As it is that time of year again, I've taken pictures. Maddison was up at 6:30, she was so excited. At 7:30, I had to wake Connor up and he's been quite crabby since. Still, I managed to make him smile for one or two pictures. :D These are two of my favorites:

As some of you know, I’m potty training Connor, my 3 yr old son. They weren’t kidding when they told me boys are more difficult to train than girls! He’s been doing really well for the last week. He strips down and then climbs on the toilet to do his business. I’ve taught him to sit and tinkle, rather than stand since it’s less messy that way and he’s short. :D

The other day, he was watching Kipper on Netflix (he uses my computer more than I do!) and wanted another episode. I told him I’d load another up while he goes potty and he disappeared to the other end of the house where we have a half-bath, just off the garage. The movie was loaded and I paused it, waiting for him to reappear. He didn’t, so I went to investigate, thinking he may need to be wiped. I came around the corner and two things were immediately apparent to me. First, he was pulling up his pants and second I hadn’t heard the toilet flush.

“Did you pee-pee?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I pee-peed.” he replied.

“I didn’t hear the toilet flush, are you sure you went potty?” I asked again.

“Yes, I went pee-pee.” he said a little more assertively.

I checked the bathroom to see if the toilet had anything in it and that’s when I found that he’d locked the door. I unlocked it and nothing was in the toilet. It dawned on me that I had heard the door that goes out to the garage open and close. “Where did you pee-pee?” I asked. He grinned really big and led me out to the door to the garage. A sense of dread filled me as I turned on the light. Nothing was apparent right away, so I asked him to show me where again. Proudly, he led me to the back of my car and pointed. There, I found a stream of liquid from my rear tire to the garage door. He’d taken down his pants and peed on it instead of telling me he’d locked the bathroom door. I had to laugh and tell him that from now on, we only pee in the toilet.

Life with kids is ever an adventure!

The results of my daughter's test scores are in. I got a call last night from the woman who tests the kids for this program. She wanted me to come in at 7:30 this morning to get them with other parents. No can do since I have Connor with me and no babysitter. So, she gave them to me over the phone.

In order to get into the program for next fall, the kids have to score 95% or higher in standardized testing and IQ testing. The normal for kids is to score 50%...so quite a jump in the percentile to get in.

In reading, my daughter scored 96%. In math, she was only at 82% in standardized testing, but this is alright. Since she scored higher than 95% in reading, she is "in". For her IQ, she scored 95% + one year. This means that, were she a year older, she would have scored 95%.

So, she made it into the GATE program. I told her last night that she'd made it and she was really excited. I gave her a big hug and told her she did a good job. :D I then asked her if this was something she wanted to do. She was bouncing around the livingroom, but managed to say, "YES!" LOL So, I guess it's something we will persue for next year.

It shouldn't surprise me, since my sister was teething from birth on. She got her first tooth at two months, so Connor is late by two. LOL The bottom right tooth is popping out and it is SHARP! Put your finger in his mouth at your own risk...he's a biter! LOL

I was making a bottle for my son the other morning. As I put in the scoops of formula in the bottle, I counted, "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi..." Well, my daughter being the smarty pants she is says to me (she loves to be funny), "Hey Mama! If there's a Mrs. Sippi, where is the Mr. Sippi? hahaha Get it?" LOL Yes, dear. I get it. ;D

My daughter is currently being tested for the "GATE" program in her school. It takes about a month to finish the testing, and it's very hard to get into this program. I told her that I just want her to do her best - that it doesn't mean anything if she doesn't get in.

We were sent a note, asking our permission to test her. Of course, we thought it would be a good idea. She's in the first grade this year, but she's so much further than the other kids that she gets bored. And when she gets bored, we get a call from her teacher or the principal because she's done something naughty. *sigh* So, I really do hope she gets in the program and becomes challenged with school.

We aren't these child protege parents who push their kids to do everything. We don't get upset if she fails at anything...which she rarely does.

People ask how she became so smart, what we did as parents. Well, to begin with, we interacted with her and talked to her, pointed things out to her from birth on. We made games out of learning simple things, like colors (she knew most of them by 1 1/2 yrs, which her pediatritian said she wasn't supposed to know! LOL), or words ("P" for p-p-p-Papa!) and simple math (you have two candies...if you give me one, how many will you have left?). Also, I believe a HUGE help was that my mother-in-law took her to church classes on Wednesday nights, starting at age 3. She had to memorize verses and repeat them. She was so good at this, that months later, she still remembered the first verses she did! Definitely doesn't get her memory power from me...LOL

Anyway...I hope for her sake that she gets in the program. If not, I may have to add Karate classes in with the current dance ones to keep her active enough OUT of school that she is good IN school. :D

Here are my two Valentines:



Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Yep, we're having a boy. We got to see him in all his glory on Friday when they did the ultrasound. We also were able to see his little finger pointing at us as if to say, "Hey guys!". LOL But, of course, my husband swears up and down Connor was actually flipping him off on purpose. He claims Connor's head turned to him and then he gave him the bird. *rolls eyes* This is NOT what happened. I think he's just freaking out that he has to be the one to teach our son to be a man. He was getting off pretty Scot-free with only having a daughter that I had to teach to be a woman. Ha! *does happy dance* And he gets to take Connor to the bathroom when he's old enough. Ha! Ha!

It's almost time for the ultrasound. With this baby, I told my husband that we could find out what we're having. He likes to plan ahead, and I like surprises...so with our first one, I didn't want to find out, I wanted to be surprised. But, that was one of many compromises I told him I'd make if we could have another. :D So, on Friday, we find out if we're having a boy or a girl. If this one is a boy, he'll be Connor Bryon. If she's a she, she'll be Evelyn Brook. Here is yet another compromise...I'm not too crazy about Connor and hubby's not too crazy about Evelyn. He says it sounds like an old woman's name. I pointed out that even the old women who bear this name were young once. Ha! So...we'll see on Friday if we're having an Evelyn or a Connor.

Although I'm a lot further along than this, I thought I'd look back on my baby's development. It's just amazing what science can show us and tell us about human development.

A friend of mine sent me to a website that is just excellent. It's for before birth - conception problems, myths, etc - after birth and just about everything in between. If you are pregnant, thinking of getting pregnant or have already had kids, I think you'll like this site.

Here is the first month in a nutshell. There isn't a picture for week three (and that's where they start you out at), but there is one for the fourth!

Third week

Fourth week