Playtime

Isabella got Mr. Potatohead and friends for her birthday, but she is just now really getting in to playing with them. This week she discovered that she could make them look really crazy. "Two eyes! Two eyes!" was the exclamation as she showed us her creation. (This really meant 4 eyes, but hey, she's 2.) Take note of the carrot with pink lips and an upside down mustache as well... you take any chance to express your creative side at two. :-)

Later Isabella decided that she would like to join the blocks in the box... and Zach loves to hang out by the big mirror and keep a close eye on... himself.

At the end of the day, Isabella climbed in the crib with Zach to keep him company for a while before they both went to bed.

No pretzels! No Peanuts!

This morning Isabella was sitting on the potty seat and had been successful once again. Mommy had put Isabella on "M&M probation" because Isabella got chocolate on mommy's white shirt. When Daddy asked Isabella what treat she wanted, she said "No pretzels, no peanuts! M&M's" She definitely knows what she wants.

Ben & Jerry's

Tonight we went to Ben & Jerry's for icecream. After supper we decided to go and Isabella was very excited to go. When we go there, we sat down next to a mural of a big cow.

After eating for a while, Isabella looke over at the cow and said, "Touch big cow!"

She got down, went over to the wall, and just stood there for a minute looking at it. Finally she quickly reached out with both index fingers, and tapped the wall. She looked back with a big grin on her face and a giggle. It was very cute.

She later got the courage to go back and touch it again.

She then quickly got distracted by another two year old who was sitting next to us. Being the shy person she is, she hopped up in a chair and sat down with the little boy. Cute now, but maybe not in 12 years or so. :-)

Potty Training Continued

I think Isabella really has it down. Monday and Tuesday she went 5 times each day, and only had 1 accident since Sunday, and that was when the babysitter was with her. She is doing so well! We are really thankful.

Potty Training

We've been working on potty training with Isabella on and off since March. Liza decided to really go for it last week when she would be home all week to work on it with Isabella. They got a chart and put it on the wall. Each time she went in the potty, she got a happy face sticker. Every time she went in her "pink panties" (pull-ups) she got a sad face. If she got 10 stickers in a week, she could go to the book store and pick out a "Mazie" book (one of her favorites.) So, they started off pretty slow, but the last couple of days she has really started to figure it out. Yesterday she went 4 times in the potty and had no sad faces. She was very excited when she got her 10th sticker.

Today we'll go to Barnes and Nobel and pick out her book. Every time she goes in the potty now she says "No mommy draw sad-face! Put on sticker!" and then she does her potty victory dance with Liza.
Watch the potty dance. Click on the picture to watch.
See Belle count her happy face stickers. (She is already working on "creative accounting.")

Reading to Zach

We have been working on potty-training with Isabella and she has a pile of books she likes to read while sitting. Zach was in the bathroom with us this afternoon and she handed me one of the books to read to him. As I was going through this book of pictures and naming each item, I commented that Isabella could read the book to him. She asked for the book back and went through each page, pronouncing each of the words on the page. So sweet to see her interest in Zach.

First Cereal

Today Zach had his first chance to eat cereal. He's been eyeing our food for a while now, so he seemed happy to get in on the action and have his first bite of something other than milk.

Here comes mommy with the good stuff.

Zach does pretty well eating this funny stuff.

One happy customer.

Isabella was just as excited to see Zach eat some real food (if you can call it that.) She was sitting there the whole time.
You can see more pictures at www.degarmofamily.com (click on the link on the right.) If you don't know the username and password, email Chris to get it.

Dallas Vacation

We went on vacation to Dallas this last weekend.
We stayed at a great hotel and got to see several friends that have had babies recently.

First we saw Justin & Kelly Kovaric. Justin was in Chris' Bible study at UT from 97 - 99. They had Andrew on July 4th, 2006.

Here are Justin & Andrew.












The next day we got to go see Marjorie & Bobby Chang. Liza and Marjorie have been friends for a very long time. They had Lauren the day after Zach. She is a real cutie with lots of wild hair!








Here are Isabella, Lauren and Zach together.




We had a great time visiting friends, playing at the pool at our hotel, and just having fun together. We also went to a wedding reception for one of Liza's long time friends from Boston who got married earlier this year up in Boston. All in all, it was a great trip- both Zach and Isabella slept great in a new place and we all had lots of fun.

Zach's 4 month appointment

Today Zach went to the doctor for his 4 month checkup.
He weighed in at 16lbs 1oz (75%)
Height 25 1/4inches (55%)
Head 41.6cm (50%)

He also got 4 shots. Isabella watched and declared that Zach had a "big boo boo!"

Isabella's first prayer

At meal times we pray as a family, as well as when we are putting Isabella to bed at night. She and I have also prayed about potty-training. Today she got in trouble and after I disciplined her, I asked her what she should do when Mommy tells her to do something. She said "pray Jesus." I agreed, so I prayed that she would listen and obey. I asked her if she wanted to pray and she said "yes". So very quietly, she said "Dear Jesus" and then some unintelligable words. When she paused I told her to say "Amen" when she is finished. She promptly did that and smiled. So exciting to see a little one begin to follow what she is seeing that is good. Liza