Phoebe on video

Here are a couple Phoebe videos....one in the exersaucer:



And one jumping:

Hello, friends!

Owen sings constantly these days. He comes home from preschool singing songs, and has learned a ton at AWANA too. This particular song is one he sings most often, and is a greeting song they do at school. Since Lewis was in the same class last year, he knows the song too, but has never sung along until tonight. This is very typical for him, to hear people singing a song, or hear it playing and then go in his room and plunk it out on the piano with little effort.

bikes 'n trikes

Not too long ago (we are catching up A BIT with the blog), Grandparents Shepherd were visiting and determined that Lewis had to have a real big boy bike. So, we took the bike fund and found Lewis a reasonable bike with training wheels, and got the necessary helmet to go along with it.

Lewis was pretty excited and seemed to take to it immediately.

Owen was a bit frustrated that he didn't get a bike too, but has learned to actually ride the tricycle and not just pull it around. He does like to borrow Lewis' helmet when he's at school.

Lewis has fallen a couple of times, and so some days he is not that confident of a rider, but overall he is doing pretty good!

sibs

These pictures are about a month old, but it was our first attempt to try and get all three kids in one shot together.

Phoebe's 4+ month stats

We had Phoebe's 4 month appointment today, but she'll be 5 months in a week, so it seems kind of late. However, her stats are up to date (percentiles to the day compared to others)....and they are:

Height: 25.5" (70th perc.)
Weight: 16 lbs., 7 oz. (82nd)
Head: 42.5 cm (90th)

So she's big, essentially! We knew that already because she's heavy and roly poly. She's doing great as far as eye contact, trying to roll (she's rolled both belly to back and back to belly a few times, but is inconsistent) and her head control is excellent.

We passed on vaccines again today. We might let her get one shot next month. I dread that decision, honestly! Otherwise, it appears she is on target. She is definitely trying to get a tooth as well. Drooling constantly and I can feel it under the gum. Will it recede or pop out? Time will tell. Phoebe is enjoying her bumbo seat, her new jumper we got for $5 on consignment and her exersaucer. She likes to be vertical and able to look around. She is also sleeping well. Generally at least 8 hrs, often 10-11 in a row.

potty training owen

When Lewis headed back to school, we took the opportunity to potty train Owen with one less child around. We wanted Owen to be potty trained before he went to preschool, but with vacations and activities through the summer, there never seemed to be a prime opportunity until the week before school started.

Using an intense method (that we used with Lewis as shown by our behavior analyst), we spent a couple of days basically on the potty giving Owen lots of juice and taking him potty using a timer, and putting him in underwear from the beginning. He caught on quite well, and when he was successful he got to play with this "special toy."

When he had an accident, we put the toy away. The amazing thing about this method is that the child doesn't have to have all the "ready-ness" signs. Owen seemed to have NO concept of what it meant to go potty. He had NEVER gone pee in the potty before we started. He watched a video while sitting on the potty that first morning and accidentally went and we went crazy reinforcing what he had done. From there he started figuring out control and within a few days he was virtually accident-free as far as staying dry was concerned. Now we are a month in, and he still is not requesting to go on his own, unless we are out places. He almost always wants to go in a public place. At home, we really have to watch the clock and take him at least every hour.

In the solid waste category, Owen had a bit more trouble. He didn't want to do it, and seemed terrified of it, even after having a couple of successful trips to the potty. We used some books including "Everyone Poops," "A Potty for Me" and "Where's the Poop?" to help him get more comfortable with the whole idea of it. Popsicles became a big reinforcer, along with an app on my phone called "Wood Puzzle." We also had to remove his lovey toys that he sleeps with when he went in his pants or pull-up at naptime. If he went in the potty, he earned back his toys. We also used kiddie laxatives to make it easier for him to go.....but now after a month of potty training, we are over the hump and he is doing great letting us know when he needs to go. He is going at other places, with babysitters and we are thrilled! And he is very proud of himself.

Daddy sent this picture to show Owen how proud he was after one of Owen's first successful potty trips.

back to school

On August 4, 2011, Lewis started kindergarten! This is him coming out that first day with a picture of a car on his head (because he's a car-rider). He seemed to have a good day, and has been enjoying it so far. He is in a cluster with first and second graders, so that he has different teachers for reading and math and his kindergarten teacher covers writing. He also gets to visit many other special classes like computers, art, music and even Chinese.

Lewis was kind of surprised to see his old friend, Mr. Patrick, back to help out as his instructional assistant. It's pretty convenient to have someone who already knows Lewis helping him through each day. He's also made some "friends" and allows other kids to give hugs or sit with him at lunch.

This boy, Jeremiah, had been helping Lewis reach the soap when he needed to wash hands. We were sad that he transferred to another school a couple weeks ago. Lewis still says, "Jeremiah is at a new school," here or there. Lewis has already been to a friend's birthday party, and we have run into classmates at the fountain recently too. Lewis doesn't tell us much about what is going on at school, but he seems to like it and they all seem to like him too, which is a huge relief for us.

Owen started preschool on August 15, 2011. He had been riding in the van, dropping Lewis off for over a week and was getting frustrated that he couldn't go.

Here is Mrs. Brandy showing him his cubby. He was a little sad that first day, but has gone willingly and sings songs from school and tells me random facts or things his teachers said. Most of it doesn't make lots of sense out of context, but I like that he tries to communicate about his day. He has been a bit of a bear when he does come home, but overall it is going really well, and we know that he is in great hands at PBC.

Phoebe 3 month pics

These pics are from way back when Phoebe hit 3 months old!



She was enjoying belly time in short spurts.

And during bathtime.

And with a host of friends.