X-Man is done with diapers. Just like that.

It happened as a complete surprise and through no action on my part, aside from accommodating a friend’s request.

Her little boy (under 3yo) was visiting a few weeks and ago and had started potty training, so when they came over for a playdate, she asked if I could provide a little potty for him to use. No sweat.

I didn’t see X-Man taking notice of his friend’s new habit (no joint bathroom trips, at least); I just mentioned the fact to X that his younger friend was using the little potty. And I asked if he wanted to try it, too.

So he did. And he went. And he keeps going whenever I ask. And he stays dry in between, and sometimes overnight.

Considering that I spent the better part of two years hounding Boo Boo to potty train, and he didn’t do it until he was almost four years old, I am a bit incredulous that it has happened this easily with X. After that torment with our firstborn, I made the decision to never force a kid to potty train, and just let him lead the way.

So, this time, I didn’t do any of the work up front, besides teaching X to take his pants up and down a few months ago. He did all the work, which is the way it should be, I think. (Anything more I like to jokingly refer to as “parent-training,” rather than “potty-training.”) He can do the whole routine by himself, and without me monitoring; pants down, pee pee, take out the pot, empty it in the toilet, replace the pot, pull up pants and wash hands. “Number Two” usually still happens in his pull-up during quiet time, but it’s no sweat off my back…

Don’t parents of challenging firstborns deserve such easy second-borns? I sure think so! =) I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Almost daily I thank God for his mercy in giving us such a delightful consolation as X.

M-Cat has had a rockstar mullet since the day she was born. And in the months since then, it’s only gotten longer and more impressive. Seriously — I think it’s at least three to four inches now.

With her faux-hawk on top, reverse tonsure around the middle and superstar mullet down the back, she is one cool looking cat.

Someone suggested we get her a black leather jumpsuit to complete the look. (This is just conjecture, Grandma; don’t go shopping yet!)

Eat your heart out, Joan Jett!

Since I jinxed myself by writing such a glowing post about M-Cat last night, she awoke around 9pm (after I put her to bed for the night around 7:30pm, as she skipped her afternoon nap) and she was up for three hours. She’s been up until midnight two nights already this week, which results in a headache and bleary eyes for me every morning.

But amazingly, I don’t mind. She is so darn nice and cute and fat and squeezable that it doesn’t bother me to sit with her for hours, and give her a long bath and rock in a recliner, even though the house is dark and everyone else has been in bed for hours. We’re happy looking into each other’s eyes and having little conversations.

I just like being with her, no matter the time of day or night.

Yesterday was M-Cat’s four month “birthday,” if you will. We are just amazed by all the things she’s doing!

This morning was the first day I tried the johnny jump-up, which she just loves. By this evening, she was hopping around in it already. She is the first child of ours who is content to be on her stomach for long periods of time, and can do a modified push-up with her arms already. I suspect that she’ll be turning from her tummy to back pretty soon, as her feet are making the movements to do so. I often find her in her crib on her tummy, which she’s turned to from a side position.

Speaking of sleeping, she’s doing a lot of it. Sometimes six hour stretches at night, and naps that last anywhere from three to five hours. (Yes, I do go in and check on her regularly to make sure she’s OK…) I’ve always been one to believe that children grow in their sleep; some mornings they look bigger or older! She’s quite a sturdy girl, even though her weight gain has slowed down. But, considering her flippers for feet, I have a feeling we have a big, tall girl on our hands.

I must say that she is the best. baby. ever. How do our babies keep getting “better” every time? It only makes us want to have more! =)

UPDATE: SHE DID IT! SHE ROLLED OVER FROM HER BELLY TO HER BACK! She was doing tummy time on the kitchen floor, and I walked out of the room for a minute. When I cam back, she was sunny side up!

What’s true for Aesop’s tortoise in a race against the hare is also true for me.

That’s how I got through David McCullough’s biography of John Adams. All 651 pages of it. In less than four weeks. It was a lot of snippets here and there — during breakfast and lunch, if I could get away with it; and every night before falling asleep.

When my book club ambitiously chose it for our first book, I held my tongue. I had watched the HBO series inspired by the book and wasn’t a huge fan. (Yes, I know that I’m virtually the only one on the planet who feels this way. I liked John, but not Abigail. Sorry!) To say I was reluctant to spend hours reading a book that’s three inches thick about the same topic was an understatement. I knew it would be good for me, but I didn’t think I’d like it … or finish it.

But I did it, and boy, am I glad I did. I feel like I learned more about history in reading that book than I did in my formal education. I learned to love John Adams even more, and even grew to like Abigail (and felt bittersweet about Jefferson and hated Dear Husband’s favorite, Alexander Hamilton). I found our country’s history fascinating for the first time, because I actually cared about the people involved in it. (Definitely the best way to engage most women in history. The affinity seems inborn for most men…) I’m eyeing Dear Husband’s bookshelves as never before…

I regretted that the many times that I’ve been to Boston and Philadelphia I was clueless and uninterested (sorry Mom and Dad!); how I’d love to go back to them and see them again, as if for the first time!

