New phrases

This week when Gavin thinks something is really funny he laughs and says, "that tickles me."
The group of transformers that are good guys are called the autobots. Gavin is insistant that they are are called "apple bops."
When Gavin says his tummy hurts it sounds like he's saying his "puppy" hurts.

The transformers situation

A couple weeks ago my mom told Gavin that if he did well with his potty training she would send him transformers in the mail. I told her which ones to order, and the package came a few days later. The item description on target.com was not quite accurate. What we got in the mail was 2 boxes full of legos, from which you were supposed to construct the transformers. Umm, no. So I returned those and let Gavin pick out what he wanted at the store. He picked a regular bumblebee transformer:

Yah, that's the arm that repeatedly came off. It's not supposed to. Transformers aren't quite as sturdy as they used to be. Also, Gavin couldn't quite "transform" the toy from a robot into a car by himself, which frustrated him and led to fits. So I tried again. Twice. Here was another attempt. This particular transformer was made for ages 4 and up:

It was too frusterating too. The last attempt was for ages 3 and up. It too led to fits. I hear enough fits around here without adding to them with a frustrating toy. So I returned all of them. 4 different purchases in all. And Gavin wasn't really all that upset. In fact, the next day, a Sunday, he was quite content to make his own transformer from the newspaper:

 

 He played with that for several hours, then took it to church with him to play with during Sacrament meeting. Sometime while all this was going on, I think a couple days later, Jake finally found a transformer for Gavin that worked. So one day Gavin opened the front door and found another "package from Grandma." This was inside:

It's a hotwheels type bumblebee car with the robot imprinted on the bottom. Perfect. No "transforming" required, nothing to fuss about. Since Gavin has continued to do well with his potty training he got another "package from Grandma" with a similar transformer inside. There's one more waiting for him. Unfortunately, the toys were made a few years ago and discontinued. The BX only has 3 different types, and they're going for $20 each online. But I think 3 is enough anyway.  

Totally unrelated pictures:

making cupcakes:

One of the few times we can count on Gavin to take a nap is after church. Almost every week he falls asleep on the way home.

My latest find

A few days ago I ran across this article:
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/07/05/can-you-actually-earn-reasonable-money-from-mechanical-turk/
And I decided to try mechanical turk out for myself. It's actually kind of fun. Basically it's an amazon.com affiliated site that lets you perform various piece work tasks for a small amount of money. Write an article for a blog $2, complete a political survey $1, participate in a psychological study for a university $1.25, etc. I like it because I use parts of my brain that haven't engaged in a while - today I completed an English study for a university similar to the verbal portion of the SATs. So for I've spent probably 4 hours completing different tasks and made about $21. Not much but better than the zero dollars I would have made reading various blogs during the same time. It helps that I'm a fast reader and good test taker and can zoom through most of the tasks in about half the projected participation time. I've found it's best to stick with the tasks that pay at least $1.Worth a shot if you have some time to kill and could use a little extra spending money.  (No I'm not making any $ of this referral and you bet I did check to see if I could)
www.mturk.com

How I used my Kohl's cash today

Gavin made it all day without an accident, which was impressive considering we were out shopping for about 4 hours or so. At home he wore shorts with no underwear on underneath this morning, and while out and about he wore a diaper which was dry when we got home. Then he switched into his new underwear. I am really impressed with Kohl's family bathroom. I've noticed family bathrooms at several stores but I don't think I've ever used one before. I don't know if they're all like Kohls', but that one had a low to the ground toilet for kids in addition to the normal toilet. And Gavin used it, with a little bribing to play with is new bumblebee transformer when he was done. I'll post more about that toy later - I want to enjoy my evening now that Gavin is asleep. But I wanted to share these super cute pictures first. 

Bebops

Between the potty training and the frequent 3 year old tantrums it's been kinda rough at our house. Gavin is doing wonderfully with the potty training, taking himself when needed, as long as he's naked from the waste down. Often times Gavin even carries his potty into Jake's computer room when he wants to watch him play video games. The problem lies with the underwear. When he wears it it's constant accidents. As of today we've started with big bribes to try to get him to stay dry. A week or 2 ago Gavin watched a Transformers movie with Jake. Gavin is obsessed. He talks about "bebops" (robots) all day long. He has a magazine with a picture of a yellow robot in it, and he kept pointing at it over the course of several days and saying what sounded like "mawbaybe." Any guesses? Today I finally figured out what he was saying - bumblebee, the name of one of the transformers. Gavin is also getting quite upset that his hotwheel cars don't transform into robots. He has had several large throw himself on the floor fits over the issue. I keep telling him no matter how big a fit he throws I can not turn his hotwheels into transformers. So as of today we are bribing Gavin that if he can keep his underwear dry and go on the potty he can watch transformer cartoons with Daddy. My mom is sending him a couple transformer toys (Bumblebee and Optimus Prime to be exact) to aid in the bribing. Jake has even told Gavin he can look at his childhood collection of transformers if he can keep his underwear dry. Gavin got so excited when we told him this at lunch time he immediately got down and went and peed on the potty. Then he excitedly told Tyler all about the bebops. I went to the grocery store this afternoon and while Gavin was home with Jake he was able to stay dry and use the potty. Later this afternoon, on my watch, he wet himself. I'm thinking maybe Jake should take a week off work to potty train. Gavin continues to keep me entertained. Occasionally I bring up our adopting again, asking him if he would like a baby to come live with us in our house. He always says yes, and always says that he wants a girl baby. A couple times when I asked him what we should name her he said "Jill," then pointed to his head and said "hat," telling me about the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. I guess rolling down a hill sounds fun to him. I'm thinking there must have been an episode of "Super Why" that told that story that made such an impression. Today I asked him about the baby again. He again said he wanted a girl baby. I asked him what she will say, and he said, "wah, wah, I want Gavin, I want Gavin" in a sing song voice.

4th of July

We had a great Fourth of July. Some friends joined us for swimming, eating hot dogs and pie, playing in the backyard, and watching fireworks. Gavin of course loved having all the friends around to play with. He also loved the fireworks, becoming so excited that he ran around giving everyone hugs. I think he also liked the staying up way past his bedtime part. We didn't shoot any fireworks ourselves, but there were plenty going off around our house. We all stood in the front yard and pretty much turned in circles as they went off in every direction. There were even some small ones going off in our cul-de-sac, reminding me of our 4th of Julys on Shiloh Court when I was little. Except without the bottle rockets.