We have had so many big milestones hit in our house, it’s so amazing and joyful! I love my little boys they are such a blessing and everyday is a reminder of this.

Zane decided two weeks ago that he wanted to go potty in the potty. From there on we have been going potty in the potty 90% of the time. Just today he decided to start taking himself with no reminders into the bathroom and go potty on the big potty.

He did really good until he tried going #2 on the big potty and missed. I was on a chat with a new client and had to drop everything. He came out of the bathroom with toilet paper streaming all around him saying he needed to clean up. LOL I went in and helped him clean up and just tried to explain to him it may be better to go poo poo on the little potty.

Zarek has been making his own big steps this last week. Literally. He has started walking. He had taken a few steps here and there a few weeks ago, but this week he started taking more and more. And today I am pretty sure he walked more than he crawled. You could tell he was thrilled with himself as he would giggle as he walked around the room.

It has also been a great week to watch the boys interacting. Zane is starting to have fun with Zarek. He is starting to look at him more and more as a playmate. They run/crawl up and down the hallway. Zane calling out behind him, “Come on Zarek, let’s go!” And Zarek of course is thrilled to be included in the games and is happy to chase after Zane. Earlier today Zane started getting really upset that Zarek was taking his nap because he wanted to play with him

February is Freebie month here at PepperScraps so here is another fun valentine freebie! These are labels you can print, sign, cutout and tape to the lids of play doh to make some really fun Valentine’s Day “cards”. Click the links below. Choose All Sizes. Choose Original. Download and print.

You can kind of see it here, but only if you are looking for it. Zane has never been able to stick his tongue out. In this photo you can see he cannot lick the beater very well. He had a tongue tie. The tip of his tongue would not go past his teeth. See the telltale heart shape?

My mother had a tongue tie and it was never taken care of until she was 11. It effected her speech, eating and more.

Zarek also had his tongue tied and had his cut at the doctor’s office 3 days after he was born. We actually left the hospital a little early so we could go and have it done, because it was effecting breastfeeding. It was a quick procedure faster than his circumcision and it did help the breastfeeding.

I think for Zane it effected breastfeeding. It was even hard to get him to eat from a bottle. We were pretty sure it was effecting his speech his ts and ls were not coming out right even when we worked hard on them. I was also wondering if it was effecting his sleep.

When I saw that he could already tell he was different when he saw his brother stick out his tongue I knew I wanted it taken care of.

I wish it had been caught earlier because unlike Zarek’s procedure this was much more of an ordeal. He had to be taken into surgery to have it done, because he had to be put under for it. (Imagine scissors, tongue and a two year old the outcome probably would not be good if he was awake.)

After it was done he was fine besides not liking to come out of the anesthetic. He could already stick out his tongue at us. We have seen an improvement in his t sounds and it was fun to see him able to roll food around in his mouth. And of course we got him an ice cream cone so he could lick it!

What is a tongue tie? What are the effects? Want more information. Here is an interesting site I found that goes into more depth about the tongue tie: TongueTie.Net. Or see what WebMD says about it.

Why is it that I always seem to think in my head “I can’t wait until you can . . .” do this or that as a look at my children. I remember doing this with Zane when he was a baby. I remember saying to myself as Zane attempted to roll over, “I can’t wait until you can roll over”. And then it was, “I can’t wait until you can crawl, you will be so much happier.”

There is always an excuse attached too. “I can’t wait until you can talk and then I will know what you want.” I still do this with Zane right now my big one is, “I can’t wait till you are out of your tantrum filled terrible twos.” Even as I look at him and think, stop growing, stop growing, your so big now I will the next moment wish for him to be older, bigger, learn something new.

Even now with Zarek I do the same thing. I pray for him to sleep through the night. I get excited for him to take his first step. I am wanting to skip this hard process we are attempting (starting tonight) of moving him into the same room as Zane.

Now I try and stop and bask in the beauty of the stage they are at now. I try to remember them at this point. I try to remember that this too shall pass, good and bad.

Do you struggle with this with your children too? Does half of you celebrate when they grow out of one stage and are in the next? Am I the only mommy to look to far in the future and not enjoy the moment?

As I was writing this up though I considered not posting it and just hit save not post. Then I came across this little post and I thought you know I should share this.

