My Six Quick Takes

So much of this blog has been about our trips lately that I feel like I am missing the little details of my little ones as they grow up (entirely too fast for me).  Here's a small peek into each of their lives.

Today I was talking to Hannah about us giving her less in order to help her be an exceptional person.  She replied, "But Mo-om, we are moving to Texas, the land of grandparents and they are going to want to really go crazy and give me lots of things since we haven't lived near them in so long.  And, I gotta tell you, I'm not unhappy about it!"  She said it with a sweet smile and not with attitude or defiance and it was kind of adorable.

Genevieve has really been putting in the hours trying to become the favorite sister with the little guys in the house.  She spends so much time helping them and reading to them.  Plus, she's even been listening to Drew read aloud his 15 minutes a day and sometimes doing Judah's reading lesson with him if he'll let her.  I think it will pay off since Hannah's spending more and more time reading and drawing in her room.

Isaac has been my special helper in the kitchen of late.  He asked me if it is weird that he likes to cook since he is a boy.  I listed off several men he knows who are excellent cooks and put his fears to rest.  He's basically my soux chef and I talk him through what I am doing and why, except on easier dinner nights like tacos or spaghetti and then he does the main cooking.  The other night I left the kids all at home for dinner alone.  Isaac cooked the frozen pizzas all by himself and the only complaint I got from the other kids is that it was cold by the time they sat down to eat.  That takes practice in a big family, getting the meal on the table and eaten while it's still warm.

Drew is pushing boundaries all the time, and I really have to remind myself to stay on top of him because he is so much better if I'm tough on him than when I give him slack.  He's my take a mile kid.  He finished the 100 Easy Lessons to Reading book a few weeks ago and has earned a small date with Mommy for it.  I took him to the BX and got him Chinese Orange Chicken and a milkshake.  He's already working on his next goal of reading aloud 100 books to earn a date with Daddy too, but many days needs some external motivation to get him to do the work.

Judah, oh, what to say about him.  He's having a hard time right now.  First of all he got the most determined sty in his eye that I've ever seen.  It's been over a month since it first appeared, but it waned a bit in the middle and we thought it was going away.  Alas, it became a big bubble right below his eye that looks pretty hideous, poor thing.  Finally, Brian decided that I should take him in, since he had been telling me to put heat on it and it would go away on it's own.  After the pediatrician looking at it and referring him to Ophthalmology, we finally got a cream to put on it.  However, he is recommending a surgical procedure to remove it if it doesn't improve in one week.  We decided against that until we move.  (Update:  It did shrink with the cream, but now months later it is still there.)

Then there is the whole behavior problems that he's having.  He's back to throwing big fits and now telling me outright he just won't do "such and such" all the time.  Even though my response is always, "Then I am afraid I can not help you or get anything for you until you comply."  He always does it in the end, but so. much. resistance.  He's trying to grind me down, but I'm still standing so far.  I think he is in need of more Mommy time so I am working on getting him that right now.  I woke up one morning with the Holy Spirit telling me to read him a story before anyone else gets up.  He's nearly always my first up in the mornings.  He had a really good day that day.  I'm going to try to do it more often.

Bobby is still potty training (I'd say not one hundred percent trained yet) and wearing big boy underwear all day.  At Mass, I whispered to him that it was nearly time to go up for Holy Communion.  He said he wanted to have it too and I said that he wasn't big enough yet.  To which he replied, "I am big, Mom, I wear underwear."  Touche, my Love.

Potty Training My *Almost* 3 Year Old Baby

It's been rough going.  I ain't gonna lie.  He's my latest potty trainer, but that should've been expected.  The boy has needed a large amount of prodding and gentle pushing from the nest in all areas of his development.  He's not one to just get up and try something because he sees someone else doing it.  He refused to take a step until I was gone overnight in the hospital with Hannah (appendicitis) and didn't take more than three steps until I left on a girl's weekend.  It is fitting that the first time he uses the potty would be when I was gone to the grocery store.

I could tell he wasn't ready in April, but I also knew that time when I needed to start pushing him was approaching.  So, I took the approach that has worked with three of my children (the other two just decided to potty train on their own and needed no push from Mama) which is to start prepping them with lots of talk.  We talk every time I change his diaper about how he is getting so big and needs to start using a big boy potty and wearing big boy underwear.  Then I pick a time in the future that has a big event before it so that he can tell when it is approaching, in this case, when our friends leave from their visit at the beginning of June.  We did many other things to prepare like watch Elmo Potty Time from the library, read all our Potty books, and have him watch his big brothers use the potty.

