potty training...

Well, if you have been following our potty saga with Benjamin from the very beginning...it sadly continues! I spoke to my cousin (Claudia) and she told me that she was potty training her son, Levi. We have been potty training Benjamin since he was about 18 months old...well not seriously doing it but that is when he first asked to go on the potty. We have been pretty lazy about it. Leading up to his 3rd birthday we repeated "When you are 3...no more diapers!" When he had his birthday he complied for a day or two and then it was too stressful for him so we went back to diapers.

Well...to make a VERY long story short we are on a mission now. We haven't put a diaper on him since Tuesday afternoon. He only has had a few accidents and he seems to be in a pretty good place with it. He doesn't seem stressed about it (I think we have relaxed about it too-so that helped) and maybe a little excited!? He does know that Levi is also wearing underpants so he might feel like they are learning it together...but apart. We are still initiating his going and hopefully with time (not too much) he will start going/running to it on his own. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he is [finally] going to do it!!

Jumping...

Hannah has been practicing jumping lately. She loves to follow her brother and seems to know her limits in what she can do. They run after each other at the park and around the house all the time. Jumping is one thing that she has been watching Ben do since forever. He can jump off the playground structures, the couch, the front steps, chairs...etc. She has been experimenting with it lately though. She manages to jump with both feet off our front step (just one of them). She loves to hold our hands and make a giant leap off a retaining wall or the playground structure or something. She could (and would) probably do that all day if we allowed it. She is so happy that she can jump off of the step stool with her big brother now! What fun!!

Computer...

Benjamin is trying out the computer. He will want to do some activities on it every day for a week and then he won't think about it for a month. We downloaded some activities for him and he seems to like it (Hannah LOVES it). We bought some new software for him to try and he really likes it. One of the CD's is Reader Rabbit for Toddlers. He doesn't have to figure out the button on the mouse because when he hovers over the part he wants to do, it goes! Kinda cool! He loves to do the alphabet matching part with the train...he is really into trains and this one moves across the screen and there's a little catchy tune to go with it. So he's working on his computer skills and sooner or later he will be better at it than any of us!

umbrellas...

Benjamin and Hannah love the rain! They get so excited about it and want to go jump in the puddles! Today we went to Toys R Us and bought some kid sized umbrellas. They couldn't wait to use them. We barely made it out of the store with them still closed. Luckily it was raining as we left the store so they could use them immediately! Benjamin got a purple one and Hannah got a fuschia one. They are bright colors on purpose...in case they need to be seen. It will be raining here for the next few days so they will get to use their umbrellas a lot! What fun!

Play Town...

Today it was raining and I didn't want the kids to get stir crazy in the house so we headed out to the closest indoor mall. There aren't too many around San Diego so we had to drive a bit. We walked around looking for the play area and found a carousel! Boy that was fun!! Hannah rode on a zebra and Benjamin rode a horse. They loved it and want to go back soon with Daddy.

Afterwards we found the play area called "Play Town"~funny because yesterday we were at Kid City. They had to take their shoes off because the structures were vinyl-foamy (soft) and I guess they don't want the structure to get punctured? Anyway the theme was a town and they had some little convertible cars, a store, a bridge to climb over, funny mirrors and a big turtle to climb on. Benjamin quickly found a little boy to play with and they followed each other around the entire time! They would go over the bridge and slip/slide/fall down it and giggle! It was really fun to watch. Hannah is not into playing with anyone other than her big brother so while he was off playing she ate her cheerios and drove one of the cars near me.

Kid City...

Today we went to Kid City at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. Marissa was with us and we met up with Andrew and Connor. It is a kid section that is set up for them to explore: computers, books, magnetic letters and numbers on a huge board, a factory and a grocery store with a conveyor belt. They had a blast! The highlight was the conveyor belt in the store. There were shopping baskets to push and hand held baskets of fruits and veggies. The kids got right to work with putting the food on the belt and turning the wheel until all the food dropped into another basket or bucket at the other end. Then they would run to the other side and start all over! Another great part was the factory. It had a conveyor belt also but they liked playing with balancing the buckets and pushing the foam shapes through the holes, and dropping the little balls into the tracks and watching them roll down to the bottom. They loved it! We will try to go back on a free entry day!