they look great. To think they are over 60 years old!

As I sit here and write this post Adam is in WI for a bike 'race' with a friend from town. Not the most romantic way to spend an anniversary but it was something he really wanted to do and so I said he could go. We'll go out for dinner this week and celebrate his birthday as well and it will all work out. He did call me mid ride to wish me a happy anniversary which was very thoughtful. Gerrit and I spent the morning poolside in Lake City with Team Beat and then Dahlen's had us over for pizza so I didn't have to cook!

Goodhue County Fair

Amongst the chaos of Adam building a new bike before his big weekend, we found some time to go to the fair. Lucky for us, it is just on the edge of town so we don't have far to go. The night we went was the night of the tractor pull. Adam was interested in going seeing it had been years since he last saw one and Gerrit and I had never been. I must say, it was kind of interesting despite the little rain we sat through. Gerrit loved the tractors but did not last through the whole thing so we left and went to see the animals. I think of all the animals he saw, the cows were by far Gerrit's favorite. He had to go back a few times to see them. We spent a little time watching the goat judging while we waited for the rain to stop. Dessert was dip n' dots. Gerrit wasn't so sure about them and preferred to see the cows over the ice cream. So I sat at ate them (my first official bowl of dip n' dots too). Our county fair is small but the perfect size to get a 'taste' of what a fair is like. We did not look in all the buildings seeing it was getting late but made it to the important ones - the animals!

Less than a Week

Gerrit moved into his new room when we returned from MI. He made the adjustment quite well and now likes his 'big bed'. Here he is sleeping in his new bed - he looks so big!

This morning was the first time he got out of bed on his own. Usually he'll cry and expect someone to get him out of bed, but not today. I heard a strange pitter patter of little feet and when I opened my eyes, Gerrit was eye level next to my bed with his blanket in hand. I lifted him in bed with me and we snuggled for a bit. I like not hearing a cry when I need to get up in the morning, seeing his face is much better!

After a bit, Gerrit whispered to me: "Mom, waffles?"
I'll have to work on saying 'good morning' and then ask for the waffles!



A few shots of his new room. My mom is working on a few more throw pillows but the bicycle fabric I ordered had not come yet when we were in MI. The railing that I used growing up (these are the bunks I slept on) is only for the top bunk (and not real safe) so we are using the Dahlen boys' railings as they don't need them anymore. I made the cycling frames myself and I think I'm going to do more with Mod pod stuff - its quite slick! For the most part his room is done and I think he can sense the theme as this morning he was impressed with they Ride poster next to his dresser.

Sandy Pines 2

Gerrit and I headed back to MI for a week. With me not working it only seemed right to head back and visit with friends that we did not see the 1st time this summer. We flew to Chicago and rode with friends to Sandy Pines. Gerrit did quite well on the plane which made me happy! We were able to go swimming a few more times seeing the weather was nice. We made it to the beach, water park, pool at the country club with the cousins and a boat ride with friends. Gerrit helped Omah make coffee cake, Opah bring the garbage away (any reason for a golf cart ride and potential trip to the candy store!), and even golfed (surprise, surprise). I did not take his bike which would have made the trip perfect for him. When we returned Gerrit went to daycare and I let him ride his bike there seeing he hadn't ridden it in over a week (he is so much like is dad!)

Bed Time

Gerrit and I sleep in the loft at my parents. I decided to try Gerrit next to me on his own air mattress instead of the pack and play this time. (Our goal is to move Gerrit to his new room when we return Thurs.) I figured we could practice here and get the idea of a bed...well it has worked sort of ... I have to lay by him until he falls asleep or else he'll get up. It has not been real fun laying next to him when I would like my own 'down time' before I go to sleep. I've been tempted to put him back in the pack and play so I could leave but I have not caved yet and we don't have many nights left. Tonight he was playing and I was sick of laying there so I warned him that I was leaving if he continued...well he continued so I left. He cried but he didn't come down from the loft! I'm not sure where I will find him sleeping when I go to bed but I figured we are headed in the right direction. I do not want to have to lay by him every night once we are home and hope that this isn't a pattern...tonight confirmed that it isn't (I hope!). Here's hoping for a smooth transition in a few days (and Adam has finished getting the room ready)!

New Job?

Today Gerrit and I spent the day with my brother's family. We got a taste of the country club life (well, they have it for a year, and we got it for the afternoon). We went to the pool and enjoyed the zero depth pool and kiddie slides. Following the pool we headed inside for dinner 'at the club'.

Over dinner Max said he wished we lived closer and I said we do too - if Uncle Adam could find a job, we'd move closer to the family!

When it was time to say our good byes Max chimes in that Golf Galaxy is hiring...my sister in law and I laugh and she says to Max "you couldn't hold down a job, you barely stay focused on jobs at home" (he's in 6th grade and totally into golf).

Max responded by saying: "no, for Uncle Adam".
How sweet is that? Me, being prego and all, was almost in tears I thought it was sweet!

Sneaky Gerrit!

Yesterday afternoon Gerrit and I went to Grand Haven to visit friends. Gerrit loves playing at their house - they have 4 boys! We had a nice dinner and were relaxing a bit before dessert. Gerrit was outside with the 3 yr. old playing with toys in the garage. Cory brought them ice cream sandwiches for dessert and they ate them outside while we had ice cream inside. I went to check on Gerrit and see what kind of a mess he was making, and he seemed to be just fine. Cory went to check on them a bit later and noticed the boys still had their ice cream sandwiches, only this time they had MORE left then we when checked on them last! Yep, they went into the outside freezer and helped themselves to another ice cream sandwich! Cory said the look on their faces was priceless - then they dashed around the house as if they knew they did something wrong. Gerrit being too young, did not admit having 2 but Nathan (and his older brother confirmed) that yes, the 2 boys had 2 ice cream sandwiches! Good thing we don't live closer, those 2 boys could get themselves into a lot of trouble in the coming years!