Lately

It's only Wednesday and this week has been full already! Among other things, we have started potty training. You likely think I'm crazy because Makafui is only 16 months old. Well, I'm starting to think I am too, but there is a reason behind it. I'm all about not rushing kids when it comes to development. Then, Makafui started leaking through pretty much any diaper option. Luvs in a bigger size than he "needs" are our best bet right now, but he can pee out of those too. He also says "pee pee" and "potty" and loves to flush the toilet. He's all about doing things on his own. So I figured I should seize the oportunity and use his independence to my advantage. Also, I really didn't want to start using 'sposies all the time. So we switched to undies, have two potties and a big ol' jar of M&Ms. And do you know what? It's not going as well as I anticipated. Like, at all. Then I read some random blog where a mom was potty training a 3 year old and it was going about as well for her as it is for us, so I felt a little encouraged. I'm not sure what we're going to do. He liked it a lot more when it was a novelty, now that we are full on doing it, he's not so interested...maybe even stubborn about it? We are real chill about accidents and not making it a big deal and we freak out when he does go to the potty with song and dance and clapping and M&Ms. He still pees pretty much everywhere but on the potty...then he tells me he peed! I'm not frustrated with him, but I am a little discouraged by this process. However, I figure if people can toilet train cats, then I can certainly toilet train my brilliant little person. So for now, we just keep at it and plan to get the carpet steam cleaned once we succeed. Undies only at home! Mr. Independent, you need to decide wet undies are yuck and start using those cute little potties!! :)

Really, who decided a poop colored doggie on the butt of training pants was a good idea? Then again, I bought them...

One of the other things we did this week was set up a little learning/creativity center for M. He is loving it!! He goes over to it and sits down to color several times a day. It's so cute! :)

 Want to color, Mama?

 Love this boy!!!!!!

One of my favorite summer treats are Starbucks' Passion Tea lemonades. However, they are full of sugar (even the unsweetened one) I have to get out of the car and take M in to buy one, and they cost like $4! So I started making them at home and they are just as good!! 1 Tazo Passion Teabag + 1/2c.  lemon juice + 1/4c.Truvia Baking Blend + large pitcher filled with water= Awesome! It's about $9 for 6 gallons and there will be Truvia left over. Yum, yum!!

My sister and I have started doing a low carb diet, a la The 100 by Jorge Cruz. We are both enjoying it!! My sister is dropping weight like crazy!! Actually weighing is not my thing, but I just want to slim down a little. I'm not sure I'm going to do this for the long haul, but my Sis is pretty committed. I'm proud of her!! My favorite treat is the low carb, healthy chocolate cake made with almond flour and Truvia. Yum, yummmm!!

Have you ever taken a Sh'bam class? It's my new favorite thing! It's 45 minutes of intense cardio dancing to club hits. It's super fun even though I know I look like a fool! I may or may not break out some of my new moves at my little brother's wedding next month....as long as my family won't disown me.

More Phone Pics

Geez I love this kid!!! Here are some new and old pics from G's phone.

Makafui didn't want Mommy's healthier lunch, he wanted G's burger which was pretty close to the size of his head. He definitely ate his fair share!

Piano time with Uncle Jer.

We went to a BBQ this past weekend and the people had two awesomely chill and sweet BIG dogs. Makafui LOVED them! G was a little nervous about them, but Makafui still got some good lovin. It's too bad dogs are so flippin dirty!! He got a very good scrub down afterwards.

And then there was the cat...yuck. This was before it hissed at Makafui.

New skills.

Just. Can't. Get. Enough.

Smarty Pants

Each day, Makafui shocks me with the things he knows!! I know I will forget this later on when he knows even more new things, and I'm sure I will repeat some things I've already noted.

At 16 months...

Makafui counts to 3, usually followed by a hearty WHEEEEEE!

He knows up and asks to go up anywhere with stairs/escalator/elevator.

He recognizes Gigi and Pops' street from his backseat view coming from both directions and starts to yell their names.

He says go and means it. He was commanding a ball to GO this morning (said doe), apparently his ball does not obey very well.

