Potty Training- As easy as 1-2-3....

I'm am proud to say my little boy is now potty trained! It's wonderful! No no no- its amazing. Does that even do it justice? Well, anyway, I'm in heaven and in heaven you only have half the diaper bill. It's a beautiful place.

 

To begin with I read and read and then read some more. I tried to learn everything I could to make this transition as easy as possible. I decided on 3-intensive days of potty training. We called it "Potty Training Boot Camp". And let me tell you- it was intense. So intense that I was actually having dreams about potty training at night. I know it was probably much harder on me than on Tanner, which I'm grateful for because I wanted this to be a good experience for him.

 

So here it was I did. Day 1: Tuesday. It was Chris' day off and so he was in charge of Bailey. I just wanted to have some 1-on-1 time with Tanner so I could give him 100% of my attention. When he woke up I ran into his room so excited to tell him we are potty training. He got excited too, although he had NO idea what he was getting himself into. I let him pick out some big boy underwear and we put them on him. He really liked wearing them. I then explained what we were going to be doing that day, how I didn't want him to pee in his big boy underwear and how if he needed to go pee or poop he had to do it in the potty. I decided we wouldn't be watching any TV because I didn't want him to get absorbed in a show and not be able to recognize his body's cues. So we did watercolors, silly putty, sidewalk chalk and coloring. We became awesome Lego masters and we did tons of bubbles. We played and played ALL morning and he had one accident. It wasn't alot but he did pee on the tile floor.  But besides that I'd say, Tanner is especially good at holding his pee.

 



 

 All morning I pumped that kid full of chocolate milk and juice boxes (which are such a treat for him).



He should have peed alot more than he did.  But 3 hours later he still hadn't gone again.  Let me go back, also all morning I was taking him to the bathroom EVERY 20 minutes. HE WOULD NOT GO IN THE POTTY. I tried his awesome "CARS" potty, I tried having him aim at cheerios, I tried having him sit on the potty and tossing the ball back and forth, I read books to him- I'm tellin' you. I TRIED IT ALL.

Then Chris peeks his head around the corner and says "Tanner, do you want to go pee outside?" I immediately said no because I didn't want to start that habit but then as I watched him squirm as he tried to hold it in, I gave in and took him outside. He looked at me and I said "Okay Tanner, you can pee off the porch." He immediately let it rip. I'm telling you- it was "Niagara Falls". Poor kid. He'd held it in sooo long. We clapped and cheered. To me- it totally counted because he didn't go until I told him he could and he went right where I told him to go. I'm not gonna lie- I was proud.

 

But then I started worrying that he wouldn't ever want to pee indoors now. Oh well- we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. After that we ate lunch and drank a ton more liquids. We played some more and then it was time for naps. I tried to get him to go in the potty again but he wouldn't so I put him in some plastic padded underwear (NOT PULL-UPS) and covered his bed in a "goodnights bedliner".



 I laid him down and 2 hours later he woke up completely dry. Hallelujah!!! As soon as I heard the crackling of his plastic underwear I ran into his room and checked him. Finding him dry I CHEERED and CLAPPED. (I'm kind of an enthusiastic mom). I then hauled his booty to the toilet and told him he could go in the potty. And he did! I was soooo proud. I continued to take him about every 20 minutes until bedtime. He had 4 successful trips to the potty. At bedtime I put his plastic covered underwear back over his "big boy underwear" and he went to sleep.  He didn't make it through the night- but I didn't think he would.

Tanner cheering for himself after peeing on the potty for the first time!

So proud of my little man!!!!

 

 

Day 2: Wednesday. The next morning was rough. It was like he'd forgotten everything we'd learned the day before. He had 3 accidents before 10 am. I was beyond frustrated. I told him it made me sad when he peed his pants and happy when he went in the toilet. The next time our egg timer went off, marking our 20 minute mark, I ran him to the bathroom and he FINALLY went on the toilet. After that he was accident free the rest of the day. I lengthen our time to 40 minutes and kept pumping him full of liquids. 7 successful potty trips and once again- dry through his nap.

 

Is there anything cuter than little boys wearing big boy underwear?

Day 3: 10 successful trips to the potty, dry through nap time. Only had one accident and that's because I left him with his Daddy while I ran an errand. He did fantastic.  Tanner also did his #2 business in the potty on his third day of potty training. We left the house for the first time on this day to go to Nanny and Papa's house. While we were there he went poop and so he got a milkshake.

