Trial and Error

Last night we were at the hospital visiting my nephew CJ and his wife Randi and their new little daughter, Lisa. Randi and I were discussing our kids and their quirks since they are so close in age (Mary and Ben are 3 weeks apart). She made the comment that having a 2-year-old is really just trial and error to find things that work for them. And it can sometimes be extremely aggravating!

Some interesting things have been going on with Ben lately and they all started last Monday. He has this weird obsession with sticking his hands down his pants every time he has to go. And you know what I mean. This has resulted in many many many over wet diapers, smacks on the hand and wake-ups at 5am completely soaked because he sometimes ends up asleep with his hand down his diaper. We're confused about this. I started using Target brand diapers after our trip because I wanted to use good diapers in Houston so there were less chances of spillage and leaks while driving and all of our running around. So either Target diapers just really suck and Ben can't stand to be wet, or he's ready to be potty trained. Either way, I'm not looking forward to it!

We've also had some hard times getting him to sleep at night. This is partly because he's stayed up later the past few nights so we're hoping to nip it in the bud. I mean, he'll get out of bed 7 or 8 times if we let him! And he always wakes up at the same time in the morning no matter what time he goes to bed! So we're going to try some new bed time routines to help him get to sleep easier and I got some Luvs diapers and we'll see if those make a difference from Target brand. If not, we'll try our hand at potty training!

Other than that, Ben has been a normal 2-yo. He has selective hearing when it comes to being told what to do. He's getting better at following directions. He talks ALL THE TIME, but we're happy he's putting sentences together with 4+ words and making up tons of his own words. He really is fun and a joy to be around. I'd just like to get more sleep and keep him from putting his hand in his diaper! I do have to say, Ben was so adorable with Lisa yesterday. He'd climb on the couch next to me and say "Awwww! Baby! Awww, it's a baby!" It was seriously the cutest thing ever. We even got him to say Lisa, (wiiisa) but he got shy while we were there and wouldn't say it! He still can't say Mary so we'll keep working on it!

On another note, we got some bad news from FAFSA on John's financial aid. He had originally qualified for a pell grant that would cover his full tuition for the Fall and Spring. It turns out that there's a technicality on a pell grant if you've been in school for a certain amount of time. If you've been taking classes longer than it takes to graduate, then you don't qualify. So they took his pell grant away. John was crushed when he was talking to the financial aid advisor this morning. Partly because I know he wishes he had been more dedicated to going to school full time, and also partly because now we have to pay for his 14 hours ourselves! We're on a payment plan so we'll be fine. It's just hard to think of getting all of that money and then not. It's such a let down!

But on a happier note, John has decided on a major. He's going to major in Geology and is deciding what direction he wants to go with it. He's actually really excited and I'm glad. I think it will be a lot of fun to see what John ends up doing for a career.

So that's what's going on with us in a nutshell. It's busy and hectic and there is so much going on around us, but I really don't mind. I love being busy and having new and fun things to do.