Poo at the Zoo...

I'm not quite sure what it is about the magical power of the Zoo, but today the little man went the big #2 on the potty!  I know it's not a big deal to the average joe, but to this mommy we are ecstatic!  What we thought would take months to learn has taken a week.  He followed up his big poo at the zoo moment by doing the same at the church later in the afternoon!  I am still in shock that I have a 22 month old using the potty and to no credit of my own.  He is doing this all on his own and I am so very proud of him!

Way to go little man!!!

Blessings!

Potty Time...

Well it seems I blinked and summer raced by!  In the midst of all the business of trips we decided to give potty training a go.  This was definitely not something I was looking forward to, but knew it was time.  How did I know it was time?  Let me back track for a moment...

In April the little man went for his 18 month check up, which was all fine and good until the pediatrician chose to alter the course of life (okay a bit dramatic I know)!  The conversation went something like this...

Pedi: "He is a very bright little boy"

Me: "Thank you"

Pedi: "I am really shocked, he talks more than most of my girl patients.  With an extensive vocabulary it is a good indication you are probably ready to start potty training."

HOLD THE PHONE....POTTY TRAINING...AT 18 MONTHS!!!  

Let's just say shock doesn't begin to explain my expression, at one point in time I think I actually grabbed the table for stability.  PT had not even begun to cross our minds and starting at the age of 18 months...does this seem abnormal to anyone else???  I agree he is a smart little boy, but potty training?  The handsome hubby and I talked it over and decided with a busy summer ahead we would wait until after vacation, thus buying me the time I needed to prepare myself.  That may seem a selfish statement, but all the parental advice I had received from family and friends was that we needed to be all in if we were going to do this.  And while I do believe at 18 months he was interested, I don't believe he was quite ready, I know now that there is a world of difference between the two.  

So we purchased a potty seat and just let the little man play and explore it.  I spent time reading every possible piece of material I could find on potty training a boy, I talked to moms of boys, read little man every storybook I could find on using the potty, watched potty videos and attended a few potty training classes with him at the local library.  

Fast forward to last week.  We decided right after vacation we would do it, begin potty training!  As soon as we arrived home I spent the weekend preparing for the big day.  We talked about it with our little man and pumped it up.  By Sunday morning I felt like a broken record.  As we were getting ready for church I was about to give the little man a bath.  Daddy stripped him down and he ran in the bathroom.  The little man looked me square in the eyes and said "pee pee", you can guess what followed.  I quickly picked him up and put him on the potty.  He finished peeing and was SO proud, that's when we knew it was definitely time.  After church we took him to the store to pick out his big boy underpants...I have to say that's when the reality hit me and the disbelief that we were doing this at 22 months!

We woke up Monday and began the potty process I found in a great blog post by a fellow pastors wife.  You can find it here.  We chose not to use Pull-Ups at all but rather just start training in big boys underpants.  For nap time and bed time we started by using the Bum Genius cloth diapers I had purchased and never used.  We called them night time pants to keep from calling them diapers.  If you would like all the little details let me know, but I will spare those who don't have little ones with my potty process.   

I wish I could say it was an easy day and he picked it up right away, but let's just say the equation looked more like this...

Strong willed child + even stronger willed mommy (x) potty training = a barrel of monkeys!

It was an exhausting and frustrating experience for both of us.  By Monday night dinnertime we hadn't had a single success.  I told daddy perhaps we weren't ready and we talked about holding off a few more months.  Feeling completely defeated I took the little man up for a bath and bed time.  Out of no where he looked me in the eyes and said "Mommy, go pee pee potty".  So on the little potty he went and suddenly he did it...he began to pee!!!!!  I jumped up and called out to daddy "He went potty!!!" and we began cheering.  All the stress from the day was washed away when his precious little face lit up with a huge smile of accomplishment.  We laughed and cheered.  But that wasn't it, after bath time he asked to potty and once again he went and he hasn't stopped using the potty since.  The next two days were a little rough, but by Thursday he had it down pat, telling me every time he had to use the potty.  Thanks to daddy he actually began to use the big potty on Friday and now prefer's it to the little potty.  

Potty training has definitely left me feeling like an unaccomplished individual as funny as that sounds.  Teaching another human being how to do something, that you yourself have no recollection of learning you just do it, is an extremely daunting task.  But it is SO worth it.  Sure not having to purchase diapers is a blessing, but seeing his face light up each and every time he uses the potty on his own is the greatest accomplishment to me.  I am not always going to be the one who helps him learn how to do big things, but boy am I one proud momma to have had the chance to do this along side him.  

