Poop Patrol

Here's a new one....
Jameson came upstairs and was in the bathroom for quite sometime. Considering he was in there not long before that I figured it was time to check up on him. Needless to say I was quite shocked to find Jameson naked and standing in front of the sink washing his hands. I looked closely at his hands and saw poop. That's right, poop. I FREAKED!! I looked around in a panic and saw that there was no poop in the bathroom. I asked Jameson where the poop was and he very calmly explained it was in the basement. There was a sly smirk on his face when he made this shocking announcement. I asked him why he went in the basement rather than in the toilet and he said, "Because I wanted to".
"But honey, you always use the toilet."
"I didn't want to use the toilet."
Grrrrr
I wiped his bum and rushed to the basement. I found smudges of poop in different areas all over the basement. Angry, understatement. Upset, understatement. Annoyed, understatement. I went upstairs and grabbed a bucket of water and two rags. I turned the tv on for Stellan to watch Go Diego Go. Jameson also wanted to sit and watch but I instructed him that he would be coming downstairs to help me clean the poop. He actually thought this was a good idea and gladly joined me. We each grabbed a rag and went to work. Granted, he was just doing some light rubbing on the carpet but I thought it served as a good lesson. He grew impatient quite quickly and wanted to join his brother on the sofa. Uh, not so fast. He was quite upset when I told him he would be staying with me until everything was cleaned up. Besides, he was also pointing out the different spots where there was poop. Found some on the chair, some more on the train track, and yet more on the train. He then gladly pointed out that there was some poop on the big bouncy ball. Yep, that must have been the main source. By the looks of it, my best guess is that the poop somehow ended up on the ball and then the poop covered ball was bounced all over the basement. Oh my creative darlings.
By the time we finished cleaning up the poop Go Diego Go was all finished. I'm hoping that served a good lesson. We'll have to wait and see whether or not this happens again.
Anyone looking for a three year old houseguest? He's somewhat toilet trained and quite entertaining. Just let me know. He'll definitely keep you on your toes.

Buying a Van

So we did it, we bought a minivan. We've been searching the net and we've also been in contact with a dealer in nearby Langhorne PA. James finally found one located in Old Bridge NJ (no, we'd never heard of it either). We packed up the kids and headed out there. After an interesting drive out there through many different backroads, we ended up at the dealership. We headed inside and talked to David. He took us to the lot and showed us the van. The kids thought it was a playground. They loved crawling all over the van turning the lights on and off. We installed the car seats and headed out for a test drive. The kids thought it was great. They said how much they loved their new van. (A bit presumptuous.) We both really liked the van and decided to take the plunge.
We headed back to the dealership where James started the process of filling out the paperwork to buy the car. It was my job to keep the kids entertained. Thankfully there was an area with a tv and some toys, ancient dirty toys but toys nonetheless. The kids gladly played for a while but were obviously anxious to leave. At one point Jameson was lying on the floor looking under the toy box. He stood up and exclaimed that he was now chewing gum. YUCK! GROSS! I ran over and told him to spit it out. He was a bit surprised but spit out the half chewed stick into my hand. I truly wanted to puke! I threw it in the garbage and wiped my hands on an empty paper bag. Jameson still didn't see what the problem was and was now upset that he didn't get to chew a piece of gum. Didn't see the big deal?!?! Who knows how old it was? Who knows who dropped it on the floor and how long it was on the floor? Sick!!!
The boys were quickly losing it so I took them into the car to listen to CDs. Thankfully James was done the long process shortly thereafter and we were able to head home. We tried to follow the directions home but made several wrong turns before finally finding our way. Even though I keep getting lost, I still believe I have a good sense of direction. :)
We pick up our new-to-us Honda Odyssey tomorrow morning and have the DVD player installed tomorrow afternoon. Gotta keep the kids entertained on our trip to Syracuse this weekend.

Sweetest Thing

How cute!?
Jameson and I were having a conversation today that went as follows:
Mommy: "That's because Daddy is a good man."
Jameson: "No he's not."
Mommy: "Why not?"
Jameson: "Daddy's a great daddy."

