One GIANT leap forward, four babysteps back...

Sophie used the potty all by herself on Saturday! She got an M&M and she FINALLY got to put a sticker on the potty section of her BIG GIRL CHART (she has tons of stickers for carrying her plate to the kitchen and for sleeping in her big girl bed all night, but this was the first potty success). We've been putting her in panties most weekends, now, but with no luck. We would take her to the potty every 20 minutes, but she would inevitably wet her pants about thirty seconds after leaving the bathroom.

Laney came over on Friday night and used the potty and got an M&M -- I'm sure that's what did the trick! Of course, after Sophie's big success in the morning, we had a few setbacks during the day (Elmo rainbow panties, then Curious George, then Hello Kitty with the hearts, then another Hello Kitty pattern). No matter. It was a HUGE success. And doesn't she look proud of herself?

Bunny Ears

This is Sophie in the Bouncy Castle at the Easter Festival. Those pics always turn out reddish and blurry, but this one is a classic:

Happy Easter!

We headed down to the park in our neighborhood for an Easter Festival on Saturday. Sophie REALLY loved the bunny this year. She would sit on his lap (well...her lap...the Easter Bunny had boobies), then get back in line to be able to sit on the bunny's lap again.

We're talking borderline stalker behavior. When the bunny tried to take a little break, Sophie chased it down for one more hug.

The 18 months to 3-year-old group had their egg hunt on the tennis courts rather than in the big grassy area. I guess they didn't want anyone getting distracted by butterflies or flowers. On the courts, it was more of an egg DASH. Sophie gave me a high five when it was all over.

On Saturday night, we headed over to the Stephens' house for some easter egg decoration and dinner. Here's a link to a photopage -- check out Frank's master photographer work:

http://www.frankandstacy.net/photos/easter

Jumping JUMBO

Really...what kind of caption would you write for this one? I'm at a loss. Except to say, I do realize that I should not be jumping in my delicate condition (or sneaking sips of wine, or taking allergy medicine, or eating spicy food, or cussing). It's just that the little metal boy seemed to be having so much fun...

Toddlertude

Sophie has very definite opinions about fashion. My fashion. She does not like the Momma who wears a ponytail. She says, "Take it down! Take it down! Don't like that Momma!" She's also against sunglasses. Not for her, mind you. In fact, she has requested some new pink glasses because it's so BWIGHT outside these days. But she tells me, "Take off you sunglasses, Momma." I could try to analyze the situation -- I mean, maybe the Momma wearing sunglasses and a ponytail is the Momma who is ready to run errands -- ergo, the Momma who rushes around and bosses little people. I dunno. What I do know is that it irritates Frank to no end when I reach up and pull out the ponytail. Why in the world would I let a two-year-old tell me what to do? It's easier, folks. Sometimes, it's just easier. And there are those moments when she tells me, "You're my precious, precious baby, Momma."

Spring Break: Babies Gone Wild!

It's Spring Break, so we're ROAD TRIPPIN', baby! Usually when we do our marathon, cross-country drives, we just pull over when we get tired and end up in sort of sketchy motels with moldy carpeting and lingering cigarette smoke in the air. This time, I put my foot down. If we were going to save money by not buying three airline tickets, I rationalized that we could afford one night in a nicer abode AND we could invest in a portable DVD player. And I have ZERO buyer's remorse on both counts. Frank and I drove through about six hours of torrential rains the day we left Texas, but Sophie barely noticed because she was falling in love with Winnie the Pooh. When we reached New Orleans, we headed straight to the Garden District to stay at a B&B: The Chimes. I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to the Big Easy -- gorgeous courtyards, beautiful rooms, a super-friendly host, warm bakery goods in the morning, AND...drumroll please...Amy Tan stayed there once. That's as good as it gets for two nerdy English teachers!

Before we left N'awlins, we toured the French Quarter and stopped off at the aquarium. Sophie was afraid to pet the stingray (which were really friendly and flappy and slippery), but she plunged both arms into the tank when it was her turn to pet a baby shark. I really must show her the movie Jaws sometime soon. She was also thrilled by the jellyfish and the big white alligator. Frank and I both liked the seadragons the best.

Apparently it was field trip day for New Orleans' schools. The ticket guy told us that over 2,000 school kids were also touring the aquarium, but it really wasn't that crazy inside. The five-year-old's didn't have a very long attention span, so they raced through the aquarium and were out of the way before we knew it. Sophie LOVED seeing all the kids, and her favorite part of the aquarium was doing a stomp dance with four other little girls. When we left, we let her run off some energy before loading her back into the car for the last five hour leg of our journey. Hmmm...one of these kids is doin' their own thing...

And...FINALLY...after about 14 hours of driving, we reached our final destination: Uncle Wob and Aunt La-la's house in Al-a-baaaaammmmmaaaa. (Okay, this started off as an Obama chant, but it easily translated to our Montgummy mantra.) We've been looking forward to the arrival of Baby Bennett for so long, and Sophie is already a great cousin. Here she is, poking out the baby's eyeballs. Ah, family.

We have TONS of pics from our trip so far...I'll post again when we return home! We miss all you Texas folks. See ya soon!

I Hate People

No...not YOU people, who read this blog. The OTHER people. The ones who asked me a few months after Sophie was born when I was having my baby. And I wasn't pregnant. The ones at work who saw me wearing cute empire-cut shirts and congratulated me. And I wasn't pregnant. (Guess I should stop shopping at Target and upgrade to J.Jill or Land's End or something). And now...now that I AM PREGNANT, I see people whispering near me, wondering if I am pregnant. Just last week at a teacher workshop thing, this woman leaned over to her co-worker and attempted to whisper: "Think she's pregnant?" I LOOK LIKE I ATE A BASKETBALL! OF COURSE I'M PREGNANT!!! And if I mention the new baby while I'm standing in line at the copy machine, co-workers seem to sigh in relief as they say, "Oh, thank goodness. I thought maybe you were pregnant, but I didn't want to say anything." Really? Because that didn't stop you last spring when I was wearing that cute dress that you absolutely ruined for me when you asked me my due date.

And now this. At Chick-fil-a last night (hey...kids eat free on Tuesday nights), a man holding an infant in a little carrier, waiting in line for an ice cream cone, turned and smiled at me and asked when I was due. "June," I smiled, even though I know damn well it's the end of June. "Jeez," he says..."are there six kids in there?!" "No, no," I smirk, "just one big roly-poly boy, I guess." "No, really," he says. "Are you having twins?" I looked at Frank, who smiled sweetly at me, and I walked away from the counter (where I was waiting for a refill on my Diet Coke, NOT an ice cream). And that, my friends, is why I hate people. And why I keyed his car.

She is SO ready to torture a little brother

Hey, wait a sec...does that dog have MORE spots than usual?!?

Looks like someone has decorated the canine's caboose...

Uh...what makes you think it was me, Momma?!?