Ah-jah-bah

This is Madison's word... "Ah-jah-bah". She knows it's not a real word and gives you a sneaky funny look every time she says it. It took several times of hearing it before I realized the pattern. It is the word she made up for 'fake food'. Anytime she is bringing you 'food' from her kitchen, if you ask her what she brought you, she says "Ah-jah-bah". To keep her entertained while I was washing dishes last night I had her bring me "Ah-jah-bah" in all different forms... hot "Ah-jah-bah", cold "Ah-jah-bah", "Ah-jah-bah" warmed up in the microwaved and then blown on to cool it down, a drink of "Ah-jah-bah" since we were thirsty from eating all of the "Ah-jah-bah"... I look forward to many tea and "Ah-jah-bah" parties in the future...

Potty training day three...

We made it to day three. I said I'd commit three days, stay close to our potty, and we did. She did impressively well... no accidents today and came to tell me she had to go potty every time. It's actually day four today and she walked in there herself this morning and pottied without even telling me (until afterwards of course and she wanted her m&m). We haven't successfully gone in a public potty yet (tried today but didn't go) so that is the next potty milestone. We are on the right track. This was a very 'do-able' way to potty train Madison... if anyone reading this wants to know more I'd love to give you the link to her book! She says the best age to start is 22 months and she had four boys of her own.

We are very proud of our big girl!

Potty... Day Two.

Day two started out with flying colors. The first thing out of Madison's mouth as she walked out of her room was, "Mommy, potty?". I rushed her into the bathroom, took off her diaper (which was very wet), and she sat down and earned her first M&M. She had gotten four M&M's by 8:45... orange has been her color of choice. I felt like at this point that she had learned to work the system - going just a little potty at a time to earn the max number of M&M's. Then we had a big success... a poopy in the potty. Before she finally went the big #2, she asked to go to the potty several times with no success. Then this final time she looked at me in a bit of a panic and begged for a diaper. I told her that I knew she could do it if she tried, she just needed to put on her poopy face. She did and we all celebrated. She did pretty well the rest of the day... lots of potty in the potty with a few accidents. Her only accidents happened when we were playing outside. She'd look down at the pee streaming down her leg saying, "Uh oh, I have to go potty Mommy". While laying in bed tonight she asked to go potty. I took her in the first time and she sat and sat and sat. We went back to bed. She asked to go a second time and I told her we would try again in the morning (she had a diaper on), and she was okay with that. Hopefully tomorrow will be full of orange M&M's and celebrations and we can start venturing past our driveway :).

potty in the potty... potty on the floor...

Well, today was the day. Day one of potty training. I have always wanted to just get this potty thing done... I wasn't excited about buying a bunch of pull ups and 'working on it' for months. So... when I heard about 3-day potty training, I thought it would be worth a try. I bought the online book and Matt and I started today.

The whole idea is to let Madison lead the way. We never ask her if she has to go potty or take her into the bathroom to sit for hours... instead we continually say (and said probably 200 times today), "Tell Mommy or Daddy if you have to go potty". About an hour after she got up, and we celebrated the start to potty day with new Hello Kitty and Dora underwear as well as cinnamon rolls, she stood in the dining room, behind the curtain, and peed on the floor. I rushed her into the bathroom as I told her to tell me she had to go. She sat on the potty and we talked about how yucky that felt. We cleaned her up, got her some new underwear, and I cleaned up the mess in the dining room. The book tells you to have the kid clean up the mess, but Madison takes great joy in cleaning things with a wash cloth all around the house. Both Matt and I feared that if we let her clean up her mess, she would possibly pee on the floor just so she could clean.

Anyway, a couple of hours later, I heard behind me, "Uh oh Mommy, I have to go potty"... as the pee streamed down her leg. We then went into the potty and she sat on the potty. I think a drop fell from her crotch that was left over from before... but none-the-less, there was potty in the potty. She was excited... so I was too. We cheered, we used our new cool wipes, we flushed it down the big potty, and got our first orange M&M.

Then things began to turn the other way. Madison then told us MANY times, "Mommy, I have to go potty". Ecstatic at first, we went to the potty with no success. We did this MANY MANY times. We quit trying and took a nap (with a diaper). After nap, it was the same story... many false alarms. I began to get frustrated because I thought Madison had learned to play a great game with Mommy. I tell her I have to go potty, she drops everything to run in and hang out with me. I had to put a limit on this. I always took her when she asked but when we were in the bathroom, it was business. There was no playing with the cabinet... or the bath toys. No sticking your hands in the potty, not spitting on the floor (which is a new fun thing Madison has decided is neat)...

