Storytime

Today I took the boys to the Library for Story time. The last time I went was when Tyler had just turned one and I was 9 months pregnant with Carter. Tyler was the youngest one there and I felt like everyone was looking at me like why did I bring a little baby to Story time. So today we finally went again. This time Tyler was one of the oldest ones there and Carter was the average age. It went much better this time.

The boys seemed to enjoy it. Tyler did yell out colors when the story teller asked, but he sat quietly with his hands in his mouth during all the songs. Carter enjoyed singing the songs, but got restless towards the end. However she then brought bubbles out and everything was ok again. I think the boys favorite part was getting to pick out a Tractor movie that we will watch tonight. Its all they will talk about. Carter also insisted on getting a Sesame Street movie as well. I think next time Carter will have to be in a stroller, since he didn't feel like holding my hand and just sat down a couple of times. Like I said before he is stubborn. He would rather get to walk around so I am hoping he may make the connection one of these times.

On another note - potty training. I know I haven't really mentioned it much here except for the fact that Tyler stills has accidents. I did that on purpose, hoping that my next post about it would be that he was potty trained. Unfortunately he has decided that he just doesn't want to do it anymore. I know he knows when he has to go and he can do it, he just doesn't want to. So we raised the stakes again. He now has his very own potty chart. On it are fun things like getting popsicles, baking cookies with mom, and going to a game with daddy. Hopefully these will encourage him more. So far today he has received one sticker and has changed his pants once too. I am sticking to my guns tho. Carter is also interested in potty training so while he is still in diapers, he goes when Tyler goes. So far he is getting the hang of it. Maybe that will encourage Tyler somewhat?

Just Keep Swimming

Oma and Opa are in town! Yesterday the boys went over to Oma and Opa's hotel and got to swim in their pool. They had a blast and didn't want to get out. Tyler jumped in over and over again. Fearless Carter would have just walked into the pool if we would have let him. Unfortunately I didn't think I had my camera, just to find in it the diaper bag later on.

We then met up with BJ, Abbi, Toby, and Norah and all had dinner. The boys did surprising well and Tyler even went potty at the restaurant. We all went back to their hotel were the boy cousins got to jump on the bed, have a pillow fight, and wrestle together. They had such a blast and it's so much fun to watch them play together.

Today Oma and Opa came over and watched the boys while I ran some errands. They had a lot of fun showing off their toys. When I got home thy had just gotten back from a long walk around our neighborhood. I was very happy to hear that BOTH of them held their hands during the whole walk and did a great job pointing out all the flowers and leaves along their way. Tyler also had a pretty good day potty training. We have about a 75% success rate now and I only see that getting higher each day. Life is good.

A Rough Patch

I lied. I said no more posts about potty training. Its been a rocky couple days on the potty training front. Sunday was a perfect day - not a single accident. Then came Monday. I had to cover someone at work, so I was more than a little anxious.

Tyler did the "I have to go potty, sit on the potty, not do anything, 5 minutes later I have to potty" thing many times at church. However he finally did go three times. He had one half accident. He had to poop and started going before we got to the potty, but he did finish in the potty at least. Justin was gone all night on Monday so I thought we would go to the mall for dinner and play. This was a mistake.

We get our food at the mall and I set it all out, making sure each boy has ketchup, the fruit is divided up, they have their milk, etc. I take a bite out of my sandwich to hear "I have to go potty". Great. So I pack up the food in the bag making sure nothing spills and we head to the women's bathroom. Tyler sits on the potty for a good 5-10 minutes and nothing. So back out to the food court. We eat for about 5 more minutes and Tyler says he is done and starts getting out of the chair. Then he is saying he has to go potty again and doing the dance. At this point I had eaten enough and Tyler said he was done so I put Carter in the stroller with the rest of his food and dumped the rest. Once again no potty in the bathroom. We then went on to look at the doggies and Tyler continues to act like he needs to go. I take him to the family restrooms in another part of the mall. After about 10 minutes of sitting there he finally goes. He was screaming bloody murder, but he went.

Now that we have that done and over with we head to the play area. Shoes and socks come off, Carter goes running and Tyler tells me he has to poop. I tell him he just went, so I am sure he is fine. Two minutes later he is saying "poop" and squatting. I pick him up, throw him in the stroller, grab Carter and head back to the bathrooms where I get to clean out underwear. Needless to say, we went home after that. Luckily looking back at this escapade I find it rather amusing.

