How Did He Fall Down Again?

Hello, friends. I've missed you. I know I haven't posted much. It's not for lack of material, just lack of time. Here's a little Isaac story to keep you going until I can post more. ;)

Today before nap time, Isaac sat on the potty. He went--yea! Then I helped him flush, and I put him up on the stool by the sink so he could wash his hands. I looked down while I was drying his hands and saw a puddle on the stool.

"Is that water or pee, Isaac?"

"Water!" he replied. Little stinker.

While I stooped to clean up the mess, Isaac darted away from me, still naked from the waist down, giggling all the way. I called after him, holding his diaper. By the time I'd caught up with him, I saw him staring at a big puddle of pee on the kitchen floor. (More? You still have more??) He looked back at me, saw me approaching, and decided to run away from me again, laughing all the way.

Well, I saw what was going to happen, and you probably do too. I yelled, "ISAAC!" but to no avail. He slipped in his big puddle of pee and fell, face-planting on the tile floor. Isaac wailed, and I scooped him up in my arms. (Yes, he was covered in pee. But that's just what moms do.) Scott ran down the stairs, asking "What happened??"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, honey."

Donating, Potty Training, and...Tortilla, Anyone?

This morning we went to story time at the library. That's always tons of fun for the kids. Today they had a visit from Mother Goose--a fabulous old lady who dresses up, sings great preschool songs, recites nursery rhymes--the whole bit.

On the way to the library, we stopped at our local food bank to drop off some of the free-or-almost-free groceries I've collected over the past couple of months. I didn't expect what I found there: the place was packed. There are 12 parking spots surrounding the building, and they were all taken. We had to park across the street along with 3 other cars.

I took Caleb and Isaac in with me, and everyone inside was sitting knee to knee, waiting for donations. It was just so humbling to be there and see all the people in need. I walked up with my two little sacks of groceries, and I handed them to the lady at the counter. I am not one to like to donate in public, and I hesitate to even tell you this story because of it, but I wanted to pass on the great need that our own community has--and we live in a very wealthy city. I'm sure that they are in need wherever you live, too. A lady in the center told me as I was leaving, "God bless you." I was caught off guard, and I didn't even know what to say. I just felt like crying, honestly.

So, all that said, please consider donating to your local food banks. If you are a couponer, look for chances to get free or cheap stuff, and donate whatever you can.

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And now for a lighter topic...

WARNING: Discussion about poop!

We always have nap time right after lunch at our house. (Well, the boys do, anyway. I wish I did!) So, after lunch today, I took the kids to the bathroom to wash up and get ready to go to sleep. Isaac kept pointing at the toilet and saying, "Potty!" Now, he does this sometimes. He sees his brother sitting on the potty, I suppose, and wants to do it, too. So a few times a week, I let him sit there. He never really does anything. I think one time he may have peed a little, but I'm not sure.

Today, on the other hand, I sat him on the potty and he said, "Pee pee. Poo poo." Then he just pooped in the potty! Just like that! I remember how much I had to coax Caleb to poop in the potty--and he was over 3 years old! Caleb was in the bathroom with me, and he and I both kind of looked at each other, like "Did he really just poop?" Then we both cheered wildly for Isaac and told him, "Good job!" Isaac looked very pleased with himself, then he leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. What a kid.

But wait--that's not all! I asked him if he was done, but he kept saying, "Pee pee!" So I let him sit there for a couple more minutes, and he peed! Woo hoo! I couldn't be prouder. Who knows if he'll do it again anytime soon, but it's a great start!

(Yes, as in everything, Caleb was the complete opposite. He was pretty difficult to potty train. I wrote about it here. But I've been wanting to post that we have now completely outgrown the Pull-ups at night phase, since for the past month he has been staying dry at naps and night time! Yea, Caleb! We bought him some real underwear instead of the training underwear we'd been using, and he loves them. They have Thomas and Friends on them.)

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I took the kids on a quick run to Kroger tonight around 5:30. We were out of Caleb's milk, so I just needed to get that and a couple of other things. We should have been in and out in 10 minutes. However....

It started in the parking lot. "Mom, can I have a tortilla? I want a tortilla!" Kroger has a tortilleria where they make their own tortillas. They are super yummy, but they contain trans fat so I don't want Caleb to eat them.

