I don't know if this should be considered progress

Well, I have been working on getting Erin to pull her pants and panties down by herself to go to the potty so eventually I won't have to always "take" her there. I know she's only 2 1/2 so I didn't expect this to go very smoothly, but she's been trying.

Now for today's story. She's been a little...hrmmmm should I say "backed up"... the last day or so. This afternoon she kept telling me she had to go poopy. I'd take her upstairs and sit her on the potty. Then I'd give her some books, and even brought her a cup of milk in encouragement to get her to sit for a few minutes longer than she wanted. Generally this works well, especially in the morning. This afternoon it was not working at all though.

After several trips up the stairs a matter of 10 minutes, she headed upstairs on her own to play in her room. I let her do this because I can still hear her through the monitor in Jeff's room. Anyway, I'm sitting in the basement at the computer and I hear her hollering "potty mommy". I head upstairs with a slight air of relief that hopefully she's at least finally got it out of her system, even if it did end up in her panties. Imagine my surprise when I got upstairs.

Erin was squatting in the middle of the doorway to her room with her pants around her ankles and a very large (and thankfully solid) poop on the floor. She looked at me and had a huge smile on her face...

"no poopy in panties mommy!!!"

She was sooooo proud of herself that she managed to get her pants and panties down and didn't poop in her panties. She was not the least bit concerned that she had not made it to the potty (which really is only about 15 feet from her room). She stood up and stumbled towards me because she can get her panties down but not up yet. I scooped her up, before she stepped in her "masterwork".

I honestly had no idea how to respond to her. I wanted to laugh because there was poop on the floor. I wanted to scream because... well because there was poop on the floor. I did my very best to have no reaction at all. I explained that she did a very good job in trying to get the poop in the potty and that yes, it was a good thing that there was no poop in her panties. Then I grabbed some toilet paper, scooped up the poop and dropped it into the potty, and Erin followed me into the bathroom to say "bye poopy" as it went down the potty.
Now aren't you glad you don't have a two-year old at home?

Pictures from King's Dominion

Finally I'm able to get the pictures from King's Dominion online. Here are some pictures to go with the previous story.


Erin crusing around in a rocket



Erin flying her helicopter


Erin watching a rollercoaster go by -- There it Goes!!!


Jeffrey just hanging out, looking cool.

Size 7 - what do you mean size 7?

In the past few weeks, Tom and I have noticed that Erin's very cute pink sneakers have been getting a little tight. And over the weekend Tom decided that they really were too small (it feels like they were just only recently a little too big). So on a trip to the mall the other day I passed Payless Shoes (where else would I but shoes for someone who apparently grows out of shoes every month). I started perusing the shelves of sneakers and when an employee passed by and asked if we needed anything. I decided it had been a while since I'd had Erin's feet measured so asked if she could measure Erin's feet. She had her stand up like a big girl and said,

"OK, she needs a size 6 1/2"

I thought, wow I was standing in front of 6s thinking those looked to be big. Then she measured Erin's other foot,

"Well, this one measures a size 7."

"7? You've got to be kidding me!!"

So we moved along to an entirely new shelf and picked out two new pair of shoes - one pair of white sneakers and a pair of black shoes with Dora on them -- and of course both have little flashing lights on them. So now my baby girl is running around in size 7 shoes, tripping all over the place and I can't decide if she's tripping because the shoes are soo much bigger than she was wearing or if she's trying to watch the little lights as she runs and jumps everywhere. Most likely it's a combination of the two. Either way, I can't believe my baby girl is getting so big. Before I know it she'll be picking out a new backpack and heading off to kindergarten -- cry :(

There it goes....

As a late Anniversary celebration (only 2 months late) Tom and I went to King's Dominion with Tim and Jen and their kids and decided to bring Erin and Jeff -- especially since we didn't have to pay for Erin yet. It was a gorgeous fall day bright sun shining, and warm enough for short sleeves. We packed Jeffrey and Erin into the double stroller (along with a potty seat, 2 sets of extra clothes, 3 rattles, 1 paci, 2 jackets/sweaters, diapers, snacks, a sippy cup...) and spent the day wandering the park. Jeffrey spent the day lounging in the back of the stroller checking out the activity.

