Seeking Serendipity: The reinvention of me

June 24, 2014

Harry and I were lying in bed.

It was dark. The stars and the crescent moon were reflecting their little lights on the ceiling.

"I love you Mommy," said his little boy voice.

Sweeter words, you will never hear...

"I love you too, Sweetie," I answered.

"We each love both of us," he added.

Harry reached over across the small divide between our identical twin inflatable beds and wrapped his little hand around mine.

He likes to fall asleep holding it.

Once he's sound asleep, he quickly lets go. Which is a good thing because he's become quite an active sleeper.

Most nights Harry ends up sleeping horizontally across the bed, his head at the open window.

He's tired in the morning and doesn't want to go to sleep at night.

Typical 4-year-old.

Our absolutely amazing and wonderful, biggest news of late is that Harry has finally decided to pee and poop in the toilet and to wear "big boy underwear."

We are THRILLED with his decision.

Harry is very proud.

So proud, that he insists that Grandma and I see his accomplishment...each and every time.

Once we've taken a look and cheered uproariously, he'll flush the toilet, shut the lid (Hallelujah), move his little stool over so he can reach the sink. Then he scrub, scrub, scrubs his hands, shakes and then dries them.

I've mentioned our ongoing potty training attempts from time to time, but haven't dwelled on it because I don't want Harry to read this when he's 16 and be horribly embarrassed.

We started the process over 2 years ago. We've had lots of disruptions, small traumas and many, many changes in those same 2 years, so it's not surprising that we've had varied success and some false starts.

All it took really this time was for Harry to decide.

I know he understood the concept and had even gone through the motions of sitting on the potty many, many times before.

But nothing ever really happened while he was sitting there.

"Shy bladder," my sister said.

Everyone in the family has been trying to help in their own way...

Grandma helped him to understand what happens when you potty or poop by showing him drawings of the human body...inside and out.

She explained the process, what happens when and how it is all just plain normal.

Source book for potty training.

Whatever the combination of events, education and attempts, (I think Harry's recent conversation with God might have helped as well - BLOG post 061114) it has stuck.

He still wears pull-ups to bed. We need to find the magic formula for night time dryness, although Harry has woken up absolutely dry many times in the past...

All in all, we are talking MAJOR accomplishment here!!

Major milestone.

There were days, when I was wiping his little bottom of poop, that I thought he might never actually be potty-trained...that I might have to keep buying pull-ups month after month after month...that I would always have to wipe his little bottom of poop!

But after just two short weeks, he's practically an expert.

I am relieved.

I am thrilled.

I am sooooooo happy.

We continue to celebrate every day!

.....

Harry's 4 1/2-year-old Birthday party was a success.

I was really, really nervous about the predictions for rain and thunderstorms ever since we had dropped the space-themed invitations into the mail a week before.

It rained day after day after day, and early predictions were for scattered thunderstorms on Sunday, the day of the party.

I sent out texts to the invitees saying that we were in a holding pattern for launch.

On Friday, things had cleared a bit and I was certain (or at least faithful) that we would have good weather for the 1 p.m. start.

I sent a text update.

"We are GO for shuttle launch!"

Waiting for the party to start.

To occupy and entertain the little ones, we had a bean bag toss, bubbles, soccer ball and cones, T-ball set up, over-sized badminton rackets and shuttlecock, frisbees and jump ropes, and a big green grassy back yard to play in.

The food was good.

Brats soaked in onions and beer and then grilled. Hotdogs for the little ones. Hamburgers, seasoned just right. The "Fenske (my sister's married name) beans" and potato salad. Chips and drinks.

We roasted marshmallows over our new little fire pit and made classic S'mores.

I'm not much for marshmallows...or graham crackers...or Hershey bars, for that matter, but there's something about the combination of them all together in that gooey, ooey mess called a S'more!

Then...there was cake.

Space shuttle cake.

Not just any cake, but a Space Shuttle cake made and decorated by my sister, the Zen Master of birthday cakes.

The Space Shuttle pinata was a bit hit. (Ha.)

Harry was first in line.

It actually withstood the smashing blows from each ferocious little swing as the 7 or 8 children, including Harry, took turn after turn trying to bring the contents crashing to the ground.

