Hannah the Potty Animal

 A trip to Flubs with Hannah and Bella, and below, even Roxi enjoys ice cream!

I bet you can guess from this blog title and picture what we did this week!!  Hannie is 20 months old which I am aware is young for potty training, but as of late she has become very interested in all things poop-related, so I thought perhaps we would give it a try.  And folks, let me tell you, she can totally potty like a rockstar.  I assembled the chairs (one for each floor of the house) and she sat down without hesitation and the next thing I knew the duck was quacking and Hannie whoops "I DID IT!" Easy as pie.  No idea what all the fuss about potty training is about. 

Other than that, things are pretty normal.  We did see Despicable Me the other day.  I heard it was funny and I heard it had an adoption theme and thought we would invite some friends over to watch.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the movie, the story line includes a single man adopting three orphaned girls so he can use them to fulfill his evil plans.  During the climatic point of the movie, the evil character-turned good guy sends the girls back to the orphanage (against his wishes, but it's still a disruption). The orphanage caretaker makes the girls sit in the "shame box" because they're returned! The end is happy and endearing, heart warming, tear jerking, etc.  Really, despite the premise, it's super cute. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I feel like I should include a  portion of a review about the movie written by a adoption advocate:

It could definitely be a trigger for traumatized children so be careful! I would NOT recommend it for families that have newly adopted children, have severe attachment issues or that have little girls that were abused by a male figure.

I personally found the the adoption theme is so unrealistic and over-the-top I figure most kids would see the humor in it.  It reminded a lot of "Annie" and I am a sucker for "love wins in the end" themes.  I also liked the fact that, like Juno, and Elf, other movies with adoption-related themes, it definitely sparked some dialogue, especially with the younger kids.  My cousin J and neighbor T were watching it with us; they are both 3rd graders, and after it ended, I told them that "isn't how adoption works, you don't just walk in and get a child.  You have to fill out lots of papers and answer lots of questions do lots of work to adopt a child."  So I guess there is good and bad points to Despicable Me,  and I guess we will just chalk it up as a "teachable moment."
  
I wanted to mention that my friend and I are starting a weekly newsletter of kid friendly events and activities for families in the Cincinnati area! We are going to be giving away tickets, gift baskets, and other great prizes. If you would like to become a subscriber, just message me and I will add you to our listserv.
 
Here are some pics of our week:

Reds Opening Day!

Dinner with the KazMamas at Maggianos ~ Me, Ann, Alaina, Karen, and Karen

 I swear she half Kazakh half chimp.  Have a great week my friends!