Snow Day

We had a beautiful snow day on Tuesday of this week. We saw more snow in Waco than I have seen in my 10 years of being here. It snowed big, beautiful flakes all day long and we accumulated about 4 inches by the end of the day. Most of the schools let out early, so Kelly got off work and came over to play. We decided to go over to Crystal's house to surprise her and let the kids see each other. It was so fun to see snowmen ALL over town as we drove. They were in yards, schools, parks, and we found these 2 outside of an apartment complex. It was so fun to see!
Hannah could not resist wanting to go outside at Crystal's house and play in the snow. She had already been bundled up and stripped out of wet clothes twice, but we did it again just because we could.
Joe figured out how to make and throw snowballs while we were there and no one was safe from his lazer arm!
The kid in Kelly decided that she HAD to go and jump on the snow covered trampoline! She simply could not resist. This is one of the things I love about Kelly...she is crazy and spontaneous with fun stuff like this!
Hannah didn't want Kelly to have all the fun though, so she jumped on to join her.
Oh the joy of a fun snow day!!!

The LONG walk home

Molly and I had to learn a bit of patience yesterday when our 20 minute family walk turned into an hour walk. Hannah was carrying Jason's coke bottle and she decided she wanted to fill it up with dandelions. This was fine at first, but after picking the 57th dandelion and only having the bottle 1/5th of the way filled up, I realized I was getting a bit impatient. It was super cute though seeing her run through some fields full of flowers (er...weeds) and pick them. It was so cute when she would turn around and say "ANOTHER yellow flower!" As if they were popping up right before her eyes (which some people would argue that weeds do!). Anyway, we eventually had to cut off the flower picking since it seriously could have lasted all day. She sure was cute though!

Daddy even got in on the flower picking fun.

One happy girl!!!

This Mommy's heart

I have always heard that "a Mom knows" but I am not sure that I fully understood that concept until last week. Sure, I have had Mommy moments when I knew Hannah was sick or that something was wrong with her. But, lately I have had this "Mommy feeling" about her being in Mother's Day Out. I have loved the program that she is in (and the time it has given me!), but lately things have gone down hill quickly for me. She has 2 teachers in the class, one of whom I really liked and the other I didn't care for much. When she was really struggling with behavior, the one teacher really took her in and cared for her and was firm with her as well. About 3 weeks ago, that teacher left and was replaced. Hannah seems to not gel with either of the teachers in the class now and after a few minor incidents this Mommy now has that Mommy "feeling" that says that things are not right. So, she will be finishing out February there and then will not be attending anymore. I can't tell you how good this feeling is for my heart. One assurance I have that this is the right decision is that I am not sad at all to give up that free time I had. God has given me great joy about having her with me on those days and I know it will be good. Now that she is older it is easier for her to go and do things with me. Anyway, I am thankful to God for those "Mommy feelings" that lead us to action for our kids. What a true blessing that is!

Auburn pasta

I just found these pictures of some really cool pasta that we got for Christmas. We received a package in the mail before Christmas for Jason that said "Go Auburn" on it. My mom had sent it and I really had no idea how cool it would turn out to be. It was Auburn pasta! Who would have ever thought that you could buy this stuff? So, I cooked it up for the bowl game and we enjoyed rooting for Auburn as we ate this yummy stuff! I added chicken, bacon, and feta cheese to the vinaigrette dressing and it was delicious! It certainly warmed the hearts of these Auburn fans!

Fun with Daddy

Hannah and Jason have had this game playing ritual at night for some time now. They chase each other, play hide and seek, and generally get hyped up together. It really is great fun for me to see them have so much fun together. I love the interaction that they have with one another. Since I enjoyed this type of great relationship with my dad growing up, I love that Hannah gets to experience it too. So, here is their own version of hide and seek. Jason jokingly calls it "hunt the seeker" since rarely does anyone stay hidden for long.

Hannah recently has begun jumping off things to us. She was pretty timid about this up until last week when she began jumping into the swimming pool (which is another post entirely, but certainly a LOT of fun has been had in the pool these last few weeks!). So, she has now carried that adventure into her bedroom where she loves to jump to Daddy's waiting arms. So fun!

These videos just make me so thankful for Jason and his great love for Hannah. Truly I could not do this parenting thing without him and I know that Hannah will benefit so much from these sweet days of interaction with her Daddy.

Oh the joys

So, I have been storing up all the funny things that have been said during the last week of potty training. Enjoy!


1. While I was going to the bathroom (without any privacy) Hannah exclaimed "MOMMY, good job, you went potty!!!!"


2. Jason was trying to help Hannah pull her underwear and pants up after she went potty and she adamantly told him "Daddy, that's MY job!"

3. While we were using the potty at CVS pharmacy, Hannah saw someone else's feet under the next stall, so she kept asking (loudly), "Mama, what are they doing? Mama, what is that person doing? Are they going potty?" They made a quick exit at this point.

4. After praying that God would help Hannah learn how to use the potty, Hannah saw Molly going potty outside and exclaimed "God helps Molly go potty too!"

Alright, I think I am done talking about potty training on the blog. I think we are good to go (pun intended) at this point, so I will move on to more exciting things. Hannah is doing great and we have more fiber around than I know what to do with. YEAH for conquering that big step!

Independence

There is actually a lot that I was not expecting when potty training rolled around, including constipation (PLEASE someone tell me how to solve that!!! Nothing is working right now!!!), teaching bladder control, and learning that throwing soiled underwear away is MUCH easier, although more wasteful, than attempting to clean them out. Besides these things though, I was not expecting the HUGE surge of independence that came in the past week with potty training. If you asked Hannah right now, she might actually tell you she could touch the sky...no joke!

Don't get me wrong, I think independence is necessary and wonderful, but in an almost 3 year old, it can get old quickly! She definitely wants to do things on her terms, which is probablimatic since her Mama has her own terms too. You see where this is going right?! We have butted heads more this week than we have in the past year. It has been interesting to say the least. The most interesting thing to me is that even in this surge of independence there is still a big part of her that wants to be cuddled and held more than normal. She is breaking out into her own little person but still wants to know that her Mama and Daddy love her. Last night she was disciplined by her Daddy and right after the crying stopped, she grabbed him for a hug and then asked him to rock her. It was sweet to say the least, and he certainly took up the cuddling opportunity.

I remember studying this exact concept in my graduate classes and I love that I now see it play out first hand. Erik Erikson came up with 8 stages of psychosocial development from infancy through late adulthood. The stage from age 2-3 deals with autonomy in children and their relationship with their parents. It actually discusses the autonomy coming directly from the potty training stage. While, I don't follow all these philosophies, I do find it interesting to see in Hannah what I learned about years ago.

Somersaults and fillers

Hannah has recently figured out how to do somersaults (sort of). She enjoys doing this over and over as she tries to develop her gymnastic skills. I always enjoy the flop that comes at the end...highly technical, I know.

Hannah has added fillers to her language for some time now, and I just find it so interesting. When she is excited about telling you something or is talking to fast, she adds "filler" words and sounds in to help move her story along. It is pretty comical when she does it. So, here she is talking about Molly with her filler words and sounds. I still find language acquisition fascinating and I love to watch her language develop in this way.

By the way...I have NO idea what she is talking about.