What Taylyn has been up to in the last 6 months!

Where do I even begin to tell about Taylyn over the last 6 months. She has grown up so fast and definitely keeps me on my toes. It is amazing how they go from sweet angel to evil demon in a matter of seconds. I got a glimpse of what it means to be the terrible 2'; I think it should be the terrible 2 1/2. However I can't complain. She has actually let me off easy from what I hear.

She has had some busy months. We have said bye bye to diapers, binkies and cribs. Cody told her she could have a big girl bed when she was ready to throw away her binkies. She thought about it for a minute and said, "OK Daddy I will throw them in the garbage." She found them and threw them right in. She asked for them 2 times the next day and that was the end of it and she got a big girl bed and she is still taking naps most days. I count my lucky stars on that one!!

Here are some comments made by Tay lately.
-"this turned out better than I thought" about a picture she drew.
-"Oh ...." when she dropped her drink on the ground.
-"Damn It Roxie" (I have to claim that one-one to many times cleaning up her water and food when I get home. Roxie has had a hard time with the move)
-She went through a phase when she would get angry she would literally turn red and start shaking as she screamed at whoever was in her path. The Nazi in my came out and I had to help her learn to control her anger appropriately. I did have to turn my back a few time so she didn't see me laughing.
-We went to the Dr. for Jaxon and the minute the doctor walked in the door she said,
"Dr. Acune (Dr. McCune) I don't need to be fixed only Jaxon does." She wasn't about to get a shot.
-She just decided one day she didn't need help with prayers. I was so proud of her I actually wrote it done after she went to bed. I have totally turned into one of those parents but oh well. "Fader in Heaben (Father in Heaven) Tank (thank) you for this day, Tank you for my famwe (family),Tank you for Addy, Tank you for me , Tank you my mommy, tank you for Roxie and Mommy Tank you for my Daddy, tank you for Jaxon Bless have spirit, We wove (love) thee name Jesus Christ Amen." I hope she always remembers to be thankful for so many things. A couple weeks after this she decided it was funny to say prayer and try to make us laugh by whispering, or talking like a robot, or saying it in a whining voice. Needless to say we had a FHE on how to say prayers. She caught us laughing a few times so it was an every night occurrence.
-She was talking to me about something the other day and said, "Her's don't do that." and then said, "Silly me Her does not do that" I don't think I have ever pointed that out to her. I usually just try to say a sentence after her with the correct use of the word but never tell her it was used wrong. What a character!
-Cody asked her if she wanted a PB and J. She looked at him and laugh, "PB don't go with J!" She is learning her letters in a preschool and thought daddy was pretty silly for putting those 3 together.
-I was bathing Jaxon and Tay when Jaxon reached for one of her toys and she took it away. I told her that wasn't nice and she really needed to share with her brother. She looked at me, "Him have plenty of toys mommy." What two year old uses the word "plenty" I don't even think I use that word!!

One of the new girls in my ward asked if I wanted to do a little preschool with some of the other women from the ward. There are 6 of us and we each take a week. Right now it is only once a week so it is nice. I have had a lot of fun with it and it makes me miss teaching a little. Taylyn had a rough go in the beginning. She would start crying the night before telling that she didn't want to go. She would cry all morning and half of school unless I stayed there, even bribery didn't phase her. Finally it started getting less and less and now she looks forward to going for the most part but has to remind me, "Mommy will always pick me up from school right." What ever works!
I finally got back to making bread again now that we are a little settled. Taylyn loves to help but has to have her apron on so she can be a baker. I always have to sweep up the floor afterwords but it is worth it to have her enjoy doing things with me. Hopefully she will still enjoy it when she is older. She always tells Cody, " Mommy is the bestest baker ever, and I am the bestest baker too!" She makes me feel so good; I just might keep cooking!

Tay loves her guys (Mickey Mouse characters) and they pretty much do everything she does. They eat breakfast, have naps, cry, go to the bathroom and so much more. We had breakfast on the porch one morning and Mickey need have some breakfast. He wasn't eating so she said she would have to feed him herself!The new house came with a trampoline. Taylyn was in heaven. It started out her only going on with Cody and I and changed to all day with herself, or us and always her guys!

Her favorite thing to do with Cody is lay down and find animals in the clouds. She is actually quite good at it. I didn't know that is what they were doing until I was out there with her one day and she pointed out an alligator that surprisingly looked like one and I asked her where she learned to do that. She responded, "Oh thats just what my daddy and me do!"

