Potty Boot Camp

Oh yes I see a light at the end of the tunnel! No, not like I'm dying, the good kind of light... The kind of light that says to me, "No more diapers if you can make this happen." That's right, we are potty training the last of the lineage. This weekend, little Andrew was entered into Potty Boot Camp.

For those of you who don't know what Sandwisch Potty Boot Camp is, well let me enlighten you. Beginning on Friday, Mr. Andrew was no longwer allowed to wear any clothes from the waist down. Jen and I then focus all of our time on beating the notion of potty training into his head every minute of the day. It's intense, it's messy, and it's tiring. So here we are at the end of day two and I have the following items to report that have been involved in the process:

- 1 Minature kiddy potty, with about 47 stickers, including the letters A N D Y

- 1 Fully suportive sister (Katie: "SEEEE, you can go pee pee in the potty Andrew, just like ME! You are a big boy!")

- 3 Library children's books on the subject read each night

- 1 Potty video (Yes they really have them, and I can tell you that wathing it will make you feel like you are somewere in the the Mr. Rogers Twilight Zone)

- 1,385 Times asking Andy, "Do you need to go to the potty?"

- 1 Accident (#1) early on

- 1 Accident (#2) while trying on his underwear while at Tim and Kathy's house... Sorry guys! Yuck!

- 1 Time Andy came to me and actually said "Daddy, I need to go potty" (Cha Ching!)

- 1 Time Andy tried to go by himslef while we weren't looking, STANDING UP. (If you can imagine someone trying to use an imaginry Hoola-Hoop while holding a hose between thier legs, and making disturbing grunting sounds... well then you can picture what I discovered when I came on the scene...)

- 2 Totally exhausted parents

- 1 Very enthusiastic boy

He is doing great, due to the nakedness, I don't have a good picture to share.

Also, we went to see Tim, Kathy, Nicole, and Tommy today. (Only true friends would invite us over in the middle of all of this!) They cooked up some mean grub and we had a great time connecting. Below is a shot of Cole and Katie sharing the love.

Spring Slideshow

Here it is, fresh off the grill, enjoy!

Spring 2007 Slideshow

Pertty Maids all in a Row

Katie's Ballet Recital is coming up and today she had her first dress rehearsal. She is in the class with some of her close friends and they love the tutus and dancing it up. The class is performing "Little Miss Muffet". It's crazy what a deal they (the class) makes out of this, I mean there is a LOT of prep for the production, including detailed instructions on make-up... you name it. Katie got to wear mascara for the first time today. About 10 seconds before her picture, she rubbed her eyes, leaving her looking more like Little Miss Goth Muffet. Luckily Jen dashed in and saved the day with some quick scrubbing. We know we are biased but we think she is the cutest one of the group.

Me, You and Shamu

I have spent a few posts recently knocking Southern California. Well, Jen was showing me some shots from a recent trip she and the kids had at Sea World and it I just had to post one of these and try to restore some Karmic balance to SoCal perspective.

Being locals in San Diego, we are able to visit the big attractions during off-peak hours. This photo is taken on a day when Jen, Amy and the kids got to have some quality 1:1 time with Shamu. The exhibit is incredible but usually you have to fight for a patch of glass against a hundred other tourists. On this early weekday morning, the kids got to just sit by themselves, and watch as the killer whale made endless passes, flirting with them from just a few feet away with each fly-by.

Pretty neat stuff.

Cast Away

Big news in the house! Katie got her cast taken off! Man, I can't believe how fast that 3 weeks went. She was very brave in the removal process, no crying, and I quote, "I wasn't even scared!" Everything looks good and we are gearing up to do some swimming soon. Our pool pump broke and we gotta pay some bucks to get it fixed but we should be in the water this weekend.


The below pic is from my birthday. The stickers are from the Pin the Tail on the Donkey game Jen got us. Of course, in true Sandwisch fashion, once we were done with the donkey, we plastered ourselves with tails and giggles. (I decided not to post the picture of Katie bending over and showing the one she had stuck to her bottom...)

Busy Weekend

I've got a few minutes here at work before I head home so I thought I'd update ya'll on the weekend.

