A HUGE Milestone

There is big news around here. BIG news. James has stopped sucking his fingers! Like TOTALLY stopped! And what's more amazing, he went 100% cold turkey.

Don't you think he looks likes Wyatt in this picture?

Let's rewind.

On January 25th, James had a dentist apt. I'd been building it up all month, billing it as the visit that the dentist is going to give me the "bad tasting finger gunk" to put on his fingers so he will finally stop sucking them. He agreed to try to stop before the visit, but that lasted about 2 hours.

According to his teacher, he never sucks them at school. Pre-school, we'd talking about how he needs to stop putting his hands in his mouth when school starts so a) he won't get major germs from all the germy kids and b) he won't get made fun of by his new friends. Apparently, it rang true with him and he was able to go cold turkey during school. But about 2 seconds after picking him up at the end of the day, fingers go right in the mouth as he sits in the back of the van. Frustrating, but totally what I expected.



This is a huge habit for James. I swear, he was sucking these fingers in utero! He's ALWAYS sucked them. Always, always. And it's an all the time thing.

But, enter the dentist. Super sweet, new dentist. A guy. A fellow baseball lover. Totally related to James immediately. He calmly sat down after the visit and showed James his x-rays. He explained that his big boy teeth were on their way. Soon baby teeth would fall out and the big boy teeth would come in. And big boy teeth last for your whole life. But, if you suck your fingers, big boy teeth can come in crooked and start to hurt your jaw. And then, the dentist has to try to fix the crooked teeth which can sometimes hurt. So, he challenged James to try to stop as much as he could, but that if he was unable to, Mom would have to paint some yucky nail polish on his fingers that would taste real bad to remind him to not suck.



That was it. That was all that was said. And it was a totally calm, soft conversation. James just listened and nodded and agreed to try to stop.

Well, I kid you not he has NOT sucked them since. Not even once! And I've tried to catch him a ton of times - but he never is! I'm so so proud of him. What a constitution! He is so determined and focused and grown up sometimes - it just blows my mind!



So, no more pictures of him sucking these fingers. I'll finally get more shots of his cute smile! We are so very proud of him!

Leftovers

These two pictures didn't have a specific purpose, other than I thought they were cute and should be posted.

Isabel loves to be creative. Here she is doing horse stamps.
These two helping me make cookies.

Valentine's Day

Izzy still glowing from her birthday party



Later that morning, I headed to the school to help with the Valentine party at James' school
The class had an Ice Cream Sundae bar. James topped his with M&M's and marshmallows!
They then passed around their valentines into everyone's bags.
We put Izzy's new horse sheets (a gift from James) on her bed. We did a bit of re-re-decorating to her room too. See the outcome here.
Iz sporting around her gift from Aunt Myrt! She loves to get her Diva on with her ribbon skirt and sing Karaoke!
Wyatt sporting around his present - he loves to be in the kitchen watching and helping cook, so this little hat is perfect!

Izzy turns 4 !!

Our little Valentine Baby turned 4 last week!

She wanted blue Jello with her special dinner
She was also very particular about her cake. She picked out french vanilla with strawberry cream frosting.
She loved helping me make it! Mostly, just so she could taste along the way!
Naturally, a heart with prink frosting and pink sprinkles.
Time for presents!



We got her a Karaoke machine. If there is one thing our girls loves to do - it is sing!
James enjoyed dancing to her tunes
She takes her singing very seriously. She wanted us all to be super quiet and just listen, yet she'd get shy if we listened too much!




A few things Isabel says:
Are you kidding me?
Holy Smackaroni, Mom!
What you talking about, pork chop!
What is taking furfurever?

Some fun things about Isabel at 4:
She loves to sing and dance. Often, dressed in one of her princess costumes.
She is extremely kind and thoughtful. She is always observing and looking for ways to help! She'll often hear me say I need something and then *poof* show up with the item in her hand!
She loves to cook. One of her favorite things to do is be in the kitchen with me helping me make breakfast/lunch/dinner. She can make her own PB&J sandwiches (although, she takes them without the J) and can make pancakes. She gets her apron out, the step stool, and she's ready to go.
She loves to take care of her baby dolls and play like she is the mom
She has excellent taste in clothes. Each morning she will dress herself, and I'm often amazed at how wel her miss matched items go together! Even if it's 2 different socks paired with capri pants and a sweater - she always looks cute!
She loves to be around animals. Out of all of us, she has a real talent for being around them. She's our little animal whisperer. Each of them responds well to her gentleness and seem to enjoy being around her above all the rest of us. Her kitty Beauty, despite being mauled and loved and hugged to death, actually seeks Izzy out in the nights so she can sleep with her in her bed.
She is extremely self sufficient! This is a trait I am so grateful for! Despite her start as my most high-maintenance baby, she has long left that in her past. She makes her bed, gets her own food, dresses herself, brushes her own teeth, and pretty much is game to try anything else I may ask her to do.
She has confidence for days! There is nothing she can't do - and I admire that!
She's a joy to be around and we are so happy she's part of our family!

Hearts & Ribs

The weekend before Valentine's day, James filled out all of his class valentine cards (26 in all!) and we took a road trip to a BBQ joint we've been wanting to visit since we moved out here!

I thought it was so fun to watch James carefully select the perfect Star Wars picture for each of his friends. Once he carefully wrote their name, and his, he would then just as carefully pick out the perfect sticker to complement each card. He was so particular about making sure the girls in his class got the card that had Princess Leah on it, while his best buddies got cards with Darth Vader on them. :) But mostly I was proud to see how well he could read his classmates names, and then reproduce them on each valentine.




After he was done, he wrote a card for each of us. Wyatt was so excited that his brother had given him something! And Izzy was thrilled that her card had Princess Leah on it!

We started our Saturday road trip with a stop at the temple. JL and I needed to visit the distribution center, and the kids haven't been down for a visit in a couple years. They loved walking around the grounds and looking at all the beautiful early flowers. And of course, the fountain (although in a winter slumber) was a huge hit also!


After the temple, we hit Blacks for some BBQ!

The final vote was: it was ok. Not the best we've had, but decent.
Wyatt loves his meat! In this case, he spent a great deal of time eating ribs!

100 Days

These pictures don't have anything to do with the title of this post. They were just too cute not to include. :)

The boys making mini pizza
Wyatt looking handsome for church. He learned to put his hands in his pocket from his older brother (who learned it from Dad.)
Wyatt doing one of his jobs. He is EXCELLENT at sorting and putting away the silverware from the dishwasher.
And he enjoys it! (I love this age!)
My oldest cowboy.
My adorable cowgirl.
My hat-less baby cowboy.
Three monkeys.
Wyatt finally noticed he didn't have a hat, so he walked inside, went upstairs, and got his construction hat out. It was so cute! He is so part of the group.

This past Tuesday was James' 100th day of school. The kindergarten class put on a little show for the parents at the end of their school day. They counted to 100, sang songs about 100 things and ate 100 cupcakes (collectively, not individually!). It was really cute, as is all things my children do.

James standing next to his buddy Hunter. Waiting for the songs to start.
Houston, James, Nathaniel. They are buds.
No doubt they all thought the cupcakes were the best part of the program!