While Tom and our friends went to ride a couple of coasters, I took Erin and Jeffrey to the Nickelodeon Kids area where there were some rides for Erin (don't worry I got to ride all the awesome coasters too). She climbed around a little jungle gym. Then she found a helicopter and rocket ride. Imagine my big girl. As I walked out after buckling in I thought it was like taking my baby to college. She looked like such a big girl sitting there and she had so much fun. I didn't think to video it, but you could hear her squealing the whole time. Even the gentleman standing next to me said, "well that little girl certainly is having fun."

After 2 rides there, Miss Christina walked Erin through a "Mystery Cave" which might not have been the best idea, but could have been worse. Apparently she clung to Christina the whole time. When they got out Erin shouted - "Fun" and Christina looked at me and shook her head - "No...not fun." Then Erin saw a little swing ride for which she waited as patiently as a two-year old can through 2 rides until it was her turn. My swing fanatic certainly enjoyed this one too.

So you would think that sounds like the best part to Erin's day, but no.... Her favorite part of the park was watching the rollercoasters. While Tom and I waited with Christina to ride a coaster, Erin stayed with Tim and Jen. After a halt in the rid to search for some lady's cell phone that apparently fell out of her pocket during the ride, we found Erin and Mr. Tim running around near the coaster. Every time the ride would climb the hill, she would squeal and point at the train saying - "There it goes." For the rest of the day Erin watched every coaster with anticipation of the train coming around a corner. And every time she would squeal - "There it goes" and jump up and down and shriek with glee.

We spent a long day at the park and both Erin and Jeffrey were exhausted by the time we left. After mommy got one more thrill ride -- a new Tomb Raider spinning/flipping ride filled with pyrotechnics -- we loaded the kiddos up into the stroller to head out. But as we walked out of the park long after dark, Erin looked up to the Volcano ride and watched the train come by one more time to shout...There it goes!!!

A Special Day

Jeffrey was baptized on Sunday and it was a very special day for all of us. His Nana performed the ceremony, just like she did for Erin but made it different and special just for him. Since Jeffrey's Aunt and Uncles couldn't be there they send special letters that were given to Jeffrey letting him know how special he was to each of them. Nana, Grandad and Oma came along with Grandpa and Grandma. Jeffrey's surrogate Uncle John even came along to help celebrate our very important little guy.

Of course to make everything just a little more realistic Jeffrey spit up on everyone that morning - including Nana while she was holding him during the ceremony. Erin decided she was going to play shy and not tell anyone Jeffrey's name when Nana asked - even though 90% of the time that's the one question she always answers. Also, half-way through the rest of service Erin announced to me (and everyone else sitting around us) that she was ready to go home and wanted to watch "Charlie and Lola," her current favorite cartoon. Everyone has their priorities I guess.


We had hoped to finish the afternoon with a trip to the mountains to see the fall colors, but 4.5 inches of rain over 2 days put a damper on those plans. So we lounged around the house, ate way too much shrimp cocktail and chex mix and played cards, napped and watched football.

All in all it was a lovely weekend and certainly very special. Here are a few pictures from the special day.

Jeff's Sears Portraits

Just got back from Sears to get Jeffrey's pictures taken. Decided it was finally time, poor guy. By the time Erin was 5 months she had already had her pictures taken 3 times (by the end of October). I think they came out great. I'm glad I did take him. Hope you enjoy looking at our growing little man. Sorry the quality isn't that great. If you want a better look, let me know and I can send you a link to the Sears Portrait Studio.

And no. Jeffrey isn't sitting up on his own yet. That's a visual trick there. My hand is under the blue cloth he's sitting on and propping up his back. With the tricks of digital photography these days you can't even tell my arm is there. Pretty cool huh? But in 10 years I'm going to look back forget that my arm was there and think, "Wow he was sitting up really well at 5 months!!" We all know it's going to happen.