THE AMAZING JAMES

With all the potty training hoopla, there's been a lot of talk about Cora this week. Lest you think that James' awesomeness is going unnoticed in the midst of it all, let me assure you that it is not. This boy, I tell ya, floors us almost every day, one way or another. He's too smart for his age. Too witty. Has too good a memory. He's SUCH an amazing kid. For example...

Today on the way home from the gym, as I drove up the on-ramp to I-20, James says to me "Hey Mommy? Is that Manu's house up there on that hill?" We've never talked about seeing Manu's place from the interstate before, though you clearly can. And apparently James made the connection easily.

As we then neared our exit, a chicken truck drove up beside us. James noticed it before I did, saying "Hey Mommy! Look! A chicken truck! It's gotta go to the barn and drop off the chickens!" And sure enough, it WAS a chicken truck. How did he know that? I asked Jay about it when we got home, and Jay said they talked about it once. Like 6 MONTHS AGO. Mind of a steel trap.

And Sandy? This one's for you. James has recently been using a few words and phrases that we don't condone. Not bad words, but things such as "shut up" and "stupid" to name a couple. And he uses them correctly, of course. EVERY SINGLE TIME that I've stopped him, told him that I don't want him to say that, given him an appropriate word/phrase to use instead, then asked him where he learned that from, guess what he says? "Aunt Sandy!" No hesitation, no shame. No blaming it on Cora or some kid at daycare or a TV show or movie. Nope, Aunt Sandy is who he calls out. So, I suppose you're either a bad influence, or simply at the forefront of his memory on a daily basis, or we need to have a talk with him about lying and owning up to his own trouble.

But so as not to end on a negative note (though I admit, we think it's HILARIOUS that he's blaming Aunt Sandy when he gets in trouble, and it's VERY hard not to laugh about it!), I just have to give the kid kudos for being so patient and good this week while our attention is focused so strongly on Cora. And he has been SO SWEET with her, praising her, giving her high fives, encouraging her to use the potty, keeping her company while she sits, etc. He is an AMAZING big brother, and Cora is darn lucky to have him!

MS. REECE'S CLASS

And now I'm glad I sent James in his train shirt, since he and Manu look like two peas in a pod, hamming it up together in their vehicle shirts, side-by-side as always. We couldn't ask for a better best friend for James! Other classmates, clockwise from James: Joshua, Maddie Kay, Beau, Jaidyn, Jase, and Coley. James loves all his buddies, and often comes home with stories about each kid at the end of the day. We're happy that he's surrounded by a group of kids who are generally mild mannered, well behaved, creative, compassionate, and intelligent. Wrapping up our first school year at AMCA reminds us that we are indeed so glad that we made the switch back in October. Our kids are in a good place. Thank you for sending us the class portrait Sophie - it's been a great year!

SCHOOL PORTRAIT WIN!

Of course, if I'd known there was going to be a nice, non-cheesy background, and that the kiddos would cooperate and actually sit together and BOTH smile at the camera, I'd probably have dressed them a little nicer. Oh well, we still love this photo of our little cuties! (And Cora's solo portraits were awesome too - she was definitely in picture mode that day!)

PROGRESS! PROGRESS!

Cora had only TWO pee accidents today and two poop accidents. Three of those accidents occurred at daycare (one was right as I was picking her up, since the aftercare teacher didn't know she was in undies!), but she stayed dry at naptime. She did SO WELL today! She woke up dry, went straight to the potty to pee, and stayed dry throughout the morning and the entire drive to daycare. When Jay dropped her off, she went straight to the potty there. After school, I took the kids to the gym with me. Cora peed TWICE on a public potty there before I went to workout, then again when I was done running 45 minutes later. She had me pull over on the side of the road so she could go on the way home (but didn't produce anything except gas). Once home, she peed in the potty again. Had her second poop accident (she alerted me, but it was too late), then stayed dry throughout dinner. Peed on the potty before and after bath, and didn't have anything left at bedtime. She's now sleeping soundly, and we sure hope she stays that way tonight, dry or not. Last night was LONG. She was up basically from 10:00pm-2:00am. She kept asking to go potty, and around midnight she actually peed in the potty. Jay and I traded out, and she kept lifting her head and crying for me every 5-10 minutes for HOURS, so I couldn't leave the room. James was no fun to share a bed with. At one point when I dozed off between Cora checks, he crawled on top of my legs, perpendicular to me. I was actually glad when Cora woke me that time so I could scoot him off my still-sore shins and calves. Anyway, fingers crossed we all get better sleep tonight. Baby Doll needs it just as badly as we do!

Stopped on the side of the road for a potty break. James was totally jealous and wanted to get out to pee too. Don't mind the trash bags and random items in the car, we're overdue for a trip to Goodwill. And yes, that's a sucker in her mouth. I gave it to her at daycare for staying dry there and using the public potty like a big girl. Pleased as punch.

POTTY WARRIOR

Day 3 of Cora's PT Bootcamp was filled with lots of accidents (8), but some very important successes. We had hoped for a better end to the weekend, but as we learned last time, the 3-day bootcamp is really just the start of a few weeks of intensive training. We expect Cora to do lots of learning at daycare this week, both at school (her teacher is on board with our undies-only approach) and at the YMCA daycare in the afternoons. Our evenings will still be spent following the constant vigilance rule. Eventually, we'll be able to ease up on her a bit, and we'll find time to get the house back in order (the Potty Warrior and her accomplice ran rampant all weekend long, with two parents whose attention was focused on one task and one task alone).

As far as the details, the day started at midnight with an accident in her crib. Jay got her changed and re-situated  and she was back asleep in no time. This morning she woke up dry, sat on the potty for 15 minutes, and made a big pee-pee, followed by a big celebration. She only had one accident this morning. With 4 potty attempts throughout the morning, NONE produced a deposit. Nap was dry, but short (only about an hour), and she wouldn't go potty afterward either. All in all, a pretty uneventful morning.

Nap was quickly followed by 2 small accidents, both standing in front of the bookshelf. We were STILL waiting on her to have a BM, so we knew these accidents were due to her trying to hold in her poo. When she finally started to poop, she freaked out and it got stuck (because even though she was drinking plenty of fluids, she was way behind on her normal BM schedule by this point and likely backed up a bit). It was SO SAD to see her in such distress (and discomfort). She was literally scared to go. After a few minutes I "Mom'ed up" and helped her get it out. She felt better, but we knew there was lots more to go...

I decided to give the kids a break from routine and stuck them in the bathtub, without water, in their undies, with popsicles. They were SO happy. James jumped out for a potty break, and as soon as he climbed back in to finish his popsicle, Cora asked to get out and go. And she did! A great big pee! Now that's progress right there - asking to go potty and then delivering! 

After popsicles there was another poop incident, but this time she got it out all by herself while sitting on the potty. She earned a new pair of shoes for that one! More progress!

The rest of the afternoon was pretty mellow, though there was another pee accident, another little poop accident, and then yet another pee accident, for which she caught herself and stopped herself, then ran herself to the potty yelling "Hurry hurry!" Even MORE progress!

We opted for a VERY early dinner and an early bedtime tonight. James peed on the potty twice in the time it took Cora to sit there and NOT go before bed. But oh well. We tucked them in and she was asleep by 7:40pm. I plan to go to bed very early tonight, since we'll likely be up for at least one accident at some point. Then it's back to work tomorrow. And we can't wait...

(Stay tuned for daycare potty updates as the week goes along. And please keep your fingers crossed that Cora "gets it" by the end of the week!)

PT BOOTCAMP DAY 2: FOUR PONIES

It's been a 3 pony kinda day. And that's a good thing.

Cora started her day off spectacularly, waking up dry (after sleeping in until 7:20am!), then peeing in the potty (after about 20 minutes of all 4 of us sitting in the bathroom, talking and singing and reading books and relaxing her and encouraging her). We had a yummy breakfast (french toast), then Jay and James went off to feed the dogs while I stayed home with Cora. She enjoyed a nice, long solo bath.

After bath, she had 4 accidents (3 small ones, 1 big one) before lunch (including the start of a poop accident, which never reoccurred later in the day, and which we're still waiting on...), with one little deposit right before sitting down to eat (though she sat there forever to get it, probably almost 30 minutes).

After lunch she had another small accident, then made a big pee-pee on the potty right before naptime!! She went down for nap early (11:45am), holding all 3 of her thus-earned ponies. So proud of her!

