No More Diapers

Yep, that's right.  Lilah is POTTY TRAINED!  This is a process that started back in April before she was 2.  She told me she wanted to pee on the potty.  And she did.  She did this quite sporadically for many, many months.  She got the hang of # 2 really quickly.  I don't think we changed more than 10 poopy diapers between 2 (July) and 2 and half.  That was really awesome! 

She wore pull ups from about May on.  They were fine in the summer, but as it turned colder, they became a real pain.  Every.single.time she went to the potty we would have to remove shoes, socks, pants and a wet pull up so that she could pee a tiny bit in the potty.  We forged on.

At our gym there is a "baby area" and a "big kid area" for child care.  Kids who are potty trained and three can go in the much more appealing "big kid area."  One day about two weeks ago, Lilah's gymnastics teacher (her classes are at our gym) told her that if she got potty trained she could go in the "big kids area" even though she isn't three.  She has basically been dry every since.  We went for two days in pull ups with no accidents so we switched to panties.  We have had maybe 3 or 4 accidents, but mostly it's been all dry, all the time.  On Monday I had a sitter at the house so I could do a work thing.  The sitter thought she had been potty trained waayyy longer than a week and a half because she never had to remind Lilah to go potty, she just did it on her own.  And in the last three days, she has been telling us every time she has to go.  It's awesome!

So proud of my sweet girl!!

5 Year Stats and The Girl That May Be The Death of Me

Long title, I know.  And this really should be two separate posts, but let's face it, if we're going to make it to the pool later, I have to cram it all into one :)  (Note, I started this yesterday afternoon.  Lilah took a short nap and I had to finish it this morning.)

We went to the doctor for Brian's 5 year check up today.  He is 53 pounds and 3 feet 10 inches tall.  This puts him in the 97th percentile for both weight and height.  Shocking, I know.  I didn't have any concerns to discuss, so it was a fairly quick appointment.  He did have a largish wart on his wrist that had been removed last year only to return with the spring round of viruses.  It was icky and driving him nuts, so he let the doctor remove it again.  35 seconds of that freeze stuff is what he had to endure.  He is tough, I'm telling you!

Now moving onto Miss Lilah who will someday be the death of me.  I thought it would be Brian for sure, but this girl is wild!  To start, she is really smart and really verbal.  Last week on vacation she announced at dinner out of nowhere..."I have boobs!  Mommy has boobs too!"  And recently she has been insisting that she has a penis.  Um, no my dear, you do not...  Then there is the climbing.  She can't quite reach the monkey bars yet, but she can certainly climb the ladder that leads to them.  Yesterday she showed me that she can climb to the top and then hang off of the handle bars once she gets there like a chimpanzee.  OMG so scary!  She even dropped to the group on her own with few tears.  Mostly though she just likes to hang there and watch me come running to retrieve her while laughing hysterically.

Have I mentioned that she is nearly potty trained?  She decided she wanted to "pee in the potty" a little over a month ago.  I have been using pull ups because she gets a little too involved in things to remember to stop and go potty and because she can't quite pull her own pants up and down yet.  Before vacation she liked going on the big potty, but since we have been back she prefers to use her baby Elmo potty...you know the kind that has to be emptied?  Well she has decided she has to empty it herself.  Let's just say she misses.  Often. 

She's gonna kill me!

The Poop Jar

Well, after three successful days, I feel it is okay to go ahead and report that the poop jar seems to be doing the trick. We spent $24 at the Dollar Store over the weekend. Brian went on a shopping spree. He filled his basket with 24 little treasures. We brought them home and filled up the poop jar. Then it was time to wait.

Monday, opportunity presented itself. We were eating lunch and Brian got that glazed over look in his eyes. I said, "come on, you need to poop." I started up the stairs leading him by the hand. He stopped short and said, "NO. Downstairs." Okay, whatever...downstairs we went. He sat on the potty and pooped just like it's something he's been doing his whole life. Brat. So he got Mickey out of the poop jar.

