Updates on life

We took Cleo to the opthamologist yesterday for her blocked tear ducts. We were there for 2 hours, and she was so good. She didn't cry at all and when she was tired (it was during her morning nap time), she just fell asleep on my shoulder. The doctor ended up doing a somewhat invasive procedure but the chances are really good that the blocked tear ducts are unblocked now. The doctor took her into another room (thank God) and basically stuck a long device down into her tear duct on each side to unblock it. She brought C. back, and she had definitely been crying, but overall she did great. Her eyes have been bleeding a bit, but not much, and they said that was normal. I guess if this doesn't work, surgery is the next option, but they said 85% of the time this works. The doctor said that if she had not outgrown this by now the tear ducts probably wouldn't unblock without some help, so I guess I'm glad we did it. She is fine now...although she didn't sleep well last night. I imagine she'll be back to normal tonight. And already we've noticed the goobers and tears that usually crust up in the corner of her eyes in the morning are pretty much gone, so that is a great sign!

We're on a waiting list to get Gus into a preschool in Lawrence. It's through the Methodist Church, and our daycare provider sends her kids there. In fact, if Gus gets in and gets our preferred class, he'll be in there with his daycare friend (and best friend in the whole world), Elizabeth. So that will be awesome. Chances are good it will work out, we've been told, so fingers crossed. We're supposed to find out soon. We toured the preschool and it's really gorgeous--it's a new building in far West Lawrence (6th and K-7) and they even have a nature walk out there. It's really amazing--so many huge windows. We were pleased. I've heard nothing but great things about this place and the director comes highly recommended. She was very nice. I think Gus will dig it. He would go 3 days a week for 2 hours a day.

We have to potty train Gus by August if he's to get into this preschool, so we're working on that now. We were just going along without any "methods" but our daycare provider recommended a method that worked on both her kids. I'll report more later on the specifics, but it involves letting Gus walk around the house completely naked. That's right...ha! I don't know how I feel about that yet, and I know this method isn't for the clean freaks out there. At first I think Andy was nervous, but he's on board now. So, we're going to try it. The idea is to let the kid pee or poop without a diaper...they feel uncomfortable, and you move the potty into the room they are in most of the time (living room in our case), so they can run over to the potty when they feel they have to go. Like I said, more details later as we go through it! :) Jen has already started doing the process a bit at daycare. She let him walk around naked yesterday, and he did pee a few times on the carpet, but then he sat on the toilet and read his book for a long time, I guess. He didn't go on the toilet, but he wasn't scared of it, so that's good. Baby steps. Funny note on this...we've let him watch the Elmo potty training DVD quite a bit, thinking that would kick start things. Well, our little stinker has decided that it's great for Elmo to wear big boy underwear and poop and pee on the potty, but, it's just not for him. In fact, when we say, "Hey, Gus, do you want to pee or poop on the potty like Elmo?" he responds with "No, the potty is for Elmo." Ok, little smarty pants...

That's it for now. We're going with Hannah and her girls, Ash and Eloise, to a nature center today in Lawrence. Should be a good time! I'll try to remember to take the camera...

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