Boys and Their Toys

I came home on Saturday afternoon after running a few errands to find that Avery had a very special new toy delivered from his Gigi! This bad boy took 18 hours for the battery to charge, and surprisingly, Avery was completely patient while he waited until the NEXT day to enjoy his new toy.

We got up very early (as is now the case every morning due to the new "big boy" bed), and I made muffins and scrambled eggs for breakfast. After breakfast, we ventured outside to let Avery have a ride on his new motorcycle. He LOVED it. It was pretty funny watching him as he tried to figure it all out. I think the steering will take some more practice, but overall he looked like a pretty cool kid while he was riding around!

Above are a few pics I snapped with my new iPhone and below is a little video as well.

Weekend Wrap Up

After a really long, stressful week, I can honestly say I am glad that tomorrow is Monday. I was sick with strep all last week which made me really tired and really irritable. Not a good time to be feeling that way. Saturday night we had family in town so we decided to be brave and take Avery out to dinner with us. He did pretty well until the end of the night. He asked 4 times to go potty (I think he really liked the paintings of the naked ladies in the men's bathroom at Cafe San Miguel's) but never went. At his fifth request, I asked him if he really did need to go and he began to pee in his pants. Luckily, we were prepared with a change of pants and clean undies. It didn't make a mess, just a little hassle going back and forth to the potty in a very crowded restaurant.

Nap time yesterday was a struggle. He was up every 5 seconds pulling new toys into his bed, and he had two accidents in his room while he was supposed to be sleeping. It was a long 2 hours until he finally went to sleep.

Today was much better. He didn't have any accidents. He woke up really early this morning and came into our room. I took him to go potty, changed him into his big boy undies and he got him bed with us for a much needed additional 30 minutes. Cory was sweet and got up with him so I could sleep a little longer. He napped much better today. Got up a couple of times, and then Cory went in there and actually rocked him to sleep! Not an everyday occurrence, by any means, but it worked for today! We ran a couple of errands after all the snow melted, and he did great. He asked to go potty at Target, but it was a no go. He was, however, impressed with the automatic flush on the potty, "WOW!"

We got new bedding for his toddler bed. It's really cute with robots. I want to repaint his room now, so that will be next on our to-do list.

Avery's New Big Boy Bed

As we typically do things around here, we are knocking out another milestone this week. Avery is sleeping in his new big boy bed tonight for the very first time! A big thanks to Angela who so generously donated her outgrown toddler bed to us. I got home from work and Cory had already disassembled Avery's crib and put it in the garage. I was a little taken aback at first. I wasn't quite ready for that, but in the end, it saved me the long drawn-out good bye with the crib.

Avery refers to his new bed as his "little bed." He asked me, "Hey, where'd my big bed go?" I told him that he was looking at his new big boy bed, and he told me that it was his "little bed." I love the innocence of a child's mind. It truly is a little bed.

He loved it and climbed right in when I told him it was time for bed. I walked out of the room and asked Cory if he cared to make a wager on how many times he would get out of bed tonight. We both would have lost. I think I heard him talk for maybe 30 seconds, and then he was out like a light. Now we will just have to see if he will actually get out of bed in the morning or if he will still call out for me

As for the potty training. I think we are pretty much there, folks! Avery did a fantastic job today at Jeanette's. No accidents! My baby is really growing up. It makes me kind of sad...I guess it's time for another one!

Adventures in Potty Training

Just a fun little video from our days at home last weekend.

He's Just Such a Big Boy

Today at work I received a sweet little picture from Avery's sitter, Jeanette. They were practicing relaxation techniques on the potty! He just looks so big sitting there reading on the potty. It cracks me up!

The only accident Avery had today was at nap time. He woke up really early this morning, so by nap time he was pretty exhausted. I was told he was sleeping pretty heavily; so much that he was talking in his sleep! He must have been so sound asleep he couldn't wake up in time to go potty, and Jeanette said he was pretty upset by it. He had a pretty rough day after that; crying at every little thing. Poor guy! Other than that, no real accidents. He did give Jeanette a bit of a shower during one potty break. Sorry Jeanette!

He's doing great, though!

Day Two Back at the Sitter's

Today was much, much better for Avery at the sitter's. He didn't have any peep pee accidents the whole day, and he even went poop on the big potty early in the morning. They had one minor accident, where he said he needed to go potty, but right as she was getting him ready to go on the potty, he started to poop in his pants. I know it sounds gross, but really that is much easier to clean up than pee!