Sweet baby slept for her full 2 hours, just like this:

Unfortunately, she woke from nap wet. She willingly sat on the potty numerous times, was plenty gassy (still holding in that BM), and had an accident, then had another big success. It was at this point that James and I had escaped the house for some pool-time fun, and Jay noticed her dancing around like she needed to pee. So he took her to the potty of course. He left the room and she did her thing, all by herself. When I returned from our pool date with pizza, he reported that her new thing is to yell "I pee-pee! I pee-pee!" excitedly while reaching up to be held, in order to tell us that she needs to pee and should be rushed to the potty. Works for me. I didn't see that in action though. After dinner, I took her potty a few times, but nothing came of it (I don't think, though once she did tell me she peed, and I'm inclined to believe her, because if she hasn't and I ask her about it, she'll say "No, I don't WANT TO!"). By 8:30pm we'd tried long enough and just put her to bed. We'll see what happens tonight. We're not foolish enough to think that she's just going to STTN without accidents every night, so we're prepared. Her sheets are triple stacked with waterproof pads. Hope we all get some good rest though. I know we're all tired. Potty training is draining on everyone!

ESCAPING THE TRAINING

Jay was gracious enough this afternoon to send James and I out for some sanity hours away from the potty training madness (not that it's been that crazy, actually - Cora's been great, and it's been far less work and far less stress than this 3-day experience was with James), so we joined the Sanchez family at their pool. Alex had purchased a couple of blow-up airplanes for the boys to ride, and I'm SURE I burned enough calories to justify pizza and beer by driving James all over, making waves, and lifting him on and off, on and off, on and off. It was fun, relaxing, and just the break I needed this weekend - thanks you guys!

See Leo the shark?... How about Alex under water? And Sophie was just off-screen, camera right, holding Leo's raft.

Manu the super swimmer!

Leo the crawler!

Happiness incarnate.

CORA'S PT BOOTCAMP: DAY 1

That's right, for the second year in a row we're spending our 3-day Memorial Day weekend at home, potty training. And this year it's Cora's turn. Big girl is 23.5-months, almost 4 months younger than we trained James, but she shows all the same signs of potty training readiness, and then some. Since she's been unofficially training at daycare (using the potty there 1-2 times/day for MONTHS now), and training herself as desired at home (with James' help and support occasionally), we decided to take the plunge and try to get her out of diapers (and pull-ups!) for good this weekend. So this morning we set up for PT Bootcamp (the same 3-day method we used with James: cold-turkey into undies, no pants, lots of reminders, few forced trips without accident triggers, rushing to the bathroom in mid-accident, and LOTS of love and support) and threw her a little Potty Party (complete with balloons and donuts), promptly throwing away all her diapers. (Not really, of course. They all just went upstairs, since the cloth diapers will be sold and the pull-ups will be donated to daycare.) 

I'll give a rundown of the day just as I did for James, but in summary (for those who don't care about the details), she had a good day. There were 3-4 successes and 7 tiny accidents. One big celebration (her rewards/prizes include gummy bears for semi-hits and mini My Little Ponies for real successes, and once she either starts telling us she needs to go or had a BM on the potty, she'll earn a new pair of shoes or a BIG My Little Pony), and no drama in between (she never fought us about sitting on the potty, and often sat for far longer than we even wanted her too). Half the day (the morning, until 2:30pm, after naptime) was accident-free (and we were wondering just how long she was going to hold it all in!), and the second half of the day was accident-laden. 

Anyway, here are the details:

9:30am - We "gave away" all her diapers to new babies, said "bye-bye" to them, told her the plan for the day, had a mini celebration in the bathroom, and changed her into undies.

1:00-2:15pm - She napped, and stayed dry the entire time. She hadn't had a single accident before nap, yet hadn't asked to sit on the potty either. We put her up there 3 times (once after an hour without pee-pee, once before lunch, and once right before nap), but she never made a deposit.

2:20pm - We took her to the potty right after nap and all sat there talking to her and reading books. Within a couple minutes, she made a big deposit, and we ALL made a very big deal about it. She was SO pleased with herself. And we couldn't believe our luck!

2:30pm - I took the kids outside to get the mail and Cora had an accident as we were climbing the steps.

3:20 pm - Tiny trickle accident on the floor.

3:30pm - Small enough accident that just her undies were wet, running between her room and James' room.

