December 2012 Catch Up's

The 3 1/2 years age is full of fun times and challenging times.

Independence: The boys like to get themselves ready and undressed. Turner loves to run around in only his diaper, The minute we get home, he is stripping down at the front door!!!

Potty training: Turner continues to have no interest in potty training and is resisting my every effort. The teachers at school have told me to halt my efforts, in hopes he will be motivated by the peer pressure of Taylor's behavior. Taylor wears big boy underwear all day with few accidents, even during nap time. His teachers say he likes being the cool one (and only one) who stands peeing up in the urinal. He continues to ask for a diaper when he has to poop. We make him sit on the potty while we read one book, then he gets his diaper. When he is done, he brings me the wipes and declares " I got poopy. Change me."

Playdates: What a great age for a playdate! We still love hanging with our neighborhood buddy, Davis, and our twin girlfriends, Lela and Meddin. Thank goodness for Elizabeth who understands the challenges with having twins!! Baby A's (Lela and Turner) and Baby B's (Taylor and Meddin) seem to still be favorites when you ask who they like to play with. Our favorite family hang out is still with the Khouri's...dinners are often and sunday brunches are the norm. Thank goodness for great friends!!!

Favorite foods: Chickfilia, Mike Caulders, Menchie's...fruit and meat still rule the diet. Turner now refuses milk, which is so odd. That kid used to love his milk. Water is the preferred drink when juice is not allowed. They love the freedom of going to "their drawer" in the refrig to get their own snack.....go gurts, applesauce squeezes, cheese slices, fresh fruit, deli meat and turkey pepperoni!!

Tantrums, oh lord!! We have hit the jackpot here. Turner goes from 1 to 10, takes himself away from the situation and comes back a new man. He does great at calming himself down and re-grouping. I always wonder if his ability to self soothe is because he learned early on without taking a pacifier to self soothe? Taylor, on the other hand, goes slowly from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7,8, 9,10 and will put you over the edge with his whine. No ability to self soothe, just 1, 2, 3....you lose a priviledge.

Fighting! The wars have begun. They are now hitting, jumping on each other, holding each other down, dragging each other to time out and just being boys. They still want only the toy that the other brother is playing with. Funny, how the grass is always greener....

And yes, I am still frantically trying to kept our house in order and living with slobs. Poor ole Ralphie doesn't think we should organize and pick up stuff because within minutes, the house is trashed again. (He does have a point by looking at this picture.) We continue to work on throwing your food away when you are done, throwing your clothes in the hamper, while singing out " clean up, clean up...." song.

We still love our beloved Falcons!!!

Monkeys are still Turner's ole faithfuls. The rest of the zoo animals that reside with us tend to have their days as favorites. Some days, it is the deer, other days, the tigers, birds, lions, elephants, dogs, raccoon....the list could go on and on!!! Naptimes are fading although mommy is trying to force them, as they are still up most mornings by 6am!!!

Turner's pose of the year!!!

And visitor of the year......Sweet ole Caroline stayed with us for a long weekend and we loved her. We forgot how much we missed having a dog. Still dogless until the boys are a little older. Maybe a potty training reward for Turner???