Bellydance Monday, plus a weekend of toddler wrangling and potty training, join the fun!

I'm back, and I'm certain that you all missed me, just as I missed you. :) Read on for a 4th of July weekend recap!

Essentially though, the 4th of July is rather anticlimactic for us since we never go to watch fireworks. We always have a child who cannot stay awake late enough to go, so we don't go. Next year I'd really like to try though, even despite the crowds, because there is nothing sadder than a quiet 4th of July. But I digress.

Friday was belly dance night, and if we were on Twitter right now, I'd hit "favorite!" for our class this past week. We're still working on our new choreography, and in addition to our candle trays we're using wings of Isis. These look exactly like you would expect, gauzy fabric that attaches at your neck and drapes out at both sides like wings. Our wings arrived during the week, and so we all arrived atwitter on Friday to play with them.

They are, well, not exactly *comfortable*, but that is the case with so much in dancing and yet we do it anyway because it looks beautiful. The thing that fastens around ones neck was giving some of my classmates claustrophobia, and while that wasn't the case for me, I did find the material rather scratchy and ended the evening with angry-looking red marks on my neck. They are so lovely though, and we added on to the choreography using them. You have to love that our group has worked together so long that we can talk in code and know exactly what the person meant:

"Ok, remember, outside ladies: hip drops, swoosh and undulate, bump bump. Inside ladies: vibrate, scoop! Swirly swirly."

LOVE.

We've been invited to dance in a festival at the end of July, and the organizers want us to fill quite a few sets. We'll do our regular group number of a Middle Eastern pop song combined with a drum piece (Claire says that her husband jokes that he could put on a costume and do this one at this point, because he's seen it so many times) and then we have to get creative. We're thinking of using the beginning of the candle tray dance sans candles since we don't have enough time to perfect that little balancing miracle just yet. Claire suggested that we rubber cement some flowers on our trays which seems like an ideal solution. She also said that anybody who wants to do a solo can do one, since there will be plenty of time.

!

I'm quite terrified, but I see solo opportunities akin to eating vegetables: it's good for me. So I will be totally sans props (I can't think of anything worse than attempting to be graceful while wrestling with a silk veil in a wind gale) and improvising. I just need to pick music. We'll see how this goes.

*bites nails*

So, we fast forward to Sunday. I once again braved bringing both children with me to Mass (by myself, hence the terror) and really, it didn't go too bad. We just had,

(a) A very active Anne who climbed every surface available to climb,

(b) One faux pas in which I asked Henry to go back into the sacristy rest room to refill Anne's sippy cup with water, at which time Anne reacted to Henry leaving as if he were being dragged off to prison in chains: "HHHHEENNNNRRYYYY! Want to see HENRY!!!!" During the consecration. Awesome. So I had to quickly scurry after Henry with Anne slung over my shoulder,

(c) My veil was off my head as often as it was on, but it wasn't the veil's fault. It's hard to keep a veil on your head when your head is upside down retrieving a toddler from under the pew for half of Mass, and

(d) The instant Anne stood still long enough to trace the wood cross on the end of our pew out in the aisle she seized the opportunity to pass the most unladylike of noises.

You can't win 'em all.

She's also been expressing an interest in using the toilet, so we've vamped up our potty training efforts to little actual results, but such is the way of things with 2 year olds. I brought out her adorable little pink Baby Bjorn potty which she screamed at and stated that she would NEVER sit on, fantastic. I had to hold her on the toilet which she suddenly loves despite the fact that she could easily fall in. I think it's because she likes being next to the toilet paper roll that she will immediately begin shredding.

So, yesterday found us at Toys R Us shopping for a toilet seat insert for toddler bums. She had her choice between Disney princesses and Sesame Street with Ernie and Bert, and she chose the latter. I was surprised, but then again she *does* have a real thing for Bert. She ran through the store lugging the potty seat cover behind her, because we're just classy like that.

We got it home and I will say that she sat on the thing. None of the promised pee-pee was produced ("pee pee coming!") but she doesn't appear to loathe it like she does the pink potty.

*long suffering sigh*

Oh the day when I don't spend half of it in the bathroom, how I long for you...