Lots of TV and Cavity Free

Today was quite a big day in Bennett's short life--his first trip to the dentist! We talked it up and told him how much fun it would be, but I really wasn't worried at all. I've flossed his teeth at home before (no, definitely not because I actually thought he needed it, but because he was curious when he saw me do it once) and we have yet to find anything that he's afraid of. The waiting room had all kinds of great activity tables and books- a huge plus. (Especially since Jon was in there with both boys for about 45 minutes while I had my turn after Bennett!) When it was his turn and he climbed up in the chair, the hygienist turned the TV hanging right above it to cartoons and he may as well have been sedated. He didn't move a muscle and hardly said a word. He just laid back with his mouth open while they cleaned his teeth. Nothing to it! Thankfully everything looked great and neither of us had cavities (phew!! I switched to Jon's dentist so we could all go to the same one and was about 2 years overdue so I was a little nervous!). Jon took the boys to the zoo while I was at work this morning so the hygienist was asking him what his favorite animal was. Without any hesitation and lots of inflection he said, "what has looong legs and a looong neck? That's right, you guessed it! A giraffe!"

Jon of All Trades

My multi-talented hubby spent part of the day today re-attaching the front bumper that got ripped off our van this past winter (a certain male driver in our house had a bad run-in with a snow bank while backing out of our driveway and caught a piece of the bumper that was sticking out an inch and ripped the whole thing off. I won't mention any names. You can use your own process of elimination). He just ordered a couple of parts from Honda and practically slapped it back on there, good as new. I was thrilled to have my car back in one piece. Who knows how many hundreds of dollars he saved us with that one. Then later he installed this counter top over our washer and dryer, which will be much more convenient for folding clothes (or becoming a catch-all when walking in the back door. Sorry honey...I'll try really hard not to!!)

There's really nothing this man can't do and he never ceases to amaze me. Nobody teaches him any of this stuff either. He just figures it out. He's like the Doogie Howser of handy-men (except like, 15 years older). One of his first big construction projects was building a deck off of our first home after we were married. He did the whole thing after flipping through a book his mom picked up at a garage sale for a quarter. He's definitely expanded his repertoire since then and can pretty much do anything he sets his mind to. I'm quite certain that he could perform heart-surgery if he watched an instructional video on YouTube first. I told him today that he should start a handy-man business and his slogan could be, "Anything they can do, I can do cheaper".

Stuck in limbo

So we're totally stuck in nowhere land in this good ole' phase of potty-training. When we're home and the diaper's off, he pees in the potty. But as soon as we have to go anywhere, the diaper goes on and the pee goes in the diaper. We're certainly not ready to jump to all underwear all the time (I really don't have the patience or the sanity to change wet pants 10 times when we're out and about) and unfortunately we're a family on the go. Our time at home with a potty in close proximity is short. I'm so new to this so I'm asking you other moms with busy boys to lend me your advice! I haven't even had time to buy a pack of pull-ups or even some more underwear. Hopefully we'll be hitting up Target tomorrow for some back-ups for Diego who's undergone some water damage. A family member tonight suggested putting him in underwear all the time with a pair of plastic pants over top so he's aware when he wets. I'll take any and all suggestions. Do I set timers so I remember to make him try every hour or so? Remember, I have mommy brain. I don't remember anything that doesn't cry or yell or beep at me.

