Nana

Casey's grandma, "Nana", passed away on July 21st.  We were very sorry to lose her but also thankful for the time she had to spend with the kids.  This is her and Sadie on Easter.  They also got the chance to spend the day together again in June while Casey, Caden, and I were in San Diego.  Sadie was Nana's first great grand daughter and we're so happy they got to meet.

Adventures in Potty Training - Take One

We took our first step towards potty training on Sunday... and had our first set back.  As you can see from his happy dance, Caden loved his new Thomas underwear (we also got Mickey and Lightening McQueen) but he wasn't so keen on actually going in the potty.  The next day he some stomach trouble so in hindsight I think he just wasn't feeling great.  We're tabling the whole thing for now but he knows all about the cool underwear that await him when he's ready so I don't think it'll be too long before he's interested again.

In other news, back to school time is drawing near.  We have parent night for both kids in a few weeks and then we'll be off and rolling.  Sadie is still sleeping in until 10 or 11 am so I'm nervous about how we're going to adjust our schedule to actually make it there in the morning.

And speaking of Sadie, she's becoming more and more communicative - starting to sign and say "more" consistently and signing "help" occasionally too.  She's still working on her bottom two molars but she has 12 teeth total now!  She's been standing on her own for months now and is starting to attempt a few steps here and there. 

She also thinks it's great fun these days to walk all the way up the big slide herself and she just learned how to climb onto the couch.  This means I'm back to not being able to let her be in a room by herself because falling from higher distances head first doesn't seem to upset her much,  let alone deter her from climbing on anything and everything.

Despite that minor frustration, we are having lots of fun playing at home these days.  The kids are at a stage where they truly enjoy each other.  They crack each other up daily playing chase on the slide, hide-and-seek in Sadie's closet, or just making noises and faces at each other from their respective high chairs. 

Caden's capacity for imaginative play has also fully bloomed.  Yesterday he and I spent half an hour before bed "fixing" his dump truck.  I let him take full lead of the activity and he dreamed up and acted out an entire scenario about broken truck parts, tools to fix them, and other vehicles to bring the tools to the job site.  I'm really gonna miss watching that for the 5 hours he's at preschool every week.