Victories, Victims, and Vigilantes

Well, this has been a stunning 24 hours.

We have been potty training Judah - again. We needed some stability beyond the summer before we began again. It can be quite the operation, depending on the child. Discovering what works for one child does not mean it will work for the next. The day before he wet himself 7 times and the day before that he wet himself 4 times. That's a lot of underwear and pants, so it was a good thing that it was laundry day yesterday.

Judah aimed to please yesterday. He got himself to the bathroom, put his special seat on the toilet, and sat down to a victory every time. He's figured out the sticker points system that earns him treats, but that didn't seem to motivate him to active duty. Unabashedly, Judah strolled around the house without any underwear (or pants for that matter) all morning long. There were no leaks sprung anywhere but at the toilet, and this time it was a good thing. So, for the next few days, Judah is going "commando". (For those of you unaware of the secondary meaning of this term, you haven't watched "Friends").

On the same subject, Micah's streak of not wetting the bed extended to 12 before he caught himself last night. We have been thoroughly impressed by his dilligence as well.

I got a phone call yesterday from a meat market in Tugaske telling us that our order was ready. We got a quarter of a beef (a big one at that) for a reasonable price. A trip that was supposed to take me three hours according to Google only took me two hours following the same route it gave me. Another victory!

Yesterday Faith also baked buns. The seminary had some cutbacks, and on Thursday our "Soup and Bun Lunch" for a loonie became a "Soup Lunch" and all the guys went hungry. Faith banded a few ladies together to see if we could make enough buns for the whole seminary community in one day in one house with one oven. She succeeded in baking four batches of buns (162 buns, or 13.5 dozen) while doing all the laundry and potty training Judah. I believe this victory calls for a night out, don't you? After this, her feet were sore, but she rocked it. She then told me she could have made another batch if she had enough eggs...

Yet not all of yesterday was victorious. Faith had made us beef dip for supper, which was a perfect way to use the remaining older buns and roast in our freezer and use the slow-cooker instead of the oven for a meal. Everyone was sitting down at the table and we had just began dishing the kids up. Suddenly, we heard a crack and a crash and I ducked as I saw something fall out of the corner of my eye. Micah yelled and leapt from the table while the rest of us were showered with glass and - popcorn? At first I thought the light had fallen from the ceiling, but it was actually the shelf above Micah which held antique pop bottles, a glass washboard, a milk bottle, and numerous other items which cascaded over Micah and the table with great force and noise. The casualties included Grandma Guynup's popcorn jar (hence the popcorn everywhere), a Canada Dry bottle, an old Watkins bottle of Cinnamon Extract, our table which received numerous dents and scratches, and Micah's plate, cup, and serving bowl which were smashed to bits from the one end of the kitchen to the far reaches of the hallway.

Judah and Aslynn sat there stunned and Micah stood at the far end of the hallway crying (it's a good thing he's really fast). Micah may have a bruise on his noggin or his elbow, but came away from the tragedy relatively unscathed. No cuts. We were able to salvage most of the meal because only some of it was served. I was the only one who found popcorn in his french fries later. The glass took us a good 20 minutes to clean up from everwhere with a broom and a wet cloth. It was a rather earth shattering experience to say the least. However, this was not the only tragedy that Micah had experienced yesterday.

We had just stepped out the door to go to school when we noticed something amiss. All of our bikes were lined up together minus one - Micah's. We searched the yard, but we knew that we had seen it the night before when we walked home from a seminary event. Someone had stolen his bike. I drove he and a friend to school, after which I drove around Caronport searching yards for the bike. The bike isn't even really ours, but borrowed from Brian & Janice! I was sick. Who would take a seven-year-old's bike right from his yard in Caronport?

I went to the Village Office and voiced my complaint. They sent out a community email on my behalf. I also talked to the town's police officer who took the description of the bike and said he would do a search as well. I was frustrated. How many of our bikes have to go missing? To remind you, I've already had my bike stolen twice from the school. It is now securely locked whenever I go out. Now it will be locked when we are at home too.

Brian searched for the bike as well. When I returned home from picking up our meat, I was ecstatic to see the bike sitting on our front deck in one piece! (Last time my bike was completely thrashed when I found it). Shortly thereafter the police officer showed up and I shared with him the good news and the location where Brian had discovered it. Micah came home and walked right past the bike without even noticing it was there when he came home from school. When he saw it, he was thrilled! So after our second attempt at supper we went for a bike ride to deliver buns and jam to two families with newborns (right to the yard in which Micah's bike was dumped) and saw along the way a Monarch Butterfly and a black and fluorescent green salamander.

What a wild and crazy day, wouldn't you say?

- Mark