"No, honey. We will eat dinner as soon as we get home. Daddy's grilling burgers right now, and I can give you a tortilla at home."

"I don't want to eat when we get home! I want a tortilla at the store!"

"No. We will eat when we get home."

We continued in this vain as we went into the store. Then things started going in slow motion: I saw Caleb walking next to my cart as we entered the bakery section, but he wasn't watching where he was going. And a lady pushing a cart was heading straight toward Caleb and was not slowing down. Why didn't I say anything? Why didn't I call out to Caleb to watch out? Why didn't I say something to the lady? I watched as the lady ran right into Caleb, running the edge of her cart right into Caleb's left cheek.

Caleb looked up at me, wide-eyed, mouth open but no sound coming out, face turning red. I scooped him up, and he buried his face in my shoulder. His arms were wrapped tightly around my neck, he was crying, and he would not hold his head back so I could see his injury. For all I knew, he had blood running down his face.

The lady with the cart started apologizing profusely. "It's okay," I said, more to myself and Caleb than to her. Out of nowhere, Kroger managers started appearing. A nice lady manager came over and appeared quite outraged at the woman driving the other cart, who by that time had excused herself and gone on with her shopping. I managed to pry Caleb off of my shoulder long enough to see his face, which was red but not bleeding. He would be okay.

The manager asked if she could get Caleb some ice, and I said yes. While she was gone, Caleb stopped crying and started to settle down. I asked him if his cheek still hurt, and he said "No, I just okay now."

When the manager returned we took the ice, and I held it to Caleb's cheek. Then another manager came over and asked kindly if there was anything else he could do. "Do you want some juice? Some cookies? We can't let you have a bad experience at Kroger!" Oh, you should have seen Caleb's face light up. "Cookies?" he said. The manager sent a bakery person to go fetch some cookies. He asked me if I wanted him to write up a report, and I declined. Caleb appeared just fine.

The bakery guy came back with THREE BIG cookies for Caleb. He handed them to Caleb, who tried to eat all three at one time. Then the bakery guy saw Isaac, and said, "Oh, little brother will want some, too! I'll be right back!" He came back with TWO more cookies for Isaac. Oh, boy. Isaac immediately started shoving them in his face. By the time we left, he was covered in gooey, melted chocolate chips.

Sigh. Next time I'll just let him have a tortilla!

Catching Up

Last week was a hectic week. We spent many hours (Wed, Thurs, and Fri) working up at the church, getting some new classrooms ready for Sunday morning. I didn't really feel like I had any downtime during the week.

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On Friday night, we decided to go to IKEA. Scott usually ends up going into the office these days by 6:30, so he often gets home by 3:30 (he rarely takes a lunch). That makes it nice, since it gives us more family time in the evening. So when Caleb got up from his nap around 4:30, we took off. I'd been wanting to go to IKEA for awhile and get some new glass jars for food storage. I've bought tons of beans, quinoa, flax seed, and other cool stuff that needs a nice home.

The boys did really well at the store (it's really a fun place for kids), but by the time we got out of there it was already 6:45. We needed food. Caleb still is not a good eater, so we are limited as to what we can get him at a restaurant. One thing that is pretty failsafe is a breakfast place--he loves pancakes and bacon! I knew Scott had wanted to try The Original Pancake House, so I suggested we head over there. Caleb was all excited to have pancakes for dinner. We pull up to the restaurant and....see that it's only open for breakfast and lunch. Pbbbbbbbbbbbbt!

We were all really craving breakfast food at that point, so Scott decided to head for Breadwinner's. That is hands-down one of my favorite places to eat! We go there every couple of months for a special breakfast. They have yummy homemade breads, great scrambles, wonderful coffee....my mouth is watering just thinking about it! We had never been there at night, but we were pretty sure they served breakfast all day.

Um, wrong. We got inside and I immediately did a double-take when I saw the white tablecloths out. We got seated, and the host handed us a special Valentine's weekend menu--dinner for 2 (complete with lobster, steak, and wine) for $100! Uh...not exactly the meal we had planned. I didn't see breakfast food in our future at that point. Sure enough, they don't serve breakfast at night.

