This is SO Texas...

Pony Pictures.

Yes, last week someone came to N's preschool, dressed him in chaps, vest and cowboy hat, put him on a pony and took his picture. He also got a free pony ride.

That is SO Texas!

Just had to share my little cowboy.
He looks like he's ready to ride off into the sunset, don't you think?

One of the great things about Texas...

Is that our neighborhood pool opens in mid-April and stays open until mid-October. This year the pool opened on Saturday. It was cloudy and rainy this weekend so we waited until yesterday afternoon to head to the pool for the first time this season.

The air was warm (70s and sunny), but the water was still cold.

Some friends from the neighborhood joined us and we had a blast. J even swam across the big pool a few times with his noodle. He also had fun diving for items in the baby pool.
N enjoyed the splashpad and shooting people with his water shooter. However, with 0% body fat, he got cold quickly and eventually decided just to snuggle under his towel while soaking in some sunbeams.

Happy Spring, everyone!

Soccer!

Both boys are now into their soccer programs. J's team is still losing most of their games, but the boys are improving. Here's J about to kick the ball back into play.


N started his soccer program on March 24th. Here's a few photos (N's in the blue Cookie Monster shirt):
Got to love the famous "elbow stop" move.

Happy Spring sports, everyone!

Mommy and N

N's first "non scribble scrabble" drawing. It's me and N. I love it. Had to share!

Lovebug

Happy Valentine's Day from my little Lovebug!

The Best Christmas Present Ever

N is 3 1/2 years old (actually 3 years and 7 months old). He's been wearing underwear since last February (before he turned 3 in May). After a few weeks into it, he did great. He's rarely had accidents. He was quickly great at going pee in the potty and keeping his underwear dry and clean. He only pooped in his underwear twice.

However, in those 10 months, N only pooped in the potty 6 times. The rest of the time he held it until bedtime or naptime and pooped in his diaper. If we pushed him to poop in the potty, he would just hold it for days at a time. This really stressed me out.

As the months went by with no progress, I started to despair that he would never decide to start pooping in the potty. I tried bribing him with toys and candy, but nothing worked. I kept telling N that all I wanted for Christmas was for him to poop in the potty, but he never responded and I assumed it was yet another thing that wouldn't make a difference.

But then a Christmas miracle occurred. On December 23rd, N pooped in the potty. AND he's been pooping in the potty ever since. Not a single poopy nighttime diaper. 100% of poops in the potty. It has finally happened. Everyone said it would, but I honestly didn't believe them.

This is most definitely the best Christmas present ever.

Anyone seen my boys?

They were just here. I took them out of the bath and then they disappeared. Hmm...

Progress

As some of you know, N has been in underwear for over 6 months. He's done great keeping his underwear dry and clean with only the occasional wet accident. Unfortunately, he does not want to poop in his potty--so he holds it until naptime or bedtime and poops in the diaper he sleeps in. I've tried a lot of different things to try and motivate him, but he just says he's scared and doesn't want to do it. After stressing to him that if he needed to poop while in bed, he HAD to get up and poop in the potty--he did! It was Sunday night and we were all so excited! Of course, he had already gone to bed so it was 8PM. I'd been promising him a Hershey's Cookies and Cream bar if he pooped on the potty so we went to CVS with N in his pjs to buy a candy bar after he pooped in the potty. I know chocolate after 8PM is a great parenting thing to do, but it was well worth it. We haven't had a repeat performance yet, but I am hopeful. Finally some sort of progress. Fingers crossed for more poops in the potty soon.

My little men are growing up

What a week. J finished week two of Kindergarten. He is still going without any protest or tears. He has a lot to say when he gets home so I think he likes it. I still give a huge sigh of relief each day when I drop him off happy. He's still exhausted (and emotional) after school, but I'm hoping that will get better as he adjusts to his new schedule.

This week the boys went to the dentist. No cavities :)! J has gotten 3 of his 6 year molars already and the 4th is on its way. The dentist told me that he should start losing baby teeth soon. That same night, J got his first homework packet from school. Wow! He is really growing up so quickly!

N is slowly adjusting to getting up earlier and losing half of his naptime. He's grumpy but good. Yesterday he told me that I was his best friend.

I am one lucky mama. Just had to share.

Boys will be boys

My boys have two baby dolls. One was given to J by my mom on his first birthday. The other one J picked out at the dollar store when I was pregnant with N.

Every so often the boys will pull them out and play "baby." Since we don't have doll furniture, they have to be creative.

Here is the baby bed:

Here is the baby's hamper:


Got to love it!

Turtle

N has decided that he is a turtle. Even with our 108+F days, he insists on sleeping totally encased in his quilt.


He gets so wrapped up in there that I worry he can't breath. He wakes up drenched in sweat. I have to wash his quilt about every three days (it's actually a bit gross). But he is a happy little turtle.

Since J started Kindergarten this week, we have all been getting up early. We have to leave the house at 7:30AM. I've had to wake N up over an hour before he usually wakes up on his own. Needless to say, he is a bit tired. Yesterday when I went to wake him up from his nap, I found encased in his quilt (see picture above).

I got him unwrapped (see picture below).


And he was STILL sound asleep. Oh, my little turtle is tried. Glad he's got two more weeks to adjust before he heads to preschool.

Scooby and...

