octagon

this is how we entertain ourselves inside,

when its too cold to play outside

Potty Training Update

I know potty training is a very boring subject, so this will be the last time I post about our recent potty training progress.  I just find myself so excited every time Luke uses the potty successfully.  Since Luke is the oldest child, he unfortunately is the "guinea pig" of sorts.  Sometimes I don't feel guilty that Luke is absolutely spoiled because everything is trial and error on him.  Clara will get more experienced parents, and Luke just gets whatever we can think of at the moment to try.

I have been so impressed with Luke, this second time we tried potty training.  He has a sense of arrogance now, and the light in his eyes after he sees how proud we are of him when he has successfully used the potty is priceless.  We have had a few accidents, mostly because Luke gets distracted or busy, and going to the bathroom is such an inconvenience.  Other than that, prizes such as suckers, stickers, and monster trucks that were very visible were the reason for our success.  We have also watched "Elmo's Potty Time" dvd at least 20 times.  Luke likes to repeat all the different words that you can use for going poop.  He mostly likes the word "duty" and repeats it several times.

Luke thrives on repetition and doing things correctly.  He often tells himself "good job" after he does something that he thinks deserves a "good job."  So I think just more practice using the bathroom will do the trick.  We will be enrolled in preschool with no speed bumps! (like not being potty trained)

Clara is trying so hard to keep up with Luke.  Luke makes a game out of Clara chasing him around.  Its really not fair because Luke can run, and Clara is stuck with crawling for the moment.  Luke thinks is hilarious to run circles around Clara.  He thinks he is winning because she can't keep up.  Clara is trying to stand up and take steps by pulling herself up on furniture.  She just isn't strong enough yet and does a lot of head bonking for the moment.  She is so dramatic about falls, something Luke was totally over the minute it happened, so this is a new experience for us.

Clara doesn't want to miss a thing.  If she hears Luke's voice or sees him out of the corner of her eye, she wants to be involved.  It's funny to see them interact in the car.  Clara faces backwards, and Luke faces forwards.  They both have to lift their heads up to see each other past the sides of their car seats.  They ofter are looking at each other.  Clara holds her head up as long as she can to watch what Luke is doing, and Luke is constantly asking her, "you ok baby?"

We set up our Christmas present from grandma and grandpa- a trampoline!  It's still a little cold out, but I am sure we will spend many many hours on it when the weather is a little warmer.  We are looking forward to spring, sunshine and healthy bodies!

 Would you believe me if I told you this tasted good?

It does,

and it has 2 cups of spinach in it!

This princess has been sick, sick, sick!!!

You name it, she has it,

and a side of drama to go with it.

potty train: SUCCESS

 We took a 3 day break from potty training.

I needed to regroup and focus on a better approach.

I didn't have the right motivating tools.

So we set ourselves up for success, Luke style.

We needed more immediate rewards,

plus candy,

and stickers

for the big prize below

So far we are doing pretty good,

we've had a few accidents,

but Luke recognizes when he needs to go.

I never thought using the toilet would be so exciting!!

Rough

 February has been a rough month for our household. 
I am usually not one to complain, but this month, we just can't seem to catch a break. 
The biggest culprit has been some seriously sick kids. 
There has been lots of whining and crying and sleepless nights in our home this month.

We are looking forward to spring!

 The other evening, we needed a bed time snack to cheer us up.
  Luke requests cookies a lot, and most of the time I comply because its the only thing he will eat.
 I really don't care what he eats, as long as he eats something. 
I think my favorite part about making cookies for Luke is the fact that he loves to help. 
By helping, I mean sticking his fingers in the cookie dough and saying "yummy!"

That totally makes it worth it!

This kid is living the dream.

Totally spoiled rotten.

Pretty much gets whatever he wants!

potty train: FAIL

 This post is really for myself.  I want to remember this past few days.  I am generally a very motivated person, and when I make a decision, or put my mind to something, it WILL happen.

Luke has shown signs of potty training readiness for quite some time.  He tells us when he is going poop or pee, he wants to be changed immediately after doing either.  He hides while he is doing his business.  He will sit on the potty with excitement.  After he has done his poop business, he wants to be changed pronto, and he won't let his bum touch the floor while changing.  He wants his bum as far away from the poop as possible.  All these signs made me think he was ready.  So I decided, it was time, time to potty train.

