Potty Training for Graham!!!

Preschool is approaching in September for Graham, and we knew tackling potty training would be better soon than later, so we didn't feel any more pressure!  To prepare, I read the blog I wrote about our experience with Jackson, and then re-read the 3-Day Potty Training packet.  Reviewing what we did with Jackson made me feel slightly less anxious...  We had Paw Patrol and Olaf and Sven undies ready to go along with lots of delicious drinks!

First pair of undies...

...and first chocolate milk!

Graham did AMAZING!  I was so, so, so nervous!  It just seems like such a big deal!  He obviously peed all over the kitchen floor for his first experience, and that really upset him.  For the rest of the first day, he kept telling me when he had to go potty!  There were several false positives, when he said he had to go, we ran in there, and then nothing happened, but I'd MUCH rather have it that way!  He did have one accident, because I broke "the rules" a little and we did play outside in the afternoon.  He went in the garage to get a toy, and that was that.  No biggie.  Everything has pretty much continued like that from then on!!!  He is much better at telling when he REALLY has to go, we even have a little lead time when he tells us.  Not very many accidents at all, and we don't have to nag him every five minutes to see if he has to go potty.  We do try to remind him during the day, but he's doing just awesome!!!  We are still using diapers for sleep times, but there isn't any confusion over that, so we'll continue rolling right along!  We have resumed our regular schedule of daily life, and Graham has no problem using public bathrooms, porta-potties, or peeing in the woods!  LOL!  I'm so proud of my Snuggle Buggle :)

Graham is 21 Months!

​Oh, this kid.  We could not love him any more!  He already is showing such a personality filled with humor, tenderness, opinions, and smiles :)  I had every intention of posting an 18-month update at the beginning of December, but, that clearly didn't happen!  Neither did the 19-month update last month, or the 20-month update...  So, here we are with a 21-month update!  LOL  

Graham's vocabulary is definitely improving: mama, dada, touchdown, ball, car, woof, choo-choo, uh-huh and cheese as well as learning to sign "please" and "thank you!"  He mimics us to say, "Shhh..." by putting his finger to his lips and he likes to find any phone (pretend or real) and hold it up to his eye and say, "Cheese!" to pretend to take a picture.  It's hilarious!  He clearly has communication down pat, though!  He understands what we are saying, and he will follow directions to complete simple tasks.  He has entered the phase where he cries really big when he hurts himself, but a kiss makes it all better!  He wants to have a turn to do EVERYTHING!  I just love watching his face as he seriously watches Jackson, and then gets excited to try himself.  Right now, they are very happy chasing each other around the kitchen!

Graham still LOVES to eat!  Hotdogs, pizza, macaroni and cheese, chicken, hamburgers, green beans, carrots, strawberries, bananas, grapes, peaches, pears, pancakes, cereal, peanut butter and jelly, cheese, yogurt, and snacks!  

Graham LOVES books!  That makes this mama's heart super happy!  He is happy with a pile of books for a good length of time, but he really will only sit and listen to a story when it is sleep time and we are in his room rocking.  He insists that the routine include a snuggly blanket covering us as he sits on our lap!  Other favorite toys are the play shopping cart, doll stroller, cars, and the toy kitchen.

This is one happy kid who loves life!  We love him SO much and cannot imagine our lives without him :)

Jackson Albert is FIVE Years Old!

Jackson turned FIVE on October 9th!!!  FIVE!  I can't believe it.  He had a GREAT day starting with celebrating at school!  We took Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with star sprinkles on them to school for snack.  I loved getting to take his picture by the special birthday poster at school.  Jackson loved his special crown and having his friends sing to him.

After school, we went right to McDonald's for a special birthday lunch with Miss Cheata and Isaiah!  The boys had a great time running around and playing with their new Batman toys.

Buddies!

 Sadly, it was a rainy day so soccer practice was cancelled.  But, that gave us more time to open presents and hang out as a family!

 Cute card!

 Glow-in-the-dark gloves!

Stomp rocket!!!

