May

Here's what we've been up to so far in the month of May

Celebrating Tyler's birthday at preschool with the fabulous Miss Katie

 
 

Mother's Day--Darrell grilled burgers for us and we ate outside.

 
 

Playing outside.

Megan hitting the ball.  (The girls love Tyler's new baseball tee.  I've had to put it away because there were too many fights over  who gets to play with it.)



The kids love swinging



This isn't the best picture, but it shows all three kids playing.  Tyler is putting rocks down the tube thingy (that hooks on to the rainspout to direct water away from the house), Megan is playing with the lawn mower and Emily scored the tee ball set.




Sidewalk chalk (one of Tyler's potty training prizes)

 
 
 

Tyler wrote "T"s on his hands with the chalk.



I teach 4 piano students.  One of them is home schooled so I teach her during the kids' nap time.  I went upstairs after piano lessons yesterday to find this:

 
 

I had no idea where that much "fluff" came from.  Upon further inspection I found the rocking chair next to crib has a zipper that had come undone.  Emily scouted out its fluff and had a very, very fun time.




Speaking of nap time.  Here is how I found Emily one afternoon last week--completely covered head to toe with her blankie.



The kids have discovered Otter Pops and have to have them every night.  Tyler calls them "pocksicles."



Yesterday it was really hot out.  I let the kids run through the sprinklers while I was working in the garden.  Tyler and Megan loved it, but Emily didn't.

 
 
 
 

Potty training

So, I asked TONS of people advice on potty training and read a bunch of stuff before I even did one thing with potty training last summer.

The main things I heard were
1.)  Don't even start potty training boys until they're 3 years old and
2.)  They'll do it when they want to.

So, I decided I'd give potty training a go last July.  Tyler was 3 years and 2 months old and we had some time to stay at home for several days and "work" on things.

One friend said to buy a whole bunch of "dollar store" type toys and duck tape them to the bathroom wall.  Every time Tyler went on the potty he was to get a prize.  She assured me that he would catch on very quickly.  Here is the "wall of prizes."



So we really hyped up the prizes and Tyler really wanted the helicopter and the cement truck.  I tried everything to get Tyler to go on the potty.  We set a timer and had him sit on the potty every 15-30 minutes.  I had him use training underwear.  I gave him prizes for being dry and not going in his underwear.  And I even let him go naked from the waist down as many people said had worked for them.  (Basically that resulted in me cleaning poo up off of his bedroom floor twice.  Disgusting!!!!!)

Nothing worked.  So I decided to give it one last attempt.  One day we decided to have a party in the bathroom.  Tyler woke up dry that morning so I was sure that we would soon have success.  I put Tyler on the little potty and gave him lots of chocolate milk and salty snacks.  I set up the portable DVD player in the bathroom so he could watch something while we waited.  And we waited and waited and waited.

The DVD ran out of battery power so I had to re-situate the player so I could plug it in.  Then the DVD ended and we started another one.  Finally it was 11:30 a.m. (he still hadn't peed since the night before) and I had to get lunch for the girls.  I fed them and put them down for their naps.  Then I took lunch into the bathroom for me and Tyler.  Finally I decided that I needed to get some stuff done.  So I went to unload the dishwasher.

All of a sudden I hear the bathroom door close.  Before I could go check on things, Tyler showed up in the kitchen with his pants pulled up, totally soaking wet.  He said to me, "I wet!"  It turns out he decided to pull up his pants, walk outside of the bathroom and pee on the carpet in front of the bathroom door.  I seriously wanted to scream and spank him (which I did not do), but I seriously wanted to.  We'd been waiting the WHOLE morning for him to go and just like that he peed on the carpet.  I decided right then and there that the whole thing wasn't worth the effort or stress.  It was much cheaper to buy diapers than spend time in jail for wanting to "kill" the kid.

