Today Henry was being fussy in the backseat while I was running errands. I gave him the nearest thing I could find to entertain him. It happened to be a little container of these cereal-like puffs. It seemed to work as I didn't hear anything for awhile.. and then suddenly I started hearing some mysterious crunching. When I stopped this is how I found him. He was very proud of himself and happily munching from his little mountain of puffs. I snapped this with my cell phone.
So I've found that with potty training a toddler it seems to be 3 steps forward a billon-ty huge and disgusting steps back. For all the squeamish - You may want to bypass the next couple of paragraphs.
I'd been avoiding the potty training all together taking the advice from several people that when they were ready it would be a breeze. Grant would shout "NO!" every time I even MENTIONED the potty so I kept avoiding it and assumed he wasn't ready. We had some friends (Jason & Sue) from England that raised 3 boys and after much talk on the subject Grant woke up a few days later with a completely dry diaper. So I immediately took him to the potty to go. He did resist at first and then after some distraction for about 5 minutes he went in the potty. We celebrated and gave him a chocolate for going. Since then we've been practicing naked time each time he has an accident because I think without thinking he reverts back to going in his pants. It has all been going very well with very few accidents. And just like that - the parenting fairy shows up to smack the smug look off your face.
We thought we'd enjoy one of our last days of sunshine here by grabbing Grant a happy meal and going to the park. It all went really well until Grant started ripping off his pants and looking very distressed. There is no bathroom at this particular park. We tried convincing him to go wee in the bushes and then realized to our dismay that he didn't need to do a wee. Team Dampier quickly whipped into action as I held his hands and tried to calm him down and Peter whipped up an ingenious "NEW POTTY" out of his Happy Meal box. Grant finally relaxed enough to go and I was SO glad the 3 wipes I had remaining in my diaper bag were good enough for clean up duty. Grant went on his merry way. Then it all started again. Can I just say I'm SO glad the park was completely empty. So this time we were really in a bind. No more new potty, no more wipes, no more ideas. I did feel horrible for him as he was really distressed and kept crying that there was "Poo in my Wundies". Poor Henry was left in his stroller to look on the entire time.. and even he looked horrified. By some stroke of luck I had spare clothes in the car and some plastic bags so we could all get home without contaminating everything.
Aside from that mishap he's doing really well at going to the potty when he needs to and we've only had a couple of accidents so we're not doing too badly.
In Henry news - he's very VERY fast at crawling and he's eating more and more solids. I honestly think he will be happier once the bottle is finally done. He just really seems to prefer food to milk. It's amazing that he's as small as he is when you consider the amount that he eats. He's like a goldfish and I have to cut him off at almost every meal and hide the food or he goes into a screaming fit. He is also saying "DA-DA-DA-DA" quite well which pleases Pete. He does say "MA-MA-MA" as well but not as often. Lately he's been doing this thing where he shakes his head back and forth and thinks it's hilarious as well as Grant. Henry really likes following Grant around and his favorite thing now is standing up at Grant's toy bins and just rummaging through them all. Today was a splash-fest at bathtime by both boys. It was pretty cute. He had his 9 month baby check up last week and he's solidly into the 3-5% percentile for weight @ just under 17lbs and he's in the 25-50% for height. He's very long and lean. :)
Anywhoo.. there's our little update.. haven't taken any pics in awhile but I really need to try and get some with the boys together. Now that I've posted that I'll see if I'm more committed to getting it done. :)
-misty
I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted an update.
Henry is now a very proficient crawler and pulling up and getting into everything and Grant is doing new goofy things every day that crack us up. My parents were here for 10 days and again got Halloween costumes done, work around the house done, all while being wrapped around 2 very tiny little fingers. 
Grant has now worked out what happens in a drive through and that there are more options available than the stuff he's been getting. I was going through McDonalds and I'd ordered him a 4pc nugget happy meal. The cashier asked if I wanted apple dippers or fries and I ordered apples (to make me feel less guilty about the mcd's in the first place) but the minute I said "apples" Grant pipes up from the back seat and yells "NO! FRIES!" so the cashier kinda laughed and asked which I wanted and I chuckled and ordered the apples again and Grant yelled. "NO GRANT WANT FRIES!!" Fortunately by the time we got home he'd completely forgotten about them and happily ate his apples.
OH! Henry also has 2 little chompers! You can see them in the first picture with my dad. He's been testing them out every chance he gets.
We also seem to have a little speed demon on our hands. This is a pic of Grant on a rollercoaster with Pete at Remlinger Farms.
I love the look on Grant's face. He's also game for any other ride that they'll let him on. Other favorites are bouncy castles and the big giant slides they have at fairs (I let dad climb those stairs the 4 times and we only barely got out of that loop by providing another distraction).
Grant also "graduated" from his little pre-preschool class. I love that place and I am so sad that he's done. I have NO idea how they got him to pose in this picture but it's so stinkin' cute.
Thanks again to my mom and dad for all the things they help out with while they're here. I swear we get more stuff done in the week they're here than we do the rest of the year.
Grant is also starting to express his emotions more. While my parents were here I was doing something in his room with him and he came up and gave me a kiss and said "Mommy, I wug you". He then gave me a hug and kiss and walked off. I didn't know what he said at first and then realized it and got a bit teary. On the flip side he also felt what it was like to miss someone. I had to take my parents to the airport at 3 or 4am so they were gone when Grant got up. At the end of the day when Grant heard Peter coming up the stairs he got really excited and yelled GRAMMA & GRAM-MA (he is having problems saying Grampa at the moment) and ran over to the stairway to see them. When he realized it was only daddy he looked so sad and started crying. It broke my heart. We've decided that Christmas is too long to wait to see the them again and just booked a ticket back for the end of September. I'll be traveling alone with both boys to Denver and then renting a car and driving back to Cozad on my own. Lord, help us.
I think that's it for the updates - I really need to be posting more often so I don't miss things and these aren't so lengthy.
-misty
OH! I forgot to mention.. I have no idea where it came from but Grant's new favorite saying is "It's SHOWTIIIME" I have no idea where he heard it but it cracks us up which only makes him put his index finger up and say it again. :)