So, overall I would say we are all pretty please with Avery's progress. He also seems to be pretty proud of himself. As we were confined to the house for those 4 days, Avery decided he would practice his skill of climbing in and out of his crib. Then, last night when Cory and I were sitting on the couch well after we put Avery down for the night, we hear a loud thud. Cory went into Avery's room to check on him, and there he was. Just standing there, holding on to his bed, smiling because he was so proud of himself. It looks like he will be getting a big boy bed this weekend.

My baby isn't a baby anymore...so sad!

Enjoy this video of my silly little child. He will hate me when he's older for this!

Avery's First Day Back

Today marked the ever important test of sending Avery off to daycare after his potty training adventure. I must say I was a little skeptical about how well he would do using someone else's potty, and about the fact that his sitter only has a potty ring while he has only been using the little potty at our house.

Let me first say that Cory brought Avery up to see me at work yesterday, and our little guy actually used the big, public potty at my office! I was very impressed. Cory tried to get him to use the potty ring yesterday while they were at home, but he really wasn't too interested. However, this morning I put him on the big potty and he did just fine. We also have decided to go ahead and use pull-ups at night, as of last night. Sunday night he wet the bed twice, and I could tell that it was really damaging to his self esteem. Avery very much wants to please us and make us proud and to see how upset he was with himself just broke my heart. He doesn't deserve to feel that way, and truthfully it is asking alot of a little 26.5-month-old to be able to hold his tiny little bladder at night. So, on to the pull-ups.

Back to the sitter story. I dropped Avery off this morning around normal time and went in with him to give his sitter, Jeanette, a run-down on what we have been doing the past 5 days. As of this morning, Avery hadn't had a pee-pee accident since late Saturday afternoon. We were all pretty impressed. I explained to her what he does when he needs to go and things that he might say. I sent a billion pairs of underwear just in case and two extra pairs of shorts. By 10am, Jeanette had sent me a text message saying, "No accidents. He just told me he had to go pee pee, so I took him to the bathroom, but I didn't realize he didn't know how to point 'it' down, so pee went everywhere, lol". So, there went the first pair of shorts. I didn't hear anything back from her until I sent her a text around 3pm to see how things were going. Evidently, he woke up dry from his nap, but for some reason wouldn't go potty when he woke up. He kept saying, about 8 times I'm told, that he need to potty, but he would just cry and want to get down. He then had two back-to-back accidents; therefore, the other two pairs of shorts were rendered unusable.

Overall, Jeanette thinks we are headed in the right direction. She thinks we are doing the right thing with him and that he definitely has the communication down. I think he just needs to get back into his routine at her house, and he will be just fine.

First day back, not a total win, but not really a disaster either.

Day 4 of our 3-day Potty Training

Last night was a success! Cory and I left for a couple of hours to go to the Mavs game (we won't mention the embarrassing blow out on the Mavs end), and my parents were sweet enough to come over to the house to take over while we were gone. They arrived right around Avery's bed time, so the tricky part was getting him to go potty before going down. Of course, as soon as they got here, Avery got a sudden rush of a second wind. He played for a little while, and then (I was told) stood up suddenly, grabbed himself and declared "I have to go potty!" as he ran to the bathroom. Success! A true test of how he will do for someone else, and as I predicted, he wanted to show off his newly found ability. Nina (my mom according to Avery) put Avery down after he went potty around 8:00. She said he called out for her, specifically, to go potty again around 9:15, but it was most likely another ploy to avoid going to sleep.

Cory and I got home VERY early, and he was sound asleep. I went to check on him around 11:30, and the bed was still dry. He noticed I was in the room, so I took advantage and put him on the potty. In a dazed stupor, he went! I put him back to bed, and I am so thankful he is such a good sleeper because he went right back to sleep. I went to bed around 1 and woke up on my own about 6:30 (which was really 7:30 at this point due to daylight savings) and went to check on him. He was sound asleep and STILL DRY!!! I went ahead and got him up to put him on the potty. He went AGAIN! I tried to put him back to bed, but neither of us really went back to sleep. So, we were up again around 7am (or 8am rather).

I'm pretty pleased with his progress. We are still working on communicating when he needs to go. He still says he is peeing, when really he means he needs to go pee. And, we still have several instances where he says he his "peeing" and we take him to the potty but nothing happens. I know he will get there. He is still pretty young for all of this, so I am really proud of him. Cory got brave and took him to go get donuts and kolaches this morning so I could get some much need rest (he is so sweet to me!). His first travel experience in big boy underwear; another success.

