Pirate Party

The kids were invited to a fun pirate birthday party in February.  The big kids had another party to go to, but these guys were dressed in costume and had a great time!

1st day of Preschool 2012-2013

Jonas and Lachlan are continuing at Northside Preschool this year.  It's hard to believe Jonas will "graduate" in May!  Time is just flying too fast!

Troy took them to their first day since I was with Reef at soccer.

Lachlan is displaying his homework.  That's cereal mohawk you see there.  And you can't tell from the picture, but the craft has Mr. Men stickers on the shirt, and Lachlan wore his Mr. Funny shirt to match.

Jonas isn't displaying his homework because he was still upset that "it wasn't finished".  I thought it was done, but apparently he thought he just needed to let the glue dry before adding more stuff.  Sorry, buddy!

 Lachlan is in Ms. Theresa's class.  I know he will have a blast because we all just love her so much!  I'm hoping she will be able to tone down his "terrible 3's" a bit.

 Jonas is in Ms. Berta's class (note, he is still not happy about his homework and actually cried when Troy left).  Luckily, the tears didn't last long and he's loving the 4's class.  He loves picking out items for the Letter of the Week.

 This is their hallway bulletin.  See that lion on the top row in the center?  The only one with a full mane?  It's Jonas's.  He sat longer than anyone else and was determined to give that lion a perfect 'do!

Lachlan: 3 years old

Well, this is the best 3 year photo your gonna get of this guy!  I had planned to do a "photo shoot", but it never happened, and, to be honest, probably won't!

Big things have been happening here since Lachlan turned the big 3 years old.  The day after his birthday I asked if he wanted to wear underwear that day since we had no plans.  To my surprise, he said yes!  After a couple accidents that day and the next, he's been doing great!  Pooping was a big thing again this go around, but he conquered the fear after only a week.  We are all so proud of him and so glad it's over!

With the potty training came the promised conversion to the big boy bed.  The rail we have only fits on the white crib, so we tried no rail for a couple nights, but he claimed to be falling out.  So, we've added a mesh bed rail, and he's doing great.  We are so lucky that none of our kids have pushed the boundaries and climbed out of their beds!  I'm sure Poppy will be pushing those boundaries, though...

He is sleeping okay, after a bout of crying for us in his room for hours.  He sleeps from 7-7 and 1-3 on a good day.  I can pretty much count on the nighttime sleep; it's the nap that sometimes ends early.

As far as stats go, he weights 30lb 5 oz (37th %) and is 36.8 inches tall (32nd %).  I thought he was taller than that...

These last few months have been challenging with Lachlan.  He used to be so easygoing all the time.  And sometimes he still is.  But when he is in a mood, it isn't pretty.  Hmm, sounds like another of my children....He has also entered a major whining and crying phase.  And did I mention the screaming!  All.The.Time.  I honestly think the screaming/yelling/talking loudly may have to do with persistent fluid in his ear.  We go for a follow up next month on that.  Until then, we are continuing to pray for patience until these "terrible 3's." 

Lachlan is my only child who suffers motion sickness; it's even worse than mine!  On a road trip, he can make it about 2 hours before the vomiting starts.  When we're driving in town, it's sometimes less.  I started medicating for trips to Sea World and may even have to start doing it to get the Dr's office and the Zimmers house!  Poor guy!

Some his favorites at 3 years old: Cars, especially the bad guys; favorite food: treats and chocolate; pizza; my Mr. Funny shirt; Mr. Men books; swinging.
Least favorites: swimming and being hot.  He is really just so sensitive to the bright sun or extreme heat.  His swimming tolerance improved greatly with the purchase of a puddle jumper life jacket.  Can't recommend those enough!
Lachlan, we are loving watching your personality develop and can't wait to see how you change this year!

Lachlan's 3rd Birthday party

Now that he's 3 and really understands the "party" concept, we decided to throw Lachlan a real party this year.  I suggested a Cars party, and he thought it was a great idea.

Now, I'm kind of the "ideas man" in this operation.  Troy is the "get it done man".  He did such a great job!

We (mostly Troy, though) worked for days making the box cars look just like the movie characters.    We had a race track to go with it.

The party kicked off with a bean bag toss into the tire.

This is where she spent her time.

And this is where the birthday boy spent his time!  He couldn't be bothered playing the bean bag game when Miss Colleen was available for reading.

We convinced them all to get in their cars, at least for a minute.  Lachlan took great care in assigning each friend a character.

These boys were the hardcore racers.

Isaiah traded his car in for some swing time.

After they tired of racing, we headed inside for cake.  We did cake before dinner because it felt too early for pizza.  But it's never too early for cake!  It's pink because that's what he picked.

Love that Corbin was assisting with that candle-blowing!

The rest of the food spread.  There were apple cars, a cucumber car, and a stack of chocolate donuts that looked like tires.

These racecar bears were in the goody bags.

After dinner, it was time for present-opening.  Miss Colleen didn't disappoint with a bag full of dinosaurs!

Of course the little ones had to try out the cars!

I think Lachlan had a great day!  He still talks about his party and his next one!

Mom Son Brunch

While Reef was doing this:

I took the other boys to the Mom-Son brunch at church.  After a moody start, they brightened up, and we enjoyed our time together!

Paci Free and Potty Training

When I started this post 3 1/2 weeks ago, I thought potty training would be over...But, it's not.  We said goodbye to diapers cold turkey on Good Friday.  Those first 3 days were rough.  The potty went with us everywhere, including the driveway.

He also enjoyed being naked down below while playing outside.  That sign on the trampoline was perfectly placed!

By day 4, Lachlan had really mastered peeing in the potty and has done great ever since. 

Poop, however, has been a much bigger challenge than anticipated!  He is not usually my stubborn child, but on this issue, he wins the prize! He refuses to go on the potty and tries to hold it as long as possible.  He can get pretty cranky because it's hard work concentrating on not pooping for 6 days.  We added a little milk of mag to the routine to help prevent the holding, but all that's done is lead to some yucky accidents in unfortunate places. I'm hesitant to go back to diapers, so I guess I'll just be patient...He's very excited about getting a new car and going to the ice cream shop when the poop lands in the potty; just not excited enough to do it yet.

In other news, the week before the potty training, Lachlan decided to go pacifier free. He was by far our easiest one. Just one night of crying and he never looked back.  A sticker chart and promise of a new car helped the process along.  I'm happy that our house is now completely paci free since Poppy never took one!

Cowboy Day

The boys had a Texas unit at preschool this year, and it culminated in Cowboy Day.  This was definitely one of their favorite units so far.  I loved listening to them sing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and talk about the Alamo and blue-bombits or blue-vomits! 
Jonas wasn't interested in dressing like a cowboy but Lachlan was all in.  Unfortunately, we didn't have a cowboy hat.  We searched for Troy's but were unsuccessful.  Of course, at that point, he HAD to have a hat.  With 2.5 minutes until it was time to leave, this is what I came up with:

He loved it and wore it all day!