I know it’s almost cliche, but they grow up too fast!

Five things I’m loving about Lilly:

1. She’s *almost* walking! She stands up and takes several steps a day, any day now she’ll just keep going and we’ll have another TODDLER.
2. How she’s growing and blossoming all at once. Lilly interacts with us in a whole new way now; grabbing our hands to make us do something, raising cups to my lips to make me drink, holding my phone by my head and using the buttons, etc. If her hairbow falls out of her hair, she picks it up and tries to put it back in her hair. When she wants a kiss, she moves my face to give me one. Lilly makes the most hilarious facial expressions; we always know how she feels.
3. The way she plays with my hair and wraps her arm around my neck when she eats. Lilly is so cuddly! She loves to rub soft blankets next to her face and give be hugs to stuffed animals. She likes to pull the throw pillows off the couch and lays on them on the floor.
4. When she initiates a game of “peek-a-boo” with me. It’s so stinking cute!
5. The way she gets excited to see David after a long separation (like an hour long nap). A few nights ago, Lilly crawled over to David and leaned in and gave him a big wet kiss. Pretty much the sweetest moment to ever happen.

Five things I’m loving about David:

1. His talking! Seriously, he’s off the charts with his vocabulary, problem solving, memory, etc. It’s just nuts. I love that I can just talk to him–so much so that I often have to remind myself that he’s still only two and not much older. A couple weeks ago I found a ceramic decorative bird at TJ Maxx. David quickly adopted it, named it “Hypothesis,” and carried it around with him for the following week.
2. David has been singing like crazy lately. And dancing. And drumming. And making instruments (he lined up some colored pencils and pretended they made a xylophone). His favorite songs are the alphabet, Twinkle Twinkle, I Am a Child of God, and “Dinosaur Train” (really, just the words Dinosaur and train sung over and over again while he bounces his foot like a mini Elvis).
3. His sweetness. David is the sweetest kid there ever was. Since he was born, it’s usually the first or second thing people say about him–that he’s sweet (and then a comment on his blue eyes). Today while Lilly was napping, David and I just cuddled under a blanket and giggled and played.
4. He goes to the bathroom completely on his own! He won’t even tell me he needs to go or make me come with him, he just gets up and goes into the bathroom. It’s SO nice to have him be independent. We still have to remind him sometimes, but for a majority of the day he goes all on his own.
5. David is so helpful! He’ll bring me diapers for Lilly, throw things away, get his shoes, etc. By the end of the summer, I’m hoping he does shoes and the buckles on his car seat all on his own. We’re almost there with shoes already (or we were until I got him new ones).

two I’ve been hoarding pictures on my phone. I NEED to post some. I have over 1,000 pictures on my phone and 55 videos. Lots of cute things happen, are photographed and that’s all the farther I get. Shame on me.

three Lilly is growing her first TWO teeth. I’m so excited about it! No really, I am. For a while I was starting to wonder if she’d still be toothless at her senior prom.

four David is a talking MACHINE. It’s constant. His funny thing this week: There is a baby Elmo illustration on the diaper box we recently got. David keeps telling me that it’s a “mammal wearing glasses.” I get such a kick out of it. Oh, and a week or so ago I was telling him about something I was working on, and he walks over to me and puts his hands on my cheeks and says, “Mommy, what are you talking about?”

five Up until this week, I’ve been a sewing machine. I need to post about my projects. I estimate that I completed over 20 projects in 2012, and I’m well on my way to surpassing that for 2013 (8 completed, and many more I’m eager to do).

six David is our junior paleontologist. He is obsessed with dinosaurs. He knows their names, what they eat, etc. As a result, I’ve been learning a lot too.

seven Lilly will lean on empty boxes and the legs of her high chair to walk for short periods of time.

eight David sings the alphabet all the way through all by himself. I’m not even going to beat around the bush: I’m super proud.

nine Going on right this second: Lilly really needs a nap.

ten Things developed kind of quickly and unexpectedly, but we find ourselves moving to a townhouse April 5. That’s 33 days away (I asked the internet). We’re really excited and I’ll write much more on it later.

I’ll leave you with one of the pictures I’ve been hoarding. Okay, two.

You might be thinking, “What’s the problem with that?” The problem is that all of those lovelies came from my bathroom drawer. I have more in my purse. In my other purse. In the old diaper bag. In my coat. In my other coat. In the kitchen. By my sewing machine. In the car. I even keep one permanently in my suitcase in case I forget to bring lipgloss on a trip (which, as you’ve read, is impossible). I even thought while writing this post about admitting I have a lipgloss/chapstick addiction and listing off all those places, I forgot a place: I need one in Matt’s jeep. You know, just in case.

There isn’t a day lipgloss can’t improve.

The problem is, the chapstick I use most is in Matt’s pocket.

