Holiday Traditions - Photo Dump

I'm going to let the (many) photos do the talking. This about sums up our early December holiday traditions. Check out the nativity photo a little closer - it's like "Where's Waldo", only "Where's McQueen" (Gavin added an extra character to the scene). Hehe! I have more photos and updates to post - cookie baking and Christmas wrap-up coming soon!

The great tree hunt...

While I've taken many pictures the past seven months, the one below marks the first family photo since Grace was with us. I've had a hard time thinking about taking a family photo since her death, knowing that Grace's day with us would be our only day to snap photos of our family of four. Instead, here we are, a family of three - our numbers go in the opposite direction of most families our age; families who we're surrounded by sharing the joy of their growing numbers. Seems like just about every day we hear of another expansion. I haven't wanted to take a family photo, knowing that it's just not complete any longer. But, I can't avoid it forever. So, here it is...our family of three. Oh, and that's the "chosen" tree, with Gavin looking like he is going to saw off his father's fingers. Kids and saws don't mix well. It reminds me of the Saturday Night Live from years ago with the holiday children's toys "bag of broken glass" skit. Oh boy!

Maeme and BaPa's tree...

Decorating...

Can you find the "extra" character in our nativity scene? Also, Mary and Joseph were rearranged a bit. Who could have done that?

Our first ever gingerbread house. And, no, that is not blood on Gavin's vampire looking face. It's red frosting.

Santa! Gavin did so well. He walked up with confidence, "My name is Gavin." Sat down on his lap. Began to recite his "wish list" for Christmas - listing numerous Thomas the Tank Engine trains he would like. Also, isn't that red sweater cute? My Grandma knitted it for my brother Andy some thirty-five-ish years ago. And now it fits the next generation!

Enjoying Meijer Gardens...the trains were absolutely fascinating!

This was the best we could do for the annual "Momma and Gavin" photo at the Gardens (getting close to dinner time).

More to come soon on the rest of the holiday season. Overall, we enjoyed a very nice Christmas under the circumstances.

Potty Time

Potty training is in full swing in the Clark household. We introduced Gavin to the potty over a year ago, when he was about 18 months old. Since then, he's had fun sitting on the potty (fully clothed), but has had little to no interest in actually using it. A couple months ago, we figured it was time to get more serious. Really, we probably could have gotten more serious about it sooner, but it felt like we were in crisis mode for a good portion of the year - potty training seemed to be a distant need. "Let's just survive" took precedence over much else.

So, our big break through came around Thanksgiving. I had been toying with ideas for potty rewards. We started with M&Ms. And then added a very cool foam Christmas tree with ornament stickers. Every time Gavin's goes "number 2", he gets to add an ornament to the tree (which is decorating our bathroom). He really likes the reward of picking out his favorite sticker and placing it anywhere he wants on the tree. It is full of stickers! We're still working on "number 1", which seems to be more difficult. And we've made the transition from diapers to pull ups. We tried just underwear a few times, but accidents ensued, so we'll stick with pull ups for now.

Up until this week, going to the potty was quite the drawn out process. We started reading Thomas books to Gavin initially when he started using the potty. So, the books became an expectation. Not that we don't like reading books to Gavin - it's one of our favorite things - but a whole long book each and every time he would sit down to use the potty got to be quite the long process. This week, we're working on speeding things up - get in, sit down, do your business, and move on. And save the books for the legitimate longer potty needs (such a boy!).

This seems like such a big milestone. A true transition from baby/toddler to big boy. Bittersweet, as so many things are. I love to see him grow and learn and say hilarious things. But I also miss the phases that he transitions through. Maybe I'm more sentimental than most because we've had a first hand experience that has taught us to appreciate every minute we have with our children. None of those minutes are mundane - they can be gone forever in an instant. So, while I'm happy on one hand to dump the diapers, it still makes me a little sad. Will I ever change another of my child's diapers again? I know I'm certainly not in charge of what the future holds, so I guess we'll "let go and let God".

I am quite proud of Gavin. He may have taken longer than some kids his age to get to this point in his potty habits, but I'm still very proud. We'll keep working at it, expecting the set backs along the way, and soon we'll retire the Huggies!

I have some potty videos of Gavin reading his books (he can recite pretty much the whole book), but I'll spare him the embarrassment of putting them on the blog. They'll be fun to look back on years from now!

Oh Christmas Tree!

I haven't posted a video in quite some time. I shot this today while decorating the Christmas tree. Nothing too special, just a day in the life of a two year old, excited about Christmas!



PS - "James" that is spoken of in the video is James the tank engine from Thomas. He's been asking daily that Santa bring him James (and others from Thomas) for Christmas. I think the big guy is going to come through :)

I also have some good potty videos (clean, of course) and updates to blog soon, just too tired tonight! We've got the cold virus in our house as of this weekend, yuck!