This Is The New Thing

I knew he peed standing up in the little boys urinals at school. Most all the boys do I guess. But at home, it's just been a matter of getting enough height to make it into the toilet and enough lean-forward to aim down. ;) So this position works for him. Haha.

Gross that he's touching the underside of the toilet seat, but what are your options when you're only three-foot-something? :) So we wash hands well.

Now, Sophie's the only one using the Bjorn toilet seat (actually, Will uses it to go #2 too) and she's really backed off of wanting to potty on the potty. So I suggest it to her, especially before bath time but she usually refuses. And that's okay. She knows HOW. The urge to "be a big girl" will come in time.

Potty Time!

Drop trou'!

It's Potty Time!

I was so afraid of potty training when Will first started because I felt totally clueless. In most aspects of parenting, I at least felt prepared with a goal in mind of how I planned to handle it. But when it came to toilet training, I was going in blind.

So I put it off and put it off... and one day he initiated. He was excited and then he lost interest... and then he was excited and then he lost interest. I didn't really push because I knew it would be a losing battle, but at some point I did just make him wear underwear so that he could recognize when he'd have an accident. Surprisingly, there really weren't that many. And for quite awhile now, he's been accident free and handles his potty time independently. He actually asks for privacy on occasion. We are still wiping him after a poo and he occasionally tries to pee standing up and is almost always unsuccessful. Grr. But in general, it is SO NICE to have a toilet trained kid. He has also been dry at all naps and night time for quite a long time and we have recently switched to sleeping in underwear. YES! No more pull ups!

Now, having been seasoned a little bit in this department, we are totally tired of the little potty and are encouraging both kids to go exclusively on the big potty. (Dumping and washing out the potty basin is no fun! Not to mention, totally unsanitary.) In fact, the only reason Sophie is on the little potty here is because Will was already seated to go #2 and Sophie was just doing her usual pee before bath time. Normally, that's super quick while I hold her up on the big potty. But if ever she gets a chance to sit on the little potty, she always grabs one of the books that we keep on that black stand. It seems BOTH my kids need reading material to do their business.

So Sophie's current routine is one pee in the morning when she wakes and one pee in the evening before bath. Other than that, we may try just one or two more on weekends if she seems willing. It's a good start at least.

We just ordered this toilet trainer seat from Amazon after reading a bunch of parent reviews on various seats. This seems to be a great choice for boys because of the adequate shield in front and Craig didn't want anything with hinges or fancy music-playing devices. We both appreciate the simple look and adequate features on the Bjorn and we have the little potty and non-slip stool to match. So we will just train Sophie on the toilet trainer seat instead of the little potty unless she does drastically better on the little potty or prefers it for some reason.

Oh my gosh. I cannot wait to be done with diapers all together.
I really hope girls are easier like they say. Sophie seems surprisingly aware of herself without me even trying so far. Fingers crossed!

The Kids At A Glance

Love this shot that Craig took while on daycare duty last Friday. Doesn't it look professional? Will is ob.sessed. with his cars and trucks lately. He has one or two in his hands at all times. This day, he'd lined them all up on the window sill (sp?) for better viewing. :)
Miss Sophia is pottying like a champ! We've caught three poops on the potty and countless pees. I'm not pressing anything AT ALL, but I always put her on the potty first thing in the morning, probably twice in the evening, and a couple other times throughout the day if I'm home with her. I'm starting to prefer the big potty though... less mess to clean up after.

Look Who's Peeing On The Potty!!!

Yes! That's right, ladies and gentleman! Our 15 month old Sophia has shown us that she is quite comfortable and nonchalantly natural at using the potty! It started Saturday night when she was standing in the bathroom (naked), waiting for her bath water to run. She's seen Will use the potty lots of times and so she looked like she wanted to sit down. I helped her get seated and she peed immediately!! I couldn't believe it and she was clearly so very pleased with herself and with my excited cheering. Then on Sunday, she went on to pee six more times throughout the day and even poop once on the potty. And twice so far today. It's always pretty much instantaneous once she sits down and you can tell in her face that she recognizes when she's gone because she is SO PROUD and smiley.

I fully realize there is a huge difference between being able to go on the potty and recognizing the urge before it happens to get to the potty. Plus, there's the whole issue of getting pants up and down and she of course couldn't get her diaper on and off. But getting familiar is the first step, right? And I've heard girls are easier anyway? So maybe we'll be down to just a box of pull ups here and there by next spring?? Woo hoo!

Or is that wishful thinking?...

The Makings of a Relaxing Poop...

This is what multi-tasking looks like to a 3-year old:

Step 1: Gather 2 to 3 handfuls of toys including several books, cars, trucks, a beaded necklace, a toy cell phone, etc. (What you can't see in this picture is the tool box filled with matchbox cars a couple feet straight in front of his legs.)

Step 2: Spread out said toys within arms reach of potty.

Step 3: Strip naked.

Step 4: Sit on potty long past the time when business has been completed because you've lost track of the real purpose for being in there while playing with all your toys.

He's Potty-Trained!!!

I think it's safe to say this time because it has been about two solid weeks that he hasn't peed in a diaper AT ALL! (At least not in my care.) He's even waking up dry in the morning and after nap for me! He's gone #2 in the potty for us, though Lisa (our sitter) said he did poo in his pull-up for her this past week. Mostly he wears underwear when he's at home. The only reason he has a pull-up on in this pic is because we had just come home from Lisa's house. I think if he stays dry while sleeping for the next couple weeks, we may even just go with underwear for bedtime too!

Craig loves this picture because he's holding two footballs while he does his business. :) I just can't even tell you how proud I am of him. As with a lot of things, potty training just suddenly clicked for Will and he's been pretty much perfect these last couple weeks. Woo hoo!!! Go Will!!

