Yesterday’s cool weather felt SO GOOD. I got to wear my hoodie! That makes me inexplicably happy. We spent a couple of hours at the park– without endangering our lives! Oh, the novelty.

Today was nice, too– warmer, but still cooler. Yes, that makes sense. Aunt Jenn came over to play with the boys while Josh and I went to see Serenity. The intensity and action was more than I’d hoped for, and it was very rich, visually… lots of details. I really liked it, and would even pay money to see it again. Yes! You read that correctly. It does help, of course, that I’ve gone completely fangirl on Firefly– we just saw the rest of the first (and only) season this week. Between that and Battlestar Galactica, I think I will survive a Trek-less world. If they started making new Firefly episodes, I might die of sci-fi bliss overdose.

On the other side of the universe from sci-fi bliss is potty-training.

The potty-training nightmare might be the final nail in my crazy coffin. Max stays dry at school, when we go places, even when we’re in the car for an hour at a time. This afternoon he wet his pants four times. Yesterday, I think it was three times. I don’t know what to do at this point. Is it a power struggle here? Is he wanting more attention? Is he just distracted? I don’t know. I’ve tried everything I can think of– not reacting, over-reacting, rewarding for dry undies, incentives, bribery, etc. ad nauseum.

Tonight, after finding out he’d lied about having wet himself again, we decided to take away all of his undies and make him wear pull-ups. If he’s dry by the end of the day, he’ll get a token (aka, a poker chip); once he has ten tokens, he’ll get some of his undies back. I have mixed feelings about this– on one hand, we’re out of ideas. However, I don’t want him to think that being in pull-ups gives him free range to forsake the potty altogether, you know? It’s too easy when he knows he can skip the bathroom because he’s got a pull-up instead.

Who knows where this will go. He was upset when Josh emptied out his dresser drawer. He kept saying that he promised he would stay dry. We told him that he needs to *show* us, and tried to stay positive and upbeat about it– I told him I was excited for him to be able to get his first token tomorrow night by staying dry all day. It’s just so frustrating. We’ve been doing this for what seems like forever. I know he is physically capable, and of course he grasps it intellectually… there’s just something else that’s not falling into place. It’s easy to feel like I’m messing up, that I’ve not done something right– but I’m trying not to dwell on that. It’s so frustrating.

Hey, this is a lot longer than that one-liner I wrote yesterday, huh?

Tomorrow’s happiness: Max makes faces.

I just took Max to school, and it’s deliciously chilly outside. I love it!

Tomorrow’s forecast has changed– now the projected high is 77 degrees! This is some sort of miracle. I’m thinking about taking the boys to the Fort Worth zoo tomorrow after Max gets out of preschool… though they’d most likely be just as happy to have a picnic and several hours’ worth of playing at the park.

My darling boy Max is smooooooth. During lunch today, he ate something with his fingers and then went to wipe his hand on his shirt. I said, Please use your napkin instead. His reply? I’m not wiping my hands on my shirt! I’m rubbing my tummy because the food is SO GOOD. His attempt to play me might have been more successful if he hadn’t flashed that oh-so-charming little half-smile I know so well. Sneaky!

Khai is working on some tricks, too. He scraped his elbow a couple of days ago, and is trying to use that as an excuse to get what he wants. Need chocolate! Make scrape better. Add in the puppy dog eyes, and it’s almost too much to bear.

Katie spent yesterday evening with us and did some reiki on me. I felt so *light* afterwards– it’s hard to describe. I’m lucky to have her. It’s so much more profound than I can really articulate.

We’re getting ready to go to the library… though a nap sounds like a much nicer idea. I wonder what the boys would think of that? ;)

The word of the day is VAPID, because that’s how I feel.

This is partly thanks to the constant potty-training struggle. Also weighing in is the realization that just by being myself, I am passing on the broken pieces to my kids! Blah! Too much brain-mush for one day.

The thermometer says it’s only 92 degrees outside, and I’m excited. Playing in the backyard is actually feasible! Last week we had temperatures of 101, 103 and 105– a bit warm for the boys to be outdoors for any length of time.

Really, if I’m excited about it being only 92 degrees *at the end of September* — I’ve been in Texas too long.

It’s only supposed to get up to 90 degrees on Thursday… we might just spend the entire afternoon at the park.

Monday already… another week. It must be something about getting older that makes time seem to go so quickly– how can we already be coming up on October?

Saturday night’s Scrabble and mystery-drink party was fun; Mike played Evil Bartender and mixed up several new drinks for us guinea pigs. The chocolate martini and something very red and cherry-flavored were my favorites. That reminds me that one of Nancy’s favorite drinks in college was a Pissed-Off Japanese Minnow Farmer. “It tastes like a cherry Jolly Rancher!”

Oh, I also must mention that I was the Scrabble champion for the night– though that may only be because we stuck with Super Scrabble rather than playing with the l33t tiles.

