Motivating factors

I have learned what works best to motivate my daughter to do well with potty training--a potty chart! We were doing so well this summer but with travel and different schedules, it has NOT gone well this fall, to say the least. We virtually stopped for several weeks. Nothing was working. We tried M&Ms and candy treats and letting her watch a special TV show. And nothing motivated her to try. So, I decided to try again with a potty chart.

You have to understand one thing. Elizabeth loves to be involved in whatever it is we are doing. She always says, "Me help!" Anytime I am cooking, she always wants to pull up a stool and help. When I'm doing laundry, same thing. When Shane makes cookies, same thing. She is a GREAT helper! Anyway, I printed out a Dora the Explorer potty chart and we went to work. She filled up that thing so quickly that within a week we got to take a trip to Wal-Mart and get a treat. She ended up choosing a Veggie Tales CD that only cost 5 bucks. What a deal! We started a new one this week and she even went #2 on the potty. She gets two stickers for that! We're still working on the poopies and hopefully she'll be fairly trained when we move to Waco next month!

Since it looks like my child is motivated by extrinsic prizes, we've now started another reward chart that includes brushing her teeth (which she HATES!), cleaning up her toys (which she isn't too good at yet), and helping out with chores (which she does well at). I can't believe she's become this way so early! At least it seems young to me. Kids are smart--do what your parents say or want and get rewarded with a prize.

The Bee Movie

One thing that Gatesville is unique for is that it has a drive-in movie theater. When I was pregnant with Elizabeth and when Elizabeth was a baby, Shane and I used to go to the drive-in pretty regularly. It only cost $5 for a carload, and you get to see a double-feature of current movies. We haven't ventured out to the drive-in since Elizabeth couldn't/wouldn't sleep through the whole thing, but when we saw that the Bee Movie was showing tonight, we couldn't resist.

We got hamburgers from Sonic and headed over to see the show. Elizabeth sat in her car seat the whole time, and we had a nice time. Since Elizabeth wasn't familiar with the characters, it took her a while to get into it and learn what was going on, but once she learned about Barry the Bee, she watched the whole thing and even chanted and cheered for the bees. She pretty much talked through the entire movie, and I can see why we haven't ventured into a real movie theater with her. In our car, she can scream and cheer and ask questions without raising too many eyebrows. So, the first movie she ever saw at a theater was the Bee Movie.

I do have to say that this movie was quite impressive. Jerry Seinfeld was one of the writers and the script was funny, clever, and nuanced. Shane and I both liked it a lot, and I'm sure it will be appealing to children everywhere. I hope it does well. If you or your kids are looking for a good flick, I recommend this one.

We didn't make it for the show after this one--The Seeker (I had never heard of it anyway). Elizabeth was getting restless, and so we decided to come home and put her to bed. All in all, it was a great night. We will definitely miss that place when we move to Waco. Hopefully, we can take the whole family to the theater when everyone's a bit older. That would be a lot of fun. If you live close to Gatesville or just want to go to the drive-in, keep Gatesville's in your mind. Have a nice weekend.

"It's a .............."

Shane and I went to the doctor this morning and got to see our little baby movin' and shakin' around on the screen. Just like with Elizabeth, these people are always talking about how much this baby is moving around. I do wonder if there is ever a baby who DOESN'T move around?!!

Anyway...we saw two eyes, a heart, two feet, a kidney, a stomach, lungs, arms, legs, and, (dare I say it?), a penis!

Yes, this next one is a boy! No doubt about it. 100% sure.

I haven't been home yet so I couldn't scan in an image of the you-know-what (maybe I won't anyway to protect the little guy's privacy), but I did want to provide a visual to commemorate our baby being a boy. Since Elizabeth is a "Daddy's Girl," maybe this one will be a. . . Now is that such a bad thing?!!!

Pictures III--Halloween

In honor of how Elizabeth calls every insect she sees a "wadybug" (especially ants!), Elizabeth was a ladybug this year for Halloween. She looked so cute in her red and black. Once again this year we went to Baylor for their annual trick-or-treating in the residence halls. All the freshmen girls were dressed up in fun costumes and had a good time handing out candy. Elizabeth was a bit shy this year, which doesn't quite fit her, but has really enjoyed eating all these treats!

Here's our little munchkin with her bucket that she now likes to take with her anytime we leave the house.






















We especially liked the back of her costume.






















Here is Elizabeth walking down the decorated hall in the dorm.






















Mommy and Elizabeth

















Daddy and Elizabeth

Wake up calls

Elizabeth is our wake-up call. I don't think I've had to set an alarm but a handful of times in the past few years--even when I have to get up at 6 a.m. to get ready for work! Now that we are living in a two-story apartment we have a monitor so that we can hear Elizabeth when she calls.

Anyway, on Sunday we wake up to these sounds through the monitor:

"Daddy! Come get me." (in a sing-song voice)
"Daddy!"
"Daddy!"
"Daddy!"
"Come get me!!!!!!!"

[LONG PAUSE]

"Shane! Shane! I neeeeeeed you!"

Shane and I looked at each other and started cracking up, even though it was 5:15 on Sunday morning (Daylight Savings Time meant nothing to our girl.). What's funny is that Elizabeth often hears me say, "Shane, I need you," and when I yell this across the apartment, he comes quickly to help. Since Elizabeth knew that Daddy comes for Mama when she calls him Shane, she figured she might as well try to call him in that same way.

Needless to say, it worked.

Pictures II

Here's another round of pics. These are all from August! Wow--that long ago!

Elizabeth loves her sweets! Here she is eating a cupcake at cousin Brooklyn's birthday. Yum-yum!




















All the kids took Shane's parents out to dinner for their 35th anniversary in August. We at at Jasper's, a restaurant in The Domain in Austin, and it was really, really good, and we had a great time. We went to eat at Amy's Ice Cream afterwards and that's when we told Shane's siblings that we were pregnant.















Here we are laughing it up. Elizabeth loves tickle-tickle time!















The Alexander Clan:
Barry and Karen (Mom and Dad)
Zach, Shane's brother, is on the far right end.
Brent and Josephine and their daughter Eleanor are the other ones in the picture. They, too, are expecting another baby. These two will be really close in age (less than a month apart, we think!).















And here is our little family. We don't get to take family pictures very often, so I wanted to post one of the few that we had.

Pictures I

So I finally downloaded pictures off my camera. 287 to be exact, going back to August!. I figured I would post some of them here. Enjoy!

Here is Elizabeth playing around on one of the numerous cars located in the Waco Mall. Sporty! She was content to just go from car to car that I never even got the chance to put a coin in the slot!

Elizabeth loves Uncle Zach. This picture was taken right after we had eaten Sunday lunch after church. Elizabeth had a frilly white dress on, which we took off so she wouldn't get pot roast, gravy, or carrots on it. For some reason, we didn't put another shirt on her before her nap so here Zach is reading to her like this. I tried to get them to raise the book high enough so there wouldn't be anything too revealing! E loves that Mickey Mouse!

Elizabeth loves her tricycle, her "gasses" and her penguin, so here they all are together in one picture.
We went to Austin a few weeks ago while Gatesville interviewed a preacher for Shane's position. Here we are at Zilker Park. For some reason, the pictures of the kids wouldn't load!!

I hope to post more pics soon, especially the ones from Halloween. Fun! Fun!