Jackson has grown SO much in so many different areas in the last year!  He is going to school five days a week, and it is so interesting to see the changes.  He tells us so much more about school now!  Last year all I ever heard was what his job was, what was for snack, and if they played on the playground.  Now he can't wait to tell us what they learned!  He is also sharing lots of the songs they sing at school.  I'm not going to lie--my heart is so happy when I hear so many of his classmates excited to see him!  He can count by tens to 100, he can count past 100 by ones, he can count by 3s and 4s to 20(ish), and he can recognize basic sight words.  He plays a fun game he made up all by himself EVERY morning on the way to school: each school bus we see earns him one point and each emergency vehicle or police car we see earns him 20 points.  This has turned into an excellent math activity as we add 20 to various numbers.  He's really getting the hang of it!

Jackson's imagination is in full-swing now, and he is always ready to join his friends in whatever game they are playing (Family is a favorite).  He loves reading, helping with Graham, baking, writing, drawing, riding his bike, and hanging out with friends in general.  We've had several babies born over the past year, and Jackson loves them!  He is so sweet and helpful.  Josh took Jackson out for his first round of golf this year!  They had such a good time, and I can see this definitely being a shared hobby.  Jackson played his second season of soccer and LOVES it!  He also became SO much more comfortable in the water this summer.  He jumps in and can swim a bit by himself without floaties.  He also doesn't mind getting his face wet as much anymore.  PROGRESS! 

Jackson sleeps from about 7pm-7am most nights.  He doesn't take a nap anymore on a regular basis, but if we have something extra special going on at night, I can usually entice him to take a snooze so he can be in a good mood later and stay up late...  As I'm thinking about the past year, I realized that Jackson eats a lot!  I think I probably chalked it up to a growth spurt a while ago, but I just realized it never really enede!  LOL 

Jackson started learning about knock knock jokes this year.  You can imagine what those sound like...  I took him to his first theater movie: "Planes."  On that note, he can recognize almost any Disney song!  Even from movies he's only seen once!  We like listening to the Disney station on Pandora together :)

One of the jobs in Jackson's classroom this year is the flag holder.  They have been practicing The Pledge of Allegiance each day!  He can say the whole thing!

This is the super cute Halloween song Jackson's class learned!

We had Jackson's five-year check-up yesterday.  He got a great report, and more importantly (in his eyes), he was able to get the flu mist instead of a shot!  He weighs 43lbs and is in the 68th %ile.  He is 3ft 8ins tall and in the 73rd %ile.  We can't believe our sweet boy is so old!  It's been a super fun five years, and we can't wait for all the rest ahead of us :)

Jackson is so looking forward to getting on that school bus next year for Kindergarten, but I'm hoping it takes a long time to get here :)

Graham Joseph is 15 Months Old!!!

I decided I would do a post all about Graham after his fifteen month check-up, but it's becoming clear that I should have done a few more before this, since I'm pretty sure I forgot lots of cute things!

Grahammers is our squishy, for sure!  We want to squeeze him all the time!  He is really happy-go-lucky 98% of his life, which sure makes that 2% that he's not happy heartbreaking for this mama :(  He LOVES playing with Jackson...and any other kids!  He especially loves books, balls, music and anything he's not supposed to play with ;)  He spends quite a lot of time rearranging everyones shoes, and he has started trying to put my flip flops on his chubby little feet!!!  He is crazy fast climbing up the stairs, and he always seems so proud of himself!  If he gets upstairs unnoticed, he can be found in our master bathroom turning on the faucet, taking clothes out of the drawers and taking them to the laundry room, in Jackson's room playing, or in Mimi's room if it's open just hanging out since he is rarely in there.  Graham hangs out a lot in the little blue chair--he will take books, toys, drinks over and just relax :)  He gets super excited when we put on his shoes, because he knows he's getting to wander around somewhere--most likely outside!  He LOVES playing outside with our friends in the neighborhood--he especially loves the Cozy Coupe and the little lawnmower.

Graham is a pretty spectacular sleeper!  He goes to bed at 6:30 and sleeps until 6:30 or 7:00 in the mornings.  He naps around 9 and 1:30 for about an hour and a half to two hours.  At naptime, I still snuggle him to sleep, but at bedtime he goes to sleep after some milk, a few stories and a short snuggle.  SUCCESS!!!

Graham has discovered his love of MILK!  I weaned him at the very beginning of August, and it really went well.  First I cut out the naptime feedings, then the bedtime one, and then the morning one.  He really hasn't looked back--phew!  He is so stinkin' cute when he is sitting in his chair watching me bring his milk--his little legs kick, and he shakes his hands, and he has a huge smile!  He is still a really good eater, but he has his picky moments especially when he's teething.  He LOVES slices of American cheese, pretty much all fruit, pancakes, hot dogs, chicken, green beans, and pouches.

