This .n. That

Since Ella was potty trained at 2 years old, I always wondered why parents wait until 3 or beyond to get their kids trained.  Well, now I know.  I tried early, but that went against Parkers whole personality. I waited and tried again, then waited and tried again.  This little boy didn't even want to see the potty sitting in the bathroom.  He definitely didn't want to sit on it with clothes on, and he refused to get anywhere near it with no clothes on.
So I mustered all the patience I could, and we have done this sooooo slowly.  However, he has finally gone in the potty multiple times.  We are far from being trained, but oh my goodness, to have him go pee pee in the potty seems like a miracle compared to how he first acted.

This was the first time he tried big boy pants.  Tantrum of the year.

I get to be in nursery with Parker.  It is a ton of fun.  The other week he was trying to get this little girl to laugh at him.  Which she did, which encouraged him more.

Also in nursery, his friend Henry.  Henry and Parker live next door to each other and were born on the very same day.  Henry is just a tiny little guy-especially next to Parker

Lots and lots of homework.  Sometimes Dustin and I feel like we are re-learning everything all over again.

 My mom, Ella and I at Womens Conference.

Thanksgiving 2014

This year was a Benson Thanksgiving.  We ate at Grandma Benson's house with lots of cousins. Uncle Cody and the kids were here for a whole week.

Parker L.O.V.E.S. his older cousin Dylan.  He follows his everywhere.  It is sad they live so far away.

Some Wii U excitement.

 Yummy dinner

 Parker had corn...(candy corn) and a roll.

Games with cousins

This Thanksgiving I reflected on my little family of 4 and I felt so much gratitude that I have them. They make life worth living and it humbles me to be so blessed with my eternal family.

sUpEr HeRoS

Check out my little super heros.  They look vicious but they really are pretty sweet.  I'm glad we have them by our side.

School

Ella's School:  She is loving 4th grade.  We love her teacher.  For the 4th grade play (called Character matters) Ella tried out for the role of the TROLL.  She got the part and got to sing in a trio of trolls.

Her school just got done with red ribbon week.  They dressed up in red, pajamas, mustaches and of course CRAZY hair day!

Parkers School:  Parker just graduated from the "Up to 3" program at USU.  He started this program when he was 27 months old because his speech was delayed.  In the past 9 months, this kid has changed so much.  His vocabulary has just exploded.  When he started, he could say about 10 words.  Now I can not even count what he can say.  When he started he was so shy; almost debilitating.  He was scared of everyone, including his grandparents.  Now, he warms up to new people within seconds.  He has learned to deal with other kids, take turns and communicate much for efficiently.

Parker had 3 therapists.  One for speech, one for behavioral and one at the end for occupational therapy (because he DOES NOT eat anything)

We loved every therapist.  They were amazing.

Now we move on to preschool aka speech at the elementary school!

Autumn

Autumn time DOES have its perks.  For instance, the pumpkin walk with my family, followed by glazed donuts and apple cider...that is one perk.

Playing hard in the fallen leaves, that is definitely another one.

Parker turns 3!

Parker is 3 years old!  We can't believe it.  Parker is just awesome.

He is a sweetheart.  He says THANK YOU for every single thing you do for him; even when we vacuum the house he says "thank you mamma"

He is very picky; he won't eat a lot of food.  I was surprised when the Dr. said he was gaining weight perfectly.  As much as he eats, that seems impossible.

He can watch Cars, then Planes, then Cars, then Planes for days.

He is not yet potty trained.  He is very picky (see above) and he hates new things.  It took me weeks to even get him to sit on the potty-fully clothed!  We are working on this potty thing.

He used to sleep in complete dark with his door shut, but now he has to sleep with the hall light on and door open ever since our summer of thunderstorms.  It freaked him out.

He is actually scared of some other things; dogs, sirens on TV shows and rain.

Parker is learning like crazy.  Learning to talk better, learning colors, letters and numbers.

Like I say, he is a complete sweety with a HUGE heart.

 Birthday breakfast!

 Birthday treats!

Instead of a cake, we made his favorite treat in the world- Cookies!

I love his expressions when he opened each present.  He is genuinely happy!

Parker got his first bike!  He loves it.  Asks me first thing in the morning to go ride bikes.  He loves to ride down our hill to the backyard with feet in the air!

Ella Dance

A few weeks back Ella helped me take some portraits of Parker. Now it is her turn.  We got some pretty pictures of her in her pretty lyrical outfit.  Becuase she is pretty!