...Actually, I didn't really get him to eat them--he sort of decided to on his own. This video clip of Yo Gabba Gabba certainly helped:
...haha...but also, I've had to be super creative and laid back about it. (By laid back, I mean, act like eating vegetables is normal, and don't hover while he tastes it. Also, don't make a big deal if he doesn't like it at first.) One day we read a book about rabbits, so that day, I made us some rabbit food. I arranged five of the smallest leaves that you find at the center of a head of romaine lettuce in a line from smallest to largest, and then put a dollop of dip on the side. He totally ate it up.
I find the best way for me to get our family to eat vegetables is to prepare a whole bunch of raw veggies, and some ranch from the Hidden Valley seasoning packet, and our veggies are gone in no time. Recently he asked for broccoli "trees". So I bought those. Today, I cut up a bunch of broccoli, carrots, and something new--cucumber. I told him that if he bites the cucumber slice, he can make a moon. So he started doing that, and seriously porked on the rest of the cucumber.
Sigh. I guess today's been a pretty successful day.
Sunday was the annual primary program in our ward. It's always fun to watch the children say their lines and also very touching to hear their beautiful songs. I knew many of the songs because we were in the process of learning them in our old Millcreek 6th ward when I was so fortunate to be primary president. It made me a little bit sad because I miss being in the primary. At the same time I'm glad I can enjoy Relief Society for the first time in a long time. Plus, I honestly don't think I could manage it with Andre.
The best part for me, though, was watching how Paulo responded to the primary program. He was so attentive. He knew some of the songs and would mouth the words at times. Half way through the program, he began to use the armrest on end of our pew as if it were a microphone, and he'd sing into it, and pretend to say lines when other kids were saying theirs, and then he'd stop when they stopped, and would sit down on the floor reverently folding his arms. He has to wait a whole other year before going into primary. By then he will be so ready and will know all the songs and stuff. He's so sweet. My son my son.
Last week I decided to use $10 of our grocery money to splurge and buy ourselves a hummingbird feeder. I've seen hummingbirds coming around by our balcony and thought it would be an educational investment. Within a few days we had our first hummingbird, and he comes around everyday now, many times throughout the day, especially in the morning. So this morning, I held Paulo on my lap and we were super quiet and still. Hunter got out his Nikon camera and shot a whole bunch of photos, and these turned out the best. 
Yes, we really took these photos. They're not from an online stock photography company. The photos look a little different from each other because Hunter used flash on the second one.
Anyway, we named him Harold. We confirmed he's a ruby throated hummingbird. He seems to be protective of his new found territory--we watched him bully off another hummingbird who had come to check out the new feeder. It's kind of cool being able to bring nature so close to our home. Paulo gets really excited about it. Beautiful eh?
We also observed another cool natural phenomenon yesterday afternoon. After returning home from church, we got out of the car, and Paulo always sits on this little spot on the curb next to a fence while waiting for us to get Andre and all our bags. Well, on this particular occasion, there was a highway system of tiny ants along the bottom of this curb, which stretched from a little tiny hole in the cement (by our car) about 30 feet along the walkway toward the mailboxes. The ants were rushing in two different directions, and in a perfect line. And the funny part is that at one point along the "highway" the ants broke off the normal path and started up the curb in a diagonal line, and it looked just as if it was a highway exit. It was so cool. Hunter told me that the reason the ants stayed in a perfect line like that is because the ants, which are all female, communicate with each other through pheromones and their antennae. Isn't that cool?
The boys and I took the stroller to our voting location today and I cast my ballot. Feels good to be able to do it for the first time.
Two boys, two "Bapi"s
So handsome!
I've been dying to see how our Halloween photos turned out, but we can't seem to find our memory card reader. So, the pictures are coming soon. Don't worry.
Many of you have heard about the California measure, proposition 8, which aims to protect traditional marriage by defining marriage as between a man and a woman. It's a divided issue in California right now. In fact, it's a divided issue in our apartment building right now. We're the upstairs floor, and our neighbors downstairs are against it.
We've been volunteering much of our time recently with the campaign, making phone calls, taking around door hangers, and going to a rally. Here are some pictures:
It has been a whole family effort. The kids have been very well-behaved as we've volunteered. The night after this rally, I could hear Paulo chanting "Yes on 8, Yes on 8" in his room before falling asleep. So sweet.
Here you can sort of see that we had people on all corners at this busy intersection. There was tension in the air, but there was also definitely strength in numbers. Crazy stuff, eh? We'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm excited I get to vote.
