Some fun pics from March . . . content to follow :)

Our boy band - March 2012 (BGA)

Aidan the "One Man Band" (they LOVE that short on the Cars movie)

Just a little picnic after some bounce housing - Clockwise from bottom - Brady, Aidan, Gavin, Santi, Te'a, Anna and Juliette

My sweet, sweet boys in their Bouncy Castle (Gavin's preferred name for it) (BGA)

A little light bouncing before they came to pick it up the next morning (G&B)

Chillaxing with some popsicles - Aidan asked me if I "wanted to take [their] picture" (GAB) And I don't know why Gavin keeps playing with his nipple. :)

Aidan focuses

Brady looks perplexed. :)

Gavin is still on that nipple!

Then we had some water fun - only way to get the popsicle off! You should have SEEN how funny they were spraying each other! Right in the face!

We Love NANDO'S!!! (GAB)

At the Doha zoo - Gavin climbing a ridiculously high climbing wall, complete with broken hand holds.

AGB- looked cute.

Aidan and his serious look.

Gavin and Dad

Check out that AIR! and no, we didn't have any holes in the diaper this time.

GBA jump it up . . .

A&B do some backwards sliding

Brady catches some major air!

Penis/Ginus

Aidan REALLY likes being safe.

So, the boys have been learning about all the body parts and are really GETTING the difference between boys and girls. Or at least that there IS a difference. The boys can MOSTLY say vagina, but of COURSE they know penis. Aidan asked me the other day if a girl in his class had a penis, and I said "No, ____ is a girl." and Aidan says, "Does she have a ginus?" Genius . . . :)

Brady seems like he is our existential kid these days. He gets that certain animals give us things (cows: milk) and certain plants give us things (oranges: orange juice). He asked me the other day "what animal gives us water?" That may seem a little strange, but I thought it was really cool that he is trying to put together where things come from and that something as ubiquitous as water must come from something! It's been a couple of months now that he has begun asking "Who made me?" My answer has been "Your daddy and I and God." This question progressed to animals and who made them, so my answer has been "God made them." Brady asks me in the mall the other day "Why did God make everything?" It pretty much stopped me in my tracks. These are the types of questions I really WANT to have an answer to, but I also know that his answer would probably be better than anything I can come up with. Our amazing friend Tom T. gave me some advice and a little insight that by the time kids are asking these types of questions, they have probably been thinking about them by themselves for awhile, so they may have some pretty interesting/insightful answers themselves. It's hard to deftly allow space for him to answer the question without feeling like i'm just trying to get out of answering it myself. :) But I will try. :)

Potty Training for Gavin. Well, i will say we are making BABY STEPS in this area. After a pointed discussion with his teacher at school about some choices made by one of the aides and our expectations, along with ensuring more open communication about what is happening at school, he has peed in the potty at school at least 4 times, though he has indicated more days than the teachers have told me. That is pretty exciting. Though when we offer for him to sit on the toilet, he pretty much always refuses and has said things like "I will pee on the potty at school." When we have said, "If you pee/poop on the toilet at home you will get a treat AND a sticker." it doesn't seem to phase him one bit. I will say that Gavin has now told us that he has a dirty diaper on 3 or 4 occasions. This is HUGE, since he has NEVER cared he had a dirty diaper enough to get it changed, so we are rewarding that with lots of praise and enthusiasm. While it isn't a big deal yet, I will say I will be delighted when he is potty trained. For him AND us.

In this arena, Aidan and Brady are on like Donkey Kong. It's been pretty awesome. Several weeks ago, Brady was REALLY regular about #2. Like every time he went to the bathroom, he would poop. At one point over the weekend, Curt says, "Brady, you are a pooping machine!" but that was about it. A few weeks later, after I am helping him wipe his bottom (meaning, I am wiping his bottom) Brady busts out with "Mom, I'm a pooping machine! What's a pooping machine?" I nearly died laughing. He thought he was pretty funny too and so he now says it after just about every successful trip to the toilet. After about a week of that, he had wiped his nose and a lone booger made its way to his finger. As I was getting a tissue to wipe his hand off he says "I'm a booger machine!" - Again, hilarious. Aidan and Gavin have picked up on this trend as well and Aidan has called himself a peeing machine, an eating machine (which he is) and today Gavin called himself a "Changing Machine" - after getting his diaper changed and a "Drinking Machine" at lunch. I love how each of them wanted to get in on the action.

