Updates

I know it's been a while so I thought I might provide some updates.
Tate has been doing great with potty training. He now wears his underwear all day long and very rarely has an accident. It's been so great only having to change one child's diaper during the day! He also has started to give warnings. When we drive somewhere he always tells me, "Watch out for that car, mommy!", (or cats, or people, or he can get specific and say dump truck, garbage truck, semi truck. It's a little like living in the Forrest Gump movie with all the different ways to fix shrimp) over and over and over again. Sometimes we have VERY short drives.
He is growing like a weed and lately he is going through a growth spurt that has him very accident prone. He has bruises all over, with an especially lovely one on his forehead that is now a wonderful shade of green. I am very thankful that his hair covers most of it up. He got that playing on the couch (aka jumping) so that is completely off limits now. (Sorry Tracy) Thank goodness he has a trampoline to take care of the jumping.

With Ayden it's just fun to see what she'll do next. With raising a boy and being surrounded by boys most of the time, it's interesting to see how different she is. She has taken to dress-up, which is amazing considering she is constantly surrounded by boys. On Easter she spent the day handing my mom different socks and shoes that she wanted to put on. Now she does this everyday. She finds one of her shoes (only her shoes) and holds it out to me to put it on her. It was just shoes and socks but it has moved into jackets too. She absolutely loves to put these things on. The other day when she had a bow in her hair, it fell out and she handed it to me to put it back on. She even kept her head very still for me.
She is growing up so fast. She knows some sign language even though she often refuses to use it, but rather does a sort of grunt to get what she wants. She says 'hi' to people which is very cute, too. She 'says' other things that are really mimics of the sounds we make, but they are getting clearer and clearer by the day. It's fun to see the contrasts and similarities between the two.

Here are some pics:
Ayden riding the roller coaster. This is only the second time I've put her on it but she knew just what to do and pushed herself forward to ride it.
Tate pulling his tricycle instead of riding it. Even though he KNOWS how to ride it. Go figure.

One of the outfits that Ayden dressed up in. She has her pajamas on and originally the look started with boots and her jacket was then added. It makes quite a statement.

When my friend Lynn brought her kids over Ayden was quite taken with her youngest Bradley. She was first intrigued that his feet kept moving and she would pat them and laugh. Then he got offers of toys and even the occasional poke. Poor baby. That's what being a second child is all about.