Friday Fun

We had family fun day on Friday. Jason will be going out of town Sunday through Saturday so he took Friday off of work. We took the kids to Sea World and had so much fun! Brandon LOVED the Shamu show, he couldn't take his eyes off the water. He also insisted on seeing the stingrays, dolphins, penguins, fish, frogs and sharks. After all that we went to the water park. My kids are such little fish. Jack is much more daring that Brandon. Don't get me wrong, Brandon has fun, but he's super cautious. I'll really have to watch Jack next summer cause he loves the splashing and doesn't care about water on his face, Brandon, on the other hand, gets a little freaked out. All four of us share ice cream and Jason bought Brandon a stuffed stingray. It was a great day and hope we manage another fun day out there before the summer is over.

Jack is totally army crawling now, sometimes he throws a roll in there, too. He can pretty much get anywhere he wants. I noticed at Sea World yesterday that he's getting a new tooth, his upper right middle one. It hasn't cut the gums yet but you can totally see it under the surface. I hope that it's not too painful for him when it finally breaks through. No sign of it's partner yet, I think he'll look kinda silly with just one top tooth, lol. Jack is also constantly trying to get Brandon's things. He tries to grab B's drinks, his toys, pretty much anything Brandon has in his hand. Brandon had really better watch out, Jack will be a force before too long. It's really funny because Brandon is used to being able to move his toys a few inches away and Jack can't get to them....not anymore! I can't believe how fast he's growing!

Potty Training, Vol. I **update at 4:30pm** **update 8:30pm**

I stole an idea from a friend about how to reward Brandon for going on the potty. I made a chart where we'll keep track of his progress. Each time he goes #1 and/or #2 he gets a Bob the Builder sticker, after five stickers he gets a small prize. Last night we ran to Toys R Us and picked up some small Wall-e toys, five stickers gets him one small robot. Well, I explained the concept a billion times on the way home and he still kept asking me to open the boxes. I let him look at them but kept them in the box. After about an hour he finally "got it", I think. He sat on the potty for about 45 minutes, trying and trying, to go with no luck. The toys were the last thing he asked about last night before bed and the first thing when he woke this morning. He decided that he wanted to try to go potty this morning. He finally peed after about 15 minutes. I let him pick his first sticker and I had to remind him again that he had to get FIVE stickers to get one of his toys. So, he decided he wanted to get on the potty AGAIN, IMMEDIATELY. He sat for another 45 minutes without going. Brandon kept trying to fake me out by clapping and saying "good job" but I knew he didn't still have to go. He was really upset to get dressed and leave for our playdate, lol, only my child!
We just got home from playing and I got him out of the car first. Normally he would have nearly fallen asleep in the car and I would have tried to keep him awake so he'd nap in his bed but he was determinted to stay away so he could try to go potty again. So, anyway, he's in the kitchen telling me he wants to go, but I told him to wait a minute cause I had to get Jack out of the car, too. When I got back in the kitchen he was totally naked from the waist down! We went upstairs and he sat on the potty and peed almost immediately!!! So we are up to two stickers and I think he can really get those other three by the evening. He was excited to nap cause I told him we could try again after naptime. Also, his Toy Story "big underwear" came in the mail today, he is really excited to wear them, I should go wash them right now;)

**UPDATE**
I just got Brandon up from his nap and his diaper was dry! I asked him if he needed to pee and he said yes and went immediately on the potty. He was a little frustrated that he still didn't get his toy but he only has to go two more times for his first reward!

**SECOND UPDATE**
Well, he did pretty good. After his nap I put him in "big underwear" and set a timer for 45 minutes. At the 30 minute mark he told me he had to go potty but I think he said it pretty much as he was going. I put another pair of "big underwear" on him and he had another accident about 3o minutes after that, so, he asked for a diaper next time. Jason called a bit later and wanted to go out to eat. I told B we had to get ready and he instantly said he wanted to try and he went! We just got back from dinner and he went for the 5th time and got his reward! He picked a "Steve" (lol, it's Eve, from Wall-e) toy. We also found a few small things on clearance at Target to throw in the reward mix. We'll see how tomorrow goes. We are planning a day at Sea World so I'm not sure what to do...

i think i can...

Looks as if my days of Jack being somewhat immobile are over. He's a pro at rolling and rolling but these last few days he's really, really been trying to crawl. Once he masters that it's all over, lol. He's finally getting on his hands and knees and trying to figure out how to move his arms and legs. He seems to get frustrated easily by it and drops his head down as if to say, "what am I doing wrong?". I'm gonna try to get a better video of him working on it.

