On May 6th we hosted our 3rd annual Kentucky Derby party, affectionately nicknamed ‘Bourbon in the Burbs.’ About 40 friends and family along with a dozen kiddos under the age of 4 joined in the festivities! It’s fun to see this event morph each year as families grown and change, i.e. this year included lots of toddlers running around wearing jockey hats and sneaking many(!) cookies when their parents weren’t looking. In the end though it’s a wonderful excuse to get our house ready for summer, see dear friends who’ve been in hiding all winter, dabble in some friendly gambling and of course, day drink! 😉
All my boys in their bow ties!
My boys are clearly less than excited about the big race!
Monday: strolling through the great swamp, crossing lots of bridges (much to Andrews excitement!) and letting him navigate and choose which way we turned. No, we didn’t get lost but yes, we walked in many circles.
Tuesday: a visit to the park. Andrew wanted very little to do with the playground. He preferred to climb trees and feed his snack to the ‘wobbins,’ aka Robbins.
It’s been 10 days since we started on the potty training journey and I think we’ve made TREMENDOUS progress! Last Friday (exactly one week after starting) was a real turning point. Andrew was both accident free all day and told me ‘I have to go potty’ about 75% of the time!! Major major parenting victory! I feel like I can rest a bit easier and put away my ‘hawk eyes’….just a little. I’m also starting to feel like a sane person again which is always nice. 😉
His success streak and self-initiation continued over the weekend- including night time and naps! I was also really excited to hear that he only had one accident at school on Monday as well! That said, I’m still struggling to teach Andrew to ‘aim’ when peeing- obviously something I can’t share much first experience on. I’ve decided to delegate this one to Andy when he gets home from his latest business trip. Seems like a great father-son lesson I don’t need to be a part of.
Andrew- like all kids- hates to stop playing to pee. Add that to a new refinished swing set and very short ability to ‘hold it’ and we could have many accidents on our hands. Instead, we’ve christened the travel toilet and call it ‘Andrew’s cool outside potty.’
We’re by no means ‘done’ and accidents now and then are still happening. But we’re learning, reconfiguring our schedule to account for potty time and moving forward into this brave (and AWESOME!) diaper free world!
Teddy Bear is already 2 months old! It’s so fun that he’s starting to ‘wake up’ more and greet us with smiles, cooing and the beginnings of baby giggles. The best!
Teddy is still a great eater…though at his last doctor check-up it appears that Teddy may be more of a Kleinfelter than a Phillips. At his 2 month appointment he weighed 12 lbs 8 oz thus putting him in the 50th percentile in weight. He’s also 23 1/2 inches long thus putting him in the 60th percentile (gasp!). He’s nearly two inches shorter than Andrew was at this age. Couple that with the light hair and blue eyes and it appears he may look more like mommy than daddy and big brother. I’m totally fine with it but Andy is less than excited about a 60th percentile stat. 😉
Teddy solidly wears 3 month cloths and is emerging into 6 month size very quickly. Teddy continues to work on his neck strength during tummy time and is starting to squirm around when on his belly. Rolling here we come!
Teddy’s rejected the pacifier in the last month but has started to find his hands which makes me think he might be a thumb sucker like Andrew. He’s also graduated from the ‘Rock n’ Play’ cradle in mom and dad’s room to his very own crib in the nursery. Yay! So far it’s been going well. We’ve now got him on our bedtime schedule with Andrew. At 7ish they both go up for baths and then it’s bottle and bed for the little guy. Most nights I can get both boys bathed and in bed by 7:30 pm (point for mom!). And then the little guys typically sleeps until 2-2:30 am, eats and goes right back down until about 5-5:30am. After a quick early morning snack I can typically get him to go back down again until Andrew races into his room and yells ‘wake-up Teddy!’ at 6:30-7 am. Andrew hasn’t learn the art of not waking a sleeping baby- especially before mommy has her coffee!
Teddy loves to cuddle, appears to be ticklish, and melts your heart with his little smile!