3:33pm - She made a TINY little poop on the potty after being taken in mid-accident.

3:45pm - She was goofing off standing behind the shower curtain, after sitting on the potty for 15 minutes (waiting for that poop...), and wet her undies

4:50pm - A yucky poop accident (which happened SO FAST, right in front of me - sad).

5:20pm - She made a little trickle while standing in the hallway and immediately yelled "Uh oh! Pee pee!"

6:00pm - Wet her undies while sitting at the dinner table, then finished in the potty.

6:40pm - Standing in front of the kitchen window and trickled on the floor just enough to realize what she'd done and yelled "Uh oh!" (though this was a frustrating accident since we had JUST been in the bathroom playing with her balloons and I'd JUST asked her if she needed to go).

7:45pm - Last trip to the potty for the night. She SAID she went pee-pee, but it's so hard to tell with girls (we prefer not to get all up in her business).

7:50pm - In bed, and asleep by 8:05pm. We shall see how the night goes...

Saying "bye-bye" to Gramma and trying to sneak away in her car

Waving "bye-bye" to the diapers!

Pushing James around on the lawnmower

Reading LOTS of books together (their favorite pastime)

Her first "potty prize", a mini My Little Pony

Refreshing her memory on where that poop is suppose to go...

Pretty sure she had an awesome day. The smile rarely left her face!

Little monkey, caught in the act!

What? I'm just hanging out in the bathroom like you suggested Mama...

Negotiating potty training options with Daddy

"Baby Feet"

Playing with her Potty Party balloons

ROCKY SPRINGS EVENING

The kids have spent a lot of time in the house this week, with James being sick and all, so yesterday after work we met them at the park with Gramma, and today we took off early and all headed down to Rocky Springs with a picnic dinner. It was perfect. Cooler than we expected, no bugs, and no people to share our stretch of "beach" with. The kids were so happy, and you know that always makes us smile.

Checking out a beetle that Daddy caught.

Frog eggs! I'd never seen them before (and didn't know they were laid in "strings"). Very cool!

They were crawling like "crocodiles" here...

Making "dirt soup" for Mama. Yummy.

Peaceful enough to just lay back and relax

 We stayed until 6:30pm (when the mosquitoes started to arrive), then stopped by our friends' house to feed their pups (a task that James was MORE than happy to help with). The chatter in the bedroom has finally ceased (at 9:00pm!), so I think the kids are giving in to Gramma's songs and stories and falling asleep. I'm sad we have to say goodbye tomorrow. I think this weekend is going to be hard on the kids, especially James. Cora will be distracted by the reduction in grandparent attention by her Potty Training Bootcamp. More on that as the weekend progresses. Until then, I'm off to bed so I can get up and be chipper for a 6:30am 4-mile run tomorrow morning with my new running buddy (and Cari too, and maybe even Sophie if she gets any sleep tonight), a "Running Mama" I met on BBC that happens to live in my town. First time I've ever met someone "in real life" that I first met online, and it wasn't even weird. So there.

YOU DO THE CRIME, YOU DO THE TIME

James is sick again. AGAIN. His ear infection never healed, and he ended up with a swollen/splotchy throat and cough too, the day after his last round of antibiotics ended. So Doc Smith started him on a new round of antibiotics when Jay took him in on Tuesday morning (while I visited my own doc for similar symptoms and meds). He wasn't doing too well on Tuesday or Wednesday, but as of today, he has his appetite back and more pep in his step. If his left ear doesn't clear up with this round of meds though, he's going back for a second set of tubes. And if he gets another ear infection at any time this summer, he's getting a second set of tubes. He is likely going to have to get his adenoids removed as well. Poor buddy. And on top of it all, his teething sister (still getting her second year molars) is using him as a chew toy this week. By Tuesday evening he had a huge welt on each arm and eyes full of tears. Needless to say, Cora has been spending a lot of time in time-out lately. Don't let that pitiful face fool you - she can be SO MEAN sometimes, and her time-out sessions are well deserved. Jean feels bad for her when I plop her booty on that bottom step, crying and carrying on, but I'll have you know that no sooner had Jean expressed her pity and I replied that Cora needed to learn a lesson, than Cora stopped crying, looked over at me, and stuck her tongue out at me, spitting all the way. Oh yes, pity that sassy girl. The "Queen of the Castle". Be my guest. She's lucky her sweetness far outweighs her episodes of naughtiness...