Brandon's vocabulary is bursting each and every day. He'll say something every day that amazes me. We are actually having conversations, which maybe only I can really understand, but nontheless a converstation. He also remembers things that surprise me. We got a haircut for him this weekend and the girl asked me if he wanted a sucker, he wasn't around, and I said no because he always throw it on the floor of the car and never really eats it. Well, I say lets go and he comes running around saying he wants to lick a sucker...I really thought he wouldn't remember. So, we got him one and sure enough it was a total waste. He also asks or tells me things like he's planning our day. Yesterday he wouldn't take his usual afternoon nap and he kept asking/telling me we were going to Aunt Carla's when he woke up.....uh, no...but I'll say yes if it means you'll sleep. Is that mean? We have been over there a few times this last week and he's really enjoyed swimming and playing with Izzie's toys. The other day he saw Carla's cat, Lulu, up on top of the kitchen cabinets. Our cat, Abbie, could never get her big butt up that high so he was totally amazed. He said, "Mommy, I can't reach her!", it was really cute. It would never occur to him that Lulu didn't want to be gotten by him.

Oh, my boys...

So, I caught Brandon playing with Jason's books this morning. See picture above, mound behind him... He says, "Look, Mommy! I built jaguar mountian!", quite proud of himself (he made me come out of the bathroom to show me). This is in reference to "Go, Diego, Go" if you don't have a preschool aged child. Jason will be thrilled when he gets home. I've left it there for him to see :D


And these are my boys this afternoon watching TV in Brandon's room. Jack of course is distracted by life to actually watch. He managed to pull that pillow all the way on Brandon's head, to which Brandon says, "A hat!", not irritated at all. He's such a good big brother! You can see Brandon under the pillow drinking his "ca-cate milk".

jack is 7 months old today!

Jack is 7 months old today! Where has the time gone? He's getting in to everything and is so in love with his big brother, I just love him so much.

4th of July weekend

*We had another long and fun weekend over the Fourth of July weekend. Jason had Friday off so we all headed to the lake for our last weekend at my parent's lakehouse. We took Brandon on his first jet ski ride. He was really unsure if he even wanted to go with us. He kept telling me he was "too little" to get on it but then saying he wanted to go. He seemed to have a good time in the end. We went pretty slow and just went as far as Jason's parents house and back.

Jason took Brandon outside to watch people set of fireworks on the water. I was too freaked out with all the bats and mosquitos flying everywhere. Plus, Jack was sleeping inside, in my bed, and I didn't want him to be alone...I was afraid Mr. Rolly Polly would roll right off the bed. Jason said Brandon enjoyed the fireworks but after about 20 or 30 minutes he said he was ready to come back inside. He hadn't napped all day and that boy needs his sleep!

He had so much fun with my family, I'm so sad that it was the last weekend there. I just wish we'd all be able to find more time to go more often.

Sunday we took the kids to the circus for the first time. We didn't have someone to watch Jack, so he came, too. At first Jack seemed to really enjoy it, while Brandon seemed really confused and a little scared. Jack ended up getting upset and cranky so we spend the last 20 minutes of the first and second halves of the show walking around outside looking at all the expensive merchandise. Luckily I brought my Beco Butterfly so I wore him the whole time. While it's super comfortable, my back was aching by the end of the show after having worn him for over 3 hours. Jack and I went back in at intermission and Brandon was really seeming to enjoy himself at that point. Jason bought a package of cotton candy and Brandon refused to even try it. He got a little on his tongue and then tried to wipe his tongue on Jason's hand to get it off. He's one of the only kids I know that really prefers his fruits and veggies to candy!

Jason also took Monday off and we had planned to go to Sea World. Weather reports predicted rain (boy, were they right!) so we decided we'd stay home and just run some errands instead. The weather ended up being so bad that we stayed home and never left the house though.

So, another busy weekend for us. Some days it feels like I hardly have time to stand still and breath. Jack is getting more and more mobile and active and Brandon, well, he's two, so I think that speaks for itself. It's always funny to me when Jason is home for the weekend or we have a day where we don't really do anything. He's always amazed at how much work the kids are, and how the "things to do" list never ends. I think he is relieved to go back to work, lol!

my smart boy

As I've said before, Brandon is on a potty strike. He is still insistant on wearing diapers everyday. When he needs a diaper change I've been making him go and get me a diaper and his wipes, and then having him put the wipes back in his room when we're done. I guess the last few days he's gotten wise to the extra work of putting the wipes back in his room, because now he's bringing me one diaper and ONE wipe, instead of the whole pack, lol, I think that's pretty smart. Of course now I'm making him throw his own diaper away, too. I can't wait for the day when I have just one in diapers. Our pediatrician said to expect a potty training set back after the whole ER/enema incident....she wasn't kidding. I'm gonna give him a few more weeks before I'm really gonna get serious about it. I'd like to be halfway there with training before we start school in the coming weeks.