Development

Just a quick update on development status for the kiddos:

Travis
Potty Training is moving along well for Travis, at least while he's at daycare. He's been successfully wearing his underwear, using the potty, and being proud of the accomplishment. The teachers are really pleased with his progress, and he's been doing well at both ends. His clothing doesn't come home too soiled - here and there he will catch himself starting to pee, then he'll get help and get to the bathroom without a huge accident.

At home, he is still resisting. Some days he's all about the potty, other days he wants a diaper. I don't fight him too much about it, because he's getting better and better and I don't want him to feel forced.

Taylor
Taylor is having moderate success with using the potty. She's been doing well with peeing on the potty, particularly if you can get her to sit down on it. She's also really proud of herself when she does it. However, she still has a lot of accidents, especially with number two. She also freaks out when she has an accident and just stands there and finishes going all over herself while crying. She has a ways to go before she's 100% there.

I suspect that within a few months, both will be 100% potty trained.

One update for both twins is that they are getting better and better about playing off by themselves and keeping each other company. They don't need around all the time, which does make the day a little easier. They are, however, more resistant about taking naps, and the only way I can get them to go down when I'm the only parent is to wait until about one to two P.M., then put on a movie and hope they conk out in front of the T.V. The strategy worked yesterday, and will hopefully succeed again today.

Evan
Evan has been improving in a number of ways. To start, he is continuing to experience new foods. The last couple weeks we have introduced carrots and now squash, along with oatmeal for cereal. Next up will be pears and then greenbeans. I also started buying him the 2nd foods, and will probably start using the bigger sizes when all the 1st foods I bought are gone.

Evan can also feed himself a cracker and we've started using the cup! He's able to drink (watered down) juice from the sippy cup all by himself. He picked up the skill very fast, and figured out how to hold it with one hand up to his mouth and suck out the juice from the soft mouthpiece.

Movement wise, Evan is creeping across the floor with a decent amount of speed. He also pushes up on all four. He doesn't quite have the crawling motion down just yet, but he does use both his arms and legs to scoot around, so he just needs to work on coordinating that. Or maybe he doesn't. I like it when he stays in one place.

Finally, Evan is strong enough to pull himself up to standing while holding onto something. He has to be able to get a really good grip and use his arms to help his legs, but he is able to pull up all by himself. Evan's always been driven to move, maybe because he sees how active his older siblings are. I can see from his eyes when he watches them that he wants to join in. If you've read Corey's basketball story below, Evan looked ready to jump into the game as well, even though he's at least a year away or more from being able to catch.

Evan has a little tooth nub on his bottom gum. I'm guessing he'll be sprouting a tooth soon. The crabbiness that comes with teething is also setting in and Evan will sometimes just cry and cry. Orajel and Tylenol do help, and if he gets to cranky he'll get a dose of both. I'm not sure if it's the teeth or his personality affecting his naps, but lately I'm lucky if he stays asleep for 30 minutes and lucky again if he'll go down more than twice a day for that 30 minutes.