It's Potty Time!

Ben

So we just finished day 4 of potty training with Ben. He is doing GREAT! He didn't like sitting on the big toilet in the bathroom, so I took his Sesame Street potty seat and put it on our camp toilet and put it in the living room. At first we had lots of accidents first thing in the morning which have improved every day (After the very first accident he looked down and said "Oh mine God I'm wet"). Today NO accidents except for poos (and he was having trouble with that today). Here are the stats so far:

Day 1: 10 accidents - 4 successes
Day 2: 6 accidents - 8 successes
Day 3: 6 accidents - 11 successes
Day 4: 3 accidents - 11 successes

He has been asking to go "pee pee" and I am on the alert to make sure I get him to the potty right away. My only regret is that I only bought 6 pairs of "big boy" underwear - and they are hard for him to get off and on (and even for me).

Jack

Our little blue-eyed boy is getting around all over the place. He doesn't seem to love crawling although he's very good at it now. Mostly he just crawls so he can get to something he can pull up on so he can stand up. BIG fan of standing now and also sort-of bouncing while he's standing (and jumping if he's in his crib). Cute things he's doing lately are tilting his head to one side (and if you mimic him he will laugh and tilt his head the other way) and pointing and saying "gooda gooda gook" or "talking" while pointing as if he's trying to tell you all about ... something.

He's now sleeping from about 5pm to around 4 or 5am when we give him a bottle, then he *usually* goes back to sleep until about 6am. LOVE that! Ben didn't sleep this well until he was almost 2!

Brothers

The other day Ben sat in his green camp chair and asked me to put "Baby Jack" in the chair too. I was kinda nervous, but did it anyway and then they looked so cute I had to run and get the camera (see pics below). Then a different day Ben asked to put some pants on (I had him in just undies while we were potty training the first couple of days) so I said "Okay, go and get some pants and put them on." You can see the result below - although I *know* he can put his pants on properly - I'm sure he did this on purpose.

Enjoy the pictures! FYI the boy's b-days are coming up. Ben will be 3 on July 28th and Jack will be 1 on August 11th. Can't believe how fast the time is going.











Mr. Funny Pants:


Ready for a piece of Daddy's b-day cake (Rob turned 40 on the 17th!)


Rob takes excellent candid shots:

Another Quick Update

Jack is crawling now, but sometimes with one foot and one knee. =-) He is also pulling up on everything and seems to prefer standing and wants to get around that way. A little wobbly yet to attempt walking. Currently he is standing up playing with the door knob. He also won't stay away from Ben's door while he's taking a nap, and he keeps turning off the TV. Big fan of paper, grass, bugs, anything he finds on the floor or ground or within reach. Everything goes in the mouth.

Yesterday Rob was blowing on a train whistle and then handed it to Jack who promptly blew into it himself. Genius baby! I got a little bit on video today of that too. If it was easy to transfer to here I'd do it. Maybe I can get Rob to and add it later.

I think he (Jack) might be left handed. I try to hold things for him to take with his right hand, but he keeps taking them with his left. No bigee.

Those top teeth STILL have not made an appearance. Maybe they'll come in while I'm in Reno.

I have finally stopped saying "Mommy is going to..." and switched to "*I* am going to..." so that Benjamin would stop saying "Benjamin go to..." It apparently worked because whenever he says that he corrects himself and says "I" instead. He is getting really good at annunciating his words and putting together full sentences. He will also correct you if you call him anything other than Ben or Benjamin. Rob called him "Bennie Bob" the other day and he said "Not Bennie Bob, BEN-A-MIN!"

He (Ben) loves his bath foam (soap) and I use it to bribe him to take a bath when he doesn't want to. He's a big fan of "outside" so he gets very dirty and sweaty and we have to take baths a bit more often. He doesn't like coming inside though. Doesn't help that it stays light later now.

The other evening there was a double rainbow. I was holding Ben and I said "Oooh. I like rainbows." and Ben said "I like rainbows too!" =-) Sometimes he'll say stuff like "Yay! It not raining anymore!" or "I want go to park, play with kids." Pretty complex sentence there! As soon as I have some moolah coming in again I want to put him in some kind of program a couple of mornings a week. He LOVES playing with other kids at the park. We don't have an accredited Montessori program here though. I looked into the "New School" but apparently you need to put yourself on the waiting list as soon as your child is born. Yikes! Should put Jack on now. They take them starting at age 2.

Both boys birthdays are coming up! Jack will be 1 on August 11th and Ben will be 3 on July 28th. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I'm soaking it all in - even the tantrums - because I know I will miss them someday.

June Update

So much for Jack's top teeth coming in! Still nothing yet up there. Jack has started crawling but it's obvious he would much prefer to walk. He can crawl normally, but gets lazy and either reaches out and drags himself to whatever/whoever he wants, or uses one foot and one knee which is kinda funny to watch. Mostly he crawls to get over to something he can pull up on so he can stand. Right at the moment he is trying to pull up on one of the baby gates. Awhile ago it was the fireplace (eeeps!). He is such a good baby and can entertain himself for a long time if he's not hungry/tired/in need of a diaper change. He's been "dancing" lately too (bouncing when music comes on). I've got to try to get some video of that. It's cute!

Ben is a talking machine lately. The other day I was taking them somewhere and while buckling his seat belt he said "Ben want drive Mommy." I said "You want to drive?" He said "YEeeah!" I told him he was a bit young yet. He's also been singing lately although most of the time I'm not sure what it is he's trying to sing - except the Muppet song that doesn't have any words. In the car one day I started "singing" that and it went like this:
me: do dooo duh do do
Ben: buh duh buh duh
me (smiling): do do do do
Ben: buh duh buh duh

Now he does it on command - although Rob informs me it is "muh nuh muh nuh".

Ben is also a very good cleaning helper. He often pulls a wipe out of his wipes holder and proceeds to "clean" all the windows he can reach. =-) He also likes to pretend to call people on all of our cell phones, or his pretend ones. Although, if you try to get him to talk to anyone for REAL on the phone, he gets very shy. He is getting better about that though.

This morning we went to the park and he ran up and went down both "big" slides all by himself. When other kids came to the playground (much older and bigger kids) he was so excited to follow them around and do whatever they did. He cried when we left and kept saying "Ben want play with those kids!". I am going to try to find him some class or activity to participate in with other kids. I really think he would enjoy that. Or maybe I can find a preschool for him that will let him go partial days. I don't want to give him up for full days!

Guess that's it for now. I'll try to post pictures soon.