Sunday was crazy. The boys got invited to another Chuck E. Cheese party, and since they can’t eat the pizza, I made them a spelt and rice-cheese pizza to smuggle in. :) We participated in the chaos for a few hours and then came home exhausted. There’s just something about the lights, kids bouncing off the walls, and the excess of noise that makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and sleep for 18 hours. Max & Khai had a lot of fun, though, and that’s what counts.

I have so many projects that need finished up. It’s time to make another list.

It’s important for me to remember not to shave my legs on days when my hands aren’t working very well. I should also avoid putting pants on over the open-and-bleeding wounds. Khai is concerned about the ‘ouchie’ and the red, though he really wants to pick at it. Ick.

I want to go shoe shopping but it’s not an easy thing to justify, considering my profession. It’s not like grocery shopping and preschool taxi service require cute and trendy footwear. That doesn’t stop the cravings, though. Last week, when I found the miraculous $8 dress, I also saw some lustworthy shoes. They were in my size, and the price was even right… but I had this little voice pop up and remind me that they weren’t necessary. Guilt! I just want pretty things. [/whiny voice]

The Frisco IKEA has been open for a month now. Why haven’t I gone yet?

Tonight we’ll be playing l33t Scrabble at Mike’s place… I should probably take a peek at a couple of l33t-speak lists, considering the number of g33ks that will be there. In fact, it might be a good idea to have a couple of drinks beforehand so I can have something to blame for my embarrassing loss. ;)

Aunt Jenn has been the saving grace of what little social life Josh and I have– if it weren’t for her, we’d never get to go anywhere together, if we went out at all. Occasionally we’ll go out with friends while the other stays home with the kids, but it’s just not as fun that way. I am so grateful to Jenn for always being willing to babysit, and of course it helps that the boys adore her. She volunteered to watch the boys tonight– we weren’t even going to ask. She’s priceless. Between her and Katie, we’re able to feel like people once in a while, not just parents who are trapped in the house with the wild and crazy children.

I won, I won! Usually when I make stuffed zucchini, Khai will eat the rice/meat stuffing, but won’t touch the zucchini shell with a ten-foot-pole. Or a toddler-sized fork, as the case may be. But tonight I got smart: I diced the zucchini up and cooked it in with the meat/rice/spices. It’s not a pretty dish, but Khai is gobbling it up. I shouldn’t boast too much– they sense these things, you know. He might be coming up with Plan B as I type.

The city periodically puts something in our water supply– a softener, perhaps. The water certainly feels softer. Soft to the point of wondering if the shampoo is out of my hair after five continuous minutes of rinsing. So soft that my hands feel slimy after washing them. It’s gross. It tastes nasty, too; the water filter helps a little bit, but not much. I’m sure there’s a reason for the water change horror, but I’m thinking about calling and asking WTH it is, if not voicing how disgusting I think it is. Okay, I’m done ranting. For now.

The camera phone is charging… and before long, I’ll be documenting some of the strange, wonderful, useless, and amusing things I see every day. I suppose I could have been doing that all along, but it’s harder to be inconspicuous with a regular camera. Not to mention that I couldn’t post pictures to the internet *immediately* until now. Yay!

What Should I Read Next is a site that can take a list of books you like and give you suggestions for other books you might enjoy. Via LifeHacker, as all good things are. I put in a few of my favorite books, and it actually pulled up one of the novels that has been on my ‘to read’ list for a while now: The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

There’s also been a lot of buzz about Library Thing, a site that allows you to catalog your book collection online. It also supports tags (have I mentioned how much I love tags?) and uses the Z39.50 Gateway to access the Libary of Congress. I’m intrigued, but the thought of taking on such a monumental task is kind of overwhelming. We have soooo many books. It would take forever to get them all entered.

If I were to close my eyes for more than five seconds, I think I’d fall asleep.
Is 4pm too late to make coffee?

The boys took a late nap today, and while I hate to let that happen, it was much-needed. Thanks to that late nap, they’re still up– it’s 10pm. I’ve had a very long (and productive) day, so I’m very ready for them to be asleep and to hit the sack myself.

They’ve managed to destroy any- and everything I straightened earlier. It makes me wonder why in the hell I work so hard when there’s nothing to show for it. Of course, it would be much, much worse if I didn’t spend so much time cleaning, but it’s hard to keep sight of that when I’m drowning in toys, towers of pillows, shoes, kids’ books, and blocks.

Cookie ingredients are sitting in my pantry, but I’m too lazy to get up and bake them. Oh cookie fairy godmother, where are you??? Could you also bring some good movies and some nice, comfy jammies, too? Kthx.

Speaking of good movies, I hear that Crash is out on DVD now. Josh says that one is worth buying, so I might pick it up while I’m renting Defensive Driving DVDs for him. I think The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is out as well, and while I’ve heard mixed reviews, I feel somewhat obligated to see it since I’ve read the books.

So sleepy. It’s time to see if I can get these boys to bed. Never underestimate the powers of children who don’t want to sleep; even at 2 and 4 years old, their resistance is amazing. Oh, how I look forward to the teenage years… heh. It’s going to be interesting.