Potty Party

On having boys

One nice thing about having boys is the world is your potty!

32 months old

One thing that irritates both Jon and I to no end is whining. From anyone - child or adult. Neither of us have the patience for it I'm afraid. To say this past month has really tried our patience is an understatement, as Logan has picked up whining with a vengeance. :(

We'll say, "Logan, please stop whining."

And he'll whine back, "But I'm not whining!"

*sigh*


Logan continues to mature day by day (baby whining aside). Some of the biggest changes for him this last month happened in the bathroom. He now, often times, runs into the bathroom all on his own, pulls down his pants/shorts and underwear, and sits down to pee (he's not yet able to pee standing up, thank goodness!). He still needs a little help pulling his underwear and pants/shorts back up, but he's getting there (sometimes he'll walk out of the bathroom calling for my help, with his shorts halfway up his butt. hehe)


While he continues to have constipation battles (ever since he was an infant really), he's now pooping in the potty too! This was a biggie for us, since we really struggled with getting him to understand that he needed to poop in the potty rather than his diaper/underwear. He really resisted us for a long time on this one, but has finally seemed to get over that hump. THANK GOD as my laundry load lightens just a little.


He has also started waking up in the middle of the night, asking to go potty, and just recently, we started putting him to bed at night diaper-free. We're only a couple of nights in, so it's hard to say if we're officially finished with diapers, but so far so good! Let's hope the trend continues since it is soooo much nicer having just one kid in diapers to deal with rather than the two! ;-)


I consciously decided against packing any milk bottles for Logan, for our trip to Texas. I just didn't want to deal with it, and I figured it might get him out of the habit of asking for a bottle every morning. The plan seemed to work - he went without a milk bottle (and didn't seem bothered in the least bit!) the entire time. However, the MINUTE we got back home, he woke up demanding his daily morning milk. I was a little bummed - it's just one more thing I'd like to move past, frankly. Still, he's doing better. Now he only asks for his milk every once in awhile rather than every. single. morning while practically still laying in bed. We have a couple more trips coming up both this weekend (LA) and next week (Hawaii - woo!) - and I plan to stick the course and not pack any milk bottles then too. We'll see how he does. :)


You can clearly see my boy getting older, and it makes me both happy and sad. He loves to sing his ABCs and point out letters and count 1-2-3-4-7-go! And, with numbers comes the all important proud moment of telling everyone how old he is. He's usually accurate - holding up two fingers while telling you he's two. But, every now and then he'll either hold up three fingers or say "free" when you ask him how old he is. I don't blame him though, I used to tell people I was older than I really was for a loooong long time. Funny how I don't do that so much anymore.

But probably the change that has strangely, impacted me the most, is his words. His new found words. His ultra hip, very 8 year old and not at all 2 year old words.

Logan, would you like some juice?

Sure, Mom.

A good kind of mistake

While Logan's been waking up each morning with a dry diaper, and even waking up in the middle of the night asking to use his potty, I still haven't been brave enough to try a night without diapers yet. I'm not really sure why - I guess I'm not ready to clean up after bed wettings just yet. I've also been more concerned with getting him to poop in the potty first - which I'm happy to say, he's doing regularly now - yay!

This morning we discovered Logan still in his underwear from the night before. I guess in a (rare - ha!) blurry eyed Baby Mama moment, I had forgotten to change him into a night time diaper before bedtime. WHOOPS. Luckily, he did great and didn't have an accident! I'm not sure if we'll try it again tonight - but it's nice to know we're on our way. I guess all we needed was a little trial like last night to convince me to take the plunge.

Potty training in the middle of the night

Logan walked into our bedroom this morning with a very odd looking pair of pj bottoms.

At first I thought Jon just decided not to put his pajama bottoms back on him last night, after he woke up in the middle of the night telling us he needed to go pee, since all you can see is his diaper from the front.

Then he turned around so I got a glance of his behind, with what looked like a flap of material dangling from his butt, and I cracked up laughing. Apparently Jon wasn't fully awake when he helped Logan last night, since he put him back to bed with both legs through one leg of the bottoms. :)

Loganism of the day

Jon asked Logan if his underwear went on his head. Logan responded:

No, it goes on my penis.

Loganism(s) of the day

I'm finding that swim days are good days to capture "Loganisms" - probably since I have a chunk of time where there are no (Callum) distractions and it's just Mommy and Logan time. ;-)

1) After swim class:

I want to go in the boys room.

Mommy can't go in there.

Why not?

Because I'm not a boy.

But I'm a boy.


2) In the changing room:

What are those? (pointing to my boobs)

Those are Mommy's boobies.

Oh! Mommy's boobies are big. Logan's boobies are small.


3) Out to dinner with my family: my brother Zane took Logan to the bathroom when he said he needed to go potty. Upon returning, about 10 feet away from our table, Logan does a big fist pump in the air and yells to us at the top of his lungs:

I WENT POOP!

