Milestones

COLLIN
This 5-1/2 year-old lost his first tooth!

It has been super wiggly since mid-May, and he quit eating with or brushing it. When we got home from vacation Thursday, I saw a black spot on the tooth and gum, and I freaked out. I was worried it was going to rot the permanent tooth underneath.

Luckily, Super Dad coaxed him into letting him tie a string around it that night, and... YANK! It was out. Thank goodness. We had corn on the cob to celebrate.

BRENNAN
This 3-1/2 year-old is - I say this cautiously - potty trained!

I have been trying and trying for the last four months to get this kid out of diapers, but he is super stubborn. He doesn't do anything that makes Mom happy.

So I read "Potty Training in One Day," and enlisted Super Dad (sensing a theme to this post?) to spend all day Saturday having potty parties. They drank sugar-filled juices and pops all day and ate candy after each success. Part of the book's idea was also that Brennan potty-trained his Curious George, because he is his "daddy." The other idea from the book was that after each accident Brennan had to do five "practice runs" pretending from different parts of the house that he needed to go and running as fast as he could to the toilet, removing his underwear, sitting on the toilet, dressing again and leaving. It was a great logical consequence for my little man.

Obviously, all the sugar consumption was completely against my thinking, but "my thinking" (sticker charts, cleaning up the mess, date rewards) had totally failed numerous times. Anyway, it worked and it's sticking so far, so I'd say with some kids (who are strong-willed and sugar-holics), it works.

ETHAN
This 9-month old can crawl AND has six teeth!

Eefie is 9 months today. Today's the day he's been "out for as long as he was in." He's adorable but certainly has developed an opinion. He knows what he wants, and he does all he can to get it. Since vacation, he screams each time I put him in his car seat, but hopefully that'll wear off at some point. He is barely nursing (3 times per day, just one side for 5 mins), but loves eating baby food and Cheerios. He sleeps 7pm - 5:30am and takes two 2-hour naps. He is probably my most curious baby so far. Yesterday I was trying to vacuum, and he kept crawling into the path trying to touch the light on the front. All my other children have been petrified by the loud noise, but he's not one to let fear get in his way. He grabs at everything and keeping him out of trouble has become my full-time job. He also puts everything into his mouth, which is to be expected at this age, but "everything" at our house (due to having older brothers) includes teeny legos, magnets, and - my worst find yet - a peanut. Man, I hope I can keep this little guy safe.