The boys class had a trip to Pizza Express last week. I wasn't sure how jazzed i was about it, but they were able to make their own personal cheese pizza and we got some AMAZING pictures. It is amazing how differently the boys react to these types of situations. Gavin was immediately interested in what was going on and totally chill to have the lunch lady hat and apron on. He was ready to dive right in with the dough and the sauce and toppings too. Aidan pretty much grabbed on to my leg and said he didn't want to do it for the first 25 minutes we were there. I think he was a little overwhelmed by all of the people there (2 classrooms of kids plus all parents/caretakers). Brady hung back with Aidan, but was SOOOOO interested in what was going on. I think he was hanging back to help Aidan out, not because he was feeling shy. In the end, everyone made their own pizza, had their EARLY lunch with friends and got some ice cream (yes, at 1030 AM - what can you do?) as part of the deal.

"I will wear the hair net and plastic apron, but you can't make me like it. "Aidan is his mother's son.

Gavin is just too sweet.

No really, too sweet - giving friend Te'a a kiss.

"OK, so maybe this is more interesting than i thought it would be" - Aidan

Flatten my own dough? AWESOME! - Gavin

Hey, look at all of these kids doing the same thing! They don't mind getting their hands dirty . . . - Aidan

Thank you for showing me the "right" way to do it - Brady

I won't eat cheese the rest of the time, but i love adding it to this! - Gavin

I am my father's son - cheese must be placed equidistant from every other piece of cheese on the pizza. - Aidan

BOOM! CHEESE! - Brady

The final product - we ate our granola bars with a little more gusto than the pizza, but ended up having a great morning! (BGA)

Well, since Curt found us a house in his whirlwind trip to Iowa City we have begun talking with the boys about what our new place will be like. They have been telling us what they are looking forward to (with Aidan being the MOST vocal about the lawn mowers). They are looking forward to living near their mowers, grandparents, cousins noah and gabe and snow. I wonder what they think our new place will be like - they will be next door to their cousins and grandparents with a foot of snow and their mowers at the ready?!

Gavin does the magnet puzzle!

B and G goofing around a little in the car

Proud parent alert - the boys are TAKING OFF on their letters and numbers. On 18 March Gavin wrote a legible "S" and "5" on the bathroom wall (in the tub) and could distinguish which was which for me. He also says as we are reading one of our dinosaur books, "That's a deinonychus."And he was right, that was what was written under it, even though it could have been some version of a TRex for all i could tell. The best part about that for me was how clearly he articulated it, especially since he seemed to speak without any enunciation for quite some time. We knew he had it goin' on, we are just excited to see how his language is developing by leaps and bounds. I do think his arabic class helps that as he LOVES it (he just plain loves school in general), but he also likes repeating after our Spanish language CDs, and trying new words out he hears people say in other languages. One of the many gifts of having friends who speak Spanish, German, Russian, French, Swedish and Arabic (and of course who are teaching their kids as well!). Amazing.

Gavin the cowboy doctor (no, he doesn't treat cowboys, just dresses like them)

Brady and his lego cane.

