Lagniappe

I don't know why, but I feel like I gotta post a photo or five with every entry. So here are some extra photos from our trip down South. They include opening some treats on Valentine's Day; getting some love from my Aunt Cynthia; helping mom celebrate her birthday a week early; and getting a night-night story read from Miss Pamela.

In other news, Alexander's potty training is going great! After nearly two weeks of accidents in his big boy underwear, he now seems to be able to recognize when he has to go and takes himself into the bathroom, pulls his pants down and sits on the toilet seat all by himself. He usually announces his plan and I've gotten to where I know he can do it by himself without me having to monitor him. Of course, when he's done he walks out with his pants down to his ankles to tell me his accomplishments, basically asking me to come see. So I do and then we celebrate! He hasn't had an accident in days. When we leave the house, however, I'm sure to put pull-ups on him. I don't think we're all ready for that.

I know it's supposed to take longer for boys, so I wanted to make sure he had plenty of time to train before his preschool starts next year.

Speaking of school, we're so happy with Anna's school and the progress she's made that both children are already signed up for next year. In fact, the school already has waiting lists, so we had to register them at the end of January when they opened up the process. Anna will graduate up to five mornings a week while Alexander will attend three mornings. We wanted them both to go five mornings but the school really discouraged us from that because the "older" kids get more intense curriculum on the Mondays and Fridays (three-day kids go Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) that help to better prepare them for kindergarten. We were told the 3-year-olds, especially the young ones with summer birthdays like Alexander, might not handle five days well. We left it with the possibility that maybe we can get him in five days after the Christmas break.