proud of my lil pirates

the past couple of weeks have flown by and i'm left with A LOT of halloween candy, a potty-trained 3 year old, a "charming" kindergartener, and still the sweetest wheezing baby boy ever. so to rewind a little...caleb celebrated his 3rd birthday which meant that his statement of "i'll go pee pee in the potty when i'm 3" was gonna be put to the test. after a day and a half, he was potty trained. i'll have to admit, that first day i thought there was no way he was gonna do it, but he did and he was so proud of all of the treasures he got in the process. i'll stand by my belief that waiting til 3 years old and giving rewards every time they potty is the trick to a successful experience in the pee pee business.
we had tons of fun in the days leading up to halloween...going to the hospital's annual "hay day" to trick or treat, the library party, and visiting the museum's haunted house. by the time the boys actually went out on halloween night, i was a pro at putting on their pirate costumes. it was all so much fun and one of the many reasons why i love fall!
i had my first kindergarten parent teacher conference this week. i felt so incredibly proud of eli when i left kingsway christian school that day. the first words out of his teacher's mouth were, "i'm so proud of eli". she went on to say how well he does on all of his work, how he's a leader and the other kids really respect him for his behavior and how smart he is. she also mentioned at least 5 times how "charming" he was. she almost had me in tears by the way she talked about my big baby boy. once again, making me feel so blessed. just when you wonder how you're doing as a parent or how your child acts when you're not around, you hear these positive words of encouragement and you have to feel so very proud.
abram is already starting out the season with runny noses and lots of wheezes, but hopefully will stay out of the hospital this year. he's such a happy baby and so very smart. he can put away his dishes when i'm unloading the dishwasher and even tries to get into the locked cabinet to get out the detergent for me. it's hilarious. it's just amazing to me the things he does that he totally shouldn't be doing at his age. i keep telling him to stop growing, so he'll stay my baby boy, but he doesn't seem to be listening. oh well, i guess sweet baby boys turn into sweet little boys, at least most of the time :)