Oct 26-Nov 22: Major Catch-up

Yikes, I guess I've gotten very behind in my blog posts!  November was very busy with various illnesses, potty training, appointments, etc & so on.  As I sit here trying to think back on the month, I really cannot remember everything that we did and why I got so far behind on this blog.  I hope that my faithful readers haven't suffered too severe a withdrawal this past month!!  I'm going to catch up by using lots of pictures!

At the beginning of the month, I told Erik that we had run out of day-time diapers (I gave him a few days advance notice) and that he would have to start using the potty like Mommy & Daddy now.  This approach worked pretty well and we only had a few accidents during the first 4-5 days.  After that, Erik has no problem with going pee.  We are still struggling with going poo-poo in the potty, but I hope that he will soon stop holding that until nap or bed time.  Potty training has also provided me the opportunity to talk to Erik about anatomy, much to my chagrin.  He saw me getting into the shower one day and looked at me with surprise and said "How do you go pee?!"  That was an interesting conversation, to say the least!

Erik has fully embraced the concept of being sick and getting medicine since his recent bouts of the flu and a head cold.  He insists on having a puke bucket in his room at all times and will often ask to have it in bed with him (he doesn't get it).  He also makes sure that I never forget to give him his vitamins/medicine every morning.  Erik has also started drinking Xango (mangosteen juice) and was so upset when one of Kent's shipments went missing and there wasn't any "juice medicine" in the house for him!!

Elin is getting more vocal in the past few weeks.  She is mimicking a lot of sounds and intonations.  She will say "dow" for "Down" when she wants out of her highchair.  She also tries to say "thank you", "Amen", and "Erik".  She can say "Noooo" really well and is learning "Yes" though it sounds more like "Yeth".  She is starting to display some temper - however, rather than throw herself on the floor, she will start to cry, walk over to a wall, throw her hands on it and bury her face in her hands.  This lasts only for about 10 seconds or less before she turns around to see what I think of her performance.  She loves all of our ride-on toys and is super good at steering, especially the plasma car.  Elin did get her first boo-boo while riding on the trike - a little road rash on her elbow, knee and tiny bit on her cheek.  She is a super tough little girl, though, and didn't even whimper about it.

Pictures from our month:

We finished up our session of fall swimming lessons (when you live in Florida, you can swim into November!):

A neighbor was getting their yard landscaped and Erik got to drive a tractor/front-loader!!

A local fire station visited Erik's daycare and he & Elin have been playing with his fire hats since:

Various photos of Elin from the past few weeks:

Elin on Erik's trike - she loves all our riding toys and is really good at steering:

Elin showing off her owie from riding the trike:

Elin at Sabbath School - she looks like she knows what she's doing!

Erik demonstrating the classic Johnson stance:

We have 1 tree in our yard that drops its leaves; Erik helped Kent rake them up one Sunday.  It was a bit nippy for Florida!

Elin lounging:

Kent was reading a book to Erik at bedtime about tools, so he decided to show him the real, live versions!

We took some family pictures at JCPenney (look for them on our annual Christmas letter!) and this is how Kent entertained the kids while I reviewed the photos and placed our order.

Erik & Elin had a dentist visit this month.  This was the first time that Erik was supposed to go back on his own.  That didn't work out at all.  Due to his uneasiness of the whole experience, I wasn't able to get any pictures of Elin's first visit.  Oops.  Doesn't he look so small & pitiful sitting in the x-ray chair?!