Let the fun begin

Ellie and Kate finished school on Tuesday and I decided we would give potty training a go.  Ellie was ready and has been doing great.  She has had a couple of accidents here and there and is struggling a little with going poo poo in the potty, but over all I am really impressed with how well she is doing.  No treats or bribery needed, she has just been running to go pee pee all by herself.  Kate has not taken to it so well.  We have tried a few times, but she mostly just says no and asks for her diaper.  I am not going to push her just yet.  I am going to give her some more time and hopefully she will come around.

Watching 'Potty Power' on their potties

Jack is 15 Months Old

Our lovable little guy is 15 months old.  I took him in for his check up yesterday and Dr. Burns was pleased with his growth and development and commented on how smart and chatty he is :)  Jack still isn't walking, but she watched him climb on and off the bench, cruise around, and walk holding mommy's hand.  She said him not walking is a choice and when he chooses to, he will walk.  If she isn't concrened, then I am not either.  It is probably part my fault becuase he loves to snuggle me, so I do hold him a lot.  So here are is stats:
Weight : 21 lb 6oz  (18%)
Height: 32 in (70%)



Who is that handsome boy?

determination

Super excited about his first lollipop!


   Likes:
-eating everyone's food.  As soon as he sees someone with food, he hustles over and begs.  "Bite, bite, bite"
-being outside
-strawberries, bananas, blueberries, apples, grilled chicken, black beans, peas, all crackers and cookies, milk, drinkable yogurt
-using a fork.  Jack can now use a fork to eat his strawberries and chicken, but he gets frustrated trying to stab beans or peas, but won't use a spoon.
-his sisters.  Although they are sometimes not too pleased with his idea playing.
-being held/snuggled by mommy
-kisses.  Jack just started making kissey noises and actually leaning in to give kisses.  It is the best!
-his blankie that grammie made for him
-climbing the stairs and couch and trying to climb in the dishwasher
-playing ball.  Rolling and throwing with daddy.
-dogs, ours and everyone else's :)
-singing.  He 'sings' to the tune of the abc's a lot.  It is pretty cute!
-ring around the rosie.  He recently started to crawl in a circle around me while 'singing' and then he will stop, sit, and throw his arms in the air and say 'down!'  It took me a few moments to realize he was playing ring around the rosie! I can never catch it on camera, but I am still trying!

Wearing mostly 12 month or 9-12 month clothes and sometimes 12-18 month tops.  He wears size 3 diapers.  He has 7 teeth, with two top molars and one more bottom tooth on the way.  He sleeps for about 11 hours at night and takes a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.
He has become very chatty and seems to pick up new words everyday.  Here are most of the words he says, but I am sure I will forget a few.
-mama, dada, dog, ball, bite, hi, bye-bye, ni-night, nana (banana), gabba, that? (what is that?), down, go, moo (for cow), neigh (for horse and most other animals), quack, car, uh-oh, and he recently started saying "oh, no!"

Dislikes:
-having his hair washed, face cleaned, nose wiped
-when Kate or Ellie steal something from him
-diaper changes!
-I don't think he likes shoes, he is always taking them off.  But maybe it is just fun to play with velcro?
-when I tell him no

That pretty much sums up our sweet baby Jack.  He is still one happy little boy and makes us smile everyday.  We love you bunches, Jack!

Recent Family Field Trips

I have a lot to catch up on so I am going to try to break it down a little and summerize what we have been up to!  Now that the girls are getting better about staying close to me in public, we have been able to do more fun things.  There was a time not so long ago when I thought we would never have pleasant outings.  I would have to push the girls in the double stroller because I couldn't trust them to stay close and I would wear Jack in the bjorn.  Let me tell you, it was quite the work out and I got all kinds of looks and comments from people.  But it is looking more and more promising each time we go out (as long as it is not too close to a meal time or nap of course!).  So here is the run down of our recent adventures.  The day after we visited the Addison Fire Station (previous post) we went to the Dallas Zoo with Todd's parents.  Kate and Ellie had a blast and I think this was the first time that Jack actually paid attention to the fact that there were neat animals everywhere.  He was pointing at everything and shouting "that?", which is how he asks "what is that?".  This was also the first time we rode the monrail and carousel.  We thought it would be the best time to try because we had extra adults to help.  The monrail was not a huge hit, but the carousel certainly was! 

A bird landed on Kate's head and she LOVED it.  She was bummed when it flew away.

Todd did not love it :)

Notice our friend Kate in the top corner

Someone was getting impatient

What's that?

On next field trip was Ellie and Kate's first trip to the movies!  The girls have been really into Peppa Pig for quite some time and we were excited to find out that it was showing at Studio Movie Grill.  Jack stayed at home and Todd and I took Ellie and Kate on a movie date.  Kate's favorite part was the preview for a pirate movie and twirling in the big chair, but Ellie couldn't tear her eyes off the screen.  She sat still and quiet for the entire hour and watched every moment, even though they were just episodes that we had already seen several times at home.  All in all it went better than expected and I am glad we had the opportunity to go.

Another recent trip was to the Dallas Children's Museum.  It was really neat and there were a bunch of fun interactive things for the kids to do.  Unfortunately there was a poorly behaved, rowdy bunch of elementary school field trip students there.  They were the worst I have ever seen and were actually bullying the girls and the other toddler friends that were with us.  It was sad, but we tried to make the best of it and hope to go back at a less busy time.

We also went to the Grapevine Aquarium with our friends Isabelle, Connor, Luke and Audrey and back to the Dallas Zoo with Grammie, Aunt Catherine and baby cousin Ava, but I didn't get any pictures from those outings.  Sometimes managing the kids and all of our stuff keeps me too busy to take pictures!  Ellie, Kate, and Jack also go on weekly trips to Gymboree and Target, but these are much more casual field trips ;)