Progress on the Potty

I never thought this day would come. My days of changing diapers and wiping bums (well, one little bum at least) are numbered!! Bennett has actually voluntarily peed and pooped on the potty a few times in the last few days! It started a couple days ago. We were at home and Bennett had a full diaper. I told him to take it off so I could put a new one on him and before I could diaper his naked cheeks, he declared, "I have to go pee pee!". So in my over-enthusiastic tone, I said, "You do??? Let's go to the potty!" So he went and sat. Nothing happened. I told him I had to go too so I did my business while he was trying to do his. And before I was finished, he said, "I peed!" And sure enough, the cutest little puddle of piddle was in his froggy potty. I'd never been so excited over a bodily function in my life. We called Daddy who was at a basketball game to tell him our exciting news.
Last night before Bennett's bedtime he stripped off his diaper and sure enough, those wonderful words rang out again, "I have to go pee pee!". I whisked him over to Mr. Frog and he did it again. He even got up when he thought he was done and we headed upstairs to get ready for bed and half way up he said, "I have to pee again!". So down we went and he peed again. Then, drum roll please, today he peed AND pooped in the potty while he was diaper-less. I was amazed! Unfortunately some of the poop ended up beside the potty and then he proceeded to step in it and then try to wipe it off his foot, but hey, we are making PROGRESS! A little smeared poop is just par for the course, right?
This is one of those milestones that you have no idea how exciting it is until you actually experience it. Obviously I'm a newbie at this though, because my other mom friends who are a couple months (or SEVERAL months into it) are probably groaning, thinking to themselves, yeah, just wait...you won't be so excited when you're in the middle of a store and you hear those words, "I have to pee pee" and the froggy potty isn't a convenient 20 steps away!! Or when your child's emergency pair of pants and underwear have just been peed or pooped in out in public! (Given that I've even remembered to pack an emergency pair!) But as for now, I'll just revel in my naivete and cheer Bennett on for every drop of pee that lands in the potty!

Getting Red Carpet-Ready

She might as well be...she looked the part! Bethany and I were Claire's official Glam Squad tonight for her senior prom. We make a pretty good team- I do hair, she does makeup. I LOVE doing up-do's and get excited for Claire's formals at school because that's usually the only time I get to do it. I didn't get great pictures of the hair because they were running late (An Ottley girl, running late??! GASP!). But maybe I'll post more later if I think of it.

Just trying to keep up!

I don't remember if I mentioned this or not yet but my little roly poly baby is officially crawling! (Well, I consider the army crawl an "official" crawl since Bennett didn't even do that until he was 9 mos. old!) He started a couple of weeks ago (at 6 1/2 mos) and is quite proficient at it. It definitely takes some getting used to now that I leave the room and he's nowhere near where I left him, but I find that babies at this age are much more content when they can get somewhere and find a new toy when they've tired of whatever's within arms reach. Its actually quite hilarious where he'll end up sometimes. Take the other day after his bath for example, when I left to grab something...

On the Hunt

A week late, but here's some pics of the kiddos on Easter. I laughed at my friend Jennifer's post, saying that this was the first time she'd gotten an Easter pic of her kids together in a couple years because of course, we neglected to find a moment to take a family picture or one of the boys together. And neglected to take one of Dawson on his first Easter. Whoops!! Oh well. What do you expect, he's my second born! We'll try again (and possibly fail again) next year. We had a great morning at church, worshipping our risen Savior and then celebrated the sacrifice he made for us with our families. Of course the Colyer-Ottley team of chefs was en pointe again with a delicious meal and then we tore the kids away from their post-lunch movie for an Easter egg hunt.

Bennett's first Easter basket:

Judie's adorable chicks in a nest (edible grass and all!):

The only time the kids were still enough to snap a pic! (That Poppy is the wildest of the bunch :)

Hunting for eggs!:

I think his sugar rush is finally starting to wear off.

Summer Preview

Here are a few pics I took on some exceptionally warm days we had last week. It hit 80 degrees and it was glorious! It was like God was saying, "remember this?? I promise, its coming!" I'm really looking forward to this summer. Bennett's old enough to not wander (or bolt) away every chance he gets. Or at least if he does, he'll come back when I call him. And Dawson will be perfectly content chilling in his stroller. I'm going to savor it as much as I can since next summer Dawson will be my wanderer, once again.

My big boy sitting up in his stroller:

Enjoying a picnic in the sun:

This last picture made me think of this pic, taken on one of the first warm days in 2008, which happened to be Piper's birthday. They sure picked on each other less back then!! :)