The Ornery Angel

I'm not sure what is more dangerous than a really cute kid.  Perhaps a really cute kid who knows that he is really cute?  And uses that to his advantage?  Aaron is my ornery angel.  He has reached that 'terrible' stage, but despite his shenanigans he is still very much my sweet little boy.
It helps him that he is very verbal.  He speaks very well for a 2 year old boy, and better than I expected for a kid with such a well-spoken sister.  I expected her to talk for him, but he makes sure that he is heard too.  He uses complete sentences frequently.  Some of my favorites include:
Go to work mommy/daddy.
I'm happy now.
That be so awesome!!!
Hi, I'm Arnan! (He announced this upon walking into Nana and Pop-pop's house.  He has also re-named himself Arnan, which is odd because for awhile he said his name correctly.)
Rock in chair a minute (This was a phrase Ally used at this age.)
3, 4, 5, brrrmmmm, brrrmmmm, I racecar!
Super Arnan!  (He says this while jumping off of things.)
However, he uses his advanced communication skills deviously.  Recently he told the girls at the Rec Center that he had to go to the bathroom.  While he does not actually use a potty he knew that telling them he needed to would get them to take him to me.

A few weeks ago at the library I overheard this conversation:
Aaron: Put 'way, Nana.  Put 'way.
Nana: You can put it away Aaron.
Aaron: No, I'm little.
Nana: You are a big boy, you can put it away.
Aaron: Ok, Nana.

I will say that Aaron is a great little helper.  If we are cleaning up he will help out right away.  He enjoys emptying the dishwasher.  Very chivalrously he insists on closing doors for me.  He helps pull weeds in the flower beds.  However, he is also a two year old boy whose hobbies include hitting, antagonizing his sister, and throwing toys.

It took Mike pointing it out to me that Aaron likes to imitate Swiper (from Dora).  I should have picked up on it being that Aaron always picks Dora if it is his turn to pick a show.  Swiper is a character that steals things and then throws them far away and says 'You'll never find it now!'  So, I should not have been so baffled when Aaron began swiping Ally's toys, running and then throwing them somewhere and shouting 'never find it now Ally!'

A few more things you should know about Aaron these days:

He prefers the cone to the ice cream

He loves any car / truck / thing with wheels

He likes 'Big' waffles and tea for breakfast

His favorite sport might be baseball.  This is his favorite shirt, and can you see why we are worried about his eyes?

Sometimes he loves to play with his sister.

He prefers to drive himself

Easter Princess

This year Ally's birthday fell on Easter.  So, in addition to Easter festivities, we also got to enjoy Birthday festivities.  Although, since we didn't do a big party for her this year the Easter party and her Birthday party were one and the same.

The day before her birthday, Ally got to hang out with Nana and make a Bunny Birthday cake.  Then, Nana took her shopping for a new dress.  Nana also hosted her birthday party where she got some princess DVD's, dress up clothes, a Barbie, some markers, and a bike.

A day or two after her birthday she got lots of stickers from Aunt Jamie, Uncle Josiah, and all of the pets.  They also sent her a Rapunzel wig.

Aunt Lisa sent a cute little puppy all the way from London.  Ally named the puppy 'Brownie.'
In addition to all of that Ally got some princes and an Ursula doll to go along with all of her princess.  They arrived a little late, but mommy, daddy, and Aunt Shell arranged for Flynn Rider, Aladdin, and the Beast to come live with Ally.

Some things to know about Ally now that she is 4:
Her favorite color is Pink.
Her favorite princesses are Ariel and Aurora.
She is 39" tall and weighs 32 lbs.
Her favorite tv shows are Bubble Guppies and Dora.
Her favorite songs are the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
Her best friends are Micah and Carter.
Her favorite things to wear are dress up clothes.
She likes to bake cupcakes on the ipad.
Her favorite books are books about princesses.
Her favorite things to do are play with her princesses and play with the ipad.
Her favorite foods are noodles and chips.

Milestones Part 2

****WARNING - THIS BLOG POST FEATURES POOP (FAR MORE THAN A BLOG POST PROBABLY SHOULD****

Our second milestone of the week is one that feels like it has been a long time coming.  While it is still a bit of a work in progress...Ally is POTTY TRAINED!!!!!  Yeah!  I was starting to think that this might never happen.  Recently she started telling me that she was going to do it when she turned 4.  I seriously considered throwing her an early birthday party just to see if she really meant what she said.

