A few videos

I got this video of Channing cracking up on Monday. This boy is so sweet but is a little tough to get a good belly laugh out of. Of course Nana got him going, the most I've ever seen!:

I decided I'd video the other boys too in their elements, just so you can hear their little voices these days (Uncle Graham & Aunt Sarah! Candy & Ava!)
Bennett reading:

Dawson playing with Playmobil, his favorite toys these days:

And all the boys together, driving their cars to "get donuts at Casey's". They have their father to thank for that one ;)  Also, notice how Bennett's holding Channing's hand. Its constant, like some kind of subconscious reaction, and the sweetest thing. It just gets a little awkward when I'm holding Channing and trying to walk and Bennett won't let go and keeps kissing his feet.

Impressed with the mess? That's a daily occurrence these days. Why do boys think it's so fun to just dump stuff out for the heck of it or swipe everything from a table onto the floor? Is that what your house looks like every day? Or do you actually manage to keep your kids from "getting anything else out until you put the     (insert name of any toy here)    away" ??

Bennett lately: reading, reading, reading and I love, love, love it. Is there a developmental phase more exciting and fun to see unfold than this one? Probably when he was 1 and started saying a new word or learning a new trick every day. That one was up there too.
He's still sweet but of course, we're having to come down on him a lot more for his attitude and tone of voice. A simple, "try that again" works great (Thanks, Nikki!) It's been wonderful just learning a simple verse (Proverbs 6:16-19) and discussing it with him (I got that idea from Dobson's, The New Strong Willed Child). That way, when he lies or is being braggy, I just say, "What does the Lord hate?" And he'll tell me, "a lying tongue". SO powerful and simple.
He still has a lot of trouble falling asleep at night and usually comes out of his room once or twice. He listens to books on CD, (I got him Life at the Pond for his birthday and he loves it! Uncle Wiggily is his other favorite) and usually falls asleep around 9pm and gets up around 7:30.
He starts Kindergarten in just 6 days!!! Big changes ahead!

Dawson lately: Phew! We are starting to see the light (did you just start singing Tangled? I did.) on changes in his behavior. The year between his 1st and 2nd birthday was so incredibly tough and challenging. I had the fear of God in me when I thought about going through the terrible twos and even worse threes with him. But the more his communication skills have improved, the more he's mellowed out. Don't get me wrong, he's still disturbed quite easily and throws tantrums here and there but he spends more time happy than mad these days. I've been praying over him every night at bedtime that God would fill him with gentleness, kindness and love. It's still a work in progress but so is every single one of us, right?

Sheesh. I started writing this post three days ago and the last two days with Dawson have been ROUGH. Lots of hitting and temper tantrums. So it comes and goes. He's absolutely hilarious though, with his facial expressions and inflections. He loves to set up all his cars and animals and Playmobil people and plays really good by himself. He's really into giving people compliments these days. I used painters tape to make roads for his cars all around the house and he kept telling me, "cool road, Mom!" On Sunday it was, "cool shoes, Mom!" and today at the park to a random girl, "cool hanging! Cool move!"
I thought we were starting to potty-train. He was running around naked after swimming and told us he needed to go potty. He went twice. The next morning I figured we'd just dive right in. He went two more times that morning and then had two accidents on the floor. The rest of the afternoon he was fighting me every time I told him to sit on the potty and I just didn't have it in me. So back on the diaper went. I would love some tips on potty training a strong-willed boy! So throw 'em at me! Do I just keep waiting until he really makes up his mind to do it? Or do I take him to the store and let him pick out his own potty treats? I know how to train a child who will sit when I ask him to sit. I don't know how to train one that refuses to sit!