speed crawler

I think Emma is practicing to become a speed crawler...she definitely knows that she can get there faster if she crawls and she only walks if you hold her hands. If you let go she sits down...so she is following two of her brothers' footsteps. Like I said before...I am in no hurry for her to walk. Carlos will have an interesting life once she is mobile.
She loves going up the stairs and will show off that skill several times a day. Mommy has to be quick if we are already upstairs because she make a run to the stairs when she know that we are coming down. She has not attemted down the stairs, but I will have to show her. I know that she will learn that quickly, just like getting off the beds and sofas.
She will also try to hit and when she is told no....she gives you a cute laugh or smile. Her daddy claims that she has learned Diva qualities from her friend Aimee Grace. However it is just her being a girl. On the trip to Houston one minute she screams because Carlos is touching her or trying to hold her hand...and then 2 minutes later, she is screaming because Carlos will not hold her hand. girls...go figure!

tenders and boys being boys

Just a heads up, this is not about a food. So awhile back JP and I had discussed how we never gave the boys a name for their boy parts. Apparently Kung Fu Panda has done that for us. Both of the boys can be heard making comments about their "tenders." Yeterday the radio was on and the boys were dancing, and I even overheard Sammy say he was spanking his tenders. His back was towards me, so I really don't know what he was doing, except being a boy.
They both have think that booty and poop are funny things. They haven't laughed when they toot, but I think that will happen any day now. They are such boys...and Carlos even laughs with them.

Bye Bye Diapers

This is probably not the most exciting update for all of you, but it is a visible change in my checking account. Carlos no longer wears diapers not even at nite. He has been diaper free since two weeks when he refused to put on a diaper at grandma's house after his bath. I can count the number of accidents we have had on one hand...I must say that I am very thankful for that. We have even made two trips to Houston with potty success. He prefers the Elmo underwear and other Sesame Street characters are a close 2nd with the pinguinos and Wiggles in a tie for 3rd place. He only wears the non character underwear after an accident...so that way he is motivated to keep his favorite characters dry.

bye baby girl face...hello stairs.

This morning Carlos came into my room and hopped into bed with me to watch his Wiggle video. At that time Emma was fussing, so JP brought her over too and he left to go to work. While I was laying there, I noticed that at 15 months and 3 days Emma has lost her baby girl face. Even with her crazy morning hair, she still looked more grown up. This evening I have looked at some pictures from the past...and it has confirmed that Emma is growing and changing. I am sad to see this happen since she is my baby, and on top of that my baby girl. I know that every change brings a new discovery and she will soon attempt more new things. For example today discovered she can climb the stairs...and she did that 3 times with her brothers calling her from the top, and her mommy following behind. We will have to try to get a video of that tomorrow.

Pinguinos and Elmo

I have to say that I am very suprised at how cooperative Carlos is being with potty training. I just figured I would try this while we are home during the day. If we go somewhere we will still wear diapers, just like at night. Thanks to grandma and abuelita we have a good supply of Elmo and penguin underwear. The first day he wore Elmo and we had three accidents. Day #2 he had penguin underwear and his goal was to keep them dry. When he did have an accident he told me "pinguinos wet" and I had to hold back the laughter. Day two had two accidents and I thought he was done with potty training. He got frustated one time when I took him potty because he wanted to keep playing, so when I took him to the potty he threw the undies in the potty. I was able to refocus him with a pair of cookie monster and grover undies and we were back on track. Yesterday he only wore his underwear in the afternoon, but he was able to keep the pinguinos dry. Today we were back to Elmo again, and he made it through the day. At 3 he told me he was wet, but I didn't see any obvious clues on his shorts. When I took him potty I noticed that his undies were a tad moist, but that was it. To me that is a sign that he realized he was going and stopped it so he could go potty, so I really think he has it down pretty good. He put on a pair of clean undies and made it through the rest of the day. We will try again tomorrow, and hopefully he will do just as good.

I'm not a magician

John David was playing with Sammy. John David was magically hiding items and Sammy had to find them. Sammy would ask for clues, and John David would say that a magician doesn't tell his secrets. Then they traded places, and it was Sammy's turn to hide the things. When John David was looking he walked right past were Sammy had hidden something. Sammy was quick to tell John David he had missed it, and John David reminded him that a magician doesn't tell his secrets. Sammy responded "I'm not a magician." I must say that was the end of that game.