• Lilly sits up all by herself! It’s one of my favorite baby developments.
• Shortly after turning 6 months old, she started waving to Matt when he left in the morning. Super cute!
• A week and a half after she started waving, Lilly started clapping. She was sitting on my lap while we were talking to visitors, and she just started clapping all of the sudden. David was much older when he started clapping, I attribute Lilly’s early clapping to the overabundance of clapping we’ve been doing for David going potty. A lot of clapping (and I’m a clapper by nature).
• Either right before or right after clapping (within hours of each other), Lilly started saying, “ma ma ma.” It’s all I heard for two straight days. At first she was just making sounds, now she sometimes intentionally says it when she sees me. She’s also started to say other consentant sounds like, “ba ba ba.” I love this stage!
• After weeks of various crawling styles–inch worm, army, and wounded soldier (dragging one leg behind her, but otherwise crawling)–Lilly finally figured out crawling. She’s been having the time of her life touring our apartment at her own will and getting into David’s trains and toys. I think David is more excited about her crawling than she is; he loves crawling after her and calling to her, “Lilly, come play over here! Come play over here! It’s fun, Lilly!”
• Since Lilly can sit up now and wants to be involved with everything we do, I let her ride in the front of the cart for the first time, probably her favorite activity to date.
• Oh, and now she’s trying to pull herself up to stand. She’s an active little thing.

Some pictures of Lillybug in action:

The week before Christmas I was in the kitchen doing dishes while David and Lilly ‘played’ in the front room. Lilly started fussing out of tiredness and boredom, so David went over and laid down by her. Soon I was overhearing him explain to her that monsters and dinosaurs are only on TV (a similar explanation that I gave David not too long ago …). I thought it was sweet and funny that he thought she was crying because she was scared of monsters.

One night while getting ready for bed David was throwing a mega fit because we told him he couldn’t read more books because it was time for bed. I went in his room and pulled him onto my lap, and explained that he was crying because his body was saying he was tired and needed to go to sleep. We talked about it for a little bit, and then he suddenly sits up and thinks for a minute. Then he tells me with his little finger in front of his face, “My body says I need to read ONE more book!” Well played, buddy. Well played.

David found a box of “Mom’s” granola bars and really wanted one, it was lunchtime so I told him if he was hungry we needed to go make lunch. He asked for “one Mom’s ‘nola bars?” and I again told him that he couldn’t have “one” of Mom’s granola bars because we were going to eat lunch. He beamed at me and said, “Okay, TWO Mom’s ‘nola bars?” He does the same thing with books and movies, etc; ask for “one” more, when we say no, he’ll ask for TWO more. Silly kid.

David has learned the word “yet” but doesn’t use it right. One of his favorite uses: “It’s too late to go to bed yet!”

[Side note: One of our neighbors is singing at the TOP of his lungs. I can't tell where it's coming from ... it's very distracting ...]

David has started kissing his own boo-boos better. It’s pretty cute, people.

When David helps us say prayers, he’s started to throw his own things in too. Soon he’ll be saying prayers without any prompts at all. He likes to be thankful for Lilly, trains, “cereal time,” and outside.

I LOVE that they love each other.

Number: Two

Color: Red

Toy: Dinosaurs and trains

Book: Right now, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

Movies: Cars, The Lion King, Kung Fu Panda, Tangled, Ice Age 3 (ugh, I wish he didn’t love it as much as he does)

TV Show: Curious George and Thomas the Tank Engine 

Game: “Mr. Pig” (He goes into his room and closes his door, we come knock on it and say, “Mr. Pig, Mr. Pig let me in.” He opens the door and giggles uncontrollably, then closes it and we do it again. And again. And again.)

Song: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Animal: Monkey (because of Curious George), puppies

Food: Muffins, triangle toast (bread cut diagonally), noodles, mini marshmallows … Okay, this list is endless, he loves food

Lilly’s favorite …

Color: Shiny

Toy: Giant stuffed gorilla, bottle with beans in it, whatever David is playing with

Movie: Tangled (okay, she only likes the music)

Game: Peek-a-Boo

Song: Curious George theme song

Animal: Any animal she comes in contact with, David

Food: Banana puffs (after breast milk, of course)

In a nutshell my feelings this November:

Grateful. Grateful for two beautiful, happy, healthy, darling, nearly-perfect children. Grateful for a loving, helpful, supportive, hard-working husband. Grateful for families. Grateful for holidays and the magic they bring. Grateful for parents. Grateful for every day. I’m just grateful.

On a completely unrelated note, my very first blog post was about a box of Twinkies. I haven’t had a Twinkie in ages, but I am more than a little bummed about the Hostess fiasco. Oh well, we need to eat more salad anyway.

I read a few blog posts found via Pinterest about “potty training a child in one day.” While these posts contained helpful tips and advice, I ultimately decided that this wasn’t the right choice for David and me. I think trying to make a toddler make all the connections needed for potty training success in one day is a bit extreme, and you’re both just going to get burned out and frustrated by the end of the day. My method is slow and steady.

