The BIG boy and his 6 month brother

I will start with the Big boy in our house, Matthew. We are so proud of him and his accomplishments with potty training. We are successfully out of diapers!! I was pumping him full of fluids, setting a timer and then sitting on the toilet until "it" happened. That was not working and just causing more headache and tears. So I just gave up on that after a week and decided that he was going to go naked. I figured that we have a new carpet cleaner and it will get a lot of use. I started last Monday when he woke up and took off his diaper and showed him where his little potty was and the seat on the big toilet. To my amazement he just went on his own! He must have drank five bottles of water that day and only had one accident the whole day (after peeing about every fifteen minutes for the entire day). Since that day he has only had a couple of accidents. He is waking up from nap dry as well as his night sleep (he still wears a pull up as a precaution at night, but really doesn't need it) . Also as a precaution I still, sometimes, have him wear a pull-up to the grocery store or if we are out and about for a long time, but he won't go in them. The reason I do this is because he still won't tell us when he needs to go. He likes to sneak away and do his business and then come and tell us.

Speech is going good too and Matthew is now going back with Ken without Ryan and I. Matthew threw quite a fit about it last week and there were a lot of tears, but once he was back in his room he was fine. He is telling us longer sentences like "I want crackers, Mommy" or "I see the gross drain" (an all time favorite game for Matthew is to find every "gross" drain in the street) or "Look Daddy, a John Deere tractor" as he points at the tractor in the field. He always has to state the person's name after everything and if you don't respond right away he will talk a little louder until he is yelling and you finally answer him.

We just finished our first week of swimming lessons and will have the rest of the class next week. Since the class is the same three boys from last year we are able to do more things. Matthew LOVES kicking in the water and is starting to get the arm movements down and learned how to pull himself in the water (with me holding him of course). He loves going underwater and riding the water noodles like a horse. Ryan and I are going to take him ( and leave Andrew home) on a special trip next month of Great Wolf Lodge up in Traverse City to celebrate all of his accomplishments and have a special "Big brother" weekend.



Now our sweet, little Drew. He doesn't have a bad bone in his body and seriously is never mad or crabby. He is always smiling and laughing at things and just goes with the flow of things. He is sleeping for 13 hours at night and a few naps during the day. We are starting him on solid food tonight and weening him off breastmilk and onto formula. I have been nursing five times a day this whole summer and not producing anything close to what he needs. This is the same time that my body stopped with Matthew and I am more than fine with it. He has lost all interest in nursing and it is difficult for him to stay eating for more than one or two minutes. He just likes looking around at everything instead. I just took Drew to his 6 month checkup and he is much bigger than Matthew was. Here are his stats:

Weight: #16.15 (50th percentile)

Length: 27" (50th percentile)

He is shaping up the be the bigger, little brother. He got five immunizations at his last visit; one oral and two shots. Luckily the combine some of the vaccinations into single shots for less pokes to the chubby little legs. Remember that happy boy I was talking about...well he screamed when they poked him in each leg and then within ten seconds was laughing at himself in the mirror and back to being happy. He did get a little crabby that night when Norm stepped on his legs, but wouldn't you?!

He is sitting up amazing well and doesn't need supports of any kind. The part that we are going to have to get ready for is his crawling! He has mastered the belly spin to get to ab object, but now he is getting up on his knees and starting to push himself forward. He is all over this house and he is getting quick! Still only two teeth, but he has been gnawing on just about everything, so I think a few more will appear in no time. I think that is it for now, but will post some new pictures of Drew's eating adventures soon. In the meantime, enjoy the most recent albums on picasa.