He just doesn't care

So, it has been four days since we started potty training with Nicholas and well, he hasn't gone in the toilet once. Thankfully he can hold it for pretty long so it doesn't seem like I am cleaning the carpet all the time, but geez, you think he would care that his underwear is wet. Nope. He pees, then comes to get me, says "mommy, come here", shows me where he peed and goes on with his business. He has only pooped once since Sunday, which is good and bad. Good since I only had to wash that out once so far. He looked pretty funny walking around in that. I haven't pushed him to sit on the toilet since he gets upset when I do so I am hoping and praying it will just click with him any minute and he will go himself. We will see. So, suggestions are always welcome. He knows the prizes he will get for going, but that doesn't seem to motivate him enough. Oh what fun.

Tomorrow is the day....

we start to potty train Nicholas, cold turkey. We are not even trying the pull-ups as this hasn't worked past efforts. So, tomorrow, we are going straight to the underwear and not looking back. I know this is going to be tough and there will be many messes, but the pay off will be worth it. I have to keep telling myself this. Our pediatrician said this process usually only takes a week. His suggestion was to put him in the underwear and then don't prompt him to use the restroom. Just let him do it himself. When he has an accident don't make a big deal out of it. Just clean it up and move on. Sooner or later, hopefully sooner, he will go to the toilet knowing he doesn't get any attention from making messes on the floor. I pray this works for him. We did have a small glimmer of hope this evening when after bath time Nicholas went into the bathroom by himself, set up the stool, sat on the toilet and went pee. I only hope this continues tomorrow. We will see. I will keep you posted.

3 year old check-up

Solid, stalky, thick- one of these words was used to describe my dear little Nicholas at his Dr.'s visit. Now I know that the Dr. didn't mean it in a bad way since we usually use the word solid ourselves, it was just funny to hear it from him. He was very happy with his development and saw no problems in how "big" he is compared to other 3 year olds. He is a very active boy who just happens to have some muscles on him. He did give him a pep talk, however, about wearing big boy underwear. Nicholas is sooo not interested, but once we get back from Arizona this weekend we are going straight to underwear and no looking back. I will let you know how that goes next week. In anycase, Nicholas weighs 38.2 pounds (95%) and is 38.75 inches tall (80%). The nurse measured him twice. This is because he grew over 4 inches in a year. Burt and I knew he was getting tall due to his pjs being too short all of a sudden and standing over his friends, but 4 inches, wow! So, all and all a great check-up and we won't have to go back until next year bearing any unforseen illnesses.

Oh and I did say I would say a little more about Nicholas after this visit, like how he is such a character, one that can drive me batty, but at the same time make me smile and laugh like no other. He loves to sing, dance, play with his train set, hang out with his little brother, that is until he doesn't like something he does and then they fight, has the funniest expressions and is now in the questioning phrase. Every question now usually starts with "why" these days and nothing we saw answers it. He uses expressions like: "these guys", " I told you.....", "ah, you're kidding me", "do you understand", "I'm tall like daddy", and "I'm a strong boy", just to name a few. What a character. I love to hear him talk and use words I don't even know he understands, have such joy in singing, especially ones about Jesus, and watch him ride his tricycle up and down hills with no fear. There are so many things about him that could be said, but I will leave it with that, especially since I can't remember everything anyway. The main thing is that we love Nicholas with all our heart and enjoy all the time we get to spend with him.

The toddler bed and rocking chair.

This is now his room with the big boy twin bed and no rocking chair. It made me very sad to see this. He looks so small in the bed. He was a little sad too since the chair had been with him since birth, but now Joshua is getting to enjoy it.

Even though he has enough room in his bed now, he still always has something hanging over the bed. The other day I found him on his stomach with both his legs hanging over. Crazy kid.

Intently reading about all the Thomas the Tank Engine friends and accessories. He wants them all which I hope can be used for our benefit. Maybe this will help him potty train.
And just because, here are the cookies we made to take to his class for his birthday. Fun!

To cut or not to cut.....

Joshua's hair is slightly long don't you think???? However, I don't want to cut off his curls, which leaves me in a bind. How do you shape it up at least, but not so dramatically that you lose the cuteness of the curls? I suppose a good hairdresser would do the trick. It is just a little scary. We will see when if this happens anytime soon.
I don't really have any good shots of the back of his hair to show you the curls, so these will just have to do. As his hair gets longer he ends up with more curls. They have now formed closer to the top of his head. Oh and you can also see the nice farmer tans the boys are sporting. Oh to be able to tan. This is with sunscreen applied too. Imagine what they will look like by the end of summer.

Happy Easter!

Only two weeks after the fact. That's pretty good I think. We had a wonderful day filled with our church family, Easter egg hunts, food and plenty of friends. We started the day by having the kids find their Easter baskets and of course they ate some of the candy. This turned out to be most of their breakfast I think. After we got dressed we tried to get a family picture before we left for church to make sure the kids were still presentable. We did okay I think, although we didn't get any of just the boys together with their matching outfits, sorry Grammy. Joshua wanted to video tape this special occasion. Isn't he cute modeling his argyle socks!