And the story that both thrills me and breaks my heart a little bit. So, we have two books that mention bullies/bullying. One is focused on it and the other just has it as part of a rhyme. Several mornings ago as I am changing Gavin to get him ready for the day, Brady is sitting on the floor waiting to get lotioned up and dressed. He says to me "Mom, what's a bully?" So I explain a bully is someone who is very aggressive or who says something mean to someone to try and get their way. Then Brady says, "Mom, am I a bully sometimes?" I nearly died. But the truth is, sometimes, he really is, especially with his brothers. So I said, "well, honey, yes, sometimes you are a bully. I know you are a good boy, but sometimes you do and say things to try and hurt your brothers or scare them to get your way." (inside I was doing a deep breathing exercise) Then I asked him when he thought he was being a bully and he tells me "well, sometimes when my brother has a toy I want and I hit him, or scream at him or try to take something from him." and I told him that yes, that was when I thought he was being a bully too, but that there were LOTS of other times when he wasn't a bully that he asked for turns and shared with his brothers and did and said kind things to them. I also told him that I knew he loved his brothers and didn't WANT to hurt or scare them, but that sometimes it was really hard to be patient and kind to others. The whole time Brady sat there with sort of a sad look on his face, but very earnest and sincere in the conversation. As Curt said when I shared the story with him, we'd rather him feel a little sad about it now, but possibly change his behavior than be 10 years old and have kids not want to be friends with him. It's still really hard to see him sort of sad and down like that, but talk about expressing his emotional intelligence - WHEW!

My Kids Make Me Laugh

On the first night Curt was gone for his Visit Day in Iowa I went in to check on the boys before I went to bed. I open the door and nearly TRIP over Aidan laying on the floor in the fetus position at the edge of the rug. I have NO IDEA why he was there (i'm glad i was going slowly) but it reminded me of the nap time about 2 weeks ago when in the middle of the nap I hear him cry for me. I go and see what is up and he is on the changing table with his paci, and rabbits and is saying "I want down!" I pick him up from the changing table and as I turn to put him back in bed I see Brady and Gavin have these GRINS on their faces watching us. I ask Aidan what the matter is, and he says "They put me up there!" What I'm guessing he ACTUALLY meant was "They put me up to this!"(he is the only one who hasn't quite figured out how to climb DOWN from the changing table). So I tell him it's time to go back to napping and then I give B&G my "mean mom" look and tell them they need to fall asleep themselves. But I must admit, I was DYING to laugh out loud!

The boys like their swim caps . . . (BAG) I love how Aidan made it a legionnaire's hat . .. 

A couple of nights into Curt's US visit, Brady woke up itchy in the middle of the night. Aidan then says he needs to go pee, so I tell him to go while I lotion Brady up. I hear him go in the bathroom, close the door, AND LOCK IT. At 2 AM. awesome. I finish with Brady and wait in the hallway for a few minutes. It's pretty quiet so I figure he has fallen asleep and i'm going to have to break in the bathroom. As I'm heading to my room to look for a coin to jimmy the lock, I start to hear him move around and then BAM! Fall off of the stool they use to get up and down from the toilet! He of course is crying, I run back without anything useful, Brady is saying "Mom, what's wrong with Aidan?". I tell him he needs to unlock the door for me if he can (he's really into privacy these days, but this was the first time he had locked the door on me!) and thankfully he does. The poor kid is standing there with his PJs and undies off, crying and holding the back of his head. I am guessing he had fallen asleep on the pot, woken up (sort of) and tried to get down without being fully awake. Poor Kid. Now, for those of you who thought it was weird he was wearing a helmet on the pot a few posts ago - now you know it's a necessity in our house! ;)

More Singing Sand Dunes pics - GAB - yes, they are that steep

Gavin makes his way down . . .

The kids snack as they fight off flies (B, Alexandra, Johanna, A, G)

This morning when I dropped the boys at their Arabic class, Mrs. Reem (language teacher) stops me and says, "I must tell you, your boy (Brady) is so SENSITIVE! He is always trying to corral his brothers and is always looking out for them and making sure they are OK. Even when we are singing, he is looking around for them and making sure they are nearby. I almost NEVER see this sort of care with kids this age." I tell her thank you and that pretty much reflects what we see at home (I don't tell her he is also the first to make his brothers cry other times), because it is true. She was like "Really? He is like this at home too? That is wonderful, it is so touching to see." Makes Mom's heart beat a little bit bigger :)

And dear, sweet Gavin. The morning Curt and I were talking about making an offer on the IC house, Gavin was up first (surprise, surprise). I love that he totally gets that if he's quiet he can come and have some one on one time with me/us until it's time to get his brothers up. He came in to sit on my lap while Curt and Larry and I talked and the pics of the house were on the screen. I ask him, "Do you think YOU would like to live in that house?" and he says softly "Yeah." and then he goes "CEILING FAN!" like that was the only thing worth noticing. Lucky for him there are at least two in the house .. .  maybe more. :) I think Grandpa K created a monster turning on the fans and lights for him when we were there last summer . . . we will send him a 10% charge for our electric bill. ;)

This afternoon when I go in to get the boys up from their nap, this is what I see . . . I think Aidan misses dad . . . A lot.

