Playgroup

Here are some pictures of the kids and their little friends we played with this morning. Their names are Hannah and Haylea, their mom and I have gotten to be good friends through the multiples club. They are only a couple months older than the triplets, they turn 3 in 2 weeks. But, they're the same size and blond, too. So, when we get together it's a mass of blond hair and toddler talk. We're invited to their birthday party at the zoo on Sunday, so I'll have some fun pictures of that next week. They're identical twins by the way, Hannah is in the green outfit, Haylea in the pink. I have a very hard time telling them apart unless they're wearing different clothes.

We've had a good week, I am happy to say. The weather has been positively gorgeous, so we've been outside everyday, playing or even just eating at the picnic table. They've eaten about half of their meals lately outside. We've gone to almost every park on the south side of town. We've also frequented the park bathrooms (they're not as terrible as you might think an outside bathroom might be), and fortunately the kids have gone potty fast and gone back to playing. No accidents at the park. Since I brought the conversation around to potty training, I will give you a quick update.

Grace is completely potty trained. She's hasn't had an accident in almost a month. She will go potty on her own but will also go if you send her. The only thing she needs help with is washing her hands, because she can't reach the faucet to turn it on!

Will is doing so much better! He still has the occasional wet accident, but can go longer stretches without having to go potty. But, the real progress has been in pooping. He will now say "Mommy, I'm pooping." and I'll run him into the bathroom. Sometimes he will not yet have gone, and then he'll do it in the potty. And sometimes, there will just be a little bit in his pants, then he'll finish in the potty. I'll take it either way! We've started rewarding him with gummy worms for pooping (which he loves!) and it seems to be doing the trick. I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!!!!!!

Xander is still the boy who cried pee, but now he's been telling me that he's pooped or peed in his underwear. Most of the time when I go to change him, he hasn't done either one. Occasionally he's right, and he is wet. I'm having a hard time deciding what to do about this. Compounding the problem, he has been refusing to potty anywhere but at home. He started this a couple of weeks ago at the museum and church. But, he has an unusual ability to hold it in for a VERY long time (sometimes 3 to 4 hours). So, he very rarely has accidents when we're out. I send him potty everywhere we go, though, so he knows that he still need to try. I sometimes get lucky and he goes when we're out, but not often and he's very afraid of toilets that flush themselves. I try to avoid those just to avoid the problems.

They are playing better together lately. There are still the fights, and hitting/biting/pushing here and there, but thankfully, less than before. They are still playing choo choo train, a lot!! Their newest spot for the train is under the piano. They get in, put seatbelts on, put the door down and off they go. They travel everywhere, church, grandma's house, park...etc. They are also pretending that they are animals and other things. Their imaginations are definitely growing! You saw them spell their names on the video, but now they are spelling words they see. They don't always go left to right, though. We were at Target the other day, and I heard Xander say "G, E, T, A, T, R." (which unscrambled spells Target) I looked at him and he was pointing to the letters on the side of the building. So, I need to work a little more on left to right things, but I think they're on their way with that skill. We've also been practicing counting objects. At the library, the girl does a lot of finger plays where you count your fingers. They're getting better at it, but their mouths move faster than their finger point, so they end up counting more than are actually there. It'll come, though.

OK, sorry that got a little long. I guess since I didn't write anything last week, I had to make up for lost time. Have a good week everyone. Thanks for looking!