Five minutes later he disappeared. I heard him enter the upstairs bathroom. I heard straining. Lots and lots of straining. I joined him in the bathroom and said, "Um, Brian what are you doing?" Through the groans and moans he managed to get out, "get sleeping Minnie." Um, we have a video titled "Sleeping Minnie." He really just wanted Minnie from the poop jar. I thought, oh great, the poop jar is going to give him hemorrhoids. Just what we need!

We had a little talk about how we can't make poop if there's no poop there. I found him in the bathroom two more times within the hour trying his darnedest to "get sleeping Minnie." No luck.

Just before we left the house, he decided to try again. He said, "Mommy help. Poop." Okay, I'll be a sideline coach, no problem, kiddo! Do you know that the little turd pushed out one little turd JUST ONE and said, "get sleeping Minnie!" Very triumphantly I might add. Brat.

So Tuesday was another great day. He got Donald and Goofy. Today = Same. He got a mini basketball and a mini baseball.

Yay for the poop jar! Yay for no more diapers! Yay for no more poopy underwear!

Next, the poop jar becomes the "tell me" jar. We're going to work on telling Mom and Dad when we have to potty. I see lots of Dollar Store prizes in Brian's future!

Checking In

Just checking in to see if anyone is still out there? I have posted so infrequently, perhaps you have all gotten bored and disappeared.

Does life ever slow down? I keep thinking it will and then it doesn't.

Lilah is still battling it out with the double ear infection. She got a shot Monday, followed by one dose of a really strong oral antibiotic. The doc was hoping to "nuke it," as my Mom put it. The results? TBD. She did sleep better last night and has seemed generally happier the last two days. Here's hoping! We do have an appointment with Brian's ENT for her on March 1st just in case. After dealing with tubes twice with B, I almost wish we could just go that route now with Lilah. It takes all the questions out of it, which is nice. Sedation is scary though, so I am torn! This is the third round of antibiotics though, so something's gotta give! Oh, and Miss Lilah is allergic to penicillin. Which is no big surprise considering my mom, Brian and I are also allergic. The poor baby was covered head to toe in spots when the reaction finally showed up. I have pictures on my camera which I will load someday!

Brian is really enjoying school! He comes out with the biggest smile on his face. He seems to be talking and interacting more, although it tends to come in spurts, so some days I spend all day worrying about it and then I spend the next day wondering what I was so worried about! His OT, Kacia, is changing jobs, which I think is going to be so tough on him. He adores her and I am a fan too. She's done a great job of figuring him out. The core strength exercises she has had him doing have done great things for him and she thinks she has finally figured out his eating issues. She thinks that's related to strength-or lack of strength too. It seems that his jaw and lips are weak. So now we have exercises to work on this. It really makes sense and it may help with his speech too from what my aunt says. This totally makes sense as well as the letters that he has a harder time with are made from the parts of his mouth that are weak. Slowly piecing the puzzle that is Brian together, right?! But it really stinks to loose the therapist that has made it all possible. I hope his new one will be just a great!

A few weeks ago Brian agreed to try wax ear plugs so that he could attend two different (LOUD) events. Normally we steer clear of these, but now that's he old enough to be agreeable to things like ear plugs, we decided to give it a try. We went to a dinosaur exhibit one day and he attended the Family Dance (a huge fundraiser for my preschool) another day. He had a blast at both!Potty training is still a work in progress. Number 1 is pretty much good, but Number 2 is a different story. At Melissa's recommendation, we will be stocking a "poop jar" this weekend. And no. It is not a jar to keep poop in. Thankyouverymuch Shawn and Nana! It's for treats that one receives for successfully pooping in the potty. Geez!

My Week In Numbers

Nine.

Nine hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. Heaven.

Three.

Three whole dry nights and three whole dry days for Brian. Three Maisy books as a reward. Still wearing a pull up at night, but he's in underwear all day!

Two.

Lilah has her first ear infection. A double ear infection. Poor baby.

Three Hundred.

The number of tickets we sell for the Family Dance, our huge preschool fundraiser.

Seven.

The number of tickets we still have available. And the dance is Saturday. Can you say sell out?!!

