Potty Training

Potty training James has been a non-existent activity in our home. I have no expectations of him being potty trained before he is 3 and I am hoping that he will be by the time he is 4. James has absolutely zero interest in using the potty, and Doug and I have often said that Michael will be potty trained before James. I actually think he is afraid of it. One time he pooped in the shower, and he was afraid to take a shower for a long time because of the "brown yuckies". So for Christmas we bought him a "big boy potty" hoping to spark a little interest. No such luck. Mostly he likes to use it for a hat.

So today I decided that I was going to get him to go on the potty. I know once he understands what the potty is for he might actually like it. So I stripped him down (no protest there, he loves to be naked) and put him on the toilet. He got right off. I wasn't going to give up. I decided that if I was just careful in watching him I could catch him in the act and put him on the toilet. So I followed him around all morning, nothing. Finally Michael woke up from his nap and I went to get him. While I was changing his diaper I thought maybe I could make James jealous by putting Michael on the potty. So I did. He loved it!

But James didn't even care that Michael was sitting on it, in fact I don't even think he noticed. So I took Michael off, the seat stuck to his bum. When I grabbed it, it was all wet. Sure enough when I looked in the potty there was pee! So I guess we were right that Michael will be potty trained before James!

Food Cubes

So I am pretty proud of myself, and thought I would share. We have decided to make our own baby food for Michael. I tried it once for James, but decided it was just too much work. But in an attempt to save money we decided it would be worth the work this time. Plus it supposedly tastes more like the real food so they are more likely to eat the food when they are older, I guess we will see on that one. One thing I did notice with James was that he loved the bananas in a jar, but would not eat a real banana. So awhile ago I made a bunch of baby food and put it in the freezer. The problem I noticed right away was that my freezer containers were much larger than would be practical. I would have to get 1 out at a time and that meant he would be eating the same food the entire week.

So the other day while I was searching for baby food recipes I came across this site that kept talking about "food cubes" and I thought what in the world is a "food cube?" A little digging around revealed this wonderful idea: Freeze the baby food in ice cube trays. Each cube turns out to be about 1 oz. So you freeze the food in cubes then transfer them to Ziplock bags once they are frozen. Genius!

So of course I ran right out and got some ice cube trays and spent the past couple of days making food cubes. It worked perfectly! I made chicken, carrots, yogurt, green beans, peas and sweet potatoes. Now I just have to pull out a couple of cubes and he has a complete meal!

Now for your viewing pleasure. James loves my new MacBook (as do I). The great thing he loves is he WebCam. He loves talking to Grammy and Grandad (who also have a Mac) and seeing their "funny faces". Yesterday Grammy was busy so he had to be content with James (photo booth). He is hilarious. This is "two James"

This is tunnel:

Cheers!

James has been talking a ton lately. Which is good because we were starting to get a little worried that he would be silent forever. But with this language explosion comes some pretty funny potentially embarrassing (if we weren't so excited about him talking) stories. So here are two very funny stories that happened this week.

1. On Friday we went to the grocery store. James always likes to push his own little cart, but only gets to do it when Dad comes. So James and Dad took his little cart to get waffles while Mom and Michael were doing the rest of the shopping. James saw Mom and came running, with Dad chasing from behind. James suddenly blurts out, "I am not with him!"

2. James loves to have the Sacrament at church. Today after the Bread came he immediately started asking for the water. When the water came James carefully took his, then held it waiting for Mom to get hers. Then he turned to me and says, "Cheers!"

A few Videos

James has always been a rocker. Sometimes it can get pretty annoying, like when he is in his high chair and you hear this constant "bang, bang, bang" as he slams his head against the back. So when the boys were playing "kart" the other night and I looked over to see this I have to say I was just slightly disappointed to see what Michael was doing.

It's like Doug says, "The only thing that song does is encourage kids to jump on the bed." I think it's pretty cute that James sings the song while he does it.

Doug invented this game with James the other night. The next day I was a little confused when James was forcing me under his bed while he jumped on top. So I had to have Doug explain it to me.

Wrong Video

I accidentally posted the wrong video on the last post. This is the video I meant to post.

Christmas 2009--Part 2

After Christmas when things finally settled down a bit we gave James this playhouse I made for the boys. It was a big hit! Which is a good thing because it was a lot of work, but fun to make.

James finally became interested enough in his Jeep to sit in it...for a few minutes.

On Monday night we had FHE using the FHE in a Bag that Doug's sister gave to us. It was a lot of fun, but James had a hard time taking turns while playing hot potato.
James like pretending the boys hockey sticks were skis. He loves anything having to do with sports.

James also loved playing Wii. And anyone who played "with" him had to be "Green Tims" AKA Lugui.
On New Years Eve we went to Doug's Aunt and Uncle's the Sellers for a Cootie Party. It was a Cowboy themed party with tons of fun games. Several rounds of "Speed Cootie", Cowboy toss, this was James' favorite. He kept trying to take the "cow pies" away from whoever had them at the time.


We also played horse shoes, and did some steer roping. I have to say we weren't too bad considering it was our first time. We each got one horn, twice.


On Saturday we headed home. James loved using these new movie screens Grandma and Grandpa gave us. I have to say it was really nice not having to keep pushing play over and over again.

This is what our playroom looked like when we got home. I can not believe how many toys these two boys have.
After putting a bunch of toys away and organizing a little (ok a lot!) Our house is back to normal, plus a few new toys!
James has what Doug considers "Toy Overload" he won't play with anything for more than a few minutes and is constantly asking me to get new toys out. I hope things go back to normal soon. That kid can make a huge mess in such a short time!

Christmas 2009--Part 1

Christmas for us started a little early. Grammy, Uncle Blake and Aunt Jo came to visit about a week before Christmas. We had a lot of fun with them, shopping, making yummy treats and playing games. James loved making sugar cookies, but then again, I think we all enjoyed that.
Before Grammy left we got to open some presents from them. Michael didn't really get it, but he loved his toy that he got.
James didn't really get it either. He thought this was just a fun thing to jump off. I had to unwrap it a little to show him there was something inside.
Then he was really excited about his basketball hoop.

Our plan was to drive to Colorado on Christmas Eve, but when Doug got home from work on Wednesday we decided to drive halfway that night. That ended up being a really great idea because we got to Colorado early on Christmas Eve instead of late. The boys got their PJ's from Mom and Dad, and we had no problems getting them to bed that night. Waking up the next morning was another story. We ended up just waking James up.Santa brought James a Power Wheels Jeep. He doesn't really like it, and wont get in it. Instead he played with a little toy motorcycle Santa put in his stocking. I guess you never know with kids!



The only picture I took of the boys opening their presents was this one of James opening a tool set that his Uncle Scott gave him. He had a lot of fun, but didn't even open all his presents Christmas morning, neither did Michael.

After we opened presents we went to Doug's grandparents for Christmas breakfast. It was a lot of fun, and the boys got a present each from their Great Grandparents. James loved the little Remote Control Doc car he got. After breakfast we went back to Doug's parents and James and Michael opened a few more presents. That night we went to Doug's Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner. Over all it was a very enjoyable Christmas. And we didn't even open all of Michael and James' Christmas presents!