A Glorious Weekend!

Magical things can happen when grandparents come to visit.
When my parents came a few weeks ago I was awoken to the sound of a glass falling to our tile floor ( thankfully not breaking) one morning. I looked at the clock and it was unusually early for the kids to be awake. So Greg and I went downstairs, only to find that Brinley was up and dressed, trying to unload the dishwasher all by herself. When I asked her "what are you doing up so early?" she responded "I wanted to surprise you with all of my chores being done before you woke up." I went up stairs and sure enough her bed was made and the room was clean.
The next morning I woke up to Julianne crying and whining. When I went to check on her she was being dragged out of her bed still sound asleep towards the hall because Brinley wanted to make both her bed and Julianne's bed before any of us woke up. I guess Julianne still sleeping was cramping her plans.
What triggered this sudden burst of obedience? Grandma and Grandpa were downstairs and she wanted to impress them.

Last week Greg's parents came to town, again more magic!
I have been trying with all my heart to get Julianne interested in potty training. It's one of the major "to do's" on my list before the baby comes. Well, back in January I decided to give it a go cold turkey and took away all diapers and only had her wear big girls. I told myself I was just going to "see how it went" for three days. To make a long story short in the middle of the third day, after not ONE successful potty in the toilet, laundry piled high, and my carpet being covered in carpet cleaner. I brought back out the diapers, convinced Julianne  would be the first person ever, never to become potty trained. She just wanted NOTHING to do with it.

Well, the first morning Grandma Carole was here I was getting ready in the bathroom and Julianne came in with her diaper in hand, from the night before, and said "I'm NEVER wearing these again!!" and threw the diaper in the garbage. I thought oh yeah we will just see about that.
Grandma put big girl panties on her and she didn't have one accident the whole day!
(As far as an update goes, she's had a few accidents since then and we are still working on her going #2, but for the most part is still doing wonderful and waking up dry every morning!)

Brinley, for the past month, was asking to have her training wheels taken off her bike. Well, after only a day of Papa being her teacher, she was riding a two wheeler with ease! Now she rides her bike everywhere! She loves it and it was so fun to see her do it all by herself for the first time! I was amazed!

                                     

These crazy girls!