Desmond's First Professional Haircut!

It was super hot outside here yesterday (and today) with 99 F temperatures and heat index above 100 F and we were crazy enough to run errands yesterday. In between errands, we decided to take Desmond to a professional hair salon (the oh so chic Hair Cuttery) for his first professional haircut, and his 5th overall haircut since birth. Desmond whined a little bit throughout the process but sat through it all. We unfortunately didn't have our camera with us so couldn't get a picture of him in the actual process of getting his haircut. After Desmond was finished, Miss Stella also got a trim around the edges.

Below are pictures from this morning when Dada placed Des in his sister's crib when she first woke up. Des really looks like a little man with his big boy haircut. Our little guy is growing up so fast!

Hopefully, these shorter haircuts can help the kids stay slightly cooler during this atrocious heat wave.

Stella is Potty Trained...Woo Hoo!!!

Stella is fully daytime potty trained...woo hoo!!! We'll say it again...woo hoo!!! Yeah Stella!!! We are so proud of you!!!

Shortly around the time she turned 2 years old, we had introduced her to the idea of using the potty and she had initial successes. But they were short lived. Some time after Desmond's birth, she really balked at the idea of using a potty despite the fact she knew when she had to use it. But experts say that this is common with the arrival of a new sibling. We would back off and try again some time later, but each time, Stella would vehemently resist using the potty...she had no interest. Needless to say, the process of potty training was becoming very frustrating for both parties involved.

This past Memorial Day weekend, we decided to put Stella in cloth training pants/underwear and told her that this is not a diaper but a big girl underwear and that she is to keep it clean and dry by using the potty when she had to "go". Stella had accidents the first 2 days, but by the 3rd day, she started using the potty and has not had an accident since...it's been 2 weeks!!! We have even been out in public with her without diapers and Stella has successfully used the potty in public restrooms. We only put a diaper on her during her nap and at nighttime. We are so thrilled and feel that this has been the biggest milestone Stella has reached thus far. Next step will be to work on staying dry during naps and at nighttime, although, her diaper after her nap has been dry each day for the past week.

Silly Girl

Stella did the funniest thing yesterday. In order to appreciate the story, you need to know a few background facts. Stella does not like taking baths because she doesn't like it when water gets in her eyes. Stella usually gets a bath every other night and she got a bath Sunday night. Last night (Mon) was Desmond's turn to get a bath. So David was bathing Desmond upstairs and Stella was playing and talking in the bathroom watching Des get a bath and I (Mama) was in the living room downstairs. As soon as David finished bathing Desmond and came out into the bedroom to towel him off and dress him, Stella disappears. So David is calling for Stella and we hear no response. So David then asks me if Stella was downstairs with me and I reply no. I then call out for Stella and still no response but I feel like I hear her breathing. I finally get off the couch and head to the stairs and there is Stella standing halfway up the stairs very still and quiet with a "deer caught in the headlights" look on her face. I asked her what she was doing and she replies, "I don't want to take a bath Mama".

Poor girl bounced from the bathroom as soon as the Gup was done with his bath and was coming downstairs to get away from Dada but, Mama happened to be downstairs in the living room so she had no place to go but stay in the middle of the stairs hoping that no one will find her if she remained quiet!

Ommy & Poppa Come to Visit

Ommy and Poppa came down to visit us this weekend. The kids had a great time playing with their grandparents and vice versa.

Desmond even tried to swipe Poppa's beer...he is starting already!!!

Despite the warm and humid weather, we spend some time outside as well. Stella enjoyed riding her tricycle...

...while Desmond got to watch wondering when his turn was coming. Does this boy need a haircut or what?...check out his mop on top!

Desmond was also diagnosed with his first ear infection...poor baby! Desmond had been fighting two back to back colds for the past two weeks. He was unusually cranky Sat night and had a fever of 102.2 F early Sun morning. We had to take him to Nighttime Pediatrics Sun afternoon and sure enough, when they checked out his ear, they were infected. He is on antibiotics now for the next 10 days. Surprisingly, Des has been in a much better mood since his diagnosis.

Stella Can Draw!

Stella drew a closed circle yesterday all by herself. Mama was reading her Parenting magazine and there was an article about the development of artistic skills in children broken down by age. It said that by the time a kid turns 3, most are able to draw closed circles. So this article made Mama test Stella's artistic skills. Mama showed her how to draw a circle and then Stella drew a few all by herself. Mama then drew different types of smiley/sad/angry faces and asked Stella to draw in the eyes and mouth on circles Mama drew for her and she did. In the pic below, the smiley faces in brown are the ones Stella drew. She told me that the brown face in the top left is happy and the brown face on the very bottom left is sad.

This is a huge leap from the scribbles and straight lines she has been drawing up until now. Needless to say, we are very proud of her.

Desmond is 7 Months Old!

Desmond turned 7 months old 2 days ago and the following are the things he can do:

• Can army crawl very well.
• Can get whatever toy he wants. The other day, he crawled over to the Lego container, took the snap on lid off somehow and dumped out all of the Lego pieces onto the floor!
  
• Gets into all of Stella's toys much to Stella's chagrin.
• Getting better and better at sitting upright by himself.

• Loves cords esp electrical cords.
• Complains if toy is taken away.
• Likes jumping in his jumperoo.

• Loves solid foods. So far he has had: rice, oatmeal, and barley cereal, sweet peas, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, carrots, applesauce, sweet corn, sweet potato cereal puffs, and apple wagon wheels.
• Very impatient when it comes to food. As soon as you put him in his highchair, you better have his food ready.
  
• Picks up his fruit cereal puffs with pincer grasp well...releasing it into his mouth is still more of a challenge. He gets so excited when we take out his container of fruit cereal puffs.
  
• Looks at our plates of food longingly and starts whining. When Mama was holding him in one hand and eating chips with the other, Desmond got so excited at the food, giggled, and placed his mouth on Mama's mouth in an attempt to eat the chips out of Mama's mouth...silly boy!
• Can hold his bottle but usually likes to play with it rather than drink it.

• Sleeps from 9 pm to anywhere between 6-7 am
• Starting to really love interacting with his sister. Stella can make him laugh like crazy and that just lights up Stella's world. We can see the two of them being the best of friends as well as getting into huge battles over toys.
  

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Stella played "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the piano all by herself perfectly yesterday. She has inherited Daddy's musical abilities because Mama sure doesn't have any! Maybe Stella is the next Mozart=:) Since the toy piano she plays on has numbers on each key, we just thought Stella memorized the numbered keys in order to play "Twinkle, Twinkle". But we were wrong, because at school, Dada witnessed Stella playing "Twinkle, Twinkle" on the xylophone that does not have any numbered keys!