Potty Trained

From batteries to storing candy in the little "flap." Which really begs the question, does anyone actually use that little flap rather than pulling down their pants?

There were many a day that I thought this day would never come.  But it did!  Brady is potty trained! I wouldn't call myself on an expert on this topic by any means but this is my third kid to go through the process so I feel that I'm fairly knowledgeable on the topic. Perhaps I could even write a book on it.  Fear not, if you are already bored by this topic, I have good news.  The book has only one chapter and it is very short.  It goes like this, "If you wait until they are ready, they will pretty much train themselves." That is exactly what happened here.  On Monday morning, Brady came downstairs wearing his underwear.  Since then, he has gone pee on the potty every time save for wearing diapers on Monday and Tuesday when I was too nervous to go out in public with him in underwear.  There has been one poop accident on Tuesday and now he's even doing that on the potty.  But seriously, I don't remind him to go or anything.  He just goes on his own.  It's really quite unbelievable.  I'm so glad that even though my kid will be four in four months that I didn't force him to potty train because he "should be potty trained by this age."

There has been some humor.  At the beginning, he was going on a particular tree in the back yard.  I had told him that he could have an M&M each time he went (although it really wasn't necessary since he does it so well).  On that first day he was still getting the hang of it and about every two minutes he would tell me he had to go.  The first time he came running back in and I went out to investigate and found some leaves with a liquid on them.  A little thrill went through me as he had never had any success peeing on a tree or in a potty in previous months when he said he wanted to try.  But then I wanted to see it in action to see if it was really and truly happening.  He kept saying he was going to go and then we would get out there and he'd stand there but nothing would happen.  After a bit, he would get frustrated and he would start twisting, pinching, pulling, turning this way, even pulling it up to peer at it.  Why won't the pee come out??  Made me laugh at least.  Welcome to the world of boys, I guess!  Oh, and then I was thinking, is there any greater joy as a parent than when your child poops on the toilet for the first time?  Sure, riding a two wheeler and learning to read are pretty cool but not changing a poop diaper is pretty darn special.

Yes! Yes!  I see moisture!!

I had told him months ago that if he started going in the potty, we would convert his crib to a toddler bed.  Man, we milked that crib set up for as long as possible.  We have been fortunate that none of our kids tried getting out of their cribs at a young age.  By the time Brady tried it, he was old enough to understand my threat that he would lose his binky if he got out.  After the binky was gone, I told him he could die if he tried to get out and landed on his head.  Well, it IS possible!!  Last night was the first night and all went well but I was pretty annoyed to still hear the "GET ME OUT, GET ME OUT" at 7:15.  I went in and told him he could get himself out now which apparently he forgot or maybe old habits die hard.

I tried to take a picture of the four of them but this is what Colby does when he hasn't seen me in awhile (aka, three minutes).  He forgets all else and tries to get to me ASAP.

Last weekend Cory, Amanda, and the boys came to stay at our place on Saturday night since they are down for some meetings for Cory.  We decided to have a little get together for those of us that all lived here in our community (since Cory and Amanda were the first to live here before they moved) and so we invited the Isidros and Ottatis over.  The weather was perfect and we had such a nice time roasting hot dogs over our fire pit and enjoying the nice set up we have outside...thanks to my hubby, of course.  The kids spent much of the time playing around in the back yard with the couch pillows. But as soon as the last person went out the door, Calleigh promptly stated "I am SO glad Gaby left. She is SO bossy." Gaby is four.  It totally cracked me up.  I had to explain to her that Gaby is the oldest in her family just like Calleigh and so Gaby probably thinks she is in charge just like Calleigh thinks that SHE is in charge.

I made brownie delight for the special occasion and Colby was...delighted.

Earlier in the day, Cory caught a lizard which wouldn't let go of Noah's thumb.

The kids named him and were convinced that he wanted to live with them rather than go free because he wouldn't run when they put him down.

No qualms about touching reptiles.

Last Sunday they gave the awards (to every child) for soccer since today was going to be the last week and many of the kids were going to be participating in field day at FLEC.  Calleigh has decided that she likes to play on defense and rarely goes on offense.  She's gotten very into it knowing what weeks they've won and which weeks they lost even though it's supposed to be just for fun.  Now she'll start saying things like "Oh, I hope Taylor isn't going to be there today because he's the best...he's better than so & so, and so & so, and so & so all put together" (don't want to name any names).   Of course, Taylor is 10 which is the highest age that league goes up to so obviously that helps.  Aubree is holding her own.  She loves it but sometimes still seems a little bashful to get into skirmishes for the ball.  The next session is starting at the end of March and when I asked them if they both wanted to sign up for it again, it was a resounding "YES." Now if only I liked soccer...Actually, I will admit I do enjoy watching them play.





On Monday morning the girls had their gymnastics and we were all saddened to learn that their teacher Corey/Cory/Kory (just not sure how she spells her version) is leaving.  She got an internship doing something with music at a church and has to cut back on her hours.  We are so sad to see her go because she has been so incredibly kind and good to the kids.  We had actually dropped the Thursday night gymnastics because the girls seemed to be dragging their feet a little going to that one because they didn't like the teacher nearly as much and I figured they had enough going on anyway. We are anxious to see tomorrow who the new teacher will be.


The girls had their third piano lesson also last Monday (we have now decided to make it permanently on Monday afternoons as morning lessons were interfering with various field trips we are taking). On the Sunday and Monday morning before lessons when I asked Calleigh to practice she dragged her feet and told me "It's boring." And I thought, "So it begins.  Only took about 2.5 weeks." But, what I realized is that it was boring because she had only learned the one song and already had it mastered. Ethan taught her a new song on Monday and so then she had a new challenge to work on and has done so admirably.  Meanwhile, Aubree is doing really great too and when he said, "She's six, right?" And I said, "No, five" he was surprised and said, "She does really, really well for a five year old.  I have many seven year olds that aren't able to do this well as far as only playing one key at a time."

I forgot to mention last week that I am no longer nursing Colby at night so we are down to the morning and random other times that he decides to contort himself into some weird position and nurse.  Some days it's no other times and some days it could be two or three.  We shall see if it peters out on its own or what.  But in the meantime, I'm very pleased with the faster bedtime routine.

Here are some pictures of other stuff we've been up to:

Calleigh and I went to her friend Lindsey's 9th birthday party then got to make a clay cupcake and paint it.  Reminded me of ceramics from summer camp.

You know you are a mom when....you look down at your plate and realized you just mindlessly cut up your own waffle.

I found a joke and riddle book at Goodwill and Calleigh loved it.  She had no idea she was doing all that reading!

Tuesday morning we met Amanda, Noah, and Jake at the "Peacock" park.

As I've said, he loves my hair.

Tuesday night met up with the Reeveses and Isidros (minus Tangie) at Winter Garden Pizza.  Duncan played a game of Simon says.

Clean laundry building up outside the laundry room makes Colby a happy boy.

Potty training sure wears a fella out.

Colby was freaking me out trying to climb on this horse so we moved it to the gym some odd months ago.  He has been so happy to see its reappearance in the playroom.

This kid loves to put his plate on his head or his food on his head for that matter.

Went to a consignment sale next to a playground on Friday.  Love how this pictures makes it look like Calleigh and Aubree are looking at each other and smiling.

Brady bought a Lego set with money he has been saving.  When he asked Calleigh to put it together for him, she tried to be all nonchalant about it but she was all excited because she LOVES to do Legos.

Colby ADORES books.

Love this boy. I could stare at him sleeping for hours.

Colby pushed Brady all around the downstairs.  Love how they are playing together.

Conversations with the kids:

As we walked through a parking lot to go to Lindsey's birthday party, a car with a Christmas tree on it's roof drove by.
Calleigh: "Mom, look at that car with a Christmas tree on it. "(Voice drops to a whisper).  "They must have Alzheimer's and they forgot when Christmas is."

One evening after supper...
Calleigh:"Mom, can we watch Busy Town?  Please?
Me: "I don't think so.  You guys have had enough screen time today."
Brady:"We won't scream any more, I promise!"

Calleigh:"One of the worse things would be to die."
Me:"Actually, it won't be that bad.  Just think, one second you are in the ground like you are sleeping and the very next second it seems to you, you are going up to heaven because Jesus has come. Besides, we may never even die. Jesus may come first."
Calleigh:"I sure wish he would come before school starts."

Have a great week everyone!