Pretty busy around here celebrating stuff. My 37th birthday (yes I'll say it again... THIRTY SEVEN). Dear lord it hurts even to write it out, let alone say it out loud. As I cross the border into "closer to 40 than anything else" I have to say, the realization of my age is a scary prospect with no visable means of escape. Honestly, I look in the mirror and I still picture this 20-year-old guy who only wants to have fun... Weird. I really don't see a guy who is on the cusp of middle age! Man, am I in denial or what?

Jen was totally awesome in giving me the perfect birthday. I took off work early on Friday. Jen had bought these totally-3rd-grade Star Wards decorations (you know, Vader, Yoda, etc.) and hung them around the house. She had also had posters made by her and the kids wishing me a happy birthday. There were presents and snacks, and all kinds of fun. The topper had to be the authentic "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" game that she set-up.

We made the mistake of decorating before nap time. The kids didn't nap as they were so wound-up over the concept of presents and the decorations. After giving in to the reality that they weren't going to sleep, we opened a few gifts in the early afternoon. Then we set off to Dave and Busters at 4:00 for food and games. The kids were out of control and actually making the experience quite challenging as we tried to eat before we played games. I was starving, they hadn't napped, and we were all struggling to gel at the beginning.

Then miraculously (after my 2 giant margaritas) everything seemed to be really fun!

Seriously, the food was great (I had a giant Philly Steak Sandwich). And the kids went nuts on the games. We played everything. Jen had gotten us free passes for an hour so we were racing from game to game to get our money's worth. We were all exhausted after the frenzied video-gorging. I think my 2 highlights in the arcade were:

1) Andy playing this "Shoot-em-up" game where he was holding this GIANT rifle, complete with vibrating recoil -- he was basically knocking himslef backwards every time he pulled the trigger, but he was giggling so hard the whole time that it was hysterical. The second the game was over, he say, "I wa play gin!" (Yes yes, viololence, video-games, I'm a bad parent.)

2) Katie and I playing Donkey-Kong. Yes, they had the original there, circa 1976. And my old "jump the barrel" muscle memory hand-eye coordination skills flowed back into me like riding a bike. Kate loved it cause each level was all about saving the princess. Very fun. Flashed me back to playing Donkey Kong in the local Rusty's Pizza in Magnolia Shopping Center when I was like 7.

Saturday, Jen let me sleep in. She took the kids to two birthday parties in the am. Too much candy and too much fun left the kids in bad shape. I watched them Saturday night (while Jen went out with some friends) and Katie was literally "out of her mind' until about 10pm. It was a dark time I can assure you.

Sunday was, of course, Mommies day. Jen and the kids were vegetables at this point. Per Jen's request, we observed Mommy's Day by giving Mommy lots of space and rest. I took the kids as much as I could (poor Jen still had to help out in the midday) but we were able to get her an afternoon nap as well.

That's pretty much the recap, no pics yet but Ill shoot you some on the next post.

My Special Day

Last night Katie had an event at her school called "My Special Day." The idea is that she gets to choose a parent to bring to class in the evening for an hour of 1:1 play time. I was very honored that Katie wanted me to come with her. Pulled some double-duty babysitting time for one of Katie's calssmates (+ Andy) and Katie and I then headed over to her school.

Well things started off very special as we did a craft together... then Katie ran into one of her good friends in class and suddenly daddy might as well been invisible! I manged to stay cool and try not to look too abandoned (although I kinda felt like I had a "L" on my forhead.) Katie was content to play with her friend while I kinda did stuff next to them in uber third-wheel fashion. It was a pretty funny picture with my 6'3" self sitting in one of those itty bitty chairs trying to include myself while I mashed on some pink play-dough...

Next time I'm going to tie some Barbies around my nck to ensure I get the propoer attention!

Actually, it was a lot of fun, seeing Katie in her element was great and her teachers seem awesome.

Devotions of a patient brother...

The setting: Sunday afternoon, and Katie is running the show.

The Game: Some kind of pre-halloween dress-up combined with a Cinderella story with red-sparkly shoes.

The characters: Well, mostly Andy, wandering around with a big grin and this mesh toy hamper over his head. Why? Who knows, but Katie seemed to think it was important that this was his costume, even though I couldn't for the life of me see any connection to Katie's Cinderella fantasy.

THe reason for this post: Not sure I can articulate. I was tickled by the look on Andy's face as he just kep following her around, taking orders and smiling all the while, seemingly content with being the walking pink mesh-box. Something about it said volumes about thier personalities, goofiness, and overall relationship.