Oops - a late post

So, I generally try to get my pictures out to the extended family on Mondays. Some weeks, that stretches to Tuesdays. Usually, the same day, I then take the little blurb that I include with the pictures and post it along with a few pictures and a bit more content. I sent the pictures on Tuesday morning. So why is it Thursday evening and I haven't posted yet? Yikes.

Because of Luke's hives early in the week, we stayed close to home last week since he was irritable and frankly, looked like he'd been in a fight and lost. Thankfully, except for the occasional flare up, he is finally over them.
On Saturday, we drove to Brenham to visit a friend's family farm. Jacob had so much fun taking a hay ride, playing on the tractor, running around with his friends, and doing his first egg hunt of the year.

On our way out to Brenham, we stopped to take pictures in the bluebonnets. Because of the unseasonably cold weather, it was a quick stop. The boys were just not happy in 45 degrees and 30mph wind gusts. I could hardly blame them. We did get a few good pictures. The boys and I made a trip yesterday to take more, so next week's pics (and a future post) will have some great ones.

In "growth" news, it seems both boys have been going through growth spurts. They have both been eating a ton lately and I have had to put away some clothes they have outgrown. Luke will be 9 months old next week. His checkup appointment is the following week, so we'll see where he stands "officially" on the charts. He was up to 18lb 9oz at his last doctor visit.

Potty training is going well with Jacob. He has had several poop successes on the potty and continues to wake up dry most mornings and after naps. He is still naked at home much of the time and it seems to be working. We haven't moved to underwear yet because he seems to think of them like a diaper and doesn't go to the potty when nature calls. Our biggest obstacle, though, is getting him to go away from home. He has no interest. I'm debating buying a little potty to keep in the back of my car for when we are out, until he has a bit more confidence to go in a public toilet. We'll see.

Here are the week's pictures.

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break in our house. This meant no gymnastics, no school, and no Bible Study. I will be honest and say I was a little concerned about how we would survive the week without much planned. As it turns out, it was a great week. Jacob seemed happy to have a break from schedules and "having" to be somewhere at a certain time. He was happy, helpful, and cooperative for the most part.

The big news of the week for him was a start to potty training. We've talked about it off and on but never got started because he was against it. He isn't thrilled with the notion, but he isn't refusing it either, so I'll take it.

For Luke, his hives breakout in response to a penicillan allergy defined his week. Though it is looking a lot better, he is far from clear. He still gets new breakouts and could for another week or two. Both boys' ears are clear of infection, so good news there.

One of the only places besides the gym we ventured out of the house for last week was a new park with some friends. Jacob loved it so we'll definitely have to return sometime soon. His favorite thing, this 'rock' wall. I was amazed at how quickly he could scale right up, with no fear. Even though he was quite good at it, it made me a little nervous so I made sure to stand below him each time he took a climb.

The weather the weekend before spring break was cold, but by early in the week it had turned into sunny skies and warmth. We spent a lot of time outside, including a few naps on the hammock. Here is a picture of David and Luke taking a littlen ap. Poor little guy was having trouble sleeping because of his hives, but he got a nap with Daddy to make him feel a little better.

And finally, on Saturday we went for a little train ride. Just a few miles from our house is a park with "kid-sized" trains. Once a month, they run the trains for the public to ride on and enjoy. We decided to try it out last weekend. It was really neat and both boys seemed to enjoy it.

Here are the rest of the week's pictures.

Potty Training - The first week

As mentioned earlier, we decided to dive right into potty training last week while Jacob was on spring break from school and bible study. I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised by his success so far. By no means, is he anywhere near the move to underwear yet, but we have taken a few baby steps.

At home, he uses the potty most of the time. He does know when he needs to go and usually will tell me before running to the bathroom, but I still find that I ask him a million times a day if he needs to go, just in case. He is often times naked from the waist down to make the dash to the bathroom a bit easier. If we are in and out of the house, he is in a diaper or pullup because I have no interest in cleaning up pee or poop from his clothes, the car, or the floor. At home, if he is in a diaper, he still will tell me he needs to go potty, but once we step foot outside the house, all bets are off. I guess that will be phase 2.

Until last night we hadn't had any poop in the potty success, but Jacob was so excited after finally doing it last night, that I hope we have turned a corner in that area. We'll see.

