The BEST birthday present EVER

Yesterday was my (being Gia) birthday. It was an all around great day. The best part though was when I was tucking in Jaxon last night before he fell asleep and he looked at me and all on his own said "I love mama". This is a HUGE deal because Jax struggles a bit with certain aspects of speech. He has a bit of an issue with L sounds and has never said the word love before (even with much prodding by mom and dad). Then he just said it all on his own. I nearly cried.

If I don't see you then you can't see me

this seems to be the philosophy of both Jax and Raven. Jax did not want his picture taken and Raven is terrified of the camera.

Let It Snow

This was the first really good snow that has fallen since Jax was born in 2006. We have had other smaller snow storms but they usually ended in rain or freezing rain that made it difficult to get outside to play. Jax had a ton of fun moving the snow from here to there and there to here with his assortment of tractors and dump trucks.

Toilet Trained

Jax decided to toilet train himself this last weekend. The timing could not have been any better since Joe and I had four days off that we could spend hovering around the toilet with Jax. I had been talking to Jax a lot lately about the fact that someday he would be a big boy and would be able to use the potty like Jaida does. He liked the concept but did not seem eager to do much about it. Then Thursday morning I was folding laundry and he was looking at everyone's underwear and went and picked up a diaper and held it up and said "Nons" (this is what he calls himself). I told him that if he wanted to wear big boy underwear he would have to start using the potty because he couldn't make pee or poo in his underwear because that would be a BIG mess. Jax is all about not liking messes right now so I figured this method might stand a chance. Jax thought about it for a while and answered yes that he would use the potty.

Thursday I ran out and bought him a couple of packs of underwear and he started wearing them when we got home. He had several small accidents on Thursday afternoon but did manage to make the majority of pee go in the potty. Thursday I was exhausted from spending so much time running back and forth to the bathroom and didn't have high hopes for toilet training success. Friday morning when Jax woke up we put him right back in underwear. He used the potty all day Friday with just a couple of small pee accidents. It was still more of a happy coincidence when it all worked out though. It just happened to be that Jax was on the potty when he peed. It wasn't clear that he really had any control. On Saturday it started to really click for Jaxon and he just suddenly got it. He was holding his pee for a normal amount of time and then he would sense that he needed to go and run for the bathroom all the while yelling "potty, potty, potty" over and over again. He had a few false alarms but mostly he peed every time he sat down on the potty. He had one small accident all day. He also linked wearing underwear and using the potty with being a BIG boy. Saturday night when I was getting him ready for bed and went to put a diaper on him he started to cry and told me he is a big boy by raising his arms above his head. I reminded him that as soon as he can hold his pee all night he can wear underwear to bed. Sunday morning he woke up dry but I forgot to check him before inviting him to snuggle with me in bed. He crawled in bed with me and snuggled for about an hour and then announced he had to go pee. I took him in the bathroom and peeled him out of his pj's and DRY diaper and sat him on the potty. He peed immediately!

He wore a pull-up to church on Sunday. Between Jaida's piano lesson, service and Jaida's choir practice we were at church for about 5 hours and Jax did not have a single accident. He even peed in the big potty at church! Jax napped when we got home and woke up dry and immediately peed on the potty afterwards. He really seems to *get it*. He woke up dry again this morning and immediately went in and peed on the potty.

I am just so proud of him! I suppose I am a tiny bit sad also as this really is the last hold-over of our baby days. My baby is a big boy now. I didn't think Jax would take to it this easily. Jaida kind of was interested in the potty at this age but it was a bit scarier for her for some reason. We had lots of false starts with Jaida. It just clicked with Jaxon.

Christmas with the cousins

Jax had fun playing with his cousin Mattie ... in between screeches of "MINE" and crocodile tears when she took a toy from him. :)

Jax and Mattie playing with one of the multitude of toys

Jaida (with Ryli), Mattie and Jaxon (who happened to be licking chocolate cookies off his lips when I snapped the picture)

Santa = FUN

This is the lesson Jax learned this holiday season. Before the receiving of Santa's gifts Jax thought the jolly old elf was a cool thing. He pointed out Santa whenever he saw his image (on anything). When asked if Santa was going to visit his house he would respond with a tentative "yesth" before looking up and shouting out that Santa is outside in the sky (not a God reference - just magical reindeer pulling the sleigh).

However, this all changed Christmas morning when Jax and Jaida came downstairs to find the loot Santa left for them. Now Santa may be the coolest person EVER in Jax's eyes!

Holiday fun!!

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Excitement

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Our kids personalities could not be summed up any better than this. Jaida is always kind of somber and everything she does is well thought out in advance. Jax on the other hand is very easily excited.

Oh Christmas Tree

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

It took some time on a frigid December afternoon but we finally found the perfect tree.

Ho Ho Ho

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Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Jax was VERY excited to visit with Santa this year! Everytime we would ask him if he was going to sit on Santa's lap the answer he gave was "yesth".

Happy Holidays

My sweet sweet boy