Shaggy? Yep. That's what the boys were playing "Scooby and Shaggy." Shaggy was looking a little blue.

"Ruh roh, Shaggy. Ruh roh."

Movie Monday Redo: In case you were wanting more...

More swimming movies. :)

J diving for rings:


He's gotten so confident with his diving skills!

J swimming:



Hasn't he improved a lot even since the last video? So proud of my J!

And, last, but not least, N and J swimming. Yes, N started swimming on his own yesterday.



It's just the early stages, but I am SO proud of my little 3 year-old.

And, now, I promise to not post anymore swimming videos--at least not for a week or so :).

Movie Monday: Swinging Edition

A short movie of the boys enjoying our new swingset on Friday night. J has gotten to the point where he can sit down, start pumping his legs and get himself really high all on his own. He LOVES it. If you get N started, he can do some pumping and keep himself going. Life is good!

Meanwhile, I set my beer down to make the video and Pepper knocked it over and spilled it. Then she started rolling around in the spilled beer. I got a video of the end of her antics.



I love how she starts licking the beer spot in the end. Nice!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Movie Monday: Swim Lesson Edition

Last week J and N were doing swim lessons. It is AMAZING how much progress they have made in one week. Just had to share some videos from their lesson on Friday.











and a bonus video of N jumping to B:



and I can't resist including this photo because it cracks me up:

3!

My littlest man is three! Can't believe he is three already. In fact, he turned 3 almost a week ago.



But with the craziness of having my in-laws in town and making cookies (M&M) for a school birthday party and cake (chocolate) for a home birthday celebration and the last week of school, I never blogged about N's birthday.

But despite my state of denial, my littlest man is three!


Happy Belated Birthday to my sweet little cinnabun. I love your infectious laugh and the fact that I can make you laugh so easily, Mr. Super Ticklish. Even though you are getting more opinionated and not so easy, you are still my laid back little man. I love the way you always want "little" hugs because you don't like to get squeezed too tight. I love how you are usually willing to try new foods and even request healthy things like carrots and salad. I love the way you get attached to your toys like your broom and your new rolling suitcase. The simple things make you happy and that makes me happy. I love the way you love the sweater I knit you and wear it all the time even when it is way too hot to be wearing a hooded sweater. I love the way you're not afraid to climb and jump on anything even though it may mean some trips to the ER in your future. I love how you try to keep up with J and his friends and how you think you're a big kid too. I love how you hug Pepper because it reminds me of me when I was your age. I love the way you remind me of my dad because he is one of my favorite people in the whole world. I love watching you crawl up in your daddy's lap and the way you settle in like he is the most comfortable seat in the house. I love how you love to count people's fingers right now because you are so proud of your discovery that everyone's hands count up to five. I love listening to you in the morning when you lay in bed and sing songs like the ABC song, Happy Birthday and the Itsy Bitsy Spider. I love how when people called you on your birthday, you told all of them "Happy Birthday." I love that you are my littlest man and I am so glad to have had you for three whole years. Can't wait to have many, many more!

A little boy and his broom

N has always loved to play with cleaning tools--brooms, vacuums, feather dusters, mops. His birthday is next week and his grandparents (my in-laws) are in town for it. They took him to Toys R Us yesterday to pick out a toy. Of all the toys there, he choose this broom.



He LOVES it! He's taken it to bed with him for the last two nap times and last night for bed. Nothing cuter than a boy with his trusty broom tucked into bed next to him:).



This little boy just cracks me up.

My favorite part of motherhood

Potty training. Actually, possibly my least favorite part of motherhood.

N started wearing underwear during his waking hours on Friday. It's been a rough 4 days. He's had some successes including staying dry at the dentist today. He even peed in the potty there (twice). Once prompted by me and once on his own "I need to pee." That was very exciting.

Unfortunately, that was followed by a puddle of pee on my floor this evening. And then there's the total lack of poop going in the potty. Yes, a big fat zero poops in the potty in four days. Luckily, he's not doing the holding thing. Just pooping in his underwear (good times) or in his diaper during nap time (could be worse.)

N gets rewarded with a giant jelly bean if he pees in the potty and will get 3 if he ever poops in the potty. J also gets a jelly bean if N pees in the potty. This helps him to encourage N in his potty efforts. My favorite moment from yesterday was when N was peeing in the potty and told me "I'm peeing in the potty because J likes jelly beans." Too cute!

Anyway, I was talking to N tonight about school tomorrow. I told him he'd have to wear a diaper to school tomorrow. I told him once he was peeing AND pooping in the potty, he could wear his big boy underwear to school. He told me "that would be awesome." It was so adorable. Now THAT is my favorite part of motherhood--those little moments where you think I can't believe I helped create something so adorable.

Motherhood. Ain't it grand?

Math of Motherhood

2 pees in the potty PLUS 2 pees in underpants PLUS 3 requests for a diaper PLUS 1 little boy who is scared to poop in the potty EQUALS not the most successful day of potty training.

Oh well. He still looks really cute in his little tiny underpants.

My sweethearts

On Valentine's I took a few pics of the boys and thought I'd share since I hadn't posted any good ones here for a bit. They're such silly little guys. They make my heart happy.




And for bonus smiles, here's a pick of N after his shower the other night. He decided to show off his legs in this stellar outfit:Nothing says stylish like trucks, a diaper and some pink heels.