The Wills Family: Portman, Harper, Roman, and Caitlin

Every year for Independence Day, one of the local realtors puts flags in front of every house in our neighborhood. It looks really cool and Harper thought it was Christmas. Portman took her for a walk to see the flags first thing this morning, then I took both of the kids again after Roman’s nap. It turns out that our kids don’t need any more toys, just flags.

 

Harper said: “see the flags, buddy?” Then she took him for a ride and he pointed at flags.

After that we stopped to refuel, or to “have a picnic” according to Harper.

We made strawberry yogurt popsicles this week and Harper loved them! They are super healthy (literally just yogurt and strawberries), yet tasty enough that I used them as bribes for finishing her dinner.

Last night Bern and the girls came over for dinner and they all enjoyed a little popsicle action. Roman likes to bathe his popsicle in the sandbox, so he’ll have to wait a little longer to get his own.

Annie with her popsicle:

Harper sharing with Ellie:

We tried to get a shot of all the kids together. This was all we could get before Annie started screaming. I love how Bern’s kids are nicely posed and mine are paying absolutely no attention!

Here are a few more summer fun pictures. Roman is getting really good at both standing on his own and getting in and out of the sandbox. You may have noticed that he is wearing brown sweatpants in pretty much every picture on the patio. It’s because he gets filthy, so I put the sweatpants over whatever he is wearing to cut down on the stain-removal.

Harper got a new tricycle for learning to use the potty. Now we just have to learn to use the tricycle! She’s very good at walking it around:

Finally, I have to end with a Harper quote from yesterday. We were eating lunch and Harper wiped her nose with her napkin, placed if on the table and declared “don’t touch my snots, Ro Ro!” Which was followed shortly by “you want more mango, buddy?”

Harper’s comments this morning deserve a post of their own:

Portman: “Okay Harper I’m going to work now.”
Harper: “No! Let’s just cuddle on Mommy and Daddy’s bed!”
Portman: “No, I really have to go to work now.”
Harper: “Well let’s just hold hands for a little bit!”

Portman made her a egg-and-cheese sandwich for breakfast.
Harper: “Oh thanks Daddy! Where did you get this? Starbucks?”

Harper had her suit and sunglasses on by 9:30 this morning and waited very patiently for Roman to take his morning nap. She has some fabulous new pool attire, courtesy of cousin Kali, and a new Dora backpack-towel (a brilliant invention, in my opinion).

We had our lunch at the pool and were exhausted by nap time. This weekend we converted Harper’s crib into a toddler bed, and she is doing great in it! I wasn’t sure that she would stay in it, but she treats it just like a crib and doesn’t get out until I come to get her. I’d like to keep it that way as long as possible. The first night we put her in it, she actually fell out. Luckily I had stacked some quilts at the end that doesn’t have a railing, and she rolled right onto them. Since then she has stayed put, but still sleeps like a baby moving all over the bed throughout the night. We put a pillow in there, but she rarely keeps her head on it.

Next step: day bed with a trundle. I’ve been looking for one for a while now and can’t find something that will work. They are all either too expensive or too flimsy-looking. I think the toddler bed will work for a while, but if anyone out there knows where to get nice sturdy wooden kids’ furniture, let me know!

It’s been an exciting few weeks for Harper, but now she is both potty trained and sleeping in a “big girl bed.” Pre-school, here we come!

Portman has been in San Francisco all week, so the kids and I have had lots of “quality time” together. Harper has been trying to say “San Francisco” all week, and according to her, Daddy is in any of the following:

• San FaCrisco
• San FraFrisco
• San FaFiscoat
• SaFrisco
• San SaSisco

But definitely not “San Francisco.” On Monday morning when she asked for Daddy (actually, said “No! You’re leaving! Just Daddy!”), I said he was on an airplane going to San Francisco and she immediately said “I want to go on that airplane too!” Then she peed on the floor for the first time in 7 days. Monday morning was not fun.

