St. Patrick's Day 2018

Now that the kids are getting older, it is fun to celebrate the holidays with them! St. Patrick's Day was no exception.  

Our decoration corner.

Tyler set up a trap to catch a leprechaun. He put out his left over waffle and donuts. The leprechaun would see them, sneak to try to get them and then get caught in the green lanyard.

When he saw the waffle from his trap was put back in the fridge he said, "Oh, I guess he didn't like the waffle and put it back in the fridge. That is sad. "

Unfortunately the trap did not work and the naughty leprechaun played around in our house while we slept. He turned the toilet water green.

He left a trail of gold, chocolate coins. He cautiously and optimistically looked around the house the rest of the morning for gold coins. 

He also turned the milk green, left pear applesauce, and green Gatorade.

When he saw all the things the leprechaun had done he said, " He brought me green yogurt, no way! Did he bring me little shoes? Does he have a car to drive from the forest to California? That is a long way. Wait- are there bears in the forest? Maybe he will come to my soccer game next week and like play with me.

Very Funny

Christy Months 11&12

 11 Months

Grandma and Grandpa gave her a new toy bear that she loves. 

Still not a fan...

of headbands!

12 Months

The Wish

The Wish

     When we were at the park last week Tyler found a dandelion and asked what it was. I told him it was called a dandelion and that you could make a wish with it. He asked me what a wish was. I told him, "It is something you want. You blow on the it and make a wish." He immediately and excitedly said, "Uh Gatorade" and blew on it.  He waited a few seconds and was disappointed to see the dandelion did not turn into a Gatorade.
     He went off to play but I could hear and see him talking to the flowerless dandelion stem, "Please please Gatorade. I really want it." After a few minutes of it not changing, he decided to ask for "animals", which to his dismay, the dandelion also did not turn into. The rest of the time at the park he held onto the dandelion stem and continued to repeat, "Please please I want Gatorade." At this point I was really starting to feel bad for the kid!
      When I told him it was time to go home he said he was going to take the stem home and asked "But how does it (the wish) happen"? I said that you just have to say, "I hope it happens" and hope it does, so of course all the way home and for awhile after we got home he continuously repeated, "I hope it happens". Then I really felt bad for him!
      In order to get him to stop talking about the wish I told him that it comes at night when he is sleeping. I also told him the Gatorade won't come if he isn't good. Figured I'd throw that in there for myself. After I told him this he went and put the stem in his room by his bed. I asked him what color and where he thought the Gatorade would appear. He told me white and in the living room.  So what do you think I was doing at 10 o'clock that night at Walmart? But the next morning when he found it and said, "I wove (love) it. I wove it a lot" I knew it was all worth it.
     Ps. A little while after drinking his Gatorade he said he was going to go look for the animals and another few things he added to his wish list, including Santa.  Couldn't just be happy with what he got.

Potty Training

Potty Training

Tyler is finally potty trained! The poor kid has wanted to potty train since right before he turned two. He would take off his diaper and go to the bathroom on the toilet. I didn't want to potty train him until after all our summer trips so I didn't encourage it. I planned to start on it in the fall but got intimidated by all the potty training ways my friends were trying and didn't try. Then Christy came, and then we moved. So, I didn't try it until a few weeks ago and he has done great! He has only had a few wetting accidents when he is out playing. I actually haven't had to do anything really for him. I mean he has been messing around with potty training and underwear on and off since he first tried a year and a half ago, but I was never fully committed to it until recently. And then when I was, he just sort of did it. It feels weird to say he is potty trained because there wasn't this huge start or finish or crazy process, but he only wears diapers to sleep so I guess I would consider him done? 

Side note: I guess I have used treats as an incentive on and off, but not very consistently. The first day he went potty in the Spring of 2016 I used fruit snacks. He went to the bathroom so many times that day until we ran out of them. Then he would just go without the reward of fruit snacks but told me we needed to get some more the next time we went to the store.  

I have never wanted to be a parent that has to wipe after their kid goes potty so I make Tyler wipe himself.  The only problem is he uses too much toilet paper and has flooded the toilet. So now I make him show me how much toilet paper he is going to use. I also had to make him show me he actually went because sometimes he would lie just to use toilet paper and flush the toilet. One time when I was nursing Christy, Tyler called in Jeff to help him out. I heard Jeff say, "No that's gross, I don't want to see it." Later on I explained to Jeff why I made Tyler prove to me he went potty before he could flush toilet. Then the next time Tyler went to the bathroom and I came to check on him and confirm he went so he could flush he said, "No you can't see! It's gross." 

July 25- Doing potty training today. After Tyler went to the bathroom I told him he could get one jelly bean. He was very upset and said he needed more because he did "three pee pees and two toots." He wanted a jelly bean for each (He thinks the three potty categories are pee, poop, and toots). Now he is describing and discussing each piece of potty. He asked about what was in his tummy and I told him about the digestive process. He said, "Wow, that's pretty cool."  Then while still on the toilet he started sucking his tummy in and out so his little "private practice" would move up and down. He said he said he liked moving it. Doing that made a few little drops come out and he called them rain drops. He also said he had "toot drops." 

Tyler was taking a bath when he told me there was an emergency and I had to come look. He had wet in the bathtub.  Glad it was just a wetting emergency!

July 27- Tyler tried a new excuse not to finish his breakfast this morning. He told me he couldn't eat it because it would go in his tummy and make him have to go poo poo and he didn't want to get his underwear dirty. Maybe I shouldn't have explained the digestive process to him. I made him finish his breakfast anyway. 

