The Millers: January 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I'm dancing

It's happening again.....one day your child is 'little' and overnight he grows up. I know, I know. Same story I've been spouting on and on about, but hey! it's my life right now.

So, Eli, who turned 3 years in September, has crossed a couple big milestones in the past 48 hours. I mentioned in a previous post how during the Christmas rush he decided he wanted to start using the potty, and he had two days of moderate success but then he quickly reverted back to diapers and expressed no more interest. Then, last Friday I asked if he wanted to go without a diaper for the day. He agreed and he has made consistent progress ever since! So while we're at home he is using the potty without prompting and without accidents.

But wait! While I am doing my sophisticated "One-more-child-almost-out-of-diapers dance" I impulsively decided to strike while the big boy iron was still hot!

So, yesterday morning I caught him with a 'pat' (or pacifier) while he was upstairs playing (it's been one of those battles that I've kept putting off for another day when it seems more important). All of sudden he looked ridiculously big with that thing in his mouth so I said that one day soon I was going to cut all his 'pats' and throw them away. His response has left me spinning...

Eli: (with great enthusiasm) "Can I do it??"

Me: (mouth gaping, mind reeling with possible side-effects) "Urrr, uhhhh....okay?!?"

So we gathered all his pats (I admit to hiding 2 just in case) and proceeded to cut them and throw them out. I save one carcass for him to hold if he needed it.

Last night, he went right to sleep and slept all night without one request for his pats!!

So now I am doing an equally sophisticated one-more-child-almost-out-of-diapers-and-no-longer-needing-his-pacifier dance. It's a thing of beauty.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Africa

This morning the boys have been watching "The Crocodile Hunter" on tv. When I came into the room, I asked where today's show was being filmed?

Zach answered, "Africa."

I said, "How do you know? Did they say that?"

He said, "No, but there are hippos, elephants and crocodiles." He implied, "Duh, mom!"

Friday, January 4, 2013

Moving on

For the books, I'd say Marcus is officially crawling, in the purest form of hands and knees with forward movement, as of December 30th his 7-month mark! Not content with this achievement, today he started using the stairs to get on his knees and then to a very brief, and unstable, stand!

(Please insert comment regarding: time, flying, too fast, AND slow down!)

Our year to host!

Last weekend we hosted the Miller-Rinas Christmas get together with Steve's family. We had 28 people for dinner Saturday night and 40 people throughout the day and evening on Sunday. Overall it went really well. The big family tradition is a ping pong tournament (where almost everyone participates-even those of us who are lousy players) so our garage turned into a rec room with 2 tables to accommodate the games. Steve was the reigning champ heading into the tournament but he lost in the final game to his cousin Nathan. (Yeah, I know! I didn't know he could lose either!)

The best part for me was that in the midst of total chaos, late nights, lots of people, tons of sugar and no routine, Eli decided that he wanted to start using the potty! It was certainly not MY timing and he isn't 100% trained yet but we are well on our way.