Tuesday was somewhat better. He woke up and went right away. However he managed to cover me in pee so I put him back in his crib and jumped in the shower. Right before I turn on the water I hear him saying he has to poop. I go and check and he says he doesn't. Guess what was in his pants when I got out of the shower. So that one is totally my fault. We then play a little downstairs and he had yet another accident, but did finish up in the potty. We went to a friends house where he did great. However he wouldn't go potty again before his nap. After an hour he woke up, but still wouldn't go. When I went to go get him a little while later the sheets were wet. He then had another success, just to have another accident after dinner. However he did wake up around 10:30 and immediately went potty. He did the same thing this morning. However we also had to go to church this morning. 3 accidents later (and 1 success) and we are at home taking naps. Tomorrow we have church again and he won't be in my room. I am not even sure if he will tell the teacher he has to go. For now he is going in underwear and I am going to concentrate on him having all successes the rest of the night. He is making progress, he just is also taking some steps back. Hopefully this rough patch will be short.

Springtime

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day. While Justin and I did some yard work the boys had a blast playing outside on the deck. Tyler also enjoyed "helping" running around with his wheelbarrow. Carter kept trying to jump off the deck (which is only about 6 inches off the ground). It was so cute - he would bend his legs and say "two, two , two" and then step off of it.

Once the yard was cleaned up we got out the baseball tee. Tyler has been playing baseball again every time we go outside. However since I made them stay on the deck, he didn't have his tee out. He would hit the ball with his bat more like he was golfing. Once he hit it he would go "runnin" and run around the deck. Justin is so happy to see this excitement for baseball. Once we got the tee out, Tyler was in heaven and I must say he hits pretty well! Carter also got his first cracks at the bat. He thinks its more fun just to knock the ball off with his hands tho.

Potty training update: On Saturday we had 3 accidents (2 poop and one pee) and 3 successes. So far today (its nap time) zero accidents!!!! 3 pee success and 2 poop successes - way to go Tyler!!

And We Have Poop!

I will admit I was a little worried going into this day when it came to potty training. Tyler woke up a LOT last night. Around 4 am I finally put him in a pull-up hoping that would stop the waking up. It did, but he woke up in the morning soaked, almost through the pull-up.

In the morning he had another dribble accident and then nothing again until nap, which he woke up dry. Right after nap he also had occupational therapy, so we were all somewhat distracted during this time that I knew he had to go. He had two more dribble accidents during his therapy time. I was starting to wonder if yesterday was a fluke.

We went downstairs and I put in Cars, hoping that if he was going to do these dribbles, maybe at least some of then would go in the potty like yesterday. Well he had a few dribbles all in the potty and the next thing I know he is sitting there for a long time kinda squirming. I look in and he had pooped in the potty!!!!!!! What relief!

We went out to dinner tonight with him in underwear. Right as we were finishing and about to pay the bill he said he had to go. We went but there was a line and by the time we got to the stall he had dribbled a little and then wouldn't go again. On the way home he kept saying he had to go potty. When we got home he sat on the potty and did a full stream potty!!!! He was a little more damp, like he had dribbled a couple more times but he did awesome! He is trying to hold himself and wait til he is on the potty! He is telling us when he has to go! There is no turning back now. Hopefully the next weeks will get easier and easier. I am also hopeful that the dribbles will come less and less as well. Although I do appreciate that he only dribbles when he isn't on the potty!

And on an even happier note, my posts won't be about potty training anymore!

And We Have Pee!!!!!

He did it!!! Tyler peed in the potty!! This morning I didn't get him in time and he had already peed in his diaper. We had a playgroup today and he once again held his pee all morning. Right before lunch he did do a little dribble but I wouldn't call it an accident. For nap I put him to bed with a diaper and a liner. When I heard him waking up I put him on the potty and he went!!!!!