However, Monday morning became the day when Ally started the morning by pooping on the potty.  She asked if she could wear underpants and I figured that we already got the harder part out of the way so why not?  I left the kids at home while I went to the gym and when I got back Ally was dry and Mike said she went to the potty 4 times all on her own.

She has been striking these 'model like' poses lately, not sure where she learned them

We decided to brave it and went out to lunch and while we were there Ally peed once and pooped again on the potty at the restaurant.  On th way home in the car she announced she needed to poop (I got worried as the previous time it had not been very solid).  So we pulled over at the first place we could, a Walgreens.  Alas, she barely peed, but still I was glad she had recognized that she needed to do something.

We did end the day with a few accidents.  I got a little less diligent when she was doing well.  I mean., she had me pause Dora so she could pee, she was doing pretty well.  It probably didn't help we hosted Bible Study, so I was a little more leinent on making her try.

Tuesday she had 2 1/2 accidents.  I count one as a half because it was as she was changing after another accident.  I think she stopped herself during the first one and didn't sit on the potty long enough.  We also had a friend over, so, once again I was a little less diligent.  Tuesday afternoon I made sure she went every hour.  She did well and even insisted on going all by herself.

Ally and her 'potty reward'

Wednesday started off rocky when she declared that she did not want to wear underpants.  But, we pulled out the old Bjorn potty and made a game of peeing on the bear.  The bear is actually on the outside of the potty, so he does not get peed on, but she didn't care about that.  It sounds like a gross game, but she loved me making the bear beg to get peed on.  Hey, at this point whatever motivates the kid works for me.  Wednesday we had only one accident!  Though I should mention at this point she still had not pooped since Monday.

Today (Thursday) she was with my parents all morning and was accident free.  She even peed at the library.  She did have an accident when we got home, but I blame myself for not being more adamant that she try.  Then, to my surprise not long before bedtime she ran into the bathroom and pooped!  That was a bit of a relief since it had been awhile and I was not looking forward to forcing the issue with pear juice.

So, while we may still need a bit of work, Ally is out of diapers!  I am saving like $30 a month or more!!!  Though I should probably put that money in a savings account for preschool that she can attend now that she uses the potty.

I have to say, I have learned this from my experience: If you have an extremely strong-willed child you CANNOT cajole them into potty use.  Begging, rewarding, bribing, charts, none of that worked.  And while I do praise and reward her now she does not expect it when she does go.  She just had to decide to do it, that was something that I could never make her do.  Even now I have trouble just making her go.  I have to give her a warning (I ask if she wants to go now or in 5 min).  Here's to hoping that Aaron is a little less stubborn :)

Milestones Part 1

This week we are celebrating 2 milestones, one for each of our children.  The first milestone I will mention was Aaron's first haircut on Tuesday morning.  Cute as he was, I could not take his over the collar and ears hair any more.  I keep saying that we need to go and get a family photo taken, but I wanted Aaron to have a haircut first.  So, at long last, we did.

I had heard about a kids haircut place, but we decided to just go to the Famous Hair nearby and I was really happy with the results.  At first I was a bit worried that there were a few people ahead of us, but it worked out that we could watch what was happening.  I don't know that Aaron cared too much, but we got to see a few guys getting their hair trimmed and I was able to tell the kids about some of the tools the stylist was using.

Finally, it was Aaron's turn.  He was excited to go and sit in the tractor seat.  It even had a steering wheel so he could drive.  There was a TV playing Dora, so that was great for keeping Ally entertained too.  Once the cutting actually started Aaron was not as attentive to the TV.  He got a little bit squirmy, but the stylist was AWESOME.  She was patient with him and encouraging.  She even managed to use the buzzers on the little guy.  She did a great job and even saved a lock of his hair that she taped to a certificate for us.

Despite his squirminess Aaron did well.  There we no tears at all, not even from mommy!  I'm glad that it's done and he looks so clean, though it is a bit sad as his new haircut makes him look so much older.