Gymnastics

Campbell started gymnastics once a week & she loves it. At the end she says she can't wait to go again next week.

Ta-da!

Campbell Art

Some recent creations....

Getting to be so careful with her coloring.

Add caption

Working on writing. Not sure what else she was trying to document, but I see 'cat' and 'Campbell.'

"A Pretty My Little Pony flying a camel head kite." How does she come up with this stuff?

 

Getting good at her name.

Llama Llama Red Pajama

Campbell & I invited M & E to come along with us to watch Llama Llama Red Pajama at Stages Theater. It was M & E's first play, so it was fun to see the excitement on E's face. It was a great production as usual and Campbell left signing songs from the play.

Showing off autographs. Campbell gets so excited about getting autographs after the show from all the actors.

The girls loved the show.

After the show, we went to devour some delicious treats at YoYo Donuts. Not only is it super yummy, but it is a peanut & tree nut free bakery, which is awesome for E who is has very severe allergies.

Potty Training - Check!

Warning: If the title didn't give it away, this post is all about the potty and the things that go along with it.

It was a run around in underwear kind of day.

Blake is doing so awesome with this whole potty training thing. I was totally dreading it, and I wasn't even really planning on doing it any time soon, since I was still not completely recovered from the whole ordeal with training Campbell. And it seems like everyone says that boys are harder to train and not to even start until they are 3.

But, here's the nitty gritty of how went. Besides the fact that Blake basically has heard potty talk/been witness to all the goings on for his whole life with Campbell around, we had been specifically talking about how 'big boys wear underwear and go pee in the potty' with Blake for a while. He had pretty consistently been peeing in the bath tub (hey, he didn't want to go on the potty, so I just let him) before his bath at night & he knew what he was doing. Santa brought him Diego and Superman undies. Then at our New Year's party, Blake was in awe of N, who is 6. He kept asking if N wore underwear and you could tell he was really thinking about it. Gabe had the Monday after New Year's off and we didn't have anything planned, so we just went for it without even planning on it. No pull ups, no potty chair. We put him in underwear, gave him tons to drink, put him on the potty every 15 minutes, and stayed on the hard wood floor all day. With in the first 30 minutes he completely wet himself twice, but after that he got it. Within a couple hours, he would tell us when he had to go. At first I talked about giving him an M&M if he went, but he wasn't really even interested in that.

It was amazing (you know, as far as potty training experiences go) and he did so much better than I had even hoped for. He's been resistant to it a tiny bit here and there, but for the most part he's really into it and is proud of what a 'big boy' he is. It took him a couple days of messing in his undies before he got the whole 'poop on the potty' concept, but now he's doing great with that too.


Granted, I still watch him and remind him, and he's had a couple of accidents, but for the great majority of the time, he's the one telling me he has to go and he runs to the bathroom. I'm still putting him in diapers for naps and at night, because I (yes, selfishly) don't want to mess up his super awesome sleep habits (usually 3+ hours for naps and 12 hours at night).

Here are some of the 'only a Mommy would think these are a big deal' highlights: he's stayed dry at preschool the 2 times he's been there, we were eating at Subway and he told me he had to go (his first time going in at a public restroom), he stayed dry at Pump It Up during a birthday party, he stays dry when we're running errands, he went outside when we were out on a hike and when we were at the park. Whoop Whoop!

Way to go Blake! You are now officially a 'big boy'!

Winter?!?

It was 52 degrees here today. Where is our winter???

Riding bikes in January is so weird! The kids didn't even need gloves!

Poor Blake fell on the cement and got it pretty good on his nose and upper lip.

Nature Hike

This morning, we took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather & went to a nearby nature preserve. We all had a great time feeding the birds, tromping over the prairie & exploring the woods.

Super Blake!

Blake has been transforming into Super Blake a lot lately, thanks to the costume from Santa. As soon as he gets suited up, he runs off yelling, "Super Blake!"

Super Blake doing a super job with potty training, especially when Super Man is watching.

I guess that the 'no jumping on the bed' rule doesn't apply to Super Blake.

Super Blake's self portrait.