Callapidder Days

It’s been a long, long time since I posted anything remotely resembling a “real” blog post. Yes, I’ve been getting out the book reviews and giveaways, and have hit a meme or two. But a normal, focused, real post? I can’t even remember the last time I wrote one.

Don’t get your hopes up about this post, though. If my instincts are right, it promises to be nothing more than a random, rambling, catch-up kind of post… a little something to assuage my non-blogging guilt.

So, to start off this rambling discourse, here are some milestones and occasions we’ve experienced over the last few weeks.

1. L.’s third birthday

Yes, L. turned 3 at the end of May! He woke up sick that day (because we were at the tail end of 3 weeks of illness — ugh), but the sight of presents revived him quite a bit. We didn’t have a big party, but C. didn’t have school and Chad didn’t have work, so we had a rather celebratory day: breakfast at Panera, family walk at the local trail, cake and ice cream in the evening. All in all a very nice day, even though it’s hard to believe L. is already three years old!

2. C.’s last day of fourth grade.

Again — hard to believe! How can my “little boy” be ready to head into middle school next year? It just doesn’t seem possible.

C. had a good school year with a wonderful teacher, so the end of school was a teeny bit bittersweet. But he’s definitely happy to have weeks and weeks of summer in front of him. Here he is, heading off to his final day of elementary school.

[Side note: When I was young, elementary school lasted until 6th grade, and then you went to "Junior High" for three years. When did fourth grade become the end of elementary school?]

3. C.’s piano recital.

Just this weekend, we attended a piano recital in which C. was a participant. As the program was about to get started, I asked C. if he was okay, and he informed me that he was very nervous and that he had actually not fully memorized the piece he was supposed to play from memory and that he was sure he was going to make a ton of mistakes and wished he just didn’t have to do it at all.

But when his turn to perform came around, he did a fantastic job. Not a single mistake. His piece from memory was flawless and the piece he did as a duet with his teacher (“Popeye the Sailor Man”) was whimsical and perfect. Good job, C.!

4. POTTY TRAINING

I put that one in all-caps because that’s how it feels in my brain. I’ve been completely absorbed by the POTTY TRAINING process for the last 12 days or so.

Clearly, I was a bit insane, because I jumped directly from three weeks of illness (both boys and I were sick forever, while Chad had a few days of sneezing and sniffling) into potty training. Literally, the very first day L. and I woke up feeling better, I spontaneously decided that it would be a good day to start the potty training process. I really should have given myself a few days’ reprieve first, but I had apparently forgotten that the potty training process — with all of its messes, vigilance, and emotional taxation — is exhausting. And on top of it all, I’m a horrible potty-trainer.

I’m happy to say, though, that we have made some progress. We even made a few outings this weekend (including hours at church) during which L. stayed completely dry. There are still some obstacles left to conquer, but I’m finally feeling a bit less stressed about the whole potty training thing. Yes, we’ll be sticking close to home most of the time for the foreseeable future, but I have hope that potty training won’t take two years, which was a concern of mine during the first messy, conflict-filled days of this “adventure.”

5. Playing games

Gamewright recently sent me a handful of their newest games to try and review, and we were happy to tear into them. Watch for reviews soon. I’m especially excited about one game that L. — at “just-turned-three” — has already mastered and loves to play. I’m a big fan of games that the younger set can grasp and enjoy.

Okay, that about covers it. Those are the things I’ve been doing while I’ve been not-blogging. I have to admit, it feels good to sit down and type up a blog post, “real” or not!