I tried to set myself up for success as much as possible.  I read a book on potty training, I read lots of online forums and helpful hints.  I consulted many neighbors and their experiences helped me think I could totally do this.  I was ready, and Luke seemed ready.

We went to the store, bought a big prize.  We bought some stickers and Luke picked out some cho-cho train underwear.  He was excited to wear his big boy underwear.  This was going to happen!

5 am- Luke woke up on our potty training party day.

We immediately broke out the big boy underwear.

We set a timer, for every 15 minutes.

We got out our prize, and we made our sticker chart.

The timer went off, and I told Luke it was time to use the potty.

He was excited! He immediately ran upstairs and sat on the potty.

He was ALL about this potty business.

So we did this, every 15 minutes, without fail.

Every time the timer went off, Luke knew it was time to sit on the potty.

It was a race to get to the bathroom. 

He just kept running to the bathroom with such excitement.

 10 am- our first success.

Luke went poop in the potty!!!

I couldn't have been more happy,

I was so excited, and at that moment I thought to myself, this isn't that hard,

we can totally do this!!!

So we went to our sticker chart, and put a sticker up.

He only needed 5 stickers to get his big prize.

We were off to a great start!

Luke was loving that he got our full attention every 15 minutes.

Again, the excitement every time the timer went off continued.

By afternoon, we started having accidents.

Luke  would gladly go sit on the potty, but with in 1-2 minutes of getting off the potty,

he would have an accident in his underwear.

The frustration began.

By evening I was wondering if this was ever going to work.

I knew Luke couldn't hold it over night, so I put a diaper over his underwear for the night.

The next morning, I woke up thinking to myself, that I could still accomplish this.

I told myself that this was possible, with enough patience and perseverance, we could over come this.

By mid-morning, we had already had a few accidents.  I realized that maybe Luke needed a more immediate reward.  Luke LOVES baths.  Lives for them and takes 2 a day.  He was begging for a bath, so I told him he had to go potty before we could take a bath.  So after a few minutes, Luke went in, sat on the potty and he did it!  Again, my excitement was renewed, and I was mad at myself for doubting.  The afternoon brought more disappointment.  We kept the timer for every 15 minutes again.  Without fail, Luke would have an "accident" within a minute of taking him off the potty.

I realized this was not an "accident" this was Luke's personality.  I didn't understand it, he was excited to sit on the potty, he loved his underwear, yet he was now refusing to actually use the potty.

By day 3, I woke up frustrated.  I decided my child was just stubborn, and I was starting to see that this just wasn't going to work at this time.  This was difficult for me, because I do not like to fail.  Just like we can't force Luke to sleep in, or force him to eat, I can not force him to actually use the potty.  So we have FAILED!

For now, I have given up on potty training.  This kid is just pure stubborn, and I am just going to have to wait for him to decide to use the potty on his own, even though he seemed so ready.  He only has until September, because I already signed him up for preschool, and he has to be potty trained for preschool! 

Valentine's Gift

Luke and Gilbert playing with their Valentine's gifts.

Happy Valentine's Day

 Happy Valentine's Day!

Luke and Clara scored!

Luke and Gilbert got matching Light Sabers.

Luke was excited to see his glowing in the dark!

 This princess is all over the place.

She is trying to pull herself up to see everything.

Luke isn't always very helpful,

so Clara has done a lot of face planting lately.

She still doesn't have quite the strength needed 

for crawling, and getting into everything she wants to get into.

 Clara still won't giggle.

This little girl just squeals and squeals, but no giggles!

It's killing us!

Clara definitely has her own agenda.

She is just as stubborn as her brother,

only slightly more dramatic!

ABC

a new recipe

This morning I tried a new recipe,

for a Sunday brunch treat.

These are delicious cheesy garlic rolls,

made just like cinnamon rolls,

but with butter, garlic and cheese!

You can find this recipe in

Our Best Bites

my most favorite cook book right now by going HERE

Busy, Busy, Busy

 With Clara's new found independance, she has used this to do things she wants to do.

She has found a new obsession.

One that runs in the family, apparently.

There are 2 things I know for sure that both of my children got from their daddy.

One: their horrible hair line with a horrible cowlick!

Two: their detached ear lobes

 A third thing they both seem to have picked up from their dad is,

their obsession with chewing on wooded things.

There are several bite marks on wooded things around our home.

Clara is adding to the collection.

 Thankfully Clara doesn't have any teeth yet to leave horrible marks.

For now, she just likes to chew on wooded things.

We thought, at first, maybe she was just teething.

