Big Kids

Jillian
Jillian continues to amaze us. A quick review: she went right to walking, and didn't learn how to crawl until after she learned how to walk, and did so at 9 months, she has been a superstar with her eating accepting most all foods we offer her. She is picky at times, but will try anything and for the most part has a pretty good appetite. She transitioned away from the bottle what seemed like overnight. She loves talking to her brother, giving him hugs and kisses, and pretty much trying to do whatever he is doing.

So while Joey is pretty much potty trained, we are still going in to help him out from time to time and Jillian's interest in the potty grows as she sees her big bro sitting there and getting praises for his accomplishments. So, I had noticed that Jillian has been grabbing her diaper in the evenings and early mornings when she first wakes up. At first I thought the diapers were being put on too tightly, but there were no marks and if I put them on looser same result. Each time I would check she would have gone even if it is within a half hour of putting a new diaper on. So I started to think maybe she is putting things together already. I brought her to the potty and sat her on Joey's little potty. Wow, did she give me a big grin and out came some peeps! She held my hands ever so daintily and hopped off the potty and put the lid down. Okay, so it was a fluke, right? Well, she has repeated this action several times over the past couple of weeks, not only on the little potty, but also using the potty seat in the upstairs bathroom before her bath. She has such a proud look on her face, she knows she is a big girl. One day after her nap Daddy was holding her and I asked her if she had to go potty...she jumped out of his lap, grabbed my hand and walked me to the potty to go. I was and still am in shock! I am not doing this regularly or expecting her to be completely potty trained this early, but she sure is amazing me these days! She is also growing up too quickly though too! Jillian has been a trooper and has broken 4 top teeth through while being fairly well tempered. For the sass that she usually has, she sure has taken these teeth really well.

Joey
Some exciting news for the big boy is that he is pretty well potty trained. Sure there is an accident from time to time, but has done a great job. As a reward for his big boy behavior we decided to upgrade his room to big boy status. Joey is totally into Disney's Cars and with the new movie out in July we figured he will probably stay into it for a while. I had been looking everywhere to find borders or something to change his room. He had the Cars themed bedsheets and spread from when he got his toddler bed, but that didn't match the Noah's Arc baby theme decor very well. So he is growing up, which means growing out of his baby room, even if it puts another dagger in to know that the theme of Josh's room is now gone too. The only thing to remain is the blue paint from Josh's room which is the bottom color of Jillian's room (confused yet?). At any rate, Joey loves his new room!

And don't forget...
Java
Java was due for a couple of shots and a quick check up so I had that on my list of phone calls to make. Well, I put it off through the weekend and Sunday night we noticed her right ear a little inflated. Yup...remember this past fall the pictures we posted with her cone of shame because she had a hematoma on her left ear? Well, she wants some more attention, so we are looking at another hematoma surgery next Thursday, this time on the right (side) ear. Hopefully once this is done she will not have anymore ear issues! Additionally, when I took her in today I mentioned to the vet before he could spit it out that she needs to lose some weight. She weighed in at a whopping 79.5 pounds! I asked to see what her weight was last year at this time, and he gave me a few stats: in the fall with her left ear hematoma she was at 77 pounds, so not terribly far off, but last year at this time she was 66 pounds! He gave her the excuse of a long winter which adds some extra weight, but I know I have two toddlers at home that love to keep her belly full! We'll have to work on that one, and hopefully with the warmer weather in sight (please!) she will be out a bit more and exercising a bit more.