I love how Joshua and Nicholas are holding hands. They really do love each other.

We then headed to church, arrived a little late as usual, scurried Nicholas up on stage to sing his song, which of course he didn't. He will sing at home, but not in front of a crowd, especially one on Easter Sunday that was full to capacity.

After they sang Joshua and I headed to the nursery. We had a wonderful time with all the little ones and adults too. They even got to make little bags for the Easter Egg Hunt. When church was over, which I hear was a great service with some amazing music, we rushed outside to see the kids gather eggs. Nicholas made it outside before I had a chance too so I was late in capturing the moment, but did get some of it. His bag was already full by the time I saw him running around.

Joshua decided to make a friend with Carl during this time. That might be due to the fact that he opened an egg for him and gave him jelly beans. They were cute together and Joshua went right to him which is unusual at this point in time. I was glad for the open arm.

We then headed over to our friends the Roberson's for lunch. They invited all of us that don't have family in town to join them. We celebrated with them last year and were excited to do it again this year. Shea always decorates to the tea and has set-ups for the children too. We all bring a dish or two and then chow down. Everything was yummy and the company was great as always. All the kids ate outside and didn't bother us too much which is always a plus. We are blessed to have such wonderful friends to celebrate with.

After we ate we gathered all the children for the Easter Egg Hunt. They were all waiting in anticipation to get outside and find all the candy filled eggs. This picture, by the way, only shows half of the children.

Now, if you didn't think these boys looked alike to begin with, check out these series of pictures. The expressions on their faces are almost identical. It is funny. They were very intent on getting into their eggs and enjoying the "goodness".

Joshua thought it would be cool to take Nicholas' basket, along with his, and see how far he could get with them. Good thing Nicholas wasn't paying attention. Sneaky fella he is.

Another attempt at a family picture.

Joshua and his buddy Carl.

The whole gang- Emerson's, Khan's, Roberson's, Hammond's, Ross', Rogers'

Two tuckered out boys. They partied hard, however, they didn't take long naps like you think they would have. Nicholas actually perked right up when we got home and played with his trains and Joshua only slept an hour or so. Silly boys.

We had a blessed Easter. Hope you did too!

Happy 3rd Birthday Nicholas!

Sunday was Nicholas' Birthday. Wow, what a big boy he is becoming and he isn't afraid to tell you that either. His favorite phrase is to say, "I'm a big boy. I am tall just like daddy." He then proceeds to stand on his tiptoes and say, "Seeee". It is very cute, but can't he stay small for a little longer???? I will dote on him more after he has his well visit next month.

We celebrated his birthday on Saturday at our church playground. It was the perfect day for it. The weather was gorgeous and the kids and adults seemed to enjoy themselves. We had about ten kids and just as many or more adults there. We ate pizza and cake and watched the kids run around like crazy on the playground. So much fun.

Nicholas was blessed by all the presents he received. He got some really cool things. I do have to say Thomas the Train is his favorite right now, but he certainly plays with everything else when he tears himself away from the train set. Joshua takes up the slack for him. We are blessed to have such wonderful friends here in Montgomery (and Florida) to share this special day with us. It was nice to be surrounded by such loving people and enjoy the outdoors on a Saturday afternoon. Thank you to everyone for making Nicholas' 3rd Birthday so special.
Burt and I decorated the cake all by ourselves. It took forever, but it was fun to do together. Nicholas loves Thomas the Train so we made the engine look like Thomas, kind of. And not to brag, but I made the cake and icing from scratch too. It was yummy.

I also made a sheet cake for the adults, not from scratch, although the icing is. Sorry adults. I should have had them eat the good stuff though since the kids were more interested in the candies on top and not the cake. Oh well. It was cute.

The parents having a chance to sit and relax. That's the good thing about a fenced in playground where we are the only ones on it. The kids can't go far and it is age appropriate. Yeah for that.

We had a State Trooper Helicopter fly over us and sound the siren while all the kids waved. It was too cool. Burt told Nicholas he asked them to come for his party which he was very excited about, but he wanted to actually ride in it. Maybe one day. In reality there was a storm the night before, which turned out to be classified as a tornado, that hit right next to the church and the Mayor was surveying the damage. Nicholas will never know the difference.

Trying to get a head start on the cake while waiting for their pizza.

Let's get to the presents now. I love how they all are trying to help out and get as close to the gifts as they can.

Hey, what did you get???? Joshua is too funny in this picture.

Get ready....

Get set...

Blow...thanks for helping out Barrett.

Can we just dig in to the extra cake and candies now???

Joshua stealing candy. He went down the bench and ate a little bit of cake from plates that kids left behind. Sneaky fella.
Digging in to the frosting.

Playing with his new Thomas the Train set. He chose not to nap and played with this the whole afternoon and evening. He loves it let me tell you. He talks to them, sings the songs and wants to sleep with them thinking they will be gone the next day. Oh to have such joy.
Happy Birthday Nicholas. We love you!