Hi-ya!

All of William's actions are currently accentuated with a "Hi-ya!" I think this is a product of the play tackling that Lily and William love to do with their dad. In the video you can see William's major contribution to our fruit picking experience - entertainment.

Clue #6

The first name shares something in common with both Lillian and William.

The second name is the name of someone that Carl admires at his most "primate" level.

Great weekends

The past two weekends have been so, so fun. We're still in summer mode but with slightly cooler weather so that we can actually enjoy the outdoors. We've been hitting the pool especially hard since we only have one more weekend to enjoy this great family activity. This past weekend, we made the trek to Eckert's Farm in Grafton, IL to pick some fruit. Since we are right at the transition between summer and fall harvests, we were able to get blackberries, peaches, and apples. And man are they delicious! The best part is that William loved picking the fruit and readily ate his fill and then some while picking. It was so nice to see him gobble up nutritious foods without a struggle. Great family times!

Monkey see, monkey do

William loves his big sister so much and basically wants to do everything she does. Below are some pictures of our little monkey trying to be like his big sister.

Lily has the best ideas when it comes to riding the swings.

If Lily has important things to draw or write, so does William (although he is definitely right-handed).

Showing William the proper technique when it comes to oral hygiene.

If Lily is touching the snake then it must be okay. Daddy seems to think otherwise.

So, our biggest news of our ultra-fab weekend is that William went poo-poo on the potty!!! We are by no means in the process of potty training, but William has been telling us lately that he needs to go before he actually goes poo-poo. So, purely for the practice of understanding what the potty is all about, I have been putting him on the potty when he tells me. We had only done this about three times when he actually went! I could not have been more surprised! I still don't plan on actually potty training any time soon, but we will definitely continue this practice while it lasts just to get him used to the concept so that it will be easier when he's actually ready for the real deal. My favorite part of William practicing on the potty is his "make a try" face - cracks me up! I can only guess that William's understanding of the potty concept has something to do with having a big sister as an example. Yet another reason why siblings are great!

William does in fact have his own interests separate from Lily. One of the biggest examples of this is trains. Lily was never really into trains. Even though we had them around when she was younger as well, she just never really got into them. However, William LOVES trains. We are very fortunate to have a train store 5 minutes from us that allows the kids to play on about 6 train tables set up around the room for free. I never really went to this store that much in the past because Lily was usually done with it in about 5 minutes. William, on the other hand, can easily spend an hour here with no complaints. We went here several times this summer while Lily was in camp, and now we plan on using it more with Lily being in school all day. It is especially great during the very hot summer days and the cold days of winter since it is an indoor, climate-controlled space.

Carl update

For those following Carl's journey through medical training, here is where we are. Beginning July 1st, Carl started his fourth and final year of residency- yay! July 1, 2012 will begin Carl's year of fellowship in hematopathology. And what exactly is hematopathology, you ask? Carl's speciality will basically be diagnosing lymphoma, leukemia and other blood diseases. At the end of fellowship (June 2013), Carl will move into his "permanent" job. This means that next summer, we will yet again begin the job-hunting process. There are no guarantees that there will be a hematopathology job available in St. Louis but that is obviously what we are hoping. As always, we will keep everyone informed as we continue on in this process.

Today Carl participated in a charity tennis tournament. He hasn't been able to play tennis that much since his back has been bothering him for a quite a while now. I know he was happy to get out and play a little and is hoping to join an intramural team in the fall.

Aerial view of the courts. One of Carl's favorite moments of the tournament today was slamming an overhead past the Head of Bond Marrow Transplants. Hee hee.

Carl definitely had the cutest and loudest (okay and the only) cheering section at the tournament.


Carl has been a home improvement machine this month as well. I should have taken before pictures, but this flowerbed was a disaster. Carl came up with this low-maintenance concept, and I love it!

Carl has kept his usual sense of humor as well. Lily lost her second tooth on Wednesday, and we were looking for a gift from the tooth fairy that we may have available around the house. Carl pulls out this utility knife and sets it on the table saying, "problem solved". So helpful. (Oddly enough, this was an attendance gift from a physician recruiting fair.)

Whew!

We've had quite the transitional week in the Deetz household. Besides Lily starting the big K, she also lost her second tooth Wednesday night. On that same day, the spring on our garage door opener broke, and William flushed his toothbrush down the toilet. The garage is a minor repair that the repairman temporarily fixed yesterday and will permanently fix next week. The toilet may not be so minor; we will find out later today. Last night our tv, internet, and phone went out (all services are through the same company). Luckily that was a temporary problem in our area because I don't think Carl could take much more! :) Overall though, things are going well. Today is the last day that I plan on meeting Lily's bus at school and walking her in. On Monday, I am going to go to the school but not let her see me and just discretely check to make sure that all goes well. I know that it may seem crazy, but you've got to give a mother some slack. She's still my baby. With Lily at school all day, I've been able to focus more on William (and me) during the day. I'm excited to get to work with William one-on-one. He is such a sweet boy, and I love getting the opportunity to see him in action on his own. I also went back to the gym this morning for the first time in an embarrassingly long time, and I even got an uninterrupted nap yesterday afternoon with an unrushed shower. Am I in a fairy tale? Someone pinch me.

With Lily's transition to "real school", I've been noticing how much more mature she seems lately. One of the most notable examples of this happened last week. Carl and I put the kids to bed and then went in the backyard for about 15-20 minutes to enjoy the cooler weather together. When we came back in, Lily was up and going back up the stairs. It is really rare for her to get up at night, and I felt bad that she did not know where we were. I asked her if she was scared, and she said that she was but her plan was to go back to bed and then if we still were not there in the morning, she was going to call the police. I was blown away by that level of thought and ability to manage her emotions. I can't help but stand in awe of the girl that she's become. And a few other fun sayings from Lily lately:

• I asked Lily a question while she was drawing, and she said, "Mommy, I'm concentrating right now". Sorry, my mistake.


