Lunch time

Today Collin got to practice being a good example. With sister's birthday right around the corner I have been incorporating her in meal times a lot more.  So today when Collin asked if we could eat at his little table for lunch I said sure why not.

Instead of putting RaeLynn in the walker or swing I let her sit at the table with us. 
Collin was the best big brother. He showed her how to sit in her chair and he stayed in his seat the whole time.  He even helped her to be ok with taking her food off her plate.

More and more each day Collin grows into a great and loving big brother!

I think we have it!

What is it?

Potty training.

It has been an interesting process and I'm not saying we are out of the woods completely but I can deffinately see the other side of the forrest.

The unspoken, unofficial goal to be potty trained before 3 was met!

Fishing

Today Collin got to do something he has been begging todo for months now.

Today Collin went fishing! And he absolutely loved it. It was the cutest thing ever to watch him.

He couldn't really get the hang of the casting so either daddy or gramps would cast it out and then Collin would real it back in.

After a little while he decided to take a break from the fishing so I took his shoes off and let him walk in the water. That lasted for about 5 seconds until he started sinking in the sand. That was NOT what he signed up for!  So out of the water and on to his towel he went where he spent the next hour tossing rocks in to the lake.

To say that he was exhausted when we left would be an understatement. He was asleep in his car seat before we even left the lake!

Captian America and John Wayne

When my brother, Sam, who is now 20 years old, was somewhere around Dartanion's age he absolutely loved all things cowboy, First and foremost on that list was John Wayne. Sam wanted so badly to meet John Wayne and ask him all kinds of questions only a 2-3 yr old could ask.

Sam always wanted to know why John Wayne had to die before Sam was able to meet him. He often asked this question of my mother somewhere around 2 in the morning. The conversation, from the way my mom tells it, usually went something like this:

Sam: Mommy, why did John Wayne have to die?

Mom: Because he woke his mommy up at 2 in the morning to ask questions.

Sam: No, that's not it. He died of natural causes.

I for one, tended to find that story rather cute and a little funny. Until I had a 2 year old of my own.

Fast forward 18 or so years and here we are. I have a lively, energetic little boy who has an infatuation of his own. Oh its not cowboys, no...its Superheros. And my dear sweet little boy has figured out all the cool actions that each superhero does.

So now, at 2 AM, the conversations tend to go a bit like this:

D: Mommy, what does Captain America do?

Me: He listens to his mommy and goes to sleep.

D: NO! Captain American spins his shield.

*Just enough silence for me to get almost back asleep*

D: Mommy, what does Superman do?

Me: He gets his rest so he can save the world

D: NO! Superman flies.

And so on. And so on until we have gotten all the way through the range of superheros.

So, now that I'm the mom, can I just say, maybe the stories aren't really all the cute.....or are they?????

Potty Training Update!

I am in shock!

Day 1 was as expected. We had a few accidents. We had a few successful trips to the potty chair but all in all it was looking like this might be a long process.

And then yesterday, a few more successful trips in the morning and then the fight at nap time. I wanted to just put a pull up on him for nap.Dart was having nothing to do with that. He wanted to say in his superman underwear. So, with a sigh and the thought that I would surely be changing his sheets before bed I laid him down for his nap.

Fast forward 2 hours. Nap time is over and here comes a sleepy eyed little boy down the stairs. I go to check to see how wet he was....and....NOTHING. Dry as could be. I was so proud. We had an accident or two in the afternoon but that was mostly my fault because I didn't get him to the bathroom fast enough since I was getting ready to go to class.

And here we are today. This morning while I was getting his coloring pages ready to go we had an accident. One that I wasn't looking forward to cleaning up, if you catch my drift. And then when we were done with our school lessons for the day it was time to go down stairs and hang out. As I was cleaning the kitchen Collin ran in and says to me "Mommy, I want an oreo." (The treat of choice when he goes to the potty)

I tell him, "You know you have to pee pee in the potty to get an oreo."

Dart disappers...2 minutes later

"Mommy I need an oreo please."

"You know you have to pee pee first"

"But Mommy I did!!"

I head to the bathroom and sure enough the potty chair bowl is FULL!! He went in and went to the potty all by himself so he could have his oreo. I know that this doesn't mean we are done with this process but I do know we are at least on the right track!

Grocery Shopping.....

 While putting away the groceries the other day I came across an interesting item. Sitting there in a bag in between the 2 boxes of cereal was a box of Quaker Medium Barley.  I picked up the box and walked into the living room where Dusty was playing with the kids.

I asked, "Dusty, did you pick this up at the store?"

"Pick up what?" with out looking at me

"This box of barley. Did you mean to get something else?"
At that he finally looks at me.

