Get ready to read....

Yippie! Cameron is potty trained! It only took about 2-3 weeks from the very first time he ever sat on the potty until he was 100% daytime trained and 90% nighttime trained (he’ll occasionally have a little bit in his diaper in the morning, but it’s usually dry). The only thing is that he refuses to wear underwear or Pull-ups or anything…he just likes to be naked under his shorts. Cameron loves running around singing “I is a big kid now!” For the first few days Cam used his little potty, but we were at Target the other day and he had to go and he hopped right up on the big potty and went, so now he loves the big potty. He even used the Porta-Potty at the park today (I was so worried that he’d fall in!!) Now that both boys use the potty, they are always fighting about it. As soon as one of them needs to go, the other just HAS to go too. Yes, we have two bathrooms, but that doesn’t ease the fighting any – they both need the SAME bathroom at the SAME time. It’s so nice to not have to clean up Cam’s messy diapers anymore, but on the other hand, no matter where we go now, we always have to make a few trips to the bathroom.

I volunteered at Dylan’s school the other day and I just about fell off the chair when Dylan’s teacher asked the class a question and Dylan RAISED HIS HAND!!!!!! The kid who was silent for a whole year of pre-k and doesn’t talk to strangers actually raised his hand in class every time the teacher asked a question!! When he was called on he’d answer the question or he’d go up to the word wall and point out the word that the teacher was looking for. Dylan told the class about how his mommy and daddy read him books at night before bed. I guess each day the teacher will choose a few papers from the day before that were done exceptionally well and Dylan’s was one of them. After the teacher showed the class his paper, the whole class did a cheer for him and he got to pick out a special surprise. Dylan is now obsessed with the Steelers and baseball cards (his teacher is a Steelers fan and he always picks out baseball cards from the goody bin). Then when it was time for recess the teacher opened up the door and Dylan took off running – leaving me behind….which actually made me happy. I was thrilled to see him take off onto the playground like that – in the past he would have just stood there with me holding my hand, pulling me, quietly begging me to take him over to the play area. He just left me in the dust as he ran off to play. It was nice to see him so comfortable. I am also amazed by the level of learning going on in kindergarten! He is now reading and writing way beyond what I’d ever imaged for this age. I got to meet Dylan’s new speech teacher. She’s really nice. She told me that she read in Dylan’s paperwork about how he has a hard time speaking to people he doesn’t know and that she expected him to be very quiet, but to her surprise on the first day of speech she said that she had NO trouble getting him to talk. She said that he went on and on about stuff……. Who switched our kid??

The other day we were driving down the Carlisle Pike and Dylan said “That must be where they sell owls.”……… We had just passed Hooters! :)

Thanks to a few people (…and you know who you are. Haha), Cameron was playing on the computer the other day and yelled “Ah Shit!” Then of course Dylan started to repeat it as well after daddy told Cameron that he is not to say that word. Remember, these boys are now at the point of repeating everything you would hope that they wouldn’t. And when you think they can’t hear you, they can.

The other day Cameron asked me when Gabriel would be going back into my belly. I said “Why? Don’t you like having Gabriel here?” he said “No.” I think Cameron is having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to Gabriel. Dylan is doing great. He plays with Gabriel and talks to him and entertains him. Cameron basically wants nothing at all to do with him – it’s as if Gabriel isn’t even here. After Dylan gets picked up by the bus Cameron always says “Now it’s just you and me!!” I don’t think Gabriel counts in his book. The good news is that now that Cameron is officially a ‘big boy’ (using the potty, turning 3, dressing himself) he is starting to feel a lot more special and he’s starting to slowly settle into his role of big brother. Today he asked if he could feed Gabriel and he was very proud to help out.

Gabriel had his scull xray and everything is perfect. We figured it was, but they just wanted to make sure. He had his evaluation with the physical therapist the other day and they said that the torticollis was so minor that he doesn’t really need too much assistance and we’ve decided not to even take him back. We can pretty much do everything that we need to do at home. Basically we’ll just focus a little more on having him look to and lay on his left side so that the right doesn’t continue to get any flatter. Anyway, the physical therapist kept going on and on about how cute Gabriel was. Then he said “I’m not just saying that either, he really is cute. Actually, I think he’s cuter than my own kids.” I couldn’t believe he said that!

***Dylan’s school receives money for Box Tops. If you have any food items that have the Box Tops labels on them and you happen to think about cutting them out before you throw the box away, I’m sure Dylan would love to take them into school. Also, if you go to www.GiantAPlus.com and use Red Mills code: 01084 (until March 15) you can register your Bonus Card for Giant and Red Mill will get money (1% of your purchases).