On Friday Hank's preschool group took a field trip to a local fish hatchery where the kids toured the ponds and fish runs, fed the fish, and learned all about the life span of a fish.
Hank loves his preschool class and was excited to play with all his friends (notice the hand-holding).
I could not believe how well the kids all paid attention to our guide. They listened attentively, they followed closely, and they even asked great questions about the fish. They had such a fun time!
I take responsibility, as a novice potty-trainer, for apparently teaching Hank to loathe potty-time. Hank doesn't want anything to do with the potty--obviously not a condusive attitude towards potty-training. Therefore, Hank has taken to doing his duty while we are outside the house, running errands or whatnot. I find it frustrating that he messes his diaper when I am least in a position to change it, so I have been telling him before we go anywhere, that I don't want him to do a poop while we are gone. Mean, I know. Anyways, knowing that we had a full morning of activities, I gave Hank notice that he needed to take care of his job, or else wait until we got back home--there would be no time to change his dirty diaper once we left the house. He chose to wait. Some time later, we were back at the house, and Hank asks me, "Mom, is it okay if I do a poop?" Sensing the opportunity, I convinced Hank to just sit on the potty by bribing him with a treat. Well, when I returned to the bathroom from retrieving the treat, I smelled success! I asked Hank if he dad done the duty, we both took a peak in the potty, and he was just as surprised as I was to see a little poo in the basin!
We wasted no time celebrating, aka reinforcing, this accomplishment. As soon as Aaron got home, we headed straight to the yard where Hank got to take a ride in a pump as a special treat!
Hank was just speechless with excitement. Now if I can just get him to do it again!
Max is so happy to be on the move! I call him my little puppy because he follows along behind me wherever I go, just wagging his little bum from side to side. I love that cutie pie!
Just a few random bits going on with us:
* Max is crawling! He started army crawling about a month ago, then a few days after his birthday he started actual cross-pattern crawling. Watching him crawl is the cutest thing I've ever seen--he looks just like a cute little puppy:) So far he's staying out of trouble but I know my days are numbered before he decides to attack the stairs.
* The other day I caught Hank sitting on the pantry floor with a open jar of Nutella in his lap, a spoon in his hand, and a giant grin on his face. I can't blame him because I use every excuse I can to slather Nutella on just about everything, I was just upset he didn't get a spoon for me!
* Max had his one-year check-up the other day and it seems that his recent crawling has already started to slim him down some. He weighed 25.2lbs (80%) and measured 33 inches (just off the charts) and his head measured 18.5 inches (80%). I think its safe to say Max is just a big kid!
* Hank is loving preschool (and I love the 2 1/2 hours that it gives me to play one-on-one with Max or run my errands!). This morning Hank brought his favorite John Deere fruit snacks to preschool to share with his friends. On the way home, Hank was singing a song I'd never heard. I'm so excited for everything that he's learning.
* Liz and I are furiously working to put together a "Super Saturday" type event and have been busy all week getting our craft projects ready to display. I'll have pictures of our cute craft soon:)
Aaron had a couple vacation days left over that he had to use or lose, so he decided to take this past week off and enjoy a stay-cation. It was awesome to have Aaron home all week long and just spend time together. Aaron had a long list of projects and activities that he wanted to get done, and I think he is a little disappointed that he wasn't able to do more. He had planned on fishing, golfing, and sleeping and we were just too busy to fit it it. We just ran out of time! We'll miss Aaron when he has to go back to work tomorrow, but we had a great week playing together. Aside from the items pictures in the posts below, here are a few of the things we did:
* shopped
* ate yummy hamburgers and home-made onion rings on Labor Day at the Grovers'
* painted with our toes, sang silly songs, and learned about bodies with our crazy preschoolers at our house this week
* coached soccer
* yardwork
* made a quick trip to Portland
* babysat our friends' kids
* YW/missionary splits
* watched silly movies
* stayed up at nigth with a sick baby
With the help of his dad, Aaron organized the chaos that was our garage and built some fantastic garage shelving. I love having my food storage in one accessible place, lined up all nice and pretty.
