Day Four

Today is day four in our serious potty training endeavor.  I say serious because we started talking a bit about the potty a few months ago.  On our last trip to Hunstville J started really showing interest.  I decided to get serious about it and buy him some big boy underwear four days ago.  Armed with about fourteen pairs of Thomas the Train and sports underwear, I determined that J would not put diapers back on after he woke up from his afternoon nap.  We "threw away" all of his diapers and started that day using the potty.  The first day and second day were a bit rough.  We had numerous accidents but would make it to the potty and he would finish there.  He figured out candy, stickers, and songs were involved and quickly became a fan of the potty.  Day two our friend Chris was there.  Now, I am not sure if he was just showing out, or if it just "clicked" but J looked at me and said "tee-tee potty." We rushed in and low and behold he needed to use the potty.  He got two skittles for asking to go.  I never thought I would bribe my child to use the potty, but it works so don't knock it.  The rest of the day he consistently asked me to go.  I was so excited.  We went to church that night and I was a nervous wreck but he didn't have any accidents.  We went to the Cookie Company to celebrate (really more for me than him, but J was excited about the prospect of a cookie).  So excited I guess he had to tee-tee.  Luckily the Cookie Co is right next to Motherhood Maternity which thankfully has a bathroom.  We rushed in but he was way to excited about the toilet paper dispenser, plunger, etc. to really go.  On our way back out to the car he had his first accident since early that morning.  Day three started off dry and we did quite well.  We went out to eat at Moe's and almost immediately he decided he need to go to the potty.  Again he got distracted and would not go.  I was a bit frustrated because I cannot stay at home forever but he really has gotten this potty thing down.  I didn't want to revert by going back to pull ups or diapers.  Finally after about trip three to the bathroom we had success.  I was so thankful.  We went to the library.  Again we had to potty and again we got distracted.  This time the potty got the better of us and he had an accident.  After getting home though, he stayed accident free the rest of the evening.  He wouldn't go before bed though and we were at a bit of an impasse.  He was really fighting me with the potty.  I finally broke down and put a diaper on him, then put him to bed.  He wouldn't go to sleep though.  I went back in his room and he frantically said "tee-tee potty."  We rushed to the bathroom and again success.  I then gave him the choice.  Did he want his big boy underwear or a diaper.  He looked for a minute, quickly picked up his underwear, and with a smile began to put them on.  I felt at that point that I needed him to make the choice.  All of this brings us to day four.  J woke up dry and went to bed dry.  Day four was a completely accident free day.  We even went out in public, and he stayed with a friend while M and I went on a dinner date.  I must say, today has been a good day.  Will we have accidents in the future, of course, but I am so proud of my little guy.  He is too.  I will leave you with J's favorite potty song.  A song made up at the spur of a moment, but has turned out to be quite fun.

"If you're dry and you know it shake your hiney, shake shake
If you're dry and you know it shake your hiney, shake shake
If you're dry and you know it, then your pants will surely show it,
If you're dry and you know it shake your hiney, shake shake."
(Sung to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It.)

Hello Water

During our last beach trip, the quote of the day was "a bye wa-her."  Jacob was afraid of the water and wanted nothing to do with it.  This trip was a whole different story.  He loved the water.  I will post a picture and video of this later.  He also loved the pool.  He can swim with just floaties and is a big fan of jumping in the pool.  J would count "2-4-8" then jump right in.  I think he gets this from the Thomas The Tank Engine theme song.  You can youtube that if you care to hear the song.  Anyhow, here is a picture of him enjoying the pool, one of us at dinner, and the other at the beach.

Just In Case You Were Wondering

At church, Jacob's favorite part is the singing.  His second favorite part is the Lord's Supper.  Up until a few months ago, those were probably in reverse order.  I think J is so entranced by the the Lord's Super because it deals with crackers, juice, and silver plates.  I mean really, they are just teasing little kids.  In Bible class, they work with the little ones in teaching why we go to church.  Jacob can tell you the four things we do, "We go to church to learn, to sing, to pray, and to give!"  They also practice giving.  Because of this, we always give J a dollar or our check for the collection plate.  I try to talk to him about why we are giving.  They also have a book they read in class that goes something like the following:
"Because I love Jesus, I'm giving some Money! The money buys Bibles for children to hear stories from God's word."  I am paraphrasing of course, but you get the idea.  Before J gives his money I always say, "because I love _________ (he fills in the blank appropriately), I'm giving some ___________!"  Well, apparently we still need to work on this concept a bit as you can see from the video below.




This video was taken at Shuckum's in Panama City Beach.  They have dollar bills taped to the walls from people that have visited.  J was pretty interested in them as you can see.

