Our Little "Reader"

Kyler has been pretending to read his books a lot lately. He has always done this but now he thinks he is reading the words and will point to them as he narrates the book. He apparently pays good attention when we read to him because he gets a surprising number of words correct. Right now his favorite is the lone library book we have, "A Fly Went By." I took some video of him reading it. He even read it to his sister.

Potty Training - Take 6(ish)

Kyler is finally potty trained!!! We knew he could do it, he just apparently wasn't quite ready yet. We had tried a little a couple of months back before Myelle was born (mostly Grandma did the work) but he was uncooperative so we gave up after a day or so. We also tried again at Christmas when Brett was off work for several days to help but Kyler was again not interested in cooperating. So I guess technically this might be our sixth attempt.

The turning point occurred last week. I had been putting him in cloth diapers for a couple of reasons. First, Myelle was wearing them so it wasn't much more trouble to just have two in them at once. Second, they allow Kyler to feel the wetness so he doesn't like them as much. There were a couple of mornings where he would wake up and start playing without me even waking up. During that time he would dirty his diaper and not let me know. He had a couple of pretty bad diaper rashes as a result. I kept explaining that this is why he needs to start going on the potty chair so he won't get ouchies on his butt. Last Thursday morning he did this again so after I washed him up I left him bare bottomed to help the rash heal up. And during that time I got him to go potty on the potty chair.

I left him mostly bare bottomed Thursday and Friday and he occasionally would have underwear on. He was doing pretty good about going on the potty chair. I constantly asked him if he had to go and reminded him not to go in his underwear (or on my floor if he was bare bottomed). We spent lots of time on the potty chair reading books and trying to get the potty to come out. And when he did we would go crazy praising him and he would get a tootsie roll (we have a huge gallon bag full from the parade this summer that we've been using as potty bribes). We were putting him in cloth diapers at night and he would usually dirty them in the mornings before we got him changed.

Over the weekend he started doing even better. He was in underwear pretty much all the time even when sleeping. By Sunday, he only had one accident after his nap when we didn't make him go to the potty chair right away. He was also having trouble pooping on the potty chair and would start to go in his underwear when we would catch him and run him to the potty chair. Starting Sunday night, he did awesome even at night. He would wake up asking for water so I would go in and ask him if he needed to go on the potty chair. He did and I would get him a drink while he was sitting there. So for the past two nights he hasn't had an accident even at night. He is actually waking up to go on the potty chair which I think is pretty amazing. 

He has kept his underwear dry since Sunday after his nap at this point (and it is Tuesday morning). He did start to poop in his underwear earlier this morning but then later went on the potty chair so hopefully we have broken that barrier and we are on our way to being fully potty trained. It is great not having to change two kids' diapers. The next thing is to get him to go on a regular toilet which I think is probably going to be a big battle since Kyler is very stubborn about change (and he sits on his potty so it will be a big change for him). And we also need to work on teaching him to pull his pants down and up on his own so he is completely independent. For now, I'm happy with where he's at and we are so proud of him for finally taking this step. He even said yesterday, "I don't want to wear baby diapers anymore." Yay!

Update 1/25/13: Kyler's last accident was on Tuesday after his nap. He was too busy looking for something and must have forgotten to run to the potty chair. It is now Friday morning. He has the potty mastered and even asked to use the big toilet a couple of times (and was successful). He also seems to have gotten the hang of going #2 as he went twice yesterday, both on the potty without me forcing him to sit and try to go. Instead he asked to go and was able to. Last night he actually got up out of bed on his own, went to the bathroom, pulled his pants down and went potty. I only woke up because he was asking for a drink while sitting on the pot. He still needs help pulling his pants back up most time, and getting them down when he has his jeans on. We are really in disbelief about how well he's doing. I think we'll pack up the diapers today and I don't even see a reason to keep the plastic pants out since he's done so well at night.

Kid Things We'll Miss

Brett came up from the basement the other day laughing at how Kyler had left his toys. This is a rug that he plays on and that is currently residing in the basement (his toy overflow area). I made Brett go take pictures of the set-up because coming across Ky's toys in various settings like this is something I'm truly going to miss when he's all grown up.

The cars are all lined up on the street and there are some Little People gathered together.

They're circled around a trash can. Are they homeless trying to stay warm? And what is the alien doing here?

Improving Speech - The "F" Sound

Kyler talks a LOT but his speech has always been pretty unclear. It's improving more and more but we are consciously working with him to get him to pronounce things correctly. Some things he has the ability to pronounce but falls into his old habits of saying the words the way he always has.

