Potty!

We had a BIG day around the Wenzler house!
First, D ate another "first food", avocado. He has started showing an interest in food and I fed him half a banana a few days ago and this morning, he tried avocado. He kept grabbing my hand to pull the spoon into his mouth because I apparently wasn't doing it quickly enough. lol.

And the biggest thing that happened today, or this week, or even this month? The BIGGEST thing...

When I picked Etta up from school today her teacher, Ms. Mandy, told me (with much excitement) that Etta had pee pee'd in the potty. She had a dry diaper during diapering time, so they sat her on the potty and she peed! In the potty! I was excited to hear this! I was planning to start potty training next month when she was out of school for a couple weeks. I had visions of pee everywhere. On the rug, on the couch, and endless pee laundry. I had planned to take a couple weeks, roll up the living room rug, cover the couches with industrial plastic and let her run around nekkid until we had her potty trained. Instead, she decided, on her own, that she was ready to pee in the potty. And my girl is ROCKING it!

This afternoon, after her nap, and after running an errand, I put her back on the potty and I'll be darned, she totally peed. Right there in the potty! And she totally got it. She KNEW when she was going and got a smile on her face and Keith and I gave excited high-fives and I made him run to find a jelly bean or m&m to give her as a reward. I whipped out the stash of cloth trainers I'd been working to build up and I put her in a pair of bright orange underpants. I took her back in the bathroom about 20 minutes later and she BLEW MY MIND when she pooped in the potty! Seriously! Poop! FLOORED!

So, I continued to take her to the potty about every 30 minutes and she continued to pee in the potty. every. single. time.

So, tomorrow? Tomorrow, I will be sending her to school in a cloth trainer with several changes of clothes in her bag. Fingers crossed for a "dry day" at school!

My girl is growing up!

**I should also add that since my excited post to Facebook about all of this, my friend Shauna, whose daughter, Piper, is in Etta's class (and is buddies with her), said that she got Piper to pee in the potty for the first time tonight by telling her that Etta had done it! Holy moly! Big day for Ms. Mandy's AM Early Childhood Class! Woot!

Weekend Cuteness

Once again, we had some beautiful weather this weekend! Etta spent most of the weekend in our backyard and Daniel is getting better at "tripod" sitting. :)

Daniel sure does puffy-heart-LOVE his big sister! <3

Also, Etta and I made muffins this weekend and Keith snapped a few photos (warning: I'm not wearing any make-up. lol.)

"Ummm.. Guys? Why isn't anybody holding me?" 

March Random

A little late, but I have a bunch of random pictures from events in March that I wanted to be sure to share.
Snuggles With Daddy

St Patrick's Day:

Rae's Book Signing:
Rae came to Nashville on her three week book tour for her latest release, Spell Bound. I went out to Green Hills to listen to her. She was full of The Funny, of course. She signed some books and then we went to dinner with Myra at the Cheesecake Factory. SO great to see her!

She's so famous!

Lyla's First Birthday:
Lyla turned ONE! While Keith was home building shelving units for me (for the playroom), I took the kids up to par-tay!

My shelves:

World Down Syndrome Day:
We spent the day (3/21- get it? 3 copies of the 21st chromosome.) haning out with Owen and Suzy and Lyla. We went to the mall to play and have lunch. I remember Etta made me crazy excited by eating chicken (not just the french fries)! Woot!

Daniel Random:

Etta Random:

Dress-up with Mrs Potter.

She looks thrilled.

Etta Goes To The Dentist

Etta went to the dentist for the first time today! I should have taken her MONTHS ago, but a combination of a busy schedule, new baby, and my fear of how she'd do with someone's fingers in her mouth kept me from making the appointment. Over the last few months, she has actually started to let me brush her teeth without much of a fight. This had me hopeful that her first visit to the dentist would go well. So, after asking around, the consensus was to take her to Dr. McNutt in Nashville. His pediatric practice specializes in children and adults with special needs. So, I made the appointment. I've been hyping it a little. E and I have been talking about her teeth and pointing to them and counting them. So, with my fingers crossed, we showed up this morning. Mel was wonderful enough to meet me up there so that she could hang out with Daniel in the waiting area while I went back with Etta.

Etta got to go back and pick out a movie while I went over her health history with a staff member. When I was finished, I went to peek around the corner at her. She was sitting in that chair LETTING the girl clean her teeth!! I was just going to watch from the wings, but when the dental assistant turned to get something, Etta bolted from her chair and I had to grab her and take her back. My cover was blown, but it didn't matter, she still sat in that chair and let them clean her teeth! (Plus, then I got to take pictures!) I couldn't believe how well she was doing

She got to go pick out a prize!

She pretended to brush this stuffed animal's teeth for a couple minutes

We had a little bit of trouble keeping her in the chair while we waited on Dr. McNutt to come see her after her teeth were all clean. When he finally came over (which, really, wasn't THAT long, but with a kid who doesn't want to sit still, it felt like a long time. lol) she was a trooper again as he poked around in her mouth.

The report was good. Her teeth look good and her gums look good. Her bite is a little off, but he said it was not uncommon for children to have that and especially not uncommon for kids with Ds. Also, since she's a bit of a "mouth breather" it can affect her bite. He also told me her paci use wasn't as terrible as I thought it might be. haha. I was waiting to get in trouble, but he was ok with it since she's only using it to get herself to sleep. He was happy that it wasn't her thumb. So, I'll try to break her of her paci use... one day...

My experience (and hers) was a good one today. Nashville friends, I recommend this practice. ;)