Firefighter Grayden

At school this week Grayden was pretending to be a firefighter, how cute!! They were teaching the kids about firefighters and what they do. Next year the school will be taking them to visit the fire station. I am sure the kids will love the big red fire truck, especially Grayden. I hope that Mom will get to go, so I can take a picture of him sitting in it.

Potty time troubles

Well, two nights ago we started to potty train Grayden. We sat in the bathroom with him for 45 minutes, and read his potty book to him. He was doing great, not scared, was reading his book, and he even peed in the potty!! We were so proud of him, and gave him lots of praise. Earlier in the night we had him in underwear and he did not make a mess. So, we thought this went really good. Until the next day, we tried and he would not go on the potty. He sat on it finally, after awhile, then he started crying. He was not going to use the potty. I put his underwear on him, he peed in them. I toook him back to the potty a little later he peed in front of it. This is how the day went, he pretty much peed on the floor or in his pants and cried. He wanted his diaper on, so we finally put it on. Then we tried again today and he sat on it for like half and hour, still would not go. We put the underwear on and he didn't pee in them, but I could tell he had to go. So, we got the potty out and he started crying and peed on the floor. So, looks like he is not ready to go to the potty. We even tried using stickers, and told him he would get a toy with five stickers. He was excited about that but not excited enough to use the potty.

Potty training is not easy, let me tell you. I have been reading alot on it, and looked on the web. They say that girls are much easier to train than boys, and that they actually tell you they want to pee on the potty. With boys seems they are very reluctant to use the potty, and most do not until three to four years old. Even at 4 they are still wearing pull ups at night. You need alot of patience, wich I thought I had, until now. This is a whole different battle, in which you will not win unless your toddler is ready to go on their potty. In fact you will be suprised by your little one sassing you telling you NO they are not going to go on that potty chair no matter what you say or do. From what I am reading he is not ready, so we will wait a couple more months and try again.

Lizards, YUCK!

Just wanted to share with everyone that lately we have had lizards invading our house. It seems that they know that I do not like them, and they can sense it. For the past four days, I have had to get lizards out of our bathroom. Anyone that knows me, knows I hate bugs, lizards, anything creepy crawly, I have a phobia with bugs. When I see one I FREAK out, they give me the willies, it is like I feel them crawling on my skin, ew..... So, I have to take some type of object, whatever is near, to get them to go back out of the window in the bathroom. The whole time I am doing this the lizard is spitting at me or making some type of hissing sound. I am myself making some sounds because I am freaking out. Finally, I get them to go out side the window, and then I shut the window the rest of the night. I have been going through this the past three nights, so much fun.

Then, today I had Grayden in the bathtub, and I was in the shower. The bathtub is right next to the standing shower, it is all enclosed in a glass door. Anyway, Grayden wanted his basket of toys down from the ledge, so we got it down. I was in the middle of putting bath gel on the loofah when Grayden's little face froze. I looked over and saw this lizard leap out of the water onto the shower wall, well I SCREAMED. For crying out loud, give me a break with these lizards!!! So, I had to again find something handy to get it out of the shower. I was not a happy camper, nor was Grayden. He did not want to play with his toys anymore, or stay in the bathtub. He saw that the lizard came out of his toys and he really didn't understand what just happened. Except that Mommy screamed and was scared.

I can not help it, these creatures along with all the other creepy crawly ones scare me. I get all worked up and freaked out. Especially if I can not find them and they run off, there will be no sleeping that night until it is found. Brian thinks I am turning Grayden into a chicken, but to my defense I am a girl. Most girls do not like bugs. If Grayden is around me and there is a bug I try not to freak out, but I still do if the bug/lizard comes toward me. Point blank I do not like bugs, reptiles, anything that looks scary/gross.

So, over here there are lots of lizards, you go walking around the condo and they are all over. There are some pretty big ones too!! They make a mad dash to the tree's or condo walls before you can blink an eye. I keep our windows at night closed because I do not want a lizard crawling on me at night, or on the ceiling, to drop down on me. No sir, windows closed. If I had it my way no windows would be open now, because they are coming in all the time.

Ok, I have officially had it with the lizards, so I just walk down the hallway and there is one on the wall. So, I have to move the bookcase out and try to get it. It climbed to the top of the ceiling. Had to go get a tuperware and scoop it in it. I just released it back outside, probably only for it to find it's way back in. Ok, I think you get the point. Our condo is invaded with lizards!! Help!!!!

Fun at school

Pre-school concert

Grayden had his first ever concert with his pre-school yesterday evening. I had to drop him off by 4pm and we could not see him till 8pm, after the concert. I was very nervous of how he would do being away from us in the evening hours for that long. Kids tend to not do so good in the evening. I was so emotional the rest of the day, anticipating the concert.

The concert was held at one of the girl's schools here in Singapore in the auditorium. We walked in and there was probably like 200 or more people there, wow. The stage was huge and way off of the ground. Stage, toddlers, high, oh my!! I had been holding the tears back all day, and it was hard to not just let go. My baby boy was going to be dancing on a stage at two years old!! The main reason for the concert was for the graduating kindergarden class, who is going onto the first grade. These kids that were graduating were so bright, and outgoing. They had no problem getting on the stage and talking about their experiences, good times, teachers, and future to come. I do not ever remember having to talk in front of a bunch of people to get my diploma, never. I would have been so nervous, I give these kids so much credit.