The "F" sound is what we have been working on the most. He used to use an "H" sound in place of the F. Football and firetruck are the words we have been correcting him on the most. But today his little sister was letting out some gas and I had to teach him the correct way to say the word "farted." I never imagined myself high-fiving my son for saying "farted."

Happy New Year 2013!

Have I mentioned that this kiddo is a blast? Sure, he has his whiny crying moments and some disobedient and testing behaviors at times. But there are at least as many times when I think he has the cutest and most imaginative personality and is down right adorable!

We stayed home in our sweats for New Years Eve this year. There is a lot of sickness going around town and we didn't want to risk picking something up and getting Myelle sick so we have been staying in a LOT. I made dinner and got out the New Years decorations from when we used to host an annual party when we lived in KC. Brett picked up some sparkling grape juice and we toasted with the nice crystal wine glasses. Kyler seemed to have a good time at our little party even if it was just the three of us (and Myelle snoozing away most of the evening). When the ball dropped, he even lifted off his hat and proclaimed "Happy New Year!" It was probably our best New Years memory yet, even in our sweats. My how times change!

One of the most fun things is just watching and listening to Kyler play. He loves playing with this Little People and had a ball with the nativity scene this year. I hated to pack it away but it would lose its impact (and some pieces) if I left it out for him - plus he has plenty of other people and animals to play with. The angel had a good time flying around among airplanes. I had many conversations with the wise men, especially the one in red. Baby Jesus went on lots of adventures around the living room. And here is how I found the mish mash of people and animals the other day when I walked into the kitchen...

I read a book with Kyler as he laid down for his nap today. It was an animal picture book so we talked about what all the animals eat and where they live. When we got to the bug page we talked about how cockroaches are yucky because they want to come in the house and eat our food so that's why we have to keep the house really clean and sweep the floors so they don't peek in and see lots of crumbs to eat. As I was mentioning that they would like to eat our food and get in our crackers, he had a teasing look on his face and said, "I will eat a bug sandwich." Then he just waited for my reaction. It was really cute. Then he wanted to know about the ladybugs. I told him that they like to climb on the side of the house and on the windows and it's okay to pick them up since they don't bite or sting. To that he said, "then we put them in their lady bug beds." It sounded like something he saw in the many story books he reads.

Speaking of reading books, I find it amazing that he has not lost his interest in books. Throughout the years and many different houses we continue to see this same scene over and over again. I love it!

9 Months

15 Months

2.5 Years

Christmas 2012

We had another wonderful Christmas this year. We started it off over the weekend by baking some yummy Christmas cookies. Kyler helped decorate a few at the end and he was pretty proud of his work.

He even frosted the one on the bottom right all by himself.

Sunday night we went to Great Grandma Rita's and had Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We had lots of different soups and tons of desserts. Kyler was pretty excited to open his first gift of the season and he enjoyed spending time with his second cousins.

Santa had come when we woke up Christmas morning. Nothing too extravagant but the elves did make a homemade play kitchen for Kyler and Myelle. Santa also left all kinds of fire engine decor for Kyler's bedroom and a couple of books for the kids.

Our stockings were full of candy canes and other candy. Kyler's had some letter and number flashcards too.

On Christmas afternoon we went over to Grandma and Papa's house to open gifts. Grandma found a transportation themed stamp set for Kyler and he loves it. We had a yummy prime rib dinner that night.

The day after Christmas, we went over to Great Grandma and Grandpa Haverkamp's. After eating some turkey and ham, he finally warmed up to all the people and had a blast playing with his third cousins. Someone thought they saw Santa outside and Kyler was really looking for him.

He couldn't stop starting after Santa came in. We made the mistake of having "A Christmas Story" on at home that day which probably didn't help his fear of Santa. Oops!

I wanted to get a picture of both kids on Santa's lap. I think this pretty much captured the moment. It was nuts.

Santa had a gift for Kyler - a little toy four wheeler. And Ky gave him a five before Santa left. Hopefully next year he will be a little more receptive to Santa's lap.

Next weekend Kyler's other grandparents will be coming to visit since we didn't make it there this year. We had a great Christmas with all of our family. It will be even more fun next year when Myelle is old enough to join in the fun.

Snow!

Last year I think we got a real snow only once and I missed my opportunity to take Kyler out to play in it. I don't think he even remembered ever seeing snow before. But yesterday morning we woke up to a few inches of snow so I had to be sure to get him outside while Myelle was napping.

Getting ready to head outside. He had a lot of layers on - I was having flashbacks from "A Christmas Story."

Hiding behind a drift and kicking his way out.

His mittens didn't fit quite right but he was warm and having a blast!

Running through the snow.

