Are you sure I'm not in a pop commercial?

Carter is starting to learn some very smooth persuasion techniques. He dosen't usually take no for an answer and I'm pretty sure than he would make an awesome lawyer or marketing executive or even car salesman. And today he demonstrated that skill. I was drinking my morning pop and he was intent on snagging himself some soda. Here is our conversation:

C: Carter pop?
M: Pop is only for Mommies and Daddies, Carter.
C: pop nice.
M: Yes, it is nice.
C: pop good.
M: um hum.
C: pop cold.
M: yes it is.
C: pop yummy.
M: yes.
C: Carter pop?
M: Nope. Nice try, though.

So we may need to put him to work on the next big marketing campaign. He would rock. Seriously, I'm pretty sure that his grandparents would have crumbled under the pressure. We already know that Meme has given him ginger ale, she must be on the naughty list.

Do you need a little christmas?

I took some christmas pictures of the kids yesterday, and I thought you might enjoy the results.




Experimenting with christmas ornaments.

Loving on the christmas tree.

Christmas twosome. Can you believe Carter let Ava get this close to him? I can't.

Um yeah, no.

So yeah. This is not working for me. I don't know what was going on in his head. And he knows that he shouldn't be in that exersaucer, but I'm pretty sure that he couldn't get back out on his own. And suprise suprise he got into that while I was taking care of his sister and dressing her for the day. In fact, I'm starting to think that I should start a weekly feature about the trouble Carter gets into while I'm tending to his sister. Actually it may be a daily feature. Oh! And he also got into the freezer today while I was upstairs changing a diaper and pulled out the ice cream. Thankfully I got to him before he started to devour it. Tsk, Tsk.

A little sip

For the first time ever Carter enjoyed a seasonal favorite, hot chocolate. He hand picked the mug, and tenatively took his first sip.

Success! From the look on his face and the hot chocolate mustache, he enjoyed it. We had a slight touch of snow this morning, and I can't wait for more! Although I know that Mike dosen't feel the same way. In other Shadle news, we are going through a slight bout of a stomach bug. Nothing like the worst christmas ever, but only Carter and Mama have been affected so far. Hope you enjoyed some new pictures!

Santa Saturday!

Today we went to the Kenwood mall to get the Santa picture. Carter had a little of a smile, but Ava wouldn't smile for anything. I'm just glad that she didn't cry, because that was a possiblility as well. We picked out some christmas gifts, and headed over to Toys R Us. We decided to start a family tradition of picking out a toy to give to a needy child, in this case we put it in the Toys for Tots bin. Although Carter didn't really understand why we were picking out a gift, he did pick out a dinoroar toy that he liked. And I had him put the toy into the bin and I tried to explain to him that it was for a child who didn't have any toys. Hopefully as the kids get older, it will serve as a reminder for how truly lucky they are. So, I think this will be our new family tradition.

Playing Dress up

It's Girl Time! Every day for about a half an hour I get to enjoy the lovely and talented Miss Avery Marie for about half an hour before her brother wakes up. Today we played with her purse, one of her very first girly toys. As you can see, she is modeling her bracelet and mirror. I even taught her to put on the "lipstick."

Can you see her little tooth that poked through on the bottom? She's holding play money in her hand and asking her Daddy if she can go and get a $50 haircut at an Aveda salon with her mommy. Daddy's answer: as soon as you get a job baby girl.

Title: Mirror, Mirror in my mouth.

And a brief potty training update: Carter is pretty much potty trained. As long as he can go naked. Isn't that crazy? As soon as I put underpants on the kid he has an accident, but when he is naked there's no problem. So we're just working on wearing actual underwear.

And on tonight's agenda: christmas shopping and tacos for dinner!

PT OT

We are currently in the middle of potty training over time (PT OT). I hope to report success very soon. I'm tired of buying diapers for two babies! Not to jinx myself, but this morning went smashingly well. Wish us well.......

Updated: Today I asked Carter what kind of underwear he wanted to get. I told him about all the different kinds: Cars, Elmo and Sesame Street. His answer? Grandma underwear. Interesting.......