Three Years and a Checkup

Khai's not officially three years old yet, but its close enough for a yearly physical. I was extremely surprised and impressed at how good he was! He wasn't scared, he was cooperative and he was very polite to Dr. Kelly, and for this he earned himself a sticker which he proudly wore on his arm the rest of the afternoon. I also promised to take him to Toys R Us and got him a new Thomas book and some new jammies - which he calls his Thomas space suit.

He looks so cute in his little footies..

Stats from the visit:

Height - 37''

Weight - 32 lbs 3.02oz

Noggin size - 20''

Peeing for M&Ms

Today marks Day 5 of peeing in the potty. Last Friday I stopped off at the store and purchased two small bags of M&Ms on Johns suggestion to use them as potty treats/bribes. They work!!! Its amazing how great they work!!! I never knew one teeny little M&M could have so much power. Just one!! Khai falls over himself to use the potty just to get a single treat, all the while begging for more. Its been about a month or more now that he's announced "Diapers are for babies, I'm a big boy now" and steady sings "No more diapers for meeee". We still use diapers on him for bedtime but have made the full on switch to pull ups during the day. Honestly, I hate pull ups, but they make Khai feel like he's wearing underwear - he calls them his underwear. I'm not sure he's fully ready for the real deal yet though, as he still is pooping in the pull ups (that’s why I hate them... not an easy clean up) despite my bribes of TWO M&M's. I think next week I'll bring underwear and some extra clothes to the preschool and let them start working on it. My attempts a few weeks ago left the entire pack of underwear covered in poo. It wasn't a fun afternoon. Then again, I don’t think it'll be pleasant coming to pickup Khai at the end of the day and being handed a baggie full of poopie underwear.. oh well, it’s the process and we'll get there. He's pretty excited about wearing his Thomas and Cars underwear.. so hopefully he'll transition over as fast as his interest has been for peeing in the potty. Fingers crossed!

Too funny - the other evening he was on the potty hoping to earn his treat. Working pretty hard for it actually. In the other room he heard a Thomas song playing on the TV. He said "Mama, I HAVE to dance!!" I said "Khai Khai, you're on the potty, you can't go dance now." Torn between his need to dance and his desire to earn a treat, he freaked out and started to cry there on the toilet. Finally he couldn't take it anymore, he asked to get off and ran to the living room and stood there in the buff, bawling his eyes out, doing his little two step move. When that was all done, he went back to the potty and sat there crying, trying to earn his treat. I love this kid.

My Little Big Boy

I spent quite a lot of time just staring at you this weekend. Every little bit of you. Your nose, your cheeks, the way you talked, the silly faces you made, the mean faces you made, the way you wiggled your toes, picked your nose, laughed, danced. And its times like these where I'm in such awe of who you are and what you've become in three short years. I found myself getting teary eyed with pride many times, only to burst out laughing as you suddenly did or said the most random thing. Sometimes I simply cannot believe that you came from me. I can't get over the fact that I'm a mom, your mom. Then there are times that I can't remember a day when I didn't have you in my life. And to think, its been a year since you started pre-school now. It seems like yesterday I was busy researching schools in the area, stressing out because I really had no idea what I was doing and worried that I wouldn't get you into the right place. We've had some ups and downs with your school, Sparkles, but in the end I think its been a good starting place for you. It makes me really happy that you are enjoying yourself and have developed good relationships with your classmates. You've flourished so much there and I'm so proud of the little man you've become. You continue to amaze me each day with all the new things you learn and how bright you are. And now you are just about ready to move into the Three's room - you'll be graduating from your very first class ever! My mind is spinning over the thought. You were just a teeny little baby in my arms the other day Khai! Time flies at such an amazing speed. Every time I turn around you are up to new things. I love that now you have your own ideas and opinions and you definitely aren't afraid to voice them. I love that you have such a passion for trains. It blows my mind that at this age you know all the details about trains - things I don't even know. I'm always wondering how you know these things, where you learned these words, phrases, sounds. I cannot wait to take you on this train ride we have planned for you for your birthday. I think it'll be one you'll talk about for a long time to come.
I love that you also have this passion for dancing. You hear a song and instantly your feet start to shuffle. You have this cute little two-step move that you do. Cracks me up every time. It doesn’t matter what you are doing or where you are.. you hear a song and you say Mama, I HAVE to dance and off you go.
Even more of a favorite, you are so sweet (when you want to be.. and I say this because you can be just as much of a little devil!) and you always tell me you love me. Its a lot like the dancing, where you could be in the middle of anything.. crying, laughing, playing, eating.. and you'll stop and say "I love you Mama", followed by a kiss. And I love how for you its not complete until you get that kiss in. I love the feeling of knowing that I'm your number one (at least for now!!) I love how when I'm down, you are always there to cheer me up. When I cry, you cry. When I laugh, you laugh. You always tell me "Its ok Mama, its ok" when things aren't. I love your tiny hand in mine. I get sad when I hold your little feet and they aren't so little anymore. I love your long hair and your long eyelashes and how every time I hug and kiss you its not enough! Every morning when we wake up, we say "The sun is up, the moon is down" - I'm going to miss saying that with you one of these days. I hope that day doesn't come anytime soon. I could go on and on with my list of favorites and loves. I love everything about you Khai, even your worst moments. You are my best friend, my little buddy, my big boy, my baby.