Zane’s Top Ten Words:

1. “Nigh-NIgh” (Night Night) - Good Night or I want to go to bed.
2. “Oosh” (Shoes) – Look at my shoes.
3. “DaDa” – Mommy or Daddy.
4. “Uice” (Juice) – I want milk, water or juice.
5. “Ease” (Please) – Please, I want that.
6. “BooBoo” (Animal) – Look an animal or look it’s Morgil. (Our bunny is named Boo Boo)
7. “Itty” (Pretty) – Isn’t this pretty.
8. “H-ot Da” (Hot Dog) – I want a hot dog.
9. “Ju-dah” (Judah) – My lovey.
10. “Ca” or “Cruck” (Car or Truck) – Both mean the same thing, anything with wheels.

Pictures:

Milestone chart*:

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)

• Plays with ball
• Uses three words regularly
• Walks backward

• Zane loves pushing the ball back and forth and we have just started to learn to catch the ball.
• I can think of at least a dozen words Zane can say off the top of my head.
• Zane has pretty much mastered anything considered walking. The hardest thing is to get him to go backwards down the stairs, he wants to do it the way we do it.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Scribbles with a crayon
• Runs
• Adopts “no” as his favorite word

• Just the other day TJ watched Zane pull a pen and notebook out of my purse. He opened the book to an empty page and started drawing. He really enjoys scribbling.
• Zane has been running as soon as he could walk.
• Zane hasn’t started saying “no”, but I don’t think this is a bad milestone to miss.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• “Helps” around the house
• Puts his fingers to his mouth and says “shhh”

• Zane is his Granny’s boy. He loves to sweep. He loves to use his washcloths to clean his highchair after a meal.
• He doesn’t “shh” us but then we don’t do this to him.

*This list is from babycenter.com. One of my favorite sites.

Our wonderful Evelyn has been working with him on this since he first started going to day care. I have been encouraging it a lot of late since he is back to waving good bye. (For a bit he refused to wave good bye or maybe he just forgot.)

Of course his good bye kisses are more of hitting himself in the face and then tossing his hand your way. But the meaning is all the same. Lots of Love.

Here is a little treat for you. These are quote frames for your scrapbooking. If I get a chance I will add an example for you to see. But they are an overlay for your photos. And they are in honor of Father’s Day. So I hope you enjoy!

Download Here

Speaking of which my silly little boy loves to “use” a fork and is thrilled when I give him one. Actually sometimes that is the only way I can get him to eat. But as you can see he has no idea how to use his fork:

He will hold his fork but continue to use his hands. Because you know they just work better. And now he will pick up the food stuff it in his mouth and then stuff the fork in. It’s so fun to watch.

While watching Zane my SIL, Wendi, wanted to put Zane down with no milk. I told her that was fine. She was going to be using the play-pen Granny uses for him & Granny has never had to give him a bottle or cup to get him to sleep, so I was sure he would be fine. And he was.

Since Wendi put him down a few nights in a row without a sippy cup TJ decided to try and just keep the routine. And he was able to get Zaney down with no troubles.

When I got home we were afraid that he may associate me with the nighty-nighty cup, but we tried it out. It has now been almost a week with no beddie-bye sippy cup and he hasn’t complained at all.

In the mornings I would come in and he would point at me “Dada, Dada”. At the mall while I was in the dressing room Zane would point at the door and say, “Dada, Dada”. Which I’m sure I heard a few ladies out there giggle at him. When I would go around to pull him out of his car seat he would point at me, “Dada, Dada”. And every time we would go, “No, Mama, Mama.” I would sit there and go, “MmmaMmma” but to no avail.

Then yesterday I was helping TJ get him ready for the day and I kept up with “No, Mama” half-heartedly. And then he said it. “Mada”. TJ laughed, “Well at least he got it half right.” Hey, I’ll take “Mada” over “Dada” anyday.

So I started to give him some drink by trapping the liquid in the straw with my finger, bring it to him and letting go. I was noticing that he was sucking it down the straw so I thought, “How can I get him to do that when the straw is in the cup?”

So I put the straw in the cup put my finger on the end brought it to him. He didn’t pay attention to the fact I was giving him the wrong end. And he doesn’t get the concept of gravity. So he started sucking and up came the lemonade. After a few times of this he realized he could suck up as much as he wanted and he loved it. And I loved it.

He terrifies me with that straw. He just jabs it into his mouth like nothing. And all I can think is how painful it is when you jab your gums or roof of your mouth with a straw. Cringe.