The Kassel Family Project Life 365

…a little boy who isn’t feeling well just needs his Daddy.

It was a great, if really busy, Father’s Day.  We went to church, swimming at Little Mate’s Cove, and to a barbecue at our neighbor’s house.  The kids had made Daddy a tie-dye shirt, which he wore to the barbecue.  It was just a great day with family and friends celebrating Daddy!

To my husband, I love watching you with our kids.  They love you and look up to you.  Their eyes light up when you pick them up.  They love having you as Daddy almost as much as you love being their Daddy.  You are their hero.

Special Hero

When I was a baby, you would hold me in your arms.

I felt the love and  tenderness, keeping me safe from harm.

I would look up into your eyes, and all the love I would see.

How did I get so lucky, you were the dad chosen for me.

There is something special about a father’s  love.

Seems it was sent to me from someplace up above.

Our love is  everlasting, I just wanted you to know.

That you’re my special hero and I wanted to tell you so.

The picture  is a common occurrence in our house.  It seems that John always has a pair of underwear hanging in our wash tub.  We’ve tried numerous time to potty train him and he really just didn’t care.  Last weekend he came up to Andy and I with a pair of underwear and said, “I wear underwear now because I am big boy.”  Since that was the first time that he has really shown any interest in wearing underwear/potty training and he’s nearly four, we jumped on it!  He did pretty well all week and almost always went #1 in the potty.  However, #2 is a different issue.  I was really getting tired of cleaning out poopy underwear and it had only been a week, which is why today was so exciting!  This morning, John said, “Mommy, I have to poop.”  Now, I assumed he had pooped in his pants so I checked.  He got really mad and said, “I didn’t GO poop, I HAVE to poop!”  So, I ran him to the potty and put him on it.  Nothing came out though, so I suggested sitting on the training potty and reading a book.  This worked!  It’s the first time that he has told us that he had to poop and then did it.  Andy and I gave him lots of praise and we were both really excited!  John said he wanted to call Cheryl, his daycare provider, and tell her, so we did that too!  Maybe, maybe, maybe there is finally light at the end of the diaper tunnel!

Nic and Emily Bade returned to town this weekend for a visit.  We had them over for dinner and a few drinks.  What a great time hanging out and catching up!  We met Nic when he was the Youth and Family Minister for St. Andrew’s and Emily was his girlfriend.  We hadn’t seen them in a while, but it was sure great to spend a few hours with them!  Thanks Nic and Emily for coming over.  We miss you guys!

See those super cute, innocent faces?  DO.  NOT.  BE.  FOOLED.  Tonight has been one of *those* nights.  Every parent knows exactly what I mean and every parent dreads *those* nights.  The night was made worse by the fact that Andy was golfing and not available to help when my patience ran out.  Let’s see what all happened in the relatively short time frame of 3 1/2 hours tonight…

• John peed on the floor.  He tried to make it to the toilet, but just gave up and peed on the floor – right in FRONT of the toilet!  This produced discussion #1 of the evening.
• Laura informed me that she was tired and, therefore, was not going to do anything this evening except watch the movie “Dolphin Tale.”  She said, “Mom, turn on the movie NOW!”  This produced discussion #2 of the evening.
• John must have told me “No!” at least 20 times.  This produced two time outs and two spankings over the course of the evening.
• Laura told John he was “stupid” and then proceeded to kick him.  He tackled her back, causing her to fall over.  She then bounced off the ottoman in our family room and hurt her back.  That led to ten minutes of crying from Laura.  This led to discussion #3 and #4 of the evening along with time outs for both kids.
• John pooped in his underwear while I was cleaning the kitchen up from dinner.  He took off his shorts and underwear and left them in the bedroom.  Then, he walked upstairs with poop all over his butt and down his leg.  After cleaning him up, this produced discussion #5 of the evening.
• John decided that Laura needed to be tackled again.  In retaliation, Laura hit John across the face.  That led to ten minutes of crying from John.  This led to discussions # (how many are we on now?  I’ve lost count!) along with time outs AGAIN for both kids.
• Laura informs me that she no longer will be sitting in time outs.  She is nearly six and time outs are unnecessary.  Yes, she *did* say unnecessary.  I informed her that she could just sit in time out for another ten minutes.  This leads to yet another discussion of the evening.
• During bath time, both kids told me the water was too hot.  I check it and say, “It’s actually a little cold.”  John decides he’ll show me the water is too hot and picks up the cup that I use to rinse their hair.  Yes, you guessed right.  He threw it all over me and Laura started to laugh.  I walked away.  I have negative patience by this point.
• John insists on a story, but he doesn’t ask me to read a story.  He yells, “Read me a story right now!”  This leads to what feels like discussion #6,027 of the evening.

Mercifully, Andy arrives at 8 pm and it’s bedtime for the kids.  Mom is pouring a glass of wine and taking a bath.  IN.  SILENCE.  Thank God for bedtime.

See the rectangular discoloration and holes on the pole on the railing of our deck stairs?

That’s the last of the baby vestiges in our house.  Andy took down the deck baby gate tonight and gave it to our neighbors.  I love that we don’t need to worry about a newly walking toddler falling down the stairs, but how bittersweet to know that we don’t have a newly walking toddler to watch every second on our deck.  I both love and hate it all at the same time.

Fresh veggies – tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, yellow bell peppers, eggplant, green beans, and brussels sprouts – are coming soon!  YUM!!!  We planted three different types of tomato – beef, Roma, and cherry.  We picked this little Roma beauty, our first fresh tomato of the year…

We have a plethora of green tomatoes on all our plants.

And we have a tiny jalapeno!

Can’t wait for all these to grow a bit more and ripen!