Milestones

Megan is doing great with potty training. She loves the sticker chart (and I don't even have to offer a reward for filling up the chart; she's just happy to get stickers). She is even at the point where she can hold it for several hours while going places in the car, and she can sometimes go potty without my prompting her to. She can tell me when she has to go before she has an accident and willingly goes to the bathroom in public places, as long as I've got the folding potty seat and hold her so she won't fall. I've been letting her have a diaper to poop in, and she feels bad whenever she accidentally poops in her underwear. But today, she pooped in the potty chair!

James got a bike for Christmas and I have periodically taken him out on our cul-de-sac to practice, holding onto the back bar-thing I attached to it. He would only go 2-4 laps and then announce he was done. I could only do this when Rex was here to watch the other two kids or when they were asleep, thus it was usually only on Saturdays. I was willing to go out longer, but James was unwilling. Instead, he would ride Megan or Isaac's tiny trikes on the backyard patio. (Megan, by the way, would accompany him and learned how to ride her trike by February. Isaac still can't figure out how to pedal but likes it when I push him.) Then Uncle Mike brought over a cool-looking, much smaller bike. I showed James how to push off and hold his feet up to coast in order to learn to balance, but he wouldn't do it until I put him at the top of the driveway. Within half an hour of repeatedly coasting down the driveway, he was pedaling up and down our cul-de-sac all by himself! The bike is much too small for him, but because he could touch his feet to the ground and still sit on the bike, he had the confidence to learn balance. After he gets more practice on the small bike, I'll sell him on the bigger one by telling him he can go faster with bigger wheels. Once he gets better, I can go running with the two little ones in the stroller and James on his bike!

Rex and I found a great babysitter and went on a date. I've been dreaming of dating my husband for years. And it has been a tough search for a babysitter since we moved to San Antonio. It so happens that my visiting teaching companion's daughter has a bunch of much younger siblings so she knows how to handle kids like mine. And what's more, after 8 years of dreaming about swing dancing, I finally had the opportunity to do it! We went to the San Antonio Swing Dance Association's Friday night lesson/dance. While we missed the first lesson due to bedtime rituals and getting lost, we were in time for the second one, which, it turns out, was the Balboa. I've always wanted to learn that, and Rex was willing, since the other class was just beginning east coast (which I feel is beneath me and which we both already know) and he didn't feel self-conscious because I didn't already know it (unlike Lindy). He said he enjoyed that dance because it is cuddly. I always thought it looked funny but fun, and it was. During open dancing, Rex remembered some Lindy and we practiced the Balboa and a bit of what we remembered of west coast. (Why doesn't SASDA teach west coast?) I danced with a couple of guys who were so good that half the stuff they led me to do, I'd never done before. It was so much fun! I could have gone on till midnight, but Rex was exhausted from his maddening week, we left at 10:30. I can't wait till this Friday (as long as I can get that babysitter)....