Toddler Zoo Trip

Today was the Toddler Zoo Trip for the Pegasus Club (EM's expat club). The Doha Zoo isn't that great, but it's small and not ever crowded, so it's actually really good for them. They can run around - which is what Adam and Robert spent the whole time doing! You can walk the whole thing in 20 minutes, but we managed to stretch it out to 1 hour. Adam was excited to see the giraffes and the elephants. Unfortunately, there wasn't an elephant this time. There was one when we went at the beginning of January, but he was gone. I am not really surprised....he didn't look that good to begin with. Robert was disappointed because there weren't any bears. They've never had bears, which is good considering it is so hot here. Anyway, the kids had a good time and took advantage of the nice weather we are having.

Evening alone

Daddy played night golf last night, so Adam and I spent the evening all by ourselves. I asked him what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to do puzzles. So that's what we did. He put all his puzzles together, and I played around with my camera. By the time we were done it was time for bed!

Movin' on up

I finally found a proper toddler seat/booster seat for Adam at the Toys R Us here. He isn't ready to be just strapped in with the car seat belt, and most of the boosters I have found here require that. At the same time, he is getting too big for his convertible car seat, which we have used for him since he was about 6 months old when he outgrew the bucket baby seat. I wanted one that still has the 5-point harness and the latch/tether system that his old car seat had, but also had the capability to be used as a booster when he is ready for it. Adam really likes his new seat - it has more room, he doesn't have to be squeezed into it like the other one, and best of all it has a cup holder! I am glad I found the one that I wanted here. Now I don't have to give up a suitcase in order to bring one back from America!

A beautiful day!

Today is our first really beautiful day of the year! It is not too hot, no too cold, no sand or crazy winds.....just beautiful! Unfortunately, all of us know that it won't last long at all before the temperatures start soaring...

I took Adam to the park, something we haven't been able to do for a while due to everyone in our house being sick and the horrible sandstorm we just had. We met Samantha there with Emma, Catrina and Robert. Adam and Robert stuck together like glue, of course! I brought along my camera to get a few shots of the kids enjoying the gorgeous weather.

Our first Shamal of the year

We had our first big sandstorm, caused by the shamal winds, which are the strong northwesterly winds that tend to blow this time of year. The winds started Tuesday afternoon, and continued until Saturday. Sunday was the first good day without the crazy winds. The average wind speed was 30 mph with gusts in the 40 mph range. As you can imagine, the dust and sand was everywhere!! I had it in my hair, clothes, mouth, nose, etc. I took the pictures of the West Bay skyline from road where Adam's school is located. The other pictures were taken at the Corniche. In both pictures, you can barely see the buildings, when normally they are clear as day. You might notice the black speck on the picture taken on the Corniche - that is a spec of sand that actually got INSIDE my camera when I was taking the other pictures.

Making Daddy a Valentine

Forgive me....this post is just a tad bit late. I blame being sick all last week. Anyway, these photos are of Adam making Daddy a Valentine's card with his paints and glitter. We kept the two best cards for Daddy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today at school they painted the kids' faces for Valentine's Day. The teacher told me that she had to do Adam's 3 times before he was satisfied. I guess he is my son after all! At least Qatar seems to be okay with Valentine's Day, unlike Saudi Arabia, who has banned all things red for the holiday (click here to read the article). I saw several kiosks in the mall today with your traditional Valentine's gifts - hearts, flowers, cards, etc. About half of the items were in Arabic, and the rest in English. I almost got Shane a stuffed bear holding a heart with some Arabic writing on it, but I decided not to, since I wouldn't buy it if it was in English (so why would I want it in Arabic!).

Just what we need....

Of all things to come here....we now have a Krispy Kreme! I heard that when it opened, a 3 hour-long line formed to get donuts. Can you imagine - waiting 3 hours or more for donuts? Anyway, as you can see, the novelty has seemed to wear off as no one was anywhere around this morning.

The Big 33!

