Potty Time!

We're very excited this week because Addison has turned the corner in her potty training efforts and level of interest. All of a sudden she just WANTED to sit on the potty vs. being "scared" of it, so we took the opportunity and ran with it. We got some pull-ups to use during the day instead of diapers, she's got a potty chart that she puts a star on each time she goes, a bag of "prizes" to choose from after she finishes her business and is all around pretty proud of herself. She's also been ding a great job on the potty at Brenda's and Ba and Nana's to. We're on the right track! It I would have never imagined I'd get so excited each time someone said to me "Mommy, I have to go potty." :)

DJ's beauty salon

Playing cards

"Cleaning" with all her jewels

Bathtime Buddies

"I'm stuck under my crib!"

The scoot - she's so close to crawling!

Silly girls

This is the week we were supposed to be on vacation in Palm Springs. Due to the unpredictable nature of jury duty and the fact that tickets spiked to a level that we would have had to spend nearly 2 grand to get there, we decided not to go. Turns out jury duty ended on time and life is back to normal. We're bummed we're not , but enjoying California family and the warm sun, but life is good nonetheless....despite the fact that we're being hit with yet another snowstorm. Will this winter ever end?

Addison started her swim and dance classes last week. Dance went really well, swimming not so much. I guess things were fine until it was time to leave and she wasn't able to take the YMCA's pool toys with her. There was a major meltdown that continued on in the shower room after class ended. Judith isnt giving up though and we're expecting it will get better over the weeks. I'm hoping Judith can get some pictures at dance class - can't wait to see Addison in her tutu! Addison continues to get more and more chatty - girl doesn't know a stranger! EVERYWHERE we go she talks to anyone who will listen. She literally says, as we're getting out of the car, "Mama, I going to talk to ALL the people. Five people." This is what she says - 5 people. Then when someone walks by it's "Hi. I'm Addison. I'm 2 and 1/2. This is mama and this is daddy. Say hi to mama. This is baby sister Isla. She's a good girl. Where are you going? What's your name? Nice shirt" (or hair, or bag, or whatever is the most obvious thing about a person). I can almost say it along with her it's so predictable. People laugh, they coo, they chat her up. We like that she's not one of those shy, quiet little kids, but we'll have to teach her the concept of stranger danger pretty soon.

Isla is almost crawling, she's so close! She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, she scoots around on the floor and can roll almost anywhere. She's also trying to pull herself up on anything and everything, and she's geting pretty good at standing holding on to things. I'm thinking that within 2 weeks she'll be an official crawler. She had her 9 month appointment on Friday and all is well. She's 18 pounds 4 oz and 26 3/4 inches tall. Basically that translates to short and chubby! Her head is huge of course - in the 90th percentile. Addison had almost the exact same stats at this age except she was an inch taller. Hmmm...I wonder who Isla is going to take after in the height department. She LOVES her food and is starting to eat a lot of fun things. Tonight I gave her a puree of roasted eggplant, sweet peppers, garlic, scallions and lemon juice off of my plate and she loved it! She's got the pincer grasp down and loves to feed herself little veggie puffs and pieces of tofu. I'll have to get this on video, but if the food isn't being spooned into her mouth fast enough she literally starts shrieking.

After a bath

Smiley bear

Give me puffs!

Daddy Gorilla

The most effective way to get through to Addison is to talk to her like you're someone else, an animal usually. Her favorite is to pretend (and DJ obliges) that DJ is a gorilla named Daddy Gorilla. I know....it's weird! But hilarious.


Trying to crawl in her crib