Naps and nighttime he is still in a diaper, once again, selfishly, because I have no interest in changing his sheets daily. He has woken up dry from naps all but one day and has woken up dry in the mornings on 6 of 8 days. I'm not sure if I am encouraged by this or frustrated. Of course, I am happy that he is able to hold it for such a long time - it means his body is figuring out what it needs to do - but at the same time it frustrates me because it shows that he can do it, so why does he continue to pee in his diaper? I'm blaming it on old habits dying hard. :)

Today, Jacob returned to school. I sent a note to his teacher telling her of our recent venture into potty training, so I am hoping, with their encouragement and the practice of it somewhere besides home, we will continue to move forward. I'm sure you are sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting for that update.

Hives

After today, both of my boys will have hives pictures in their baby book. Luke broke out in hives all over today. The doctor thinks he has an allergy to his amoxicillan, which he's been taking for the past week for his ear infections. Here are a couple of pictures from this evening. Believe it or not, it looks better here than it did earlier this afternoon.

He thinks he is ready to walk...

**I bumped this back up to the top because I added a short video. Obviously, he needs more work on the whole walking concept, as you can see in the video.

More Words

Ever since the last post on Jacob's words, I have been writing down a lot of things to write about ...I just haven't taken the time to do so. So....here I am, finally.



Jacob speaks very well for a child his age, but like any child, doesn't always get the words just right. I love the vocabulary of a child. A friend said she wishes she could just "bottle it up" for later. I totally agree! So, here we go...



Sometimes he doesn't understand new words, so he says a word that is currently in his vocabulary that sounds like the new word he is learning. Despite being corrected, he continues to say it his way. Honestly, I'm ok with it because it is just so darn cute. Here are some examples:

• he has a Matchbox car that is a Bomb Squad car - he calls it his Bomb Squid car
• the blinds on his window are blondes
  Lightning McQueen is called Light the Queen. (I giggle with this one everytime)
• Playdoh is called cheetoh
  *Speaking of cheetos, funny story about that. I have never bought cheetos, nothing personal against them, I just haven't. So, I was quite surprised one day when we were at the grocery store and Jacob squealed in delight when he saw a display of Cheetos and said "Cheetos!" I had no idea how he even knew what they were. So I asked him. He said "Keegan. Keegan eats Cheetos." I just laughed. Keegan is in his class at school and evidently eats them EVERY day. I, of course, had to tell Keegan's mom the story when I saw her at a birthday party a few weeks later.

Other words, Jacob simply has trouble saying and though he knows what he wants to say, it just doesn't come out right. Heck, he might even be hearing the right thing in his own ears, who's to know. Here are some examples:

• convertibles are just vertibles (every car has a title or name in our house)
• trailers and strollers both come out stailers
• an ambulance is an ambalan (followed by a siren noise - always)
• yogurt is yert
  the word pulling seriously sounds like he is saying pooing (I did a double take on this one several times)
• the refridgerator is the fidgader
• when he gets out of the tub and looks at his wrinkly fingers he says they are sinkaly

Jacob loves to read and when "reading" to himself I heard him mention some animals:

• the walrus is walla
• penguin is quenguin
• boa constrictor is boa strister
• caterpiller are papillars
• a crocodile is a kickadile
• zebra is revra
• monkey sounds like bunkey

And finally, there are just some things that are so funny to hear coming out of a 2 year old's mouth. Here are some examples of those:

• When you come too close to Jacob when he is either doing something he probably shouldn't be or is 'doing his business' he says "back away, back away" while waving you away with his hand. Hilarious.
• We were playing in the den a couple of weeks ago and there was a crashing noise coming from either his room or the bathroom. Jacob looked at me and said "What was that?" I shrugged and said I didn't know. He jumped up and said "I'll go check it out" before running off
• One day when Daddy came home from work early, Jacob grabbed him by the hands and said "Lets dance, Daddy, Let's dance"

I'm sure there are a million more, I'll share them as I think of them.

Rodeo

As many of you know, the rodeo is in town right now. This meant Go Western wear for Jacob at school one day and a visit to the Livestock show associated with the rodeo. Jacob had a great time.

Although we saw all of the typical rodeo animals, cows, horses, bulls, goats, pigs, etc, we only have pictures with the small animals - rabbits and baby chicks. And of course the tractors...

