Swimming Lessons

The boys have started their first swimming lessons (with the exception of Aqua Babies when Braden was about 6 months old). I knew Braden would love swimming but I was a little nervous about Conner liking them because when we went to Chelan this summer he wouldn't go in the pool unless I was completely hugging him and he would only let mom hold him and not even dad. However, after a couple trips to the Great Wolf Lodge, Conner seems to have warmed up to the idea of swimming. He went right into the pool without hesitation.

Both boys are enjoying the lessons quite a bit. They aren't swimming by themselves yet but they will both go out by themselves with a noodle and they are learning a lot about water safety. There are about 6-8 kids in the class and there are two teachers and one "helper". They are excited each day to go into the pool and our friends Ryan and Jack are in the lessons with us so that makes it even more fun!

Conner's 3rd birthday

Conner had his 1st friend birthday party this year at Jungle Playland. We decided to invite just a few friends and go to Jungle Playland. This is one of Conner's favorite places. He was really looking forward to his birthday and kept counting down the days until his party. It was very lowkey and it was just perfect for him. He felt very special having people sing to him and open a few presents. He also really enjoyed running around for a few hours with his buddies. We go to Jungle Playland a lot and this was the first time he was able to climb up all the levels on his own. Normally mom or dad has to climb up and help him up because there is quite a jump between some of the levels. This time he had his big brother drag him up a few times and then he decided he was going to keep up with all the other kids and just figured out a way to drag himself with all of his might. Yippee! We are looking forward to future visits where we don't have to assist so much in the climbing.

Hey, look at my cool fork.....

This is Conner and his best friend Rylan hugging in the ball pit. They go to daycare together and they run up and hug each other all the time.
Jack helping Conner blow out his candles on his monster truck cake that he didn't eat any of. I might have the only kid who doesn't like chocolate or dessert of any kind......(except Starburst and Airheads) I guess I should have made a cake out of Starburst...

Potty Training

We finally got Conner potty trained the week before Christmas. Conner is a child that does not enjoy change. He was happy in his diapers and wanted nothing to do with the potty. We decided just to wait until Christmas break to do it when we would be home from school and could work on it all day. We gave him a lot of notice and told him that there would be no more diapers. It took a few days ( I think mostly due to the fact that he was sick) but we had told him we were starting Monday so we were starting sickness or not. He never had an accident but for the first few days we would spend an hour or so on the potty sometimes before we would get any pee pee. Finally, Christmas Eve he sat down, went right away, looked at me and said "That's not hard at all!". Then, he was completely trained. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge right after that and even with a 3 hour car ride we did not have any accidents. (We put the little potty in the back of the SUV and away we went!) Yeah Conner!