 

Day 4: Friday: By this time we were getting much more comfortable with our routine. The only thing bugging me was that I still had to be the one to tell him to go to the bathroom or to take him. He would not tell me when he had to go. But he had 9 successful potty trips that day and that night he did not wet his bed. AMAZING!

 

The next 3 days consisted of me taking him about every two hours or so.  We did have our first family outing and Tanner stayed dry the entire time (2 hours at the pumpkin patch- playing hard). It would have been easy for him to have an accident but he held it until we got home. He did so great. Unfortunately, that night he had an accident. A number #2 accident. But to be fair- he did tell me he had to go poop. I just didn't get him there fast enough. I turned around to get him pj's to change him into afterwards and by the time I got back- he'd pooped in his underwear. However, he was sooo grossed out by it that he hasn't done it since. He kept saying "its on my leg" "its on my knee" "its on my foot" It was a mess and he did not like it. That was the only time he pooped his pants!

 

Anyways- A week after starting his potty training he's now telling me when he has to go. He's pooping on the toilet now and he's been accident free for 4 days. Also- he was dry 5 out of 7 nights!!!! YAY! Potty training done in a week- UM- HECK YEAH! I'm so proud of my little man!!!! Life has resumed as normal and we can leave the house without the fear of him having accidents. SO HAPPY! I think the night training will just happen on its own. Not going to worry about it right now- plus- he's doing pretty darn good at night too!

 

A few notes from the Momma:

I used a ton of incentives to make potty training interesting to Tanner. I made an "I DID IT! Potty Training calling Chart" He would point to someone's picture and get to call that person and tell him/her that he went pee. He loved doing this. Although he mostly just wanted to call his Nanny every time.

Talkin' to his "Aunt Rah" on the phone

I also did a sticker chart. I'd taken him to the store the day before and let him pick out some stickers. He fell in love with these superhero stickers and loved putting them on his sticker chart after he went pee each time

I also filled my apron full of treats, like fruit snacks, fruit roll ups and smarties. Each time he went he got to pick our a treat from my apron. He really loved this.

However, as time went by and he didn't want to pee for candy I had to up the incentives. He started getting "Star Wars Pods". You better believe that kid was a pee machine when he saw those. His collection really started to grow.

We basically lived on my tile floor for the first 3-days. Call me a chicken, but I DID NOT want to clean pee out of my carpet. So we just hung out in the dining room and kitchen for 3 days straight, oh and we were outside alot. haha. Here are the kids playing Lego's together on the kitchen floor.

I had to find something really special as an incentive for Tanner to go poop on the toilet. Luckily, my kids have a weak spot for milkshakes. Tanner doesn't mind going nearly as much when he knows he's going to get a milkshake afterwards.

Here's Tanner drinkin' his milkshake at Sonic

 

All-in-all, I feel like he did great. All the prepping was worth it because it only took a week and out of those 7 days, only 3 were really intense. Not bad! Let just hope Bailey is this easy!

 

Little Shoes = Bailey Walking

Life seems to be a constant battle right between me and Bailey's shoes. They keep finding their way out of her closet and into funny places all over my house. However, this phenomenon is not a complete mystery. I've caught Bailey, multiple times, sneaking into her room to pull shoes out of her closet. One day, I very quietly followed her and watched as she opened her bedroom door, walked over to her closet, opened that door and then proceeded to sort through all her shoes until she found two she liked (which did not match at all). Then she carried those shoes around the rest of the morning as she made laps around our house. I guess they help her balance. Its so funny. It wasn't an uncommon thing at all to see Bailey wearing one set of shoes and holding two more in her hands.

 

So here's how it started. Bailey started walking a little after her first birthday, but she'd only do about 5 steps at a time usually. I remember this because when I got home from the hospital she walked 6 steps into my arms. SOOO SWEET!  Every now and then she would bust out like 6-10 steps, but not typically. Then about two weeks later she started walking from one piece of furniture to the next without help. One day I was in the kitchen and I heard Tanner saying "Look Mom, Bailey's walking". I got in just in time to see her last few steps as she walked from one couch across the room to the next. Its so fun to see her learning to walk.

Well, honestly, the first few weeks aren't the most fun because there is a lot of falling involved. It seems like if there is a sharp corner or hard surface around, Bailey's poor little head will find it. Luckily, she's a really tough cookie!