He does not like flies. If they make it into the house he chases them around scolding them, "NO! No, no!!"

He can spot M&Ms from a mile away...sheesh!

He understands what pee pee is, but isn't too interested in putting it in the potty. He will pee pee on the floor, tell me about it and go play somewhere else. Thanks, baby.

He's really warming up to swimming. He will "jump" from the side and has tried to blow bubbles in the water. We're going to try the splash pad again on Sunday, I hope he really enjoys it.

He loves trucks, a LOT! He calls out dump trucks whenever he sees them and fire trucks whenever he hears them. Everything else that's bigger than a car is still a tractor.

He is choosing to communicate, rather than react more and more! Instead of freaking out or going totally toddler on me when he doesn't like something, he tells me that he's "all done" when he's had enough of the car seat, stroller, shopping cart or playing/doing something that he can't just walk away from. It's been so wonderful!! I can usually talk to him and let him know that we are indeed almost done and he'll chill out for a bit until we finish. Running errands has gotten a lot easier!

He loves following directions and getting praise. He's pretty proud of himself. He does well with single commands and can even handle dual commands sometimes.

His kisses have gotten very dramatic and it's super-duper sweet! MMMMMMMwuah! Love, love, love.

He knows candles and herbs smell good (thanks, Gigi, this is a very important toddler skill) he always has to smell the plants and candles at Gigi and Pops' house. The really nice stuff also gets shoved up to my nose. :)

He is obsessed with the dishwasher. He knows how to turn the knob and lock it to turn it on. Unfortunately, he wants to do this about a dozen times a day.

He does not like it when babies cry and tells me, "Oh no! Baybeeee. Oh no!" With a great deal of concern on his face. So. Flippin. Sweet.

Love this sweet boy!

Picture Dump

I found my camera and there were more pictures I had forgotten to post.

 

We clearly love sink baths around here...we try to get Makafui to multi-task and clean at the same time.

We've also put him to work mopping.

We went to the mall a while back and it was a hit!

Pleeeeease can I ride?

 
The first pony he rode had a tramp stamp...I was cracking up, it was lost on those two.

 

He still doesn't know that if you put money in, these things go around, he loves just climbing on them. Yes...let's keep it that way!

Round two...

Our visitors from Ghana made and brought M this awesome top! He's also showing off his hygiene skills.

M loves Liberty, the other dog, not so much... He had just thrown her a treat and was watching her eat it. "Here Wibby!"

Sink baths at Gigi's are even better! Boy sure does love to bathe and brush those teeth!

 

Why yes, that is a vibrating back massager he has on the back door. Don't all kids play with those?

 This is one of my favorite outfits, his matching socks have whales on them. Hee hee.

 Mother's Day

Sometimes he goes in the bathroom sink so I can finish getting ready.

 Bubbles are the bomb!

 

 I love having modular furniture, I think this is the 5th arrangement we've tried. :)

Skillz!

 

So. Obsessed. Could he be any more adorable and fun and cute and sweet?!

Shirt: Is it legal to carry guns this big?

Our Summer Days

We are working on making the most of these long summer days! George has been working a lot lately, we are thankful for the job and blessed by the overtime but it makes for some long days as just M and me. :) Like two of you may care what our days look like, but I will share anyway.

Makafui wakes up pretty early (typically between 5:30 and 6:00) so after Daddy heads off to work around 6:45 we finish breakfast, maybe start a load of laundry, hang out/play pick up the mess, get dressed and packed and head to the gym in the 8 o'clock hour.

After I workout and M plays we may swim or just come home. We pass G's work on our way back, so sometimes we get to stop and say hi. :)

At home, we will eat a snack, then M will tornado through the house and take toys, books, shoes, food and anything else he can reach out of their proper places and put them on the floor or give them a new place. He will also pick up what little trash he can find and throw it away. He'll also put any spare dishes in the dishwasher, as if to say, "Come on Mom, let's get it together."

He naps around 11, for 30 minutes. If I'm lucky I can shower, eat lunch and check my e-mail (or blog) and tidy up. I leave his door open so he can get up and come out on his own, I always crack up when he saunters out of his room and exclaims, "Heh-woah!!"