We bought Taylyn a little tricycle. It took a little time but she figured it out and loves to ride on it. Huge fan of her new Play Dough set! I get some delicious pizzas and cakes from it too! She also makes sure I have pretty jewelry!She kept asking me if she could sleep in her hiding place and after 3 times I thought oh well whatever you need to go to sleep. I snuck in after to take a picture. She had about a week worth of naps in there before she realized her bed was much more comfortable. This summer we put Taylyn in Swim lesson so she could get used to the water and be able to have fun at Lake Powell. Two days after she started she ended up getting a really bad ear infection so we have to do another session. She loved to play with the toys but was having non of that putting face in water business. Her teacher asked her to try to blow bubbles and she responded with, "No thank you I will just play with these toys!" By the end of the two weeks she was at least putting her chin in the water. We got caught in a little rainstorm at Walmart and Taylyn decided she needed an umbrella. Of course in Florida I had one in each car and a couple in the house but I don't know where they disappeared to. Needless to say Taylyn picked out a Dora one for us to share! She was so excited when it rained the next time she had to go outside and walk in it.We were eating chicken strips from Training Table and Taylyn was quite excited to see that one of her strips were in the shape of a seahorse. She took a bite and then laughed, "Daddy I bite his head off, that's funny huh!" She loves the hotel thing and started to cry when we packed up to leave. She wanted to live there.

Taylyn was so excited to get her kite back out again once the weather got nice again. She is a little better at it this year. She understands you have to actually hold on to it!!!Mickey was hungry. "Him need to eat off my nippie just like Jaxon." She watched what I was doing and would do the exact same. I was laughing so hard I had to stop feeding Jaxon to take a picture. She is also watching the tv while he was eating. She even tried to do two at a time. I'm not sure where she got that one.

On Sundays we used to have 1:00 church so by the time we got home I didn't really want her to go to sleep but she needed a little rest so I let her watch a movie on the couch and of course the guys had to come too. To help Cody rehab his leg we bought a treadmill from my sister. Tay watched us use it and told Cody it was her turn. She was actually quite good. She had to exercise everyday with us.

This is what I found when I finished getting ready for the day. Yes she is in there with a baby, Mickey Mouse, and 3 blankets. About a month after Jaxon was born we decided it was time to potty train. I had tried once before and quickly realized she was not ready. So I took a deep breath and we began. For some reason the big potty was too overwhelming for her and I had wanted to just start off on the potty and not have the little portable potty. Tay won in the end, I would rather her potty trained by whatever means necessary than still using diapers. It even ended up where we spend most of our day and it worked beautifully.

Within 3 days she wasn't having any accidents and had even pooped by herself. Well about a week or so later she had sat down to poop and I went to put Jaxon in bed and came back to a crying Taylyn with poop all over her hands. Taylyn first of all does not like her hands dirty and secondly she does not forget. She started being afraid to poop. I new 3 days was too good to be true. She used the time wisely to get caught up on her reading.

And watching her movies and shows. Whatever works right!

She was completely potty trained and then we had a very stressful month followed by a move and it went down the drain. She would stand by the toilet and go in her pants. We tried 3 or 4 different things and nothing seemed to work. A couple of our friends told us that cold showers do the trick. So we explained that cold shower take off the poop the best, but if she went in the potty she got 3 stickers on her chart. When she got 10 stickers she got to have a new movie. The chart helped her to stop peeing in her pants. It took about 5 warm showers (we didn't have the heart to make it really cold) and one cold and she has never had an accident again. It was a little embarrassing when she would tell people about how when she poops in her pants she gets a cold shower but was kind of funny when she would come and tell me,"I fink(think) I need a cold shower to make the poo get off my bummy." We are so proud of her and she earned a lot of Popsicles and movies but it was totally worth it.

Taylyn and I had a tea party and lunch on the deck. She had a lot of fun but didn't eat much of anything.

We have started the Princess and Dress up phase. Nana bought her some new dressups and she is having a lot of fun. One Sunday I had her all ready for church and had to finish getting Jaxon ready and out comes Tay in her dress ups ready to play.

We love our new backyard. Taylyn spends as much of her day as possible out there, and of course so do her guys. One morning there was a rodeo going on across the street and she told me she was going with her guys to watch the horses. They also went for a little boat ride and then she was trying to figure out how she was going to bring them all back to the house in one trip. It was really funny to watch.

Before we moved she went through a weird phase and after I would put her in her bed she would get out and take naps in different places. I would find her in her tent, in the corner, under umbrellas, in the closets and surround by toys with just a shirt and pullups on.

She wanted me to take her picture while we were on the mountain and she posed herself.

Big Mic and Taylyn having a pop pop outside. A moment of her terrible 2's.

Maile taught Taylyn the sprinkler, raise the roof and to tell boys to "Drop it Like it's Hot."