This was that potty chart I made quite awhile back. This definitely does not represent all his potty trips since I made this. We're not consistent with rewards because he doesn't always seem to care or need them. But he does love stickers, so we'll have a kick where he likes to put a sticker on the chart for awhile and then he'll forget for awhile. This one was full (note the one odd-ball sticker that I think came from his pal Megan)...

...so I had to make a new chart. Don't you just love how artistic and creative I am? :) In case it isn't clear, this is an ocean (DUH!) and we're using Nemo stickers this time. Again, not consistently...

Good job, Will!

Weekend Randoms... Again

These are all totally random...

On Friday when I went to pick up the kids from the sitter's, my mom happened to be walking by with Milo. (She was dog-sitting for Casey and Wes while they were out of town.) So she asked if Will could walk home (to our house) instead. It's maybe a quarter mile and they even ran part of the way. Good exercise and practice for our upcoming race! P.S.- We're loving our new L.L.Bean hooded, zip-up fleeces for the kids. They're both actually a little big 'cause we bought them in 3T and 12-18mos respectively but we just roll the sleeves. They're so cozy and soft! I love L.L.Bean for outerwear! They both already have winter coats and hats for next year and Sophie has a windbreaker/rain-type jacket for 12-18mos too.
Just cute. I was putting away laundry in her room.

Will had an EXCELLENT potty weekend!!! He wore underwear all weekend except for nap and bedtime. He did have two accidents on Saturday, but I really think that helped him recognize and he was perfect on Sunday, even staying dry for nap. Now this week, our babysitter is going to start following through with it and taking him regularly to the potty. He has to wear pull-ups to her house, but hopefully he'll get this down once and for all! Go Will!!

While we're on the subject... Sophie got quite a bit of naked-butt time this weekend in an effort to clear up a little redness she's been suffering from. Poor girl has been pooping before I come down to get her in the mornings and I don't know what to do about it! She doesn't really let me know and I'm not going to wake her to check. Hopefully it's just a phase. It's not every day. And her tush looks much better today. She loves to dig into her dresser drawers.

Cute expression.

Another funny expression. We were drawing farm animals on his magnetic drawing toy and he was asking me to draw a pig next.

Interesting choice of wardrobe. His idea, not mine. These jammies are from our friend Griffin and they are clearly a favorite as I'm sure you've noticed in my pictures. They often get washed and worn again immediately. Thankfully they're 3T so they should fit for awhile.

This one cracks me up. He was reading a book on his bed.

We pulled open the dark, Roman shades this weekend to brighten the room up a bit.

Ready to go on another walk. Here's Sophie's Bean fleece.

It was pretty windy outside, which made the temperature feel a lot colder than it was.

Will looks thrilled, don't you think? This was his idea and I asked him several times if he was sure he wanted to walk and he said yes. Good thing we still have the muff thing on the stroller to block the wind. And I pulled the sleep/head cover of the carrier (it's the green thing) up over Sophie to block wind for her. We probably should've just stayed home, but instead we walked over to Nana's!

I can't remember the last time I went to my parents house for no reason. My mom's always doing favors for me and helping me out here and there and I never just stop by to visit and say "hey, how are YOU?" So our walk did end up being fun and purposeful.

Sophie's sitting in my old, child-sized rocker. It stays at mom and dad's because we have no room for it!

And We're Back!...

...maybe? I spoke too soon last time.

On Thursday evening, Will peed on the potty for the first time in a long while. I was excited that he'd finally not rejected it after so long but we were also getting ready to go to the basketball game and I didn't have much time to make a big deal out of it. But then this weekend when he agreed to go again and requested a sticker, I couldn't make a potty chart fast enough! Literally. I'm already terrible at drawing, but when I rush it just to get the reward to him faster... this is what that looks like... lopsided and misshapen sports balls. Haha!
These are the stickers that we've had for awhile and just haven't gotten to use.

But over this weekend, he's gone on the potty seven times!

Hooray!!

Now we need to keep up the encouragement... and Will needs to learn to put his pants on by himself. LOL This is what I came out to find after he'd been working on it: both legs in one pant leg. :)

The Way I Feel

We have been reading and talking about feelings with Will recently. When I read books to him, I often ask him how he thinks the person or character is feeling and we like a specific book by Janan Cain called The Way I Feel. It describes lots of emotions in kid friendly verses and shows pictures of characters expressing that emotion in their face.

So... while he was sitting on the potty tonight (sometimes it takes awhile) I read the book to him again and then asked him to make different expressions for me. What a good sport... these crack me up!

Happy


Sad


Scared


Pouting


Thinking


Angry


Surprised


Silly


More Silly



And just plain cute...


And after all that... he'd peed on the potty! He likes to say "Ta-da!" when he's proud of himself. And when we flush he says "bye bye pee!" Here's Will is his big boy underwear.

Our sticker chart is filling up with potty rewards!

Potty Training Update

I'm sorry to say, we haven't made that great of strides since my last post about potty training. The excitement has faded just a bit and he's not often telling us when he has to go. He always DOES go when we suggest it and put him on the potty, but that's really only consistently before bed and first thing in the morning.

He still likes to help us dump and flush. Actually, he got a little carried away with flushing about a week ago. We think he might have flushed a partial roll of toilet paper while unattended and the upstairs toilet overflowed... a lot... And before we realized it, water was coming through the floor and dripping into the downstairs bathroom. Our newly refinished downstairs bathroom now needs some dry wall and paint to repair the damage.

I think he appreciates the extra story book time he achieves when he sits on the potty because we usually read books while he sits there. So we're going to keeping pushing that angle and also try to create a sticker chart as a sort of potty reward for going. I got some sports ball stickers and the chart is in the works now.






As a likely side effect of the potty training, we've had a new issue with bedtime... which got progressively worse...