Hobbling Around

Well, I'm FINALLY crutch free!!!!  I have been walking without my crutches since Tuesday, and I'm getting better and better at getting around.  I've started going up and down the stairs with Sophie--at a pretty slow pace!  It is so nice to have some freedom back.  We have throughly APPRECIATED ALL the help from our church, but it is always nice to get back to a routine.  I know people say that kids LOVE routines, but I know this Mommy LOVES her routines!!!   I go back a week from Monday to get my cast off.   I have no idea what will happen after that.  I'm guessing I will need to wear the boot for a little while, but we shall wait and see. 

I will spend a few minutes updating what the kids are doing.  I will start with Josiah---

*He is pretty much getting this potty training thing down.  He has pretty much gone the whole week with just a couple of accidents.  We start off wearing his Buzz Light Year "underwear" (Pull-ups).  He wears them all day unless he has an accident and then it is into a diaper.  We do put him in a diaper for nap and bed time though.  It is AMAZING how quickly he picked this up on his own.  Before I hurt my foot, we had started, but then I decided it was too crazy trying to potty train while on crutches.  Well, he was so into it that I didn't have much choice.  I'm glad that we went ahead and followed his lead because it has been a pretty painless experience. 

*Well, our 2 year old has out smarted us yet again!!  We have been using TV as a reward for potty training.  We started out with 10 minutes for each time he used the potty.  Well, after 2 days of rewarding him, he figured out that if he went pee pee, then he got TV.  So he would go pee pee just a little and then we would let him watch TV.  His time would be up, so then he would go pee pee again.  We would let him watch TV and then he was right back on the potty!!!   After a day of doing that, we decided we needed to rework the rewards system.  So now, he gets 5 minutes for each time, but has to go potty twice before he can sit down to watch Thomas (the Tank) or Bob (the Builder). 

*We have started doing "school" work.  I've picked up a few workbooks at Target for Pre-K/Kindergarten.  We have been working on same/different, numbers and the sounds the letters make.  We continue to review all the things that he already knows, but know that he needs to be challenged.  He often asks to do school.  If he gets to the point that he doesn't want to sit down, then we just pick up the materials and move on to something else. 

Now it is Sophie's turn---

*After a few days of fussing each time we sat down to feed her, she is now quite pleasant to be around at the dinner table.  Chris has said a few times, that we needed to go ahead and get some earplugs for meal time because she would get to fussing (it wasn't crying--just her way of telling us she was NOT happy!!!) so loudly that we could hardly hear each other talking.  We had to start "disciplining" her by turning her chair to face the corner.  It was amazing how she would quiet down.  At first it took awhile, but she eventually learned that her fussing wasn't going to be allowed at the dinner table. 

*She LOVES her sippy cup!!  One day, she was so interested in Josiah's cup (a straw sippy cup), so I went ahead and gave it to her.  Well, the next thing I knew she was drinking the water in it!!!  If you try to take her cup away, and she's not done---well, you better be ready to hear some fussing!!! 

*Sophie went swimming for the first time in a pool yesterday.  She absolutely LOVED it!!!  I think she could have stayed longer if we didn't need to get her and Josiah home for bed. 

*She has started sucking her thumb to put herself to sleep.  I haven't been putting her to bed at night since I hurt my foot, so I had no idea.  The other day when I went to put her down, I was in complete shock. Chris had informed me that she had been doing that for awhile now.  I wanted to give her a paci to suck on,  but Chris didn't think that was such a great idea.  I figure you can take the paci away, but can't take a thumb away!!   So we have decided to let her suck her thumb. 

*Sophie is really mastering the rolling thing.  She has started sleeping on her belly.  We try to get her on her back, since that is how she is suppose to sleep, but she just gets back on her stomach