Big Boy Underwear!

Denver is potty trained!!!!!  I never thought I was going to be able to blog about my potty trained boy...at least not until he was 3, but he surprised us!  Evan had encouraged me to try getting Denver into underwear and several times I had sort of tried, but every time I was conquered quickly and just didn't have the energy to work on it.  I'm not sure what all happened, but it was really pretty easy.  We told Denver if he wanted to go fishing with Daddy this summer he was going to have to wear big boy underwear.  Every time I had tried to take Denver to the bath room in the morning prior to this he would throw a fit.  The first morning after being told it was time if he wanted to go fishing with Daddy he started to get upset and I quickly grabbed a fishing magazine of Evan's and said, but "look at these fish and what you could catch with Daddy if you are a big boy" and he immediately sat down and went.  He had several accidents, but not many and when he did he typically got very upset at himself.  We did con him with treats for going though and Denver seemed to figure that one out.  He seemed to go running every time he had the slightest urge and we felt he was getting a "sugar high".  So I tried taking the treats away and said he had to go number 2 if he wanted them, but then we had some regression, but that also went along with wearing a pull up instead of underwear on Easter and being out of his routine so not sure if it was from not getting treats or not.  I went back to giving him treats, but only if he asks and we're back on track.  We're still struggling with going #2 on the potty though.  I thought that part was going to be easy as he had done that more than #1 prior to this, but he hasn't done this much since we've gone to underwear.  Instead he goes and hides and leaves a mess for us to clean up.  Any advice to help him with this would be greatly appreciated!

Showing off his big boy underwear.

So proud!

As long as I'm updating on Denver anyway I figured I should tell you a little more of his "learnings" as of lately.  Denver now counts to 10 very well by himself.  He never would really count very far, especially on his own, but now he LOVES to play hide and seek and after hearing us count to 10 so many times he does it quite often without us even asking him to.  Denver's ability to form complete sentences has grown exponentially.  He blows us away with what he comes up with and says.  We can tell he really understands us and what's going on.  Tonight he asked if I was going to work.  I said no and he went on to say "you go to work and take care of babies" and he always talks about Daddy going to "Marvs" and fixing cars.  Denver continues to be CRAZY about the farm!  He wants to go to the farm every day and wants to do chores.  Denver has become very bossy and when Grandma came the other night he pretty much told her he was going to the farm with her and he was going to go ride in the tractor....too bad if she didn't agree, it was happening! :) 

Denver has a fear of insects and band-aids.  I was upstairs and Denver was down stairs playing when I heard a shreak and went running.  There was a bug...that's it...they don't have to be bothering him, he just has to be able to see them and he flips out.  I've never been able to get a band-aid on Denver either.  Every time we put one on he cries and cries and we end up taking it off.  On Easter he pinched his finger and took skin off.  This finger seriously needs a band-aid and some "magic sauve", but he gets so upset when we even bring the subject up...he'd rather have pain than a fun colored band-aid!

I know there's more, but that's what comes to mind right now.

Family Photo Shoot

I finally talked Evan into a family photo shoot.  I had been wanting a good family picture of the 4 of us for our wall of photos and now I have it!  Here are some pictures from our photo shoot at Schoolmeester Photography.

Makenna had enough by this point!

Schmeckfest 2010

Last weekend we took the kids to Schmeckfest.  My sister, her husband, and my adorable nephew were able to partake in the adventure with us, which made it extra fun for the kids.  First we had to go visit Grandma Verni in the kitchen. Then we spent time in Sterling Hall visiting with people while Denver ran off lots of steam. Denver and Makenna also got to spend some time with their Grandma Kim, Grandpa David, and Auntie Em! Later we went to the museum to look around which Denver really enjoyed. He wanted to climb on things though and had a hard time understanding why he couldn't. After we were done taking in the Schmecfest festivities we met up with Papa Rodney and Great Grandpa Melvin at Papa's for supper.

Cousin Jacob and Makenna riding in the wagon

Denver exploring the museum

and enjoying a sucker (for going potty on the potty chair...hope to do a post on this soon!)

Daddy/Unlce Evan pulling the troops!

The Troops

Jacob, Denver, and Makenna

(Jacob wanted to ride in the wagon so bad he didn't care if Denver sat on his lap!)

Sibling Love

I love watching my babies interacting together, especially when they don't know I'm watching.  They both love each other so much.  One of my favorite things is at bed time. Makenna typically goes to bed first and before she goes to bed she has to get all of her good night kisses. When I put her down at Denver level to get a kiss she snuggles her head into him and smiles and he giggles! I love it! Denver watches out for Makenna and if she's crying he has to go check on her or come and tell me that some thing is wrong. Makenna has to be where ever Denver is and doing whatever he is doing. Thus she has become mobile! Makenna now crawls all over the place and is working very hard on walking. She walks very well pushing something, putting her hand on a wall or whatever is close for her to help her if she looses her balance, or by hanging onto some one's hand (or hands). She has taken several steps, probably the most being 4 at a time, but once she realizes she's doing it on her own she plops herself to the ground. Denver's been sharing his toys with Makenna which has been hard, but he's adjusting quite well. Makenna loves Denver's 4 wheeler and has learned how to go forwards and backwards. Both of the kids love to be outside, so we spend as much of our time outside as we can and have really enjoyed the nice weather lately. Our bike rides to the park to play have begun and if Denver had his way they would take place every night and if Makenna could talk she would probably be chiming in with him.  Her are some pictures of the sibling love my babies share!

Playing Farm

Being Silly

Enjoying the outdoors.

I'm going to get you with a snowball Mom!

And here it comes! (He got me!)

Practicing Standing

Blowing Bubbles!

Both of the kids love this...Denver loves to chase them and Makenna watches him and laughs.

I love you big brother!

Both love to swing!

I can get any where with this!

Tubing!

Evan took some time off work so we could take the kids to Great Bear tubing on March 1st.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun.  Makenna wasn't so sure about it.  I think she didn't like the air blowing on her face as we went down the hill.  I wish I had time to blog about this earlier because I know Denver said some really cute things, but so much has gone on since then its a blur to me.  One thing I do remember is Evan said something to Denver about going fast and Denver responded "Jungle Junction fast!".  Jungle Junction is a Disney show that Denver loves to watch; they are animals on wheels and they go "fast".

There was some miscommunication when we left the house and the mittens that were supposed to be brought along for Makenna were left at home. Evan and I joked that some day we can tell our kids we were too poor they had to share mittens! :) It was really nice out, but your hands would get cold so after a while I ended up taking Makenna in and Daddy and Denver tubed until they were ready to go.