Poop and pockets

Hi all! No new pics to post today, but I'll give an update anyway. :)

After about a month of completely losing interest in potty training, Giovanna POOPED ON THE POTTY last night!! She had come out of her room grabbing her bum going "POOPIE POOPIE!" Kyle said, "Ok, lets go potty!" and took her into the bathroom. A few minutes later (and a few "it's ok - I poop on the big potty, and you poop on the little potty!"s later), she pooped! A small one, but a poop nonetheless. Before yesterday, the kids had each peed on the potty 3 times, but that was all over a month ago. Today, she seems to have lost interest again, but at least it's a step in the right direction, right? :)

We've also really REALLY gotten into drawing lately. Kyle bought a roll of butcher paper and some ultra-sturdy crayons, and they go to town. We have several collaborative works up on the wall in their room right now. :) Sooooo fun. The funny thing is that Giovanna draws mostly circles and spirals, and Roman draws mostly lines and zig-zags, and he is more likely to stab the paper to make lots of dots. Just another way these twins are so different. I'm sure their doodling styles have some kind of psychoanalytical meaning, but I'd rather just enjoy their processes without the analysis. :)

New words in the last couple weeks: Water ("vah-luh"), circle ("lurkle"), crayon ("kay-oh"), pocket ("pocky"), bucket ("bucky"), blanket ("bankie"), tunnel ("tuh-nah"), excuse me ("new-me"), and, as of today, monkey ("muh-kee"). They also repeat the colors of the crayons, and can pick them out correctly most of the time. Most colors are apparently yellow ("leh-low"), lol. They're really using the simple sentences clearly now: "I eat peas" and "I draw circles" are a couple examples. This stage is so freakin' awesome.

Otherwise all is well. Kyle's back to being a stay at home dad after the restaurant he was working at briefly didn't work out (for several reasons). It had already taught him a lot about curing and preserving meats and veggies, so we've had a lot of experimenting going on at home! Delicious! Giovanna especially liked the pickled peppers (papa packed a peck of pickled peppers) - she wolfed them down, causing her cheeks to redden and her eyes to water, then asked for more. Little nut. Roman was not so thrilled, but got a kick out of Giovanna's reaction. :)

My new job (the promotion) is awesome - it's sooooo busy it makes the workday FLY by so I can get home to the kiddos. :) We have two big events coming up in the next couple weeks, which are taking up a portion of my sanity, but come Thanksgiving week... I'M TAKING A VACATION!!!! A whole week off. It's the first time I've had more than 2 days off (except for weekends and holidays) since MATERNITY LEAVE almost 2 years ago. I'm sooooo excited. I know it will just zoom by, but I'm really looking forward to visiting family and friends without feeling rushed to see everyone within 2 days. YAY!

That's all for now. I hope to have new pics posted in the next week or so. :)