Good Little Helper

Mason was so cute after we got home today. I asked him if he wanted to help me get the mail, so he drug his little tricycle out of the garage and rode it clear to the end of the driveway (maybe 10 yards) while trying to hold on to his blankets. After he helped me open the mailbox and pull the mail out, he had to hold on to that while he pedaled back up to the garage. Luckily he let me hold his blankets on the way back, but he still had a hard time holding the mail and steering the tricycle. Then he took the keys and unlocked the door for me. He dropped the mail on the stairs but at least he tried!

He has been really good with saying left or right when he points the direction we should turn when driving home. He doesn't always point in the direction of our home, but I guess that means he wants to explore the area a little more!

I mentioned his blankets earlier. He didn't really like blankets for a long time. My mom made him a nice fleece blanket for Christmas in 07 and it took him several months to even let me cover him with it. After a while he really started to like it and then decided that he loved the two blankets that we take to daycare for his naps. One is a Blue's Clues blanket and the other is red with zoo animals. They were left on my doorstep one day by a lady that I Visit Taught who was moving out of town and her son didn't need them anymore. I decided they'd be great for daycare since they didn't really have sentimental value and I wasn't worried about losing them or having to wash them a million times! Well, he is hardly able to part with those blankets now! We can no longer leave them at daycare all week, but he has to take them home every night! In the morning they go with him to the living room. During the day he tries to put them up on the counter and at night he falls asleep on the floor with them (he seldom falls asleep in his bed). If he knows they're in the washer, he'll go down and watch them spin around. It's always fun to watch him cuddle with them when they're warm from the dryer.

The teachers at daycare reported today that he had olives at snack time! I've tried to give them to him before (not recently), but he's never even touched them. I was glad to hear that he tried something new today! He was probably starving since he didn't eat lunch. The hotdog octopus probably made him dry heave! He's a crazy kid! Speaking of eating--Tristyn has taken after her brother and loves string cheese! She'll eat it has fast as I can cut it up. She also likes the diced Gerber apples. I'm excited that she seems to like most everything we put in front of her. That's very refreshing!

I guess I better drag Mason away from the DVR'd Blue's Clues and get him to bed so he can snuggle with the blanket Blue. I swear he's on his 6th episode tonight! At least it entertained him while I fed Tristyn string cheese and blogged, right!? He's learned to say happy and sad from the show recently--so that's the other way I justify it!

Singin' with Celine

My sister DanaRae came down to go to the Celine Deon concert this weekend. She sounds and looks as great in person and she does on CDs! It was a lot of fun watching her and we especially liked her crazy facial expressions! For some reason she clapped for herself after all the songs . . . like she was surprised that she made it through that last super long note! She made it look like going without a breath for 5 minutes was no big deal! I also don't know how she can walk around on a moving stage in those high heals and not fall down. She's a talented performer!

Here's a photo of us. I forgot my camera and DanaRae's batteries died, so these photos were taken with my phone and aren't great quality.

Celine's 'glowing' at the top of the catwalk.


The song from Titanic was her last song (and her 2nd encore). She changed outfits under the stage 5 or 6 times. She had great dancers that entertained us for the 30 seconds it took her to change! Okay, so it may have taken a whole minute!


It was fun to have a night out with DanaRae. I bought the tickets about 16 months ago thinking that Dan would want to go with me . . . I guess he doesn't like skinny blondes in tight short dresses!!! Hopefully she'll come back to SLC again soon! The opening act was Gordie Brown, who does impersonations. He did a great Ozzy Osbourne and George Bush!

Thanks for coming down, Rae! It was a fun night!

From the Mouth of a 10 year old

A girl in my Valiant class said the cutest thing yesterday! We were discussing that Joseph Smith probably didn't understand all of the words that he was translating and he needed the Holy Ghost to help him both to translate and to understand the meaning of the words. One of the girls raised her hand and said "why didn't he just turn to the back of the Gold Plates to the Bible Dictionary"!

Priceless!

On a different topic, Tristyn did get her bottom right tooth a couple of days after my last post. She has also made it through two baths without crying and trying to climb out! That's great improvement! Now if she'd just be happy in her crib all night!

Get her a STEAK!

Tristyn has her first tooth! Her lower left left one popped in over the past couple of days and the lower right tooth isn't far behind! Since her tongue is always sticking out, I doubt I'll be able to get a photo of them until they're more obvious. As much as I love the toothless grins, it will be cute to see her with little teeth too!

Other than being a little restless at night and not wanting to take her bottles at daycare, she's been good and has handled the sore gums pretty well. She's a trooper!

She's currently laying down on our kitchen floor (I really should keep it a bit cleaner). I guess she needed a rest after all that teething!

Eight Months and Growing!

It's been a few months since I've updated about Tristyn. She is just over 8 months and is a quick little monkey! She started crawling around the beginning of the year (7 months) and after a few days she was going from crawling to sitting on her own, then was quickly pulling herself up on things! The past couple of days she's taken steps around Mason's table. Today he was playing with a laundry basket and she stood up and pushed it across the kitchen floor while taking steps! We decided it was time to get out our little walking toy. She was able to walk that for several steps too! She doesn't have the balance to stand on her own at all, but she is one brave little girl and doesn't hesitate when trying anything new! She likes to pull herself up to look in the mirror and to look out the window on our back door.

It's awesome that she'll eat pretty much anything we put in front of her! She likes to have tastes of our food, but will also eat her baby food really well. She especially loves the Gerber Puffs and Little Crunchies. I'm crossing my fingers that she'll always be a good eater! Mason actually ate a whole can of her Gerber wheel snacks today! Crazy kid! I guess it all evens out, because she likes to pull herself up and grab his Eggo Swirls off his table!