(And yes, of course I had to turn away and stifle a laugh when she stuck her tongue out at me. She may be bad, but she is SO funny and spunky, I just can't help but be amused by her constant antics. See mom? You got your wish. I have a daughter who is apparently JUST LIKE ME.)

TWO PACI'S ARE BETTER THAN NONE

I put her in bed with one paci. There must have been another hidden in there somewhere though, because she called me back over from tucking in James to show me her "two paci's!" and then asked me to take her "pit-sure". All smiles. So happy with her paci's.

And no, obviously we have not taken away her paci. We tried one night, shortly after her dentist appointment. It was a disaster. SHE WOULD NOT GO TO BED. After an hour and a half of fighting and complaining and crying dramatically for her paci ("I want my pa-ci-hee-hee") and screaming every time we left the room, we gave in. Cora won again. This girl is probably going to be 'getting her way for the rest of her life' (yadda yadda yadda - I don't care). We're suckers. We don't like to hear her cry or see her sad. We don't like her disturbing James' sleep. And we sure don't like missing out on OUR sleep (yes, she's still STTN, thank goodness - we might even have a record here, something we worked very hard to achieve and waited almost 2 years to get). Honestly, I've been doing some of my own research, and at this point I'm inclined to let her go ahead and keep that paci for as long as she darn well pleases. She doesn't bite it or play with it. She still uses it as a SOOTHER, as intended, to calm and relax herself. If it's limited to bedtime and the 20-30 minutes per night that she uses it to fall asleep and put herself back to sleep in the middle of the night, my theory is that she still NEEDS it. As we lay on the floor of James' room at night, waiting for his breathing to slow (and his talking to stop) and listening for Cora's sucking rhythm to regulate, then cease, I feel like we're doing the right thing. Our kids may be growing up, but in our eyes, they're still babies. They're OUR babies, and if they need snuggles and sporadic conversation and pacifiers to fall into a secure and restful sleep at night, then I guarantee you that is what we are going to give them. 

Because they're only babies for a short time.

CORA THE COLOR SORTER

Baby Doll may not point to the correct color when you quiz her or name the correct color when you point out something to her, but hand her a pile of blocks or other such rainbow-hued group of items, and she'll quickly group them for you by color. She can do shapes too, but colors are really her thing these days. She's gonna be an organizer like her Mama! Yet hopefully not as OCD as her Uncle Davey... ;-)

POPSICLE TWINS

This picture is from earlier in the week, but I had to share it here. Giving our kids a popsicle is equivalent in happiness and excitement to handing an adult $1000. Seriously. And even though we buy the all-natural popsicles without dyes, we still worry about ruined clothes, hence the belly nakedness. Besides, the other thing that makes our kids ridiculously happy is being naked. Ah, to be a toddler again... popsicles and nudity being the epitome of a good day...

"JOHN BABY" AND BABY K

I attended a shower today to welcome "John Baby" (as my kids call him), as well as the impending arrival of Baby K ("Will Will's" baby sister). Lauchlin and Olivia threw a great party (with yummy food of course!) and it was fun to watch all the little guys play together. (I say guys, because Cora, the only girl in the group, wasn't there. Neither was James. They were home napping while Mama sneaked out for a kid-free afternoon and Daddy and Grandma worked hard re-building steps on the back terrace.)

John Baby with his pretty mama, Mary Beth, napping in Cora's Beco Gemini (the test-drive was a success!)

Big Brother David

Beautiful Christina and Baby K (we can't wait to see whether she has blonde hair and blue eyes like her mama!)

Big Brother Will!

Baby Grady, Manu, and Baby Leo

I made a couple of items for Baby K: this little Simple Skirt and a pair of baby pants. The skirt was fun and easy, and my best guess is that it will fit Baby K around 9-15 months, since I used Cora's first skirt as a model. The pants on the other hand, well, I could definitely tell that I've never sewed clothes for newborns before, because those tiny leg hems were tough. I aimed for 0-3 month size (using an old pair of Cora's pants I found stashed away), so I'll just have to wait and see when they actually fit the little miss. I, for one, can't wait to have another girl in our group! I only hope Cora doesn't try to run off with her like she does with her baby dolls...