 He's not saying a ton.  He does say, "Dada," and "Mama," and he growls A LOT!  LOL  He knows what to do with a phone, a remote, a comb, and socks.  He's doing really well staying with babysitters and friends, which makes  my heart happy--he knows he has lots of people who love him!

Graham's fifteenth month stats:

Height: 30 1/2 inches (25th %ile)

Weight: 26 lbs (87th %ile)

Head Circumference: 19 inches (86th %ile)

Climbing and Walking

 LOVE these two faces!  Graham has been improving his walking skills each day since we got back from Illinois last month.  

I finally got a picture of him taking off across the kitchen, and it comes paired with Graham just wearing a diaper to really show off his delicious thighs :)

He also has learned how to climb the stairs.  All of them!  He has sat at the bottom of them playing on the first two stairs for a long time.  One morning, he just looked up them, and off he went!

Here he goes!

Graham is Twelve Months Old!

 This picture is a hint at how tricky these photo poses have become :)

 (I took these pictures a few days early because I needed this last month's printed for a decoration for his birthday party!)

 Mr. Graham Joseph is ONE YEAR OLD!!!  I am having a hard time with the speed at which this year went.  While I don't think I'll ever feel like I'm getting ENOUGH snuggles and special moments with either of my boys, I have tried really hard to truly appreciate each stage with Graham.  I feel like I've done a good job, but I still can't  believe a year has passed!  On the one hand, our crazy summer road trip from last year seems like FOREVER ago, but it also seems like just yesterday we were toting around our tiny little guy who slept all day...

At his check-up today he weighed in at 24 lbs 3.5oz(88th %ile).  He measured 29 inches long (17th %ile).  His head circumference is 18 3/4 inches (88th %ile).

He got a great report and only two shots!  He still LOVES to eat!  He really is eating all table food now, and we haven't found very many things he doesn't like.  I would say his favorite foods are green beans, ravioli, yogurt melts, hot dogs, ice cream, bananas, American cheese, pancakes and all fruit, just like his big brother :)  The food that stands out that he doesn't love is cake!  He LOVES to dance--he starts wiggling his body whenever he hears pretty much any kind of music--it is super cute!  His favorite song is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  He has made great progress in sleeping--yay!  He goes to bed around 6:30pm and sleeps all the way until 6am(ish).  We do get a few mornings that are earlier, but we are working on that!  If we are home, his morning nap can last two hours.  His afternoon nap is a little less predictable in length, but he does take one!  He really is pretty flexible!  I'm trying to foster that, but also give his schedule a little more priority this summer.  During the school year, he is a slave to Jackson's school schedule--I always feel bad if I have to wake him up from a nap to go pick up or drop off Jackson at school :(

Graham is really busy!  He is super fast when he crawls, he is pulling up on EVERYTHING, and he has stood on his own for a few seconds several times.  He thinks Jackson is HILARIOUS!  We don't always, and that causes some issues since Jackson doesn't REALLY see the need to NOT DO certain things since Graham is laughing hysterically...  They are already ganging up on us!  Graham loves playing--preferably with other kids.  He LOVES balls and is happy to chase one around or "play" catch.  We are seeing an interest in things with wheels too :)  He loves to hear his voice, and the most discernible sound we hear so far is, "Dada!"  I hope he's able to get some words in edgewise with Jackson around... ;)

We love our super smiley little boy!  We have enjoyed this past year SO much, but we can't wait to see even more what this little person will be like as he continues to grow.  We just hope he stays just as sweet and happy :)  Happy TWELVE MONTHS, Graham!!!

Graham is Eleven Months Old!

What a busy month Graham has had!  He continues to be a super happy and content baby--we are so thankful!  We definitely goes with the flow as the second kid...  He has become a much more stable stander, and he is starting to show some interest in the stairs.  We should probably get the baby gate installed sooner than later...  

 He loves to clap, particularly at Jackson's soccer games--he's a fantastic fan!  He hasn't waved in the traditional sense, but he just holds out his little hand towards people, and I'm pretty sure this is his version of a wave.  It also works as a high five :)  Unfortunately for Josh and me, he LOVES when Jackson wrestles with him!  That does not help us make our case for how Jackson needs to be gentle with his little brother since Graham grins ear to ear when Jackson rough-houses with him.  They are ganging up on us already!  LOL

 Clearly, he LOVES to eat!  He will eat anything, including baby food, but more often than not, his meals consist of table food!  He loves pancakes and bananas for breakfast and fruit, hot dogs, chicken, ravioli, macaroni and cheese, green beans, peas, and bread for all other times.  

