Opposable Thumbs Baby

Reina loves to sit up and hold stuff in her hands. Usually her favorite object is whatever her brother doesn't want her to hold i.e., his shark, his tractor, his firetruck, etc. Sometimes she's happy just holding her chupee (pacifier) and a block to bang it against. If it's something new, she'll turn it around and around in her hands and you can almost see the little wheels whirring as she tries to figure out what it is and what she can do with it. Watching her I feel like I'm looking at a monkey figuring out how to use tools or early man banging two rocks together to make a fire. She's more inquisitive than I remember Will being at this age. Will would roll all over the living room but Reina's more content to sit there and holler until someone hands her something interesting to hold. Here's Reina dressed in her football-watching finest. Those Bronco pants ended up being good luck charms! Here's a picture of Will at the same age as Reina. I like to pull these out once in a while and compare their little faces. Look at those forearms! I loved his little rolls! I haven't written about our daily activities for the last few weeks. On September 20, I ran my first half-marathon with Aunt Vicky and a few of her friends. I'm happy I finished but that last mile was not only the longest mile of my life but also the most painful. I've been jogging all summer but I still wasn't prepared for how badly 13 miles can hurt. But, I'm proud of my accomplishment and look forward to trying another one in October.

It's officially hunting season in the Pauley household. Glenn went antelope hunting last weekend and was successful and we now have a freezer full of antelope steaks again. Glenn shot a pretty big buck - if you are interested in all of the gory details (literally) email us. He's planning on deer hunting this weekend and elk in November. I love months that end in 'ber'!

Will's language has really taken off lately. He is now capable of stringing together pretty complex sentences. Most are in the form of commands or complaints, but I do have to say that it's nice to know what he's thinking. Tonight I was feeding his sister and he was playing with a plastic dinosaur nearby. He brought the T-Rex over to me and informed me that his dinosaur wanted to nurse. Yeah, I didn't really know how to respond to that. I told him that the dinosaur was too big and didn't need "baby milk." Besides the eating habits of dinosaurs, Will remains obsessed with all things firetruck, (the movie) Cars and Thomas the Train. Looks like Christmas is going to be easy this year.

Here's our helpful toddler feeding Reina cheerios.

The Outtakes

"Mom, I'm sitting topless in a giant bowl of cereal. What exactly am I supposed to be doing here?"

"Quick, eat as many fruit loops as you can before mom makes us stop."

"This is a smile!"

"Hmmmm.... I think the exit is that way"

Feel free to add your own captions!

Football, potty training update, ear infections and much much more

First things first, Reina is totally sitting up by herself. She's pretty content to sit there as long as she has lots of things to look at. At this age, Will was rolling around but Reina is more interested in sitting there and analyzing something. Tonight she was sitting on Pop-pops lap pulling out his neck hair. Fun for everyone!

Labor Day weekend was spent enjoying football and a little bit of nature. We went to a bbq hosted by one of Glenn's college friends. The bbq took place along the Laramie River and Will had a grand time throwing rocks and splashing around.

Earlier that day, we took the kids to the UW v. Weber State football game. We only made it until halftime but everyone did pretty well. Will was pretty interested in all of the sights and sounds, and the public restrooms.

Reina was pretty content to sit on laps or snooze in her carseat. She wasn't very bothered by the crowd noise which is another example of 'what they hear in the womb doesn't bother them outside of the womb.' Look - it's a picture of the Elusive Mommy who Doesn't Like Her Picture Taken!

Reina and Dad enjoying the game. She had to wear the pink hat because everyone kept asking us if this was "his" first football game. Here's the complete outfit after the game. Both the shirt and shorts were worn by Will to his first football game. Reina's nose was running in this picture and manifested itself the next day as a double ear infection.

Will loves to play with a doll from my childhood named Jenny. He will routinely put her in the baby swing or sit her on the sofa. Lately, he'll set her in the bouncy seat. One night I came downstairs after the kids had gone to bed and the sight of a little infant in the bouncy seat scared the bebops out of me. For one brief second I thought that I had left Reina sitting there in the dark. I need more sleep.
For those of you interested, Will's potty training is progressing pretty well. Yesterday he just had one accident all day. Today, he made it all the way through school but then peed on the floor of his sister's room because he was having too much fun playing with stuff. We are going to have to steam clean our house when this whole project is done. On the bright side, he really seems to be getting it and I'm hopeful that in a few weeks we'll be in the clear.

One final note, Will has taken to calling me "Lucy" lately. He thinks its hysterical.

Prepare to be overwhelmed by cuteness

A few weeks ago the kids and I headed over to Val Rothwell's house for a photo shoot. In honor of Reina's first six-months, I wanted some professional photos to mark the occasion. I picked up the pictures today and they turned out great! CAUTION: the cuteness factor in the following pictures is through the roof so be prepared....

Well, the angelic-ness couldn't last forever. The photo shoot ended quickly after this shot. Because when you've had enough, you've had enough.

Potty Training

Warning: This post is not for the faint-of-heart, those with weak stomachs, or anyone else who doesn't like to read the words pee, poop, peeing, pooping, or Will's favorite - pookie.

As you can see in the picture above, Will is wearing underwear. In the last few weeks, he's started taking off his diaper when it's wet, folding it into a nice little pile and placing it gently on the floor. Then he runs around pants-less until someone notices. (He's going to LOOOOOVE reading this post when he's older). He's also been waking us up at 3 a.m. to announce that he needs a new diaper because the current one is wet.

So with that in mind, Glenn and I decided to begin the potty-training process this past weekend. We started off using a 3-day boot-camp potty training method and had mixed results. By 'mixed results' I mean, Will would use the toilet and then 15 minutes later, pee all over the kitchen floor. He pretty much peed or pooped on every surface in our house. He didn't grasp the idea that going to the bathroom is something you do in response to a bodily urge, he was under the impression that it's something you do when someone is standing there with a bag of M&M's. Some actors and actressses can cry on command. Our kid can poop on command. With all of the grunting and pushing that was going on, Glenn was getting concerned that Will was going to injure himself internally.

On Monday we sent him off to daycare with underwear and 5 outfits. By Monday night, Will was asking to go to the bathroom and only had two accidents while he was home. Now it's Tuesday and I can say that he seems to be understanding the difference between underwear and diapers and where everything goes. We are still having accidents but he's getting a little better about telling one of us when he needs to go. The M&M's are still helping but I'll worry about that later. As one of my co-workers pointed out to me last week, no one goes to college wearing diapers. Hopefully no one goes to college with a 5-lb bag of M&M's either.

In other news, I spent the better part of Friday morning perfecting Reina's mohawk. Yes, I used styling product on a 6-month old. Then I spent the next half hour trying to get a good picture. Cute picture but the hair gets lost in the busy tablecloth.

Awww, here we go, a side view. What a cutie! Reina, don't wear a mohawk when you are a teenager. Please.