Sweet Home Alabama

Last week my sister and I took the 2 kids and 3 dogs and drove to Alabama to visit my parents while Ben was in Guatemala on a Missions trip. The drive to and back went very well. Lila did a great job keeping herself entertained, and she did a great job eating in the car. We had to make several stops so we ate in the car to keep the trip to 12 hours! We had a nice relaxing week, just hanging out at home. My parents live just north of the city so it kind of feels like they're in the country. Here's a picture of their house (just for you, Keri!)

Of course, I didn't think to take a picture of it when I was there, so this is from a couple years ago in the fall.

Lila and Grandma Brandt on the front porch.

One great thing about coming to Grandma and Grandpa's house is playing with all the "old" toys... or at least that was something I always enjoyed when I visited my grandparents! This doll I'm pretty sure was my mother's.

Another picture of them on the porch swing.

The weather was SO nice while we were there - in the 80s all week! We enjoyed being outside.

Lila and Grandpa B going to water some plants.

Aunt Janina holding Wyatt.

Wyatt playing with a toy. For some reason, he liked to play with the stacking pole rather than the rings.

One day, Lila, Janina and I walked down the street to a house that had a goat pasture.

There were old goats with long horns, baby goats and every age in between!

The goats made lots of funny noises and would butt each other in the heads.

Both Lila and Wyatt were excited when Grandpa came home from work!

Lila liked to play the "pinano" with Aunt Janina.

Here's Lila and Grandpa playing with our (Janina and I) old dollhouse, which we brought down from the attic. She also played with our old toy kitchen.

Here they are both playing with the toy food. They played very nicely together (which means Lila tolerated Wyatt playing with "her" toys!).

One evening we went down to the duck pond (which is back behind a neighbor's house). The ducks are raised in a large aviary (is that the right term?) and then sold. So we got to see several varieties of ducks and some baby ducklings too.

Wyatt was interested in the mesh walls.

"What are those ducks doing now?"

A picture of me with Wyatt.

And one day we went down to my Dad's office so all the office ladies could see the kids. Wyatt was a big hit since he was so snuggly. Lila liked to draw on Grandpa's white board.

Wyatt's first trip to the office.

Lila and Rachel

As I said in an earlier post, Lila's cousin Rachel flew down with Grandma and Grandpa Amey for Lila's birthday. Here are a few pictures of the two of them enjoying the backyard pool in the evening.

A rare picture where I got both of them to look - and smile - at the camera!

A future in Riverdance, perhaps?

Who knew Rachel could walk on water?!

Reading books with Grandpa and Grandma before bedtime.

Enjoying the glider on the swingset. You can swing on this by yourself, but it is so much more fun with a friend!

Grillin' and Chillin'

Our Small Group got together for supper (grilled hotdogs and bratwurst) a few weeks ago. The kids also enjoyed some backyard pool time before we had cake for dessert. Lila is always very excited to see her friends, Claire and Evan. (It amazes me how accepting children are of other people... she is oblivious to the fact that they are much younger than she is...she's still excited!) Anyway, they are old enough now that they CAN kind of play together which is neat. They had great fun chasing each other around in the house and did well playing in the pool too!

Here's Wyatt enjoying Evan's lawn chair while watching the "big kids" in the pool.

A little size perspective :)

Claire with her super-cute pigtails. I love that girls can wear pigtails!

Evan lets Mr. Paul know he is ready for another bite of cake!

Random Pictures from this Summer

In my attempt to catch up on this blog, I am lumping several pictures together that aren't related...

Once Wyatt started to sit up on his own, he could take a bath with his big sister... something they both really enjoy! Lila likes to help wash Wyatt and give him toys; Wyatt likes anything Lila does!

I took these pictures during my intensive potty training days when she was going without anything on her bottom. Because she went #2 in the toilet, she got to have a popsicle. I took her shirt off to avoid stains, and thus she is sitting on the back porch enjoying her popsicle in the nude. Now I will digress a little and talk about our potty training experience... by far, the most difficult parenting task I have had so far I think. (I am sure I will look back on this when she is 13 and wish for these days back!) I want to write what worked for me so that I can come back to this when it gets to be Wyatt's turn. If it helps any of you out there, all the better.

