I'm a Big Kid Now!

December 2010

Jay and I felt that Huggies and Pampers were getting too much of Jay's paycheck, that it was time to cut our diaper budget in half. Lucy would have been thrilled to have been the one to be asked to start having a little more time in the bathroom, but we chose Jack to be a big kid, and well, do what big kids do. Jack was not so sure about the idea, or more accurately, wanted nothing to do with the plan. A potty chair was set out in the bathroom quite a while ago and he did occasionally take a seat on it and had even made something happen once, but he didn't want to actually start spending more time at this task. He, unlike his sister, found no real appeal in the potty chair, or even the bathroom in general. It was time to up the anty. We started with band-aids, the fun ones. Some kids might want a sticker for a reward, ours would much rather a band-aid. It wasn't enough, though. I found a Lightening McQueen Potty Chair and I devised a plan. I called my mom and she was on board with the plan, this is the plan that was laid out and how it went:

Step 1
We introduced Jack to the cool, new potty chair. He loved it (so did Lucy)! That night I let him sit on it in the living room before bed. The next morning (and I swear this is true), the kid started yelling from his bed at 6am, "I gotta go potty!", I was shocked, he had NEVER said that. I jumped out of bed, raced to his room, got him out of bed, raced him to the living room where the potty chair still was sitting and put the tyke on it. Within a minute, the kid had, well ummmm, taken care of, well, all the things that could have been done, shall we say #1 and #2? I was stunned. Shocked. Flabbergasted. Thrilled. I had never been so happy to see poop. I knew the plan would go on.
I cleaned him up and then cleaned the potty up. By the time I was done, he had gone back to bed by himself and was back to sleep. Again, I was shocked.

Step 2
Later that morning we left for Nana and Papa's house. I wanted help with potty training and Nana had said she would love a visit from us. I volunteered to pay to have her carpets cleaned in case potty training was ehhhhh, eventful. When we got to Nana and Papa's (a four hour drive), I started unpacking and told Jack that I had "forgotten" to pack diapers for him. I then showed him, very excitedly, that I had remembered his snazzy new underwear and potty chair. The kid wasn't dumb. He immediately devised a few plans on how to acquire new diapers for himself, but I found excuses for each idea.

Step 3 (and the step I am least proud of)
We then placed the potty chair in the living room and told the 2 year old that he could watch as much tv as he wanted, as long as he was sitting on the potty chair.

So, there he sat, for the better part of three days. Every hour or so, I would check to see if anything had happened, and if there was, well there was quite the celebration, including band-aids (which after a couple of days, he looked like a very accident prone child). After a while, he got better at being able to tell what he was doing, and would start to tell us. He would take breaks from the tv and play, but he would remember to come back. At nap and at night time, I would put him in a pull up; he only needed them that first day, after that, he was dry for nap and bedtime. Through the entire three day potty training extravaganza at Nana and Papa's, he had only one accident! And it even happened to be on tile floor (easy clean-up!)! We even went to the Children's Museum with no accidents. On the last day, he was in full control and would potty as soon as he was set on the potty chair. We then made our trek back home, I did put a pull-up on him for the ride home, unsure if he would make it the 4 hours until we got home, but when we got home he was still dry! And, stays dry, rarely does he have an accident and not once while sleeping.

Jack was potty trained! We had done it! I felt like he had attained a new level in development and that I had attained a new status as a mommy. I had successfully potty trained a child! I wanted to thump my chest like a caveman bringing home meat for dinner. I felt like if I can handle this hurdle, I could tackle anything! I had helped him learn to use the potty chair and did minimal mental scarring while training him! I was proud of Jack, I was proud of me, I was thankful to my parents for all of the help, and as usual, Jay was happy to miss out on the whole ordeal!

Lucy's Obsession

December 2010

Lucy is obsessed with the bathroom! When the door opens, her little knees cruise across the floor and she is thrilled if she makes it in there before the door is shut again. She loves it all, the drawers, the tub, the cupboards, the toilet paper, the garbage, but the main attraction is the potty chair! I don't know why she is so interested in it, I just wish her brother was half as interested in as what she is!

I just hope she is this interested in the bathroom when it is her turn for potty training!

Kick off to the Christmas Season

December 2, 2010

We started off the Christmas season by attending a Christmas party at our community center. Lucy was thrilled to meet Santa. Jack was not. Jack was cool with it the whole time we were in line, but by the time it was our turn, he just walked by Santa saying, "I would like a dinosaur flashlight, please." and kept on walking. Apparently 2 year olds do not realize how badly Mom and Dad want the photo of their children sitting with Santa. Luckily, Lucy is too young to care, well, that and that she is willing to sit with anyone as long as they are willing to cuddle.

The next part of the festivities included a craft project and a snack. The snack was a cookie that you could put as much frosting and sprinkles on as you would like. Jack was thrilled!

Lucy enjoyed the cookie too!

We went through about 40 wet wipes getting these kids clean!

We had a fun night and even got to meet a couple of Santa's reindeer. I love that our community always has such fun family events!

Lucy's 9 Months Stats

NOVEMBER 2010

Lucy is 9 months!