Anways, she's really progressed and she's now quite the pro. Here are some pics documenting her progression.These pictures are all taken about a week apart.

 

 (One shoes is a "WeeBox" sneaker and the other is a flowery mary jane- again they don't match)

 No shirt, no shoes (on her feet), no problems. Oh and the only reason these two shoes match, is because I was trying to get her to wear them. However- you can tell who the real boss is.

And finally we've progressed the the full blown walking machine. She no longer feels the need to carry shoes non-stop. She does still carry them occasionally, but not every time.

I really love watching her walk, but part of me is a little sad. Now, more than ever before, I feel like my baby isn't a baby anymore. She looks so much like a little girl. She hardly ever falls and she even started chasing after Tanner. She's just not a baby anymore. But she's pretty cute and I do love watching that chubby little body waddle around. So I guess I'll just suck it up and enjoy whats left of her babyhood.

...

Preschool- The First Month: Letters A-D

As summer vacation began to come to a close, I started to seriously contemplate preschool for Tanner. I knew that I didn't have the guts to stick him in a daycare/preschool yet- (I'd completely bawl my eyes out if we were apart that much) but I also felt that Tanner needed to start some kind of structured/scheduled education.

I decided to start doing preschool lessons at home with him. I planned my lessons around the letters of the alphabet and went to work. We'd cover one letter each week. We'd start with "A" and work our way to "Z". I started planning 3-4 lessons per week, all revolving around the letter for that week. Each lesson would that a different theme, but would reinforce the weekly letter. I have about 1 1/2 hours of alone time with Tanner each day while Bailey takes her morning nap, therefore preschool is from 10-11:00 am, 3-4 times/week.

 

I'm not going to lie. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into. It's A LOT of work!!! But its been a month now and I can see major changes with Tanner. His verbal skills shot through the roof. He's counting better, singing songs better, he's recognizing letters and even getting good at drawing some of them.  I couldn't be happier with the results. He's really learning and its so encouraging to me. For example, the other day in the car Tanner started singing a song he learned during his very first lesson and. This was nearly 4 weeks later and he still remembered it. We only sang it during that one day and he was singing it on his own. My heart seriously melted. He's really enjoying his preschool lessons and is learning. Even though it is alot of work, I kind of enjoy putting together the lesson plans and getting our supplies together for our craft each day. (Does that make me super weird?)

 

Anyways, here is a run-down of the lessons we've had so far. (If you are interested in the lesson plans, I have them all saved as word documents, so just let me know)

Week 1= Letter A

A is for Airplane
We learned about the letter "A". We traced the letter "A". Made two different airplane crafts. We flew around outside like airplanes, played an airplane matching game and sang an airplane song.
 Our first day was a total success with Tanner. He loved it and he loved making his own airplane!

A is for Acorn
We learned where acorns come from, traced a letter "A" with acorn tops, made edible acorns and colored acorn tops with markers. I don't think he enjoyed it as much as our airplane day, but he did pretty good!

A is for Alligator
We read "There's an alligator under my bed", traced the letter "A" over and over, talked about how alligator skin feels, made a letter "A" alligator and an alligator mask. At the end of our lesson we ate some alligator skin (fruit roll-ups).

A is for Apple
We traced lots of letter A's. We made our own apple tree, did finger painting to add red apples to trees, red two apple stories, ate apples and applesauce and made an apple with a worm inside that Tanner loves!

 

Week 2= Letter B

B is for Bugs
Its a new week and a new letter. B is for Bugs. Tanner loves his rock bug we painted together and he really loved hunting for bugs. We also learned what sound the letter "B" makes and traced lots of "B"s. The letter B is really hard for Tanner to trace, because its so curvy.

B is for Balls
We talked about the letter "B" some more. We gathered up all the balls in our house (which was a surprisingly high amount) and counted and sorted them my size and texture. We practiced throwing and rolling the balls and then made the yarn balls.

B is for Bike
More tracing the letter "B". We talked about the different parts of a bike and how you have to push on the pedals to make it move. Then after our "lesson" we went for a bike ride. We finally took off the adult push handle and Tanner pushed his pedals and rode his bike all by himself. He was so proud!

Week 3= Letter C

C is for Car
We learned about the letter C, traced a bunch of "C"s and then made this race car from a toilet paper roll. HE LOVED IT. He's actually slept with it that night!

C is for Cookies
We learned more about the letter C. Used crayons to color cookies differently colors, and counted chocolate chips. Oh and of course, made some yummy cookies. Tanner added all the ingredients himself.