  We have baby-proofed the play room, so Graham enjoys playing in there with all sorts of toys!  He enjoys trucks, cars, musical toys, stuffed animals, and balls!  He loves to chase balls around, especially the one we have that lights up!

 Showing off his standing skills at Mimi and Bampa's house!

 Showing off his Grahamalicious thighs!

He looks like such a big boy!  I can't believe he is going to be ONE YEAR OLD in a few short weeks...  We are in full party planning mode!!!

Graham is Ten Months Old!

This squishy face has been a part of our family for TEN MONTHS!!!  Where has the time gone???

This one looks like he's going to eat the camera!

Hi there, Mommy!

Silly guy!

We came back from Chicago with Graham crawling!!!  He had taken a few single crawls before we left, but he really took off the last couple of days of our trip.  Jackson really walked while we were with my parents, so I'm glad they got to see a big milestone from Graham too!  Graham obviously had his first flight during his tenth month, and he did great!  He continues to be the penultimate second child--super flexible!  If we are home, he is still between two and three naps a day.  If we are out and about, he is satisfied with cat naps in the car and stroller.  His usual bedtime is 6:30, and he is sleeping all the way through the night now!!!  Sometimes he likes to get up early around 5:30.  But, we know from our experience with Jackson, it's worth it for everyone's happiness to put him to bed when he really is ready, and we can adjust the time back as he gets older.  He is eating really well too--lots of table food!  He loves fruit for sure, but hasn't really not liked anything we've given him.

Thank goodness for hard hats!

I can't see!

What is this heavy thing?

Off goes our littlest construction worker...

Adorable!

Graham is Nine Months Old!

 Well, it is getting a little trickier to get Graham to sit still WITH his sticker ON to take these monthly pictures!  LOL  Graham turned nine months old on March 4th :)  He had his check-up on the 5th and here are his stats:

Height: 27 1/4 inches (11th %ile)

Weight: 23 1/2 lbs (95th %ile)
Head Circumference: 18 1/4 inches (86th %ile)

The doctor was really happy with how Graham is doing!  She did say that although I don't mind getting up in the night to feed Graham, he really doesn't need that feeding.  So, we are sleep training...AGAIN!  Teething, super stuffy noses, and travel have prevented us from making much progress on that front.  BUT, I'm determined to make progress before we leave for Evanston in a couple of weeks!

 Graham continues to be a rolling over champ, but he still hasn't crawled!  He is SO close!  He does get around by rolling and scootching.  He has his two middle teeth poking through on the bottom!  They weren't too terrible coming in, but we knew they were there...  Graham continues to be a pretty happy, easy going baby!  He doesn't have a super-concrete schedule.  He does go to bed around 6:30pm each night, and he is up for good around 6:30am.  He is usually ready for a nap again at 8:00am, which works well on school days because it gives me some time to get  us all ready to leave the house while he naps!  Several shorter naps seems to be his M.O., at the moment, but his disposition is happy and content :)  He has liked everything we have given him to eat and he is now eating three meals a day in addition to nursing four or five times during the day.  He is wearing size three diapers and is in nine and twelve month clothing!!!

I love watching how pleased with himself Graham gets as he tests out new skills!  He is pretty proud of being able to feed himself small pieces of food using his pincer grasp.  He LOVES listening to his own voice and the sounds it can make now!  The smile that accompanies the sound is absolutely priceless!  He gets such joy out of making other people smile--just like his brother when he was a baby! 

This picture is of Graham's sweet little fingers peeking out of a special blanket my good friend, Kim, made Jackson when he was born!  I LOVE using those special items for Graham too!  Kim is due with her first baby (a GIRL!) any day, and I cannot wait to meet her!  She will have to settle for the storebought gifts I have put together since I am not nearly as talented as her ;)

Action Jackson

******

Mr. Graham gets a little update post each month, but poor Jackson has been pushed back to yearly!  But, I wanted to make a point to write down some things about him these days :)  He is almost 4 1/2!!!  Pre-school is going SO well--he LOVES it!  He always asks if he has school as soon as he gets up.  He loves his teacher and his friends.  He seems to get along with all of the kids in his class, but he has made two friends who are true pals :)  That fact makes my heart SO happy!  I was so nervous he wouldn't have anyone to play with and would be left out.  His favorite thing is playing Monster Trucks with several other little boys in his class.  

