Big Girl Underwear!

Eva has always shown signs of being a relatively easy potty trainer. At about 22 months, she started pointing at the potty and signing "what?" so we started talking to her about growing up and using the bathroom. She's a pretty predictable kid (if you know what I mean) so one day we were near the bathroom when I knew she needed to go, so I just grabbed the little seat, threw her up there, and asked her to poop. Worked like a charm! Every since, we have been using the potty when it's convenient, but haven't been pushing it.Finally, a month or so ago, she began asking to go potty. To be honest, I really didn't feel ready, since she isn't anywhere near being able to pull clothes on or off, plus it's winter so there are a lot of layers to go through.

I probably wouldn't have gone along with it, except I happen to go to a seminar by Kathie Snow called Disability is Natural. One of her many nuggets of advice was to stop saying you child is "not ready". How often are any of us actually ready for change? Would your parents have said you ready to move out/your first child/first job/etc? Sometime we allow ourselves to hold our differently-abled kids back based on our own protectiveness. Anyway, back to potty training....

So after the seminar, I decided that Eva was truly ready to take the next step. We pulled out the big girl panties, bought a travel potty for the car and off we go! This week we have even ventured out in underwear...no accidents!!! I know she's young and it'll take awhile, but I love getting to cheer for her and watching her face light up with every success. A big thanks to my Mom, who has encouraged me on this venture and pushed me into this new territory!

First sentence!

So Eva said her first two word sentence out loud this week! Getting ready for school/work/etc and running around like crazy - I told Eva to go give Daddy a kissy goodbye. He scoops her up (always sooo cute) and gives her a big hug, and she says "Byby Dada" clear as a bell. Awwwww!!!!

While we still dont' have a lot of clear words, she is doing really well trying new sound combos with her familiar "b" "d" "n" "p" and "m" sounds. Ba for ball is old, but Buuh for book and Boh for brother are new. Also, today I got my first "NO!". Leave it to a mom to be excited about an stubborn child yelling NO!

Darren is being so sweet with her lately (as long as her remembers not to be too rough). They are finally able to really play together :D

Not really a good Blogger

So I admit, I'm a little too sporadic to be a good blog writer. However, I love looking back at these old posts (especially the video of Eva crawling!) and remembering. It's much more likely that I'm going to use this format than any paper journal, so I've decided to keep this up. I'm taking this opportunity to review major happenings since my last post a long long time ago.

Let's see: Darren is in Kindergarten in Mrs. Ballew's class. He is doing fabulous, and it excelling in every area except public speaking. Appearantly he gets shy when talking to the group and needs to work on that. Sounds like a worthy goal to me :)

I've been elected to the school board at Newcastle Elementary School District. Exciting, but also draining and discouraging in the current climate of cuts and budget crisis. There are a lot of difficult choices to make. On the up side, I'm meeting tons of people at the school and am excited to participate in the process that affects my kids so directly.

John's been working hard on the Kitchen and is mostly done, just a few more doors to go. It's amazing and I love it so much! New seats and tires for the Jeep this year. Hopefully there will be a lot more of that in the near future.

Eva is doing so great. She was up and walking around 19 months adn moved straight on to dancing :) We are now focused on speech, which is progressing slowly. We only have a handful of understandable words: baby, dada, mama, num num (yummy) but she is assigning sounds (like "O" for orange) so there is some progress there. Luckily she does have tons of signs and is persistent in using her social skills to communicate what she wants, and not just through tantrums. She is learning colors right now, and working on concepts like same and different. It's all about the music with Eva. We love our 1:1 time with Tara for music therapy. Everything I can turn into a song is more successful; which sometimes makes us feel like we're living in a Disney movie (have you every seen Enchanted?)

Anyway, enough for now. I'll see how successful I am in doing more of this! Later g8r!

Video - I hope this works

San Diego Trip

Well, the office sent me to a CalTrans Training, which was a great opportunity. Not the funnest topic (Resident Engineer Paperwork stuff) but getting trained for new aspects of my job is a great deal in this economy. Anyhow, Nana was kind enough to babysit for Eva while I trained, and John and Darren joined us on Thursday so we could go on some outtings. I didn't get to go (hence no pictures) to the Childrens Museum, but here are some pix of teh San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld.

I have to mention that to cards were stacked against SeaWorld. Not only did it rain, but there was also a Tsunami warning that morning! However, we prevailed and it was quite nice to avoid the crowds.

Here's Auntie Laurie who drove down to visit us...what a treat!

Nothing much

I need to vent, so this may be a bit boring. No cute pictures or anything to contribute today.

I was just feeling a bit down, since I really wanted to keep up with this Blog, but life just seems to have other ideas. Between birthday parties, cleaning, redoing the kitchen, housework, work work, dogs, therapy, doctors, dentists, diapers...my life is full. That's a good thing, but sometimes it makes you weary. At least my Christmas Thank you cards are all out (only a month later LOL!).

I was pondering the stay at home thing with my friend Holly (who is a SAHM) and I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. I think everyone must feel this way sometimes. I'm so glad to have so many people who put up with my hecktic schedule and sporatic contact. I love you all!!!

Well, this weekend we are off on a Train Trip Adventure! Timing is awesome, as it it "T" week at Darren's preschool. We are taking the train through the snow dusted mountains , through Truckee and past Tahoe all the way to Reno. We did this last year with our friends Matt and Joanne, I think it's goign to become a fun tradition! Can I give a little Amtrak plug here? For a reasonable price, you can take the whole family, babies are free, and no one has to pay attention to the road or navigate. You can have a beer or a glass of wine, or even a nice meal. On the particular stretch we go on, there is a live person narrating with cool historical facts! Oh, and the icing is that my hubby booked me a massage at the hotel we are staying at...yay!!!

Halloween ideas

I'm pondering our halloween outfits. Since we'll be on a Carnival Cruise, I think there's bound to be contests and stuff so I want to do something fun and coordinated. I'm thinking if Eva was a little bee, then I could make John a quick beekeeper outfit. Easy! But what should I be? Maybe a flower or a garden or somthing? I do have a honey colored bridesmaid dress I've been saving for costume use. I wonder what I could do with that....

Anyway, very excited about the bee costume. I'm trying to make it of quality peices that we can continue to use separately. I.e. a cute yellow tutu or pettiskirt can be worn for years for dress up. I also may buy a deliciously soft yellow hoodie I've been eyeing. If I just tack on some wings and stripes it could be a great jacket for the cold season. Oh, and I've fallen off the Babylegs-Anonymous wagon again...they have bee stripe ones!

Oh, and of course, Darren will be Batman...again. LOL!