The "Potty Train" - Day 1

Friday, January 30, 2009

Ben slept 12 hours last night, and I guess the extra sleep is making me extra-ambitious. I decided to pick up where we left off with potty training Emma (pre-Ben). I thought I'd better start now in hopes that she'll be mostly done with messes in a few weeks when we leave for Mexico.

We got Emma a new potty for the downstairs bathroom. I guess I had been talking so much about potty training that she started calling it the "potty train" haha.

So this morning we started. I stripped her down to her skivvies, put down a big plastic mat and put the potty on it (the clothes didn't last as you can see in the picture). Then I covered the living room with towels and sheets (good idea, Erin) and put a pile of books next to the potty. Oh, did I mention this was in the middle of the living room? I knew that neither of us could handle hanging out in the tiny downstairs bathroom until she felt like peeing.

My method was to just get her to do it once - to watch her every move and get her to get her pee in the potty just once. Then I would jump around like a nut and praise the heck out of her, maybe give her a chocolate and some stickers afterward, and repeat. Ha.

We waited 2 hours for her to pee. She really must have JUST gone in her diaper or something when we started. At the end of the 2 hours I had to lie Ben down in his bassinet for a nap. I told her I'd be right back. When I returned, she was sitting down on one of the sheets I put down reading a book and she was pointing to a wet spot on the sheet. Ugh. I missed it. Haha what are the chances, seriously? I don't know if I have the patience for a repeat this afternoon, but definitely tomorrow morning we'll try again. At least it happened on the sheet, right?

p.s. Calling all potty-trainers for any tips/advice!

MINNEN RÅTTA

Monday, January 26, 2009

Has your kid ever picked something up at the store and you didn't realize it until you had left? Well, the family packed up this weekend for a day trip to Austin, and we went to IKEA (probably the coolest retail place I've ever been to, by the way). Somewhere along the way Emma swiped this lovely rat. Out of all of the cool toys and nice-looking gear they had there, Emma picked up a rat. Ha. Oh, and it's a lot uglier in person. They make it look cute or something on this web photo. It has this nasty long tail and creepy whiskers.

And MINNEN RÅTTA (the title of this post and the official name of our lovely rodent) means "rat memories"??? in Swedish? Must be something cultural?!?

Ben's Hair Cut

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

After (the back) - Benito to butch

After - the front
Before - the front
Before - the back


Well, let it be a good lesson to me that you don't cut your kids hair unless you know what you're doing.

I wanted to trim up the back because as you can see, he had a huge bald spot and then long hair underneath (haha). So I started with the top with a comb and a pair of scissors. I saw a hair dresser do that once to somebody and I didn't think it looked too hard. But then I got impatient (and so did Ben!) and I just started snipping. By the time I had finished, he had 4-5 bald marks all over the back of his head. I called up the neighbor, Erin (thanks, Erin!) who I knew had an electric hair cutter. She helped me even it out. After it was all over, I was pretty much looking at my son with tears in my eyes. What did I do! He was so soft and fuzzy :(

What do you gals do to get your boys' hair cut?

p.s. Ben went to the Dr. today and weighs 15 1/2 lbs.! And he got his baby blessing last Sunday in church.

Emma Is Two

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Yesterday was Emma's birthday. We were going to take her to the zoo, but Emmanuel was sick. So while Ben took his nap, me and Emma snuck out to get breakfast at Denny's and then to get a balloon bouquet from HEB. Ha I know Denny's is kind of ghetto, but they have the best kid's menu I've seen in town. Emma was playing with her balloons all day, especially the Dora balloon. We had about 5 small gifts for her, but I didn't want to give them to her all at once, so I had her open them up one at a time throughout the day. This way she got to play with it (or watch a movie) for a couple of hours and get bored with it and then she moved on to the next. We had a little cake and some candles for her to blow out after dinner, and she kept asking us to re-light the candles because she wanted to blow them out again. It was all good practice for her big birthday celebration this Saturday.

My Favorite Picture to Date

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Pictures can say 1000 words, can't they? Haha. Although I must admit, the pictured scenario is typically the other way around :)

Video - Chagua

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Chagua - despues de que hablamos el ano nuevo, Emma queria hablar contigo. Tome este video para que veas lo que dice Emma sobre ti :) Y el foto de Ben es cuando estaban hablando en el compu.

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