I cannot believe that he has started to choose drawing/writing pictures during some of his free time!  This boy is obsessed with letters (he has been for a while) and numbers!  His fine motor skills have progressed by leaps and bounds since school started.  He is forming all of his letters on his own, and he can usually make them small enough to fit into a small space.  He is starting to draw pictures of things he thinks up on his own, and I LOVE watching where his imagination takes him!  On February 7th, Jackson read most of his first book: Hop on Pop!  We are stoked!  Josh and I love to read, and I hope he continues to love it too!

They did a unit on space recently in school, and Jackson remembered SO many facts!  He just poured them out as soon as he got in the car.  He even sat down to draw pictures of the sun, Earth, the other planets, stars, and the moon!  

He is enjoying singing songs, sharing rhymes, and taking on more responsibility (clearing his place at the table and setting the table).  Of course, Jackson still LOVES being a big brother!  He likes to help feed Graham and to play with him.  His favorite color(s) changes daily!  LOL  He does remember that my favorite color is blue and Josh's is orange :)  It is really neat watching his little personality take shape, but also watching as he becomes more aware of likes and dislikes of his friends and family. 

We are SOOO proud of our sweet boy!  He has grown so much this year!  We are planning to enjoy the last few months of school and then have fun with some adventures this summer before launching into FIVE mornings of school next year! 

***The story of the video is that one morning we were talking about numbers on the way to school, and Jackson was getting tripped up as he counted between sets of tens.  He couldn't quite remember what set came next.  So, I just counted by tens to explain that those are the special names you need to remember and then you add one, two, three, etc. to the end of each one.  He repeated the whole thing back to me!  I asked him if they had been practicing at school, or how he learned that.  He said, "You just told me, Mommy!"  What a fabulous memory!  Scary, but fabulous!  LOL  The treasures in the video are our incentive program right now.  He earns a treasure when we catch him making a good choice, being on his best behavior, or going above and beyond our usual expectations.  Once he gets 100, he gets this cool train set I have had sitting in our guest room for a while.  I bought it on clearance at Target, but wasn't sure what I was going to do with it.  He found it, and was excited, so I thought if he can earn 100 treasures, he can have the train set.  Plus, some new habits will hopefully be set in place :)

Graham is Eight Months Old!!!

We kicked off Graham's eighth month with sleep training :(  To be honest, I don't mind too much getting up to feed him.  He is so sweet and snuggly, and I love that nursing soothes him so much.  But, i intellectually know he does not need to eat that much, or at all, at night!  Now, he's eating TWO tubs of food with 1/2 cup of cereal for dinner AND then nursing before bed!  He definitely does not need to eat at 9 or 10, so that is the first feeding we cut out.  Sometimes he will sleep all the way until 3, other times just until 1 or 2.  But, that is 6 hours which is "sleeping through the night," so I will feed him then.  He goes to bed between 6:30 and 7 and then is up around 6 or 6:30.  That is a bit frustrating, but I know there's not much to do about it now, and eventually he will sleep later!

Graham LOVES people!  He has the cutest reactions to people paying attention to him.  He especially loves attention from Jackson and Jackson's friends :)  He is really happy...except for the typical 4:30-bedtime time frame :(  It's not too bad though: dinner, bath, and bed. It goes pretty quickly!  He has turned into quite a good napper!  He's pretty flexible if we are out and about catnapping in the stroller or car, and he doesn't get too cranky or anything if they aren't very long.  If we are at home, he is still in the awake-for-an-hour-and-a-half-and-then-asleep-for-an-hour-and-a-half routine. 

Graham is still eating up anything we give him!  He has a tub of fruit mixed with some oatmeal in the morning and then two tubs with some oatmeal in the evening.

We had several babysitters this month and that was rather hit or miss :(  Graham seems to give anyone laying him down other than me a hard time.  I'm assuming that is related to wanting to nurse before bed instead of having a bottle.  We are continuing to leave him with other people, so hopefully we won't have horrible separation issues like we did with Jackson...

I'm writing this pretty late (this is a backdated post), so it's hard to believe I will be writing Graham's NINE MONTH update soon...