He sat down, turned to me and quietly said:

Mommy, I feel better.

And then, a couple of minutes later, he follows with another fist pump and:

GO SHARKS!

Spoke too soon

Potty training a toddler is proving much more difficult with a baby attached to the hip (my hip, not the toddler's. Although, I'm sure it'd be difficult with that too).

A couple of times now, I've been unable to rush Logan to the toilet in time, seeing as how I've got my hands full nursing Callum. I know this can be a long process and we'll get there eventually but MAN! It's frustrating to say the least.

I'll be glad when this in-between, always on your toes, stage is done! (Only to then start it up again when Callum is ready. Ugh.)

Potty Training Report

No Accidents!

Until we got home that is. *sigh*

Logan had a great first day at school wearing his new big boy underwear. He did awesome with no accidents all day. Of course, I'm not used to it and waited a bit too long once we got home before checking if he needed to pee.

Oh well. Maybe this will help him realize peeing in his pants is not cool (hey, a mama can dream). And, overall, still a great first day! :)

Big Boy Briefs

I bought a couple packs of underwear for Logan so that I'm ready to go when we try getting rid of diapers. He saw the packs laying out on the table and wanted to try one on.

What a cutie!

A Dry Diaper

When picking Logan up today, Miss Kim announced Logan had a GREAT day with potty training, and that he was still wearing his diaper that we dropped him off with that morning.

WHAT?! So. Rad.

He's doing soooo well with potty training, it's amazing. I think he did better than usual without any "accidents" today because they spent a lot of time indoors due to the weather (rain). So, he could just run up to the toilet whenever he wanted to, and he was also reminded to go potty anytime he'd see the other kids go. But still, it's such a great milestone.

We're going to wait another couple of weeks before attempting actual underwear, sans diapers.

YIKES! Wish us luck. ;-)

28 months old

Over the past weekend, Logan turned 28 months old. I've been wanting to do a post on this milestone for a few days now, but have been soooooooo busy (nesting has now kicked into hyper drive!) and very very tired that the last thing I want to type out is another blog post. :)

However, this one is important to me. Perhaps more than usual. Why? Because I think it's very likely the last "birthday" milestone post I do for Logan, while he's still an only child.


About a month or two ago, I started to feel more and more sentimental about Logan's last days as an only child. I want to spend as much time as I possibly can with my little guy. With each day and week that passes us by, I only get that much more emotional about the limited time left with Logan as an only child. And while Jon and I may be excited about welcoming baby #2 into our family, I'm not so sure Logan feels the same way. In fact, I bet this baby isn't anywhere at the top of his agenda.


He absolutely understands there's a baby growing inside his Mommy. And, he often talks to my belly, pats and kisses and hugs it, and sometimes separates out toys and items in the house that "belong" to him versus his baby brother.

Helping himself to some cheese in the bottom drawer of the fridge which has pretty much become his drawer. ;-)

But, I don't think he understands that his baby brother will be joining us for good. That he will be joining our family and staying, not just visiting for a few days or a week. That he will be commanding a lot of his Mommy's attention and time, especially in those first few months. That he will soon share a room with Logan, share toys, share clothes.

If I were Logan, I might be thinking "Waaaaait a minute. I didn't sign up for this shit! I'm 100% happy running Mommy and Daddy around on my own!"

(In fact, as the oldest, I bet I did think that!)

So, we shall see.

You mean that baby is staying? For good?

As for Mr. Logan - he's doing wonderfully, of course. ;-) His potty training has really improved at school (he's continued to do well with us at home but had a bit of a set back and lost interest at school). I believe a lot of his improvement is due to Miss Kim, his teacher from two classes ago, who recently moved into our classroom. YAY!! We love her and I'm so glad to have her back. She's been very encouraging about his potty training and that seems to be all Logan really needed. Well, that and a few sticker rewards as an extra incentive never hurt. ;-)

Now, he asks to go potty rather than being asked if he needs to go. SCORE! I hear he also stands nearby to clap and cheer on his friends who are being potty trained too. hehehe

Lately I've noticed Logan has taken to chasing all the (poor) animals around the house, under the tables, behind the couches, under the beds. He RAWRS really loudly, with arms and hands outstretched, ready for any fistful of fur he can grab onto as the animals scream past him, trying to stay out of his reach. He absolutely torments the shit out of Grover. Odin merely puts up with him.


I know everyone says we're eventually going to wish he were silent, but right now, we are so thrilled with how verbose Logan is. We remember the days when he wasn't yet talking (and, nervously, think about the days soon to come when we'll have another not-yet-talking baby to take care of!) and how hard and frustrating it was for us to care for our little guy. The fact that he can carry on conversations with us is wonderful.

