Grant's Farm

Both Angela and Suzanne's family came into town this weekend for Labor Day. I love when we get to all be together. Some day maybe Zach will get to come too! We took Mary & Katie to Grant's Farm on Saturday (the last hot day of the season). There is no doubt about it - it was hot - but the kids had such a great time, it was well worth it!

Come and get it, goats!

Katie looks like an old pro even though this was her first time at Grant's Farm!

Carl and William after going through the sprinklers - a very welcome relief in the heat!

Yay for snowcones!

Best friends.

Yay for the coolest grandma around who braved the heat to spend the day with her grandkids! The kids love grandma so, so much. William will gladly speed past me and reach out for grandma, saying "mama mama" which is fitting - grandmas are like super-moms!

Beautiful days

I can't begin to explain how much we have been loving the weather lately. It feels so wonderful to spend our days outside soaking up the sun while enjoying the cool breeze. We have spent our much of our time outdoors lately at various places around town, at different parks, and in our own backyard - so wonderful!

We loved having Lily home for a 4-day weekend! On Monday, daddy was off as well, and we got to go to the park as a family. Love those days.

We went to the Museum of Transportation last Thursday. This was actually one of the last hottest days of the season with temps over 100 degrees, but William didn't mind. This boy loves him some trains!

My beautiful boy lights up my life.

All aboard - William rides the train with Molly's boys, Jack & Patrick. Little did Molly know that she only had 5 more days of pregnancy left. Molly and family welcomed little Charlie into the world yesterday morning. Congrats Kelly family!!

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?"