A Big Potty Day

Today was a big potty day! Brian woke up and peed in the potty, as he does most days now. He went again before we left the house. We went to church so I could do a few work things. Brian played dinosaurs with Brad. They do so well together!

As we were leaving Brian pointed at the little gingerbread man that is hanging by the bathroom door and started making monkey noises. The preschoolers did a scavenger hunt last week so they would know where things were. They had to find all of the gingerbread men who were posted around the school. I really didn't think Brian was paying attention. Apparently I was wrong. Anyway, I took the monkey noises to indicate that he needed to use the potty. I was right! HE TOLD ME HE NEEDED TO PEE! It's a sad, sad day when I'll take monkey speak as a positive thing. But this was really huge for Brian. His potty training issue has been his inability to communicate his needs all along.

When we got home from school I took him to the potty again. It had only been about half an hour, but do you know that little guy squeezed out a teensy weensy bit of pee just to make me happy? Good little guy!

Now we did have some pee and poo in the pull up before we left home again.

BUT then we went to Mom's work where he tried to go in her potty, but didn't need to. After that we went and bought our new washer and dryer for the new house. Still dry. Then we went to Kroger to buy everything for the Baptism party tomorrow. It was about a half hour trip through the store by the time we had everything. Anyway, we were checking out and he said, "Mama I pee in the potty." At first, I kind of ignored him, and then I though, "what if he really does need to go and I am ignoring him?" Kroger's bathroom is in the very back of the store. I really did not want to take him all the way to the back of the store. But mom and Max were there, so they handled the groceries and sleeping newborn and off we went to the back of the store. Where he PEED IN THE POTTY! He really had to go, so I was totally impressed that he held it as long as he did.

We had one more poopy diaper in the evening. Then Daddy took Brian to Pappy and Nanny's tonight. He forgot to bring extra pull ups and wipes. No problem though, because Mr. Brian peed in the potty at their house too! He also went again after bath time.

In case you have lost count the score today was as follows...

7 pees in the potty!
2 poopy diapers!

Poo is typically the hardest to master, so in my world this was a HUGE potty day! He's really growing up. I really hope the potty success continues! Really, really, really.

My Kids Are Sickos

No, they aren't sick like going to the doctor sick. Just crazy sickos that's all.

In order to pee, I often have to lay Lilah on the bathmat (don't worry it gets washed often) since she doesn't particularly like to be without me for any amount of time. Yesterday this was the scene. (And again, don't worry, I peed AND washed my hands before taking the pictures. I don't take the camera with me EVERYwhere! Geez, you sicko!!)


How old will they be before I can pee in peace?

Wow, What a Week!

Sunday started with me finally "catching" Brian's bug. I knew I had it all weekend. You don't get puked on twice and not get the bug. I was soooo sick. Shawn even took off work on Monday to take care of Brian since I couldn't.

So you know what happens next. Shawn got the bug on Monday night. And he was home sick Tuesday. Wednesday he worked from home.

Thursday we had another house showing. We both went to work and I took Ruben to Barb's house. Before I left he had peed three times. Once in a potted plant. Like he actually jumped into the plant, hiked his leg and peed on it. Now that's talent, folks.

Somewhere in this crazy week Brian flushed a Thomas train down the toilet. I swear we have had a huge discussion about this before. He even learned to say, "No choo-choos in the water" at a very young age. Apparently that didn't sink in. The train did sink though. Almost all the way to the pipes. Thankfully the plumber got it out before that happened. Apparently that would have involved cutting into pipes and possibly walls. Not the thing we need with the house for sale.

I guess this comes with potty training. We taught him to flush the damn thing, so now he has to practice, right?

Speaking of potty training...it's still going well. He woke up dry again today! We had a minor accident at school, but it was very small and he caught himself. Otherwise, no accidents today!

April Fool's-I Wish!

Brian got his April Fool's joke in early this morning. He woke me up to take him to the bathroom, where he did potty by the way! BUT as I was re-zipping his sleeper he puked buckets all over me. SO GLAD it was in the bathroom and not the bed. Talk about a rude awakening though!