Then... at about 5:00 at night, she told me she had to go potty, we went in there (for the 100th time) and she sat down and squeezed out her pee. She actually squeezed so hard it shot right out the front of the potty. We all jumped and celebrated and Madison enjoyed her one red M&M. After that we went to the potty for many more false alarms as well as many niners ('stinkers'), but she actually ended up going a few more times with only one other accident on the floor.

According to the book, you are supposed to keep them in their underwear even when they sleep. I am not this brave (I just got my 7 month old sleeping through the night... I didn't want to now be getting up to change sheets). As I put a diaper on her and laid in bed with her, she told me she had to go potty. Frustrated, I figured she just wanted to get out of bed. We headed into the bathroom (after a long explanation that we will be going right to the potty and right back to bed) and Madi sat down and peed a big stream of pee. A good ending to a long day of day one potty training. I'll try and update tomorrow... day two....

Eliott's 7th month!

Wow... you have moved from little baby to a mobile, climbing, little boy. I feel like so much has happened since I last wrote about you. Your 7th month is quickly coming to a close and so much has happened! You are very good at going from your belly, to sitting, and back to your belly. You can get up on all fours and have taken some 'crawl-steps', but always flop back on your belly. Recently you have learned to get anywhere you want by army crawling and you are getting faster and faster. You also learned how to pull yourself up and do this mostly in your crib. You are all boy!... as you have tried to conquer all of these things at once, getting many bumps and bruises, but barely letting it phase you. Tooth number two has just come through (bottom left). You will eat anything mom puts in front of you with the only finger food being 'puffs'. I think you may have tried to wave back at mom this morning, but that is about all the 'signing' you have tried. We try to teach you 'more', but you have learned that yelling gets you the food a bit faster :). You are SUCH a good little man... going with the flow in whatever we are doing! Yesterday we took Chief to the frisbee catching contest. We left right about the time that you were due for a nap. You were a happy little boy and finally drifted off to sleep at the very end and took a long nap in Mom's arms, then into the car, then continued in your crib for about another hour. You have also finally started to sleep well ALL NIGHT - yay! You gave Mom and Dad a bit of a run for our money in this area. Mom finally made your 'figure it out' on your own one night and you have been better ever since. You like to get up around 6, but I'll take it! You are so loved by your big sister. She loves to make you laugh. The other day you were bouncing in your jumperoo and she was jumping on the floor around you. You were laughing so hard you were snorting! Yesterday we all went down to Sturgis falls and you tried your first strawberry smoothie... you were a big fan! Your Daddy and I have LOVEd watching you grow and explore the world. We just LOVE to watch you climb and 'crawl' and whatever else you decide to get into. You are loved little man and you are such a blessing to our family!!!

First corn on the cob of the year!

Spontaneous Water Day At Gramma Lori's and Papa's...

Madison loved the water ball... Eliott enjoyed his bucket full of water... Papa and Daddy even tried it out. Great fun!

Scrunchy Nose... Hereditary?

So Eliott makes this face all the time. If he's happy, excited, laughing, ... he scrunches his nose up so tight that it looks like it hurts. One of my favorite 'Eliott Stories' so far happened because of his scrunchy nose. Our family was in the living room. Eliott was jumping on Matt's lap while Matt was laughing with and talking to him. I said to him, "I think it's hilarious how Eliott scrunches his nose, I wonder why he does this?". As I said this, I looked over and Matt was saying, "Hi Eliott, Hi Big Boy..." with his nose scrunched up just as tight as his little man's. It was hilarious. Like father like son!

Fun Friends

Oh man... I know I've said this before, but to look back at these pictures in ten years is just going to be great. Our good friends - The Oaklands and The Williams... our kids love each other so much! And I love how the three girls sit and smile (well, sort of smile) and the three boys could care less about the camera and seem to be looking for a way to get dirtier and sweatier :).

Sweet Shades

On The Verge...

Well, I am currently enjoying the short-lived stage of Eliott being able to sit well and play in a stationary position. I know he will not be here long. He has already mastered tummy back to sitting and tries to roll over, crawl, and pull himself up all at the same time. 100% boy and loving it!

