15 Months/Fall Fun/Potty Training

Tada I am 15 months old!! Kaylynn went to her 15 month appointment on the 7th of October and she is doing very well and is right on track with everything. I have not blogged about many of Kaylynns accomplishments over the last few months but here we go. She has really started to communicate better and better: she can say mama, dada, kitty, more, thank you, cup, up, down, out, wa-wa (water), belly button, baby, ball, ut oh, Wyatt and I am sure I am forgetting some. Sometimes they are not pronounced perfectly but she gets her point across. She is doing really well with listening and following instructions. And thankfully for mom and dad she has really out grown her really clingy phase and is starting to be more and more independent.  But with that independence she is also getting a bit of an attitude and is somewhat demanding at times. This is normally when it comes to food or being picked up. She is a sweet little girl that loves to play with Wyatt and will be giving him a run for his money soon. I still can not report that she has any teeth but I know soon they will here and don't worry that does not slow her down when it comes to eating. This fall has started out a bit rough for Kaylynn as she has a cold and runny nose. Here are her stats from her 15th month appointment:

Weight: 22lbs 5 oz (41st percentile)

Height: 32 in (91st percentile)

The whole Bowen clan came to visit last weekend for Michelle's baby shower so we got to spend a few days with them. We had a nice time and the kids loved playing with their aunts/uncles and grandma and grandpa. My dad and brothers watched the kids while us ladies were at the baby shower. Wyatt helped make the decorations for the shower, we had carmel apples and cupcakes and whenever he saw one he would say Happy Birthday Dragon (aka Reagan-Micki's daughters name). He loves birthdays!! It was a great weekend we got to play outside, take pictures and play swords.

Kaylynn and Wyatt are almost fearless on the slides at the park in our neighborhood. They love to take wagon rides to the park and play on the playgrounds. Just a note we had to take some pictures of the kids in their Lions gear since we went and saw them go 5-0 at a Monday Night Football game.

Mike and Josh capturing the one and maybe only moment in which Kaylynn was in a bears shirt.

Wyatt found this tree stump and he thought it was his stage so he sang twinkle twinkle while Kaylynn danced to his singing. I have a video that I hope to post soon. It was super cute.

So we have started potty training with Wyatt. We had been putting him on the potty every once in awhile until about 2 weeks ago when school asked if we wanted to move to pull ups. So we are about two weeks in and he is doing pretty well. Last week was his first week in underwear and we had some accidents but all in all he did well. The biggest thing is we have to figure out how to get him to poop in the toilet, he does pretty well with pee but not so much the poop. We have started a award system at home so when he goes to the potty he gets a sticker and then when he fills up the sheet he get to go shopping for a Thomas train. He has been doing well at home and it is getting expensive for mom and dad :). Each time we are increasing the number of potties but he still really enjoys it and we are hoping it helps him learn.

First filled potty chart and he picked out a talking Percy for his first train.

Excited about finishing our potty chart! 

Here is a funny story about poop -- Christy was helping me get the kids out of the tub and Wyatt was picking up his bath toys when he stood up and said "I poop in the bath" and sure enough there was poop in the tub -- then he said "Whoa that's a big one" (not sure what he has to compare it to). So needless to say I had a bit of a mess to clean up but it was pretty funny. 

Gammy and Pops Visit

Gail and Neil (aka Gammy and Pops) came out to visit from July 20th - August 2nd. Most of the time they spent up at Higgins Lake with Max, me and the kids spending time up there off and on during their visit. The kids had a blast playing outside all day long, they were able to swim, go on wagon rides, ride bikes, play chalk, push things and enjoy being kids. At times the adults were working on the house to make it a more homey place and it definately coming together.

Kaylynn and Wyatt were able to spend some quality time with Gammy and Pops while Max had to work and I had to go on travel. Thanks for watching the kids I know they loved spending time with Gammy and Pops. Here is a slideshow of us enjoying our time at the lake.

Catch Up time

So it has been almost three months since I updated the blog. I can not believe how fast time has flown by. So I finally had (made) time to update the blog. I hope you enjoy. Last weekend Oct 1/2 Max and I and the kids went up to Higgins lake to shut down the house for the winter and man was it chilly up there. The kids had to wear their hats and mittens. Wyatt and Kaylynn really loved to 'help' Max and I with the leaves. 

Man our kids cute in their little hats and coats.

With summer coming to an end I thought I would post some random pictures over the last few months. We love walking to the near by elementry school to play at the park.  Daddy showing Wyatt how to get through the play spider web.

Kaylynn and Christy enjoying the outside time at the park.

Wyatt loves to swing in the big boy swing. 

Max and I took the kids to the zoo to see the dinosaur exhibit and see the animals of course. Wyatt enjoyed the animals (with cooler weather the animals were out more) but was a little afraid of the dinosaur exhibit. He kept saying "that way" and pointing away from all the dinosaurs.

Wyatt has really gotten into 'fixin' things. So one afternoon Max and Wyatt fixed his fire truck. For most of the time it was not broken but Wyatt loved working on his truck. He might take after his daddy in fixing things (we sure have enough fixin to do on the mustang). 

I usually take the kids to the firestation on Saturdays (the weekends Max works both days) to have dinner. Wyatt was curious about Max's equipments so Max put on his mask and Wyatt freaked out, but then they both got curious about his helmet and had fun playing with it.

Giving mom the evil eye -- this might be a problem later.

Finally on Labor Day we went to the Renaissance Festival unfortunately it was on the really cool side but Wyatt rode on his first horse and at first he was apprehensive but toward the end started to enjoy it.

Day out with Thomas

On August 26th we were able to go to a Day out with Thomas at the Flint at the Huckleberry railroad, I have to admit it was a great day -- we had perfect weather and there was alot of activities for the kids to do. Kaylynn and Wyatt enjoyed riding the train in the open railcar. The best part was being able to see Thomas pulling the train when we went around bends. It was really awesome to see Wyatt's face as the train started to go. 

He is really getting into Thomas the train these days -- well to be honest he loves all types of things that go -- cars, boats, planes, trains and of course fire trucks.

Kaylynn being sweet on the train ride.

It was kinda hard to get a picture with Thomas but this is not too bad.

Wyatt's Hair Cut

BEFORE:

So we did not really realize how long Wyatt's hair was until we cut it. Man was he shaggy :)

AFTER:

AFTER DRY:

1 year Appointment

On Kaylynns Birthday we were able to go to her school and bring in cupcakes to celebrate with her classroom. We brought in mini cupcakes and Kaylynn loved them she ate 3 or 4. Let me tell you this girl can eat. However, since she has been walking she is starting to slim down a little bit. She went to the doctor on the 18th of July and everything looked great. I was a little worried going into the doctor because this was going to be the first time that I had to hold one of the kids down for shots. She did pretty well but I just hope Max is there next time. I was hoping to get out of the shots since Kaylynn was on antibiotics to prevent her from getting whooping cough because my mom was diagnosed with it a week earlier. Luckily the kids did not have any symptoms. The doctor said she was right on track with everything and that she was very vocal and wondered if she was getting frustrating not being able to communicate as well as she would like. I am sure that frustration will be coming soon. She still does not have any teeth but that does not slow her down eating. Also, she is adjusting well now in daycare even though drop off is sometimes hard she really likes her teacher DeDe which makes things easier on her. Here are her new stats:

Weight: 21 lbs 4.5 oz (50th percentile)

Height: 31 in (90-95th percentile)

(as of July 18th)