Today is my 33rd birthday - and no, Joseph, that is not OLD! Anyway, when we told Adam it was Mommy's birthday, he immediately said - "YEA, we'll have a birthday cake!!" I hadn't planned on one, but decided after he mentioned it a third time that I better find one. I decided to make one - nothing special - just white cake with chocolate icing and sprinkles. However, I forgot to buy a candle, so we found a small one I had used during Christmas and put it in front of the cake. That seemed to satisfy Adam. He sang "Happy Birthday" and blew out the candle for me. I have to say, it was great fun watching him get excited about the whole thing. Also, as a bonus, he gave me what I really wanted from him for my birthday - a day without accidents!

Parties and potty training

Yesterday was the Kid's Valentine's Party for the Pegasus Club. Or as the kid's know it, the Bouncy Castle Party. That's basically why they all come! Adam barely got off it the whole time he was there, until he realized that there were cookies and other treats. He discovered a wonderful thing called Fairy Bread, an Australian kids treat. It is basically bread with butter and sprinkles. Sounds awful to me, but kids seem to like it.

Potty training update: Adam is doing well. He went to the Valentine's Party in a pull-up, but didn't go until we got back home (about 2 hours later). Today he went in the public toilet at the mall. I think he is ready to go back to school, so I am going to send him tomorrow in underwear and see how it goes.

The business card curse

Shane recently got new business cards and brought one home to show me. One side is in Arabic, and the other side is in English. They even have his name in Arabic! It is pretty funny, since the last time he got business cards we found out not too long after that we were moving to Doha. Now that he has these maybe we will move again...

An update for the Grandparents....

Well, day #2 of potty training went pretty well. He only had one accident today. I have been alternating between putting underwear and training pants (pull ups) on him. I had worried about the training pants because they are so much like diapers that I figured he would not want to use the potty, but it hasn't been a problem. He went all afternoon with a pull-up on without wetting it!
Stay tuned....

Guess why we are blowing bubbles???

Beware....this post is all about potty training, so if you are not interested, move on to the next post! I promise I won't post much about this, but since this is a huge deal for us right now, I am sharing our story for those that are interested:

We are working on potty training today. We have tried it in the past with poor results. Adam has never been interested in sitting on the potty long enough to go in it, and was getting really upset when we tried to make him. Today, however, he was different. I got some bubbles as a reward for him if he did go in the potty, and that seemed to do the trick. Every time he has gone, he goes straight to the bubbles! To get him to go the first time, I placed a diaper on top of the potty (I saw that in a book). That seemed to work. After that, he went without needing the diaper there. I have given him cup after cup of orange juice and milk so we can "train" his bladder. It seems to be working (thanks, Mom!). He has had a few accidents, and we have gone through several pairs of underwear (and finally the pajamas) this morning, but things seem to be progressing. The last couple of times he has gone, he has done it without an accident.
I am going to keep him out of school tomorrow and possibly Sunday. We will see how the weekend goes. The only thing we are supposed to go to is the kids' Valentine's Party on Friday. I am not sure how we will handle it as it is still a few days away. It will all depend on how well he does today and tomorrow.

Wish us luck!

Afternoon at Samantha's

We went over to Samantha's on Sunday for Adam to play with Robert and Catrina. They played inside for a little while, but then all wanted to get outside on the trampoline. It was getting pretty cold out, and the wind was blowing like crazy, but the kids didn't seem to mind - they had a great time on that trampoline. While I was there, I also got a few shots of little Emma, who is about to be 2 months old!

What is it with kids and boxes?

Adam loves to climb inside of boxes. I bought this container to put toys in that he has outgrown. These containers are few and far between here, so when I saw one the other day, I bought it. Adam saw it and of course thought it was his since it is colorful and has a "face". The first thing he wanted to do? Climb inside and play peek-a-boo, of course!

Goofing around with Daddy

The weekends are our favorite time. Adam especially loves it because Daddy is home for him to play with. I think he gets tired of Mommy by the end of the week!

Cool again!

We had another cold front come through....yea! Other than the fact that there is a nice layer of dust all over everthing downstairs (the house is not sealed up well), it is good that the cool weather will stay around a little longer. I was back to wearing short sleeves by the middle of the week, which is kind of depressing for January! When I put my robe on this morning Adam wanted to wear his, too. I managed to get a picture of him in it before he went back to playing.