We "slept" on the couch for the next three hours (read this: Brian slept, I was awake), so I am struggling today. Plus I am pretty sure he shared his pukey germs so I am waiting for that wonderfulness to begin!

My mommy is bringing me sprite and I am going to munch on crackers for a bit.

Brian on the other hand is feeling just fine. He is eating a cookie as I type.

Oh the joy!

Quick Updates

*Potty training is still going really well! Brian has had few accidents the last couple of days and NONE today! He did spend a few hours in a pull up here and there, and that's kind of hit of miss-but mostly he keeps those pretty dry too. And he stayed dry ALL NIGHT last night. Plus today we went back to work and he used the potty there twice with no accidents!! I was really concerned today because he didn't do his #2 midday like he usually does. But, right before bath time I put him on the toilet to pee and he got the other out too, so all is well there! Yay for Brian!

*The baby doctor yesterday said that everything is perfect with Miss Lilah. My blood pressure, pee test and belly measurement were all "perfect." Her heart rate was 148 which was "perfect." Yay for Lilah! Next visit = glucose test. My back is really sore...could have something to do with sitting on the side of the tub for 4 days. Ha ha! I am also so, so tired. That could have something to do with the fact that Mr. Brian has not napped in over a week. Yeah, I think those days are gone for good. Not so yay!

*Brian is having a speech evaluation at Children's tomorrow. They got him in really quick for which I am very grateful! Hopefully they can help get his speech moving along. He does really well when he wants something, but he's a bit lazy when it comes to talking for any other reason. Who knows, maybe he won't need any speech therapy, but it's something we certainly need to check on. So, yay for Children's for getting him in so fast!

Lessons Learned

Well, booty camp Day 2 has come to a close and we are calling the weekend a success.

Brian has only had two and a half accidents today! The half happened very close to bath time. I think he was just tired and couldn't hold it in.

Yesterday was not so easy. We spent most of the morning cleaning up pee every time we turned around. We lost count of how many accidents and how many pairs of underwear we went through. I know we did two loads of laundry...not all from accidents, but quite a bit from accidents. The underwear is small, but the copious amounts of towels used to clean were not.

I spent the early part of the morning covering the couch in plastic (which by the way Brian found very entertaining), getting the bathroom all set up (potty seat on top of big potty, stool ready for hand washing). Brian and I had also made a trip to the Evil Empire the day before to buy lots of salty snacks, sugary drinks and craft supplies! The salty snacks were supposed to make him thirsty and the sugary drinks were supposed to make him drink a lot because he wouldn't be able to quench his thirst. The craft supplies were just because he and I have been having so much fun making crafty things lately and I figured since we were going to be stuck here all weekend, we may as well have something fun to do!


Back to Day 1 though...there were a couple of low points. One was when I removed Brian from the toilet after a long time of sitting and he promptly turned around and peed right on Shawn's leg. Shawn was not happy. His leg got peed on twice yesterday. Like with aim involved.

But by late afternoon we hit a breaking point and has several successes. We lost count of how many, which we considered to be a good thing. We even got a 1/2 success when it came to going poo on the potty! He started to go and I ran him into the bathroom so he could finish on the toilet. The Buzz Light Year underwear stayed dry for a long, long time after the poo success and many candy rewards were consumed.

We found that if we had something in the bathroom to keep him occupied, it helped. The stickers I bought from Walmart helped tremendously! We also read lots of books and did his magnetic puzzle countless times.
However, around dinner time, Mr. Brian decided he was done. D.O.N.E. He just was not himself. He refused to eat (pizza!) and would have NOTHING to do with sitting on the potty. So we made the decision to quit for the day. We put him in a diaper and let him play for an hour before bedtime with no mention of the potty. He returned to his normal, happy self.

He and Shawn played trains and even made a super Cranky the Crane! It was fun to sit and watch them playing together.


That's when I realized that even if potty training wasn't successful, we learned a HUGE lesson this weekend. We learned how important it is to take the time to play with our kid(s), not just for a few minutes here and there, but for a long amount of time when possible. Maybe not even a whole day, but several hours of just being together as a family doing what the kid(s) want to do is really important. This is something I hope we will not soon forget!

