This week has seemed very long and exhausting. We started the week with lofty goals to potty train our third child… we failed (at least for now). I cleared my schedule for the week so that I could stay home with Benjamin and focus on teaching him how to use the potty. Day one and two did not go well at all! About halfway through day three I remembered that we had a Peter Potty. Of course! Why didn’t I think of this before?!? Levi was fascinated by the potty training urinal, so I was sure it would be a hit for Ben as well. When I took it out of the box he freaked out – literally! He backed away from it crying and shaking saying, “No, no, no!” Well, I thought, maybe if he sees Levi using it, then he won’t be so scared; that didn’t work either. Now, Ben was afraid to go near the real potty as well. (sigh) We’ve decided to give the whole potty thing a break for now and try again sometime in the near future.
Among other things going on this week, potty training and being housebound for a few rainy days had added a bit more stress in our lives, so it was fun to be able to get out and enjoy some family time tonight. As part of a reading program at school, Anna got a free ticket to a Lake County Captains baseball game (minor league team of the Cleveland Indians). When I was ordering the tickets, I was a little apprehensive about taking Noah to the game because I wasn’t sure how he would do, but Ray convinced me that we should all go as a family. He was right. We had a lot of fun (despite the rain) and Noah was such a good baby (other than the exploding diaper in the first inning… good thing I packed an extra outfit!). He didn’t cry or fuss at all, just sat and enjoyed the game with the rest of us!
I’ll close by sharing with you a funny conversation that Ray had with Levi during the game:
Levi: “I need to go potty!” (starts to get up) “My pants are wet!”
Ray: “From the rain, or pee?”
Levi: “The rain... I think…. Maybe…”
f my daughter on Monday night. Ray was at the YMCA playing racquetball (as he does every Monday) and I was busy getting my boys into their jammies and tucking them into bed. After the boys were in bed, I came back into the living room and this is how I found my daughter... sitting on the couch reading "Junie B. Jones"! (she recently told me how much she loves reading chapter books) 