Well, time came and he knew that he was going to be expected to use the potty when our friends left, but he just couldn't do it.  I left him half naked the whole day right after they left, and he peed on the floor every single time.  It was a huge failure.  That has worked with all the boys.  I reminded him of his promise at some point in the day to use the potty after our friends left.  His reply totally cracked me up, "I'll do it when the next (insert last name of our friends here) leave."  Uh, that's a problem for me.  They're the only ones.  Turned out that my idea to train him then wasn't ideal anyway because our movers were coming to pack our stuff all week and then we were leaving on a long trip, so I decided to wait and try again after we got back from our trip.

This turned out to be the best time anyway, because we arrived home with no diapers left and only had pullups in the house.  He slept in a pullup and we stripped him down to his birthday suit first thing in the morning.  The plan wasn't necessarily to potty train that day, but there were no diapers, so I thought I'd let the girls work with him while I ran to the grocery store.  Before I left, he pooped on the tile floor.  Wah wah.  I was not hopeful.  This is a first for me in all my 13 years experience as a mother.

However, his developmental pattern continued and I came home to a very happy household thrilled to tell Mom the good news that he had used the potty for the first and second time ever and not had an accident!  That stinker!  What is it about me that makes him turn into a baby that never wants to grow up or try anything new?!!!

He had no more accidents all day, but we didn't try underwear yet.  Day two Dad was hanging with the boys while the girls went shopping and he wore underwear and kept them dry.  That afternoon we went to a movie together as a family (It was our 17th anniversary.) and he sat on my lap with underwear.  This was a bold move and he made it 3/4's of the way through the movie, but he wouldn't go to the potty with me no matter how many times I asked.  And then it happened.  He peed on my lap.  In his defense, that's a lot to ask of a toddler just learning to leave a movie voluntarily to go potty when he normally just goes when he feels like it.

Day three, he had one accident on the way to Mass, but was dry the rest of the day and we were out on a long hike that afternoon.  Day four was a bad one, three accidents at home in his underwear.  It was a bad day for everyone.  I think we're all just tired and cranky with all our comfortable beds and stuff gone.  We are in our house still, but with temporary loaner furniture for almost two months total.

Any so it continued, day four no accidents, day five one accident, day six no accidents, day seven one accident, and on until close to two weeks in and the accidents stopped.  He figured it out.  I generally do a load of laundry everyday anyway and with most of our clothes gone, it was a more dire need.  So no big deal to throw in a couple of soiled items.  When Hannah was potty training I hated that I had to run laundry everyday, but now it's really no biggie. 

Bobby was a little afraid to use the big potty for poop for a while.  When we were out, he'd try and then change his mind several times, but he didn't have accidents and always just waited until we were back home with his tiny potty to go.

And since I am writing this post nearly two months later, I can tell you that he didn't have an accident for around a month until we got to the states, upon when he began having half accidents.  He starts to go and then stops himself.  It's a big adjustment and I'm just glad he stops himself.  He's nearly always dry at night. 

I can not believe my youngest s potty trained.  I immediately started wanting to ask strangers to let me hold their babies.  I thought I'd be on cloud nine when he was potty trained, but really I'm mourning the loss of my baby.  The era of thirteen and a half years of changing diapers has come to an end.

It's Potty Time again!

And just like that number 5 is potty trained.  Well, not "just like that," but within a week he was rarely having accidents.  We used the good old sticker chart for the first time ever.  He loved it!  We found a coloring book by Elmo all about potty training and it had a chart and stickers in the back.  We stuck it next to the potty and kept a supply box of the coloring book with markers, wipes, underwear, extra shorts, stickers, and a bag of candy.  The candy was for the pooping in the potty, and stickers were for peep pee.  

He went half naked the first day or two, but then he seemed to mostly have it down when I started having him wear underwear.  He started out having 1 accident a day, and then it just stopped.

When we started he was very resistant to the idea of not wearing a diaper and begged to have a diaper back on.  Once he got distracted he was fine, but the first few mornings he asked for his diaper and when he woke up from naps he didn't want me to take his diaper off.  Before we started he had never pooped in the potty ever, and on the very first day of potty training he did it!  I had to wait a long time for him to be successful.  I even fell asleep on the floor for a few minutes.  Hey, you do what you gotta do.

It is saving me so many diapers!

