Getting SO Big

It's no secret that the baby stage is by far my least favorite stage about having children, so it should be no surprise that I'm filled with excitement and joy each time Josiah and Laney figure out how to do more 'big kid' things.

Last Thursday, Josiah's 3rd birthday, I decided it was time to really try the potty-training gig (having 3 in diapers really scares me financially). The night before I purchased some cool 'big boy' underwear, the ones that had all of his friends on them--Buzz Lightyear, The Incredibles, Nemo, Wall-E, and Lightning McQueen, hoping that this would be a good place to start, incentive-wise. I'm excited to announce that since last Thursday, he's only had a handfull of #1 accidents and NO #2 accidents. In fact, as soon as we got home Thursday night from a Residency pool party/dinner, he told me that he needed to go poo-poo. SUCCESS! And don't you know that we had quite a cheering session! In this past week, we have even found him running out of the room, taking himself to the potty (even climbing up onto the toilet to take care of #2). He's also been waking up dry from nap and nighttime. I'm not entirely sure if I can say he is potty trained quite yet, but he is making strides everyday. We are SO proud of you, Josiah!

Not only has Josiah tackled potty training during this past week, he is working on dressing himself. The arrangement is for me to lay out his clothes, and then he is responsible for putting them on. We are still working on "the tag goes in the back" and "your head goes through the big hole at the bottom of your shirt first"...and dressing in a timely manner, but he's doing a great job. And a lot of times, despite his obvious struggle, he still wants to "do it by myself"......

thus the unique way to wear his underwear.

And we moved Josiah out of the 'baby' room and into his own room, complete with 'big boy' bed with 'big boy' sheets. As per my mom's suggestion, instead of transitioning Josiah and Laney at the same time, we decided to make a big deal about him moving to the big bed...and we disassembled the toddler bed. There are days when he wants to sleep in his 'little' bed, but overall he's doing really well.

Laney, too, is growing by leaps and bounds. She can now speed walk, can step up and down stairs unassisted, throws balls well (and is even trying to shoot baskets), is gaining a little bit more 'air' each time she tries to jump, is speaking many more words--saying 'more' and 'all gone', will say "uh-huh" and shake her head 'no' depending on the question, and can tell you what the letters A, B, D, and M say...it's so cute! She's also become our biggest picky eater....not entirely sure what happened, but one day she wouldn't eat her up-til-then most favorite foods. Speaking of eating, she loves, loves, loves, to sit in a booster seat and will sometimes prefer it over a highchair.

She is also becoming quite a the 'little mama'....she sits her baby in her highchair when she's not in it, she brings baby up in the highchair with her and feeds it Cheerios, and even enjoyed helping me change Josiah's diaper by wiping his bottom (when we were using diapers, *wink, wink*)....let's just hope this behavior continues once her little brother/sister arrives.

I took both kids to their well-child/baby exams on Tuesday (Josiah-3 years, Laney-15 months), and here are their stats....

Josiah
Weight: 37.5 lbs (just shy of 90%)
Height: 39.75 in (between 90-95%)
Head: 19.5 in. (50%)

Laney
Weight: 27.5 lbs (between 90-95%)
Height: 32 in. (90%)
Head: 18.5 in. (75%)

Clearly, neither one of them is deficient in the physical growth department. YAY for healthy babies!