For more details on how we did it, shoot me a comment below.

Blessings!

In a word...

This week our little one has moved into sentence mode!  I have to admit, as hard as it is to hear him sound so grown up, it is stinkin' adorable.  Here are just a few of the things he has been saying:

• "Where mommy/daddy go?"
• "Thank you mommy/daddy"
• "Milk please mommy"
• "Daddy/Mommy go bye bye"
• "Please have it" or "Please have some"
• "Go bye bye, cool car" (when he wants to go for a ride in the car)
• "Daddy/Mommy read book"
• "I you-ya no much" (I love you so much. For some reason it is "no much" instead of "so much")
• "Via-min time please" (vitamin time, he loves his vitamins!)
• "Go pee-pee/poo-poo on the potty" (we are working on potty training)
• "Go down-ner, puwa wif it" (down there and play with it are ADORABLE! going to miss those)
• "Ro-sy go ni-night" (when we leave and Roxy "Ro-sy" goes in her box)

I keep forgetting to write down what he says as he says it, somehow I think I will just magically remember but I never do :(.  I am sad to say several of the cute little words he would say in his own language are now forming into the proper pronunciation:

• Don-on is now Donna
• Durama is now Grandma
• Basidas is slowly becoming basketball
• Bees-bow is now baseball

But even with these changes "I you-ya"(I love you) still remains the same and I LOVE IT!  We are frequently told that our little one has a huge vocabulary (not even joking, at least 10 strangers made remarks about it just this week) but to be completely honest we don't know any different.  To us he is just a growing little man who talks alot!  We have been asked what we have done and I have absolutely no idea, it is truly just the way God designed him.  We read ALOT of books and have always made it a point to have conversations with him, but does that make the difference?  Like I said we have no idea, he is our first so we have nothing to compare him to.  To this mommy and daddy he is just our little boy, growing up WAY to fast and amazing us every step of the way!

Blessings!

In a word...

These days it seems our precious little man just talks non stop!  He is saying so many words and seems to be right on the verge of full sentences.  Since many of his cute little words are changing from baby j language (as we call it) to the actual word, I thought it would be a good idea to document them before I forget them.  So here we go with the first installment of "In a word..."

• I lu ya = I Love You (:) by FAR my favorite!)
• Bas-i-das or Bas-i-dar = Basketball
• Bees-ball geemes = Baseball (for some reason he doesn't ever just say bees-ball, it's always bees-ball games)
• Foot-bar = Football
• Shwibee or Shrizbee = Frisbee
• Sotter-bar = Soccerball
• Bob build it = Bob the Builder
• Boos Boos = Blues Clues
• Bible Book = Bible stories collection
• Einstein or Baby Bach = Baby Einstein videos
• Durama = Grandma
• Rossi = Roxy (our dog)
• Fuend = Friend
• Cool dude = ANY drummer
• Dwums = Drums
• Cool-tar = Guitar
• Bees = Bass
• Hold You = Hold me
• Whoa Mam = No mam

He is a funny little man too!  He exclaims "FOUR" every time he hits the golf ball and proceeds to say "Oh gosh" if he misses it.  He loves music and is very taken with the "Arky Arky" song.  It's not long after getting in the car that we hear "Noah Noah, Arky Arky" coming from a little voice in the back seat :).  He also LOVES "Oh Happy Day" by Fee, he exclaims "Happy Day! Happy Day!" whenever he hears the intro, not even the lyrics!  He is a very smart little man. 

I feel like there is so much more he says that I am missing, these are just the most memorable/common things he says.  I love the way he talks and all the little things he says, time just needs to slow down a bit!

Blessings!

   

Found...

I found God on my deck.  I promise I'm not crazy, I'm linking up today and you can read more about "Found" on one my favorite blogs Beautifully Rooted.   So lately I have been challenging myself to "Find" God everyday.  As I said I "Found" Him on my deck...

Around here the seasons are changing and with them our little man.  This spring he is a little bit older, a little bit taller, a little more grown up.  It's hard to grasp the fact that time isn't going to slow down and our baby boy won't be a baby for long.  Life has been so busy lately, so many changes, so many things to get in the way of dedicated time with just me and my little man.  So when I saw him standing at the screen door, looking intently at the leaves blowing around, I knew this was a moment I wasn't going to get back.  I slid the door open and out he ran...