Super Why

Drew has now officially asked "Why" questions.  This is unbelievable to me since the older three practically came out of the womb asking "Why" this and "Why" that.  The other day, he asked, "Why here, Mom?" when we pulled into a parking lot when he had thought we were heading home.

"Me knight, mom."

He notoriously starts nearly every sentence with "Me."  "Me hold it."  "Me want Mommy to do it."  Etc.  I am gently correcting him and having him repeat it back to me.  This seems to be working slowly but surely.  I have heard him correct himself a couple of times and I am reinforcing that with tons of praise.  Cookie Monster talk is cute for a while, but then it gets old.

He had a playdate earlier this week.  He wanted the boy to go play Lincoln Logs with him in the other room.  I told him to just ask.  He tilts his head (like he does) and says, "You come with me play tinkin togs?"  The boy just kept playing.  Drew turns around and goes, "uuuuuh," making fists, slumping his shoulders, and he stomps off.  So funny looking.

Drew held Judah for a while during a movie.

Drew is doing super well with potty training.  He tells me when he has to go.  He had an accident every three days or so this past week.  His biggest problem is not making a mess in the bathroom.  Since he is so young, he has to be supervised and helped to get situated.  He sits on the little potty most of the time because he isn't tall enough to stand.  He has mostly mastered pulling his pants up and down too.  He is dry during naps even, but not at night.    The potty dance has started which helps when he is having too much fun to want to stop to go potty.  I can then suggest he go, but, otherwise, I have too much going on.  I usually forget completely that he has underwear on until he is saying, "Mommy, pee in potty" to tell me he has to go potty.

Drew's Chugging Along on the Potty Train

Every time I stand him in front of the potty he actually goes.  This could be good or bad.  Hannah was like that from an early age, but she was the most difficult to potty train in the end.  I am chalking that up to my inexperience though.  Here is Drew right after another potty success...

What a hyper mess!  If you've met our other children, but not yet had the pleasure of meeting this monster, you would wonder where in the world he came from.  We do!  His personality is cute and he is my best sleeper, so I'm not complaining. 

The Promised Table

This was the promised reward for potty training. He has not had an accident in over a month so I guess it's official.

He has been wanting to play in his room, despite the heat (our a/c is out right now and his room doesn't have good ventilation,) a lot since we've been home. The girls have enjoyed it a little bit too.

Wow! My son is a lucky boy to have such a handy daddy! To brag on my husband a little, he built this and stained it from scratch. And he's even working on my bookshelf right now! What a guy!

Dare I say it?

I think Isaac is potty trained! Isaac has been wearing underwear for almost two weeks now, and he has kept them dry for 10 days in a row! He tells me when he has to go, I don't have to ask him. That means success!

He figured it out and it was a much easier road than I anticipated. He is even staying dry through his naps! I am super proud of him. Now Daddy has to get busy on making his train table to replace his crib in his room. That is his reward for potty training and being a big boy! He thinks he is getting Spencer (a Thomas train he wants) too, but I'll have to think about that one. I agreed to a train table and moving him to his big boy bed. The rest is still up for debate.

I gave Isaac a hair cut about a week ago. He's a cue ball!

This is the first time that I have not had a child in diapers in the 6 1/2 years since we began this journey of parenthood with Hannah. The break will be short-lived, I know, since Speck will be making his diaper debut in September. I'll enjoy the break no matter how tiny it is!

***By the way, I am so mad that all my posts that I wrote in the last few days and scheduled out just completely disappeared. That has never happened before, but I had some really long and detailed posts. (Insert a Junie B. Jones mad breath here.) I still can't believe they are totally gone!***

Do the (clap clap) POTTY DANCE!

If you haven't seen the Huggies Pullup commercial you might think my post title is a little weird. But I am just so excited about our sudden potty success. Now Isaac is not potty trained yet, but he's been wearing underwear for two days now with only a few "axcadents" as Isaac says. At the beginning of the week he tried going semi nude while playing in the backyard because everyone swears for boys this is the way to go. Isaac is notorious for not liking to be naked, so I was thinking this would not work. However, a couple evenings of this and he figured out what the feeling was when he needed to go potty. Then we tried being naked in the house when he got over his fear of standing in front of the potty. Friday is the first day we tried having underwear on and he made it all the way until the end of lunch without an accident. He got many M&Ms for going potty all morning. He still hasn't figured out how to empty his bladder at a given potty visit so he going a lot. Here's to potty training my cutie now that he finally seems ready! The journey begins...again.