Trains, Trains, Trains

This past weekend we took Isaac on his second train ride (North Shore Scenic Railroad 90-minute excursion) up the North Shore from downtown Duluth to Lester River (60th Ave E) along with Nana and Grandpa Thompson, and Great-Grandma Rudy, who were here for a weekend visit. Isaac remembered all too well the loud whistle from his 1st ride and we avoided the open car directly behind the caboose for this reason. As a funny sidenote, the volunteer conductor that dresses up in his conductor uniform was of special interest to Isaac this time and he was proudly proclaiming, "Sir Topham Hat!" (like in the Thomas the Train stories). We made sure to get a special photo of Isaac and "Sir Topham Hat" before leaving the train. Here's a few photos of the journey:


Also, our August photo gallery is up and available for viewing...enjoy!
www.picasaweb.google.com/joeltjohnson/August2010

Potty Time

It's been an interesting week at the Johnson residence. We began the potty-training journey with Isaac and have been pleasantly surprised at how well it's been going. We're finding that, like many other aspects of parenting, Isaac has been very flexible and it's more 'training' for us as parents in teaching ourselves (and Isaac) new ways of doing things. In this instance - going potty. Yes, Isaac is excited about his 'big boy' Thomas the Train or 'fast car' underwear and the promised reward of a Thomas the Train sticker to add to his potty chart when he goes potty. And he's given us a few laughs along the way (I'm sure more to come). I'll share a couple of them:

1) Last Friday afternoon Isaac and I stuck close to home to work on our potty-ing skills. Being the multi-tasker that I am, I decided to have a baking afternoon and bake some fresh muffins and cookies in between trips to the potty. Naturally, Isaac wanted to help. Check out this photo of him in his 'big boy' underwear helping me 'dump' the ingredients into the mixer. You might see that the words on the backside of the underwear (James the Train) says "Right on Time." How appropriate for this experience in learning to go potty. I'll save my son the embarassment from posting other pictures we've taken through the potty training process but this one I couldn't resist. :-)

2) We've been reading new books about 'going potty.' One book entitled "Potty Time" tells the story of various animals sitting down to 'go potty' (I guess the moral of the story = everyone goes potty?). I guess it made an impression because when I walked into the bathroom over the weekend I found Isaac's stuffed panda bear sitting on his potty. :-) I snapped a photo to prove it.

We're looking forward to many more laughs throughout the potty-ing journey...

Summer Fun

We've been making a concerted effort to enjoy the remaining days of summer here in Duluth. From mowing the lawn - to learning how to play t-ball - to sharing an ice cream treat on a warm day - to throwing rocks in the water (Isaac's new favorite past-time) - to eating yummy sweet corn - we've enjoyed seeing and sharing the experiences of summer through Isaac's eyes. See for yourself: