Christian's Epiphany

When Justin turned 6 months old, I decided it was time to get Christian potty trained. I wasn't feeding the baby as often at that point, so I had more time to spend in the bathroom with Christian. As soon as we discovered that Christian was a "stander-upper" instead of a "sitter-downer" like Grant was, he was staying dry most of the time. A "Dry Days" chart worked really well for Christian. As soon as he got so many stickers on his chart, he was allowed to pick out a new (but inexpensive) toy from the store. Although staying dry most days, Christian was still having trouble with going "number 2" in his pants. I made a new chart called "Christian's Poo-Poo Chart", but the only stickers on it were from the couple of times that I caught him just about to do his business and rushed him to the bathroom just in time. Most other times I just had to clean up the mess and change his underwear, all the while reminding him that poo-poo goes in the potty not in his underwear.

And so it went for a couple of months (what seemed like an eternity) until 2 weeks ago. Christian told me that he had to go to the bathroom - I assumed he just had to go pee-pee, but a few minutes later I heard him shouting with joy, "Mommy, I made poo-poo!" I hurried in to verify this fact and congratulate (and wipe) him. Indeed, he had gone poo-poo in the potty all by himself! As I was helping him put his pants back on, he looked up at me and said (like it was a new and profound idea), "Poo-poo goes in the potty and not in my underwear." I said, "Yes, that's right" (while in my mind wondering how many times I had said this exact same thing to him over the past few months). Well, no matter now...it was like his own personal bit of revelation. Christian hasn't had a single accident since his epiphany (knock on wood).

~Andi

I figured it out!

I got the pictures from the camera to the computer...seems like I am missing some, though. Most are from outside since that's where we are spending much of our free time right now.

Here's Justin - fast asleep. He sleeps exactly like Grant with his hands behind his head.

This is one of my daycare children, Trinity. It was such a nice day outside yesterday, that she just climbed onto the swing and fell asleep.

Here is Christian playing in the sandbox - pink sand (Grant's idea).
This was back in March when it wasn't quite warm yet, but we still bundled up and went outside anyway.

Justin loves to swing - the faster the better. He giggles a lot. I need to get it on video.

Have a wonderful Spring!

~Andi

Late Bloomer

I'm certain I won't have much time to write...one of the seven sleeping children is bound to wake up soon, but I'll just take advantage of the quiet while I have it.

Here it is April already. March actually turned out to be quite a busy month for us. Justin had a 9-month checkup, Grant had an eye exam, dental exam, and medical exam/immunizations to get all ready for Summer Enrichment Preschool this summer and Kindergarten this Fall. His kindergarten registration was also in March, so he got to see his school and meet the two kindergarten teachers (we won't find out which one will be his teacher until this summer).

Everyone had another cold in March, just to make sure winter didn't go away without us going through at least 3 more boxes of kleenex. The illness was short-lived for everyone except Brian, and Justin's runny nose kept hanging around and making him kind of miserable. We all seem back to good health now though. This beautiful weather is certainly helping.

Justin turned 10 months yesterday. He is double digits now! He is 29.5 inches long (85th percentile) and 21 pounds (50th percentile). He still has no teeth and still is not crawling, but his checkup was good and he is excelling verbally. He already says lots of words with meaning, and he is really showing his personality to us now. He loves to be played with, especially by his brothers. He is very social and will cry if he is left alone in a room. He also cries if I take him into the bathroom without giving him a bath. He LOVES baths. I think he's cuter than ever, and other people are constantly telling me how cute he is, so it must be true. I would post pictures, but they are all still on the camera. Brian made some changes to the computer and the old way of transferring pics to the computer doesn't work, and I haven't figured out the other way yet...but as soon as I do, there will be pictures. We did have family portraits taken in March, and most of you who read this blog will be getting copies of those pictures if you haven't already received them.

Have a Happy Easter, everyone.

~Andi