Snow Days!!!

Believe it or not, we've had two days off school due to wintery weather in the past week -- and a couple days in the 70s in between our snow days. Here's a photo of Hazel and me enjoying the so-called snow.

Turner did it!

Today was a big day for Turner.

We've all been harassing him for a while, telling him he should use the potty. Last week, Mom got Hazel some new underwear when Hazel stopped wearing Pull-Ups to bed at night. Mom also got some for Turner and told him he could have them when he uses the potty.

Then last night he told Mom he wanted to wear underwear. She said he could try in the morning, but only if he'd try using the potty first. After breakfast this morning, she gave him a new book starring his hero, Elmo, and told him he can only read it when he's sitting on the potty. He was super excited and started taking off his jeans right away.

After reading the book for a really long time, Mom put a Curious George video on for him and told him he could get off the potty whenever he wanted, but if he wasn't on the potty, she was turning off the video. After a while, he told Mom he was ready to put his pants back on because he was finished -- he had peed in the potty!

Hazel and Mom told Turner how proud they are and Mom gave him a new book as a prize. Then Turner called Dad at work to tell him the good news, and Dad told Turner how proud he is of him. When I came home from school and heard all about it, I told him I'm proud too.

Turner tried again in the afternoon, to no avail, but we know he'll do it again soon. At least he is trying.

We're all very proud and super excited for our little guy. Here's to more progress in the potty department! Yay Turner!

Hazel's huge week!

Hazel had a really big week this week.

First, she stopped wearing Pull-Ups to bed, and hasn't had any accidents!

Then today, she sounded out a couple of words in one of Turner's Llama books. Then after school we went over for a party planning meeting with my teacher at school and while we were in my class, Mom gave her the first book in the set of kindergarten readers, and Hazel read the whole thing with no problem!

Mom flipped out a little, and my teacher sent the first 10 books home with us for Hazel. When we came home, Hazel read the next one too. Dad was excited to hear her read the books again at bedtime.

Mom and Dad have been going through a Learn to Read book with Hazel for the past month or two, but this week, the concept of sounding out new words seems to really have clicked with Hazel. It's fun and super exciting to hear her read so well.

Hazel says she is ready for kindergarten, and I guess all this proves it. One day this week when they were dropping me off in the morning, she ran into the classroom and said she wasn't leaving. My teacher and Mom had to kick her out. She may feel ready, but she isn't allowed to start until August.

We are all really proud of her!

State Capitals

I have a new trick. I've been really into maps lately, so Mom got me a couple of maps to hang on my toy room walls. I look at them all the time. The other day I surprised Mom and Dad by telling them I taught myself the state capitals. Dad took this video. I've asked Mom for maps of other countries so stay tuned...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Years everyone. This year I resolve to post on my blog more often. We'll see how that goes.

We had a fantastic New Year. On New Year's Eve, we pulled out hats and noise makers so we could celebrate the coming of 2014. We talked a lot about all of the exciting things that will happen to us in 2014. Hazel starting kindergarten and Turner potty-training were at the top of our lists.

Unfortunately, Mom and Dad didn't let us stay up to midnight, so we did most of our celebrating New Years Day. Mom and Dad stayed up watching New Years celebrations on TV and eating delicious fondue. Mom resolved to get a new fondue pot this year.

On New Year's Day, we woke up bright and early to ring in the New Year. That made Mom and Dad really regret staying up past midnight. We started off the day with Mom, helping her make blueberry muffins and trying our best to keep them away from Irving and Muktuk, two very bad bears.

Later in the day, we went over to our friends Luke and Noble's house to celebrate with other families. It was so fun! There were lots of other kids our age there and tons and tons of food. When it got dark, we got to play with sparklers and even shot off some Roman candles. After that, Mom sat down with us in the corner of the yard while Dad shot off some larger fireworks. It was quite a show. We weren't ready to leave yet, but Mom and Dad knew we've got a lot to do this year, and we needed to start it off with some good sleep, so we drove home.

One funny thing that's already happened in 2014 was at breakfast this morning. Hazel was complaining loudly about wanting something to eat that we didn't have. I told her to stop it this instant or I was going to take her to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and I would make look at every single thing at the store. This was apparently a terrifying prospect as she was immediately quiet. Mom and Dad thought it was hilarious.

Here's to a great 2014!