Once he is up he eats lunch and I clean up again.

Then we check in with G to see when he should get a lunch break, the rest of the day will shift depending on what time that is. We try to be home for G's lunch so we can spend time with him. On Thursdays, we get him and go out for lunch together

In the afternoon we try to get out again and also get some exercise. We will run errands or go swimming, we love to visit with family members, have play dates, walk the mall or IKEA, play at new parks or anything else we fancy!

The countdown for Daddy officially begins at 3:00. I'm not sure why, but it does!

We try to be home around 5ish and get dinner started and work on making the house look a little less tornado-like. :) We like to go out and wait for Daddy if it's not too hot or if M is not too tired.

Depending on how things went, we will either all eat together or M will have his dinner and G and I will eat after he goes to bed.

Bath time is for Daddy and Makafui and gives me a break to either be productive or take a shower alone. :)

If I was successful at wearing Makafui out, he will go to bed in the 7 o'clock hour....yes, that's about 10 hours of sleep! :)

There's not much time for blogging in our day, but we have a great time! Today, Makafui started praying on his own and I love it! He stands still, clasps his hands and jibber jabbers away, ending with a hearty AAAAAMMEEN! Then he's off to whatever he was doing. So cute!

He loves to lead the way wherever we go!

 

And he's gotten very good at climbing in cabinets!

I know I have more pictures, but Master Organizer here has put our camera in a new place...I will look for it tomorrow.

Weekend Ramblings

I quit Diet Dr. Pepper. I know, monumental. It hit me one day juuuuust how many I was consuming and juuuuust how bad they are for me. Thanks to Kristen, when I do want a diet soda, I'll be having a Dr. Zevia instead.

I really want to have a great summer! This is M's first summer as a kid old enough to do anything and I want to get all I can out of it. I think I may make a summer schedule.

Words are great! Our talking machine is the best! My favorite things he says lately are, "Reawy?!" "Ibewightdare" (I'll be right there) "Hey baybeee!" "BAY!" (Babe...copying Mommy calling out to Daddy) "Sauna Hauna " (Shonda Honda) and "peepees".

I knew it was coming, "no" has finally and firmly entered the vocabulary. It started out all cute, "no, no, no" he would say to my parents' dogs. Now, he says it very firmly and with conviction!

I took M to the pool Thursday and there were 6 teenagers hanging out in the baby pool. SIX. Um, go away. After we got there they started talking about jungle fever. Um, I can hear you!

Teenagers are tricky...maybe even scary.

I am sooooo old, I'm sure the teenagers thought so too.

You know who is older though? George. He just started playing on an indoor soccer league and he's in the Men's 30 and Older Division...his teammates are a lot older than just 30. Hee hee.

George's soccer team in called Insubordinate Gentlemen. Kill me!!

I am oh-so-seriously considering giving potty training a try sooner rather than later.

I took a Pilates class this week! It was awesome. Pilates is tricky though, it seems so chill and low impact, but the next day muscles you forgot you had are aching!

I hate baseball and pretty much everything about it...the socks, the pants, the spitting, the blows to the sternum, the Good Ol' Boy culture, the crotch grabbing...all of it. Yuck. I sincerely hope Makafui never shows interest in the sport.

As if anyone "needs" to watch TV, but I'd like a good show or mini-series for the summer. I just finished Call The Midwife. Any suggestions?

G got me hooked on Candy Crush...good game.

I need some good summer meal ideas. I would eat huge salads, fruit and maybe some cheese or cold cuts for protein all summer, but G isn't really feelin' it. Ha!

Tomorrow is my future sister-in-law's Bridal Shower. I'm excited and I hope she loves what we have put together.

Today, my mom, sister and both our babies went out to breakfast and shopping for the shower. Something amazing happened. BOTH children were calm, happy and frankly, low maintenance for the entire. time. There were very few tears shed.

Later in the day, my little family hit up the Quarry Splash Pad again. It was much warmer this time and M was slightly more adventurous. We had fun and I have faith he'll be running into the water on his own later in the summer.

Happy Weekend!