Potty Watch Day 4

On his first day at daycare in underwear Nick did great, no accidents! He did have one accident tonight when he got home but I think that's because he tried to do it all himself and didn't quite make it in time. I heard him in the bathroom saying "oh crap". I should have corrected him but I let it go so I'm sure I'll hear that again in the near future. When I asked what happened he said he'd peed his pants and sure enough they were wet. I think he couldn't get them off fast enough. He did fine the rest of the night. Until bedtime, he finally went to bed sometime after 10. He's going to be a bear tomorrow. I don't know what his deal was tonight but he wouldn't go to bed for anything. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Yes!!

Its been 3 whole days and still no accidents. Nick has decided that he is done with diapers except at night, at least at home. We'll see how it goes at daycare tomorrow. Yesterday for my sisters birthday we drove to Frederick for the Christmas fair. Its a good 45 minute drive plus all the walking around and I wasn't sure how easy it would be to find a bathroom so I tried to get him to put on a pull-up. He informed me in no uncertain terms that he is a big boy and he took the pull-up out of my hands in threw it in the trash very emphatically. So I left him in his underwear and he did just fine. The only brief snafu was when I took him into the women's room the sound of all the toilets flushing and the driers drying freaked him out and he wouldn't go. I sent him into the men's room where apparently its quieter and he went just fine for his dad. We are so proud of him but more importantly he is proud of himself. I let him raid his brother's underwear drawer for the ones that are getting too small for Collin so he would have some cool big boy underwear to wear too. I'm sure Santa will be bringing some special ones this Christmas.

Potty Training Update

He did it!!!!!! Nick got up this morning, put on a pair of underwear and kept them dry all day long. Sometimes he came and got me when he wanted to use the potty, sometimes he went all by himself and told me about it later. The end of diapers is finally in sight! He is really proud of himself and so are we. I told him if he could keep his diaper dry at Ms. Ro's house he could wear underwear there too and he would only have to wear a pull up at night. He's very excited to give it a try. It seems to have happened almost over night. All of the sudden he's started using the potty all by himself. He's a good 6 months younger than Collin was when he really started getting the hang of potty training. I think it really is easier for the second one because he has his big brother to look up to and Nick certainly wants to do everything Collin does. He idolizes his brother.

Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was blissfully uneventful. After last year we needed that. Collin and I got up early and went to Grammy and Grampa's to make the stuffing and help get the turkey in the oven. I made mimosas (but not for Collin of course) and Mom and Dad made kielbasa and cinnamon buns which is our traditional Thanksgiving breakfast. Tim and Nick slept in but got there in time to watch most of the parade with us. Aunt Bella and Uncle Max were also there and once again we watched the Dog Show after the parade despite all of us denying that we actually wanted to watch it. Its become another family tradition. We were all hoping that the Westie or the Keeshond would win best in their category but no such luck. There are so many things I'm thankful for this year. First and foremost is that Collin is completely fine after the accident last year. I still get really upset every time I think about it. I'm also thankful for my wonderful husband and my beautiful children and all of our family because I don't know what I would ever do without them. I am thankful for all of the people in my life and I know I don't say it often enough but you are all really special to me. I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving and that this holiday season brings nothing but joy and goodwill to all.

Potty Training Update

Potty training is going well. At home. Nick has done a great job the past few days of using the potty and staying dry and clean however at daycare he has informed Ms. Ro that he only uses the potty at home. He absolutely refuses to even try there. I don't want to push it just yet but I'm a little frustrated that he is so willing and excited to do it here and yet won't even try it there even though I brought her a bag of M&M's to reward him with if he did.

Potty Training

I had a glimmer of hope that Nick was ready to start potty training yesterday. It got really quiet yesterday after we got home so I went upstairs to investigate. I found Nick standing in his doorway with both legs in one side of a pair of underwear. He had discarded his diaper and informed me he was a big boy he was going to wear underwear. So I helped him fix his underwear so they were on properly and he kept them on until it was time to change for swim lessons. I had to do a lot of coaxing to get him into a swim diaper. I had to promise that he could put his underwear back on as soon as swim lessons were over. He used the bathroom a couple of different times and seems to have remained dry overnight. He wore his underwear over his diaper to daycare today but absolutely refused to use the potty. He didn't use it tonight either. I think when we get home in the afternoons I'm going to take off his diaper and put on some underwear and take it from there. The only thing I know for sure is that he will do it on his terms. He certainly isn't going to do it because I'm sick of buying diapers but since the sitter and I are both in need of diapers this would be an awesome time for him to decide he's ready.

2 going on 15

Little Mr. Nicholas has picked himself up a little 'tude lately and it has got to go! He has been talking back at every turn and so far my efforts to stop him have done little to curb the behavior. If I tell him to do something he blatantly tells me no followed by something to the effect of I can do whatever I want to. I threatened to lock him in his room for misbehaving and he said "I'll lock you in". Last night I put him to bed and he climbed out of his room over his gate and went into Collin's room where he proceeded to open all of the drawers on one side of his dresser, remove the clothes from the top drawer, climb onto the dresser to turn the light on and then turn over a hamper full of summer clothes that need to be packed away and put in the attic. Then he came downstairs and said "busted". I told him he was busted and he said "No, you're busted". I hauled his little butt back upstairs and threatened to lock him in his room if he got out of bed again. Today he gave me a smart answer to something and I swatted his but for it. He turned around and spanked me back! I put him against the wall and told him to stand there for a time out but I practically had to smoosh him against the wall with my back to get him to stay. The worst part is we were leaving daycare so his sitter got to see the whole thing. I'm about at my wits end with this behavior. Time outs don't phase him much and there isn't a whole lot that I can take away that he will miss. If I don't squash this behavior now I'm really going to have problems when he's a teenager. How can my little boy be so kind and well behaved one minute and then such a mega brat the next? Super Nanny, please pay my son and I a visit. We could really use some help.

Candy! I want more candy!

Halloween was a blast this year. First we carved some really awesome pumpkins at my parent's house with Aunt Bella and Uncle Max. Collin was so excited about his Mario pumpkin which I couldn't find a template for and had to draw by hand before carving it. I was glad Nick wanted the Charlie Brown pumpkin because I've wanted to do that one for a couple years now. Tim chose the Ravens pumpkin and it was pretty hard but he did a great job. On Halloween morning the boys were so excited they were in their costumes right after breakfast. We were going to go trick-or-treating that night with our friends Jane and Scott and their boys Trent and Brady but Brady wasn't feeling good and had to cancel. Poor little guy! Just after I found out Brady wasn't feeling good our neighbors called to find out what our plans were for the evening. It ended up working out really well. We ate dinner and then went trick-or-treating in the single family homes behind our house. They were really into Halloween. There were several houses that were all lit up and decorated and playing spooky music. There was another house that had people (or statues) standing in the driveway and you had to walk through them to get to the person giving out the candy. I think if we had been a group of big kids they might have jumped out and scared us but we got lucky because we had little ones with us. Collin and Nick got tons of candy which I've been giving out a piece at a time (they are not happy about it either). After we finished we walked back to our neighbors house and hung out for a few more hours. The kids finally crashed around 11 and it was time to go home. The weather was beautiful until the very end when it started sprinkling. We couldn't have asked for a better night and it was so neat to see both boys so excited and into trick-or-treating. Can't wait to see what they want to be next year!