Once the hook that held the pinata to the bungee (that held it to the old apple tree) broke; and our secondary idea of using the bungee cord to hold the shuttle to the old apple tree directly, failed...I simply took the shuttle in my hands and ripped it open high above the throng of squealing children.

There was pure chaos as a mix of small hands grasped and clutched after the Dum Dums (candy suckers) and Life Savers, stuffing them into their pockets, shirts and dresses.

A chant filled the air..."Caaaaandy! Caaaaandy! Caaaaandy!"

Harry rescued one tiny sucker from the grass, stood, turned to me and said, "This is all I need, Mommy."

The melee cleared quickly as I handed a gift bag to each of the children.

More treasure.

The weather did hold...just about perfectly.

Just as family started to leave, the winds picked up, the temperature dropped suddenly, the big, gray clouds moved in.

All in the matter of a few minutes.

My sister and niece Sarah quickly helped collect the games and toys and took the leftovers inside to the kitchen.

Clean up was quick.

As everything was collected, the lawn chairs put away, the grill covered and the deck cleared, the rain started to fall.

We couldn't have wished for better timing...or a better day.

Gift bags, on theme.

.....

A jar of strawberry freezer jam went home with each family too.

My sister and I had gone strawberry picking at a local farmer's market called "Country Bumpkin."

My sister Laura.

It's just "down the road" as we say here in the country.

We had each picked several quarts of berries.

My hand-picked bunch.

I had rushed back home, before going to pick Harry up from school, to wash and clean and freeze about half, leaving the other half for my next day project of making strawberry freezer jam.

It's incredibly simple and anyone who makes it shouldn't really take credit for anything but slicing the berries.

On their way to jam.

I can't imagine how anyone could get it wrong.

It is incredibly tasty.

And I imagine even more so because of the wonderful flavor of the berries.

The difference between "store-bought" strawberries and freshly-picked from a field on the farm is immeasurable, really.

I made two batches and combined them to make Harry's *First Batch* (robustly ruby red & ripe) 2014 Strawberry Freezer Jam.

Harry's *First Batch.*

Country Bumpkin also has a petting farm (with llamas, alpacas, chickens, goats, sheep, donkeys and ducks), small "kid-sized" buildings to play in (a house, a church, a school and a barn), a wheeled cart track (with big enough carts for me to pedal around with Harry on my lap), pedal-powered tractors, a splashing water duck race game and a zip line for the adventurous.

Although I had just spent an hour or so picking berries there that morning, I had promised Harry that when I picked him up from school, we could return to play.

So, we did.

Kid-sized home with a porch.

Harry's favorite color is currently pink.

.....

Harry and Grandma and I are trying to take advantage of the warm weather, now that we have been released from the polar vortex and have managed to settle in a weather pattern outside of the thunderstorms and tornados that wreaked havoc a week or so ago.

There were 9 tornados in Wisconsin on one recent day in June. EF2 and EF3s.

We do something somewhere almost every weekend, along with running errands and tending to chores.

Harry and I went on a Duck Boat ride (the amphibious land and water vehicles).

It was another "resident free" offer just like the Tommy Bartlett Water, Ski, Sky and Stage Show (BLOG post 061114) that was such a big hit with Harry.

It was an amazing day to be outside on the Wisconsin River.

Sunshine.

Absolute blue skies.

A slight breeze.

Harry was just as excited as if he had never been on a Duck Boat ride, ever before. (We had just gone on a ride with Grandma last May when we were here on vacation.)

It's always fun to see him sooooooo excited.

While on a Duck Boat we met a regular boat tour along the river.

The beautiful sandstone cliffs along the Wisconsin River.

The cliffs and the cloudless sky.

Harry and Grandma and I also visited Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue (a rescue and educational center) located in Rock Springs, WI, a small town with a population of only 356.

The rescue center has been open for 8 years. The animals have been collected and rescued from zoos where they have outgrown their habitats and from private owners who have mistreated them.

There were Bengal and Siberian Tigers, Lions (and lionesses) and Leopards.

Sixteen tigers, 7 lions and 3 Leopards.

They are well cared for.

Well-fed.

For $12 you can buy a large frozen chicken, chose an animal to eat the frozen foul and the staff will "feed" it to the tiger, lion or leopard of your choice.

Harry was soooooo excited...