A Few New Things

A few new things about Braden (9 months) -

He now claps. Not when you clap or when you try to get him to clap, just on his own time when he feels like it. And every time he does clap he has the sweetest little smile. Very cute!

He also is waving. I absolutely love when babies start waving, it's just the cutest thing. Unlike clapping he actually will wave when you wave to him...sometimes. He gets very excited and his chubby little arm just goes flying all over the place.

He no longer likes to go to bed. Not for naps and not for night time. Up until now he loved getting in his bed. I would hold him and rock back and forth while I sang "You Are My Sunshine" and he would just cuddle up on my chest and just relax. Then I would lay him down and he would give me a big smile and then roll over on his tummy and go to sleep. Now when we even walk into his room he will start complaining or crying. And now that he can pull himself up it's even worse because he gets himself up in the corner closest to the door and yells or cries. The other day I went back in there about 8 times and laid him back down and restarted his mobile. I can not stand hearing my kids do the sad cry thing so it's hard for me to just leave him in there. Especially when I do go in there and he's just sitting there or standing looking at me with his head between the bars just waiting. Oh yeah, and he pulls out the pathetic "mom mom mom" sad thing. This weekend though with Matt home he kept me from going in there and it has surprising already gotten much better in just two days. I hope it gets back to happy bed time soon!

A few new things about Alexa (2 1/2 years) -

She is officially completely potty trained. She has been using a potty chair since she was about 18 months but there is so many levels (as all moms know) of potty training. So after a year of ups and downs we are done! She has no problems at all during the day and for the past month we have only had a couple accidents during the night. I was well prepared to have to keep using pull ups at night but she woke up totally dry one morning about a month ago and that was that. It's so great to not have to think about using the toilet at all with her anymore, she now tells us when she needs to go and other than that there's not much discussion. Such a great feeling! (I think it's so funny that for me, and many other moms I'm sure, to see the "baby" things go can be so sad...except using diapers. I think every parent is happy to kiss the diaper stage good-bye!)

A couple weeks ago she woke up talking with a southern accent, totally out of the blue. Seriously the whole day was spend talking like the was from Louisiana or something. Very strange for a 2 year old...and we still have no idea where it came from! Since then she still brings it back a few times a day but not constantly like the first couple days. Sometimes we wonder whose child she really is! :)