Major milestone

Well, tonight Sam went No. 2 on the toilet. The big toilet. Without being told. Jason and I were finishing our dinner while the kids were playing when Sam went into the bathroom. Jason was concerned that he was doing something bad, but I could just barely see his head in the mirror and mentioned that maybe he was trying to do No 2 (he had just peed a few minutes earlier). Sure enough, he came out of the bathroom and exclaimed, "I went poopy!" and I excitedly went to verify his account. True. Shouts of jubilation went through the house. I am so proud of him. This is the first time he's gone on the big toilet and he went of his own accord. I am very excited. He hasn't been wearing diapers except for at night for a few weeks and it looks like hopefully we are on our way to fewer accidents and eventual potty freedom. Yea!!!! I may have only one in diapers for a few months.

Not to be outdone, Matthew is spitting out the words left and right these days. Some of his newer words include:

• "Mama!" He has said something that sounds like mama for awhile, but I was never sure he intended it in the "Mommy" sense or was just uttering sounds. But lately I've noticed that when I run upstairs to grab something quickly Matthew will run over to the gate at the bottom of the stairs and scream "Mamamamamama!" I think I can safely translate that into "Mama"
• "Neigh" He said that while pointing at the little horse riding toys at the playground the other day.
• "Kitty" There was a commercial with cats on it the other day and he excitedly pointed and said, "A keeeey" (the "t" is silent at this point). He makes his mother so proud.
• "Tractor". Ok, so this is a stretch as it sounds like "ka kar" but he definitely says this often when playing with tractors. Trying to make his Iowa roots proud. 
• Ball. He clearly says this. It's probably his favorite word these days.
• "All done". He either says "all done" or "done" at the end of his meals and shakes his hands and nods his head.
• More. A common early word for little kids. 
• He also does a little high-pitched bark when he sees dogs. It's so cute. Not really a word, but worth mentioning nonetheless.