Finally!!

Disclaimer: for those of you who would rather not hear about poops and pees, skip this section and scroll down to the pictures :)

Jack got off to a slow start with potty training a few months ago, but he's made considerable progress, especially just over the last couple weeks. He generally wears underpants all the time time now, except for nighttime, and he hasn't had any accidents in quite a while. The only issue we couldn't seem to get past was getting Jack to poop in the toilet. He would always wait until bedtime and then go in his diaper. We tried offering rewards, sitting with him for hours in the bathroom, using different toilet seats, etc. NOTHING worked.

Until...Friday! Out of the blue, our nanny Elif somehow managed to get a successful poop out of him. Many texts and calls were made to Andy and me at work after the big event. Ahh, the joys of being a parent when hearing about poop is some of the most exciting news you've heard all week! I had been a little afraid Jack's poop was just an isolated occurrence, but we had another poop in the potty today!


Moving on--Jack has been enjoying some outings with Grandma and Grandpa during the week, since playschool is over. They've gotten in lots of great trike riding, had adventures at the park, and have even done some arts and crafts. Next week we may try switching things up and having Charlotte spend a day with Grandma and Grandpa.

Big day

Happy 2nd birthday to cousin Parker! Hard to believe he's 2 already. Sorry we had to miss your party.


We spent the weekend at the lake, attempting to do some house and dock repairs from storm damage (very minor). On Saturday, we stopped by a friend's daughter's 6th birthday party and were amazed at everything they had. You can see Jack and Andy riding the carnival ride above.

Jack also amazed us by how gung-ho he was to do everything. He's always been a little timid and hesitant to try new things, but he sure came out of his shell at the party. He wanted to do everything and went full-steam ahead the entire afternoon.

Petting some baby animals at the little petting zoo.

Jack and me being pulled by a pony.

Spinning around

He still doesn't like to get his hands messy! Here's the almost no-hands approach at eating a cupcake.

Dad and Jack in the bounce house. We could not get Jack out of this thing.

By the time we did finally drag him out, he was so red and sweaty that he insisted on going in the lake. We didn't have his swimsuit with us, but he barged right into the water in a diaper.

Toward the end of the afternoon (after he had gotten dressed from being in the lake), Jack stumbled backwards into kiddie pool and got his shorts all wet. So this is how he looked for the rest of the party. Classy!

Charlotte was there too! Here she is making some funny faces.

I don't know if this picture will show up big enough on the blog to really see, but I finally snapped a shot with her tooth in it. She's kind of doing one of her bulldog faces here, poking her lower jaw out to feel her tooth. It's her center, lower tooth, on her right side.

She is finally starting to get some other teeth, though they're either still below her gums or have just recently broken though, so it'll be a while before they're really visible. She's only had the 1 tooth for close to 3 months now. It's so funny to see that 1 big tooth in her mouth, and nothing else :)

Just hanging out

I took a few pictures yesterday afternoon as we were playing and relaxing. Charlotte's gotten good at standing for a little while when we prop her up against something.

She's pretty excited about it! (She just recently started clapping, too)

Jack saying "cheese" for the camera. I was looking back at old blogs the other day and realized that at this time last year, he was just starting speech therapy. Hard to believe that Mr. Chatterbox could barely say any words less than a year ago!

Jack giving Lou a hug.

Charlotte watching what her brother is doing, as always.

Charlotte loves to play with laundry baskets.

Peekaboo!

As Jack's shrieks of indignation when Charlotte plays with one of his toys, or even dares to play with a toy at all, are becoming more common, it's nice to see that there are some moments like this where brother and sister enjoy each others' company.

Memorial Day weekend

Happy Birthday to Uncle Paul!!


We had a very busy Memorial Day weekend. Saturday and Sunday we were at the lake house with friends, including the Cavanaughs and 6-month old Whitney (or "Windy," as Jack says). Here are some cute pictures of Whitney and Charlotte getting reacquainted since the first time they met a few weeks ago.

Apparently getting reacquainted involves a little catfighting.

The kids and I drove home Sunday afternoon--unexpectedly through a huge storm that tore through the Midwest. That was FUN. Power was knocked out at the lake house, so Andy and the remaining guests had a dark night. At least our only casualty for damage was a tear in the boat canopy. Some people lost parts of their docks.

On Monday, Andy's company hosted its usual family Cubs game outing at one of the Wrigley rooftops. We left Charlotte at home with Elif so Jack could get some much needed quality alone time with Mom and Dad. Plus it was blisteringly hot, so I don't think Charlotte would have lasted long.

Here's Jack with Andy and me.


Poor Lou. I bought him a new dog bed yesterday, and this is what happened. Lou was resigned to the floor and only getting to eye the bed longingly.

Last day of playschool

Our little rock star had his last day of playschool today. Hard to believe it's been almost 4 months since he started in February! We are so glad we decided to enroll Jack in playschool. Even though school was only for 1.5 hours, 2 times a week, it was a great learning experience for him.

When he first started, he wouldn't talk at all--the first day he refused to even move from his chair! But the teachers were wonderful and really put a lot of effort into working with him. As Miss Sheila told me, it was their job to make him comfortable enough to want to talk, not to force him to adjust to everyone else's comfort level. I think especially after they introduced some show-and-tell a few weeks ago, he really opened up.

Here he is with his first report card (all A+'s).

The kids have to sit and be still while they're waiting for parents to pick them up. You can see Jack was wiggling a bit because he had just caught sight of me. I love how the little girl is oblivious and poking her butt up in the air--so 3-year old!

Miss Sheila and Miss Julie. They kept gushing over how sweet and smart Jack is, and how much they're going to miss him. Thanks to them, Jack will be in great shape to start preschool in August!

8 Months Old

Hey there, it's me Charlotte. I turned 8 months old today. I've accomplished a lot this past month. As you can see, I'm really starting to enjoy food. Last night I was very excited about peas and spinach. I like Cheerios too, but I have yet to master the whole hand-to-mouth thing. I'm getting better at picking up the Cheerios, but I can't always figure out how to let go of them.

Mom says I'm getting very close to crawling. I lunge forward all the time, but one leg stays stuck under me.

This is usually how I end up.

I think Lou is pretty tasty.


I've also been talking, screaming, and squealing a lot. I started off saying "ba-ba", then said "ma-ma" quite a bit around Mother's Day, and now I've tired of that and am back to "ba-ba" and sometimes "ga-ga".

I've also realized that I can get reactions out of people with my antics. As long as Mom laughs, I'll keep making funny faces over and over again. I also like to do "Superbaby," where I stick my arms out in front of me like I'm flying. I'll occasionally do it on command, but only if I'm in the mood. I sort of did it for Mom here. You can also see me doing my favorite hand-in-mouth babble toward the end.