After that excitement I decided to do something special with the kids, so we headed over to Burke Lake Park to ride the choo-choo train and have a picnic. Once again I was reminded of how lucky we are to live in Fairfax County. The train engineer wears a full authentic train suit (the striped kind, with a matching hat), and is very liberal with the “choo choo’s” as the train chugs through the forest. The kids were beside themselves with excitement and Harper said things like “Oh my goodness! A choo choo tunnel! Just like Rocket!”

After a train and carousel ride we had a picnic in the park. We brought the potty, and Harper used it.

 
We’ve had gorgeous weather this week, so we spent most of the week outside. We went to the pool a lot and ate almost all of our meals on the patio. After nap on Wednesday I took the kids to Toys R Us for a little shopping trip. We picked up a water table, which has been a huge hit.

Our house was getting painted all week and we’ve had a few incidents related to the painting. Last night while the kids were eating on the patio, I was talking to one of the painters about something they accidently broke. The next thing I know, Harper had moved her potty to the glider and proceeded to climb on top of it and use it. She said that Roman kept trying to touch it! When I protested she said “no, Mommy, I just doing my business!”

This morning we went for a long walk with Bern, Ellie and Annie, and evidently our outside railing was painted while we were gone. As I was unloading Roman from the stroller, Harper said “uh oh!” I looked over and she had black paint all over her hands and her dress. I told her to put her hands in the air and wait for me in the kitchen. The next thing I hear is “hey, handprints!” and look over to see her smacking her hands against the wall in the front hallway. In case you’re wondering, it came off the walls but not off the dress.

We’ve had a fun week, but I’m exhausted! Harper is honoring my exhaustion by not napping today, so I have to sign off in order to make it to the tea party on time. 15 hours until Daddy is home! But who’s counting…

Last weekend we had our annual Anderson Family Reunion at my uncle’s farm in Delaware (actually, middle-of-nowhere Maryland, but we’ll call it Delaware since it’s close). We drove out to the farm early Saturday morning in the pouring rain, toting two kids, two cribs, a potty and lots of changes of clothes. It rained on-and-off all day, but we got lucky and had quite a lot of sunshine.

Four of the 6 sets of aunts and uncles and all of their kids were in attendance and it made for a super fun day. My dad is the oldest of seven, so my brothers and sisters and I are much older than our cousins. One of my cousins, Kali, is only 5 and she scooped up Harper as soon as we arrived and the two of them were hand-in-hand for the rest of the day. Kali was so sweet to Harper, and Kali’s mom gave Harper some fantastic hand-me-downs, which Harper now insists on wearing exclusively. They had such a great time and I wish we could see them more than once a year!

Roman lived up to his reputation as a mama’s boy and wouldn’t let anyone near him if I was in sight. I spent a lot of the day hiding from him so that my aunts and uncles could hold him! Poor little guy.

I conveniently forgot my camera and had to borrow my stepmom’s. She keeps the time-stamp feature on, which I am confident is the most annoying feature ever invented. Seriously, who needs a time-stamp on their photos besides spies? It ruined some awesome shots.

My younger cousins LOVE Portman because he wrestles with them and makes a very good punching bag. He is also a very enthusiastic dodgeball player.

 
On Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day the way we usually celebrate Hallmark Holidays – by doing absolutely nothing. Strike that, I made breakfast. Although we don’t make a big deal about those kinds of holidays, I am supremely grateful for Portman as a husband and a father. He is amazingly patient and kind and is truly the best Daddy in the world. Everyone says that “marriage is hard work,” and well, I firmly believe that if it’s “hard work,” or any work at all, you’re married to the wrong person. I know I’m very lucky to have such an incredible relationship with my husband. So, Happy Father’s Day, Portman… we love you!

What a difference a week makes! Last Wednesday we were unpacking from our Europe trip, doing load after load of laundry, and waking up at 4:30 in the morning. Roman had been sleeping in our bed for basically two weeks straight and was waking up 2-3 times at night, and Harper still insisted on wearing diapers. Now Roman is sleeping through the night for 12-13 hour stretches (Hallelujah!), and Harper is pretty much potty trained during the day. I can honestly say that they are different kids than they were a week ago.