We stuck around, though, and I'm glad we did. I had a wonderful (albeit a little pricey) red bell pepper filled with ratatouille, served with artichoke mashed potatoes and spinach. YUM! I wish Scott would eat stuff like that. He had chicken marsala or something like that. Something carnivorous. ;) Caleb had a grilled cheese sandwich with fruit. Or rather, that was what was served to him. I think he ended up taking ONE bite of the grilled cheese and declared that he was done. Sigh.

Caleb surprised me during dinner. He said, "Mommy, I need to go potty." Well, okay! He hadn't used a public restroom before, other than the kid-sized ones at church. I took him into the bathroom and explained that these potties were big, but that I'd hold on to him. He had no problem at all with it!

By the time we got home on Friday night, the kids had both fallen asleep in the car. We tucked them into bed and called it a night.

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On Saturday, we went to the mall. I had several things I needed to get and stuff to return. We ended up eating out AGAIN, but I'm not complaining. This time it was The Cheesecake Factory, another favorite. Scott was less than thrilled when he saw that I'd selected "first available" seating and our hostess led us to a table outside. But it was a beautiful brisk day, and the heaters were warming up the patio. All was well... until it started to rain. Scott just got this "I told you so" look on his face. Hmph.

Caleb surprised me again during lunch (which he actually ate, because TCF serves bacon and bread) when he told me he needed to potty. He went again (on a big potty) with no problems.

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Sunday was soooo busy. I worked both services in the morning at church, which meant I was there from 8:45 until about 1:15. We came home, ate lunch, got the kids to take naps, and then Caleb and I headed back up the the church. It was a big night, since my T&T kids were putting on a skit for their parents that week. All went well, but I must admit I was nervous, and on top of that I hadn't felt well all day due to a lingering headache. I was glad to get home that night and get to bed!

(Sunday was also my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, Mom!)

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On Monday, we had a momentous day. CALEB ATE A PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH! Yes, I know that those of you with *normal* kids are thinking that this is trivial news. But when it comes to eating, Caleb is...special.

We've been reading a Dora book lately at nighttime that references a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and Caleb said on Sunday night that he would be willing to try one. Really?? This from the boy who never wants to try anything new (unless it is some form of chocolate). So on Monday at lunch, I took him up on it. I got him all psyched up, and he actually liked it. He ate the whole thing, and he asked for another one that night!

I took a picture to get proof of the event, just in case it never happened again.

Crazy Tuesday

Tuesday was crazy. Just how crazy? It's taken me until Wednesday night to recover enough to post about it.

Not really.

But Tuesday was definitely a crazy day. Here's how it started:

7:35--Caleb wakes up. I go in his room to get him, and he tells me, "I have pee-pee on my 'jamas, Mommy. There's pee-pee on my bed, too." Okay, okay. I get him out of bed and plop him in the tub for a quick bath. I try to keep Isaac from climbing into the tub with his brother. (He can actually get one leg over the tub!)

7:45--I realize that Caleb has one pair of jeans clean, and 2 pairs of sweatpants (which are usually for around the house only). I am really behind on laundry! I put one pair of sweatpants in his school bag for "just in case", and I put the jeans on him. Umm...I try to put the jeans on him. I guess Caleb has grown in the last few weeks since I bought these jeans, because now they look skin tight on him. I loosen the adjustable waistband, and Caleb says they feel fine.

8:00--Breakfast for the boys. Maybe we'll actually be on time to preschool today (9:00)!

8:10--Boys run around and play while I finish my breakfast. I keep looking at Caleb wondering if I have anything other than sweatpants or tight jeans to put on him!

8:25--I am finishing up packing Caleb's lunch when I hear, "Mommy? I pee-peed in my pants." I look over at Caleb, expecting to see just a wet circle on his pants. Um, no. This is a gusher. There is pee all over the floor (thank goodness he was on the tile and not the carpet!), and he's standing awkwardly over it, not knowing what to do. I strip off the tight jeans and plop Caleb back in the tub.

8:45--Caleb's second bath of the day is over (he normally doesn't get any baths in the morning--he's a night bather), but he is refusing to admit it. The water is drained, but he just sits in the empty tub, playing with measuring cups. I try to explain that we are going to be late, but he doesn't seem to care or understand. I leave him there for the moment.

8:50--Caleb finally agrees to get out of the tub. I tell him to sit on the potty and see if he can get any pee in the toilet before we go. I go to our bedroom to get Isaac dressed.

8:55--"Mommy, I'm done!!!" Isaac is sitting on the floor happily playing with a toy, so I run to Caleb's bathroom to get him. I start to put his underwear on when I hear Isaac start whining, "Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Maaaaaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" He toddles into the bathroom, and I see that the entire front of his shirt and shorts are wet. I know immediately what happened--he knocked over the cup of water I'd left on my nightstand.

9:00--I pull off Isaac's wet clothes, put new clothes on Caleb (the other pair of dreaded sweatpants!), put new clothes on Isaac, and pray that we can actually get out of the house sometime soon.

9:10--I am putting on my clothes when Caleb decides to slam the door to our bedroom. This sets off our house alarm, which is sensitive to loud noises. I run to turn the alarm off and comfort scared kids. Caleb says, "I'm so very sorry, Mommy. I'm so so sorry."

9:20--Kids are dressed, consoled, and piled into the Mom-mobile.

9:35--We arrive at school. Finally. ;)

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When I pick Caleb up from school, his teachers tell me that he peed and pooped in the toilet for them. Yea!! That is wonderful news.

Then when we get home, I read his "what I did today" paper and discover that he got a "pretty good" under the "played well with others" category, and he was "restless" during nap time. He's never gotten a "pretty good" before! Where's the "very good"? Hmph. Wonder what happened.

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To end the day, I decide Isaac is way overdue for a haircut. I settle him in Scott's lap and pull out the scissors. I am no hairstylist, but I figure I can manage a little boy's trim.

Here's the before:




And the after:



Certainly not perfect, but I think the girls will be lined up after him anyway. :)

Potty Training, Day 32

On day 14 of potty training, Caleb finally decided to use the potty at school (which is at our church). He wouldn't go with his teacher, though. He held it ALL DAY LONG--from 8:50 until 2:00! Then, when I picked him up, I was standing there talking to his teacher about his progress and he peed in his underwear. He just couldn't hold it any longer! It turned out to be a good thing, though. I took him into the bathroom to change him, and he peed in the potty while I was with him. Yea!

The next day, I had a meeting at church, so he was in childcare up there. He did the same thing--he held it for the 2 hours or so that he was there and waited until I picked him up. Then he let me take him to the bathroom and he peed in the potty.

Here we are at day 32, and he's still not using the bathroom with anyone but me. He will go to the bathroom and sit on the potty with his preschool teachers, but he won't actually pee. He waits until I get there.

Yesterday was his first day with NO ACCIDENTS. I was so proud! Even during nap time he was in underwear and didn't make a mess. (Granted, he never actually fell asleep during nap time, but I'm still proud!)

Scott worked in the nursery yesterday morning at church, and the lady he worked with said that her son was potty trained at 16 months. Sigh. Imagining the money we would have saved on diapers if we'd had success that early with Caleb... But every child is different. :) I do think Isaac will potty train earlier because he is using mostly cloth diapers. I hear those kids usually understand better when they are wet, so they will learn to control it faster.

Potty Training, Day 13

Caleb really is doing well with the potty training. The first few days were hard. We started on a Friday, and it was Sunday before he actually used the potty. He'd sit there forever and do nothing (except say, "Read that story again, Mommy!"). I guess he slowly learned that we meant business and we were going to keep trying, no matter how long it took. He started to pee in the potty 2-3 times a day.

Over the weekend, on day 8, Caleb pooped in the potty. He did it again 2 more times on Sunday, and he's been fairly consistent about it ever since. (I can't believe I'm blogging about Caleb's poop, but...hey, it's a milestone!) Today, he used the potty (pee and poop) 6 times. He did have 2 accidents, but that's good progress. I'm encouraged.

Our biggest problem is preschool. I thought that he'd actually do better at preschool than he does at home, but it's not working out that way at all. The potty at school is one of those miniature toilets, so it's kid-sized, but it's not Caleb-sized. He just doesn't fit on it quite right. So, he's not comfortable on it, and he doesn't want to sit there. On Tuesday, he didn't pee at all from the time he left here at 8:45 until he got home (early release due to the ice) at 12:15. He held it so he could go on the potty at home. The bright side: at least he's learning how to hold it!

