Proud momma moment

So this weekend I was in the kitchen making bottles and I look up to see Alexander reading to the boys!

Sooo cute. I dropped what I was doing and grabbed the camera. I have been trying to engage him in that way for a few weeks now but he has just been giving me blank stares. That's always the way it is. Blank stares and then one day he just decides he will cooperate. Same thing (all this week!) with pedaling his tricycle, counting  from 1 to 3, and finally identifying colors. We have been working on colors forever and kind of gave up recently because I felt like we were pushing him too hard. Then the other night I was reading to him and he started pointing out, "Green truck! Red bus!" I was so excited, you would think he started speaking chinese. Anyway, this was a proud moment. Another proud moment was when Alexander declared "No more diapers!" and signaled he was ready to start seriously potty training. Since last week, he has either pooped and/or peed in the potty every day. The challenge is really ours, which is frequently and consistently putting him on the potty. It is just hard for a team of caregivers like he has to all be on the same page. One thing that has worked so far is that I instituted Potty Treats. I got some semi-healthy treats and put them in a jar near his potty so if he goes, he gets to pick out a treat. This works well if you have a chowhound like ours who always responds to food. Who knows, maybe we will have him trained by the time he is 2 years old!! One less child in diapers is a very good thing.

By the way, time is flying by. I can literally see it being sucked out of the day and fly out the window at warp speed. This past week has especially been a whirlwind with selling our house and having to pack up all of our belongings and put it into storage, on top of the daily rigor of taking care of the kids and work. Nate did the majority of packing this weekend, which meant we were a man down at the house, plus my mom left for NYC early on Sunday and won't return until later this week. Fun times. I thank my lucky stars every night for my extremely functional and physically strong grandma.

More pictures for your enjoyment...



Sweet Theodore



Theodore & Winston - the rollers



Benjamin getting attacked by Theodore "Hands" Evans