Potty Training Status

Jonas has been doing a really great job lately. No accidents in a while. I can't even remember the last one. We try to keep real underwear on him as much as possible. So far we haven't tried bedtime, nap time or church. I'm a little nervous about him having an accident in nursery and I really don't want to wash sheets every day. Especially since our (amazing deal front load) washer takes TWO HOURS to run through the cycle! I wish I was exaggerating. And that doesn't even include the time it will take to dry the sheets - on the clothes line outside since we don't have a dryer. I might be crazy but we just went grocery shopping with no diaper and it was a success so I decided to see how he goes with nap time today. I think I probably told him 15 times before I put him down that he couldn't go potty in his underwear. I hope this is a success too!

After Nap UPDATE: Success!!

Rock-a-bye Liam

Before bed I let Liam and Jonas pick a song to sing. For the last month they have both been choosing rock-a-bye baby. Every night and at nap time. This morning I heard Jonas singing Rock-a-Bye Baby and when I looked over there he was rocking Liam.

Fireworks

Monday was Canberra's 96th birthday and we heard there were going to be fireworks over the lake. We found the perfect spot right across the lake from where they were being launched and we had the whole grass area to ourselves. We got there a little early because we had no idea when they were actually going to start. We had popcorn, took pictures and read a story while we waited.

My boys waiting for the festivities to start


More waiting and picture taking


My Jonas

The fireworks finally started (I was trying out this "fireworks" setting on our camera. I know this isn't actually what they look like but I think its kind of cool):


I love this picture (above) because it reminds me of artwork we did at carnivals when I was in elementary school. You know where you drip paint onto a spinning piece of cardboard?



It was a fun night. Jonas is still talking about it. Some people from church came over last night (Thursday) and the first thing he did was tell them about seeing fireworks as if we just got home from seeing them.

Representing...

Liam's teacher told me today that next Friday they are celebrating "Harmony Day" (I think that's what she called it). There are people from all over the world in his class so she is giving them the opportunity to bring something to represent their country. I am having the hardest time coming up with something he can bring. We brought very little with us so there is nothing we have that I can think to bring (like a flag). She mentioned if I wanted to bring in a food to share that might be great. I like this idea but I can't think of what to bring. I can't make hamburgers and fries or fried chicken and mashed potatoes for his whole class, although that does sound really good!

What do you think would be a good food to bring to represent America?

My Style

I should probably spend the kid's nap time doing productive things like cleaning and getting things ready for dinner but instead I do things like finding out my design style on http://www.sproost.com/. Today I found out that my style is:

57% Modern Elegance

29% Contemporary
(The funny thing about this one is that I like the way this style looks but I wouldn't actually have it in my home. I love the clean lines and freshness but I think it seems a bit too sterile and uncomfortable. If I ever have a room just to look at, not to use, I might go with this style.)

and 14% Rustic Revival

Good to know (I have actually always wanted to know). And I wonder why my house is never clean! Maybe I should feel bad about wasting my time but can you imagine spending all day working, cleaning, cooking, changing diapers, etc.? I go a little crazy when I don't take time to do things I like every now and then.

I'm a big kid now!

Its about time Jonas got his own post. It seems like everything lately has been about Liam. Well, Mr Jonas decided Sunday that he would like to be potty trained - just like that. We already decided when we potty trained Liam that bribery was the best method, so had stocked up on matchbox cars and mini lego sets to place within view of the potty to give him an incentive. I have to admit that I have not been very active in the encouragement. I remember the stress involved with Liam (mostly because I was nursing Jonas at the time and in the middle of feeding Liam would announce he had to go and I had to try and figure out how to deal with him with Jonas still attached). We came up with a system of toys for #2 and starburst for #1. Sunday morning before church Jonas got 4 matchbox cars and 1 lego set, and about 20 starburst!! Every 2 minutes or so Jonas would run to the potty and actually produce. I am not sure how he did it. But all of the attention and prizes were enough to keep him at it. He has had 1 accident which I think is pretty good in 4 days. We decided Sunday was way too expensive and have moved to candy for #2's and he now has a chart for #1's. After however many #1's he gets a piece of candy.

He still wears diapers for nap and bedtime and we haven't been brave enough to leave the house with big boy underwear on. Maybe next week. For now he just runs around the house in mostly just underwear. His little bottom looks so cute in them! Thank goodness its summer!


Are you surprised we let him on the furniture? I guess we figured with him going every 2 minutes how could he possible have an accident on the couch...

Aargh!!

Liam went to a pirate/princess birthday party on Saturday. Since then he has been wearing an eye patch around the house.

I had to work so Nate took Liam to the party and then later that night they came and picked me up from work. When I got in the car Liam was so excited to tell me about the little dinosaurs he won. I asked him how he won them and he told me won the dancing contest! I laughed out loud. I have noticed that some little kids just jump up and down when they dance, but not Liam. He goes crazy, sometimes even with an air guitar. When Nate has music playing in the office and a song comes on that Liam likes he will come running in and dance for us. It's nice to see that his dancing skills finally paid off.