I've been a SLACKER in the posting department. So you'd think I'd have lots to say, right. Well lets see what I can dream up.

We've been busy since Thanksgiving. I've been trying to finish up Christmas shopping and get the house in semi-order. Don worked very hard to replace the toilet in our bathroom. After 2 weeks, it is in perfect working order. Since we have 2 more really old toilets to replace, he'll have plenty of chances to beat that record. (I hope he isn't getting mad that I'm saying this)

Ian asks if it is Christmas almost every morning. Our church gave him 2 Advent calendars to help count down. One of them is the "open the door" kind. Well after 15 minute in his room alone with it, all the doors were opened. The other one has been more successful and each day he puts a sticker on a tree. He knows that the baby one goes last. After about a week, he "got it". That means that he doesn't ask to do all the stickers every day and he counts how many empty spots are left.

I've felt kind of bad for him over the past week. He's been cooped up inside due to the bad weather. This is torture for an active 3 year old. Also, he's had a lot of special Christmas things cancelled due to the same lousy weather. Luckily his school concert was rescheduled. His church pagent was rescheduled to this weekend, but we are busy and can't make it. He's gotten to see Santa twice (at the fire department kids party and my work's kids party). Santa is such a rock star to 3 year olds! Ian likes to hug him and talk to him. Since Ian doesn't get all the sounds out that well, we usually have to translate.

In terms of milestones, he's behind on a few things. He can't say a lot of sounds, "y", "l", "s" and "ch" are nonexistant. We try to work with him off and on, but no dice. I'm not worried yet because he tends to be a little late with speach but then gets things all of the sudden, do you know what I mean? Now that we have Leah, I can see that babies are supposed to babble a ton. He never did that so I'm guessing it will take him longer to get his mouth to make all of the different sounds he needs.

The other milestone, which is much more annoying, is the potty training. I think I've blogged about our trials and tribulations before, but our latest bribe is a Batman costume. It is sitting on our kitchen table. He wants it really badly, but he has to go on the potty 10 times before he gets it. Don made a paper ring chain to track the times he goes. It has been over a week and only 4 rings are gone. Our new target is 4. Maybe he will be in underwear by 4. Luckily, our preschool is letting him slide with the pull ups.

Leah is doing really well and is showing signs that she understands what we are saying. She will pretend to sleep if you say "night-night Leah!" and then pop up so proud of herself. The other day she stood alone for a few seconds. She isn't really interested in walking, even assisted. I'm guessing she will walk around 14 months or so. She now has 6 teeth that we can see and I think a few more might be coming soon. She chats all the time and likes to copy our voices. She is very much a Mommy's girl and crawls to me whenever I'm in a room. She loves to be carried around. True princess at heart I guess.

We are looking forward to Christmas and Leah's birthday. Her birthday will be a small event because of all of the activity and at 1, doesn't know the difference. As she gets older, that will change. I'm wondering what kind of cake to get her. I'm open to ideas. Anyone have any?