So, I gave up for several months.  Darrell decided that he would take a hold of the situation and bought a book to read on his Kindle.  Every so often he would read a little bit more and ask Tyler if he wanted to go pee in the potty.  Tyler would always say, "No!  I go in 3 days, OK?"  And then the next time Darrell would bring it up, Tyler would say, "No!  I go in 3 days!"  Basically we weren't making any progress.

I had read an article on how the girls were getting old enough to be potty trained by this certain method, so I mustered up some courage (or lunacy, depending on how you think about it) and decided that I would try to potty train all three at once during spring break (the first week in April). I figured if one of the three made progress then we'd be a little farther ahead than we were (because let me tell you, buying diapers and wipes for 3 bums ain't cheap!)

So, I gathered up the prizes (Surprisingly all of the toys had stayed duck taped to the bathroom wall for 8 1/2 months--the candy fell off within the first day or so) and congregated in the kitchen and the dining room.  I blocked off the carpeted areas with chairs and I made the kids stay in the dining room and kitchen.  Then we had a "pee party" very similar to the one Tyler had in July.  I gave the kids all the chocolate milk they wanted and they each got their own little bag of chips (something salty to keep them drinking).  All three were naked from the waist down.  We put a DVD in the portable player on the little table and placed the 2 little potties in the kitchen.  Then I sat back and waited for the pee.  The girls had a grand time peeing ALL OVER the kitchen and dining room without even flinching.  They also both pooed on the floor.  I was armed with paper towels and Clorox wipes.  After NO success on the potty I decided the girls weren't ready and we were done.



Tyler on the other hand, still had not peed by 11:00 a.m.  Finally he had to go around 11:20 and Alleluia!!!! he made it to the toilet!  We cheered (I really couldn't believe it actually happened), danced around and let him choose a toy.  We even called Daddy to let him know, but he wasn't available so we had to leave a message.

 

Anyway (OK so this is a really long post), things just clicked for Tyler after that!  He loved getting a toy every time he went potty.  After we ran out of toys he got a Tootsie Roll or some Easter candy until we ran out of that.  He's had very few accidents and has been trained for a month and a half.  (Nothing like waiting until he was a month shy of 4 years old.)

As for the girls, I'm not pushing them into potty training any time soon.  We've started "potty talk" way sooner than we ever did with Tyler and today Emily tried sitting on the potty because she said she had to poo, but other than that, we're just celebrating the fact that we only have 2 bums to change at the moment.  Supposedly girls are MUCH easier to potty train than boys--we'll see!

Tyler was so tuckered out from his first day of potty training that this is how we found him around bed time--with 3 of his new toys.

4 Years Old

Tyler has been anticipating his birthday for the past six weeks, ever since Darrell's birthday brought birthdays to the front of his mind.  And he has been anticipating receiving Thomas and Percy (2 trains) for just as long.  So FINALLY the long-awaited day arrived.

 

We were going to let Tyler open all of his presents in the morning, but once he opened the trains (He got Thomas (blue), Percy (green) AND James (red), he decided he wanted to play with those and wait to open the other presents later.




Here Tyler is sharing his presents with Megan and Emily.



I made a Thomas cake for his birthday.




The kids LOVED going to eat at McDonald's and being able to play on the playground.



Tyler couldn't wait to open the rest of his presents when we got home.  He got a DVD, a toolbox and tools.  (He loved the drill.)




Singing to the birthday boy.  (I love that smile on his face.)



Blowing out 4 candles.



Tyler had a fabulous day.  We love this little one so much and are so glad that he is part of our family.

Happy 4th Birthday Tyler!

Boy, do we sure love this kid!  He has learned and grown so much this past year.

He loves going to preschool, playing outside, watching "Thomas and Friends," and playing with his toy cars.  He is a super big brother and enjoys playing with Emily and Megan.  It melts my heart to see him sharing with his sisters.

Tyler loves chocolate milk, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets, any kind of "shocolate" (as he calls chocolate), Oreos and pretty much any kind of dessert.  (That's a kid after my own heart. We really do eat healthy things too!)