Oops - stuck in a drift.

We attempted to make a snowman yesterday but the snow was too dry from being blown around so much. Today it was a little warmer and the snow was starting to get more wet so we quickly went out to make a little snowman. It was Kyler's first snowman. He was SO excited to make Frosty. He kept saying, "he might talk and he might walk" as we were making the snowman.

Checking out our creation.

Our finished product - Kyler couldn't open his eyes for the picture though because it was so bright.

Brett said it looked like Baby Frosty. We did borrow Myelle's hat for our tiny snowman.

Shaking his hand.

Update: Uncle Ment (Brent) came over the next day to make a real snowman. It was bigger than Brent and will be around for most of the winter unless we get some high temps.

The Reason for the Season

Last week, Myelle received a first year calendar that Kyler was very interested in. So I got his 2012 tractor calendar out and we talked about the different birthdays and holidays. I wrote and drew on the calendar so he could identify whose birthday it was. I put a Christmas tree on December 25th and explained that this was Christmas and showed him what the current day was so he could see how many days were left until Christmas. He flipped through the pages and came back to December. He studied that Christmas tree, pointed at the date, and looked up at me saying "that's Baby Jesus's birthday." I was surprised because I had not brought up Jesus while we were looking at the calendar. He knows the Christmas story because we have a children's book about the first Christmas and we play out the story with his Little People nativity set. I was so proud that he had been absorbing what we have been talking about, that a two-year-old can remember better than many adults what Christmas really is. I hope he always remembers what this holiday is truly about!

Imagination

Kyler's imagination keeps getting bigger and bigger as he grows. He seems to have an imaginary friend around most of the day. It's not always the same friend but there are a consistent cast of characters - Willie, Papa, Uncle Brent, Santa, Rudolph the reindeer, and Rudolph's mama and dada are the current ones. He plays football and jumps around the living room with Willie, Papa, and Uncle Brent. Papa also goes on a boat with him in Myelle's room and swims in the water. I found out that Rudolph is smaller than Baxter, he is little like Myelle. Rudolph and his parents walk around the house with Kyler and do all kinds of things. And he does have a red nose.

Kyler also pretends to talk on the phone a lot. Lately he has been talking to the Grinch mostly. He also calls Grandma, Papa, Uncle Brent, and Dad. Randomly he tells us that there is a bug or snake or spider in the house, and he will pretend to eat them to get a reaction out of us. Last night he found his dad's belt in the living room and was walking around acting like it was a snake. Kyler also pretends that he is wearing a mask. He says he is a ghost or something else and then when we get scared, he acts like he's pulling the mask off the top of his head.

It's a lot of fun watching Kyler play these days. The conversations his Little People and vehicles have often crack us up. He takes his baby Jesus to football games and the wise men ride on trains (our remotes). You just never know what he will come up with next.

Big Brother

Kyler was very excited when he found out from Grandma that he now has a little sister. He came to the hospital with Grandma and Papa to visit on the day Myelle was born. They had stopped to pick up a couple things for Myelle and Kyler was very involved in picking things out and was sure to carry them. At the hospital, Kyler would ask to hold his sister and then would announce "I'm done" within about ten seconds of holding her.

Wanting Myelle to put on her new socks that Ky picked out

Happy to see Mama and meet baby sister

Grandma helped Kyler make a welcome home banner for us. We were all impressed by his art skills when Grandma showed us the Powercat he made. She said he made the initial large shape first and she commented that it looked like a Powercat so then he added the smaller circles and other lines. Unless it was a complete coincidence, I think it's pretty good for a 2 year old.

The banner

Kyler's work of art - a Powercat

Kyler currently has mixed feelings about being a big brother. He loves her and is interested and wants to hold her and help take care of her but at the same time he is not enjoying having everyone's attention divided between himself and Myelle. He has been incredibly whiny and crying a lot more than normal since we have gotten home.

Welcoming baby Myelle home

I wasn't sure what to tell Kyler about me nursing Myelle. So I would just tell her that I had to feed her and she drinks mommy's milk. He was fine with that and apparently didn't pay too close of attention.  He says that the baby is drinking milk from my tummy. The other day I was in Myelle's room feeding her and Kyler was holding his monkey stuffed animal. He told me that monkey needed to eat so I told him to go get his bottle. He replied by telling me that monkey was going to drink milk out of his tummy, lifted his shirt, and put monkey's face right on his belly button.

Gift from Myelle at the hospital

Goofy boy giving us a cheesy smile

Kyler is also having a difficult time remembering that the baby's name is Myelle. He calls her Baby Pat about half of the time but it seems to be getting less and less frequent.