It's December?

Well that Thanksgiving just flew by and then we were in IL for my sister's TWIN baby shower and celebrating Christmas early with my familys, so I think the fall holiday just passed me by. But we did have a great time and great food at my friend Rachel's house once again. She is so nice to invite us and treat us like her family every year (that's usually a good thing. HA!)

Just got back from IL on Monday and it's already Thursday (midnight--what am I still doing up?!) I swear the Christmas season goes at warp speed. Here are some fave pics from our trip...

At the airport and we're already taking pics :-)

With Grandma at Bass Pro winter wonderland

With my sis and her cute baby belly!

Best present ever! (with "Umple Bryson")

What is UP with that face?

Kiss, kiss Aunt Beth!



Halloween 2011!

Much more fun was had this year because Andrew was definitely excited and LOVED passing out candy, too! He loved our neighbors' decorations and amazingly wasn't scared by their creepy music and ghosts. Another neighbor had two big light-up ghosts and he just wanted to give them candy! The lady thought it was hilarious and so sweet. Mr. Andrew was definitely tired at the end of the night and his behavior today shows his lack of enough sleep!

Taking a candy break before heading out again :-)

Andrew and his friend Chase waiting for the trick-or-treaters.

Jeff in his New Zealand camo and his MFO hat :-)

Potty Training Day 4 & 5 (Big TMI)

Operation Potty Train is having success! He is going all by himself and even went to daycare at church this morning and they said he told them when he had to go. Yay! And we got the poo-poo in the potty tonight...TMI....I think he was  holding it in for 2 days by the size of this thing. ROFL! OK, I'll shut up now, but I'm sorry I was dying laughing and no one else was here to experience it with me. Lucky Jeff is out of town ;-)

Proud Mommy

I was kind of in a funk this morning because Mr. Andrew was in a funk before we left for church…think poop in the underwear, we’re running late and he’s freaking out!

I think he was mad at himself or the situation and then didn’t want to do what I said. Then the lady in the nursery said he had acted different than she’s ever seen him, grabbing some kids shirt because he wanted a toy or something and whining for me. Not his usual self there…Sooooo I chalked it up to the new potty training process, his cold and him getting to bed late (Schnepf’s Farm last night!)

BUT, we just went to Target and I actually forgot to put him in a Pull-Up like I had planned. He stayed dry and then went pee at Target before we left. The best part though was when we got home, he said “I be right back, I go pee-pee.” :-)))

He went in there and did everything by himself and then even washed his hands! I’m such a proud mommy, so I had to share!

Potty Training Day 1

Knock on wood, we are having some potty success! I started this morning at 9 a.m. after breakfast and some playtime and had him teach his “potty monkey”  how to use the potty , had the monkey throw his diaper away and put on his underwear and tell him we like dry pants. Over the last couple weeks he has already learned all the steps to going (pull down own pants, sit for a minute or 2, pull up pants, open big toilet, dump pee from potty chair into big toilet, flush, wash hands, get sticker and M’Ms!) and had peed on the potty lots of times so that part was actually easy.

So today was the big day where I said the diapers are going in the garbage and we’re putting on big boy underwear. I bought some of those training pants from Babies R Us. They are a little thicker than regular briefs, but he’s been wearing the briefs today too. He had about 4-5 accidents within the first hour to hour and a half  I think, but then once I started reminding him and getting him to sit on the potty every 10-15 minutes, he hasn’t had any accidents. The hard part for him is telling me or actually going to the potty without being asked. There were actually a couple times where he initiated going potty (we were already in there and I wanted him to teach the monkey) so I think that is progress! I have been praising him a lot and giving him plenty of juice and water to giving him opportunities to go. Here’s some more TMI for you…The last time he went he was sitting there for a while, which is unusual for him and once he stood up I realized he had pooped, but it was still hanging off of him! Ha! I was really excited because he’s actually able to sit and do poo-poo on the potty too.  

He went pee again before and after lunch and now it’s naptime. I decided to put a Pull-Up over his underwear for nap. He can’t be trusted yet! We are actually going out tonight to the pumpkin patch so we’ll see how this goes. I am going to keep telling and reminding him to go and hopefully he does OK. I know this is going to take time, but I hope he can slowly progress.

Just like swim class, he seems to be really proud of himself and realizes I am proud of him with my constant excitement and praise, etc. A whole morning of potty talk and training was A LOT, but Potty Training Day 1 I will check off as a success! Yay Andrew!

Sorry Andrew, I couldn't resist!

TMI

TMI, but I can't wait to see my little man wearing these ;-)

Potty Training Time!

That time is here and I'm half excited and half not. As a friend on FB recently admitted, diapers are just easier aren't they?! I have to agree. But I AM starting to get more ready for this. He's way too big to be changing his diaper and he doesn't like to get changed, so it's TIME! Since it's mostly taboo to discuss potty issues of your children on FB (I have to agree), you get to read about it here ;-)

For a couple weeks I've been preparing him for the switch slowly by introducing the potty more and getting him to sit on it and he has actually gone #1 on it many times--yay Andrew! At least he's not scared of it or wants nothing to do with it like some horror stories I've heard! He likes to flush, he likes pulling his pants off and on by himself and he likes washing his hands. Oh, and I will admit he likes the M'Ms I give him ;-) Really I should have held off on those because the sticker chart was working pretty well with him. Now that this relaxed mode of potty "training" has been going on for a bit, I'm ready for the hard-core switch to training underwear!

Jeff is going out of town on Friday and I will have time to try the tactics in this book that was recommended by many friends. Toilet Training in Less Than a Day was written in 1976, so I had to get past the outdated drawings and sexism ("Mr. James was thinking of what a nuisance he found it to take his turn changing Mickey's diapers when he returned home all tired out from work") No joke...but otherwise it's gold! Had to laugh at the comment about saving over $200 a YEAR in diaper costs once he's trained :)

I'll report back with my trials and hopefully lots of success! Send Andrew happy potty thoughts and prayers. hehehehe....