Between the kids and the cat, it’s nothing but madness and myrth here at Karnofski central this week.  Here’s what’s been going on:

Today after changing a diaper so disgusting that I barfed a little in my own mouth, I took Michael’s Thomas The Tank Engine underwear out of the drawer, waved them in front of him enticingly and said, “Gee, Michael.  Wouldn’t you like to wear some big boy underwear today… LIKE DADDY?”  Now, I have offered Michael the Thomas undies on several occasions at no avail, but for whatever reason, today his eyes lit up and he proclaimed, “O-TAY!”  So far today he has used the potty chair exclusively with no accidents, and he was even upset when I told him he had to wear a diaper for his nap.  Could it be?  Could potty training finally be working?  Sidebar: Muffin does not actually have Thomas underwear.  His underwear have Spider Man, of course.

On the big-boy front, Michael will also soon be the proud owner of a twin-size bed (thanks Bree, for the FREE hand-me-down!).  Michael will be three years old in just three more months, so it seemed like it was time for the switch (plus, I promised his current nursery furniture to my increasingly expectant sister-in-law).  I have no idea how it is going to go, but upon advice from my Sleep Easy Solution books I’ve allowed Michael to pick out his own bedding to get him excited about the prospect of moving into a new bed.  Now could my son have chosen, I dunno, sports?  Trains?  Boats?  No.  Michael picked out JOHN DEERE bedding.  Green, yellow, and blue bedding with a giant tractor on it.  In my wildest dreams I never imagined I would be raising a hick.  I mean, I’m like the ANTI hick.  I don’t care much for the outdoors and don’t even like country music.  Next thing you know he’s going to want a wee pair of Carhartts and some Romeos (Georgia Boots, for those of you who aren’t in the know).  I’ll post some pics of the new big boy bed once we’re operational.

Jenna will be 11 months old in a few weeks (!) and is becoming more mobile and independent every day.  She is now an expert on standing and cruising along the furniture and can walk behind push toys.  Though she has said “mama” and “dada” indescriminately for a while, she can now also say a bona-fide word: “bath.”  (Or as she says, “baff.”)  Our little Jenna is quite the fish and LOVES to take a bath, and at the mere suggestion of the word will crawl at mach speed to the bathroom.  Then she pulls herself up to standing and tries to hoist herself into the tub… no joke!  When bathtime is over she wriggles and bucks furiously like… well, a fish out of water.  In other news, Jenna has decided she wants nothing more to do with baby food in a jar and will now only eat “real” food.  I am thrilled by this economical development and am also thrilled to be a mere eight weeks away from her first birthday (better known in this house as National “We Don’t Have To Buy Formula Anymore” Day).

For Halloween this year, we toyed with several different costume ideas.  We wanted Michael and Jenna to be a “pair” of some kind, and ultimately we decided that Jenna would be Snow White and Michael would be one of the Seven Dwarves (which one he would be changed from moment to moment… grumpy, happy, sleepy…).  Jenna’s costume was no trouble at all to come up with but I’m here to tell you that there is not a “seven dwarf” costume available on the market.  What’s up with that?  So I scoured the Internet and found a “garden gnome” costume, which seemed close enough.  Michael seemed fine with it, although he did NOT like wearing the beard.  We took both kids trick-or-treating, something Michael has been talking about doing for WEEKS, and he was an adorable little gentleman, knocking politely on doors, then saying “trick or treat!” and then saying “thank you for the TANDY.”  (Candy.)  Back at home we let Michael eat as much candy as he wanted (it is just once a year, after all) and Jenna had her first (second, and third) taste of M&Ms.  Michael and Muffin and I answered the door for trick-or-treaters and Michael would exclaim, “Oh!  Batman!” or “Oh!  A Transformer!”  Or, “Oooh, a princess!”  What a little ham.

With Christmas fast approaching, there are toy commercials all over TV, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.  The brilliant marketing minds of the US have targeted my son as their ideal audience, and as such, with every commercial comes a whine of “Michael wants THAT toy, Mommy!”  After a few days of that, I gave Michael the whole “Santa brings presents to the good boys and girls” trip.  But not wanting to convey the wrong message about the true meaning of Christmas, I also explained that a long time ago the Baby Jesus was born on Christmas Day, and, in a nutshell, what that meant for humankind.  I’m afraid Michael is now a bit mixed up, because this morning when a commercial for the toy he wants most of all came on (it’s Rocky the Robot Truck, by the way), Michael told me, “Santa and Baby Jesus will bring me Rocky The Robot Truck if I’m a good boy.”

To close, I’d like to proudly introduce the newest Karnofski bundle, our kitty cat, Lola Belle Karnofski.  If she lives to see her first birthday with these children as siblings, I’ll throw her a party.

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