"No. You eat that kind of stuff not me. I thought you bought it."

Finally, after watching Dusty and I having this conversations a small voice behind us says. "I just got it at Wal-Mart."

We turned around and showed Dart the box. I said, "Son, did you put this in the basket while we were shopping yesterday?"

He replies, with the proudest look a 2 year old can have, "Yes mommy. I got it at Wal-Mart"

So apparently we will be having barley soup sometime in the near future. Thanks for helping mommy shop!

Advent Activities Overview

With the rush of the holidays and life in general I got REALLY behind, like stopped altogether, on posting about the daily Advent activities. I know that everyone would love to see how the rest of it turned out so I will give a brief overview of how the rest of the activities ended up. I will say that I had a lot of fun with this even if Dart got a bit bored with it in the end. We didn't do all the activities but we did do most.

I will just start with the last day.

DAY 7 String popcorn garland;

 This Day was fun. Most of the popcorn got eaten by Mr. Dart but we did manage to make a nice little string of popcorn. By the time I decided I was done Dart also decided he wasn't going to want dinner. I also realized I didn't really want to have to find a place to put the garland up so instead I put it ouside for the birds to have something to eat.

DAY 8 Make Paper Trees

 This day was simple. I just made a few little trees and Collin got to put sequence and stickers on them. Then I cut a slit in them for them to stack together. We only got 2 made because Dart lost interest halfway through.






DAY 9 LOOK AT CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Pretty self explanatory. We drove around a few places in Arlington after dinner on Sunday night. We had been out all day so the kids were asleep in the back seat for a while but Dart did wake up and see some of the bigger displays we saw.  He would point and say "More Christmas Lights!" At every house we say. And as we drove past Six Flags on the way home and saw the roller coasters all lit up and the Superman symbol shining brightly Dart exclaimed "Superman Christmas lights!!!"


DAY 10 PAINT ORNAMENTS

Washable paint, paint brushes and the ornament. Dart was a happy camper. The colors got mixed, and a mess was made but they are a treasure I will keep for a lifetime. I'm really not sure how he ended up with paint in his hair and ears but somehow he did. Needless to say, bath time followed quickly after this.





DAY 11 PLAY IN THE SNOW
Didn't happen. No snow. The other option was to play in shaving cream but we didn't get around to it. Grocery shopping and spending quality time with dad happened instead.

DAY 12 MAKE RICE CRISPY TREATS
Dart helped measure an pour. Treats were made, and eaten with in 3 short hours. WE LOVE RICE KRISPY TREAT!!!


DAY 13 MAKE GINGERBREAD HOUSE
Due to the pieces in the box being broken when we opened it up this one didn't get done either. :(

DAY 14 MAKE GIFTS FOR FAMILY.
Dart helped me to make hot cocoa mix for us to take when we went to see Grammie and Papa. He poured the chocolate chips into the container and he got to help smash the candy canes with a hammer to add to the mix. I think he had a little to much fun with that part.

DAY 15 CHRISTMAS SCAVENGER HUNT.
Didn't happen. Not sure why.

DAY 16 VISIT SANTA
Santa came to visit us at church on this Sunday. The kids got to make a lovely little ornament and they also got to enjoy hotdogs and cookies with Santa. We even got to take a picture with him and Mrs. Clause!

DAY 17 BUILD WOODEN LOCKER WITH DADDY
oops....forgot to buy the nails. So that will be a summer time project I guess. The locker came from a family night activity at one of the Chick-Fil-A's close to us.

DAY 18 PLAY WITH CHRISTMAS PLAY-DOUGH

A ministry that provides the seminary students with food each Tuesday also provided gifts for the kids for Christmas. Those were distributed to us on this day. So instead of playing with play dough we opened the gifts.








DAY 19 BAKE CHRISTMAS COOKIES
Sugar cookies to be exact. We got about 2 dozen made. They were yummy. Dart got to help roll out the dough and he used the cookie cutters to cut out the shapes.

DAY 20 DECORATE THE COOKIES
Dart decided we didn't need to decorate the cookies. So we didn't. Less mess for me!

DAY 21 PAINT WITH COOKIE CUTTER
Due to the fact that I was trying to get our house ready to go so we could leave for Grammie's house on Sunday this did not take place.

DAY 22 RENT A CHRISTMAS MOVIE AND EAT POPCORN.
We just watched fun movies on Netflix while we ate dinner. Dart wasn't really into the Christmas movies. Maybe with time.....

DAY 23 AND 24 were cancelled due to our plans for Christmas changing midway though this process. Instead we drove to Grammie's house and we spent 4 wonderful days there.

So there you have it. Our Christmas Activities Advent Calendar. Hopefully I learned a few lessons this year and will be better prepared for the coming years!