This has been quite a week at our house. We usually have somewhere to go almost every morning, but I realized that I will never be able to potty train Christopher if we are never home, so I decided to drop a few things. I miss them terribly, but know the kids need a break from the chaos. I say all that b/c I finally see it paying off. Here goes:

Sophie has said her first word, "dada". This was Christopher's and so we have been trying with all our might to say, "mama" around her as much as we could. We know this is silly b/c they say d's sooner than m's, but it was worth a shot. Brandon wanted it for me, and I must admit, I would have loved for me to be her first word, but knew it wouldn't happen. So I tried dada again and she said it. Several times. When Brandon got home we got her to do it again and he was so happy. I knew he would be and though he won again, I'm just happy she loves her daddy so much. I get more than enough loving from her that I can share some.

Next, I've tried every trick in the book to get Christopher excited about going potty. Big boy underwear, following friends to the potty, suckers, bubbles, chocolate, everything and he could care less. The mention of the word would literally send him running away. Then one day he said, "Mommy, go potty by myself!" and took off running to the bathroom. I caught him right as he was trying to sit and I couldn't believe it but he went! I decided then and there we would get serious about this and I'd follow his lead. I made a potty chart (yes, I actually researched this on the internet) and every time we have success he gets a sticker to mark it and a sucker as a reward. I learned the trick is he has to tell me he needs to go, I can't ask him. He'd never gone more than twice in one day, so I told him if he goes 3 times he gets a prize. This word apparently has been used too often b/c it didn't excite him. Day 1- went twice. Day 2- went once. Day 3 - SUCCESS!!! But this wasn't without some hinting. I told him he'd get a new truck if he went potty again. He paced around the house after that saying, "My new truck's coming soon." Finally he runs back to the bathroom and he gets his new truck. Today has been great, he has gone all day with his big boy boxers on (minus naptime) and went three times before lunch. After naps he decided he had to go again, but wanted to stand up this time. I've never been so excited to see someone stand up to pee before. It was hilarious! I am so proud of him and hope that this sticks. It has made staying home all week totally worth it!

We went to a friend of ours for a Halloween party last night and had great food and desserts. We took the kids trick or treating and it was so fun! I haven't seen that many kids trick or treating in a neighborhood since I was a kid. They were everywhere! Christopher had so much fun going house to house. He was too shy to knock on the door and say anything, but he would tell them thank you. Sophie was starting to get a cold, drop a nap and a bottle all in the last two days, so she was pretty fussy by party time, but still looked adorable as a little lady bug. Here are photos from the evening.


Sophie as a ladybug, me as a cat, Brandon as Mr. Incredible, and Christopher as Dash

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!