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Derek has had lots of firsts over the last few weeks, including first plane ride, first diaper change in a plane, first time to Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Zion National Park and to Grandma and Grandpas. (Sophia did all that last year). We even took him to a restaurant where we gave him a bunch of big people food and let him go wild. He loved the mashed potatoes, peas, and cheese we gave him. He didn’t stop shoveling it in until the second plate was empty. Needless to say we left a huge mess at the restaurant and Derek had an awful tummy ache that night. Since then he’s eaten bananas, chicken and noodles, carrots, granola bars and of course gold fish. He loves big people food!! Another big first was his and our first night away from each other. We missed him and Sophia so much!!

Derek is so mobile. He walks along the furniture like a pro; sometimes we even see him let go and standing for a short period of time. He’s so fast that he’s even tried some Lexi food before we were able to catch up to him. If he heads into our bedroom, we usually hear the bath water running soon after. He’s so intrigued by the funniest thing. We certainly couldn’t live without his “Fridge DJ” toy that Melissa and Josh got Sophia for her birthday. We take that wherever we go (even on the plane) and it seems to calm him down and distract him for quite some time.

Tonight we went down to Indianola and had supper with Grandma Robin and Dick. After supper, we drove to the school parking lot where we watched all the hot air balloons take off. Sophia thought the balloons were really neat. On the way home we occupied her by playing hide-and-go-seek with the sun. Long Story…but it kept her occupied for quite some time.

Derek was so tired by the time we got home that he was HUNGRY and tired!! It didn’t take him long to pass out. Sophia walked into the bathroom and said she wanted to “Cel-brate Mommy!” So we stripped her down naked and sat her on the potty. We were in there for 10 minutes talking when she flashed a huge smile at me and said, “I poopied Mommy!” Sure enough she had, so we celebrated by singing, dancing and making a huge deal about it. After our celebration I said, alright, time to get our jammies on. Turns out she wasn’t done. We sat in the bathroom for an additional 20 minutes and she poopied 2 more HUGE times! We celebrated big and rewarded her by letting her sleep in her giraffe tent tonight. We’ll see how that goes!!

I know Sophia is smart enough to be potty trained. I knew it a few months back, but when she took her pants off and changed her own diaper (all by herself) the other night, I realized she really can do it. Now it’s just getting her to want to do it!! Wish us luck!!