The turning point in potty training was definitely the sticker chart. A few of my friends told me that they used sticker charts when potty training their kids, and I through “well Harper would never go for that.” I honestly thought she wouldn’t care. I was wrong. As stupid as I think it is, she thinks the sticker chart is so much better than M&M’s. It is a big motivator for her when she is dancing around refusing to sit on the potty. All I have to say is “you can get another sticker on your chart!” and she sits right down and does her business. Who knew?

We’ve had a few good Harperisms this week:

At Logan’s birthday party on Sunday she found a ball with a ring attached to it (much like a Pogo Ball from my childhood) and said:

Hey, it’s Saturn!

We have a little chipmunk who lives on our back porch. We love to watch for him, especially after a messy outside meal – he usually comes to clean up after us:

Look Mommy, a chick-munk!

And finally, a good potty training quote:

The poop is hiding! Hiding in my tush!

Harper started potty training full time (no more diapers at all) last Thursday, and she’s doing a surprisingly good job. I’ve tried this a couple of times before, like I mentioned in my last post, and got too frustrated to stick with it. This time we are taking the naked approach and it’s really working. She wears dresses and t-shirts, but nothing on the bottom when we are at home or running errands. She wears pull-ups for nap and bedtime, but that’s it. She gets one M&M for pee and two for poop.

Harper is extremely stubborn and will hold it for hours and hours. On Saturday she held it for over seven hours before finally peeing, then we had a pee-fest all afternoon! We skipped nap on Saturday to focus on potty training and she definitely got the hang of it, but there’s no way I’m skipping naps anymore – she needs them!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the pool. Harper ran up to me after about 30 minutes of swimming and the following transpired:

Harper: "I want to go home!”
Me: “Do you need to pee?”
Harper: “Yeah.”
(I grab her and run for the bathroom, strip off her suit and stick her on the potty in two seconds flat.)
Harper: “Sorry Mommy.”
Me: “Sorry for what?”
Harper: “Sorry for pee on the pool.”

I guess we still have some work to do! Here is a cute shot of her enthusiastic potty-sitting (and flag-waving):

I’ve had trouble finding time to blog this week because I’ve been potty training Harper. On the plane ride home on Monday I promised Harper that I left all of the diapers in England, and true to my word we jettisoned the diapers as soon as we got home. When I tried this a few months ago, I put her in underwear and she thought it was perfectly fine to pee in them, so this time we are going naked. Buck naked. Apparently it’s no fun to pee on the floor (and yourself) when you’re naked, so she’s done pretty well making it to the potty. I think she is part camel because she will hold it for five or six HOURS before she explodes. I’m also a little confused about how to potty train someone who takes a 3 or 4 hour nap every day. I put her in pull-ups for nap time, and she’s starting to realize that she can just hold it until nap time. I think this is going to be a longer process than originally anticipated…

Anyway, on to Copenhagen! After spending a week in London we hopped on a plane and flew to Copenhagen, Denmark to meet up with Ya Ya, Pop Pop and Uncle Kevin. Pop Pop is teaching in Copenhagen this summer and has an adorable little apartment with enough, well not quite enough, room for all of us. Uncle Kevin was kind enough to sleep in the living room to make room for us. The first night we were there we attempted to all sleep in the same room (squeezing two pack n plays on either side of our bed). Harper proved to us again why we don’t do this by enthusiastically waking her brother up every time we tried to put her to sleep. After that she bunked with Ya Ya and Pop Pop and did just fine, although Pop Pop complained that she was “cutting in on his action.” Gross.

Copenhagen is a much bigger city than I imagined it to be and was shockingly different than both D.C. and London. The first day we were there it was warm and sunny, but the rest of the week was cold. Very cold. And windy. On top of that, the city is pretty dirty and apparently it’s perfectly okay to graffiti anything, including trains! The Danes love rules, such as only 4 people in a taxi at any time (and babies count as people) and absolutely no jaywalking even if there isn’t a car for miles. Perhaps the most shocking thing for us was how expensive the city was. The prices were unimaginable! We went out for pizza on our first night there and they were $30 each. For an individual pizza. Add in drinks and that’s almost a $200 pizza dinner for the 5 adults! I took a photo of a shoe stand selling Crocs (real ones) for $65 each. The place is seriously expensive people.