ABG

A & B

We are almost THREE AND A HALF!

To bring things up to speed on the blog I probably need to take a week of writing, but you, dear reader do NOT want to read that much, and I am under the weather, so I'll just focus on what I can remember. :)

Actually in the taxi on the way to the airport to leave, but one of the few pics on my camera. check out that SWEET new hat from Cocoon!

The end of January brought a short girls' weekend away with a good friend Heidi to Istanbul, Turkey (not Constantinople). It was delightfully freezing and snowy while we were there, and we really enjoyed poking about the different parts of the city and enjoying our freedom to do whatever the heck we wanted. or didn't want to do. We saw the Blue Mosque and the Haga Sophia, Topkapi Palace and Grand Bazaar and had a traditional Hammam at Les Hotel Ottomans on the Borphorous River. I was able to speak with Curt and the boys a few times in the 4 nights I was gone. Everyone was just fine of course (minus Curt's MAJOR hamstring pull). The first time I spoke with the boys on the phone they were like "Are you in the house?" They then told me to "Have fun in Istanbul!" and while they were happy to see me when I got home, life got back to normal in no time.

Heidi in the fabric store in the Grand Bazaar. We drank A LOT of Apple Tea there.

We began battling some illness that made its way all the way through the family (yep, me and curt) and ended up postponing the Valentine's Day getaway to a local hotel (The TORCH!) Curt had planned for us. In the end, we were just happy to both be well enough to enjoy it a week later. The funny thing is, the boys seemed even HAPPIER we were back from our 19 hours at the hotel, than from my 5 days away. I do think when one of us remains, they are better able to deal with the separation b/c their "normal" is still there.

The Torch - Doha

I have such a romantic husband! :) Check out the walls - we could choose up to 12 colors!

How I look after sleeping 9 hours in a row. Like a different person.

The cool pool that hangs off the side of the building. 

As you've seen on other posts, we've had some great singing from the boys lately. We have a Disney sing-along CD in the car and i swear one of my FAVORITE things on the way to school is when they yell for "You've Got a Friend In Me" and all three of them sing it at the top of their lungs. One of these days i'm going to have to get THAT on video, b/c it is so adorable and hysterical at the same time. Cruella DeVille is also a new favorite - it is really funny to hear a three year old sing "At first you think Cruella is the devil . . ." :) They also got a classical CD of Peter and the Wolf, Barbar the Elephant and the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. It is AMAZING. they don't have a book or anything to go along with it, but they request it ALL THE TIME. They know each of the instruments and which animal the represent, and the other night while I was cooking dinner they asked for me to play that and they were acting out parts. So cool - Thanks Grandma and Grandpa V!

We went to the Singing Sand Dunes with the Carr/Lechner family a couple of weeks ago for some sliding and fun. It was great! It must have been the JUST right humidity and temperature (i.e. not too hot or dry) b/c we had those dunes SINGING like crazy as we slid down. It was awesome! We even saw a cool lizard who would come out in various parts of the dune to see what we were doing and then if he got nervous, he would literally just DIVE into the sand and was gone. Check out his picture below. We all had a blast, even though everyone was COVERED in sand and had to get a nice dunking in the tub when we got home. I'm guessing this will be our last time there, unless we decide to go some evening again before it's REALLY hot . . . it's such a cool place in Qatar, I'd love for the boys to be able to remember it.

Singing Sand Dunes - L to R(G, A, Johanna, B, Alexandra and her uncle and family friend) - Time to CLIMB!

Our cool lizard friend

Aidan and Johanna really are like two peas in a pod . . .

The awesome part was how cool the sand was just an inch or two down!