C is for Crayons
More tracing the letter C. Talking about what sound "C" makes. Colored  different crayon worksheets and then we did this melted crayon art. Thanks Aunt Sarah for the awesome idea! Tanner LOVED it!

Week 4= Letter D

D is for Dog
We learned what sound the letter "D" makes, we traced the letter "D". We colored some dog pictures, we followed doggy paw prints to a bowl of doggy treats and then we counted doggy bones while wearing doggy ears and a doggy collar. Tanner counted all the way to 10 without any help, multiple times.

D is for Duck
We learned about ducks and did lots of "quacking". We did a ducky matching game and traced more "D's". Then we made this pipe cleaner duck that Tanner simply adores.

D is for Dirt
We did ALOT of digging in the dirt, lookin for worms. We traced the letter "D" on the driveway with chalk. We talked about what lives in the dirt and then made "Dirt cups" for our snack.

D is for Dinosaur
We hunted for the letter "D". We read dinosaur books, we did a dinosaur puzzle and a lacing dinosaur. Then we learned about dinosaurs- how they don't live on the earth now but we can find their bones. So then we went on a dinosaur bone dig. Look what Tanner found. What an awesome little paleontologist!

So that covers the first month of preschool. Its been really fun. I really do look forward to this one-on-one time with my little man each day. I can't believe the progress we've made so far. He's much easier to keep on track now too. He's gotten use to the structure and he knows that he can't run off and play during preschool. He sticks with me and for the most part gives me his attention. He's getting really good at tracing the letters, "A" and "C". I'm loving watching my boy learn. It's amazing!

Visiting Nanny and Papa in Branson

We spent last weekend in Branson and Springfield visiting Nanny and Papa. They spent the last week in Branson celebrating their anniversary. The kids and I drove up Friday morning and met Nanny and Papa at their condo in Branson. Tanner and Nanny called it "Nanny and Papa's little house in Branson" because each condo was it's own little cottage. Chris couldn't come because his schedule got changed at the last minute. I was so bummed. I was excited about some family relaxation. Oh well- still had a ton of fun!
Once we got to branson we just hung out for a while, played on the playground and Bailey took a nap. Tanner LOVED the tire swing.

Here is Bailey hanging out in Nanny and Papa's condo

Later, Uncle Joseph and his family came up and we all went to dinner at a steak house. Tanner loved this huge bear in the restaurant's lobby. It's Tanner-bear and Big-bear!

After dinner we took the kids to "Castle Rock" water park. It was an indoor water park with water slides, basketball pool and toddler water parks. Tanner had a blast. He loved having Papa chase him around, up and down slides and all around the park.

Bailey trying to climb UP the slide. Goofball!

Bailey and Mom

Snuggling the ball. What's better than some good ball snuggling. 

The water was a bit cold and took a bit of getting use to.

Bailey and Mom in the lazy river. We had just gone under the dumping buckets and got soaked!!!!Hence Bailey's face and my wet hair

Tanner and Papa on the lazy river

The kids were so tired that night. They slept hard!!!

 

The next morning we ate at iHOP. SOOO good. My kids ate like little piggies. Then I took Bailey over to the outlet mall and got her ears pierced. She did great. I'm so grateful she had a sucker to eat on, otherwise she would have been much more upset. Doesn't she look so adorable?

 

Then we drove up to Springfield and went to the Dickerson Park Zoo. It's such a cute little zoo. Lots of fun things for little kids. Tanner loved this petting zoo. Look at him feeding this huge bull.

Tanner feeding the goats

Bailey didn't care for the petting zoo. She mostly hung out in her stroller. And yes, my child was wearing shoes when we started out- but she kept kicking them off and I didn't want to loose them- so off they came and into the bag they went.

Eventually Tanner decided he wanted to relax for a while.

Bailey checking out the bobcat behind  glass. Does anyone else find large cats like mountain lions really creepy. This one was super scary looking. 

Bailey riding on Papa's shoulders. It's her favorite place to ride.

Checkin' out the elephants with Papa

Mom and Bailey wearing our animal print sunglasses

All three of us after our zoo visit wearing our awesome sunglasses. Of course Clark wouldn't wear his....Oh well. 

After this I ran a couple of errands in Springfield and then headed home. We missed Chris like crazy but had such a fun trip. Thank you Nanny and Papa for inviting us to come up and visit you on your getaway.