MacKay POOPED in the toilet ! ! !

As a my old boss, and good friend of mine, Julie used to say.... "Here's the poop!" And I mean it like she does too... as in here's the 4-1-1! We have some big news here.... MacKay has now pooped in the toilet, a few times actually. I was hoping he would do it before we left for Gma and Gpa Hoglund's (Bonnie and Dean) on Thursday after preschool .... so he could get his helicopter to bring with, but it didn't happen. Instead, he did it AT Gma and Gpa's house. He was SO proud of himself... running around the place saying "I got a big POOP.... I got a BIG POOP!" He proceeded to poop in his pants a couple more times while we were there, which I blame myself for as I think I missed the cues he was trying to give me ... but as soon as he got back home he was right on track again, and again.... quite proud of himself. Now both of the boys have their prized garbage truck and helicopter.

They both LOVE peeing standing up. They will walk into the bathroom and immediately tell me they want to pee standing up .... and sometimes will opt to use one of the TP tiles I've drawn on for aim... but mostly they are fine just doing it without any "game" to it. They know to "shake it" when they are done (Daddy must have taught them this - or they just observed it on their own), and I made sure to teach them some additional manners by having them wipe off the edge of the toilet (dribbles). I hope someday their wives appreciate me for that. MacKay has become quite independent about it all too ... wanting to do it all himself. There were SEVERAL times MacKay would sneak away and we would find him in the bathroom going all by himself. He also tells us to leave him alone quite often if we do accompany him into the bathroom. And I should note, that since Oscar's first poop in the toilet, Oscar has continued to keep doing so in the toilet with no poop accidents whatsoever so far. Inf act, Oscar has been accident free (except for one accident which I will mention in a second) .... INCLUDING waking up dry each morning for over a week now. The only hiccup we had was at Gma and Gpa's this past Saturday. He told me he had to go (which is great) and we went into the bathroom where he proceeded to boast, like he always does ... "I stayed dry, Mommy." And right after he said that and I praised him he said "I wet!" He had gotten his pants down (not undies yet) and accidentally released a bit. I told him to try stop and gave him an understanding look .... and I don't know if it was the combo of those two things (telling him to try stop and my look) or just his own disappointment but he stuck out his bottom lip and started crying REAL tears. He was so mortified and upset about the situation... I felt so bad for him. I just kept trying to tell him that everyone has accidents like this and that I was proud of him for recognizing he needed to go and getting to the bathroom.... that we just didn't hurry enough to get him ready to go. He seemed fine with that excuse and was right back to being proud for putting the rest in the potty.

I am so proud of these two little boys ... they are doing SO well at this now. I am almost embarrassed to look back at my previous statements about how they were trying me so much and how I thought I would need to send along extra diapers/wipes/diaper bag along with their prom dates ..... and the day where I had completely run out of patience and energy about it all (and recharged by going out with my friend Christy for dinner and a drink) was the big turning point to it all. It was like they saw how disappointed I was about the whole ordeal... how spent I was ... I mean I actual cried a couple times - tried to hide it but they knew. And they totally turned the whole thing around in those next coming couple of days. I will never be one of those people who said it was a breeze .... but I can say that my pride has totally wiped out most of those disappointing details I was focusing on for so long. I would venture to say THEY are about 95% trained. Oscar is definitely borderline 100% trained, especially with his staying dry overnight .... but MacKay isn't far behind. And I stress that THEY are trained.... not me. I always hear these stories about how kids potty trained so well and quickly... but honestly, I think the parents are trained. They are asking every 15 minutes if they need to go, watching the clock etc. I, too, did that at the beginning... you have to. But I can say with pride and confidence that THEY are the ones in control now and are telling ME when they have to go. Sure.... if I know they have drank a lot of juice and might need to go soon I might put the idea out there "Does anyone have to use the potty?"... but the answer almost always is "No, not yet Mommy.... Later." And that is exactly the case because on their own time, much later they will say they need to go. And I'm sure we'll have accidents here and there ... I'm not expecting perfection here. But I do think that all the hard work is behind us .... they have really grasped this and are doing SO SO SO SO well. Way to go boys..... Mommy and Daddy are SO proud of you!

Well, as I said.... we went to Gma Bonnie and Gpa Dean's for a few days late last week. Chris had a surveying conference in St. Cloud Wed - Fri, so Thursday morning I packed up the kids stuff, brought them to preschool, ran some errands.... then Evie and I went to Caribou to relax and play for a bit. Picked the boys up from preschool and we all headed down to Annandale for a few days. The kids had a BLAST down there. Gpa Dean brought out a new game ... Wild West Gun Slinger. The boys LOVED this game. It is a little log platform with 4 spots to put items (broken bottles and cans - all plastic and safe). There are sensors that work with the toy gun to know when it is on target, and when it goes off this little trigger shoots up something to knock the items off of the log platform. It's sheer genius and the kids played this off and on for hours and hours during their visit. They all loved playing hair dresser with Gma Bonnie too. We got them outside to do a little sledding down the hill to the lake, and sledding behind Gpa's tractor, turned snow plow/blower .... They even got to see their cousins, Sophia and Stella, who came to visit while their brother, Jack, was at Boy Scouts (pinewood derby) and celebrating his birthday with some friends out ice-fishing. We had a very nice visit as always and I'm sure we tuckered out Gma and Gpa.