So simple and clear to him.

Dinner

When we got home from church James got a phone call from his co-worker Jong asking if we'd like to join the gang in Palmer Square in downtown Princeton. Sounded like a better alternative to scrounging around in the fridge for whatever I could dig up. There would be one couple from Amsterdam, a guy from Germany and a couple from Korea with their 18 month son. I was quite excited for this adventure, relishing the fact that we actually got to go out and get to know James' co-workers a bit better. A promising sign, Jameson didn't even complain about the clothes I wanted him to wear. :)

We were fortunate enough to find an ideal parking spot on the street, less than a block from the determined meeting place. We hauled the behemoth stroller out of the trunk and strapped the kids in. A rather large tantrum followed when Jameson realized that Stellan got a steering wheel but he didn't. (Who designs a stroller like that anyway? Obviously they've never heard of sibling rivalry.) Ignoring the glares of everyone around us, we tried to calm him down while heading to the restaurant. We were pleased to see the group at a table on the patio. What a quaint setting. We steered the monstrosity of a stroller (is it obvious that I'm not a fan of the double stroller?!?!) onto the patio, unloaded the kids and parked the now folded up stroller in a corner. We were a bit tight but it would do. We promptly ordered the kids apple juice and then helped ourselves to the bread.

The kids noticed the large fountain at the entrance of the restaurant and wanted to see it. (Well, Stellan calls it a mountain but it's close enough, we know what he means.) We took our turns entertaining the kids and even managed to keep them dry.

Our pokey waiter, who was very nice despite the fact that he was so slow, took our order for the boys and brought it back relatively quickly. (Afterall, how difficult is it to make pasta with marinara sauce?) But then it took him FOREVER to take our orders. The boys finished their meal before we even placed our orders. Lovely. What to do now? Well, back to the fountain we went. A woman came up with her two boys and we started chatting. Now I have another person to call for playdates! I'm so glad I meet such nice people. Looking forward to getting together with her soon.

I headed back to the table to place our order while James played with the kids. James came back long enough to tell the waiter what he wanted and then headed back to the fountain. We both ordered salads, we really weren't that hungry.
Unfortunately for James he wasn't able to spend much time actually sitting and talking. Fortunately for me, I have a wonderful husband who let me sit and talk to his co-workers. (A bit ironic, I get it.) I really liked everyone and had a great time learning more about them and their countries. (Did you know that they never take "doggie bags" home in Europe? A new experience for them and one that they don't expect to adopt while living here.)
Our meals came and I choked when I saw James'. He had the smallest salad I thought it was an appetizer. No wonder he's so skinny! A short while later James came over and said that he needed to change Stellan's diaper, he pooped. I asked if it could wait long enough for us to eat our salads (afterall, two bites and he'd be done).
"Uh, no honey, it's pretty bad."
"It can't wait 5 minutes?"
"I think it's a blow out."
"Oh."
James took him to the car while I persuaded/bribed Jameson to sit long enough for me to eat my salad (large enough for a meal and very delicious!!). James was gone for quite some time, I was a bit concerned. He came back carrying Stellan who was now clad only in a t-shirt, a diaper, socks and shoes. How embarrassing!! (For me, not for him. He couldn't care less!) Apparently it was a blow out indeed. The shirt should have come off too but I'm sure there was a sign somewhere that said "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service". At least we had those covered! Unfortunately, due to the soiled shirt, there was now a noticeable smell that followed Stellan. Needless to say, this was the end of our evening. James quickly finished his two bite salad, paid the bill and away we went.
We promised to get together with his co-workers again once we find a reliable babysitter.

Sunday School

So cute! This is what we heard in our back seat on the way to church this morning.
Jameson: "Stellan, want to go to Sunday school with me?"
Stellan: "Yep"
Jameson: "We sing about Jesus and stay in Jesus' house."
Stellan: "Yep"
Jameson: "Stellan, you gonna come with me to Sunday school?"
Stellan: "Yep"
Jameson: "OK, good."

Makes me so proud. :)