Everybody wave! (BAG)

They have also been taking on responsibilities at home. Each of them sets the table with their stuff for at least one meal of the day (our plates and glasses are heavier - but I'm thinking they are getting close to doing all of it). Sometimes they fight over who gets to do it, other times all three of them will help out, and only at the beginning did we have to convince them that unless they helped set the table, no one would eat. After the first delayed lunch, they were on board. :) I would say Gavin and Brady seem to revel in the "helper" stuff the most, but Aidan is our cleaner upper for toys, so I guess each has their own gifts :)

We've also been developing other traditions with the boys. While Curt and I each sing them our own song before bed (Me- you are my sunshine - i died when the boys were about a year and a half and both brady and gavin first tried to sing it back to us before bed! Curt's is Goodnight Sweetheart - they love doing the "o-do-beday-do" back to him). Recently the boys have been going into our bedroom and then RUNNING all the way through the room, across the hall and then jumping into my arms for hugs and kisses. Then they hop on Curt's back for a horsey ride (or camel ride - depends) to their bed. I really think it's their favorite part of the day. I am sure it will change one day, but all three boys will ask for hugs and kisses and snuggles before bed, or sometimes in the morning. It is just another reason I am so happy to be able to stay home and not feel super rushed in the mornings. Having 5 minutes snuggling in one of their little beds with all three of them is such a wonderful way to bring on the day and seems to help those who are harder to wake up be a little less emotional (Brady and Aidan anyone?).

Curt is gone this week for his PhD visit day and to look for a house - no pressure! :) It was very clear that Brady was the most affected the morning Curt left. He was immediately sad and withdrawn and GRUMPY. The boys talked with him the day after he left and Brady seemed OK, but today (Day 4 of him being gone) Brady really didn't seem like he could stand dad being on Skype and not here with us. I mean he was REALLY sad and said stuff like "I want you HERE!" when he would acknowledge him or talk to him at all. He mostly rubbed his eyes and had his sad face on. Broke my heart and we did some snuggling on the way downstairs.

We have used this experience to talk about our move to Iowa City and why Daddy is there, and Brady has been the most verbal about what this will all mean for him/us. We have talked about how his stuffed animals will definitely go with him, even if other things don't. He has already talked about how we won't see Anna and Juliette (kids their age) or Johanna and Heidi (school friend and her mom) and how we will have to talk with them on the computer. We have emphasized we will be closer to all grandparents and cousins and the Carroll's and that has made everyone happy. It did make me realize that they are actually starting to have friends they think about and so I'm a little sad they won't probably know anyone for their 4th birthday. To compensate for my guilt (and to enjoy the company of our family friends) we are going to get a bounce house (yes, with slide) in a couple of weeks for our backyard and have people over and hang out. It will be the equivalent of their half birthday - but we aren't treating it like a birthday, just a chance to enjoy the weather and grilling before it gets too hot.

Gavin pushes Anna on the swing. Not because she needs it, but because he wanted to help her. Awww . . .

This morning the boys slept until 7 AM - AWESOME! When I went in to get them, Gavin sat up first (as always) and after a brief snuggle with me, went over to Aidan who was laying on his stomach half asleep. Gavin lifts up the back of Aidan's PJ shirt and proceeds to gently rub his hand up and down Aidan's back. It was so sweet. He then said "Aidan, it's time to get up honey!" and then climbed up on the changing table to get himself ready for the day. While I have sometimes been sad to not have different ages and see my older kids make my younger ones laugh (like I have seen with friends' kids), I sure am blessed that we get this kind of loving, affectionate behavior between them.

Tonight at dinner (where Aidan ate FOUR BOWLS of the chicken and wild rice soup - YEAH BABY!) Brady says to me toward the end of dinner "Mom, I'm trying to talk to you!" (Gavin was distracting me) when I turn to him, he says "Do you think you should get an apple?" with such a pondering, questioning look on his face - in the same tone Curt and I ask the question when we are trying to decide if the boys need more food and if so, what. It was adorable. All three of the boys are really good at expressing their gratefulness and thanks for things, whether with me or their dad or their brothers. I know Curt has definitely worked with them on it, but they have definitely taken up the charge themselves.