Potty Training - Check!

Finally, I only have one set of diapers to change again. Zach is potty trained minus some pipe leakage every now and again. LOL He has done well with nights, but I still put a pull-up on him just in case. He is even pooping on the potty now. Woohoo!!! As a reward, we took him to Toys R Us tonight to pick out a big present (and I even let him wear underwear for the occasion!).

Now when Hannah got to do this, she picked a $50 item. But Zach, being the singled-minded boy that he is, honed in on the more reasonably priced Take Along Thomas trains. Never fear - Daddy was careful to steer him clear of the Christmas list items. He settled on the Breakdown Train, Max & Monty, and Hector. Plus he got some new undies with Thomas and Spider Man. He and Hannah were up until almost 10:00 playing with the new friends. My boy LOVES trains!!

A child's perspective of Sunday School

On our way home from church this morning, I asked the kids how Sunday School was. I asked the usual - what did you learn? who was the story about? etc.

Hannah responded with, "I didn't hit anyone today."

I'm always left wondering the source of comments like that. I guess I'll never know.

Kid Free Weekend

Chad and I finally got the opportunity to celebrate our 6th anniversary this weekend and it was blissfully kid-free! We attended our niece's birthday party Saturday and then parted ways with the kids. Zach got to stay at the McGrath's and enjoy two days of boy-stuff. Hannah, Rebecca, and Keely piled into Grandmommy's van and off they went to Canton.

Meanwhile, Chad and I headed to Frisco and did some shopping. We also took some time at Dave & Buster's to play a ton of games, trade in our modest 800 tickets for Christmas gifts for the kids, and eat dinner. We picked up shakes at Steak & Shake and headed home for about an hour. Then we got to go together to the prayer vigil at church and did some stargazing at the top of a hill on the way home.

On Sunday, we attended church, including the Thanksgiving meal after service where we actually got to have conversations with several people! Then home we went to watch the Cowboys, do some light housecleaning, and relax. We headed to the Majestic around 3:30 for our 5:00 performance of The Nutcracker by the Moscow Ballet company. It was Chad's first ballet and he said he really liked it. I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially since it was a different version from the one I saw about 15 years ago. We parked in an amazingly efficient parking building across the street. Clearance was 6 feet. I seriously got claustrophobic while we were driving in there. Chad couldn't even get on tip-toe because he would hit his head on the ceiling! After the ballet, we headed to PF Changs for dinner. We were dressed up for the ballet, of course, so we got a few looks! LOL

Monday morning dawned and we actually slept in! Heavenly!! We went for a late breakfast at IHOP, shopped at Wal-Mart, then picked up the girls in Allen and traded a niece for a son in Anna.

There is no way I could fully express my gratitude for all the family members who made this awesome weekend possible. If only y'all could have been able to observe the calm, peaceful, joyful woman I was the last two days. Alas, she has been replaced by the furrowed-brow mommy who is glad that bedtime arrived tonight! Time to plan another weekend . . .

M&M and Cousins (72 photos), by Julie Smith

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Potty Training

Potty training sure is different with boys! Hannah made the decision she was going to be toilet trained and just got down to business. Granted, it took three major attempts on my part to finally get there and she was almost 4 before it happened, but when she was ready, that was that. She was fully potty trained, even at night, within a few weeks.

And then there's Zach. First we had to get him to speak coherently. Then we had to understand him. They we had to learn two way conversations. Finally, I got him to pee on the potty sporadically, earn some stickers, and earn some trains in the process. Progress was slow at the beginning. After many weeks, he finally caught on and realized there were regular rewards involved, even if it was just a high-five. Two pages of stickers and about 12 trains later, he upgraded to big boy undies. This is the second full day of undies with only 3 or 4 accidents. He's still in pull-ups at night and at naptime, but we have been so pleased over all. He even goes potty without being prompted sometimes!

My big challenge will be feeling safe to put him in undies when we go out. I don't think I am there yet!