He wasn't so sure of it and I think it freaked him out more than anything. I played it up the best I could tho giving him extra m&ms, stickers, and calling daddy and Oma to tell them the good news. We then had to go get his blood drawn. While he screamed thru the whole ordeal, he did stay dry the entire time! When we got home we watched Cars (another treat for going potty). During it he kept saying he had to go. He kept trying an trying and would start a dribble and then stop. He would cry and sorts freak out. He then would say he was all done to only say he had to go again 10 seconds later. This went on for about 45 minutes until daddy got home. He then did a big potty for daddy. Yay Tyler!!!!

After dinner he was running around and started crying. He ended up having an accident, but that is expected. A few times later he asked to go potty, but he never did go again. He is in bed right now with his underwear on and a liner and we will see how tonight goes. I know we have a long way to go, but am ecstatic that he finally went!!!!!!

Day Four

I was hoping that last night we would have a little more progress. After nap I took Tyler out of his diaper (which was wet) and went bare bottom some more. He didn't have any accidents, but didn't go in the potty either. We had errands to run so we put him in a diaper where he went both number 1 and number 2 without a word to us about it.

Today we had to go to church. I woke Tyler up this morning and he was completely dry! We sat on the potty for about 10 minutes but he once again didn't go. About 5 minutes into breakfast he started saying all done and trying to get out of his seat. He then started to pee. Since he has yet to go in the potty I put him in a pull-up for church. Now I personally think pull-ups are just glorified diapers, but I didn't want to bring 10 extra pair of pants either. Tyler treated the pull-up as I thought, just like a diaper. He does call them underwear tho.

When he woke up from his nap after church (the boys fall asleep on the way home) he was still dry! I put him bare bottom and we played outside. After about an hour or so (and 3 separate trips to just try to go potty) Tyler starts crying. He was peeing all over the deck and was scared to death. I tried to explain to him that it was o.k. and this is what peeing is. We discussed how next time we would run and go into the potty. I was thinking we had turned a corner, maybe this would be a light bulb moment - nope.

Justin was home with Tyler and he had another accident right before bedtime. He didn't say a word and started crying after he had already started. I got him some covers to put over his underwear for when we are out and we are having a friend over tomorrow who just got potty trained so maybe that will help. We have decided we will keep at it til Sunday and if he still hasn't even gone once in the potty we may hold off again.

We both think he is totally ready - he has all the signs that he is. If he just went in the potty once we think he would get the hang of it, its just getting that one success that we are stuck on.

Potty Training Day Three

After naps yesterday we kept trying to go to the potty every 45 minutes or so. We even tried twice during speech (which went very well). He finally went again at around 5:30, during dinner. Another day without going in the potty once, we did only have two accidents tho. Today he woke up around 7:30 and I started him bare bottom. There was a few times I could have sworn he had to go, but he never did. Right before nap I was about to put a diaper on him, but he asked for his underwear. So we started nap today in big boy pants! I thought for sure as soon a I walked out the room he was going to go in his pants. Nope. I didn't hear from him for almost an hour an a half when he woke up crying. I think he started to go and then stood up and couldn't stop himself. We changed the sheets, tried sitting on the potty a little more and put him back in the diaper and back to nap. Maybe tonight it will finally set in???

Carter loves to go to the potty. Every time Tyler sits and tries Carter also wants to try. He won't sit on it for longer than 10 seconds tho so I am not holding my breath for this being easy for either of them.

Potty Training Update

Just a little update. Tyler woke up at 7 this morning. I got him up and changed his diaper. He then sat on the potty every 45 minutes (sometimes every 30 minutes). He finally went potty again at 11:15 - on the carpet! They are taking naps right now, maybe this afternoon we will make it to the potty??? Oh please make it to the potty!

Happy Easter!!!!

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday as a family today. After church this morning, we read the Easter story. The boys then got their Easter baskets. This year we each got the boys Mack tucks and some cars from the Cars movie. Grandma and Grandpa have this toy in Montrose and its all Tyler would play with. Today was no different.

After naps the boys woke up and we had our egg hunt. The boys seemed to enjoy it, but don't really like Momy's rule of only one egg (with 5 jelly beans in it) a day. We also put Tyler in big boy underwear. Yes we are once again attempting potty training. We had two accidents today and no successes, but right after his last accident he immediately told me so I am seeing some progress. Hopefully being home this week (we are on Spring Break) will bring even more progress.

Hope everyone had a wonderful blessed Easter - He is risen!