Germs and Potty training

Luke is getting to look like such a big "little boy"! I can't believe how grown up he is looking these days.
On occasion Luke wants to have some fun with Ben's toys! Ben's hair is always standing up and so fuzzy...it is adorable:)

We are struggling with "germs" as Luke states, in our house. Poor Ben has been sick for a few weeks now, resulting in very little sleep for mom and dad. His adorable smile at 3 a.m makes the sleepless nights more bearable, although, I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely exhausted. We are hoping this set of antibiotics gets our boy back in shape quick! Ben is on his third ear infection, third different antibiotic and about day 13 of tough sleeping. We have had several conversations about getting tubes for little Ben and we hope that we can hold off, but one more ear infection and unfortunately, tubes will be the result!

Aside from Ben being sick, he is a very pleasant little guy (except for at night!). He is smiling like crazy, he has just started getting up on his knees (OH NO!!!), and will sit for very short periods of time. He has been laughing a lot more which is completely contagious. Ben is eating breakfast and dinner with the rest of us at the dinner table, and I absolutely love it when all four of us are around the table together. Growing up, we always sat down for dinner together, and I hope that as our family continues to do this, such a special time to catch up on our days, and be entertained by the many "Lukisms"! Luke has been helping feed Ben lately, although he is not as quite as fast as I am, so he leads Ben to an open mouth asking for more!

We are working on potty training at our house and it is going ok. We have had a couple of accidents and I will spare you those details, but we also have had several successful times on the potty. Luke has a little red potty that we have sitting on the floor, but lately he has wanted to sit on the big potty. Our little secret as been to let him roam the house in the nude, then he will absolutely run to the bathroom or tell us. But if he just has his pj bottoms on or his big boy underwear, he tends to have accidents. We are getting him on the potty often, but there has also been several instances when he will tell us he has to go. This is definitely an interesting time!

Luke is into reading books by himself, the other night I went to put him down for bed, he brushed his teeth, sat on his potty, and got him ready for bed. He looked at me and said, "out mommy, please leave." I asked him what about books, "don't you want to snuggle up on your chair and read books?" His response went something like this, "No thank you mommy, Luke read books, Lukes bed, out mommy, please!" So I did as I was told, left and watched him through the crack in his door. He was reading his John Deere tractor book. When he was all done, he came to the door and told me I could come back in. His story telling continues and we laugh non stop! We are truly enjoying this time in our lives, although somewhat sleep deprived the past couple of weeks, I couldn't ask for anything more. Luke is playing with Ben more and more, and Ben loves to lay on the floor by Luke to watch him play with his tractors and build "things" with his blocks. Luke is working on counting and spelling his name, doing very well at both. Let's hope for a better night of sleep, as I am flying out today for a meeting, leaving the boys to manage on their own. I am praying Ben gives his daddy a good night of sleep and starts to clear his cough and ear infection soon! It is a double edge sword, we give him the antibiotics to clear the infection, but in return the antibiotics are giving him a tummy ache:( Anyone ready for Spring?!?!?!