Christopher has gone potty twice today. That's TWICE!!! It has been a huge battle to get him to go on the potty and about once every two or three weeks we can get him to do it. This morning as we were getting ready for MOPS he darts to the bathroom and I hear him moving his stepstool around. He yells to me that he has to go potty so I run in there and he is turning around, diaper on the floor and pants at his ankles trying to sit down without falling. I put him on the potty and wait, 5 seconds later we have success. I couldn't believe it. I've quit asking b/c he always says no and this time he did it all by himself. He gets his dum dum sucker and is happy as he can be. Then this afternoon I ask him if he wants to try again and he goes a little, but you would have thought he'd won the lottery I was so proud of him. This time he gets a Tootsie Roll sucker, I told him every time he goes the prize will be a little bigger. He's happy again and I'm beaming with pride. Maybe we'll have one kid out of diapers in a couple months, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. Just my prayers!

Christopher has been singing his ABCD's (as he calls them) and he does pretty good considering we haven't taught him how it goes. (We've tried, he just doesn't want to hear it from us.) When he gets really fussy durig the day I have him go lie on his bed and I turn on a cd that Grammie gave him and it sings the ABC's using Bible words to go with the letters. Well, it's working b/c he's singing it. Here's how it tends to go, "A, B, C... H, I... L, M, N, O... Q, R, S... W, X, Y, Z. Now I know my ABC's, next time, sing with me." Pretty good, huh? After singing it a few times Brandon tells him how great he did and to sing after him to help him learn the rest of the song. They get to the "L, M, N, O, P" part and Christopher sings it like this, "L, M, N, O, poopie." He goes back to singing it his way and when he gets to the end he sings, "Next time, see you later!"

The doctor said that when Sophie was 9 months old we could introduce meats. I've been looking forward to the day when this might happen b/c I don't seem to feed her fast enough and thought maybe she'd be happier if she fed herself. I wasn't about to give her a spoon and a glass bottle of baby food b/c, though I love my daughter and want her to try new things, I wasn't up for the mess that would cause. So, the other day, on her 9 month birthday I thought we'd try giving her "people" food and see what happened. I've tried giving her a green bean or two in the past, but she didn't know what to do with it, so I waited. And waited. We had chicken that had been simmering in the crockpot all afternoon and so it was nice and tender. I cut up little pieces and put them on her tray to see what happened and she loved it! I'd already fed her baby food, so she didn't eat much, but it was a huge success. The next night we had meatloaf. I fed her a little baby food so she'd have room for dinner and when I put the meat and green beans on her tray she went to town! She couldn't shovel it in fast enough. It was great! She was a mess, but it was all worth it. She actually wanted my fork, so I got up to give her a baby one, but she just chewed on it like I thought she would. Finally, a nice peaceful dinner where the four of us ate together. This is what I've been waiting for!

Today our little Sophie is 9 months old. She is growing so fast and learning so much right now. She cut three upper teeth at one time while we were at Disney World and last night I noticed the fourth one coming through giving her a total of six teeth. She is like a new puppy and is chewing on everything! The other night in the tub she figured out that if she slides her feet back and forth she can spin around on her bottom. It was pretty funny! She loves to swing outside and watch her brother dig. She giggles when she bounces on the trampoline with us. She enjoys shopping with me and going out to eat b/c she can sit in a highchair. She wants to do what everyone else is doing and be up where everyone else is and she will be soon enough. She's been crawling for a while now and so on Sunday I pulled out our little walker toy to see how she'd do with it and she walked all over the place. She loves using it now and goes until her little chubby legs can't hold her any longer. (I'm excited b/c she weighs about 24 pounds and I'm starting to have hand and wrist injuries from carrying her around.)

I know most moms have a hard time when their children start hitting these milestones, but I actually look forward to them. I love when they start walking and when you can finally turn their car seat around (yes, I'm actually counting down to that day), but I honestly think it's b/c my children usually weigh so much by then that I am sore from having to carry them around. And around 8 or 9 months they cry every time they get in the car b/c they are tired of facing the back of a seat. (I would be too!) But really, I just love when they reach the age where they can run around and play more and do more and learn more. I love teaching them new words and new ways to play. It is a complete thrill for me, I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by, but I'm looking forward to the next few months of her life and seeing what new things she learns.



(Here she is digging outside with her brother. She loves doing whatever he's doing and doesn't mind getting a little dirty while doing it!)

Christopher has said some really cute and funny things lately and I thought I'd add them on here:

While swimming in the pool at our hotel at Disney World he asked Brandon this hilarious question, "Daddy, love me like a digger?" Brandon laughed and said yes. To which Christopher responded, "Daddy, love you like a forklift."

On our way to dinner with friends last night Brandon mentions it looks like it's going to rain later. I told him I thought so too. Christopher, overhearing our conversation said, "Mommy, rain's broken." I asked him if it was broken b/c it wasn't raining yet and he said yes.

We were going to eat at Chick-fil-A and then ride the go carts and suddenly Christopher says, "Daddy, turn here, there's Chick-A-Flay!" It was the wrong turn, but he thinks it's fun to tell us which direction to go and we thought it was hilarious that he can't say Chick-fil-A.

Later that evening I'm changing his diaper before going to the race track and Christopher tells me that he wants Sophie to ride in a go cart too. I tell him she's too little, to which he responds, "She can sit in Daddy's lap." I tell him she's too little to do that too, but he insists that she will be riding go carts with him.

Today on the way to the consignment store Christopher got excited b/c he knew we'd be driving past a bunch of diggers, to which the following came out of his mouth, "Mommy see diggers see dump truck see digger dump dirt see grader see diggers me so happy see diggers and dump truck makes me so happy where's grader?" All in one breath.