I'm a Big Boy Now!

John Ross and the potty chair have become friends... finally! Kyle and I decided that this past weekend was THE weekend to get John Ross potty trained. We had a rare weekend at home and with Kyle home on Monday, we had 3 days to achieve our mission. Almost two dozen pairs of underwear and a HUGE bag of Skittles later, I can proudly say - Mission Accomplished!

By the third day, it just clicked for him and he's been doing great ever since. He had one accident on Monday. We were nervous about staying on a roll once he went back to daycare today. He's continuing to use the potty at daycare and we're so proud of him.

I promised him about a month ago that he could have a brand new tractor once he started using the potty and he hasn't let me forget. Looks like we'll be hitting Tractor Supply this week!

We Have a Crawler!

Judd is finally crawling! To give the kid some credit, he has been mobile for awhile. He had his own style of scooting on his bottom to where he needed to go. Eventually he turned into a tripod using an inward-pointed leg as his "rudder". As of Wednesday, he has all four limbs parallel and moving in the same direction. It's very exciting, but I didn't realize how much baby proofing we need to do. John Ross is old enough, we've let a few things go and his toys have tiny parts that offer a new challenge.

Judd is also moving on to table food. He wasn't a big fan of the thick-textured baby foods, so we started giving him table food a few weeks ago and he is quite enthusiastic about that. Today he ate everything from meat to several types of fruits and was super excited about peas of all things.

He just cut his 8th tooth and sat through his 2nd haircut. He's growing so fast... it's a little heartbreaking for Mommy!

Pink Eye Almost Leads to Pink Slip

So, yesterday morning John Ross was diagnosed with Pink Eye and was not allowed to attend daycare for 24 hours. I took him to the office with me to do a few things and grab my laptop, so that I could work from home. He behaved so well! He stayed in my cubicle and played with a truck and some ears of corn I have sitting on my shelf. I was getting ready to walk over to a co-worker's cubicle when John Ross bolted down the long row of cubicles. He ran to the end of the row and took a hard right and the chase was on. Before I could grab him, he ran right into the office of our Vice President of North America Sales - giggling the whole way. He ran into the office and jumped into a cushioned corner chair. I kept repeating to myself, "Alejandro (the VP), please do not be there." He was.

I was mortified and the VP was quite surprised. He had a slight grin and puzzled look as if he was thinking, "who is this child and where did he come from?" I apologized and grabbed John Ross. Alejandro then commented how cute he was and got up out of his chair to find out what his name was and how old he was. Either he was charmed or wanted to blackball him from ever getting a job at Pioneer. I continued to apologize as I carried my child under my arm and out the door. He told me not to apologize and that he enjoyed young visitors.

I was so thankful that he had a good sense of humor about the fact that I have no control of my child. I was also thankful that I showed up this morning and there was no pink slip on my desk.

Seis De Mayo

Judd is celebrating Cinco de Mayo with seis dientes! Judd has 6 teeth total now. His upper "fangs" came in first and over the weekend, the middle two popped through. He'll be eating corn on the cob soon enough!

Judd's favorite thing to do is sit up and play with toys - especially if they're John Ross'! He's at such a cute stage with babbling and discovering everything he can get his hands on, which includes kitchen utensils, paper, Mommy's hair, etc. The child is never bored! He's riding in his big boy carseat and it's so cute to watch him look out the window now that he's high enough to do so.

Recently, he and John Ross have really bonded. They are now taking baths together, which leads to lots of giggles and splashing. John Ross is getting to be more helpful in making sure Judd has toys to play with and helps him push the buttons. We keep a step stool next to the crib, because John Ross likes to talk to Judd before he goes to bed. They are definitely fun to watch.

We'll be taking a plane ride to St. Louis in a couple of weeks. It will be Judd's first flight. Let's keep our fingers crossed that at least one of the boys sleep in the plane!

Bye, bye seizures!

Some time ago, I wrote that I would not mention John Ross' epilepsy on this blog ever again. It turns out that won't be a problem. After a week of testing and a weekend hospital stay, John Ross has been diagnosed with hyperinsulinemia (his body produces too much insulin). It is severe enough that it was causing his seizures. We still don't know why, but we're thankful to know what we're treating for once. Most importantly we know how to prevent his blood sugar level from getting too low, which will stop seizure activity. With a change in diet and a new medicine, we believe we will get his hypoglycemia under control. Thank you to everyone who continues to pray for our brave boy.

John Ross Breaks a Record

I was just informed that John Ross broke his own pancake-eating record this morning. He is a huge fan of the mini Eggo pancakes - in fact "pancake" was one of his first two syllable words he said. He must have been hungry, because he ate 11 this morning. Kyle said he just kept asking for more. That's the big newsflash from the Malter household!

Giggles

Check out this video of Judd giggling. The best part is John Ross trying to appease Kyle with a Judd-like response at the end.