Potty Time!

Alec and I have a lot of one on one time this week since Caleb is visiting his dad. This morning I woke up around 8:30 and found Alec still sleeping... I let him sleep until about 9:30 and then we got breakfast. After eating I got our clothes together to get dressed and of course grabbed a diaper. Alec hasn't showed ANY interest in using the toilet. This morning he screamed and threw a fit over that diaper. It's a different brand that what we've been using so I figured it was that. I told him that if he just used the potty, that he didnt have to wear a diaper. He said ok and stopped crying... I pointed him towards the toilet and told him to go potty. He walked over and sat on that toilet. He didn't go at first, and I suggested that we come back and try again, but he didn't want to get off! He sat and sat and sat and THEN.... He PEED! Woo Hoo!!! I started to cry tears of joy! I know it's just the beginning and all, but at least he WANTS to go! I guess it's potty time! :)

A few favorites...

I was showing someone my photo blog the other day and they asked me why I dont have more pictures of my kids up. It's not that I don't take pictures of my kids, in fact as soon as they "think" they see a camera, they smile or say cheese. I find that taking pictures of my kids is a little more challenging than you may think. Partly because I'm pretty critical of my own work. I should take more pictures of them though. And I will... Soon. For now though, here are a two of my favorites that I have taken recently and the story of why:

"Alec on the Beach"
The moment we arrived Alec cried and cried for almost an hour. He was terrified of stepping on the sand. We were there for quite a while and when he saw the other kids having fun, he slowly got out of his stroller and cautiously walked over to the spot where I had been taking everyones picture. I snapped a few before he realized that he was standing on the BEACH! He actually sat and played for a little bit though before we left. He loved the sand... wouldn't go near the water so much.

"Smell the Flowers"
One day the boys and I took a walk around our neighborhood. The weather was beautiful and the flowers were blooming. We came up on a patch of these flowers and Caleb wanted to smell. Alec, wanting to do everything that Caleb does these days, followed him. This is Caleb "teaching" Alec how to smell a flower. He kept saying, "like this Alec!" I snapped this the moment before Caleb stood up and said, "Ok, that's enough sniffing, lets run!"

Growing, One Car seat at a time

I am a bit late on posting this but about 3 weeks ago we purchased a new car seat for Alec. It's a bit more comfortable for him, and much closer to a big boy booster seat like his brother has. With the age difference being 3 years, and how much he wants to be like Caleb, this car seat was the perfect solution.

So without further adieu, I present to you Alec in his first mounting of his third car seat :)

Communication

Marcus and I have always had a hard time deciding if Caleb was telling the truth or not. If Alec cries and we ask Caleb why, he usually says that he hurt himself. So, Alec is starting to communicate a little more now. His speach is getting better now and he can tell us himself now what happened.

So yesterday I bought some Toy Cars for Alec and placed them on top of the towel rack in the bathroom. I told him that when he pees in the toilet, he can have one of the cars. He REALLY wants these cars too! They are from his favorite movie, Cars (Lightening McQueen). He's been sitting on the toilet and trying his best to go pee, but so far he hasn't.

Caleb of course is his biggest cheerleader! He's been helping him out with taking his pullups off, and coaching him on the toilet. They were in there this morning and Alec was sitting there trying his best to pee! It had been a while when Caleb brought the trainer toilet out and said, "LOOK, Alec peed!!!" Although Alec wasn't around and was not as thrilled... I called Alec out... pointed in the toilet and said, "Alec what is this?" He looks down and says, "Ummm, Caleb Pee?" Hmm...

One word blog...

Naps!

Blog Worthy

I started back to work almost 2 months ago. Nothing much, but enough to cover my gas and groceries and eating out if we wanted to. So anyway, Marcus has been taking over at night watching the kids... Feeding them dinner, giving them baths and then putting them to bed. I hear the stories of how their night goes and I often tell Marcus that the story is "Blog Worthy!" He agrees, but then never puts it up. So.... while I wasn't there for this particular blog worthy night, I think about it all the time, because it is SO Alec!

Marcus was filling the bath for the boys and Alec gets into the tub and then says, "Hot!" which is one of the very few words he knows... So Marcus helps him out of the tub and Alec turns around and leans over the side of the tub and proceeds to blow on the water to cool it down. LOL!

