An Imponderable

Here is the conversation I had with Rachael, while she is playing with her camping toys:

"Oh, the bear caught the fish and now we are going to eat it.
Mommy, do fish go to fish heaven when the die?"

Sure, why not? Fish heaven sounds good.

"Where is fish heaven?"

Probably in some water.

"And do they have a fish Lord?"

Um....

Chef de Partie

We have our very own Chef de Partie in charge of salads in our house. With the assistance of her stepladder, she can reach the countertop; the lettuce, carrots, and bacon bits in the fridge; and the croutons in the pantry. She makes lovely salads, mostly croutons with lettuce, but tasty!

As featured she much prefers the pink bowls from her own kitchen for her salads.

Bon appetit!

Flashback Friday

Last year's cicadas... we don't miss them at all!
16 more years before they come back again.

And Fireflies

We stayed late enough fishing that the fireflies were out. I was actually kind of glad - usually Rachael is in bed before it's dark enough. When I pointed them out to her, she was so excited she ran towards them and said, "I'm going to catch one!"


Imagine my complete surprise when not two minutes later she hollered, "Got one!"

I didn't actually believe that she had one - she had to come back and show me. It was so cute! It crawled around on her hand for a few minutes before it flew off. She decided that it hung around for awhile because it probably wanted to have it's picture taken.

Rachael: I got one! I got one!

Daddy: Good job, Rachael.

Rachael: Thanks Dad! It's pretty impressive.

She seriously said that. I have it on video.

More Fishing

Because there's no such thing as too much fishing...

Kristin's fish and Ryan's fish
(it's really all just luck as to who gets the bigger fish!)

Kristin's first bass on a fly!
(Ryan is holding it because in the process of removing the fly, the bass flung himself into a mudhole. Ryan graciously scooped him back out.)

Not to be outdone, Ryan catches a bass on a fly, too.
We call these fish sticks.

Sometimes it's just nice to take a break!

Happy Father's Day!

"If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right." -- Bill Cosby

Flashback Friday

Cumberland Falls - May 30th
We thought this was a lot of water

Cumberland Falls - June 18th
I have never seen so much water going over the falls!

Rachael cheesing it up on May 30th

And again on June 18th

The Whale Fish

We headed over to the lake for some fishing again last night. Everyone caught lots of fish so it was a successful evening; sweetened by the fact that even Rachael outfished all the bait fisherman there.

Rachael's best fish came while Ryan was across the lake. I know it was the best partly because it had the drag clicking on her reel, but mostly because from across the lake Ryan heard Rachael say, "It's a whale fish!"
Here is some video of her reeling in the fish. I don't have any video of the fish, though, because I realized that someone was going to have to help her haul that monster out of the lake.

Flashback Friday

Doesn't this just look like summer?

Of Dentists and Doubles

Ryan and Rachael have more in common than their initials today... they both got to the dentist this morning. No pictures of Ryan (he took himself!) but here is our cutie getting swabbed with red stuff to see how well she brushes. Rachael goes to a pediatric dentist and they are really fantastic.

They both did really well at the dentist, they both have shiny clean teeth, and they both don't have any cavities. But only Rachael got strawberry flavored cleaning paste and birthday cake flavored fluoride!

Since everyone had a big day, we went fishing at the lake for family night. Ryan and Rachael landed a double! (Look closely - there really are two fish!).

A good way to end the day.

Belmont Picks

Our picks for the Belmont Stakes:

Ryan - Mr. Hot Stuff
Kristin - Chocolate Candy (what else?)
Rachael - Charitable Man (because, of course, the silks are pink)

Got to get this posted before the race is run!

Flashback Friday - Rainbow edition

Rachael's first trip to Cumberland Falls, October 2006

(And last week, just for comparison.)

R-A-C-H-A-E-L

How do you spell cute?

We Surrender

We give up. Throwing in the white towel. Admitting defeat. Watching the last of many Hail Mary passes fall far short of the end zone.

We're going back to diapers.

After TWO YEARS of potty training, I can no longer take it. The piles of smelly laundry. The perpetual smell in her bedroom. Two or three outfit changes a day. Cleaning the carpet. Cleaning the carseat. Cleaning up, cleaning after, cleaning again.

I'm sure diapers are probably more expensive than laundry detergent, but probably less money than the pills it will require to keep me sane.

For posterity, here is everything we have tried...

Immediate rewards (where you get a treat or a sticker immediately after going potty): this works for about two days, then at one point she just doesn't want the treat and so goes in her pants.

Long-term rewards (where you get a prize or a treat for going all day, or for a number of days): must just seem too long for her. Awhile ago she wanted to stay up for an all night party, so we figured if she could stay dry for 30 days she could stay up as late as she wanted. She earned a sticker for every dry day - the longest streak was 9 days. Months ago she did manage to earn enough stickers for something she wanted, but when the prize was obtained, she goes back to having accidents.

Punishment for accidents: not that I agree with that philosophy, but we tried time out for awhile. Led to lying about accidents, so then we had to punish accidents and lying. Abandoned that quickly.

Going 'al fresco': leads to accidents on the floor.

Making her clean up afterward: she thinks cleaning up is fun. She would love nothing more than to get the carpet cleaner out every day. I think she would wet the floor every day just to do it.

Not reacting (more specifically, to try and stay positive, like "It's too bad you had an accident, but I know you can stay dry!): again only works for a day or two at most. Apparently she's not after verbal praise.

Reminding her to go (either verbal reminders or a timer): she quickly becomes dependent on the timer or other system. When she has an accident, blames it on the fact that "it wasn't time to go."

Leaving something fun/canceling planned activities: she cries tons of crocodile tears. But then will have an accident later in the day again. She's going to miss ballet this Wednesday and I know there will be tears, but she wet her entire outfit at the end of class last week because she was too busy having fun. I know it won't work, but I can't let her think that it doesn't matter.

There are some bright spots: I have re-instituted naptime (kids in diapers take naps), early bedtime (kids in diapers go to bed early) and no more cartoons. Kids in diapers also don't get to go fishing, help with the laundry, or play on the computer.

I'm hoping that a year and a half from now the other kids in her kindergarten class will "help" get her out of diapers.

Until then, we're buying stock in Pampers.