It's Potty Time

On the issue of potty training, I've heard it all -- opinions varying from "Potty training can begin the day parents bring their newborn home from the hospital" (Seriously, I read about this in a magazine article) to " Don't worry about it. Just sit back, do nothing, and potty training will happen on its own." With the wealth of different potty training views, it is difficult to decide which direction to take. The thing is, lots of people have lots of advice, but I've learned that children are not "one size fits all." Each child is different and what works for one may not necessarily work for another.


Our potty training journey began with Jacob when he was about 18 months old. I took him to the pediatrician for his well-visit and was told by the doctor "NOW is the time to introduce the potty and begin potty training." I was skeptical -- very skeptical. How in the world was I going to make my little baby understand "the potty?". He hardly seemed ready, but we forged ahead, went to Target, and bought him his first potty, which also doubled as a step stool. When we took it out of the box, he immediately grabbed the little round, blue cushion from the seat, put it around his arm and went running through the house. "Well," I thought sarcastically,"this is going well." Over the next several days, possibly weeks, (I really don't remember) I tried to help him understand the concept of this new little seat. He was not at all interested, except to wear the seat cushion as a bracelet. Every time he saw the potty, he took the blue cushion and ran around the house with it around his arm. Sometimes, he would change things up a bit and put it on his head like a hat. I gave up. It was just too early for him.


Soon after he turned two, (actually a little before) I decided to try again. This time, he definitely understood how a potty is supposed to be used. We also bought a new one -- one that didn't have a removable seat cushion. The problem this time? I was pregnant, sick a lot, and wasn't really into it. Jacob began using his potty every night before bathtime, which was a good start. Somewhere around this time he began going poo-poo on the potty consistently. Now that was a major accomplishment. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) had told me this would take the longest to master. Nope. Not for Jacob. He likes to do things a little backwards. He was doing very well and I was content for the moment. Although, in theory, it would have been great to have him completely potty trained before Annabelle came along, it just wasn't going to happen.


When we brought home "our new baby, Annabale" (in Jacob's words), he began to use the potty on his own...occasionally. If he did so, he always chose a time when I was feeding Annabelle. He would disappear for a while, then come into the living room with his pull-up off, carrying his potty to show me. "Yook," he said. "I went pee-pee all by myself!" Of course, then I would freak out because my two year old was carrying a full potty into the living room and there wasn't much I could do about it while Annabelle was still having lunch. I did manage to tell him "Good job!," but also made it clear that the potty was NOT to leave the bathroom. As most two year olds do, he tuned out the latter part and continued to bring me this "present" at the most inopportune times. Looking back on this, I think he was just begging for a little attention. Our new baby was taking up way too much of my time as far as he was concerned.


Then, he quit. He stopped using the potty during the day, except to go poo-poo. He did, however, continue to use it before his bath. With Annabelle to care for now, Jacob's potty training took a backseat, unfortunately.


Someone told me that one day things would just click for him and he would eventually potty train himself. I was banking on that idea and (can you believe it?) that's pretty much what happened. We just had to wait until he was ready. The average age for boys to be potty trained is 37 months. At 37 months, almost to the day, Jacob was potty trained. He's been doing very well now for the past month. Hooray!!!!!!!


When he reached his goal of no accidents for seven days straight, he was rewarded with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's. We really hyped this up to get him into it...and he was definitely into it. I made a calendar for him and at the end of the day, if there were no accidents, he got a sticker. Before reaching his seven-day goal, if he had an accident, he would say, "Oh No. Chuck E. Cheese will be so upset. I won't get to see him." Pitiful.


We are thrilled with Jacob's accomplishments and I think he's excited about it too. The only problem now is, every time he uses the potty, he says with a smile, "I get to go to Chuck E. Cheese AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!" I'm not so sure about that. Going to Chuck E. Cheese's is an experience best held to once a year. That place is crazy. Fun, but c-r-a-z-y.



I think Jacob's favorite part of his evening with Chuck E. Cheese was the dance stage. He LOVED it! Break it down, Jacob!

Annabelle enoyed her visit to Chuck E. Cheese's too. I wish I had a picture of her with Chuck E. Cheese. She loved that mouse! Her eyes lit up when she saw him. She's so cute!!

Three Year Pictures

Jacob had his annual photo shoot last week and I am beyond pleased with the results. Janet Powell, you are AMAZING!!!! I absolutely love these pictures and I can't wait until Annabelle has her one year photos taken!!

Check out the pictures HERE!

It took Jacob a little while to warm up to the camera....or should I say...photographer. You see, the photographer is also the swimming instructor and we all know how Jacob feels about swimming. When I told him Mrs. Janet was going to take some pictures of him he said, "Mommy.......we're not going to the water?????" "We're not going swimming?????" "I don't have to blow bubbles?????" "No," I said, "you don't have to blow bubbles in the water." I had to work really hard to convince him we were NOT going swimming. Once he realized that, he did great. He played with his drumsticks and had a blast.

And We're Off to the Water Park

Hello, my name is Paula and I am a blog slacker. I realize it's been quite a while since my last post. What can I say? We've been busy!!

We wanted to do something fun and summery on Labor Day, so we headed out to a water park -- more specifically, Splash in the Boro. It was a fairly short drive away and not too expensive -- perfect. We had such a great time!

