At almost 7 months old, Mara is finally getting used to the idea of solid food. We started her at around 5ish months but she did not really take to it. She continued with that phase of thrushing the food back out of her mouth each time we spoon fed her. It was not that she seemed to not like the food or the taste, just that she could not figure out that it was actually food. Because of this, I eased off on the amount of food we would give her, a wait and see approach.

I was worried that this approach would make her less likely to eat when we tried again later. It does seem to have worked because now she is doing great with it. We are still on the Stage 1s, but I think we will move to the Stage 2s soon now that I see her interest is raised.

Thane has also been very interested in Mara eating. Whenever we give her a bottle he says: “Mara drinks milk.” When we feed her, he watches intently. This weekend, in his cute little underoos, he decided to help us out even more and actually feed Mara. I was amazed at how gentle he was with the spoon (i.e. not gagging her with it) and how precise he was at getting food on the spoon and feeding her. She loved being fed by her big brother, her best friend.

Thane feeding Mara from Stephanie Hansen on Vimeo.

I like to think that this weekend was a resounding success but since I have not yet heard from his teacher, I cannot yet say. What I can say is that on Friday (evening only) we had 4 accidents. On Saturday, we had 3 and a half (half being that it was completed in the potty) and as of Sunday at 3:30 pm, there were ZERO accidents. Then from 3:30-7 we had 3 accidents. This was also the time that I chose to go do errands..coincidence? God, I hope so because if I am his Skinner box for peeing, that is a bad bad thing. He also napped both days with no accident (and no diaper).

Here is what we did.

First, I spent WAY too much money at Target buying extra shorts and several different types of underwear/training pants to see what worked and what did not work. I am happy to report that I was able to return the things that did not work already. He absolutely loves the Elmo underwear. Tagless. Not made in China. Sesame Street approved. I guess Jay and I can make this one character exception for no more diapers.

I set the timer for 15 mins and took or asked or some combination of the two each time. As I said before, Sunday was a huge success. I don’t know if I just caught him at the right time or what but it was working. He was sent to school today diaper free and I cannot be more excited.

This weekend Mara did not get quite so much attention but Thane got a ton of mommy time. I cannot remember the last time I did something with so much concentration and effort for more than 12 hours.

In Mara news…SHE WAVED! It was the cutest thing ever and she did it repeatedly. It was kind of a backwards wave with her arm up and her hand out but it was adorable.

In Thane-ism news….we were watching a Discovery Channel show the other day and Thane looked at the screen and said, “They’re in space.” Jay and I looked at each other perplexed. Where did this kid learn about space? He was right, they were in space. Break out the astronaut toys!!!

Jay and I have been back and forth about the potty training idea. Some days Thane is really into it, some days not. He has successfully gone on the potty countless times, and at least 3 times for a BM.

Yesterday, when picking Thane up, we were told that he bit another child and Oma saw….and Oma corrected him (scary!). We saw Oma this morning and I asked her about “the incident.” She barely remembered that but DID remember another incident yesterday…Thane had a BM on the toilet!

She was happy to have caught because she was going to call us anyway. She said we now need to start potty training. As in now. As in this weekend.

I have this American Artisan Festival on my calendar for weeks now. I love this festival. I look forward to it every year and every year I miss it. Oma said I was more than welcome to go if I wanted to have a 4 year old in diapers.

So, here we go. Diaper training all weekend long. Every hour on the hour on the potty. Loving it. Don’t you wish you were us.

Oh, and did I mention I was going to Kansas City next week and leaving Jay for 3 days with the peepee king? The baby that peed so much in my belly I was diagnosed with too much fluid? Yep. Fun Fun Fun.

Wait, 82 diapers: $49, Trip to Babies R Us to buy size 7 diapers not available in grocery stores: $2.55, Having only 1 kid in diapers: well, not quite priceless but much closer!

In other news, Thane is getting better about staying in his bed. Especially when we stay with him for a little bit. He has woken up a few times, once screaming at 10:30 pm, and crawled into bed with us. The night he woke up screaming it took us about 20 minutes to calm him down and we added it to the column of “things that have scared us as parents.”

Thane is now playing peek a boo with Mara and she adores it. He makes her laugh non-stop and is doing so in the car at home at school. He gives her hugs and even school commented on how well they get along.

Mara is doing a great job of sitting on her own. She has also taken to scooting from side to side. She moves like the hands on a clock, it is very cute. She got her very first pair of shoes yesterday and is wearing them today…a pair of Robeez with a penguin in pink and purple. And today, the ultimate prize, daddy admitted he like all the pink!

Thane is talking up a storm and tomorrow we are doing a language study at Vandy. He has some very cute sayings lately:

After spilling a box of Q-tips (on purpose): “Oh no. I made a mess”

“Where did (insert name or object here) go?” This is used for everything, but we have also taken it to mean what are you (or he/she/it) doing?

He can sing along to the ABC song. He may not know all the letters but when he doesn’t, he keeps on singing and in tune with his mommy (which really is not that much of a feat).

There are more that I cannot think of right now. Will try to write them down or something because they are just too cute to miss.