Without hesitation he began running around the deck, laughing hysterically as he made circles around me, as if he was playing his own little version of duck, duck, goose...

Pausing momentarily in a curious stare over all the little creatures flying around him or the noise the deck would make when he stomped his feet...

He wasn't worried about missing his favorite cartoon, playing with his favorite toy, what he would eat for lunch, if the house was clean or the laundry was folded.  He simply enjoyed all the little wonders God put around him...

And the only thing he asked of me was my time and attention.  It wasn't in the words he said, but in those eyes and the toothy smile.  It was the way he lit up like a Christmas tree when I ran circles with him.  It was that infectious little laugh when I would chase him from corner to corner...

It was in the way he would take a break just to sit in my lap and talk about the birdies or the kitty that lives next door...

He just wanted me!  In those moment's, on that deck, I "Found" God.  He used the most precious gift He has ever given to me to remind me just how precious I am to Him.  How He longs too for nothing more than time with me.  He reminded me that He doesn't want my clean house, my folded laundry or my next pinterest project, He just wants me!  He reminded me of Matthew 6:26:

Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

I am worth so much to Him!  He reminded me I need to slow down and not feel like I need to accomplish everything, just enjoy the little moments running around on a deck.  

So run we did, the dishes and laundry will always be there later.

Blessings!

Wordless Wednesday - Sisters...

"I could never love anyone as I love my sisters." ~ Louisa May Alcott

Yep that pretty much says it all.  Love these girls and SO blessed to call them my sister :)

Sweet 16...

My Precious Little Man,

Today you turn 16 months old, WOW!  I look at that number and wonder where time has gone.  It just doesn't seem possible that you are growing so fast.  I feel as though I blink and another month has flown by.  I am amazed at all the things you are doing and saying.  You repeat so many words we say, which means mommy and daddy have to watch what they say.  You love to climb, run and play chase each night before bed.  You are so active and yet I am amazed how you will just sit in my lap, completely still, while I read to you.  You love to be read to!  You are a smart little man, constantly trying to figure out how things work and how to take apart everything you touch.  You love music and balls more than anything else.  You sing and dance all the time,  I just love hearing you sing Jesus Loves Me with mommy each night.

You love to talk and you are saying so many new things in your own little way:
"Bou" = Ball
"Backit Bou" = Basketball
"Boot Bou" = Football
"Poon" = Spoon
"Pone" = Phone
"Iee" = Hi
"Whoa" = Hello
"Jaedee" = Jaedy :) Your learning your name
"Papa" = Grandpa, Grandma's not to happy about that one :)
"Thant Chu" = Thank you
"Besh Chu" = Bless you
"Down"
"Dedus" = Jesus, Mommy LOVES hearing you say that!
You also are learning to say your auntie and uncles names, I have to say "megan" is my favorite so far :).

Today you shocked mommy when you strung words together in a sentence for the first time, not once but twice.  I asked you if you wanted to call daddy and you said "Dadee phone, okay" and shook your head yes.  You sure do love your daddy, or "Dadeeeeee", so much.  You light up every time you hear his voice, even if it is just on the phone.  You even said "Wuv You" to daddy for the first time as he left for work this morning, it made his day and mine :).

January you made a big move to New York with mommy and daddy.  You rode 35 hours in the car, passed through 6 states, stayed in 3 hotels and saw alot of neat things along the way.  Through it all you were a champ!  Mommy loved playing hide and seek with you in the mirror or seeing you wave to people driving by.  You have experienced alot in the past month and you have brought more joy than you can possibly know.  Jesus has used you, little one, in ways you do not comprehend.

I feel like time is passing so quickly and I do my best to cherish each moment with you. Nightly I am reminded how blessed I am that Jesus has given me another day to be your mommy.  As much as I love seeing you grow, I wish time could slow down.  I know before long you will be all grown up, but I hope you will always know how much mommy loves you.  There are times mommy will make mistakes but I hope you never forget my love, I will:

Always read to you
Always hold you hand
Always kiss your boo boo's
Always dry your tears
Always sing you to sleep
Always dance with you
Always listen
Always answer when you ask why
Always be your biggest fan
Always cheer you on
Always discipline you
Always teach you to be gentle and polite
Always laugh with you
Always spur you on to Jesus
Always be there for you
Because I will always be your mommy!

So happy 16 month birthday my precious gift, my little love!   Keep growing, just not to fast.

Love ALWAYS,
Mommy