4th of July

We did our usual celebration and went to Kyle for fireworks. This year Sammy stayed outside and enjoyed the fireworks...past years he had gone inside the house. Carlos and Emma were not so happy about the fireworks, so we went inside and watched Sesame Street. John David and Sammy ran around and played with their cousins, and had a blast. Carlos played with Elijah and his tub of dinosaurs. Despite having been sick the night before Emma even had a blast playing inside the tub of fun. She thought it was great to be able to get up and down and play with some dinosaurs inside the tub. She even got a couple of dances in with her padrino. All the kids fell asleep on the way home. When we got home JP discovered that Jasmine can open doors. We knew she could open the dryer door, but she has apparently expanded her repertoire. I am sure her motivation was the fireworks, but at least they were both safe.

Look at me, I can swim

This past sunday we took the older boys to Fiesta Texas. My in-laws were awesome and watched Carlos and Emma so we could have some quality time with John David and Sammy. The day was really about them. When we first got there, they both wanted their maps, so they could see what rides they wanted to do. They also got to see Scooby and Scrappy first thing in the morning. It was awesome to see them get excited. We actually got to see Scooby like three times, and each time the boys took pictures with him. Scooby was even out dancing in the street party with Mr. Six and John David went out there to do the chicken dance, la macarena, and a couple more dances.
We knew it was going to be hot...so our plan was to head to the water park and chill there for awhile. The water park had a rocky start. As soon as we got to the play area Sammy says he needs to go potty. I take Sammy who is saying "I can' t hold it," to find a potty. When I come back I see JP without John David. Then I see a boy who I think is John David coming down the water slide. I had just taken Sammy's shoes off...so I pick up Sammy to see where the slides come to an end. I see it is a 3 foot area....but as soon as I getting there John David is entering the pool. I had to place Sammy at the entrance ands tell him not to move, so I can get in the pool to rescue John David. The lifeguard is helping him walk, but he has that sad I'm scared, but I am not going to cry look on his face. As soon as he sees me walk into the pool towards the lifeguard he starts crying, and then I have to carry him out. After that he didn't want to play at the water park anymore. We went to another pool area with less water and it took him awhile to warm up.
Finally we decide to go to the wave pool. I got life vests for both of them so it would be easier on us. Sammy quickly learned he could doggie paddle and get around. He was so excited at his new skill, that he told John David he would help him. John David was not wanting to try, so that limited the fun a bit, but for the most part Sammy had a blast. He was the saddest boy when we had to leave the pool for the safety break. He was upset with us for awhile...but nothing we could do.
I really think that if we can get Sammy in the pool at least once every week...we can definitely make some progress with his swimming. John David still needs more work, but we will keep trying with him as well.

roller skating

I had to take advantage of the cooler weather today, and do some outdoor time. So this morning I told John David and Sammy we would roller skate after Emma went to nap. They were so excited. Even Carlos was asking for skates...but I had to tell him we didn't have any for him, but he play with something else outside. I took out the Eeyore bubble blower and he entertained himself with that. John David and Sammy had a good time. John David is still marching around, and I have to remind him to skate. Sammy has a good skate going...he is definitely more eager to try things. We headed in for lunch right as the storms blew in...so it was a fun morning at our house.

I already told you yesterday.

My house is full of little helpers. They help make the mess and the help clean up the mess. Carlos has been helping unload the clean dishes from the dishwasher, and now John David is helping. Carlos would just take everything out and put it on the counter, and he would throw all the utensils in the correct drawer for me. I would then go back and sort out the utensils and place in their appropriate places. John David can actually put up the utensils, and some of the other things...so that is pretty cool. Yesterday John David said he had an idea...he said that I need to put all the forks together, all the spoons together and all the knives together. He said that way it would be easier to put up. He does not know that when I am loading the dishes I am just putting things in there quickly, and don't really think about that. This morning when he was unloading he was quick to tell me with his little six year old attitude "I already told you yesterday," and I said I know. So today I have actually been sorting out the utensils for him. He will be so proud of me when he helps unload the dishwasher. Who ever thought I would be following the instructions of a six year for loading the dishwasher...but I don't want to loose my helper.