Saying Goodbye to Summer

As the last few days of the summer start to come to a close, we are trying to hold onto what bit of time we can together enjoying the beach and preparing for the year ahead.  While the summer is always such a great time for us, we are also looking forward to the routines and structure that lie ahead for all of us.  

As it has been evident on the blog, the last few weeks of August have been hectic to say the least.  Generally, both are doing pretty well with the potty and I am particularly happy with the progress we have made with Colin.  Just the other day I was feeling discouraged because although he was staying pretty dry, I didn't feel as though he were telling me.  However, that has improved and I would now say that about 75% of the times he goes in a day he tells us he has to go.  Kailey has regressed a bit and is having more accidents in a day, but I am hoping that will change once she gets to school.  I am pretty confident it's a control issue for her.  

Although it was a very harried time, I am grateful I took the approach that I did.  Because I spent so much time following Colin around and watching his every  move, I was more observant to some of the things he has improved upon over the course of the summer.  The clarity of his words and the ones he's stringing together are significantly improving which has been fun to watch.  We are able to have better conversations with Colin and notice that him and Kailey seem to completely understand each other (even when we aren't sure what he's trying to say).  

I was also pleasantly surprised the other day to walk in the family room and see Colin appropriately playing with blocks.  This may seem like such a small feat, but Colin often gets frustrated with toys like blocks and will throw them or dump the bin and move on.  The amount of time he spent working with them was quite significant as well!

I took the kids for back to school hair cuts the other day.  Kailey absolutely loves the attention she gets when her hair is being combed and then cut and was excited to show it off to anyone who asked.  Colin had some difficulties tolerating the buzzer this time around, but it was more because his hair was probably the longest it's been yet so the actual buzzing lasted for a longer period of time.  

Colin has been a very typical older sibling these days in the ways that he is taunting Kailey lately.  He will deliberately take the things she has been playing with and smile at her knowing he is going to get a response (and boy does he!).  With the amount of times this has been happening lately, it's nice to see moments like this where they are choosing to be close and hang out together.  

Kailey has been picking up phones lately and attempting to take pictures.  I didn't realize that she had actually taken a slew of them on my phone the other day until I was transferring pictures over for my blog post.  She must have actually asked Colin to say "cheese" for the first one.  

I remember saying cheese to her, but didn't realize she was actually taking pictures.  

Even her baby got a few shots taken of her.

I had to laugh to realize she took quite a few of the toilet bowl as well...

I will be quite honest when I say that I am actually looking forward to school starting for all of us next week.  We have some good moments, but then lots of moments like this lately...

Now that Kailey is pretty close to potty trained, we wanted to convert her crib into a toddler bed so that she would have some more freedom in the morning to get out of bed (instead of screaming from it) when it was time to go to the bathroom.  The funny thing is that she still stands in it and screams as though she can't get out.  She keeps telling us that it's broken and needs the strings (ie, the front of the crib) to fix it.  

So, we'll continue to enjoy the rest of this holiday weekend and the little bit of summer it has left to give us, but then we will definitely head into this school year ready to see what kinds of big things it has in store for all of us.  

So long, sweet summer...

10 Years

Yesterday, Chris and I marked 10 years together.  The date is pretty significant for us because from that first  night, we have been together ever since.  At the time, a mutual friend of ours' band was playing out at a local bar.  I ran into Chris at our athletic department meeting and asked if he was going (we had only actually met a few times at that point).  He hadn't planned on it, but we met there anyway, and had a lot of fun (I can still remember what he was wearing/what he looked like when I walked in that night).  That was the start of many years of laughter, tears, and lots of love.

It's funny when you take a few minutes to go back through your life with someone through pictures.  We are missing a whole years worth of pictures (our first year was pre-digital for me), we have a whole lot of selfies, concerts, baseball games, bars, engagement, wedding, babies, family....

...I am so grateful to be on this crazy ride called life with you Chris! I love you more than words can say!

Training

It's been a long week here in our house for many reasons.  Chris has been working a LOT (day and night) and as you are probably more than aware from all of my posts, we have been busy potty training and lying low.  I think that by this point, we are all more than exhausted and ready to move forward.  Since we haven't seen Chris in awhile and we've been stuck indoors, we first decided to try out the beach and see how that went with having to go potty.  I took the kids to target the other day and bought a different potty to travel with us.  So far, it is acceptable for Kailey but Colin isn't a fan.  Both kids went before we left the house and we asked them again when we got there.  We ran Kailey back to the car several times while we were there at her urging but despite our best attempts, Colin said he never had to go.  Since the ocean was so rough and there was no swimming, we realized that by the time we got home AND after they woke up from their sleeps in the car, Colin was dry for 4+ hours.  