Tyler knows all of the letters of the alphabet (although he gets H and J mixed up) and he knows how to write most of the letters in his name.  He recently became potty trained and is so proud of his accomplishment.

Tyler has a great sense of humor and is a funny kid.  He especially makes me laugh when he does other voices.  Tyler loves to sing and will spontaneously sing songs from our "Wee Sing" CD.

We love you Tyler!

Lookin' Forward

The current recommendation from pediatricians is to keep kids rear-facing until they are 2 years old.  We mostly made that milestone.  I decided to make the switch about 1 month and 1 week short of the girls' 2nd birthday.  They love facing forward.  (And is it just me, or do the girls look older now even though the pictures were taken 1 day apart?)

 
 

If you look closely you can see how we travel:  sippy cups with water, graham crackers for snacks (along with an apple this day) and stuffed animals or some other kind of toy to keep the kiddos entertained. 

Grandma and Brenda's Visit

Each year since Tyler was born, Wayne and Carol (Darrell's parents) have always made an annual trip to visit us.  We're sad that Wayne passed away in September,, but we were so glad that Darrell's sister Brenda was able to come with Carol this year.  We had a wonderful, wonderful time.


Emily, Megan, and Tyler with Grandma and Brenda right after they arrived

 The night they arrived we had a "birthday celebration" of homemade pizza, my birthday cake and homemade ice cream. Megan and Emily loved the ice cream so much that they drank the last drops out of their bowls.




Then it was time to open birthday presents.  The kids were spoiled (as usual!)



Megan is such a "girlie girl" and wanted to wear her new dress right away.




Emily with the Dora earrings



Emily pushing the itty bitty stroller that came with a new doll.



Grandma, Megan, Emily and Brenda trying out Tyler's Lightning McQueen ramp while he was getting his bath.



Unfortunately it was cold most of the time Carol and Brenda were with us.  We did go for a short walk to the park.  This is the best family picture we could manage.



Carol treated us to dinner at a new barbecue restaurant-Sonny Bryan's.  It was yummy and the kids loved their chicken nuggets, fries and Oreos.  (Debbie, Tyler, Brenda)

 

Darrell had a great idea--He wanted Carol, Brenda and me to have a girls' night out.  So we made it into an early birthday celebration for Brenda.  We went to see the Chinese Golden Dragon acrobats up at Kingsbury Hall.  The show was fabulous!  (Thanks Honey for watching the kids!)



One day we headed down to Temple Square.  The kids LOVED (understatement) the children's exhibit at the Church History Museum.

Tyler loved "fishing" on Nephi's boat.

 
 

Picking vegetables.

 

Megan and Emily playing in the kitchen.

 
 

 Tyler throwing "tortillas" into a basket.



Dancing to a couple Mexican dances

 

Mom and Megan

 

Playing on the huge building blocks

 

Emily cried when I had to take off her skirt so we could leave.  And then she continued to throw a fit until we left the building.  We'll have to go back another time.



We went to the North Visitor Center to see the Christus statue and then walked around the temple grounds.





I love this picture of the temple that Darrell took, right down to the little rainbow in the left-hand corner.



Tyler was so excited to go to the temple.  He remembered watching our wedding video and he wanted to go inside.  He was so disappointed that the doors were locked.   ( A cute side note:  A couple weeks later Darrell and I were going to go to the temple (Jordan River Temple).  Tyler was so concerned that we wouldn't be able to get in because as he told me, "The door is locked."  It made quite an impression on him.)

 

 
 

Seven years earlier



The kids were getting tired and hungry so we went across the street to City Creek, the new shopping center.  After lunch the kids loved playing at the dinosaur playground.

Megan



Emily



Tyler



Carol and Brenda at City Creek



The kids were fascinated with Brenda's IPhone.  They could see themselves while the pictures were being taken and they loved it.

 Emily



Tyler



Megan

 

Enjoying every single second with Grandma and Brenda.

 

 

We loved having Carol and Brenda come visit.  Tyler keeps asking when we'll go in the airplane to see them.  Two or three months seems like a long time away.