I approached potty training in three phases. Phase One: creating interest, Phase Two: active training, Phase Three: reinforcement.

Phase One

After David started showing a lot of the signs of being ready to be potty trained (telling me when his diaper was wet/poopy, becoming regular, etc), I started flushing his poop in the toilet. My hope with this was to show him what we use the toilet for and help get him excited and interested. We’d run to the bathroom and I’d dump his poop in the toilet and have him flush it. If he flushed his poop in the toilet he got an M&M candy. We did this for a couple weeks while we waited to see other signs of him being ready (staying dry for a couple hours at a time, including naps, etc). During this same time I made a big deal whenever I needed to go to the bathroom: “Mommy has use the toilet!” and run off to the bathroom. If he came into the bathroom while I was going, I’d tell him that Mommy uses the toilet because Mommy doesn’t wear diapers.

I took him to the store and helped him pick out a potty seat that sits on top of the regular toilet seat.* For an entire month I had him sit on the toilet once a day. I just had him sit; no expectation or pressure for him to go. At first he was a little timid and didn’t want to sit there. I’d smile and encourage him and tell him what a big boy he was. I’d have him sit for one song (Twinkle Twinkle, Popcorn Popping, etc) and then help him down telling him how proud I was of him for sitting on the toilet. Every time he sat on the toilet he got a smiley face sticker and an M&M.

By the end of the month, sitting on the toilet wasn’t scary for him anymore. I took him to the store and he picked out ‘big boy’ underwear. With some encouragement and the help of increased fluids and sitting longer than usual on the toilet, David went potty in the toilet. I made a HUGE deal about it and we called important people to tell them the big news (Daddy, Nana and Papa, etc). For going potty on the toilet he got a Cars sticker and a couple M&Ms. I encouraged him to try again the next day with success.

Phase Two

Since we have Lilly who needs attention too, I didn’t want to actively potty train David until there was a down week when there wasn’t a lot going on and I didn’t have to be anywhere and when I could get Matt’s help the first couple of days. For us, this time was immediately after his initial success of going potty in the toilet. Success is motivating, for both parent and child, so we were all excited to start.

After David got up in the morning we changed his diaper and put him in a pair of his ‘big boy’ underwear and explained that he’s a big boy and doesn’t wear diapers anymore and needs to go to potty in the toilet. I increased his fluids (gave him some Gatorade in his sippy) to increase our chances of having more success right off the bat to keep him motivated. I had him play with his toys on a cheap plastic tablecloth (in case of an accident so it wasn’t on our carpet). The first morning we had a few accidents in a row, naturally. He’d get wet and look at us concerned and we’d run him to the bathroom and sit him on the toilet. If he went, he got a Car sticker and M&Ms. After lunch we didn’t have any accidents until the evening when he got tired, Matt left, and I had to feed Lilly.

On day two he had one tiny leak in the morning before running to the bathroom and another accident in the evening. Seeing the pattern, on the third day I made sure he was on the toilet during the times he had accidents previous days: success, no accidents.

The key is to stay overly excited and encouraging and to go “try” when you think they need to go. I don’t always wait for David to tell me when he needs to go; in the afternoon he likes to play with his toys and “hold” it for as long as he possibly can. When it’s been a while since he’s gone and I can tell he’s starting to get uncomfortable, I have him sit on the toilet and sing songs until he goes. For some kids, distraction helps them relax and go. For David, he does better when I leave the bathroom briefly to get a drink, check on Lilly, etc. When David was listening, I’d tell Lilly what a big boy David was being and tell her that David didn’t wear diapers anymore. It seems silly, but it really helped David stay proud of himself.

Right before bed, we put David in a diaper. I didn’t want to buy pull-ups when we still had a few diapers left. In the five mornings we’ve been potty training, David has woken up dry three so I think in another week we may not even need diapers.

Phase Three

(We’re currently in this phase.) After several days of little or no accidents, he got a little less interested and started getting lazy. We busted out sparkly Cars stickers, stayed excited, and had him make more phone calls to share his success. After several accident-free days, it’s time to make some short outings to practice being away from home and build confidence. We got a foldable potty seat to use in public restrooms to make them less scary. I’ll let you know how it goes.

* The decision to use a potty seat that goes on a regular toilet instead of a toddler-size potty was personal preference (space saving) and in hopes of him not being timid of public restrooms when we leave home. 

People ask how David likes having a baby sister. He still crazy loves her. She’s starting to like him, too.

Lilly sitting alone on the couch being cute with her hands.

David finds her. Man, I love her facial expressions.

David pulling her off the couch by her ankles.

Shortly after he went potty in the toilet and we had a mini celebration, he came and peed on the floor by the toilet. We have some more work to do, but this is a HUGE milestone.

I hope he does it again tomorrow. [In the toilet.]

For blackmailing purposes: