Potty Boot Camp: Day 3

Well, today was an interesting day.  Besides sleeping times, Little Buddy had no accidents, but he also only had four potties.  Though I was proud of him for not having any accidents, I am worried he is going to through a "holding stage" to avoid the potty as much as possible.  Just have to make sure he stays as hydrated as normal with lots of fruits too.

Otherwise, we had a fun day together.  It's actually been pretty nice not to have to rush anywhere in the mornings and to just enjoy our day together.  We've also had fun wearing our pajamas all day!  Definitely looking to instate a "stay home" day during the week once this is all done, especially since he still seems to be napping okay.

During our days at home, we have been taking time to prepare for baby sister.  I have been getting out all the baby items and organizing them and Little Buddy has been reclaiming all his old baby toys.  It's funny to see him playing with them so intently after having forgotten about them!

My "baby" and his baby toys.

We've also been playing outside quite a bit in an effort to wear him down for naps.  Unfortunately, Momma is a bit too pregnant to handle playing hard in the Texas heat, so we have been relying a lot on the sprinklers. 

Water fun (in our pajamas and underwear, of course)!

Tomorrow is our first outing because I have my 28 week OBGYN appointment.  We'll be trying out our new cloth training pants and praying for no accidents!

Good night, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Potty Boot Camp: Day 2

Ok, today was much rougher at first than yesterday.  That was mostly my fault because Daddy and I stayed up much too late working on the baby's room, meaning I was not the most energetic person once Little Buddy woke up at 6:30 AM.  Lesson learned.  Going to bed earlier for the rest of the week.

There was a lot of good news for today.  Besides being wet when he woke up in the morning and the start of an accident on the floor (we rushed quickly to the potty and made it), Little Buddy had no real accidents today!  Yippee!  It was a little difficult for me to adjust for today, because he ended up only having five potties as compared to the nine from yesterday.  I was expecting more, so I think he became annoyed with me for constantly asking him if it was time to go.

We still need to work on him being aware of it enough to tell me about it before it happens.  Normally right after meals he is good at this, but during playtime I really have to watch his body signs because he gets so busy playing that he forgets to tell me.  The downside to this is that I can't leave his side to do anything else, like clean up the house or brush my teeth.  It's very time and attention-consuming and it really can wear a person out quickly!

Another downside to training is staying at home all week.  I think we area both getting a bit stir-crazy already, which doesn't bode well for the three remaining days!  He tends to get destructive which make me a bit grumpy.  Like when I left him for two minutes so that I could go to the bathroom only to find when I returned that he had broken the back safety gate, gotten into the "childproof" cabinet, and was pouring Tide into the washer (and everywhere else).  Argh!

"I help you, Momma!"

I tried to focus on the good, like on the fact that he WANTS to help me with laundry, but I was still a little distracted by the extra mopping and other clean-up I had to do, as well as attempt to fix the child-proofing devices!

On a bright side, his new cloth trainers arrived and they fit!  Makes me feel much more confident about taking him out of the house in diapers.  Which is good because I have an OBGYN appointment that he has to come to with me on Thursday.  Hoping for lots of progress by then!

Training pants!

 

No more diapers during the day for us!

Because he had no accidents today, he got to play the guitar with Daddy and watch the Sesame Street movie, Follow that Bird.  Unfortunately, he both loves and is devastated by the movie (can't stand Big Bird being away from his friends on Sesame Street).  He was very emotional and didn't want to settle down to go to sleep when it was time.  I think we've decided no more movie right before bed!

Singing silly guitar songs with Daddy!  One of his favorite things!

Anyway, I am looking for continued success tomorrow.  And hopefully some more sleep tonight so that I am as patient a momma as possible!

Night all, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Potty Boot Camp: Day 1

Ok, so today was a solid first day.  Nothing terrible, and nothing I wasn't expecting.  I recorded all of Little Buddy's potty behaviors today.  He had nine potties, two of which occurred upon waking from night and nap (which I don't count yet.  That control will come eventually), four of which were accidents in which we didn't make it to the potty (mostly because he didn't seem aware that it was happening) and three successful trips to the potty!  Yay! 

Overall, it was a good day.  We played inside and outside (while I could stand the heat!), took a quick run together, and generally had a good time.  The last twenty minutes before Daddy came home was the most trying just because there was an accident while I was cooking dinner.  Not fun to try to handle those two things at the same time with a three-year old who won't stay still!  If I did get frustrated, I just had to look at the sweet smile on my boy's face to realize that, if nothing else, I was blessed to be able to just be with him and and hang out with him this week.  He's a pretty cool kid!

Wish us luck tomorrow!

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Potty Boot Camp

This week, I am ready to go boldly where no one has ever gone before...a full week without diapers for Little Buddy.  That's right, it's time for potty boot camp.

And it is time.  It's been a bit of a rough road to this point.  Although he's shown steady improvement over the past few months, the concept has still not hit all the way home yet.  Besides the reality that he just wasn't showing any true potty readiness until lately, I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that, though we are usually in underwear at home, it's been the safe route to stay with diapers in public.  It's hard to go diaperless on errands when you have a child who, when he has an accident, causes more than just dampness...it's a lake.  It's not his fault, big boys just have bigger bladders.  But I think we've been confusing him going back and forth with diapers.  Even though we had switched to the Underjams pull-ups, it still sends the mixed message that sometimes its still ok to go in your pants.  Because he has school coming up in a month, baby sister coming in three months, and the fact that they don't make diapers bigger than size 6, the time is upon us to really work on it.  We've also been lucky because I finally found cloth training pants in a size that will fit his big hiney!  Yay!  That will make me more comfortable going out without the diaper safeguard.  So this week, Little Buddy and I are going to stay home all week (the idea already fills me with dread) and ditch those diapers!  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Always,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Dentist and Doctor Visits

We had some important milestones this month, so I thought an extra post was warranted (before my pregnancy-addled brain forgot all the details)!

First of all, Little Buddy had his first dentist appointment!  I was excited and nervous at the same time because I really wanted him to have a good experience.  Unfortunately, the day started off rather poorly.  He fell down and skinned his knee up before we left for My Gym in the morning, making him very upset, both about his knee and the fact he was late to one of his favorite things!  He ended up being very moody and cranky afterward, and not even the pizza we ate for lunch helped (meltdown in the restaurant).  Things were looking grim to me as I marched my VERY grumpy toddler into the dentist (which only made him grumpier because he wanted to go to the baby doctor instead).  Fearing the worst, I was pleasantly surprised when the amazing staff at the pediatric dentist's office lived up to the reputation that led me to choose them as Little Buddy's dental care:  They were awesome!  The entire staff was kid-friendly and kid-focused.  They talked directly to Little Buddy and let him take his time adjusting to everything.  And they gave him medical gloves (the quickest way to his heart)!  He ended up having a great time at the dentist and didn't want to leave and I was happy to hear that his teeth were doing great!  I'll call that a success!

Just chilling at the dentist's office!

Next up, we had Little Buddy's three-year well check yesterday.  Everything is looking great, but he is maxing out the height and weight charts still!  He is as big as an average four-year-old (or a small five-year-old!) at 41 in. and 47 lbs.  Eeek!  Anyway, our doctor (whom we love) recommended we get an x-ray of his growth plates just to make sure everything was normal.  She was confident everything was, but just wanted to make sure.  I love how thorough she is!  Anyway, since Daddy was with us we just went straight over to have it done.  Little Buddy did excellent!  He thought it was very neat that big camera was going to take a picture of the bones in his hand.  Because he did such a good job (and because it was almost dinner time by then!) we rewarded him with Grimaldi's pizza for dinner.

Waiting on x-ray.

Practicing holding his hand very still for the "bone picture."

 Little Buddy's first x-ray.  In with Daddy because pregnant Momma wasn't allowed in.

After Grimaldi's we also realized that Little Buddy had earned another reward because he had gone all day without any potty accidents!  I was so proud of him!  Six successful potty trips with four in public places.  That's a new record for him and gives us a lot of hope that he will be mostly potty trained by October.  But I had promised him that if he went an entire day without an accident, he would get Mickey and Minne stuffed animals from the Disney Store.  Off to the mall we went!  He was so happy and proud of himself!

We're proud of you too, Little Buddy!  Looking forward to relating more of your adventures next month!

Love always,

Momma


**Update:  X-rays came back normal.  We just have a giant among toddlers!**

Cousin Time!

I just couldn't resist an extra post detailing my brother and sister-in-law's visit to Texas!  We were so fortunate to have them stay with us for a day as they drove through on their way to their new home in Arizona.  Little Buddy loved having them and his cousin, T, come visit, as well as their two dogs.  We had a lovely visit with them and look forward to going to see them next year!

The Lego masters!

Little Buddy did ok with sharing, but I can see we have some work coming once Little Sister arrives!

He was so excited to hold him!

Cousin love! 

It melted my heart to watch them play patty-cake together.

Family time!

Little Buddy is going to miss his Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin!

And their dogs!

Can't wait to go see them in Arizona next year!  Next time, T might be big enough to play "kick the ball" with Little Buddy (since Little Buddy couldn't get enough of it with Uncle J).

Love our family,

Momma

July 11th

A full month as a three-year-old, where does the time go?!  We've had a lot of fun so far this summer, with Little Buddy's favorite parts being going to My Gym twice a week (Karl! Shanna!) and pool visits.  Our schedule looks something like this:

7:00 - 8:15 AM

Up, breakfast, get ready for the day, sit on the potty

 

8:15 - 8:45 AM

If Little Buddy has potty success, then he gets to watch Daniel Tiger while Momma frantically tries to get ready, get some laundry done, and get some dishes done

8:45 - 10:30 AM

Get out the door (hopefully on time, often a few minutes late) to get either to My Gym (on Mondays and Thursdays) or Baby Boot Camp

Lots of fun at My Gym!

10:30 AM - 1 PM

If it's a My Gym day, we normally head to the nearby pool for a swim and a picnic.  If it is a Baby Boot Camp day, we play with friends, run an errand or two, and get some lunch (sometimes with Daddy!)

Loving some pool time!

Special pool time with Daddy!

1:00 - 3:30 PM

If Mommy's lucky, we head home for a good nap!

Asleep in his big boy bed!

3:30 - 5:30 PM

This is our free play time.  We paint, do puzzles, play with play-doh, play outside, play in the sandbox, read books, or just play with toys.  If we have anymore potty success, Little Buddy does get another episode of Daniel Tiger.  Momma also tries to make sure dinner is ready to go!

 

Yay for play-doh!

 

Loving the new sandbox!

5:30 - 8:00 PM

Daddy gets home and we eat dinner.  Then Daddy and Little Buddy get some playtime in before bathtime.  After bath and stories (and "just two minutes" of Daddy and/or Momma laying down with him), Little Buddy normally hits the hay between 8 and 8:30 PM.  Then Momma and Daddy are free....to clean the house, work on school stuff, work on a bathroom renovation...you get the picture. ;)

We are thankful, though, that Little Buddy does go to sleep so easily.  He transitioned to his big boy bed last month and has been doing great!  We were very happy that this process went so smoothly.  Here are some other updates from the past month:

Height and Weight 

We still have over a week until his well-check, but it seems Little Buddy is getting taller based on our measurements.  Also, he is tipping the scales at about 48 lbs.  He wears 5T and is the size of an average 5 year-old.  It's crazy to have such a big toddler!  His appetite is still very healthy, and we concentrate very hard on making sure his diet is as healthy as possible.  Daddy thinks we are just growing another J.J. Watt!

Personality

Still a very careful kiddo, but he is taking on more adventures every day!  He is also very loving and polite, insisting on saying hello and good-bye to everyone he meets (sometimes this includes inanimate objects like showerheads!).  He is a favorite at the local restaurants where we eat lunch; he is always so pleasant to the wait staff and table bussers.  

Developmental Milestones

Potty training is still slowly developing.  Many times, Daddy and I have to remind ourselves how far he has come in three months.  He is improving, it is just hard for a three-year-old brain to control a five-year-old sized bladder.  We want to move out of diapers completely, but just not sure he has the control for that yet, especially at his gym classes.  

 

Proof of progress!  He overfilled his potty sticker chart as we waited for the new one to arrive!

Linguistically, his language skills are really progressing.  He takes in new words daily and is able to relate his thoughts in simple (and sometimes quite elaborate) sentences.  Often times, Daddy and I are his translators to those unfamiliar with listening to him, but he is getting better at getting his point across to others.  

Fun Tidbits

*The 4th of July was a lot of fun.  We went to our neighborhood's parade and fun day and he really enjoyed riding the fire truck "train", eating the food, and running down the slip 'n' slide.  *He is going to start swim classes again this month.  He loves the water and we want to make sure that he is safe and confident in his swimming.  *Uncle J, Aunt S, and Cousin T will be driving through in a few days and we can't wait for him to meet his baby (and only) cousin!  *He wanted a bike helmet to wear while riding his tricycle and it became some of his favorite headgear.  *First dentist appointment is coming up soon!  Keeping our fingers crossed for a good report! *Still excited about his baby sister.  He likes to say hi to my belly and give it kisses.  Not sure if he realizes that the baby will be joining us on the outside in October because he seems so content for her to stay in my belly!

 ,

Happy Birthday, USA!

Enjoying a sno cone!

Super Will, headed out for adventures with his beloved helmet!

Tricycle time!

Helping Momma show off the baby bump.

Always a fun time with a toddler in tow.  :)

Love you Little Buddy, 

Momma