The toy battle

As most of you know, Randy and I are in a toy battle with CJ so far. I think we started it Monday maybe, and so far so good. Each day is still a struggle, but it gets a bit better. Randy told CJ he had to behave for 2 weeks and MAYBE we would think about something special. Well, every morning he wakes up and tells me, "Ok, Momma, today is day 12...". He is usually right too, little stinker! He was always in such a habit of asking for things and getting it, that I understand it's hard for him to not ask. So, he's actually moved on from asking for toys to asking if we can stop at "Dicky Donuts" as CJ puts it, and get a special donut. Um, nope, not every day I tell him. I tell him it's something special we do, but not something we do everyday b/c it gets expensive. Besides, he doesn't need all that junk anyways. I'm still trying to get him to understand the importance of eating some healthy things. So far he loves his bananas, apples, raisins, oranges and fruit flats. I can't get the kid to eat a vegetable for the life of me. But, our wonderful pediatrician says as long as he's eating plenty of fruits then he's ok. For now. But back to our toy battle, CJ is finally past the point where he cries when I say no toy for today. And he's done asking me every five minutes if we can go to Target for something. And the best part is, I've gotten some early Xmas shopping done! And he doesn't even know half the presents are in the back of my truck, LOL! So he's just about done for Xmas now. And another thing I've done is get him reinterested in the toys in the two toy boxes he has on our upper level. He has one filled with toys in his closet and one in our hallway upstairs. Each filled to the brim. And each day I encourage him to find something new he hasn't used in awhile. Maybe he is slowly getting that appreciation for his things back. Maybe not.

Also wanted to add that today was Ella's first baby gym class. I signed her up for Gymboree classes in Pittsford as a way for her to strengthen her muscles and be around other babies her age and learn new things. She had an absolute blast! She made some new friends, but her favorite was a little 8 month old named Ayla. She was too cute! She apparently loved Ella's flower pants b/c she literally followed Ella around the gym, and would then tackle her and pull on her pants. Ella would turn her head around, give her the evil Ella look and just keep going. Not once did she smile about it! It was hysterical. And naturally, Ella was THE biggest baby there, and not even the oldest. There was a one year old little boy who had Downs Syndrome, and he weighed about 16lbs I think, and Ella is almost 19lbs! Yikes. She was by far the tallest, and what even surprised me is she was the most far ahead physically. She even has been getting on all fours these last few days and rocking, like she's almost ready to crawl the "normal" way. Right now she army crawls. She is also getting real good at 4 wheeling it over everything that is in her way, and pulling herself to her knees. I can't believe all she's started doing in just a short month. It's amazing. She is even more sassy than before. I sometimes help her feed herself, she gets lazy sometimes so I'm used to picking something up and feeding her. Well, I guess she's too "old" for that now, b/c she slaps my hand away and does it herself. It is comical right now b/c she even looks mad at me. Like she can't even believe I would try to do that. That's my girl!