3 Day Potty Training: Take 2!

So, this summer I had found this 3 day potty training approach that I thought looked great!  We tried it out in mid July and Ayden was not ready!  (check back in my blog posts if interested) We tried all three days and it was very intense but by the end we had to put the potty away and wait a little while...

So here we are 5 months later!  We started potty training on Monday and here on Friday I can say we are mostly potty trained!!!!  Monday we had 5 accidents (3 poops and 2 wet).  Tuesday we had 2 accidents (1 poop and 1 wet but finished both times in the potty).  Wednesday we only had 1 accident finishing in the potty.  Thursday 1 accident.  That night we went out for dinner and to the mall all night and he checked out every potty he could and did great!  No accidents out in public and one successful trip to the potty!!!  Friday 1 accident (poopy) and I ventured out to Kohl's by myself and no accident there!  We were at a friends house and he ran in the other room and came running back out saying "I go potty!  It a big one!" and it was but it was in his pants... Shoot!

So, we need to work on AJ telling us before he poops but as far as peeing I can say I am pretty sure we have it!  He will either go sit down and try if we ask him or else he will tell us before he goes.  I can see such a big difference from this summer!!!  This summer he had 10 accidents before nap on day 1!  We didn't even go potty 10 times on day 1 this time!  I think he really has control of it and I can feel pretty confident that after he goes potty he will be good for atleast an hour!

There is no going back to diapers now!  We do put him in a pull up for naps and bedtime but I will say he has woken up dry from his naps 3 of the 5 days!  I am just so proud of him!!!  This has really gone very smoothly!  I would recommend this method to anyone that is looking for a quick approach to potty training that is centered around your child and is very positive!  If you are check out www.3daypottytraining.com

I can testify to trying this when AJ was not ready and sticking it out for 3 long days then trying it again when he was!  This is a great approach and I will use it again when it comes time for Ahnie to be potty trained!  The only down fall is having to stay home for 3 day straight.  To working mom's you would either have to take a day off or do it during a break from work.  But it is so worth it!!!!  I have never wanted potty training to take a long extended amount of time!

New Christmas Tradition!

I just love Christmas time because it is time to do things again that we have not been able to do for a year and we also get to come up with new things we want to add to our Christmas memories!  This year I will say I did feel like I was trying to add to much and got caught up in the little traditions and forgot to remember my kids are young and we don't always have the time I would like.  Now, looking back I wish I would have taken a breath and enjoyed some quiet this Christmas season to take it all in!

But, our newest tradition that did help me to take a breath and remember what the Christmas season is all about and to enjoy it thought the eyes of little ones was to wrap up 24 Christmas books and let Ayden and Ahnie (mostly AJ) open one book a day.  I was so amazed at what all this quick simple thing added to our lives in the month leading up to Christmas!  At first Ayden was excited to see all these wrapped gift for him and his sister!  He kept asking if he could open it now!  This opened it up to talking about waiting and how advent was all about waiting for the birth of Jesus!  Then as we opened each book, some being about Santa, some about gingerbread men and some being about the first christmas story we were able to talk about what Christmas really means.  AJ started to realize that each gift was going to be another book but was still excited each day when I got home from work to see what the new one was going to be!  Some he loved, some were board books for his sister and some were a little too long and might be better next year but every day before nap we took a little time to cuddle and read a new christmas story!  And since Christmas AJ has found a book he wanted to read before nap!  Something I always ment to do before naps and just seemed to forget more than I care to admit!  After 24 days of this it is not a routine that needs to happen :)

My favorite memory from this christmas time was this....

AJ was quietly watching a commercial that had a little boy dressed up like Santa and giving a present to his mom.  He looked at me when the commercial was over and this was our conversation...

AJ:  "Mom, Santa come to my house and bring me presents?"  (We had fun with Santa this year but really didn't go into the whole bringing AJ gifts thing...So this idea had never come up before...

Me:  "Why do you think Santa brings presents?

AJ:  After a long pause...  "Umm because those guys go visit baby Jesus and bringed him presents?"

Me:  Okay that sounds good!

I was blown away that he could make the connection between Santa bringing gifts to the 3 Wise Men bringing Jesus gifts!  I know this was because of all the books we had read and talked about the gifts that Jesus received. 

Lastly another funny comment by AJ.  We had my family christmas the week before Christmas and I wrapped all the presents while he was asleep the night before we were going to be going out of town.  When Ayden woke up that morning he came out and started yelling "Jesus Comed!  Jesus Comed!!"   

Dis My Christmas Present?!

Yesterday morning, while I was at work and Brett was home with the kids he was doing some laundry and came up to find Ayden holding on to his Christmas presents very excited!  He looked at Brett and said "Dis my christmas present?!"  Brett quickly said maybe and went and to re-hide them.

I guess like father like son...Brett used to always look for his presents (I did too here or there following my brothers but I think Brett might have most christmases).  Fail by this mommy!  I had them hid but not very well and I didn't think at 2 he would look for them...  We have 2 weeks for him to forget what he saw :)

This video is from the beginning of November.  This night I was trying to get dinner made and it was one of the first days of wrestling practice so I was by myself with the kids.  Ahnie was not happy so I told Ayden to play peek a boo with her.  He did it a few times and she went from screaming to giggling for the first time ever!  I told him to keep playing with her and I ran to get the camera.  I think this may be the first actual 'first' I have gotten on video for either of my kids!  Still to this day Ayden can get her to giggle at almost any time and he doesn't have to try very hard.  I just love when he makes her giggle and now they are really starting to play together on their own!  I just love it!!!  I think I could listen to this video all day long!  I just love the sound of first giggles!!