Potty Training, End of Week One

Well, we started potty training in earnest last Friday, 1/16. We have tried before, but we haven't been consistent with it and Caleb just wasn't too interested. Plus, it was so hard to potty-train with an infant around. It seemed like whenever Caleb needed to sit on the potty, Isaac needed to nurse or he was going to sleep. But this time, I do see progress! I think the big difference is that we are ALL ready for him to be potty trained now.

Here's what we've been doing that's been working. Unfortunately, I learned most of this by trial and error!

It's all about the training pants. Ditch the Pull-ups!
We bought some great training underwear. I've been quite impressed with the Imse Vimse training pants. Here's what I like about them.

• They are organic cotton on the inside and outside, with a waterproof layer (PUL) in between.
  
• They are absorbent enough to hold a small accident, but he definitely still feels wet.
  
• Even when they leak, pee doesn't go running all over the floor or anything. His pants get wet with a big accident, but it's not a huge mess like it would be if we used plain underwear.
  
• Being cotton on the inside, they are cleaning up pretty well in the wash. There are some very minor stains, but nothing bad.
• They aren't bulky, they are comfortable, and they look like underwear. He's proud to wear them!
  

Those Pull-ups are awful for potty-training! He didn't ever feel wet, so he didn't care if he'd had an accident or not. That said, we do still use them during nap times and at night. It will be quite awhile before he is ready to sleep in underwear. We also use them if we're going to the store or somewhere that I know he's not comfortable using the potty yet. We'll phase that out over the next few weeks, I hope.

Don't ask--tell.
I never ask him, "Do you need to sit on the potty?" I say, "Yea! It's time to sit on the potty again!" Sometimes we do a little samba line on the way to the bathroom ("Let's go sit on the potty! Let's go sit on the potty!")

Set a potty timer.
Sometimes Caleb likes to argue when it's time to sit on the potty. He just doesn't want to stop playing or doing whatever he's doing. "No, five more minutes, Mommy!!" To solve that problem, I set the timer on the microwave for 20 minutes or so. When he hears it go off, he knows it's time to go try to potty.

Get into a routine.
We try to get him to go at specific times of the day. First thing in the morning, after breakfast, mid-morning, before lunch, after lunch, before nap, after nap...you get the idea. He still complains when we tell him to sit on the potty first thing in the morning, but soon it will become habit.

Keep a sticker chart.
We taped a sticker chart to the bathroom wall. It came from an Elmo Potty Time coloring book, but you can make your own, too. Here is what his chart looked like yesterday morning.

He gets a sticker every time he pees in the potty, flushes, and washes his hands. He'd get stickers if he told us when he needs to go, but he hasn't progressed to that point yet.

For every 10 stickers he gets on the chart, he gets a small "potty present" (a book that came as part of a kid's meal from Chick Fil-A, a ball, Play-Doh, etc.).


Make a big deal out of it.
When Caleb does pee in the potty, it's a big deal around here. We tell him how proud we are, we sing, we dance, we clap, we give him a sticker or some other small recognition. We try to use positive reinforcement whenever possible.


Ok, so that's what IS working for us. Here are some things that did NOT work for us, so you can avoid our mistakes!

• A potty chair. When we started potty training the first time when Caleb was 2.5, we bought him a potty chair. For about a week, he didn't even want to sit on it. When he finally did, we found that he was way too big for it! So keep that in mind if you have a tall child like we do.
• Pull-ups. I've already mentioned how they don't help because the kid can't "feel" when he is wet. (I do have to say that they are easier for parents, because they pull apart at the sides and make for easy changes. But they just aren't really conducive to potty training.)
• Waiting for him to tell us when he needs to go. Yeah, it just isn't going to happen anytime soon!
  

So, today is technically part of week two, but I have to share what he did today. Today, I was an idiot and set the potty timer and forgot about it. I was in the shower when it went off. Caleb says, "Listen! I hear something! It's time to sit on the potty!"

I decided to take a chance, and I told him to go on to the potty and I'd be there in a few minutes. Well, he did it! He went to his bathroom on his own, took off his pants and undies, sat on the potty, and peed all by himself! I was so proud. He came running back to our master bathroom (sans underwear!), saying "I did it!"

Potty training is not easy, but I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. :)