Despite the cold weather, funny rules and sticker shock, we came to enjoy Copenhagen during our week there. The “Old City” is beautiful and is what I pictured Scandinavia to look like. Nyhaven, this colorful little area on the water, is adorable and Harper spent about an hour eating a hot dog and watching boats. One of our favorite things were the hot dogs. I do NOT like hot dogs in general, but holy cow these things were good! They have hot dog stands all over the city that sell these huge hot dogs stuffed into pieces of French bread. They are amazing and I will never again say that hot dogs are yucky after eating those!

 

We spent one day at Tivoli Gardens, which is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. Walt Disney apparently visited Tivoli 5 or 6 times before deciding to build Disneyland in California. When you walk through Tivoli you can see traces of Disney World/Disneyland everywhere. It’s obvious that Walt Disney used it as his inspiration. Despite the Danes’ love for rules, there are very few rules at Tivoli. So few, in fact, that Harper and Roman were able to ride almost everything. Harper loved the roller coasters and Roman was all smiles on the airplane rides. I still can’t believe they let us take him on those!

 
Other outings during the week included a trip to Roskilde to visit the Viking museum (featuring the original Viking ships found on the bottom of the sea), a visit to Rosenborg Castle, lots of sightseeing walks around the city, and a day trip to Malmo, Sweden. (Fam at Viking Museum):

 
We LOVED Malmo and got lucky that the day we were there was (1) Swedish high school graduation and (2) the beginning of a weekend international street festival. Apparently Swedish graduation is famous all over the world, but this was the first we had heard of it. Very literally heard, actually, because when we got off the train you could hear it for miles. The students all don sailors caps and march through the streets blowing whistles and fog horns while drinking champagne straight from the bottle. After about 4 hours of marching around like this, they all pile into huge trucks (like dump trucks) that they have decorated and pimped out with giant sound systems, and someone drives them all in a circle while they dance, drink more, and scream a lot. It was amazing and I’m so glad that we got to witness it! Harper thought it was a parade, of course. Here’s a shot of one of the trucks:
 
Harper got some new kicks in Sweden and tried to get some for her duck, too:

Our week in Scandinavia was definitely more difficult than our week in London for several reasons. One, the weather made it harder to take the kids outside so they were cooped up a lot. Also being with other people made it hard to stick to kid-friendly activities. Harper had a hard time keeping a good attitude about things since she wasn’t getting as much play time. We learned that if we’re going to travel with family, it’s better to stick to our own agenda (or lack of agenda) and just try to meet up for meals rather than drag the kids along to adult things. We still had a great time and it was fun to share the memories with grandparents (and Uncle!)

After Copenhagen we had one more day at Windsor to relax before getting on the plane to come home. Our flight home was at 11 AM England time, so we didn’t expect them to sleep the entire flight. We got SO lucky and the stewardess moved the two guys next to us to Business Class, so we had a whopping 5 seats (in the bulkhead row) to ourselves. That move made me a British Airways customer for life! The kids each took a decent 3-hour nap in their car seats and were awake for the rest of the flight. They did pretty well considering how long the flight is, but we had to take a few walks up and down the aisles to burn off some energy.

Leaving was really hard for us because we had such an amazing time, but I will say it is so nice to be home and back in a normal routine. The kids are sleeping and napping great in their own beds and are back to having great attitudes!

Actually, more of a one-sided conversation. After some much-needed rest, Harper was very enthusiastic about my tomato-macaroni and cheese the other night:

Oh Mommy, this looks delicious! Thank you Mommy!

A few minutes later:

I love eating! Mommy, get some more! Don't you want some more, Mommy?

And finally:

Here you go Roman, try some. It's delicious!