By the way, someone was videotaping the rally, and interviewed both me and Hunter and will be posting it on YouTube. I will add the link once I know where he posted it......[the video never ended up on youtube...sorry folks].
I'm finding that I get great enjoyment out of making cool things for my kids out of boxes. It's cheap, and the possibilities, of course, are endless. Check out my little play house and Paulo's costume in the making:
Note the little toilet, sink w/ mirror, and the little stool to stand on. These are important areas of the house these days (Potty training is still going really well. No accidents today, and we ran quite a few errands).
This was a baby wipes box that I turned inside-out and made into Wall-E. Now that I've completed the structure part, Hunter is going to help me with the skins.
A week and a half ago, we were challenged in our parenting class to begin potty training our toddlers. Up until that class, I had felt like I didn't want to commit to it, but my teacher presented a very straight forward, do-able method which, for the first time, caused me to take it seriously. I took the potty training challenge, and today, Day 5, I can report we've had much success.
Here's the technique. You go out and make a big deal out of buying underwear and treats to reinforce. Then, once you put them in underwear, there's no turning back (except for nap or night time). You fill your child up with plenty of liquids, and then every 20-30 minutes, you say "It's time to go potty" --NOT "Do you need to go potty?". Give them an opportunity to go, and eventually, it's bound to happen in the toilet sometime, because they've been drinking so much. Then you make a huge deal of it and give them a small treat. Food can be a very powerful reinforcer. Pretty soon, they'll learn to associate the feeling of needing to go with going to the toilet, and they'll begin to wait until they get there. And of course, they'll associate the going with the treat. It's also extremely important that when they do have an accident, you are really laid back about it, and just say "oops, it was an accident" and clean it up. If you get angry, they will associate the feeling of shame with potty training and won't want to do it. And I guess once they start waking up from naps and night time dry, then you can put them in underwear at those times, too. Not bad, eh?
I am very proud of Paulo. The first day, he pee pee-ed in the toilet five times standing up and only had three accidents. the next day was harsh because we had our first poo poo accident. Gradually, he has learned to tell me before he goes, and he rushes to the toilet to pee. He even shooed me out the door one time because he wanted to do it on his own. He has successfully peed in a public bathroom at the doctor's office, has learned to pee and poo poo sitting down on our toilet. I am so impressed.
I must say, though, that I had no idea how intense it would be. At the end of the third day, I looked in the mirror, and this is what I looked like.
I've had little time to do anything else. It's getting better though. Paulo has learned to hold it a little longer. I'm just so proud of my big boy. He is such a fast learner.
Saturday was a very fun day. One of Hunter's projects took us down to Zuma beach in Malibu again, so we decided to make another family excursion out of it. It was supposed to be a cooler day, so we didn't bother bringing bathing suits and instead just brought toys to play with on the beach. When we arrived, hardly anyone was there. This is usually a very busy part of the beach swarming with surfers and families and people playing sand volleyball. Well, there was a reason why it was so empty. The wind was quite strong. I thought, well, that's okay, we can have fun making a little fort that will block us from the wind. But no matter how many different ways I tried to seal off our fort, the sand kept coming in through the smallest holes and just swarming all over. Andre was soon covered. Paulo, who had the best seat in the house, got sand in his eyes a few times (if you can imagine with eyelashes like that). And I was getting the worst of it. Soon the wind started to get stronger...and stronger...and stronger. It began to get quite ridiculous. I had Andre completely under my shirt and somehow he was still eating sand. Just when our fun on the beach finally crossed the line and became not-so-fun, Hunter appeared and said "Come on, we're getting out of here." Unfortunately, the pictures do no justice to the situation we were in, but as Hunter put it, the wind was so strong that the sand hitting his legs actually stung his skin, and as he approached my little make-shift shelter from a distance, he said it looked like a brown sand-storm cloud was hovering around us (think Lawrence of Arabia). He thought, "Look at my poor wife--we're out of here." So we disassembled the "tent" and made a mad dash through the sand to the car about 200 yards away. Paulo was afraid by the strength of the wind and needed to be carried, so Hunter hoisted him up on his shoulder (like a soldier does to his wounded comrade in combat) with all our beach equipment in the other hand and kept running. Meanwhile I had Andre under a blanket and was running, too. When we finally reached the safety of the car, I looked back at Paulo and with eyebrows raised and a huge silly smile on his face, he said "It's fun, the beach?" He is so cute. If anyone is an example of having "joy in the journey," as mentioned in President Monson's talk, it's Paulo, or all children, for that matter. What an adventure!