Bye Bye Binky

On Friday, Ayden and I were talking about how we were going to have to throw away his binky soon because he was getting to be such a big boy!  This is a conversation we have been having for atleast a month with no excitement about it!  We were telling him that we were going to pick out a toy and when he threw it away then he could have that toy.  This was exciting but he never really went through with it.

So, back to Friday.  Well I was talking to him about it and then I said and after you give up your binky you can get your big boy bed!  He has been in a toddler bed for a year and I just don't think it is very comfortable for him anymore.  He looked at me and said "I want my big boy bed!" and I said well you need to throw away your binky first.  He took out his binky and said "Ok, I throw it away".  Being very surprised I was a little nervous but I thought we should go with it!  I opened the gate to the kitchen and sure enough he threw it away!  We looked at it and I told him it was yucky now and we couldn't use it again.  He looked at me and said "yeah, yucky!"  Then we went on with our afternoon.

When it started to get close to bed time and we were on our way home from our friends house this is our conversation:
AJ: "Mommy, I NEED my binky."
Me: "Remember we threw it in the garbage"
AJ:  "My football binky yucky, I want my baseball binky"
Me: (In my head was thinking shoot!) "I don't know where you baseball binky is... (I really didn't at the time)

Then we had a melt down!!!  And it continued as we got our jammies on and while we rested and finally for 45 minutes in bed!  He would sit at the door and knock while yelling "MOM! I NEED MY BINKY!!"

He woke up on Saturday at 6:15 and wanted his binky.  We didn't give in and he stayed awake then.  Nap time came and asked again for it!  I didn't give in and neither did he!  He did not nap until brett got home at 3:30 and finally got him to calm down.

Sunday, he woke up at 5:30!!!  I was not happy!!  Still did not give in and he never went back to sleep. I decided to feed him lunch at 10:30 before church and I drove around after church until he fell asleep.  This worked great and we finally took a nap!  Then bed time was not bad.  He went to sleep pretty quickly.

Monday he finally slept in till 7.  But would not take a nap!!  We decided to go to the store and pick out his new sheets for his big boy bed.  Then went to bed pretty good for a sitter.

Tuesday he slept in till 7 again, but again would not nap!

This has been a long week for me!  But it is getting better!  I will say it is rather funny to hear him in his room while he is supposed to be taking a nap.  He lays in his bed 'singing' (yelling) Welcome to Big House!!  then sings either "No, No never going to keep me down" or many different lines from "Roaring like a lion".  If nothing else he is teaching Ahnie to fall asleep and stay asleep during anything!!!

I hope he goes back to his old routine quickly.  He has stopped asking for his binky we just need to get a new routine to get him to calm down and rest without his binky.

Christmas Cookies!!!

I LOVE baking with little helpers!!!  Ayden has really started to like to help me in the kitchen making baby food and now it is the season to bake cookies!!!  We started a few weeks ago with my favorite cookie peanut butter blossoms!  I wasn't sure how it was going to go but they were the best cookies to make with a 2 year old!  He could help me with it all!!!  

Of course he loves scooping, pouring, counting and stirring but that was only the start!!  

Next we rolled balls, which I did but he then rolled them in the sugar and sprinkles!!

I put them on the pan and while we were waiting for them to finish cooking Ayden unwrapped ALL the hersey kisses for me! (this is my least favorite part)  He didn't even try one!  I told him he could either have one kiss or a cookie and a kiss!

Then I put the kisses on the cookies and we let them cool!

Finally we got to try our cookies!  (before lunch I may add and he didn't eat his lunch...)

Sorry sweetheart!  Ahnie you have a few more months before you can enjoy these yummy cookies!!!  Maybe next Christmas!

3 Crazy Moms and 6 Kids 2 and Under

Seriously look at our table!!

Last Thursday evening Emily, Alex and I decided to venture out to Jingle and Mingle on Main with all 6 kids!  We started the night at Tony's pizza.  Sorry for any family that was their that needed a booster seat because I think we had all of theirs!  There were a few moments of craziness but looking back I think they all did very well!!!

Gotta love these 3!!!

Jordann and Ahnie entertained each other during dinner!

Then we headed to the library to wait in line for the horse drawn trolly ride down Main St.  It was COLD and took FOREVER!  Last year Emily and I took Ayden and Madi and the line waited in lobby of the library.  This year the line was outside!  After complaining for a while I decided to try to do something about it!  I went to the front of the line and told them my great idea about swinging the line in through the lobby.  Everyone agreed that that was a great idea but nobody would do it!  I was so annoyed!  Finally, Alex told us to take all the kids in the lobby and she would wait outside for us.  It was much warmer and we spent quite a bit of time trying to keep the kids busy and help them understand why they had to wait in the lobby and couldn't go in and play at the library.  Well, after a long wait it was finally our turn for the sleigh ride!  The kids loved it!  Santa was walking up and down Main St. and Ayden was so excited to see him.  His face lit up and he started waving so fast as soon as he caught his eye.

Enjoying our ride!

The night was a success!  A few bumps in the road but pretty good considering how big our crew was and how young they were!!!  Gotta love Christmas traditions!

Our Kids Stats

We just got home from getting the kids their flu shots and I had them weighed and measured...so this post is just so I can look back and see how big they are :)

Ahnie 7 months:  19lbs 10oz

Ayden 2.5 years: 34lbs; 39in

Wow, I have big kids!  Now for the search for new carseats....