Transitions

I guess here would be the best time to transition over from Khai writing to me writing - although i'm still way behind. I'm not sure how I had so much more time to post before. I thought I had the zombie mom thing down.. maybe its finally caught up to me as I find myself going to bed when I put Khai to bed each night, more and more these days. Ok, let me take that back, I fall asleep as I'm waiting for Khai to fall asleep. I'm not sure who really falls asleep first, all I know is that I wake up and its the middle of the night and I say to hell with it and go back to sleep. I have every intention each night to get up after he's fallen asleep and work on the countless projects i've started.. .. it never happens. And on the random night like last night, where I did have a little time, I opted to do a whole lot of nothing, but veg on the couch and catch a breath and a break.
Anyways, I've successfully re-added the 2009 pictures i've lost and slowly will make my way backwards to get everything else back in place. I keep making new goals for myself to get caught up on this blog and the photo albums.. hopefully this is my last goal set and I can do it once and for all!

Smith Mountain Lake

This past weekend, Khai, Carter, John and I went to Smith Mountain Lake. The Moseley family goes every year but this was Khai's first time and he was more than excited. He had been anticipating the trip for weeks prior only to get sick the week we originally planned to go. Thankfully he got over his terrible cold and we made the 4 plus hour drive there the following weekend. This trip came with many firsts for Khai: first time on a boat, first time at a beach, first time playing in the sand and collecting shells, first time in a real pool, first time on a long car ride, first family vacation. He amazed us with his positive mood the entire time and his joy of each first. We were especially impressed with his fearlessness on the boat and in the pool. Most of the time in the pool he'd say "Mommy DON"T hold me! I can do it myself!!" as he kicked his little big boy feet and paddled off, testing his limits. And ever since his pool adventure, he now loves taking baths - which used to be torture for him.

A brief history on the lake:

Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural southwestern Virginia, Smith Mountain Lake was created to generate electricity and to help manage water flows downstream and nearby. The lake was formed when they built a damn back in 1963.... and the filling of the lake was finally completed 2.5 years later. The lake is 20,600 acres with 500 miles of shoreline and is approximately 40 miles long. The surface covers some 32 square miles and the highest water level is about 795 feet above sea level.

We left early Friday morning and not long after we hit the highway, we were detoured due to a major accident. Someone got plowed by a mack truck. We stopped mid way for lunch at a Mcdonalds/gas station/who knows what else that place had.. it was awful. Never ever never again shall we stop there. We enjoyed the rest of the drive there though, lots of trees and mountain scenery but lots of stupid drivers on the road. We made it to the lake around dinner time and took the boat out to the marina and stopped in for some Chinese. Khai was a mixture of apprehensive and excited as he got on the boat. The ride back home was full on excitement for him. No more fear. Next morning it rained. We passed the morning at a coffee shop and afterwards the arcade. The kids had a blast earning tickets towards prizes. Finally the sun came out and we headed for the pool followed by the beach. Khai loved playing in the sand, collecting shells and rocks. We played on the beach until the sun went down and spent our last morning at the pool. Khai couldn't get enough of it and was really upset when we had to leave. We'll definitely be going back next year, and without a doubt will stay longer than two days this time!

Star Gazing

Just hanging out with Papa, checking out the stars.

Train Conductor and Indian

Khai picked this train conductor outfit out today at Toys R Us as his Halloween costume. He wore it all evening long and so I decided i'd stick a headband around my head and a Spongebob party blower in my hair and well, i'm not sure if this counts as Native American, but thats what i'm going for. Then we decided this would be a perfect birthday picture for Cooper since he's going with the Spongebob theme this year. I love when things work out this way! :-)

Garden Rolls.

Mmmmm...nom nom nom.. Garden rolls are one of my most favorite things to eat in the whole world. This is Khai's FIRST one!! Success!! Momma is happy.