Some news on Evie ..... she's running around saying "Dad" all the time. Proud to learn another word and even knows who it is and points him out all the time. She loves to TRY to get into the fridge when she's begging for more "Joooz" .... and if it is open tries to climb up to the shelves where her sippy and the juice is like she could take care of it all herself. She still runs for her high chair (and climbs in) at first notice of us preparing food.... poor thing is always disappointed when we take her down as the food isn't nearly ready when she wants it. But I am happy to report that I think ALL of her cuspids/canines are popped now. Not fully out, but the last one finally popped out recently and they are all coming in. She was really struggling for some time teething with those ..... off and on for weeks at a time she was just unruly and in so much pain. I am SO glad they have finally popped. Other than that.... she's the same little attitude ridden little diva running around the house full throttle most of the time. Still in her cuddly phase - which we LOVE ..... and wanting to please all of the time. She seems to be going through a growth spurt right now too ..... I'm quickly tossing articles of clothing that no longer fit her into bins to sell (hopefully to my friend Shawna who is expecting in April..... I think it's a girl). Mostly it is her pants....It's like her little legs stretched over night. But even the 24 month shirts she had that were so long and roomy on her are now very fitted. So I've started digging into the 2T stuff that I have and she's fitting into a lot of tops and outfits ... but still seems more geared to 18 month bottoms for now. So I'm betting she's going to be straddling the 2T/3T size come summer..... at least I hope so, cuz next week I am hosting a Matilda Jane Trunk Show at my friend Heidi Nygren's house. The new line (House of Clouds) comes out tomorrow (Tuesday 2/1/11) and from what I have seen on the website and blog, this line is going to be super cute. I already know someone who has seen a preview and they said the girls stuff is adorable.... and the women's stuff is okay, but that phase 2 of the new line (due out in March) will introduce 15 more adult pieces. So I'm hoping we can sell enough at the trunk show for me to get a few items for both Evie, and myself, at reduced cost. So here's my plug... for any of you reading this that might be interested in purchasing any Matilda Jane items (whether from the new line or older ones), let me know and I can put in an order for you at my show. And definitely check out the new line online tomorrow

Well.....onto the MANY pictures we snapped at Gpa Dean's and Gma Bonnie's.... and a few other extras.

Wild West Gun Slingers in action. They liked standing right up next to it to do it themselves... but also liked sitting WAY back with Gpa Dean to help them with their aim.

MacKay with Gma Bonnie and Oscar getting comfy with Gpa Dean while watching Happy Feet. They were learning about penguins in school last week and talking non stop about them... so Gma found an appropriate movie for their interest that day.

Evie enjoying "Wok .. Wok... Wok"ing (rocking) on their rocking chair.... and having a little fun boogying down to some music too.

MacKay doing tons of somersaults for Gma and Gpa's entertainment .... I can't believe he wasn't dizzy after doing about 15 in a row, back and forth across the living room.

More Wild West Gun Slinging... this time with Daddy. Some pictures to note .... MacKay blowing on the gun (like Gma had taught him), but learning yet another lesson from Gma (hand coming from side of picture) in that you never point a gun (real or toy) at a person. Love the picture of Oscar laughing as he got down from Daddy's lap - he was shocked as he hit one all by himself with no help (aiming) from Daddy. I don't know who was more shocked... Oscar or Daddy. And I also love the picture of MacKay sitting between his two proudest admirers.... Daddy and Gpa. The whole gang had fun with this game... while Gma Bonnie kept Evie busy looking through an LLBean catalog. Oh.... and eventually "Mr. Bill"(s) got set up on the log for target practice.

Oscar (curlers) and MacKay (curling iron) playing hair dresser with Gma Bonnie - what a good sport she was.

Sledding fun ... and fun outside. Thankfully the weather cooperated for a few days and got up above (or even AT) freezing, so we ventured out. It was impossible to get MacKay back inside... he even told off Gpa Dean when he told him to come inside "NO... I want to stay outside and have fun in the SNOW!"

Back at home, HAD to take these pictures of the kiddos sleeping. Mainly... of MacKay. I went in to check on them and tuck them back in and found MacKay on top of his bed, upside down..... with his shirt rolled up, exposing the satin tag that he must have been rubbing on his lip when he fell asleep ..... CLASSIC. And just to keep it equal... HAD to capture Oscar and Evie.

MacKay got the Alphabet Bucket again at preschool ..... the letter "M." Fitting. He wrote the letter M quite well several times - which he knows is the first letter of his name "M for MacKay.... M for Me!" and we found quite a few items to shove in the bucket that started with M: a mitten, money, an "M" bath toy, Mavis (Thomas train), an M&M, a Mustang Matchbox car... and lastly.... a picture of Mommy and MacKay (from when he was 6 months old).

Lastly.... I just love art projects like this... the ones where they do hand prints or footprints. I keep most (let's admit it, almost all) of their artwork, though I probably need to start being more picky about what I retain ..... but I will ALWAYS treasure these pieces and keep these. Here the boys made penguins out of stamping their hands and their feet [Top: MacKay; Bottom: Oscar]

Well that is it for now. If you get the chance... try out Amy Klobuchar's award winning Taconite Tater Tot Hotdish recipe available online. We made it last night and LOVED it. Classic meat and potatoes, nothing too complicated ..... real Minnesotan meal.