Changes

With J everyday brings something new.  With a move coming up soon there will definitely be some changes in all of our lives.  We will probably be renting a two bedroom apartment for a while.  I told Matthew I was concerned that we wouldn't have a full size bed for guests to sleep in if we only have two rooms.  My solution, move J to a big boy bed.  I called some friends to get some tips on the big step.  I quickly (that day) decided to head to the store to purchase some fun sheets that might entice J to sleep in his big boy bed.  I found some super cute ones at Ross for only $6.99.  After a quick wash and dry we moved just the mattress of our guest bed into his room.  I chose to only start with the mattress simply because J wiggles a lot when he sleeps.  I didn't want him falling off and I hadn't had time to purchase any type of safety railing.  Honestly I didn't even think he would sleep in the bed for a few nights.  I simply wanted him to get used to the idea.  Matthew and I took him in to show him his new bed and to say he loved it is an understatement.  He ran full force, jumped on (like a belly buster off a pool diving board), and yelled "BED!" He slept in it the first night.  I was so proud.  Within an hour or so though I heard a thud followed by crying.  I rushed in to get him re-situated and he never even woke up.  Around three in the morning we had another fall.  After that, I put a couple more pillows around him and he was set for the night.  He woke up a little earlier than normal and came running through the house to our room.  Sammie of course was not expecting him and greeted J in typical Sammie fashion.  Which consequently scared J meaning a few more tears.  Overall, we made it through the night in a big boy bed.

Naptime soon rolled around the today.  When I took him in for a nap J ran to his bed, jumped in, and was ready to sleep the afternoon away.  He stayed in place the whole time so again I was impressed.  Tonight was a little more difficult.  I think J was just having trouble settling down.  After a few more innings of the Braves game, a glass of milk, and singing Twinkle Twinkle five  fifteen times, he was finally ready to hit the hay. 

J has also recently shown an interest in the potty.  I will not go into detail but I will say we have begun potty training and are following Jacob's lead.  I am in no way pushing the issue and really don't mind if he is not potty trained for months.  He is however beginning to figure things out.  We just have to work on him letting me know he needs to potty.  Matthew will say potty training was my idea, but really J initiated it. One day while getting J ready for a bath I took a little too long to get him from the undressed point to the tub.  I figured while he was in proper attire for using the potty I would let him try before getting into the tub.  To my surprise, he had already used the potty without me even mentioning it to him.  Go Jacob!  The next day we were headed to Huntsville and had stopped in Morris to spend the night with M's parents.  I asked J if he needed to go, and again he went.  When we got to my sister's house, J climbed up onto her potty (the lid was shut so don't freak out) and said "te-te potty."  I let him try and it was a success.  Since that road trip (perfect timing right?) we have slowly worked on getting him used to the potty.  I am not really sure if I am going about it the right way but I am trying to not put any pressure on him because really there is none.  Now if he is 3 1/2 and not potty trained then we will revisit the idea of pressure.  We that or if I can no longer find diapers to fit him, which is a possibility considering  he weighs 32lbs.

One day I will have to tackle the paci, just not today...

Everyday Nothings

I wish I were posting pictures today but quite frankly I haven't taken many lately.  Life has been a bit on the hectic side to say the least.  We will be moving to Atlanta in just a few weeks (yikes, I really should be doing something other than blogging) for jobs at Greater Atlanta Christian School.  We are very excited (scared) and are hoping this will be a good opportunity for our family.  J will be able to start  going to school there for K3 and we get a 60% discount.  That being said, our discount is enough to bring the cost down to what full tuition is at ACA for high school.  We will be paying a lot, but I think the education will be very good.  If we make it for J to go to high school there, they have numerous (I think 19 and counting) AP programs.  He will have access to any sport, and instrument, any art form he pleases.  Although I am scared out of my mind, I think in the long run it will be very good for our family.  I'm not sure if we could afford more than one child there but all we need if for one of our kids to be a doctor, lawyer, CPA, so J will have to take care of us when we are old in gray.  I am really jumping ahead of myself, but hey that's what I do.

J has become quite the talker.  He takes after his momma.  He has begun talking about things without us prompting him.  He knows the majority of the major animals at the zoo and will talk about them quite freely.  He has a pet stuffed rat, thanks to a gentleman at church, that he named Papi.  Not sure why Papi, but I prefer that to "rat."  J sits Papi on his shoulder and walks around with him that way because that is what Mr. Randy showed him when he gave J the gift.  I don't know... While at my sister's this past week he walked her dog Roxy (pronounce "Rockies" by J) on the leash.  He would tell her "come on, come on."  I don't quite know where he got that, maybe me always trying to get him to come when he is told, but wherever it came from it is cute.  Today at Burger King he dropped his kids crown and said "come on crown, come on."  When we pulled in the drive at BK he yelled with excitement "Dink (a cherry icee he has decided is his favorite), burger, fries." Can you tell we eat way too much fast food?  He then saw the playplace to which I knew we would work off the calories climbing through the tunnels.

The word cute earlier reminded me of another story.  The other day J and I were shopping at the mall.  I had received a $10 off card from Victoria's Secret and decided to take a look around the store.  We went in the dressing room to try a few things on.  J sat in his stroller, picked up a bra, put it to his chest, and said "cute." Now, I can tell you I did not teach him that.  I about died laughing right then and there. 

He is growing more and more every day and is becoming such a little man.  I know I have said it before and I will probably say it again, I would give anything to just be able to record our daily life and play it back over and over.  Matthew always jokes on me about making sure we get the photo opps but my favorite things are the day to day nothings.  Jacob wearing his BK crown and sitting opposite me in our booth is a picture I pray will forever be ingrained in my mind.