Our little lady is growing so fast! She is adorable and we just can't get enough of her! Lucy's personality is coming out more and more each day and it is so wonderful to see who she is! Everywhere we go, people tell us to get her into modeling, but we think her best feature is her sweet demeanor. She is so calm, so loving, so cuddly, so completely perfect, we are just smitten with her!

We took Lucy in for her 9 month check up and even the doctor is smitten with her. The doctor kept trying to stay focused and give us all the info, but she kept getting distracted by Lucy. The doctor kept pausing and saying, "She is just so stunning!", "I think it is her eyes that make her so stunning!", "I never see blue eyes so big! Brown eyes get big, but not blue.", "She is just soooo stunning!", "Does she ever blink?". It was fun to see the doctor trying to stay focused while Lucy was busy wrapping her around her little finger :-)

The doctor also remarked about Lucy's calm (and quiet) demeanor. In fact, Lucy is so quiet that they checked her hearing because she barely makes any noise. Her hearing test came back perfect, I wasn't surprised, the little girl has barely learned how to cry, so I am not surprised that she doesn't babble much.

Lucy's Stats
Height: 28 1/2 inches (81 %)
Weight: 18 lbs 1oz (35%)
Head: 16 1/2 inches (4%)

The doctor said that Lucy is getting too skinny, however if you saw Lucy's thighs you would disagree! The doctor thinks that my breast milk has turned to skim milk and Lucy needs more fat in her diet, so we will be adding more cheese and cottage cheese to her meals.

Likes: Jack, chasing her brother, having her brother chase her, playing in her brother's room, watching Jack do crazy things, basically anything having to do with Jack, cuddling with Mommy or Daddy, the lap of anyone she meets, reading books to herself, baths, staying at hotels, puffs, Tylenol, sweet potatoes, squash and ice cream. Yes, ice cream. I know, I wouldn't let Jack have ice cream until he was 1 year, however, I guess I am a little more relaxed as Lucy has been having ice cream since she was about 6 months old. She loves ice cream even more than she loves cuddling. Her favorites are pudding pops, if anyone is eating one and not sharing, she gets MAD! It is the only time we see her mad outside of her carseat.

Dislikes: the carseat, long car trips, short car trips, putting on her coat and realizing that she will soon be in the carseat on a short or long car trip, having her nose wiped and sleeping through the night.

I am not sure the word "dislike" really describes how Lucy feels about the carseat. I think the word despise fits it better. She screams and screams when placed in the carseat. She hates it. She makes us dread it, too. It is amazing that this calm little peaceful child can turn into a whole other baby when placed in a car! It is truly awful! It started on our trip home from Duluth when she was 7 months old. We stopped over 7 times on what should have been a 2 1/2 hour car trip. We kept stopping thinking that something was wrong, that she was hungry, thirsty, hurting, SOMETHING! But, no, she just didn't want to be strapped down. We stopped so many times trying to help her that the trip home lasted over 6 hours!!! It is her one downfall and boy, does she makes it count! Jack has never had trouble in the car, never. We didn't realize what a blessing that is! We are crossing our fingers that she will be 20 pounds at her 12 month appointment so she can go front facing and hopefully tolerate it better.

Bye-Bye Nuk

November 2010

It was time. It was way past time. It was a full year past when we had agreed the time would be. It was time for the pacifiers to leave our house. The nuks were starting to be more trouble than they were worth (or so we thought). These were the thoughts of the two adults in our house, not that of the young nuk lover, Jack, AKA, Mr. I-would-like-to-have-a-nukie-in-my-mouth-at-all-times-who-cares-if-I-am-2 1/2.

All through November, I started to hate the nuk more and more. Jack started wanting it at all times and would scream and throw tantrums when he was reminded that it was only for naps and bedtime. Then, at nap and bedtime, he would jump out of his bed, open his door, throw the nukie in the hall and 30 seconds later would be screaming, "I need my nukie!". Ugh.

So, it was time, but when? How would we buckle down and say, "OK, I am ready for the next three days of our lives to be absolutely horrible! I am ready for my child to scream and wail, bring it on!"? I kept thinking the right time would come on it's own, and it did. Jack became a little ill in mid-November, just a cold, nothing terrible. However, Jack acts like a full grown man when ill. If you are married, then you get my point. Anyway, by about day five of Jack's cold, he was absolutely unbearable, however most of his sympotms had dissipated, he was just sick of being sick and wanted to make sure that I was more miserable than him. As I was feeling sorry for myself for dealing with his behavior, I started remembering that we had planned on taking nukie away soon too. I was all upset thinking about how I was finally going to get this child to act like a human being again and then I would be taking his nuk away and he would be acting like this all over again! So, that did it for me. I was not willing to go through this twice, I snuck over to where nukie was lying on the floor and I clipped the end off. I then had to wait for him to find what I had done. That was a sickening feeling, just waiting to see my son's heart break. Right then, I regretted ever giving it to him in the first place, knowing what was going to happen when he found it. And, I was right. The poor little lad wandered over to the deceased nukie, studied for a few moments, attepted to suck on it and then crashed to the floor in tears. I tried to comfort him all the while trying to act surprised that nukie was "broken". He sobbed there in my arms for over 45 minutes.

