Trouble

(I thought I would upload the photos when I actually wrote the post...but it didn't happen..so this post has been delayed)

I'm sure you're all dying to hear where I took Ben for his birthday. A Brazilian steakhouse. He was soooo happy. He served his mission in Brazil, and loves the food. I must say I do too, because it is delicious. It's different than an American steakhouse- they cook all the meat on spits, and then bring it around to your table and slice off chunks of it. And it's all you can eat. Plus they have a salad bar with various foods. Holy smokes. It's extremely hard to keep track of what you are eating that way, because you're not even getting up to go get more food, they just bring it to you. I was so full that it hurt, even before we left. And I made the little guy really mad, I guess for taking up "his" space, which didn't make things better, as he kept kicking my overly full stomach. Somehow the only times we have been to a Brazilian steakhouse have been when I was around 7 months pregnant. (See first anniversary). Never again. I will say that it was the first time in over a week that I haven't been hungry. This little guy has given me an insatiable appetite.

Saturday we celebrated another birthday- Kennady's friend Natalie who lives next door. We went over to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake. We left before present opening, because two-year-olds don't understand that only the birthday girl gets presents. I had a Relief Society meeting to go to, and when I got home Ben had to go into work for a few hours. When he got home, I went to the grocery store. I know, super exciting day. But Ben learned a very important parenting lesson while I was gone.

I guess he thought he could use the bathroom by himself, because Kennady was playing in her room. After awhile he thought it was too quiet and called out to Kennady "Kennady, what are you doing." Kennady replies, "Nothing. Don't come get me." So he found her sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor next to a puddle of pee, eating the left over frosting from his cake with a spoon out of the bowl she retrieved from the fridge. The on-duty parent NEVER gets to use the bathroom alone without consequences. Unless, of course, you provide snacks and an intriguing movie beforehand.

Sunday was a much better day at church. We changed tactics and sat in the back, on the outside. Kennady's tantrum trigger is being restrained from going where she wants, so by sitting in the middle she never wanted to try to pass other people to get out, and we've enjoyed many a peaceful sacrament meeting. The problem that began last week is she figured out she can go over or under the pews. So, she was, once again, very good for church. And even I was fidgety, because the speakers were relaying they're 80+ years of history. About 10 minutes before the end she declared, rather loudly "I have to go poop." Really, she didn't, but Ben was pretty quick to volunteer to take her.

Kennady thinks she's pretty funny. Ben and I had a brief moment when she was playing and we were kissing in the kitchen, she runs in yelling "You already have a kid!" and tries to separate us.

We have revamped our potty training plan. I'm pretty sure she's just been waiting for us to up the ante. We decided to give her a small treat for just sitting on the potty, since that seems to be the biggest obstacle. Then if we have a day without any accidents, she gets a big treat...the one she is most excited about is the Bambi movie. Ben is least excited about this, as he hates that movie, I think because it makes him cry. Yesterday went much better, with only two accidents, and no throwing of poop in the closet. That's what I did all day yesterday, try to convince my two-year-old not to wet her pants.

Today: I saved the world. Ok, not really, but I did fix the VCR, and I'm pretty proud of it. Kennady put a handful of change in it a while back, it worked for awhile, and then it lodged somewhere and stopped working. Ben fixed it. He says he did. But I never saw it working. He got out a nickel by removing the front. He thought that was it. I knew there was more change in there. So I disassembled the entire thing and found a quarter and a penny. Not only am I 26 cents richer, but I also have a working VCR again. The latter makes it worth the 2 hours I spent doing it. I was really impressed I could remember which screws went where, and even more impressed that I didn't lose any with all of Kennady's "help."

You know what else that little stinker did? We started wrapping a rubberband around the knobs of the bottom bathroom cabinets so she can't play with my makeup anymore. I was skeptical whether that would keep her out of there, figuring she'd be able to get the rubberband off. Well, she can't. However, she can unscrew the knobs, which would render even the real childproof devices useless.