Potty-training and the flu, with a little fun thrown in.

January looked a whole lot like this:

The flu reared it’s ugly head at our house this winter. None of us ever get the flu shot (I’m not anti-vaccination by any stretch of the imagination, just not convinced the benefits outweigh the costs on this particular one). The last time anyone in our family had it was 2011 and, thanks to a successful quarantine, it was limited to one child.

Not this time. Four out of five got it, one after the other. I had at least one kid home from school for 2 1/2 weeks straight.

On the upside(if this can be considered an upside), the family flu epidemic coincided with this:

(He’s wearing underwear, if you can’t tell). Here’s a better shot:

Yep, potty-training. Deep breaths. So what’s the upside to potty-training during a flu epidemic?

Well, no one’s going anywhere.

So potty accidents stay at home, where they belong.

How did it go? Well, it’s still going, you might say. With the exception of my oldest, perfectionist that she is, potty-training is a months-long ordeal at our house. Life’s too busy to get oneself to the bathroom on time, I suppose.

One difference between Jack and my girls, however was that he doesn’t seem to mind sitting in poop. (The girls each voided once in their underwear, just to say they’d tried it, before deciding, not worth it).

Jack, however, couldn’t be bothered with dropping it in the toilet until I told him he could play the iPad while squatting. Boys and their electronics… Why be productive when you can play to your heart’s content all under the guise of a bathroom visit?

Sorry to Jack’s future wife. A mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do.

We celebrated Eve’s birthday this month. Double digits. My phone had been confiscated for repairs at the end of December so I have no pics to show for it. Thanks to Tim for maintaining some sort of a visual record.

She requested breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns and chocolate croissants, a steak dinner and a mint brownie ice cream cake. Mom delivered on all counts.

Eve also got a party with friends at the bowling alley, plus a piñata and other games at our house. Unfortunately, all pictures of above activities are on my loaner phone-I’m the dork that forgot to download them before turning it back in at the apple store. Face palm.

In other news: Jack got a Dexa scan, his second ever. Last time he got one, I had to pull out all the stops to get him to fall asleep for it. He was 18 months old and, considering that one had to lie completely still for approximately three minutes, sleep was an absolute must.

Naturally, I went into this scan apprehensive about the same possibility. He’s a three-year-old boy in constant motion (except when sitting on the toilet with an iPad in his lap, of course).

On the plus side, three-year-olds CAN be reasoned with, contrary to popular belief. I simply told him he had to lie super still while they took pictures of his bones. No ouchies. And that’s all it took.

One and done, folks. My kid is amazing.

His scan shows a 42% improvement in spine density and 18% overall improvement. Great news, obviously.

Basketball season began in January and that pretty much sums up our month.

Despite the woes of the flu, January was pretty darn great. No snow shoveling to speak of, so what more can a girl ask?