And the thing he took off running for anytime we saw them - these foot massaging chairs...go figure.

Quick Recap of the week

Not much to share since I posted about the boys illnesses already and I'm working on a post about our rodeo excursion....but here is a quick recap of last week and outlook to this week.

Except for the crazy weather we had last week (it started out very warm in the 80s but was rainy and cold in the 40s by Thursday), it was a pretty typical week for us. Monday was spent hanging close to home, Tuesday and Thursday was school for Jacob (Jacob is on 'spring break' from school next week, so I was glad he was feeling good enough to go last week.) Wednesday was Bible Study, and Friday was our let's get out of the house day - which we used to visit the livestock show.

We will be spending this week really working with Jacob on using the potty as much as possible. I don't expect him to train in one week, but hopefully we will make some progress. I'm not sure how we will transition into next week once the hustle and bustle start up again, but we are giving this week our full attention.

Luke cut his 4th tooth, another upper, this weekend. You can't see it, but you can feel it. He still doesn't use them to eat though...

Double Whammy

So, we returned to the pedi on Friday for a re-check of Jacob's ears. Since Luke couldn't seem to shake his runny nose and cough, I decided to have the pedi take a look at him as well. Turns out, it was a good thing we made the trip into the doctor.

First up, Jacob. She takes a look at his ears and is shaking her head with a frown. The ears are not better! He had been on an antibiotic for 9 days and she only saw one step change in the severity of his ears. No more blisters, but still a lot of old puss. Yuck. She said the shot he got is probably the only thing that made a difference. So, she prescribed a new (supposedly stronger) antibiotic. Unfortunately, there is no generic available for this prescription, so we paid an arm and a leg for it. However, it will be worth it if it helps him kick the infection. I was sure he was all better since he had been acting normal and hadn't complained of any pain since before our last visit.

Next up, Luke. She looks in his ears and lo and behold, double ear infection for him too. Just like Jacob this time around, 3s on a 4 point scale in severity. Fun. So, he is put on an antibiotic too. We'll head back to the doctor in another week to make sure everyone has healed up.

At least both seem to be feeling good for now...there is something to be said for that for sure.

Last week

Well, despite another bout of illness in our house, we still managed to have a pretty good week. Jacob enjoyed his first gymnastics class on Monday, was well enough to attend school both days, and we made a trip to the zoo with Daddy on Sunday. We were supposed to visit the livestock show with our playgroup but because Jacob was not feeling 100%, we put it off. We hope to make a visit there tomorrow.

After a rough Tuesday evening/night and Wednesday, Jacob bounced back from his ear infections very quickly. He is still on antibiotics, but is otherwise showing no signs of painful ears, thank goodness. Luke has a runny nose and cough and except for a few hours of a 102 temp on Sunday, is doing ok.

The weather was extremely warm towards the end of the week - so Jacob got to play in the sprinkler out back (see post below). Luke cut a top tooth on Saturday too and loves to grind it on his lower ones. That noise absolutely drives me insane!

Here are the rest of this week's pictures (there are a lot)

Springtime

** I started this post on Sunday night, when it was still in the mid-80s. We had another 'winter' cold front come through yesterday, so it is back in the 50s as I get ready to post this.

It has been a very warm week in Houston. We reached the mid-80s several days in a row and the dreaded humidity creeped back into our daily lives as well. Jacob loves to play with the water hose (even when it is really too cold to be playing in it) so we decided to pull out the Elmo sprinkler on Sunday since it was sunny and warm. With a little encouragement from Daddy, he had a great time running through the water. In just a few short weeks, the sprinkler, water hose, inflatable pool, and the neighborhood pool will likely be used on a daily basis.

Playmates

Even though Luke may be too little to play much with Jacob, I saw evidence this week that the time for them to be pals is quickly approaching. Jacob normally does not want Luke to touch his toys, especially when he is playing with them, but as seen in these pictures, Jacob will sometimes be a great big brother and share with Luke.






























Luke LOVES playing with Jacob so much, that almost everyday, during the "Mommy and Luke" playtime while Jacob is still napping, Luke takes off down the hall to Jacob's room and proceeds to bang on the door and "call" out to him. So cute. I need to capture it on video the next time he does it, but until then, Here are a couple of pics: