Friday Randoms 2/3/12

I'm going to start being a lot better about doing these!!

• I made a decision about Kylie's binky - I'll give it to her when I lay her down but then she's on her own if it falls out. We've been making her cry it out the past 3 nights and last she finally slept through the night (12 hrs) with no crying! But then she cried this morning for 45 min before her morning nap. So there's still work to be done. 
• I got a gym membership for Christmas and I have loved going! I usually go MWF after Kylie's morning nap and both kids do really great in the day care that they provide. They have an awesome area for Kylie with multiple exersaucers and jumperoos, so she's happy. On Monday, after my workout, I took the kids to the indoor kids pool that they have and both of them LOVED it! Kylie laughed and splashed around for an hour and Colton is less scared of the water so he was practicing swimming things (putting his face underwater, kicking his legs, blowing bubbles, floating on his back, etc). 
• Colton goes to gymnastics once a week and he has improved so much from when we started last October. He listens to his teacher pretty well, follows directions without saying "no, I don't want to do that", isn't scared of the balance beam anymore, and is really enjoying swinging on the uneven bars. His favorite moves are handstands, forward rolls down the ramp, and jumping into the foam pit. He also loves that we go to Chick-fil-a afterwards with two of his BFFs that are in his class, Jacob and Emma. Mommy loves that too! =)
• When we moved we cancelled cable and got internet TV (Roku). We've enjoyed just watching shows on Netflix, Hulu Plus, and I've recently started watching some shows on BYU TV. One is called Home Grown and they have BYU Agriculture professors teach about basic gardening things and I have learned so much! I thought I knew quite a bit but the tips they have shown are just awesome. I am so excited for spring to come and can get started on a garden (actually I have plans for a big veggie garden and then a separate herb garden). I've already mapped things out and I'm going to be adventurous and try to grow everything from seed instead of buying the plants half-grown.
• Kylie has moved on from eating plain ol' rice cereal to mixing some veggies in with the cereal. So far she's been eating broccoli, peas, and carrots and likes them although she's still not loving the idea of eating food. The faces she pulls are pretty funny.
• We've been struggling since the holidays with Colton's bedtime routine. We didn't do his routine when family was in town and so when we started enforcing it again in January he rebelled. He rebelled pretty well for a few weeks and then Joe and I were done with it. I found a bedtime checklist online and printed it off. We told Colton that if he can check everything off the list then he can get a sticker and when he's gotten 5 we can go do something fun of his choice. It worked! The deal was that he couldn't throw a tantrum or say "no" while completing the checklist and it's been a night and day difference. He earned his 5 stickers and he chose to go and see a rescue movie at the IMAX theatre. I'm thinking of making checklists for other parts of his day, like meal times, since this has worked so well. 
• I'm excited for the Super Bowl this weekend. I can't tell you who is playing in it, but I can tell you that I have awesome menu ideas for it! It's one of the few holidays where you can make a ton of different appetizers and party foods to snack on all day. And have you ever noticed how great the samples are at Costco right before the Super Bowl? Colton was in sample heaven when we went yesterday.