Aug 11- I have talked to Tyler about not letting people see or touch his private parts. Today he said he didn't want me changing his diaper because I would see him naked. When I finally did get his diaper off he wouldn't stop shaking his buns and singing "Shake your booty." I thought he was concerned with me seeing him naked and now he is dancing around naked? 

If I accidentally touch him while changing his diaper he says, "Hey! You're not supposed to touch my private parts!" Same thing if Christy accidentally touches his diaper.

Aug 19- I made the mistake of letting Tyler go potty outside on the grass because the kitchen floor was wet and I didn't want him coming in. He was excited to do this because his new friend Trevor did this while playing at the park a few weeks ago. Now he wants to go outside to go to the bathroom all the time, even when he is inside.

Also, Tyler has a permanent wedgie since he puts his underwear on backwards. He won't listen to me. He thinks the big picture is supposed to go on the front so he can see it.

Pocahontas

Tyler reluctantly watched Disney's Pocahontas but immediately fell in love with it once he saw the battle scenes, fighting, and conflict between the settlers and Indians. No big shocker. I showed him the second Pocahontas but he doesn't like it as much because it doesn't have the same battle scenes. If ever I ask him if he wants to watch Pocahontas he clarifies first if it is the one with the fighting before he agrees to watch it. He loves the song "Savages". He is always singing with gusto "Savages, savages, barely even human!" The other day he told me he was pregnant with a "bad Meeko"....? He also told me that the Indians have hammers. I corrected him and said they were tomahawks. He said, "No, they have these things" and acted out a bow and arrow being shot. I told him that they did have those as well. He said the Indians were bad guys for trying to kill the other guys (settlers). Seems like he's on the wrong side of history here but I'll leave that lesson for another day.

Christy at Ten Months

Christy is still smiling! Everyone always comments on how happy and smiley she is. Anytime my new friend Jenni Konkle introduces Christy to others she tells them that Christy is the happiest baby she has ever seen and that Christy is always smiling. She said that Christy is just going to be a happy person. I sure hope so!

We recently made friends with a few families who live on our street, the Konkles included (we have known them through church but made better friends with them). The Konkles have three boys and one girl. Their little girl is named Ivy and she is five. She is so sweet and has such an impressive motherly instinct for someone her age. Ivy love love loves Christy and Christy loves her back just as much. The very first time Christy and Ivy played together Christy cried when she had to go back to me. Ivy smiled and said that Christy thought Ivy was her sister. Later that night Jenni told me that Ivy asked if Christy could come live with them and be her sister. Ivy loves her brothers but would love to have a baby sister. The other day she was talking about how she has "three brother's to worry about" so maybe that will keep her busy until she gets a baby sister ;) 

A few days ago the doorbell rang and it was Ivy wanting to know if Christy could come out to play. (The funniest thing is she was the second person to ring the doorbell that day and ask if Christy could come out to play). I told her Christy had to nap but could come out later. A little while later, not much, she came back asking, "Can Christy come out to play nowww?" Christy wasn't going down for her nap so I let her come out. Lucky for Ivy, Christy needed a new outfit so she happily picked one out for Christy. When I walked outside Jenni told me that she used Christy as a bribe to get Ivy to take a nap earlier that day. She told Ivy that if she took a nap then she could probably play with Christy if we were home. And I guess it worked. I told Jenni I am very much pro nap and would support her in that cause any day. 

Two days ago when Ivy came to see if Christy could play I told her only for a little bit because we were going to the pumpkin patch with Jeff. Ivy said, "Ugh! Why does she have to go to the pumpkin patch?"I told her that we were going to do something fun as a family. She seemed to begrudgingly accept that reason. When we did have to go in I said, "Ok see you another time" to Ivy as she was walking back home, and without even turning around she said, "Tomorrow!"

Yesterday when we were outside Ivy said she would see Christy after naps unless Christy had to go to the pumpkin patch again with her dad, as if that is something we do every day.  Funny girl.

Today at church Ivy asked where Christy was and I told her at home napping. Ivy said, "Ugh! Why doesn't she ever come to church?!" Haha. Basically, Ivy loves anything that involves Christy really. It is cute to see.

The other family on our street that we have recently made friends with is the Farley family. They have four kids: Kyle, Kate, Claire, and Jonah. Kate absolutely love Christy just as much as Ivy. She also rings the doorbell asking if Christy can come out to play.  Kate said she was day dreaming in math about holding Christy and always tells me she can babysit for me. Julia, the mom, said she used Christy as a bribe to have the girls get their chores done faster. Julia also said that at dinner their family was trying to come up with nicknames for Christy. They thought of happy baby, smiley, or smiles. We'll see what sticks. It is so fun to have neighbors who love Christy. Tyler has enjoyed playing with the neighborhood kids as well.

Christy Girl...

Does not like to share me or Jeff. Whenever Tyler is on me, she fusses and pulls at him to get off of us.

Can say mom (mmm), dad (dada), and Tyler (Teh). She only says mom while crying or fussing, says dad the clearest and most often, and wakes up asking for Tyler. 

Is finally starting to get a tooth. Well, sort of. You can see where it is going to break through the gums and she has been sick due to it.

Is still in size two diapers and has almost grown out of her size six month clothes.

Is still very much afraid of dogs. If she sees one she shrieks and holds onto you tightly. 

Don't let this picture fool you, she doesn't use pacis.

She still doesn't like headbands...

Victory!