Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!



Love,
all of us

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Boy

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I can't believe Gavin is four months old. It seems like he just got here...and like he's been here forever!

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This is so not a typical look from The Boy, but I thought it was hilarious. Especially because two seconds later there was this...
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I just want to squeeze him! But I won't because he's asleep, and I like that even more than a little evening baby cuddle.

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He's rolling over both front to back and back to front, sitting up by himself (!), and if you look closely in this pic, you'll see he has two front teeth (and they work really, really well). This boy is gonna be walking before we know it!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

The City of Brotherly Love

DSC_0152While walking home after a morning birthday party that had already left Maddie kind of exhausted, I told Dakota that I really wanted to get in a c-a-r and g-o. "You want to leave us?" he asked. Umm, no, I wanted ALL of us to get in the car and go, but I didn't want Maddie to hear the words and get excited about doing that since we weren't going anywhere.

But then Dakota surprised me and said, "We could go somewhere. They could nap on the way." Oooh! On the way to WHERE, though? How about...Philly?! (And for all of you that are familiar with my love of planned spontaneity and organized chaos, you know this was HUGE for me!).

So we hurriedly fed Maddie lunch, packed the car, and were on our way by 1! (No small feat given that we got home from the party about 12:20!).

Once there, it didn't really matter what we did. We felt we'd succeeded just by making it there!

We stopped by Franklin Square, where Maddie was entranced by the fountain:
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And Gavin was too - I had to turn him to face the camera, and he seemed a little irritated: DSC_0148

And then Maddie played at the playground there (where I thought, "Really? We came to Philly for her to go down a slide?").
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Maddie watched the Liberty Carousel for a while, and we were pretty sure it was just not quite her cup of tea. But then she announced, "Maddie try it too!" So Dakota bought a ticket, which Maddie gave over with glee:DSC_0158

Dakota tried to put her on one of the horses, but she was emphatic..."No no no!" She was up for the bench on the carousel, though. DSC_0164

"French fries, please," was what Maddie was supposed to order. But instead she tried to order chocolate. We promised her we'd look elsewhere for chocolate, and she seemed pleased with the fries.DSC_0180

Then we flew off to Independence Mall...DSC_0184

...and Maddie practiced her running...
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...and then demanded to be carried and taken to, "chocolate. And pizza, too!"
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So we went on a hunt for dinner and found Soho Pizza, where we snagged a couple of slices of pizza before they were too busy! DSC_0204DSC_0203

Gavin was really interested in getting his hands on my pizza, and he tried repeatedly to get it in his mouth. Guess whose getting ready for solids?
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The people that worked there were SO nice to Maddie. She went to get a straw for her water and they also gave her a bag of chips. She was smitten, because as anyone knows, the way to Maddie's heart is definitely through her stomach.
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Before we left, I asked the pizza guy where we could get chocolate, and he directed us down the street to...DSC_0216

Maddie was just starting to lose it as I spotted the line that went from Franklin Fountain out to the street. "Maddie, that's the line for the chocolate." I didn't think that was going to work - in fact, thought she might cry and we'd head for the car. But no. She marched over to join the line.DSC_0212

And she waited. And waited. While Gavin and I snagged a table and waited. And waited. (Apparently Franklin Fountain was just featured today on Man vs. Food)
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But soon enough, Dakota and Maddie were inside, scoping out the flavors...DSC_0220

And then...ice cream! Amazing amounts of chocolate and fudge and brownies and whipped cream and malt power...DSC_0222

Maddie took one bite...and another...and another...DSC_0227

And clearly she was pretty impressed.
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After we'd all fallen into an ice cream coma (we had to call it - that is...we didn't even finish the ice cream - gasp!) we walked back to the car, and Maddie walked much of the way doing a super goofy walk that would have been at home at the Ministry of Silly Walks. Then we packed ourselves back in for the ride back to Baltimore.

What a wonderful day!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Peekaboo!

I love this little boy! He's hilarious!

3 Day Potty Training w/ Lora Jensen - Day 3

I could have titled this post lots of things. Titles like "Epic Failure" and "Willful Child" and "Puddlemania" come to mind.

After all of the success yesterday, Dakota and I were a little taken aback when Maddie decided to not tell us EVER when she actually had to go. There was a lot of us running her to the bathroom mid-pee, but it was all over by the time she was seated.

So the 3-day method? Not so much an overall success with us. Both of my cousins had great results in 3 days...while we're now looking for what to do next.

We're using pull-ups at night and for naps because she's absolutely not ready for either of those to be diaper free, but we're not ready to head back to diapers. She can do this - she HAS done this - but for some reason she is willfully not participating. It's like lots of milestones in her life...she rolled over, then didn't do it again for months. She went on the swing joyfully, then wouldn't do it again for a year. She took two steps, then took none for another month and a half. So maybe this will be the same way...but that's a lot of puddles between now and whatever future point she decides to exercise this newfound knowledge.

So, if you have tips on how to proceed, leave them in the comments. I'm all ears!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

3 Day Potty Training w/ Lora Jensen - Day 2

Today was a much more successful day for Maddie! All day she told us when she had to go (her actual words are "Poopy again, too" - not sure how that came about, as she is definitely not referring to poop...), we ran her to the bathroom...and she went! Sometimes just a teeny little bit, sometimes a lot more!

There were some small accidents on the way (but no puddles!) and she is getting much more confident. We also discovered she likes a little privacy (she shuts the door and says "Privacy!" - good thing she doesn't know I'm blogging about this) and that seems to help her go. She also loves getting m&ms after she uses the potty (and she tries to finagle chocolate out of us just for sitting there, but we aren't that easily duped).

The best catch was when she looked at me and said in a slightly panicked voice, "Poopy again!" and we rushed to the bathroom. She said "Privacy" and shut the door rather forcefully, so I went to the kitchen for a moment. When I came back, she was standing next to her very full little potty and pointing, saying, "Chocolate, chocolate." It was great. She got two m&ms for that one.

We're definitely not potty trained yet, but today was very much a success in my book (though I think we're going a little stir crazy from being stuck at home!). Naptime and overnight are still hit or miss. Ok, they're mostly miss, but we'll keep trying and if it doesn't work for her, we'll do something else. Those princess pullups are awful tempting for all of us...

Friday, April 1, 2011

3 Day Potty Training w/ Lora Jensen - Day 1

Today we started the 3 day potty training method that both of my cousin's had such success with.

I'll spare you the play-by-play and stick to the stats: 3 Elmo juice boxes, one sippy cup of milk, two sippy cups with water, 16 pairs of underwear, one nap (followed by one shower and bedding change), one HUGE success and several smaller ones, lots of misses, 9 million "Tell Mommy when you need to go pee or poop, OK?" one exhausted toddler, and two tired parents.

Next up? Nighttime...