I then made a call to Jay, (who of course was out of town, as he always is when icky stuff happens) to be comforted, to be told that I was a good mom and that I was doing the right thing and to stay strong. I must have misdialed because that is not what I got. Instead, I had a husband who was feeling bad for his poor little boy who was just getting over being sick and how could I do this? Ugh. But, I continued to do what I knew was right.

I dreaded bedtime. What would happen? How long would he cry? Would he let me comfort him? Why in hell did I do this? Who cares if he graduates from high school still using a pacifier to fall asleep? The kid will probably need braces anyway, what is the point in taking it away now? Bedtime came. And, sleep did too. It wasn't too bad. Jack wanted to hold his broken nukie and that was fine with me, so the poor little tyke held it and stroked his cheek with it. I went to bed that night feeling pretty proud of myself. I had stayed strong and my son would conquer this with my support. Life will go on.

And then, 2am came. I was awoken to Jack sobbing in his room for his nukie. I don't mean crying, I mean sobbing that could only be compared with that of mothers losing a child. I tried and tried to hold him, comfort him, anything to make him calm down. My heart was breaking just as much as his. He did finally calm down slightly, down to where it was just the broken sobs in between deep breaths and he asked me to sleep on the floor next to his bed. How could I say no? I laid there that night having what I can only describe as a Toy Story type experience. You know, the flashbacks of the good times with Sarah McLaughlin songs playing in the background. I thought of his first night in the hospital after he was born and how Jay went and begged a nurse for a pacifier because we needed sleep as badly as Jack did. I thought of how "nukie" was one of his first words. I thought of how 9 month old Lucy (who has never wanted a pacifier) would tackle her brother to the ground to take his nukie from him and he would let her. I thought of how he would launch it out of his mouth just to make Lucy laugh. I thought of all the car rides that were blissfully quiet as he happily sucked on that nuk.

I cried. I never cry. Never. I felt horrible for deliberately cutting that nukie, I felt horrible for giving him that nukie in the first place, I felt horrible for feeling horrible when I knew I was doing the right thing. And, while I was feeling worse and worse, my son calmed down and fell asleep. I snuck back to my own bed, and thank God, Jack did not awaken again that night because I totally would have caved and got him out a hidden nuk. Morning came, and so did a few more tears for nukie and a few more at naptime and a few more at bedtime. But, it was better, and so was the next day. By the time Jay came home the following day, it was almost bearable to be in our house. Jack survived, I survived and Jay was quite happy to miss the whole ordeal! Jack still talks quite affectionately about nukie and we still avoid that aisle in Target, but he is no longer sleeping with the broken nukie. We did it!

Curious George

Time to do some catching up!

November 2010

In November, the four of us went to see Curious George Live! Jack is a George fanatic, so this was a BIG deal for this little family. Curious George is watched a minimum of three times a day in our house and Jack sleeps with his own Curious George monkey every night. It was awesome to see Jack so excited to see all his favorite characters, the best part was when he stood up, started waving and yelling, "George, George! I am up here!" Lucy loved it too, she stood in my lap the whole time just watching the stage. . When it was time to leave, we got about halfway through the Target Center, when all of the sudden Jack stopped dead in his feet and wouldn't move. he just kept turning around like he was lost. I was standing right with him, so I knew he knew he wasn't lost, but he just kept turning and looking, refusing to move. Finally, I got down on his level and I figured it out, he was looking for George. I had to explain to him that we weren't actually going to meet George, that seeing him on stage was it. At that moment, I felt like such a crummy mom for not buying the extremely overpriced tickets that would have allowed to you to meet George before the show. Oh, well, it was still a great time!

Bye-Bye Minnesota!

I said good-bye to our house today, the house that I brought both of my babies home from the hospital to. It was a long day, so when it was time to leave, I didn't have the chance to say good-bye and reminisce the way I should have. Even though we have only lived there for 6 years, there are so many memories tied to that house. I remember where I was standing when telling Jay that I was pregnant with Jack and where I was dancing with Jack the first time he laughed. I remember Lucy learning to roll and sit and walk all in our living room, and having her sleep in a crib at the foot of our bed so that the first thing we saw in the morning was her smiling at us. I remember where I was standing when we got the news that Lucy is perfectly healthy. There are so many memories in that house and I am afraid that some could now be lost without being in the home. I know there are plenty of new memories waiting to be made in the new house, but it is still hard.
It is also hard to no longer be a Minnesotan. I have loved living in the Twin Cities and will miss so many friends that we have made and the places we have discovered. I know we will come back often to visit and I am already looking forward to our first vacation to our old city. Maybe I can claim to be part Minnesotan since we still own our house there.
We close on our new house tomorrow (fingers crossed! this has been quite the ordeal!) and we should be moving in on Wednesday. I am excited for our first night in our new house and for Lucy to FINALLY have her own room, but I will be sad not to fall asleep with her only a few feet from me. I am definitely NOT excited for unpacking....ugh...I used to enjoy things like that, but with two kids running around....ugh....We will see if I have found any of the Christmas stuff by next December....ugh....