Rebecca is doing great!

Rebecca had her probing procedure on Wednesday morning. She did absolutely wonderful and it is apparent that the procedure was a success. I could tell a huge difference by Wednesday afternoon. Her eye is not gooping up anymore and no more random tears. Chad even commented last night that she seems even happier than usual. Thanks for all the prayers for our little sweetie!

Rebecca's Procedure

Rebecca had an appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist today. She confirmed that Rebecca does have a clogged tear duct and would benefit from a probing procedure. To my surprise, she recommended right away - like tomorrow morning. So we did pre-registration and pre-op right after her eye appointment. Her procedure will be Wednesday at 9:30. It is a very quick procedure (like 30 seconds) and she will only have a general anesthesia. She will have no pain and I'll give her eye drops for 10 days to prevent infection. Please pray that the tear duct opens and heals without any complications.

Rebecca Picture

Here is a good picture of Rebecca from last Friday. I think Pink Puppy is gonna start looking like Piglet one of these days. If you haven'ts seen Hannah's lovey lately, Piglet is missing part of an arm now. LOL And doesn't Rebecca look so adorable in those Baby Legs? Thank you McGrath clan!

New Train

Proud boy earned a new train last night. :)

Mom's Birthday Party (38 photos), by Julie Smith

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M&M Field Trip (56 photos), by Julie Smith

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The Missing Trains

Zachary is doing so well with his potty training lately. It was like something had to just click and he enthusiastically pees whenver his body allows. We have been implementing an incentive program where he earns a sticker for each pee and then a certain number of stickers equals a new Take Along Thomas train. (I didn't actually buy a bunch of new trains - bought a box of gently used trains for $20 off Craigs List. Woohoo!) The boy is doing so well that he gets a new train every two days now! Needless to say, a new incentive program will begin after he completes this sheet.

Now for the really funny part. He requests certain trains on a regular basis, not realizing that his requests won't really make a difference because it is what it is, you know. Tonight, he lined up all his trains. Then he created spaces between some, pointed to the empty spot, looked at me sadly, and named off the ones were missing. "This is Edward," he said longingly of the first empty spot. "This is Cranky." He continued on about the missing Bulstrode, Trevor, Douglas, Skarloey, and so on. I just looked back at him sadly and confirmed that they were, in fact, missing in action. Work it, baby, work it.

Rebecca's Stats

We went to Rebecca's one year appointment last week. She got two shots and Hannah cried more than she did! Eczema is still an issue, so we will all be switching laundry detergent soon to something more gentle and chemical free. Her tear duct is still not cleared up so we have been referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist. Here are the big girl's stats:

Weight: 21.6 pounds (53 %)
Height: 29.5 inches (60 %)
Head cir: 17.75 inches (48 %)

She was officially big enough to turn her car seat around, so she got that plus got to move to the back seat with Hannah. Zach (who is prone to carsickness) moved up to the middle row. All the kids love the new seating arrangement!

Rebecca's Birthday Party (70 photos), by Julie Smith

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Preschool Update

I get questions periodically about how the homeschooling is going. I am actually enjoying it quite a bit these days. We have school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (unless there are special circumstances such as an illness) for about an hour, depending on the art projects we are doing.

Hannah absolutely loves school and asks for it nearly every day. Zach joins us when it looks interesting. :) We are currently on letter L, the color orange (anaranjado), the number 8, and the shape square. We also study the current Cubbies verse, learn Bible stories, work on handwriting, phonics, math, creative activities and have a social studies and science lesson surrounding the Bible story almost each lesson. For example, we are studying the days of creation in Genesis 1. We have been learning about grass for the last week (types of grass, how it keeps soil from eroding, what eats it). Since the kids already know their colors, we always translate those into Spanish. We play outside when we can, sing songs all the time, and Dora and Mickey are never too far away. LOL

By the way, I keep all of the papers and colorings they are doing with school. If any grandparent would like to take some samples, you are more than welcome!