And, he's adding his own "flair" where he can. Right now, his favorite word to use (pretty much inserted as every other word in a sentence) is "upsie" (for oopsie). He uses it ALL the time. It's hilarious.

With his constant commentary also comes the ability to vocalize his feelings, and understand the difference between right and wrong, more and more. So, when he gets frustrated and hits me, I now pause and kneel down to talk at his level. I tell him that he shouldn't hit his Mommy (nor any of his friends, family, etc.), that it hurts, and that we don't like to hurt our friends and the ones we love. He stops, listens and then says "I'm sorry Mommy", followed by a big hug and kiss.

I know it won't last forever, but I must admit, it's pretty sweet right now. :)

27 months old

As you can probably understand - I haven't been as interested in blogging this week. HOWEVER, we did pass by Logan's 27 month old mark on Wednesday. And, I have been saving up a few pics to share. :) He's also said a couple of funny things over the past month, as his vocabulary continues to improve, which I should probably memorialize here, in case I ever need to embarrass him down the road when he takes his future girlfriend to the prom.

See future girlfriend? You think he just turned charming for you, but he's actually been GQ-Charming since day one!

He has picked up his Mack Truck car carrier on more than one occasion and carries it around the house like it's his little briefcase. Sometimes, he's been known to carry it to the front door yelling out "I'm going to work now!" Daddy carries his toy(s) to work, I guess my son figures he should too?

Other things that make us smile -

A couple of weeks ago, he was chasing a ball under the dining table and ran into the corner and hit his ear. It hurt quite a bit (he smacked it pretty hard) which caused quite a bit of crying.

That didn't make us smile. Don't worry, I'm not that mean.

What made us smile was when he stopped crying for a split second, sternly looked at the table, pointed at it and yelled "Bad Table!" hehehehee

He's doing great with the potty training, telling us when he has to pee and usually pees the minute he sits down. He still prefers pooping in his diaper rather than the potty chair, however he is fast to let you know. "Mommy, look, poopoo!" while turning around and wiggling his butt at you (as if I didn't know where his poop has landed).

Logan's been identifying with the new things I'm bringing into the house as "the baby's" vs. "Logan's" more and more. For example, he makes it known which high chair is his versus the baby's, which car seat is his versus the baby's and, when I recently snagged two used potty chairs on Craigslist (mwahahahaa) for my parent's house (upstairs and downstairs bathrooms), he made sure to let me know that one was for him (the white one) and one was reserved for the baby (the grey/blue one).


When he tests out a new word he's learning, he always phrases it in an adorably cute question, like he's still unsure about its application. A couple of his recent words are "scared" (Logan's scared?) and "fart" (Logan farted?). We all know where he's picked up the latter (*cough* Jon! *cough*), but I'm not as sure about scared. I finally realized he learned it from school, when I dropped him off during story time and the story was about a little animal who was lost and scared, but then found their way home. Interestingly, he doesn't yet seem to feel scared. But is learning when it's appropriate to use the word.

Of course, the big milestone this past month (in addition to his first dentist visit) was his two new beds! I haven't yet captured a great picture of him lounging in his own bed at home, but here's a fun one that my dad took of him napping on his new bed at my parent's house. His transition to the big beds has gone tremendously smooth - and I couldn't be more relieved!


Obsession with airplanes has taken on new proportions. EVERYTHING is an airplane these days. He'll often make use of his thumb and index finger, with both hands, pointing toward you and swooping them around "flying high, in the air!".

Planes don't take a break for potty time.

But, in addition to his hands, he'll "find planes" in pretty much any object he sees. Like, our shower squeegee.


My little monster continues to enjoy making messes and getting into trouble. The other morning, as we were getting ready to head to school/work, he wandered into the bathroom, shut the door and became verrrrry quiet. After a few minutes, I went in to find him doing this.




Let me tell you. I cannot wait until we have TWO boys to clean up after. Can you hear my exasperated sigh Internet?

CANNOT. WAIT.

26 months old

Wednesday's date was 02-10-10. Two tens. Get it? HA! I kill myself.

Ok - so Logan turned 26 months old on Wednesday and for once I don't feel like I have much to report on this past month, but given I've been doing monthly updates I figured I'd still acknowledge it.

The biggest change for Logan has been his new class. We've had a number of tough drop offs (like yesterday morning, oy!), but usually he quickly forgets Mommy or Daddy and runs off to play. I've heard several reassuring comments from the teachers about how (surprisingly) easy his transition to the new class has gone, how (surprisingly) quick he's adapted and how extremely adorable and happy (is that surprising?) he is.

He's a cute and happy kid - that's for sure. And he knows it.

Along with his new class, his vocabulary has really picked up. He adds new words to his repertoire every day! It's amazing and we're always looking forward to what he's going to say next.

