Potty training and Pacifiers

Our "big news" this week is that Marcie is [almost completely] potty-trained! Gracie and David are very interested, so they'll probably be next. Will is just interested in the prizes, and Seth is not at all interested. He just wants to be left alone to do his own thing. :)

Our other big news is that the pacifiers/binkies are GONE. Yes, it's a year late for that, but better now than even later! We had taken them away during awake hours, but it occurred to me that it was probably about time to take them away altogether, so I Googled it and found to my horror that they were supposed to be off pacifiers by two years old. They all have at least some degree of "pacifier mouth," e.g. "open bite" or overbite. (If it weren't for teeth issues I wouldn't care if they took the pacifiers with them to college, so long as they only use them in bed!) So we hid all the pacifiers and "no more!" It took three nights for the kids to get used to going to bed without their binkies, and naps are a thing of the past (sob!) because the pacifiers were so much a part of their nap-taking. But the kids have adapted to binkie-less sleep at night, and bedtime is now an hour earlier (hooray!), so that's an upside of getting rid of naps.

The other night when I was talking up how the kids had gotten too big for pacifiers, preparing them for a bedtime without the binkies, David said, “I don’t need a binkie anymore.”

Me: “You’re right, you DON’T need a binkie anymore!”

David: “I’m a big boy now.”

Me: “Yes, you ARE a big boy!"

David: "I don’t need to sleep anymore.”

Nice try, David. 

Will continues to amuse us with his verbalized care and concern when his siblings or others get hurt. Today in church his friend Paige was crying just because she was sad about something, and he immediately looked over and said, "Oh baby, I'm so sorry!" 

If he hears a sibling crying outside he'll often go find them, saying, "Oh Bubby, I'm so sorry! Did you get hurt? Are you alright, Bubby? That's so sad!"

David always offers to kiss someone's owie. He tells us all about what's in his head, and penetration and observation is pretty amazing. He thinks through relationships and where people are, and how the mommy bird has a baby bird, and a story about that, etc. He's always seemed older and more aware than his years. It felt like he could communicate directly to our souls in the NICU, even under all the masks and wires. He gets embarrassed and distressed easily. He very much wants to be in relationship and be with us, but he doesn't reciprocate with a lot of cuddling. He wants to sit on our laps, but rarely truly "cuddles." Seth can't be still for too long, so his cuddles are usually quick and silly, playing with our faces so we look funny and then laughing at us. Marcie and Gracie love to be held by us and dance with their siblings. (All the pretty dresses they own are called their "princesses" and are very much for dancing.) Will is just plain physical, loving to hug, be hugged, wrestle and tickle. He'll start bugging his siblings just to get them going so something exciting and physical can happen. If they're in a good mood he can get something fun going pretty quickly. There is a lot of laughter around here, even though there's also not infrequent screaming due to frustration: "I don't like it!" is a common complaint. 

Seth wrestling with a "borrowed" buddy (Isaac's friends are super sweet to the quints!)

David rigging up shell necklaces and a spring from the trampoline to make a cool swinging toy.
(David always has a project. Today it was picking enough banana leaves to fill a large water pitcher - very seriously.)

David demonstrates how to start the swinging contraption a'swingin! The other boys loved it too.

The girls in their new dresses from Aunt Marlene and Uncle Gary, and me in my matching Indian outfit from Courtney and Kenneth. Marcie loves to wear her Tinkerbell backpack, something I picked up at the JAARS boutique in faith that I would have at least one girl, back before I knew how many of each we'd have. Fun memory!

Gracie "combing Daddy's hair." She's very sweet about it. She pretends he's not bald, I guess.
Marcie, on the other hand, disgustedly told Gavin, "You don't have a hair!" and marched off to find someone else.

The girls sharing the floatie ring at the pool last weekend:

Another church picture: Gracie, Will, Marcie, Gavin with Seth, me with David, Isaac. Yes, we sit in the back row - for good reason! There's no nursery program currently, so we have to be able to make a quick getaway.

Please pray for Gavin as you think of him. He has to land in some pretty crazy places! He loves his job, though. Thankfully he's home for a few days here and there to make up for all the time he's been gone. The playhouse is really coming along, thanks to his comp days! The kids LOVE it.