After hanging around the house all afternoon, we decided to then take the kids to the local minor league baseball stadium (where Chris normally would have been working at).  

The kids were really excited on their way over there and I was a bit excited/nervous to test out our newly underwear-wearing children.  

Kailey went several times in the bathroom and Colin went once but then later leaked a bit and finished on the potty (in his defense, the poor thing was exhausted as it was after bedtime).  

While Colin has pretty much seemed to stop telling us when it is time to go, he has stuck to his schedule so we can usually ask and then get him on the potty when it's time for him to go.  We still remind him many times in a day so I often feel like a broken record, but I still feel it's important to do so.  

While I would love it if we walked away from the past 7 days with freshly potty trained children, I also know that this is a learning process and it may take awhile.  Kailey will tell us every time she has to go, but still can't quite conquer her fears of going #2 (which I know is pretty typical) and while Colin doesn't quite tell us, he is pretty much on a schedule and staying dry throughout the day.   

I know that they call this potty training for a reason.  We have expectations when we start something that it will go smoothly and perfectly and be done when it's supposed to (or at least when WE think it's supposed to) but it it's just like training for anything.  I've been trying to get myself back into a good routine with running again and I have those days where I feel great, and those other days where I can hardly will myself to get outside and get going.  Why should I expect every day to be perfect with these two?

We had a pretty good day again today but it's crazy to me how little Colin goes in a day in terms of numbers (but as I mentioned already, he doesn't drink that much in a day).  He literally went 5 hours this afternoon in between potty visits.   

Thank you Dave Schofield for such an awesome picture!!

I will honestly say, I am looking forward to September and the regular routines and schedules that it will bring!

On and on...

This post is going to be short and sweet today. Lets just say that there are some really good days (yesterday) and some really NOT so good days (today) in the world of potty training. Well, that IS until daddy comes home and someone willingly tells him he is a little bit wet, has to go potty and actually does. It's amazing the powers daddy has sometimes (especially when my children are totally sick of me!

Coincidentally, someone just surprised me and emailed me these photos from a birthday party we were at in the fall of 2011. I have been supporting and pushing Colin since the day he was born and will continue to do that for each and every skill that is a challenge to be acquired. These photos have reminded me just how far he has come until now (and its always good to be reminded of that!). 

We will keep moving on and on and pushing him just the same...

Clicking

Today was a really, really good day (I am streaming happy tears just writing that!).  We made it to the grocery store for a quick shop and both kids stayed dry.  We ended up staying home most of the day by my choice because now that they are starting to do well I am afraid of regressing because I couldn't get them to a potty in time.  Kailey pretty much tells me every time but is still afraid of dropping #2 into the potty so she's had a few accidents with that.  

Just after lunch time, Chris had texted me to check in to see how they (and probably more me) were doing.  I had just finished saying how they were doing pretty well when Colin TOLD me he had to go, stayed dry, and we made it to the potty in time.  I started screaming and yelling and jumping up and down with happy tears when he smiled but then looked at me and said "mom, sssh, stop, be quiet".  I had to laugh...

The rest of the day went just about as smoothly!  He literally went HOURS in between each time he had to go, but told me every other time he had to go today except one and that was way past bedtime because we had been spending time with friends.  In fact, even with our friends here, he still came and got me to tell me he had to go potty.  I just couldn't believe it.  

Because I was riding on the high of the successes today, I let them both pick a prize from a prize bag that I had created.  They were super excited and as I opened the bag for Colin he started rummaging through and said, "hmmm, let's see".  

For him, giving some of the control back was really  key.  I bugged him just about every 10 minutes all day long but with a mixture of reminders and asking if he had to go.  I would praise him for being dry but I didn't make him go when I noticed a little bit that was leaking.  I realized that those times are not true signs that he has to go, so I simply remind me and then wait for him to tell me when he's ready.  

I also think that the consistency was really key.  For 5 straight days, we have been doing the exact same thing every day.  Because of this, it is really starting to click with him and I am so proud that I feel like I am bursting at the seams!

We also decided to put both of the kids in pullups for the night but in combination with the same routine we had started.  I really don't think they are quite ready to be fully trained at night and it's getting quite exhausting changing the sheets so many times.  We will continue to put them on the potty before we go to bed and first thing in the morning, but there are so many times that they wet the bed without ever waking up.  I started calling them nighttime underwear and so far neither of them have addressed them as pullups.  

I am really dying to go to the beach but am feeling hesitant because I really don't want to break out of this schedule that we have going so far.  I am hoping that I can find a portable potty that both like to keep in the car and then if one says they have to go, park close enough that I can rush them back to the car to try.  

We're getting there!

And just for something fun....what is cuter than a little boy dancing in his underwear??  The funniest part is between 45 seconds and 1 minute.