At bath time Brian stood to pee in the tub and I grabbed him and put him on the toilet for good measure. After Shawn got him to sleep, we talked and decided to see how Day 2 went and just go with our instincts. I'm pretty sure we both went to bed thinking that the next day would be a fail.

We were wrong! We woke up and Brian stayed dry for almost two hours. Then he had his first accident. We were disappointed, but kept our game faces on and kept offering him water. He drank a lot of water. We also let him watch of his "Curious George" videos. This ended up being a great tool because each episode is a little less than 20 minutes long. So, every time an episode ended, we took him to the potty. He probably peed on the potty 5 times if not more before noon!

Throughout the day he kept drinking water and kept having successes. We even managed to spread out the trips to longer than 20 minutes apart. He got to the point that there was no waiting involved. As soon as he sat on the potty, he peed! We even had another poo success (with all of it making it in the potty this time)! He did pee on me a little en route, but once he was finished going poo, he had to pee a little more and took control by pushing his little part down so he wouldn't get me wet again!

The train play has continued into today. We also watched UK earn a spot in the final four. Go CATS!! Unfortunately Daddy can be a train hog...ha ha ha!!


As I said above Brian had two and a half accidents today, but since we can't count the times he went on the potty, I would say they far outweigh the accidents! He even brought me new underwear to put on him late in the evening (after a successful trip to the potty). I guess he was bored with the other pair! After the half accident, we tried to have him sit on the potty and finish, but he was just too worn out. It has to be taxing to learn such an important skill in such a short amount of time. We started bath time and once again I grabbed him because he was getting ready to pee in the tub. This time, he did not pee at all until he was on the potty! He's doing such a great job!

I have decided to take tomorrow off to give it one more day at home. The only trip out we will have to take is to pick up Max, which should take about 10 minutes. Hopefully we will continue with our success sans Daddy. I sure will miss the help!

We are so, so proud of Brian for his big accomplishment! This is a kid who had never even gone to the bathroom on the potty before last Monday. And really before that he was afraid to even sit on the potty. He has worked so hard! We are not by any means completely there yet, but if he continues to work hard and his learning curve continues to be what it has been for the past two days, we are well on our way to a diaper free house. (At least during the day and at least until JULY!)

Confirmation

We had a follow up ultra sound today and confirmed it...it's a GIRL! I thought so, but I hated the idea of getting ready for pink and then needing to pull out all of the blue. Not that a boy would be bad...I love my boy, but it would have been a surprise and we all know much I dislike those! Plus I didn't want to be calling the poor child Lilah for the next several months is she was going to turn out to be a he! Can you imagine the complex??!

You may be thinking...an ultra sound on a Sunday? Well, we went to a place called "Becoming Mom" up in Ohio. The nurse at my OB office secretly recommended it when she told me that they couldn't do another ultra sound for a long while because it wasn't medically necessary. I totally understood this, but I definitely wanted confirmation, so off we went!

Their equipment was not nearly as good as my doctors, but you could definitely see the "three lines" and the lack of a boy part. We also got a shot of her foot. Her back was facing us, so no profile shots, but we weren't there to see her face!!!


Bring on the PINK!

Mom and I already spent the Kohls cash she earned last week when we picked out Brian's summer wardrobe. Lilah will be a very well dressed newborn. Just like her big brother was!

And speaking of that big bro, I decided to jump into a little booty camp preview tonight when the opportunity presented itself!

Brian typically pees in the tub as the water is running into the basin. This means we drain and refill basically every night. Since it's such a predictable occurrence, I used it to my advantage tonight. As soon as the first dribble of pee exited his little boy part, I grabbed him and sat him on the toilet.

The result?!

A screaming, raging tantrum.

Just kidding! He peed on the potty!!!!

I realize this doesn't completely count, BUT you gotta start somewhere!

So we praised him and had a big celebration as he giggled away.

As mom said at least he didn't fight me on it. He did go in the potty! Progress my friends, progress!