In her dance clothes the first time!

 We successfully put Norah in her dance clothes this morning! We have video evidence that she enjoyed her dance class. But she has refused to put on dance tights and dress every Tuesday morning. Today I just put them on her with her protesting. And she was all proud once that happened!

 

Another Norah potty training milestone

When Norah was potty trained back in January, we wanted her to immediately start having her bowel movements in the potty too.  This had been a tough hurdle with Jackson.  Well, we failed, spectacularly.  Here and there we'd get her to go, but she pretty much saved them for her nighttime pull-up.  We offered rewards (bribes?) of candy or chocolate without any impact.

Tired of dealing with poopy pull-ups, I told her a week before her third birthday that as a three year old, she would have to poop in the potty.  I stuck to my guns, and on her third birthday (which was on a Tuesday, we did the celebrating the weekend before), she spent half an hour on the potty without a movement. 

Over the next few days as she persisted in holding it, we told her that lights out were at 8pm and we would skip story time.  She chose to skip story time.  After three or four days, it became too much and she would have a movement on the potty.  We'd celebrate like mad.  And then she'd hold it another 3 or four days, missing all her story times.

After a few weeks and being really fed-up, especially since she wasn't even trying, I remembered she'd brought home some cookies from school that she was really excited about eating.  I looked at her and said I would throw them in the trash if she didn't poo by bedtime (~20 minutes away).  Screaming, crying, yelling "mean Daddy",...,trying...success! 

Now that was about a week ago, and each time it has gotten easier.  Friday, she went all on her own without even telling us until it happened, and tonight, she repeated the feat.  Fingers crossed that we're past this hurdle...

Norah Squeezing

I wasn't sure if I should post about this, but some day it might be worth a good laugh.

Norah enjoys a strange pastime.  Whenever she is unusually quiet, she is almost guaranteed to be engaged in this activity.  Just woke-up from nap, check.  Killing time before dinner, check.  In timeout, check.

She lies face down on the bed, on the couch or on the floor and when you ask her what she's doing, she responds "squeezing my butt."

On the Couch

In Bed

On the Stairs

In the Pantry

Head cup

Yesterday morning, I was strapping the kids into their car seats and

Norah: "I want a head cup." 
Will: "What was that?"
Norah:  "I want a head cup!"
Will:  "What is a head cup?"
Norah:  "A head cup, like Jackson has!"

I look over at Jackson, and he has pulled his jacket hood over his head (it was cold).  Way to use your words Norah!

Norah and Jackson with new "head cups"

Jackson's first written sentence

Documenting for posterity, Jackson recently showed me a piece of paper and read to me what he wrote.  "A log got hot, hot, hot, hot."

Update:  This was not actually authored by Jackson.  A week later, he brought home a book he had been coloring at school.  One of the pages read "A log got hot.  Hot, hot, hot!"

Fall at Dallas Arboretum

Playtime teamwork

Happy times...