Next was the start of the concert, the theme was Children of the World. This pre-school has about six different locations around Singapore. Grayden's and the one that is about a mile down the road from his were both involved in the concert. There were about 15 groups that were performing different cultural dances. They had dances from the U.S., Poland, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Mexico, China, Native American, Hawaiian, and Argentina. Every group did their dance so well, and had lots of fun. There were of course a couple kids that just stood there frozen, stage shock I guess. We had to wait till the very end to see Grayden's Toddler group, I couldn't wait any longer. Ah, finally they are here. They look adorable, where is Grayden? He is not there. Oh wait there he is in the back, he is coming up front!! He did so well and remembered all his dance moves. He came up front on the end to show everyone. I was so proud of him, he did so well. He was looking around for us in between his moves. They performed two dances one was a Chinese dance the other a Hawaiian. Oh, I had to hold back the tears, they were so ready to come out. I can not explain the wave of emotion I had seeing my little guy up on stage doing so well. Being a Mom is filled with so many wonderful emotions, and memories.

After the show was over they released the children. We got Grayden and he was happy to see us. A little worn out and sweaty from the dancing. He did not want to have any more pictures taken that was for sure. We did take some pictures, but we were far away. I will post them when I get a chance.

Today at school

Grayden is intently coloring, and water painting at school today. He water painted a kitty cat, and they got to hang them on the wall. He is enjoying school very much, and no more crying when Mommy leaves. This is a huge step for him, I am so proud of my little guy. Now when I come to pick him up from school he is smiling and happy to see me. He is growing up so fast, sometimes I wish time would just slow down. We didn't have any pictures last week due to his principle being out of the office. She is back now, so the pictures will keep coming.

Grayden has his first ever recital on Friday. The kids are going to dance and sing for the parents. They have the toddlers going last, we will see how they do with that. The recital is two hours long, and I do not see those toddlers sitting still behind the stage for that long. I know they want to finish with the young ones, but honestly I think they should have gone first. Really, I am just going to miss my little guy!!

Little Lola

These are the most recent pictures of Lola. She is doing great, and as you can see just chillin around the house. She is so adorable, I just want to squeeze her!! My brother and his wife are so blessed to have a beautiful baby girl.

Lola Grace has arrived

Lola Grace Grote has arrived!! I am an Aunt again, gosh I feel old. She was born on October 23rd, was 7lbs 7.8ounces, and was 20 inches long. She is so beautiful, and I am so happy for my brother and his wife. Babies are truly a blessing, and change your life forever. They are all home now and recovering and getting used to eachother. I can not wait to see her when we go home in December. If I can get a picture of her from my brother I will post it for you all to see.

Depavali Celebration at school

Sorry we have not had any pictures, Grayden was sick last week. He just had a cold and a cough, but enough to keep him out of school. Monday was an Indian holiday here called Depavali. So, at school today they celebrated it. The lady in the blue is Grayden's principle at the school Pamela. Some of the kids did dress in Indian attire for the celebration. They also put the dots on the kids heads, Gray did not want to take his off when we got home. So, he took a nap with it on his head. He seems to really be enjoying school, he did not cry when I went to pick him up today!! He still cries when Mommy leaves, but stops after five minutes or so. I am sure with time he will get better with that.

Outside at school

G man at school

I wish I could drive this car to see my Mommy!!
Hey, get off, it is my turn.

If you take one more picture, I will cast an evil spell on thee...... with my evil eye.

I am sure you all are wondering how I have so many pictures of Grayden while he is in school. Well, his pre-school takes pictures of the kids every day and sends them via email to the parents. It is nice, you get to see what their day was like. Grayden still cries when I drop him off, but after about five minutes he is fine.

Sheba update

Just wanted to give everyone an update on sweet little Sheba. Looks like she is not going to go into remission. We tried going down to one shot for the past week, and her glucose was back to being very high by the time the morning came around. So, she will probably have to be on the insulin shots the rest of her kitty life. We are still trying the one shot a day but increasing the dosage. She really is getting tired of getting the shots though. I don't blame her, shots don't feel good at all!! I hate doing it to her, because she flinches every time it goes in her skin. Will keep you guys posted on how she is doing.

School Time

They were pretending to be trains going under the tunnel. That is why they had the chairs lined up, so the kids could crawl underneath them. Gray had fun doing this, he actually went through twice.

Water painting is fun!!
Practicing for the music concert, he picked up pretty quickly what they were doing. So, they asked if he could join the concert at the end of the month. Grayden loves to dance around to music, and just be silly.

Gray at school

Sweet Sheba

Well, we just found out that princess Sheba has diabetes. While we were gone back in the U.S. she was having accidents in front of the litter boxes. When we came home she had lost a lot of weight and just did not look like she was feeling good. We thought she was depressed because we were gone for so long, or that the other cats were bothering her. So, I put her in our room with her food and water, and noticed she was consuming large amounts of water. She would finish the whole bowl by morning. That seemed odd to me, and she was still urinating in front of the litter box. I took her to the vet on Friday, and told her what was going on. They did blood work and found that her glucose levels were high. From her symptoms and the blood work they said it was diabetes. We had either a choice to put her down or try the insulin shots. They said that not doing anything would be very painful for her to go through. We decided to do the insulin shots because all of her other blood work was good. She has been on the shots since Saturday, and has been doing fine.Right now I give her two shots a day, one in the morning and the other at night. I hope that within a week or so she gets back to feeling better. The vet said there is a possibility that she could go into remission after being on this insulin for a month. I just hope that will happen with her. We love her so much and don't want her to be in any pain. I have had Sheba for thirteen years!! We hope to get some more with her.