Great Things Going Down

It's been a good couple of days. We've had some fun, and we've had some milestones. "Miles"stone number one: We've had a bit of a breakthrough in the potty training department. Very early on, Miles showed a lot of interest in going on the big boy potty. He did a really good job. We could always get him to go whenever we sat him on the potty. He just couldn't figure out how or didn't care to tell us when he needed to go. When it came time to get serious about potty training, though, he had lost any interest he'd ever had. He decided that the "tonet" was "adicalous" and refused to sit on it. When it looked like we might have to do another surgery, I decided to lay off the potty training until we knew for sure. I'd hate to be in the middle of potty training with a Miles with him all tethered to machines in the hospital. Anyway, when we got the clear last week, it was time to go full force with the potty training. Miles was just as unwilling as ever. It's been a huge fight every time we've tried to get him on the potty until yesterday. I don't even really know what happened. I picked up some old school training pants from Walmart and told Miles that he could wear them if he would go on the potty. I didn't expect it to work because it hadn't with any of his cool underpants, but after little discussion he did it. He decided that he didn't want to sit on the big potty on his cushiony football seat like he always had. Instead, he pulled out his old plastic potty chair, that I had only been able to get him to sit on briefly once about a year ago. After a couple of minutes he peed, and he was so proud of himself. He kept the underpants on and peed two more times without any prompting from me. Then he pooped in his little potty, and you would've thought that it was Christmas from his reaction. Good boy. Unfortunately, he yelled about a half hour later to tell me that he'd pooped again. This one was a little concerning because I hadn't been around him at all. I'd put his potty chair in his bedroom while he was watching "Toy Story 3" and while I was making dinner. I was a little nervous to follow the yell.....and for good reason. Yes, Miles had pooped again in his potty, kind of. I'm not going to begin to try to understand how it got there, but half of the poop was on the wall. It was a grizzly mess, and I wouldn't have wished it upon my worst enemy. All is sanitized now though, and I am so glad that we're making some real potty progress. Milestone, or should I say "Coney" stone number two: We got a first word yesterday. And guess what? I win. He said, "mamma". Yay for me! Conan has been scream-babbling for a while now, and Ben and I have been racing to try to get him to say "dadda" and "mamma", respectively. Miles definitely said "daddy" before anything else, so I was determined to get the first word this time. I went in to get him out of his crib, and he was kneeling against the rails, reaching up to me, crying, "mamamama". I'm such a proud mommy. Of course, today, at the zoo, Conan was crying, "dadadada". I got it yesterday though, so it counts. Today, I took Miles and Conan to the zoo. It was the Angel's Hands Foundation Zoo Day. If I haven't explained it before, Angel's Hands is a non-profit that provide support for families of children with rare diseases. They offer financial assistance with medical bills, help with equipment, and organize monthly activities for the whole family, as well as special holiday events. They also provide a lucky family with a trip each year and, like Make-A-Wish, they do some really special things for the child and family when it looks like their time is short. It's a really neat organization, like a big family. It was started in 2001 by the parents of a boy with a rare disease (who passed away in 2002). It's really awesome to see people that are so committed to a cause. The father, Mark Kristensen, knows all of the little "angels", and greets everyone by name. When we went to our first activity (this was only our second), a Grizzlies game, he came up to me at the ticket pickup, reached out his hand and said,"I haven't met you yet, what's your name?" I told him, and he responded with, "Oh, you're the Jackson's, so good to finally meet you." It's such a great group, and I'm really glad that a friend of Alex's introduced us to AHF. Anyway, we went to the zoo today, and not only did we get free admission and snacks, but we got free season passes. It was such an unexpected gift. I'm so grateful and excited about it because now Ben and I can take the boys whenever. Sadly, most of the AHF activities are on Saturdays, so Ben isn't able to attend. This is something that will be great that our family can do during the week, and we won't have to feel like we're wasting money when we can't make it more than an hour and a half with the boys because we have a season pass. The pass made me so happy, and I really thought about it the whole way home. I thought of all the families that these parents have helped so much. It's such a special thing for these sick little kids to have activities with other little kids that have to go through similar things, but I think even more wonderful is that this charity includes the whole family. They recognize that it's not just the child with the disease that needs the fun. Sometimes when a sick child requires so much attention, their siblings might feel a little neglected. This organization is for them too. Next month we're having a kite day, and in June there is a golf tournament. They also do the big classic car show at Murray Park, and there's something called a friend-raiser in September. I'm really excited to get more involved and for Miles to make friends with some of the little kids. I'm really impressed with all that the Kristensens have accomplished, and it makes me want to do my part. Because I've seen first hand what they do, I know that it requires a whole lot. I'm going to do my best to volunteer when I can and encourage other people to get to know this worthy organization. You should all check out http://www.angelshands.org/. There are all sorts of opportunities available. BTW, if anyone would like to golf in or sponsor a golfer for the tournament, I've got a registration form. For now, since I'm just getting started with AHF, I'm doing service projects for PCMC. Another incredible group! I love them so much, but I know that they depend so much on the charity of the community. I get FB updates from them, and the other day, it said that they were in need of blankets to fit the mattresses in the NICU. They just need simple square flannel blankets, so I re posted on FB telling any of my friends who were interested that I'd take them in if they wanted to make some. Now it's turned into a Relief Society service project, and I'm so excited to be doing it. I've also decided that I'm going to make some medical dolls and gowns that they give some of their patients. It will fill my need for craftiness without filling my house with more useless crap. Plus, I'll be doing something good for a hospital that does so much good for others (our family included). If anyone would like to join me, let me know, and I'll get you the pattern. Anyway, great couple of days. Major decrease in diapers. Baby knows my name, kind of. And my faith in humanity is renewed.