PS... I wrote this about an hour ago... between then and now Eliott began army crawling all over the living room behind me. Stationary stage: officially over.

Puppies

I finally got to look through some of the pictures we took of the kids with Chief's puppies... so fun. I even made a few of the pictures!

I remember when I heard that JayCee was pregnent... I was so excited to bring Madison out to meet them and play with them. Well, she was way more interested in the Goetz's fun swing set and sandbox than the puppies. I actually had to make her sit with them to pose for a few shots.

Eliott on the other hand, LOVED them. I never even thought about him wanting to play with the pups. He couldn't get enough of them as they climbed all over him, licked his face, and nibbled his ears. He grabbed, climbed on them, and laughed.

Well, today the puppies have all found their new homes. I am so glad that most of them are staying around here. We already miss seeing them!

A Visit To The Strawberry Patch...

... I have wonderful memories of picking strawberries from this very same place when I was a little tike (and then when I wasn't quite so little), then sitting around the table, cutting off the stems to make jam or put them on icecream. Although the only one who got much picking done was Gramma Lori, it was a wonderful morning! Thanks Mom!

Our sweet sweet little man!

Poopy in the potty... mmm???

Let's start by saying that I had the great idea (against many people advice) to try to potty train Madison about 6 weeks after Eliott was born... needless to say it did not go well. At about day 2 1/2 she didn't want to sit on the potty at all during the day, but when night time rolled around, all she wanted to do was get out of bed and sit on the potty. Oh my. My next goal was to try it when Eliott was sleeping through the night. Well, opposed to great effort by Matt and I, 7 months later we still have many late night visits with our favorite little man. Finally, I decided that when I was done with school, potty training was my first goal.

Well... I have been 'warming' Madison up to the idea of wearing big girl underwear and sitting on the potty but haven't asked her to do it yet. We have worked on the 'poopy face', which is what your face looks like when you go poopy. And finally, the most important part if you ask Miss Madison, you get m&m's if you go potty on the potty. We have been against 'reward' parenting, but I decided I will carry around M&M's for as long as it takes to get this little girl trained.

Anyway, the other night Madison was running around the living room before bathtime with no clothes on. She all of a sudden had the bright idea to sit on the potty. She sat there for about a second and a half and stood up and said, "M&M Mommy!?". I told her to turn around and look to see if there was peepee in the potty. She turned around and smiled big and shook her head yes. I looked and we then had a talk about what it means to tell the truth and tell a lie. So she sat back down. She then looked at me and made the 'poopy face' and stood back up. Pointed to the potty and said, "M&M, Mommy!?". I stood up, looked in the potty, and sure enough she had pooped in the potty!!! I about fell over. I thought peepee in the potty would go well, but I thought pooping would be a challenge. She proved me wrong and I was pumped (as I thought to myself, 'oh the things we now get excited about as parents)! We actually didn't have a single M&M in the house at that moment, but I was more than happy to clothe my little girl, load her up in the van, and head to the gas station for her to pick out her very own pack of M&M's. I wanted to let her eat the whole pack but realized I had to be in this for the long run. She picked out two orange M&M's (2 for poopy :)) and happily ate them.

What a day. I am hoping I don't post a blog a few weeks after starting our actual potty training in complete distress. I'm enjoying the moment while it lasts :).

sweet little girl...

...who's not quite so little anymore.

Ears :(...

The last couple of days have not been very fun for the El-t. He has not been himself... at all. Matt and I have held him around the clock. We finally made it to the dr yesterday and found he has an ear infection. Poor little man. We got some meds, visited our wonderful friend who is a chiropractor, and he seems to be on the mends and back to his sweet little self.

Jumping Bean

Whenever you say, "Who's a jumpin bean!?!?"... Madison says, "Me!". Ever since she figured out how, she jumps everywhere. She has recently figured out that jumping off the couch is very fun. Anyway, last night I had a tub upstairs with some summer clothes in it. She decided to climb on top and leap off. Well, the first try was a success... she even landed it. The second... not so much. Niether Matt or I was paying much attention, but we heard her jump, then heard her crash. Matt saw it out of the corner of his eye and said all he saw was Madison do a bellyflop onto the hardwood floor. She must have tripped as she decided to jump. Not the best idea... as a bloody nose proved. Today she jumps again...