Successful weekend!

The past 72 hours that made up the weekend consisted of new explorations, new experiences and some successes, especially for Josh. It all started on Friday, when Liesel took the boys to the brand new Cleveland Aquarium, which was opening on Saturday. As a family pass holder, we were invited to a special preview day, one day before the public are allowed access to the venue! This worked out perfectly for Liesel and the boys, since Nathan's school had been given the Friday off! So while I worked, the explored this new underwater realm! They spent most of the morning there, examining hermit crabs, gazing at seahorses and starfish, carefully observing sharks, and wandering through glass tunnels, with sting rays lazily cruising overhead and alongside you simultaneously! That was a really fun, and SUCCESSFUL outing for Liesel and the boys!

We had another snowstorm deliver another 3 inches of white powder over the greater Cleveland area on Friday night. Since Nathan and I had so much fun sledding last weekend, we had to hit the slopes again. This time we took Josh with us, so he could share in the fun. When we arrived we were the only ones at the sledding hill which was ideal. I pulled Josh up to the top in the sled, and then had Nathan sit behind him for the first sled run of the day. He seemed to enjoy the acceleration down the slope, but then the sled made a sharp turn which ejected both boys into the soft, icy snow! With a face covered in snow, Josh indicated that he would prefer spending the remainder of the day in the playground, rather than zooming down slopes! So reluctantly I escorted him to the playground while Nathan continued enjoying the sledding. Fortunately, Nathan's neighborhood friend was also there and the two of them teamed up and had a blast!

On Sunday, the temperature warmed up a bit to around 40F/5C, and the snow started to slowly fade away again. Before the snow disappeared completely, Josh really wanted to make a snowman! So the three boys put our winter gear on and headed outside to accomplish Josh's mission. We quickly piled up snow as tall as Josh, and got to work on shaping the snowman. We found stones for eyes, got a carrot for the nose, and a twig for a smile! We added a couple of sticks for arms, and we were done! All that was left was posing for a few photos, snow angels and a snowball fight! Josh loved his first SUCCESSFUL snowman and snowball fight! 

 

Over the last few weeks, Liesel has been very patiently potty-training Josh. After a bumpy start, he soon started getting the hang of it, especially with number ones! Number two's were much more of a challenge for him, but this weekend something clicked for him! He has started informing us of his desires to go and with a little bit of help in the bathroom, he has been getting the job done! I actually think that he is enjoying himself a little too much now. In the day's that he wore a diaper, he usually had one of two "number twos" a day. Now with this new found freedom, he has sat down, AND delivered SUCCESSFULLY no less than 10 times in about 2 hours! I have since instructed Liesel to cut all fiber from his diet!!!