All and all, I think we are on the right track. If I had planned this better, I would have taken a full week off of work just to be sure he was really ready by the time he goes back to the sitter. Cory is planning on staying home with him again tomorrow. Tuesday will be our true test. I just hope he can do well enough over there that she doesn't think he still needs to be in a pull-up during the day. I really don't want to take that step backwards, but I understand it is a lot of work to keep on top of a potty-training-toddler while watching 6 other kids at the same time.

Day 3

Avery enjoying his prizes for going poop on the potty!

Yesterday ended sort of well. We ended up with only the one minor accident during the day, but the night brought about more issues. Avery wouldn't ever go potty before bed. I finally put him down, and he would call out for me a few times. After trying to go potty at no avail, he finally went to sleep. I woke him up about an hour after he feel asleep, and still, no potty. He called out for me around midnight after he wet the bed and again at 2 am. He never would go on the potty that night, but he made it from 2 until around 7:15 when I got him up this morning and put him on the potty. He went then!

And finally, around 10am this morning, while Cory was having his share of watching him like a hawk while I did some laundry, Avery decided he needed to poop! He ran to the bathroom, Cory helped him sit down and talked him through it. He did it! We were all very excited! He had one minor accident after lunch, involving another No. 2, and that did him in! He was so upset about it, he wouldn't even sit down on the potty. He is napping now, and still hasn't gone potty since the incident.

I am leaving for just a little while, so Cory will take over during nap time. I'm not sure we will have it by the end of today. He still isn't telling me that he needs to go. I just keep reminding him all day to tell me, and on occasion, when I remind him, he then decides to run to the potty.

It's still progress.

Day 2 - First Half Update

We got up around 7:30 again this morning. I woke him up and took him to the potty, but he didn't go. During breakfast he told me he needed to potty, so I took him and he went. He didn't go again until around 10am. So far this morning, we have only had 1 accident (very minor...I caught it in time) and he has gone pee pee 7 times on the potty! He still isn't telling me that he needs to go. I am mostly just picking up on his cues, like the little pee pee dance he does, or he will say that he is peeing, when really he is just trying to tell me that he needs to pee.

We still haven't seen the No. 2. I'm loading him up with fiber to see if that will help any. He is down for his nap, but not asleep yet. I'm waiting for the quietness so I can finally take a shower!

Today definitely feels easier than yesterday, but I know we still have a long way to go. I actually thought today would be a whole lot worse than Day 1. Let's see how tonight goes!

Day 1 - Wrap-up

Well, there really isn't too much left to report for the day. Avery finally went to sleep for his nap. When he woke up, I rushed in to get him and he had wet the bed. I put him on the potty, but he was already finished. I figured it would be like starting over, and it was for a little bit. He had one accident, and then finished on the potty.

He stayed dry for over an hour and then finally at dinner he said, "I pooping" so I scooped him up and took him to the potty. He peed!!! He wasn't actually pooping, but that was his way of letting me know that he need to go potty! For that, he got two little sail boats for the bath tub!

He stayed dry for the rest of the evening, but didn't really need to go potty. This is where the night got exhausting...he kept saying he was "peeing" so I would rush him to the potty...and nothing. I know he was trying to tell me he needed to go, but we just weren't quite in sync.

I gave him a bath and got him ready for bed. He started to pee, so I rushed back to the bathroom where he finished. I was supposed to get him to pee twice before bed, but we were only able to get him to go once. I will wake him up in about an hour and see if he can go then. I don't really expect him to be night-time trained after all of this, but we'll see. No poop today, which worries me a little. I'm not sure how that part will work. I guess we will cross that bridge tomorrow.

He's in bed now. He was pretty exhausted (as am I). Overall, the day went well. He ended up with 8 stickers on his chart for Day 1. He had 2 mini meltdowns, but not really over going potty; more about wanting more M&M's and other prizes! The hardest part for me was the stress on my back from picking him up and running with him to the bathroom! I didn't take that into account when preparing for the program. My reward for the day? Thin Mints...yum!

Stay tuned!

Day 1 - First Half Update

3-day potty training has commenced. We woke up around 7:30 this morning, had breakfast and began the ritualistic sacrifice of all the leftover diapers. (I actually had Cory take half a box with him this morning...again, I can't bear the thought of just "throwing" them away!) I put a fresh new pair of "big boy" undies on Avery and had him carry the diapers out to the trash. He seemed very proud of himself, but I'm not sure he completely understood why.

