Happy New Year

I'd worked on Christmas early this year because I was worried things would shut down again. It was really nice to have all the gifts finished up before December. I definitely thing I'll be doing that again! We added a ball pit to our sensory gym for Christmas this year. It's been a HUGE hit! We couldn't get L our of it for the first few days, lol! A loves to lay in it to calm herself down. S loves to climb the hanging ladder and then jump off into it. It's actually super comfortable, Allan and I enjoy laying in it as well! Allan says he wants to take a nap in it one day, lol!

The kids loved all of their gifts from Santa and from family. Santa got them all some cutting and activity books for their school and they have really loved those. They've already finished up the sticker books and have asked for more. They also got some Legos. The kids have loved playing with these. They play with them almost daily. L still has a difficult time getting them together on her own, but that doesn't seem to deter her. She keeps trying and occasionally she gets it!

We started the new year by potty training L and S. The first few days were TERRIBLE!!!!! However, after that they've done so well! They love having big kid undies. When we gave L hers she gathered them all up in her arms and danced around the room shouting "Undies! Undies!" L is time trained, and S is totally independent! He needs the occasional reminder, but otherwise does it on his own! We're so relieved to have conquered this milestone, especially before a new addition arrives! And a huge thank you to Grandma H and Aunt SG who came and helped! It was such a huge blessing to have them there!

We started L on "So Happy to Learn" for her school this year. The book she's working on is her "I See Book", where she names all of her family members. She can name them all! When she was first learning how to say her birth fathers name, (it's a more difficult name) her tongue got confused and just kind of flopped around, haha! The look on her face was so funny, like "what just happend!" and her eyes got all big. The second time we got to it she just shook her head and said "no." very matter of factly, lol! The third time she thought about it really hard and then said the last part of it! She was, and still is, so proud of herself! She loves to "read" her book, and look through other family picture books to name all of her family. Often when she sees her birth dad's picture she says "A Daddy! A Daddy!" 

S has figured out how to build with the magnatiles and spends a lot of the day building trains and houses with them. He also loves to sing songs, and learns them really quickly!