Naptime status & Places I've found my children

This is a naptime update. From yesterday. Here is Laura:

Here's where Kendra fell asleep:
And this is now Evan spent naptime. But he was quiet and good while the girls napped, so all was well!
Today's naptime is surprising to say the least. Laura napped, of course. Kendra didn't nap, which isn't surprising for lately, but she did finally start trying to yank Chad's iced mocha out of his hands. Maybe she knew she'd need the caffeine boost to make it until bedtime. The surprising part of naptime is that Evan is napping. Wow!

Now, on to more pictures. Following are some of the places I've found the kids in the last couple of days. First, Laura inside the changing table:
Kendra sleeping underneath her pillow. This did not work out so well for her. Evan woke up to get a drink of water and must not have realized she was under the pillow before climbing on it to reach his water off their little table.
Laura again, this time working her way up the stairs.And, this one wasn't really a "finding" the kids. I was sitting watching them. But I had fun trying to catch some mid-somersault pictures, so I thought I'd share one.

Why didn't I think of that?

This morning, Chad and I are still laying in bed. Evan and Kendra have come out to the living room to play. Evan comes running back into our room. "Mommy! Daddy! The fan in the living room is making a loud noise! You've got to come hear it!"
Mommy replies, "What's it sound like?"
Evan's answer: "It sounds kind of like ... there's a bear in the car's engine."
Now why didn't I think of describing it that way when I called my brother to listen to it?

Wow ... a positive attitude works. Who knew.

So after a rotten lousy crummy bad day here yesterday, today is great! Like night and day difference between yesterday and today. Since yesterday afternoon, I had spent a lot of time praying about how to be a better mom to my kids and how not to get so crabby with them and how to get them to obey and lots of things like that. My first plan of attack was not to get crabby with them. Even if they were being naughty, still don't let my crabbies out. This morning was perfect! Like old time tv family perfect, like everyone wants their family to be like this perfect. Amazing! Thank you, God! Do I expect every day to be like this? Not a chance. Is naptime going well today? Yeah, right, like that ever happens anymore. But, I am optimistic. Our morning renewed my love for my children, renewed my faith that God will help us through things as long as we honestly seek His guidance, renewed my belief that I can be a competent mommy to our three lovebugs, and renewed my vision of our carpet (no, really, we can see carpet again. The kids helped me pick up toys!)

Anti-whine drug?

This is one of those days where I'm needing help "cherishing these days". Does anyone have any advice for getting a 2-year-old girl to stop whining? I'm stumped and getting sick of the whining about everything. If I had some spare time, I'd work on developing an anti-whine drug, but I don't have that kind of time, so I'm needing some advice from any readers.

Bedtime Prayer

All of those child-rearing books I refuse to read say that you should have a bedtime routine for your children. Our bedtime routine isn't real involved, but there is at least a little consistency. Once Evan and Kendra are in bed, we read them a Bible story, pray, and sing. Ideally, Evan and Kendra each take a turn praying, but that doesn't happen every night since their autonomy is in high gear lately. They did both pray tonight though. Evan prays his "thank you's" and then his "help's". Tonight his thank you's included "thank you that I got to go to my grandma's house, thank you for my new tomatoes from Great Grandma, and thank you for my new blackberries from farmers market". And his help was "Help me to sleep good tonight and wake up in the morning and say thank you, Lord, that I woke up". A very proud parenting moment! A wonderfully, sweet, earnest prayer that he has not heard anyone else pray; he thought of it himself.

Then Kendra prayed. Her thank you's included Grandma's house and her cousins Emily and Kyle. A good start! She was stuck on her help. I asked her if she wanted to pray "help me to not whine" since her mommy and daddy have been praying for some help for her in that area. Her reply? "Nooooo, I dooooonnnnn't". In a very whiny tone. At least her prayers are honest and she doesn't pray for something she doesn't want!

Glad it isn't winter

Today was one of those days to be reminded to "cherish these days". Were the kids bad? Not really. Were they ornery? Not really. Were they whiny and crabby? Not all of them. It just wasn't a very good day for some reason. Laura was wonderful and took two huge naps and even ate baby cereal and drank some water from a sippy cup tonight after Evan and Kendra were in bed. Evan was a bit defiant, but that's par for the course for him lately. Kendra was rather whiny and crabby, but considering how big of days we've had the last week, that's not completely unexpected. Part of what made the day seem long was how many times I had to wash my hands, which is where the title of this post comes in. Had it been winter, my hands would have been cracked and bleeding from the repeated washing very early in the day. I wish I had kept count today of how many times Kendra dirtied her Pull-Up/underwear/on the potty today. And each time required about 3 hand washings by me. I would take the offending poo out of whatever she was wearing at the time but leave her in that undergarment because she would be crying that she needed to go more yet. I'd wash my hands. Then she'd go sit on the potty for a while, I'd wipe her, I'd wash my hands. She'd finally decide to quit sitting on the potty, I'd need to wipe her again because she had gone again, I'd wash my hands. And repeat about 7 times for the day. Am I complaining about the time spent on this process? A bit. Am I upset about her going so many times? Not at all! Those of you who know Kendra know she has problems going. I'd take 7 times where she's willingly trying and succeeding without screaming in one day over 4 days without anything anytime!