Perhaps I can read it again with Boo Boo someday, and drag the whole family out East for a Revolutionary War tour.

I dug out the alternative cake mix the night of X-Man’s birthday and baked it up.

On the front, it proudly proclaims that it contains no gluten, wheat, soy, nuts, potato, corn, dairy and casein. (I did have to use a powdered egg substitute with it, of course.) “What does it have in it?!” you might wonder. That would be evaporated cane juice, sweet brown rice flour, tapioca flour, Dutch cocoa, arrowroot flour, rice milk powder, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar and xantham gum. Yum, huh?

Well, he didn’t go for it either. As it often happens in life, after I went to the trouble of making him a cake he could actually eat, he didn’t like it. Normal babies seem to like the taste of cake on their staged first birthday photo shoots, but our three-year-old wasn’t going for it. One bite was it for him.

You can see me trying to convince him to take a second bite here.

I ended up eating more if it than he did. (It wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t the best.) He opted for his usual frozen fruit bar — the ultimate treat in our house.

It turns out that all he really wanted were some candles to blow out. I think I’ll use a candelabra next time. It will be easier on all of us! =)

The grocery delivery fee is worth every penny when it means:

1) I don’t have to slog through a grocery store for an hour with three kids who generally hate shopping

2) At the end of a long week, my husband doesn’t have to go with me to a big, warehouse store and schlep home our weight in products

3) I can lay in my cozy bed with my children and read to them for a hour instead of heading out into the wet and cold to forage food for us

Today is X-Man’s third birthday.

A few weeks ago, in thinking about this day, I wondered to myself, “What can we do for X for his birthday?” What does he like? What does he want? Truly, I couldn’t think of much.

I could plan a whole week of Boo Boo’s favorite activities and most beloved things, because there’s no mistaking what he likes and dislikes.

But Mr. X hardly talks … at least nowhere near as much as Boo Boo. He usually goes along with whatever his older brother wants or says. When you ask X a question, his response is either “yes,” “no” or “I don’t know” — and he often changes his mind, so you rarely know what the real answer is. It’s hard to get more than a word or two out of him.

So I asked Dear Husband, “Sometimes, do you feel like you don’t even know X-Man? I have no idea what he thinks or even likes!” DH agreed. He is a mysterious little fellow. It may take years for his personality, his desires and his voice to come out.

I ended up asking X what he wanted for his birthday. “A cake,” was his reply. (This is a difficult request, since he is allergic to almost everything in a cake, but I think I have an alternative cake mix somewhere…) “Anything else?” I asked. “A balloon,” he said. Well, that’s easy enough! I think I’ll take him to Taco Bell for lunch; he always seems happy to do that…

What a dear, sweet, darling, simple soul he is. And thank God for that! We love him tremendously, even though we don’t know what is going on inside his head…

My husband is a superstar. In his non-existent “spare time,” he was inspired to coordinate a pilgrimage for our family and Auntie Kim to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisc. The Blessed Mother must have been pleased with him for his efforts, because everything worked out beautifully.

Dear Husband mapped out our journey so we could drive on the scenic route there and the more direct route back. Then he found an AWESOME hotel room with a king-sized bed, a bunk bed and a pull-out couch (and a crib upon request) to accommodate all six of us, PLUS an indoor/outdoor pool and huge whirlpool and free breakfast, all for $100. Then we figured out that the boys could eat happily at the Olive Garden, as it now offered GLUTEN-FREE PASTA. (I never thought I’d see the day!) We all slept fairly well, and were ready for our pilgrimage the second day.

When I was talking to Boo Boo about our pilgrimage before we left, he asked me why we have to walk on a pilgrimage. “Because, walking is penitential,” I said to him. “Then why are we driving to La Crosse?” he asked.

Don’t worry — we managed to fit in a somewhat penitential walk. It was a half-mile uphill in the snow. Dear Husband pushed two kids in the stroller.

With a beautiful votive chapel for Our Lady of Good Counsel along the way.

At the top of the hill was a GORGEOUS, newly built, basilica-style church that was as ornate and as impressive inside as anything we’ve seen in Europe.

We stayed for confessions and Mass.

Then we did the Stations of the Cross, during which Boo Boo remembered each number and title of the station. He got lots of high fives. Rock on, Buddy!

A rosary on the way downhill, an delicious lunch in the restaurant and some serious time in the gift shop concluded a lovely pilgrimage.

Thanks for being such a strong spiritual head of our household, hon! May a reward await you in heaven! =)