The little things in life...

I must be simple minded because it's the simple things in life that amuse me. I know there are milestones in all Mom's lives that are worthy of celebrating. I am hitting most of those milestones - albeit four to five years behind the curve. Here are some of the simple things we are celebrating:


This picture relates to a major potty-training milestone... Zach pooped in the potty all by himself at school. He is averaging about 75% accident-free. I know, TMI, but to us, this is HUGE! I haven't bought Pull-Ups since August.

Zach also learned how to tattle. Zach is now at the stage where he wants to show me everything! I hear a chorus of "Look at me, look at me!" While tattling and showing off are annoying - they are stages all kids go through [ok, so Zach is 7...] This morning, he was carrying a toy catalog around and circling what he wants for Christmas. He has never cared about this stuff before and the fact that he understood what I was asking and he could draw circles! Plus he was able to find toys that he truly wanted! I was impressed... Oh - and early, he got a picture of Grandma, brings it to me and says, "I want to see firetrucks." (Because everytime we go to Grandma's Uncle Doug shows Zach his firetrucks.) Then he hands me the phone and wants me to call her. How cute is that - I think that's definitely worth a few extra Christmas presents from Grandma...

Ryan is learning to run. I will be the first to admit that this is scary and to the novice, it does not even closely resemble running. But it's the cutest thing! He gets excited about something, starts laughing and then takes off in an awkward toes pointing out fast walk. Meanwhile, he is pumping his arms in the air like he is doing some aerobics routine. I will try to get a picture... Ryan counted to four this morning and I'm not sure if he said two or shoe, but he definitely got three and four. Ok, so he's almost four - and to most this is no big deal. But to the Mikarts family, Ryan's a genius!!

The other little thing in life was the Checker's kids meal toy we got. It's called a wall walker and you stick this bug to the wall and he climbs down. The great part was how excited Zach was. He kept running to me and saying, "Look at me, look at me!"

The other day at a meeting, I was so excited that my fingers have gotten thinner and I could shake my hand and the wedding rings jingled. I didn't realize how annoying I was until the guy next to me asked what was up! The little things...

So this weekend at the Mikart's compound, we are celebrating the little things.