• Lily asked to watch a movie, and I said that she couldn't because it was bedtime. So she responded, "You're cruel".


• William ruined one of Lily's play scenes that she set up with her Calico Critters, and she scolded him by saying, "William, I'm going to give you a piece of my mind".


• My personal favorite - William and Lily were play tackling, and when she had him on the ground, she said, "Who's on top of the food chain now?"
  

Bittersweet

The sweetest and saddest part of my day yesterday was when Lily boarded the bus, and William repeatedly called, "Lele, Lele". Then, when we came home (after meeting Lily at school), William grabbed Lily's lunch bag from last year, put it on his arm, and then tried to go bye-bye to school too. I truly didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

As a wrap-up from yesterday, we had to take a couple of pictures of Lily coming home. By the way, William now thinks every yellow bus contains his sister, so I was very happy to finally tell him that yes, Lily was on the bus coming down our street.

Lele's home!!!

We forgot to get a picture with Lily's big-girl backpack yesterday morning, so we took one when she got home.

And because I'm the crazy mom, I had to get a picture today as well when grandma came over to see Lily off to school!

Report from the first day

Lily's first day of Kindergarten

I am surprisingly having a tough time with Lily going to Kindergarten today. (I do have to mention here that I was not the only parent in our household to shed some tears last night at the thought of our baby starting the "big kid" school today - sorry to call you out, Carl.) Although I am super excited for her and know that she is ready, I am really feeling the loss. Not just the loss of her being here throughout the day, but the loss of a time in her life not defined by school. This begins a new chapter that will last into her adulthood which is just unfathomable. Lily, like always, is taking this transition in stride. Whenever we ask her about going to school, she usually gives a short answer and continues playing or doing whatever she was doing. I think that she has done so many camps and classes that this just seems like the next thing. I'm curious to see how this plays out in about a month when she realizes that this is all day, every day. My greatest hope is that by then, she is hooked and really wants to go to school because she enjoys it so much.

Whenever I get nervous, I go into organization mode to help me feel more prepared. Yesterday, I reviewed the menu for the week with Lily, and she made some adjustments. This is the meal she chose for today's lunch: pasta salad, mango and carrots with dip. I also slipped in a note from the family, wishing her a great first day.

All ready for school!

No first day jitters here! :)

Even though the bus stop is only two doors down, I thought it would be best to keep William "contained" in the stroller.

The bus ran late this morning because of everything associated with the first day (like some parents wanting to take pictures...). Lily wasn't too excited about having to wait for the bus for 20 minutes, but we passed the time away making up new lyrics to the "Wheels on the Bus" which William also found entertaining.

Lily getting off the bus at school. I was not too excited about the drop-off procedure at school and was very happy that I was there to guide her into school today. My plan is to be there for the next couple of weeks until I'm confident that she can do this on her own.

All settled in for the first day! Lily is such a pro at going to school. I'm so happy that she shows no trepidation toward this next step - it greatly helps to ease my own fears!!

Clue #5

My mom used the clues to narrow down the names, and I confirmed that the name was within her list of twenty. So, I am passing this list on to everyone else, and here it is...
Adriana
Aemilia
Bianca
Celia
Eleanor
Elinor
Emilia
Francisca
Helena
Isabella
Isabel
Julia
Juliet
Katherina
Luciana
Maria
Mariana
Miranda
Olivia
Silvia

And since we are narrowing down first names, here is a list of 11 for the middle name....
Anne
Caroline
Catherine
Charlotte
Elinor
Elizabeth
Emma
Isabella
Jane
Margaret
Sophia

Only 10 more weeks until the big reveal!! :)

Until next time, Memphis

The kids enjoyed hanging out at Angela and Zach's house and especially liked the musical instruments that they were kind enough to let the kids play. Thanks for letting us take over your house for a few days, Ang & Zach! We had a great time and can't wait for the next visit!

William was a BIG fan of the drums

This really exemplifies William. He is such a happy, happy boy!

Tickling the ivories

So long Memphis!

Memphis - Day 2

On Day 2 in Memphis, we went to the Farmer's Market in the morning, a splash park in the afternoon and enjoyed some yummy Memphis BBQ and had a little birthday celebration for Mary at night. After the kiddos went to bed, we even got to watch a movie and then do some serious girl talk. I know Zach was disappointed that he was called into work and had to miss that!

Zach joins the girls for a brief Princess Game. Unfortunately, I don't think Zach got to change out of his scrubs all weekend. Such is the life of a Resident Physician.

I'm going to Memphis...

Okay, so this trip actually happened a couple weeks ago (at the end of July). We've just been so busy having fun that I haven't had the time or the motivation for blogging lately. Mary, Katie and Suzanne arrived in St. Louis a day or two before we left for Memphis so we got to hang out with them before we left. They enjoyed swimming together, going to the carousel at Faust Park, going shopping and even seeing a movie with grandma! Below are a couple of pictures from their shopping trip.

We filled Suzanne's minivan and headed down to Memphis on Friday. When we arrived, we got to take a tour of St. Jude's Hospital, where Angela works as a physical therapist. It truly is an amazing hospital, and I'm so glad that Angela loves her job so much. Later that day, we went to The Peabody hotel in Memphis to watch the procession of the ducks.

The girls checking out the ducks in the fountain

The Duckmaster

Roll out the Red Carpet - here they come!

William did not have the patience to wait for the official procession of the ducks. So we had to check out a white chocolate duck instead.

The girls got to enjoy a special treat that night, making homemade ice cream with their Uncle Zach.