That doesn't appear to be the case.

She just likes to gnaw on wooden things.

 Clara also likes to pull herself up to things.

She hasn't quite gotten the standing thing yet,

but soon she will pull herself up to stand.

Then it will be time to lower the crib.

 This little girl is just busy,

getting around on her own,

getting into things she wants to.

Luke has become a little obsessive if Clara touches "his" things.

This rocking chair is Luke's.

Or so he thinks.

So he doesn't like it if Clara is touching it.

And the fighting begins....

I Want That!

Mobile

 Last week, this little lady figured out how to get around.

She started crawling, and immediately figured out this meant she could fulfill her agenda.

Which includes, getting into everything!

 Luke gets a little jealous if I get out the camera, and don't take a picture of him.

He doesn't realize that he has thousands, literally thousands more photos of him than of Clara.

When Clara was brand new, I felt bad for Luke.

I felt like I was ignoring him, or not giving him the attention that he needed.

I realize, its really Clara who gets the short end of the stick.

Luke got 100% attention, and still demands more attention than Clara does.

This kid is spoiled!

 I am thankful my children love each other.

I am also thankful Clara tolerates Luke.

He isn't always the nicest big brother.

Luke gets a little upset if Clara touches some of "his" toys.

Now that Clara can move around on her own,

she can go get things she sees that she wants to touch.

Luke isn't a fan of this.

 Clara has also mastered sitting up on her own.

She still falls over every now and again,

which isn't very fun when you fall over from sitting up.

However, you can tell she is loving her new independance.

We figured out that this little girl

takes after her dad

in his love for CHEETOS!

We ran out of cheetos,

and this little lady let us know

that that was unacceptable.

This little lady can "work-it."

This isn't exactly her "work-it" face, 

but its close.

She can turn it on and off to get what she wants.

How do they learn this?

I call it her fake face

and her fake whine.

She will do whatever it takes to get what she wants...

such a typical girl!

First Dentist Appointment

 Today was Luke's first dentist appointment.

All morning, I told him we were going to go to the dentist,

and he was going to look at his teeth.

Luke kept saying, "ok, go to the dentist, teeth."

He was all about going to the dentist.

The above photo was right before we went in,

he was still excited because he didn't really understand what this was all about.

 They sat him up in the chair,

and he performed what we call "closing up shop"

We used to use this term a lot when Luke was younger.

He would never eat anything, and just hold his jaw shut tight.

We called this "closing up shop"

because that is exactly what he did.

 The dental assistants had to pry his mouth open to get him to take x-rays.

They were laughing at how good he was at holding his mouth shut!

I was laughing too, because I expected this.

 Finally we got Luke to open his mouth.

We took some x-rays,

which showed that Luke has GREAT teeth!

This was good news, because I could hear the patient next to us,

the mom was getting some very bad news, 

her toddler's teeth were not in great shape.

They needed caps, and after her insurance, she would still owe $1000-1200!

YIKES!

I'm glad the dentist gave us a clean bill of health.

He said that Luke's teeth look like they have good enamel on them,

which is good, because I never feel like we are adequately brushing his teeth.

This was the waiting room,

they are obviously geared towards kids!

There were several other kids in the waiting room,

so why is it that my child is the only one running around like crazy?

All the other kids sat by their moms and waited patiently.

Luke was running around saying "come on, come on"

as if to entice all the other kids to run around with him.

First dentist appointment = SUCCESS!

Train Expo

 We decided to take the kiddos to the model train expo at the South Town Expo Center.

It was ridiculously crowded with too many train finatics.

There was a Thomas the Train, train ride, free to all the kiddos.

This meant a super long line, that Clara and I waited in while Luke and Gilbert walked around.

We got bored waiting in line, so Clara and I took a photo!

 We finally got our chance for Luke to ride Thomas the Train.

Luke is generally a scardey cat about a lot of things.

I was surprised Luke went into the train, without hesitation.

Once he got in, he did look a little frightened. 

He went on the ride, looking like this the whole time,

not a single smile from this little boy.

 The tried to cram as many kids as possible in each ride, 

since there were A LOT of kids waiting for their turn.

 Luke enjoyed looking at all the different trains.

There were all kinds, even kinds that ran off of steam and had real smoke as exhaust.

There was an entire display of lego trains.

There was even a Lego pirate ship train, that was AWESOME!

Luke riding the Thomas the Train ride at the model train fair at the South Towne Expo Center.