Around the age of 2, Lila started to indicate that she was ready to try potty-training. She would tell us that she was poopy and ask to be changed. So we started trying to work with her on going. We offered rewards (a sticker chart and m&m's). Finally we offered a BIG reward, which was a doll, when she filled out her sticker chart. As she got closer to finishing her chart she did very well at telling me she needed to go potty. But once she earned the doll, she stopped doing as well and I started to get frustrated. Up to this point she was still wearing diapers which meant that I had to take it off/put it on each time. If she went in her diaper, it was easy to clean up but also not as motivating for her to go on the toilet. Anyway, when I started to get frustrated, we took a few months off. Then when the weather got warmer, we did a few days in a row of PTITN (as pictured above!). This really worked great to get her to recognize that she needed to go... and then go! In fact by the end of the 3 days, she would go potty without even telling me she needed to go. She did go #2 a couple of times, but more often than not she would just hold it until bedtime (when she would wear a diaper). Again, we tried rewards with a chart. I tried taping a diaper to the underside of her potty seat for her to go #2 (which worked one time but not again). But in the past 2 weeks, she has had NO accidents and has gone #1 and #2 in the toilet! During this time she has been wearing pull-ups. I tried putting underwear on her after her PTITN days, but she had a couple accidents so we switched to pull-ups. I think we are ready to switch to underwear now. Such a simple thing... going potty in the toilet... but what an accomplishment. It has been a major rollercoaster of forward and backward steps, and I'm sure she will probably still have a couple of accidents in the next few months. I have been greatly encouraged by family and friends who are/were also potty-training their kids at the same time. Just to have someone to share in the frustration and triumphs! For those who are still working on it - and to my future self - hang in there!! Eventually your child will figure it out! Ok, on to something else...

Wyatt still doesn't crawl even though he is starting to walk along furniture. If it's open carpet, he does his worm technique to get around. So how on earth he got INTO this excersaucer, I have no idea! I'm not sure he knew either because he couldn't figure out how to get out!

There is something so fun about a clothes basket... especially when 2 can get in there!

How is this comfortable? Anyone?

A rare shot of me with my two kids who look nothing like me.

Lila "reading" to Wyatt... a glimpse into the future perhaps?

Enjoying the birthday cake frosting before the birthday!

Where's Wyatt?

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago, but I thought I'd share them anyway.

Big sisters can be SO helpful sometimes, can't they?

Oh, there he is! Of course, he doesn't care that she buried him with toys... he's just thrilled she's "playing" with him at all!

Nine Month Stats

Oops... forgot to post the stats for comparison.

Wyatt - 19 lbs. 13 oz., 29.5 inches

Lila - 16 lbs. 12 oz., 28 inches

Nine Months

Wow, this month seems to have gone by very quickly! But just as I predicted, Wyatt has figured out how to pull up to standing... he just squeaked it in too - he started doing it the day before he turned 9 months! Here are some pictures:

Um, this is the face you get when you try to take a picture and it's naptime.

After a nap, we just feel so much better!

Here's Lila at 9 months.

The standing comparison shots.

Close-up. Can you see the three teeth he has on the bottom? Notice my daughter in the background wearing her shirt and a pull-up? :) Potty-training is going pretty well these days... still have a little trouble wanting to go #2 in the toilet but she's getting better.

Lila wanted to take her picture with Mr. Moose too.

Lila's 3rd Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated Lila's 3rd birthday with a Curious George party. It was our first time to have a party with her little friends... games, activities and all that. We had a great time! Her birthday was made all the more special by Grandma and Grandpa Amey's visit... and they brought her cousin Rachel!! 

While everyone was arriving, I had Curious George coloring sheets the kids could color. Then we played some games: knock the bananas off the tree, put the butterfly on George's hand (pin the tail on the donkey), and "Monkey Around" (hot potato with a stuffed monkey). Lila did NOT want to put the mask on for the butterfly game but she participated in all the other games. The tree game was a big hit. After the games, I read "Curious George and the Puppies" using a plush George and some stuffed doggies. It kept the kids' attention quite well (and adults too).

We had pizza for lunch, then cake and ice cream. Lila opened her gifts and then the party was done! I think all the kids had fun. I know Lila was super thrilled that her friends could be there. I was a little nervous about "entertaining" the young crowd, but it went well. Here are some pictures.

Aunt Janina brought the bunch of balloons in the center, including the huge Curious George balloon... pretty neat!

Here they are throwing the monkey at the tree, trying to knock off the plastic bananas. Lila got it on the first throw, but then nobody could do it again, including her.

Reading the story.

The cake. White cake with buttercream frosting and lollipop "balloons". When I asked Lila what her favorite part of her party was, she said, "the cake." (So that made me feel pretty good about the 5 hours or so I spent on it!)

Happy Birthday, dear Lila!

Blowing out the candles.

The party guests.

Wyatt even dressed for the occasion!