Potty Training - Round 2

Clayton is sick and has an ear infection, so we stayed home from BSF yesterday. I was cleaning, so I figured I'd put him in his big boy underpants and hope for the best. I had set the week of April 13th aside to train him since our activities for the week are cancelled due to Spring Break for the schools. The goal yesterday was just to see if I could get him to go on the potty even one time. He did great and had 6 successes and a few accidents! Then last night he stayed dry though the night and went potty this morning when he got up - I'm sure it's a complete fluke, but I'll take it! So far this morning we're accident free and even had a poopy success! M&M's have proven their use as a reward one more time!! And I have to say I think he is just the cutest thing in his big boy underpants.

Signs of Spring?!

For about the last two weeks, every morning Brooke will tell me that Spring will be here in 30 more days. She never counts down, it's just always 30 more days. For the past couple days we've gotten some glimpses of spring weather. Today we even had a picnic on the deck for lunch at Brooke's request. I was instructed to take a picture because it was Clayton's first picnic at the picnic table (at least she's on top of these things!) So we've enjoyed the bikes, sidewalk chalk, and outdoor toys.

Clayton has some funny stories of his own from the past few weeks.

• He woke up the other day saying "My belly hurts...feed me french fries." Hmm...too many trips through the McD's drive through?!
• Clayton's head is above the 90th percentile for circumference, which makes it hard to get some of his shirts on. The poor kid will chant "my big head" when I get him dressed in the morning. The other day he was laying in my bed with me (still in his PJ's) and he let me know "Clayton not have a big head - Clayton has pajamas." His pj's are zip-up, so he was trying to tell me he didn't want to get dressed.
• He doesn't start preschool until Fall, but has definitely taken his big sister's lead to let us know when it's "music time." Brooke will sit us all down in a room and instruct us on what songs we are to sing - apparently that's bossiness that he doesn't mind.

Then this afternoon we had some errands to run and Clayton woke up early from nap. It was SO nice outside that we made a quick trip to the zoo. Both kids did a great job holding my hand and walking for the hour that we were there.

Heading up for pajamas...

....and coming down with everything but!

Grandma Nancy watched the kids tonight so that I could go to my Dr appt. She took some pictures for me of how Brooke did with the instructions of "Brooke, go up and get your pajamas on."

"Finger"painting with Clayton

While Brooke was at preschool today I decided to fingerpaint with Clayton. He's definitely the 2nd child as I had tried this much, much earlier with Brooke. He was SO excited to paint, but I think he thought I was talking about watercoloring (a special treat daddy introduced him to several weeks ago.) When I told him and showed him how to dip his finger in and draw on the paper, he refused. He ended up having a grand old time fingerpainting with Q-Tips.

My kids are definitely different from each other - here are pictures of Brooke at almost the exact same age! (February 2007)

A New Addition

Mike and I are expecting again. I went to the Dr. yesterday for my first appointment and was able to see the heartbeat and get some pictures. The official due date is 9/16. We're very excited, but it looks like this pregnancy too will come with some challenges. I'll start seeing a perintatolgist at 16 weeks and be on bed rest between 26-28 weeks until 36 weeks. We knew there was a good possibility of that, but the Dr. confirmed yesterday that would be our course.

Brooke has been very humorous through all of this as she tries to wrap her little 4-year old brain around the topic. She's asked how the baby got there: "Jesus put the baby there." And how it will come out - thank goodness for c-sections! When I showed her the pictures yesterday, I don't think that she was expecting a lima bean with a head...hmmm. She wants a sister - Clayton wants a brudder, so one of them will be right! We've talked about the special place the baby grows is called a "womb" - she often refers to it as being in the "groom." She's also has had many stories about how little Pooh and big Pooh had babies that grew in their arms and came out their mouths - she then says "Do I have a good 'magination mom?" She's excited that Clayton is going to be a big brother AND a little brother and that she'll be a big sister AND a big sister. She wants to know what I'm going to eat when I'm in the hospital and what things we'll buy for the baby. Let the questions begin!!

Brooke's "victims"

Brooke has a bin that we call "Let's Pretend." While I was away yesterday morning, Daddy and Clayton fell victim of the Let's Pretend box...what good sports they both are!

• And as always, I have Brooke quotes:
  "Mom, in school, they teach me all the things I don't know."


• This week in school they were studying about planets, stars, etc. She was playing with a toy and told me it was her telescope. I asked if she learned about that in school. "No mom, Bob the Builder taught me about them."


• "Mom, how does the dishwasher work?" It washes the dishes Brooke. "But how?" I don't know Brooke. "We should get a book about that."


• Mike was flipping through stations and Brooke was reading the guide - she insisted upon the Puppy Bowl - "Dad? Did I help you find exactly the show you wanted to see?"


• "Brooke, did you hear me?!" "Yes, mom - my ears listened - I'm just not doing it yet."

A small world...

I know that a child lives in a much "smaller world" that expands to them as they get older, but this was too funny. I got a sheet from Brooke's speech teacher today about the things that a 5 year old should know. One of them was to identify different coins and their worth. Well can I tell you the last time Brooke saw me use something other than my debit card?? Anyhow, I decided we'd do crayon rubbings of the coins as a fun way to learn. We started with the penny and I asked her if she knew who was on the front. "Oh! It's daddy!" - Close Brooke...it's Abraham Lincoln and he use to be president. We turned it over and I asked if she knew what that was a picture of. "It's daddy's work!" Close again Brooke, it's the Lincoln Memorial. She was just too cute in how proud she was that she thought her daddy and his work were on this coin.

One other funny thing - when I told her that Abraham Lincoln was a President, she said, "oh, he must be very smart." "Mom, is our president now - Obama - is he very smart?" I told her that we hoped so and we also hope that he makes good choices.