Tristyn has been clapping her fists together, so I'm sure she'll be clapping open handed very soon! She likes to chase Mason around is very entertained when he cries or throws a fit! She likes to pull out all the DVDs and we'll occasionally catch her watching Mason's shows with him. Today Mason was playing with his Mater remote control car in the kitchen and she crawled around the island again and again just trying to get a hold of that car! They were both laughing when it went in circles around the garbage can.

She says mamma, dadda, and nanna. She said dadda the most, of course. She says it when she's happy playing and eating. She says mamma mainly when she's tired, hungry, or just whiny.

Although she had a few great nights in her crib, she often wakes up during the night and just wants to be snuggled. I love that she likes to cuddle and will chill on our laps, especially to read stories. She loves it when dad comes home from work and she'll always come to greet either of us when we come into the room. Her favorite is to follow us into the bathroom and she's so fast getting there! She doesn't love baths and really hates to have her hair washed. She didn't mind it when she was really young, but the past couple of months she has tried to climb out as soon as I put her in the water! She does okay if I distract her with a toy and make it super fast. She likes to see what's going on when Mason is in the tub though.

Her hair is finally getting long enough that I could put a clip in it, but it probably wouldn't stay! I'll give it another couple of months. Overall she's a happy and laid back kid! She tough and determined so that might cause problems in a few years. She loves Mason and it doesn't take her long to go looking for him when he leaves the room. Tickling her belly and neck are the best ways to get her to laugh and her feet are also super ticklish.

I could go on and on about my adorable baby girl, but I should probably wrap things up! We love having her fun personality in our home and we're lucky that Mason is so good with her. He has really opened up to her since she's become mobile and he loves it when she chases him (he holds out his tickle hands and says 'get me'). Here are a few recent photos.

Potty Training Bribe

Everyone with kids has done it . . . the bribe to get your kid to use the potty! I've heard of rewards ranging from a new bike to a simple M&M. Mason didn't care much when I told him we'd get him a bike, but we do know that he loves fish! We took him to Petco a couple of weeks ago and told him that if he used the potty that we'd let him get a fish. He sat on the potty for a few minutes in order to even earn the trip to the pet store, but it hasn't really been working! We can occasionally get him to sit there (sometimes willingly and sometimes forced), but he'll never go! I even bought him the book "Everybody Poops" from the last book order and although he loves to point to the pictures and say poop, poop, poop, he really has no interest. He like to wear his pullups and I've even put his Deigo undies on him, but he doesn't get that when he wears those he has to make regular trips to the potty. I can't say that we've been trying endlessly for months because we've really been touch and go with it. I know that we need to be more consistent, but I also wonder if it's even worth messing with until he'll communicate better with us. There have been a few times that he's came to me and led me to the changing table, but for the most part he doesn't care when he's wet or poopy.

So, I'm looking for tips and no-fail secrets on potty training boys! I think he's definately old enough to be moving past diapers (I'm sure his daycare teachers are thinking the same thing)! Maybe I'll just wait until he figures it out on his own!!!

Back to the trip to Petco . . . Mason loved all the fish and he'd run back and forth between tanks. He also liked to visit the bird room and watch the baby rats (he's definately NOT getting one of those despite the young girl that kept trying to convince me that they were great pets for kids). He thought that the cat scratching towers (I'm sure there's a correct name for them) were greater than the jungle gym at the park! He was climbing all over them!

I'll post a few photos later. Sorry, they're on my other computer!

Superbowl XXLIIIXVVII

Okay, so I don't even know what Superbowl it was, but I do know that the Cardinals lost to the Steelers. I also know that there were no wardrobe malfunctions this year--not because I actually watched the half time show, but because there was no extreme excitement coming from the basement at that point.

For the past few years we have hosted a small party for the Superbowl (pretty much anyone is invited if you bring some food) and each year I find that I watch fewer plays and fewer commercials. This year the only two commercials I can really recall are the Mr and Mrs Potato Heads and the Deseret First Rewards Checking (which I had a heads up to watch for). We always have fun when people come over, but I think I'll have to record the game and watch the commercials afterward or something!

Thanks to everyone who came and for bringing yummy food! It's been a week and I still feel full! Now if everyone could cheer hard for the Bears next season so that Dan will actually care who wins the Big Game next year! I think he felt a little lost today without a game to turn to!

(photos to come)

Family Outing

DFCU had a bunch of free tickets to the U of U gymnastics meet last Friday, so we loaded up the family for a night out! Mason loved watching gymnastics during the Olympics, so I wanted to see if he'd enjoy it in real life. We parked at the stadium and took TRAX up to the event center. That was the first time our kids have been on TRAX. We see the 'trains' a lot when we drive to and from daycare, so Mason was way excited to finally be able to ride it! He sat on the seat like a big boy, but was pretty much expressionless the whole ride. He was mad afterward when we had to go back to the car, though.

We met my sister Suzy and her friend Julie and a few of their kids. The first thing Mason did was get down on the floor under the seats! Gross! He did like to watch the big jumbotron and even caught a few of the events down on the floor (we were pretty high up). I think more than anything he was just glad to be out of the house and in a different atmosphere . . . things get pretty boring sitting around the house all winter!

We ended up leaving during the last event so we could beat the crowd on TRAX and I'm embarrased to say that I don't even know which team won (hopefully the Utes)! My neighbor DeVon, who I also work with, handed out the Deseret Duel gymnastics trophy afterward. I didn't hear any obscenities coming from their house, so I assume the trophy went to the Utes!

Here we are riding on TRAX.