Potty Time/Kennon Crawls

Oh my!! I am usually so on the schedule of weekly updates on the blog but since the weather has been SO NICE out the last 2 weeks I have fallen off the band wagon. I just picked up my camera and realized I haven't even posted the pics of Carter and Maddox and Kennon at the Children's Museum in Iowa City. I will pick a couple of my favorites. It was so nice to see Aunt Brooke and cousin Carter! Thanks to Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean for meeting us and to Grandma Ellen for driving the Knowles' down from Waterloo!! We had a great time, despite the very slippery drive home! So the big update is KENNON IS CRAWLING!! I will try to post some video. Miss Lisa ( our favorite teacher at Kcare) was so excited to tell me when I picked him up yesterday. But, he wouldn't show us his new moves until this morning. He is not very efficient yet, and that is JUST FINE for now! He is getting so big. I can't believe he'll be 10 months in a couple of weeks. I keep thinking he'll get another tooth soon as he has not been the best sleeper in the last week or so but nothing seems to be popping up. He is still a happy boy and LOVES to be outside, swinging or going for wagon rides. He'll even just sit in the wagon and watch Eric work in the garage happy as a lark, the thing doesn't even need to be moving!! He doesn't mind all the cute hats we have for him and he has started waving BYE BYE!! Not quite the full arm swing but he moves it just enough to know that he is doing what you want him to do. He is so close to pulling up on his own on whatever he can get his hands on. In fact I think he may just move right to walking and not spend too much crawling. He'd much rather be standing than sitting. He is eating real food pretty well and we've been venturing to sippy cups here and there. Last week he didn't nurse or take a bottle well at all so we gave him a sippy cup. He did well at Kcare but then decided to go back to nursing so we've put them up in the cabinet for now. Today is DAY 1 of Maddox's potty training 3 day boot camp. We literally threw all her diapers away this morning. There is no going back ( well we actually saved them for Kennon but don't tell Maddox that...Kennon can wear the same size diaper as Maddox now!! ) I have to say this morning I thought we were in for a long weekend but this afternoon has proved to be pretty darn good. She seems to be getting the hang of it and has been in the same undies since about noon ( if I remember right). She seems to be starting to be able to let us know when she needs to go but we still have a long way to perfect that. She was dry after her morning nap, which I was completely surprised about. She is down for her afternoon nap now so we'll see what happens with that sleeping experience. We are not leaving the house and have really dedicated ourselves to helping her learn this. We have been baking, watching moving, coloring, playing playdoh and hanging out with Kennon. The principles we are using do not even recommend going outside. Luckily today has been really gloomy so she hasn't even asked to go outside. She has a potty chart that she has almost filled with stickers and will get a BIG prize when she makes it to the end of the sheet. We have been showering her with juice boxes and all of her favorite foods to keep her hydrated and with plenty of fiber. She hasn't ventured to the poop part yet. I'm pretty sure she probably needs to go but I suspect there will be a big learning curve on that. We will keep you posted. She is really loving the swing set too. I can already say it is by far probably the best investment we've made in the last 8 months! The housecleaning is taking a back seat to all the playing we've been doing outside in the last 2 weeks. The entire neighborhood has been out lately. We were sad to learn a few weeks ago that our favorite neighbors are going to be moving away. So we've been trying to spend a lot of time with Hannah and Charlie ( they are almost the exact same ages as Maddox and Kennon). Hannah and Charlie had a bonfire at their house last Friday. Maddox and Hannah got to experience their first s'more. I didn't get a chance to get a picture as we played defense most of the night trying to keep Maddox abreast of the HOT fire a well as keeping Kennon happy in the outdoor environment ( poor guy....we think he has allergies....his little nose just runs and he coughs pretty much the whole time we are outdoors....we'll talk with Dr. Anderson about it on Wednesday at his 9 months appointment). We had such a good time.

Picture Time

So we made a quick trip to the mall today to get the kids' pictures at Picture People. We were primarily going to get Kennon's 9 month shots but whenever we have available people to operate the camera, allowing Eric and I to play 'keep the kids on deck and happy' we take advantage of it. I am practically sweating by the time we get done after chasing Kennon and trying to get both of them to smile AND sit in a semi-posed position. We got a few good shots. Kennon decided to 'find' his lower lip while we were there instead of giving us the big happy grins has been producing at home all weekend. We managed to get a few smiles though. Enjoy!! The clothes and hats ( minus the polo shirts) are compliments of my great college friend Katie! She keeps us supplied with wonderful camera worthy clothes for Kennon. I have barely had to buy him anything. We are very lucky!!

Bath Time

So Wednesdays and Saturdays are generally bath nights around here for the kids. I usually do Kennon and Eric does Maddox. Don't know why specifically it just seems to always work out that way. Kennon really loves bath time. He especially loves to put the rubber bath toys from Grandma Jean and Grandpa Jim in his mouth. They are just the right size and have the perfect squish factor for his 2 new teeth ( which are getting to be a bit more prominent in the last week or so). He is very aggressive in the water reaching out for all the toys. I have to spot him pretty close, as we can't get any water in his ears now that he has tubes. We put the little ear plugs in but they don't seem to always stay in really well so I"m pretty careful with how active he gets in the water. Yesterday he almost pulled himself up to standing by grabbing onto the water spout. He LOVES standing right now, especially up at the little piano that we bought for Maddox last year for Christmas 2 years ago. I took Kennon to the ENT on Thursday. We met with the new one that is going to take over our case and I LOVED him. Much more personable and he wasn't running out the door as I was asking him questions. I thought for sure Kennon had another ear infection but Dr. Dvorak said his ears looked great, despite his cold/congestion/cough he has had for what seems like forever. He didn't sleep at all Wednesday night, which was what prompted me to take him, but it must have just been the cold or his teeth. Since then he has been doing del,l just left with the cough but back to sleeping and napping well. You can see in these pictures he is definitely feeling better....he has been happy happy happy this weekend. His cheeks are sure filling out and he is growing up!! He turned 9 months on Friday. I can't believe it. We'll have to get him to the mall for his 9 month pictures. Maddox celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday on Friday at school. The director and assistant director dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 and they had green eggs and ham for lunch. Sounds awful to me and based on how many snacks Maddox had when she got home I"m pretty sure she didn't eat a lot. She has really been focused on birthdays lately and I think it is because they've been talking about Dr. Seuss' birthday at school. She keeps telling people and us 'My birthday is in 2 months'. We keep telling her that Kennon's birthday will be in a few months. I am fairly certain she isn't getting it. It will be interesting to see how she reacts at Kennon's party. But, I'm sure as long as there is cake she'll be happy. As you can seem from the pictures Maddox is ready for her bath too. You can't see both feet in the picture but she only has one sock on and it is NOT even her sock. Like I said in the last post she has a sock fetish and really prefers to wear Kennon's. She likes her bath too but it isn't quite as exciting bathing Maddox as it is Kennon. He is discovering something new everyday. Oh by the way the party on Friday was fun. We didn't have a great turn out but Maddox sure enjoyed all the attention and Kennon was just as happy as could be watching everybody watch him! There were just the right amount of people to sit at the kitchen table together right along with Maddox and Kennon in their high chairs. So that was one benefit to not having too many people. It snowed like a banshee Friday afternoon and I think people got spooked. Oh well. Enjoy the pictures/video ( hopefully I'm able to get the video uploaded this time....it is so finicky).