Although Jacob isn't a big fan of swimming pools, he does love to get wet. He loves to play in the fountains and especially loves buckets of water being poured on his head. Go figure. This little (actually, it was quite large) play area is where he spent most of the day.

When we arrived at the park, we found a "home base" next to the fountain area, spread our things over a few chairs and pulled out the sunscreen. As soon as Jacob was thoroughly covered, he ran out into the fountains only to be yelled at by the lifeguards. "Get out of the water!!" A child had apparently had an "accident" in the pool at the end of the kiddie slides and no one was allowed in the water for a half hour or so until the water was deemed "clean" again. This happened twice while we were there. While it's really disgusting to think about, at least the lifeguards were paying close attention to what was going on in the water. But, seriously...c'mon people. Haven't you ever heard of a swim diaper????

Annabelle fought sleep all afternoon, but even though she was extremely tired, she had fun too. Like her brother, she really enjoyed the fountains. She, however, did not like wearing her sun hat. She pulled it off every chance she could get.

I was excited about the water slides. At Splash Country last year, I wasn't allowed to ride because I was pregnant. I don't think I had been on a water slide since high school!

Here is Papa Larry racing down a slide at lightning speed....even in the "slow" lane. :) The orange lane was supposedly the slow lane. I'm not so sure about that.

When we returned home, it was pretty late and we were all worn out. Jacob had been asleep the entire ride home and only woke up long enough to walk into the house. He stepped through the doorway and immediately fell to the floor. Annabelle wasn't quite as exhausted...or at least, she didn't seem to be. She fought sleep all day long and only took a couple cat naps. I guess she just didn't want to miss out on any fun!

It's Oh So Quiet

Naptime -- oh, how I love naptime. It seems I can never get Jacob and Annabelle on the same nap schedule, but on rare occasions, like today, their naps overlap. **insert Hallelujah chorus here** Don't get me wrong. I love my children. I love playing games with them and being silly. I love singing songs with them and pretending to be in a band. I love hearing them laugh and seeing those fantastic big grins. But as much as I love them, it's nice to get a break every once in a while.

Ever since Annabelle became mobile, both she and Jacob wake up in battle mode. Annabelle loves to play with Jacob's toys. Jacob, however, is not on board with this idea. He was getting a little rough with her every time she grabbed one of his toys (i.e. pushing her down, pulling her across the carpet, etc...), so we told him if Annabelle was getting into his toys, he should yell for either Heath or me and we would take care of it. This actually works pretty well...except, all day long, I hear, "OH NOOOOOOO! OH NOOOOOOOOOOO! ANNABALE'S GETTING MY TRAIN!!!! OH NOOOOO! OH NOOOOOOOO! ANNABALE'S GETTING MY FARM ANIMALS! SHE'S GOT MY DWUMSTICKS!!!! OH NOOOOOOO!!!!!" If anything, I am hoping this will teach him to put his toys away -- out of reach of his sister. He needs to understand that if his toys were in the toybox, Annabelle wouldn't be able to eat...errr...get them.

Despite the fact that she knows she isn't supposed to eat or play with Jacob's toys, Annabelle is very passionate about her quest to do so. She just can't help herself. If she sees those farm animals or a few puzzle pieces lying on the floor, she goes after them at warp speed. Annabelle is one determined little baby. I can't really confine her to the pack 'n play anymore unless I want to hear her scream the entire time. She wants to be free to crawl around -- to explore. I put her down on the floor and so begins the brother / sister toy war. (ummm...did I just write a poem?)

So, when they take a nap together, I love it. I love the peace and quiet....uh-oh, I hear little footsteps....if only for a few short moments.

Sunshine, Fun and a Picnic -- What a Perfect Day!

The weather has been a little cooler the past couple days and I am loving it -- so is Jacob. Today, we spent the entire morning outside blowing bubbles, playing in the sandbox, squirting water guns, and picking up pinecones (Jacob likes to find pinecones). We were having so much fun outside, we decided to have a picnic in the backyard. Lunch was followed by a nap (for the kids). Yes, I'd say today has been a perfect day.

Unfortunately, our picnic was cut a little short. I wasn't aware that a large family of flies had scheduled a family reunion in our backyard at the same time...and we were providing the food. As soon as I brought out our lunch, the flies started to swarm. I quickly grew tired and very frustrated trying to swat them away, so the picnic turned into more of a race to see who could eat lunch the fastest. I won, with Annabelle coming in second. Jacob was perfectly happy to take third place. He didn't really eat anything but grapes and Annabelle's Cheerios.

Contemplating having a few more Cheerios.

Yook at this grape!

Ok, so I wasn't planning on posting this next video, but when I saw it, I laughed out loud. I was trying to capture some of Annabelle's new dance moves. She stands all the time now and dances to music. Jacob's favorite show was coming on (Imagination Movers, of course) and he was doing a bit of his own dancing...in his big boy underwear. That's what really made me laugh. I was trying not to get him in the video, but he made it in anyway. Just watch and you'll see what I mean.

Before we went outside this morning, Jacob was busy building an airplane. Pretty good, huh?

Here are a few pictures taken after dinner a few nights ago:

While I was pointing the camera at Annabelle, Jacob was (not so patiently) waiting for his turn. He decided to share his feelings by pretending to be the dragon puppet from a Baby Einstein dvd. Just thought I would explain so when you hear the "BLAAAH!....BLAAAH!", now you'll know what that is. :)