It was about 8 am, and we had our first discussion in the bathroom. "Here is your new potty chair. Your "business" goes in here. Make sure you keep your new undies dry!" And we were off!

I've been pushing liquids all morning to give him plenty of learning opportunities. By 9am, it had been a complete hour since I put the underwear on him, and still NO pee! I constantly reminded him to tell me when he needed to go. He would just say, "I don't want to go potty!" and I would leave it at that. Finally, at 9:05am, we had our first accident. I rushed him to the potty, but he didn't have anything left. About 15 minutes later, another accident started. I rushed him to the potty again...still nothing. Then, at ten 'til ten, he started to pee again. I scooped him up, ran to the bathroom and he finished on the potty!! What a big boy! He was very excited. He got a sucker, a stamp on his foot and a sticker for his "Day 1" potty sign on the refrigerator. (Thanks Melissa for that idea!)

I was able to catch him 2 more times before he actually peed in his underwear, and we made it to the potty on time. By lunch, he had gone 5 times in the potty, with 2 of those times still having dry undies. Good job Avery!

Now, is the challenging part. I put him down almost an hour ago for a nap, and he still isn't asleep! He called out to me once because he peed in his bed. We changed the sheets, but he is still in there just chatting away.

We'll see how the second half of the day goes! Wish us luck!

Potty Training Eve

Tomorrow is the big day! We will start Day 1 of our 3-day potty training program. After our Saturday trip to Target, and one more trip last night to stock up on groceries for the weekend, I decided I needed to pick up some wine as my reward for all the hard work!

I've been preparing Avery over the past week for our exciting adventure. He actually seems to get it, or at least he is remembering that we will be doing something that involves M&M's, stickers and tattoos. His sitter told Cory this afternoon that they talked about it all day long. I think he is excited. We went ahead and took his changing table out of his room tonight. It's nice to have one less piece of furniture in the room, and I think he will enjoy the extra play space. I think we will try and reorganize his room while we are on lock-down this weekend!

I need to get a lot of rest tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a very big, LONG day!

Countdown to Potty Training Boot Camp...as I like to call it

Today marks three more days of diapers, and then they are bone voyage! We have decided to try the 3-day potty training method. A little intimidating, but we are ready for the challenge. I spent an hour and a half on Saturday morning at Target "preparing" for the our 3-day adventure. New undies (I let Avery help pick them out) a new potty ring (Diego, because he seems to really like him), stickers, tattoos, art stuff, new books, a few little prizes and some good ol' fashioned candy rewards and of course, Oxy Clean pet stain/odor remover (that should work on my couch and rugs, right?)! I know it sounds like a lot, but I want to try and make this as fun of an experience as possible.

So the plan is, starting on Thursday, 3 days of no more diapers, just underoos. We are supposed to "throw away" all of the leftover diapers first thing Thursday morning, day 1. I am a little apprehensive about that plan, so we may just pretend to throw them away, and I will actually save them and give them to a friend, any takers??? I have an internal conflict with throwing away unused diapers...it's like throwing away cash!

I am taking Thursday and Friday off from work so we can get this thing kicked off right. We will stay home all weekend, with the exception of an hour or so on Saturday afternoon (Cory will stay home with him at that time) and the Mavs game that night. Hopefully he will be just going down to bed when we leave for the game, so it shouldn't interfere too badly.

I am excited, nervous and anxious all in one. I am ready for him to be potty trained. I'm done with diapers...for now at least ;) I am preparing myself for focus and patience. Those are key factors for this method to work. I've heard some feedback from someone else who has used this method, and it work for them. Will it work for us too? We shall see!

My sweet little Prince

Saturday night Cory and I were getting ready to attend an awards dinner for my office. I had just finished getting ready and came out of the bathroom with my new dress on. Avery looked at me and said, "You a princess Mommy?" My heart just about melted out of my chest! I looked down at him and said, "Yes, Mommy is a princess!" with a huge smile on my face. He just came up to me and hugged me! It was the cutest, sweetest thing ever!

Then, he turned to Cory and said, "I a princess, too!" We shook our heads and said, "No! You are a PRINCE!" He got it then, but for a second there I thought the whole moment was ruined! lol

For the rest of the evening before GiGi came to pick him up for the night, he kept calling me Princess. "Where you going, Princess?" "What you doing, Princess?" "Princess...where are you?" So cute!