Just in case you thought we had fallen off the edge of the earth...

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in ions. But never fear, we are all still alive and kickin'. Here's a quick update...

Ellie

Ellie is getting more adorable by the day. Thanks to the pervasive humidity, her head is covered in cute, little ringlets. Within the past 3-4 weeks she has had 10 new teeth break through the skin; hopefully that will help her eat more food. She lost 2 pounds on our trip mostly due to being sick for so long and we are doing our best to fatten her up again (not that she was chubby to begin with though). She has completely fallen off the weight charts for a girl her age.

Ellie is very interested in using the potty. She asks to sit on the toilet 4-5 times a day. The frustrating part is that when you remove her diaper, it's obvious she has just peed. So she does associate peeing and pooping with the toilet but gets there too late. After dinner last night she once again asked to sit on the potty and she had her first real success. She had a productive, uhm, gas passing moment which I didn't realize at the time. So when I took her off the toilet and she sat down in my lap, well, let's just say I was glad her pajamas for the night were protecting me from that productive toot. We all cheered for her and she got to pick out a present from the potty toy basket. The kids spent the rest of the evening on the deck playing with the new doggie bubble blower.

I am reminded every day how different two kids can be. Ellie is a little more destructive than Harrison ever was. Every tangible object falls into one of three categories: it can be dumped out, it can be scribbled on, or it can be ripped to shreds. In addition, she has already learned to get Harrison in trouble. She will hit him or taunt him in some way and after he reacts by pushing or hitting her, she runs to mom or dad in tears blaming Harrison for her pain. I know Mom, this is payback and I know the game all too well (sorry Justin and Nate).

Ellie has started confiscating our shoes and loves to wear my high heeled sandals down the hall. I am amazed at her ability to keep them on and not fall.

Harrison

Harrison is growing up so fast. The other day I was looking at something and he came up behind me and said "that's very odd, mommy". Some days I just don't know where he comes up with these things.

We bought a sandbox shortly after we returned from our trip and Harrison loves to play in there. He would be content to sit there (mind you, this kid won't actually sit in the sandbox because he hates getting dirty) and play for an hour if he ever got the chance. Unfortunately, Ellie has about a 10 minute attention span and after that starts throwing sand off the deck or at Harrison so we sometimes have to go back in the house prematurely.

Harrison has confiscating Ellie's ride-on car and calls it his firetruck. He will pick up one of the toy phones, have a complete conversation with Fireman Sam (a character on a claymation PBS show), and then take off down the hall on his "firetruck" to put out a fire with his fire hose (aka some poles from his playhouse). He has a great imagination and loves to play.

Last Sunday, the kids were laughing and running around the house; I stopped Harrison and asked what they were doing. He said they were playing "tag-you're-it" (apparently this is one word in Harrison's mind). I don't think Ellie quite grasped the concept but they both loved running around together. I don't really know where he learned to play "tag-you're-it".

Yesterday during lunch, Harrison started singing and doing the motions for the itsy-bitsy spider. Kids are such sponges. I just can't believe what he remembers. We rarely sing this song but I guess it left an impression.

Harrison is still adamant that he does NOT want to use the potty or wear underwear. I am at my wits end; right now I have given up on him and moved on to the next kid. I am hoping that by watching Ellie use the potty and be rewarded he will eventually catch on. I know some of you think I may be crazy to try and potty train Ellie this early but I figure there is a good track record of early potty trainers in our genes (I potty trained shortly after my first birthday and Nana says that my mom was very young as well).

Josh and I doing fine. Josh has spent a lot of time at home taking care of the kids while I lay around wallowing in my pain :) The surgery I had in May hasn't relieved my pain. It doesn't appear as if another surgery at this point would help (at least according to the surgeon I say this week). I am still working with the doctors to figure everything out.

I promise to get back into blogging mode and maybe, just maybe, I will include pictures next time.