Why is this so Alec? He does this ALL the time! It's just so darn cute! :)

Brotherly Love

When Alec got into trouble yesterday he went to Caleb for hugs and comfort. He kept looking over at me while I had the camera and and would just cry more and more... Such a mean mommy I am for taking pictures of my little guy while he's crying. I just love how he went to Caleb for hugs though. And then Caleb is saying, "it's ok buddy... it's ok..."

Happy 2nd Birthday Alec!

Alec turns TWO today and we really don't have anything special planned for him. It's a normal day for us... Caleb has preschool... then we have a Toddler playgroup where Alec will learn all about the letter "Bb"... and then I have to work tonight. A lot has changed since that night that he was born. We lived in Fairfax and I was working full time. Caleb was in daycare and Marcus was making a longer commute to work. My little boy has changed a lot since then too! My Bean is growing up so fast!

1 week

6 months


1 year

2 years

A bad Hair Day...

Yesterday we met up with some of our friends for lunch at the park. Our plan was to eat and then paint some fish sun catchers. Unfortunately it was too cold and windy to eat our lunch let alone paint! So we drove over to the Burger King to finish lunch, play and then paint.

Well these paints were kind of cool because you didn't need paint brushes or paint pallets. It was like a paint pen which is so much easier for these little guys to figure out, right? That's what I would have thought anyway... One little girl was pulling the twist off cap and when it flew off, her tight grip made the paint shoot out and hit Alec right in the head! His eye... his hair... his forehead... all covered in black paint! It wasn't going to just wipe off so I did the best I could and hoped the rest would come off in the bath later.

We got home and Alec had fallen asleep int he car. I didn't want to wake him since he really needed a nap, so I brought him inside to sleep and I made dinner. I was leaving for work and he was still asleep, so I told Marcus about what happened and asked him to get him in the bath at some point. However, when I got home at 10:00, it hadn't been done. (he had work to do.) So.... this morning we got into the tub and we scrubbed and pulled and cried... Then we cut... and we cried some more. Poor guy has no hair now! He cried and I cried... The only thing that cheered him up was a Popsicle. But all day today he's been feeling his head. I still need to go back and touch up some spots, but for now... this will have to do.

Alec's breakthrough!

We went to visit my grandmother again yesterday. The picture taken above was actually taken on the way there! It seems that every time we want to take advantage of grandma's pool, it rains... We did get a break between two storms though and we got out there. I didn't think I'd get a lot of swimming in since Bean hates the water, but I knew Caleb would enjoy it and Grandma really wanted to go over too. SO... we get there and we all start off in the baby pool. I wanted to see if I could get Bean comfortable enough to get in. At first it was just his feet. Then he stood up in the pool and got out just as quickly... THEN, he climbed right in! We were all cheering him on and he just loved it! Caleb was of course, dieing to get over to the big pool, so we walked over and I sat on the steps with Bean. Grandma waded out in the water with Caleb and I helped Bean go down 1 step, 2 steps, 3 steps and even 4 steps (which was up to his neck and he freaked out a little...) By the end of our swim, Bean let me pick him up and walk out to the center of the pool! He was smiling and singing and happy as could be! Before this day, he just screamed and screamed and dug his fingers into my shoulders, so this is huge for us! I got some of this on my phone video... Along with soem pictures. Enjoy! :)

Crazy Beans

I tried posting this once before and it didn't work so well... so here it is again. My two beans do this often... it's music that they probably should not listen to, but oh well... They are dancing to American Boy (since you can't hear it....) I think Caleb is doing a cross between the hula dance and the electrical slide... and Alec is just running in circles...

After all of the crazy dancing they decided to make some hats... I don't know whos idea it was... They are both crazy!

Bean's Shoe Obsession

So, Mr. Bean is totally obsessed with shoes! He likes to wear other peoples shoes, especially his brothers. He loves to try and wear my flip flops... between the wrong toes of course, but he does it! He had a great time when we went to visit Crystal and J and he got into all of those dress up shoes... princess high heels with sparkles and fluffy fluff.

Anyway, today he was sitting on the floor in front of me... trying on all of the flip flops and trying his hardest to get them in the right toe. He laid on his back with his feet in the air and trying so so hard to get that flip flop on... He got pretty quiet, so I looked down and found him...

(taken with my new phone...)