He's using his potty more and more every day - he will often ask to sit on his potty right after we take off his diaper, and more times than not he'll either go pee or poop. He seems to like being naked while sitting on his potty (don't ask, I really don't know why) and usually prefers sitting alone. But, once he's peed or poop, you can hear him calling for you down the hall "Mommy! Come look!!" We applaud any little thing, so it's no wonder he swells with pride and wants to show us what he can do.

I don't feel like I take near as many pics as I used to - and worse than that, I rarely post them up anymore. So, I'll leave the rest of this post to a few pics I've taken of Loganito this past month but haven't yet shared. :)

He was quite taken with "Big Kitty Cat" for a while. I think "Big Kitty Cat" is currently stuck in a bin full of toys since I haven't seen his appearance in a couple of weeks.

Poor Lola puts up with A LOT of torture by Mr. Logan. Here he's "sawing" her head, which he thought was HILARIOUS. I'm not so sure she shared that sentiment. In fact, I think she's silently begging me to MAKE THE BOY STOP.

A typical Saturday morning. Banging on his toy drum and making a lot of racket.

I get a scrunched up nose anytime I ask him to smile.

Still a big fan of art and coloring books.

One of the bigger storms Logan's seen hit us this past month. He was amazed at the endless buckets of rain falling from the sky or rushing down our rain gutter spouts.

This also happened to be the morning he opened the front door when I was in another room, letting both dogs out to take off in the pouring rain in opposite directions, leaving me to CHASE trouble-maker Odin around the block (while pregnant, and did I mention, in the pouring rain??).

See what I mean about torture?
See what I mean about cute and happy?
See what I mean about him knowing it?
He so knows it.

Pulling out the pull ups

Tonight when we got home I needed to do a bit more work, so while I typed away on the laptop, Logan played with his cars next to me. Before long, he started trying to poop - and without me asking or prompting - he looked up at me and said "Logan going poopy! Potty! Potty!" and started walking back to his bathroom.

I jumped up, eager to support him in any potty training he does on his own. I stripped him down and left him sitting on the potty while I went back to finish up some emails (he usually sits on the potty for quite awhile). In a few minutes I hear him yell from the bathroom "All done!" and next thing I know, he's walking back down the hallway toward me, pulling up his jeans (without any diaper on).

So, I steer him back around so we can clean him up and get a diaper on him. I took a look in the potty, not expecting to see anything but whaddya know, he had gone pee! We dumped the pee down the toilet (he LOVES to flush the toilet) and seeing as how he pulled up his jeans on his own, I opened up a bag of pull-up diapers I had bought awhile ago (just to be ready). I showed him how to put the pull-up diaper on, and pull it up on his own.

We moved back into the main room where I did a few more emails and Logan picked up his playtime right where he had left off (picking up cars, putting them in a tupperware box, then dumping them back onto the floor again). Once more, he started doing his poop-grunting dance, only this time we didn't make it back to the potty in time. Still, he insisted on sitting on the potty again anyway.

So, I stripped him down again and sat him on the potty. And before you know it, he's going pee again!

With another pee earlier this morning after he woke up, that counts for THREE successful pees on the potty in one day. Pretty cool. :)

His Majesty

Every day this week Logan has asked to sit on his potty. We haven't
been pushing him at all on the potty training but I know enough to
encourage it every chance we get. :)

The only downside is he generally wants to sit on the potty right
before we have to leave in the morning, and he just sits and sits and
sits. It tries every ounce of patience in a body as you're scrambling
to get out at a decent hour.

Nights like tonight are no biggie tho. He tried out both the "big"
potty (our regular toilet) and the little potty here, drinking juice,
reading books and singing to himself.

He takes so long, there are cute little red rings on his butt once
he's (finally) all done. *sigh*

Al Bundy has moved in

Logan decided to strip down to his diaper this evening. And then tried pulling the diaper off next. I asked him, do you want me to change your diaper? At which he replied with the following gesture.... (while walking down the hallway toward his bedroom):

I guess that's a yes.

Potty Time!

I noticed Logan trying to poop this morning so I offered to sit with him on his potty. He was agreeable - so we stripped him down (it's a laborious process trying to get a kid who's pooping, to stand there and lift his legs while you first pull down his shorts, take those off, and then try to delicately undo his diaper without making a mess!) and he promptly sat on the potty while we read a couple of books that I recently got for him.

He finally seemed to have enough (hadn't gone pee nor poop) and stood up saying he was all done. Just as I was getting ready to put a diaper back on, he peed a tiny bit on the floor. Whoops! So, I put him back on the potty to sit a bit longer. We sat there for a good 15-20 minutes reading those books from cover to cover a hundred times. But, he loved it and didn't seem to mind (he especially likes the "flushing" button on one of them). Toward the end, he looked at me with a funny face and started grabbing for his penis, saying pee pee and potty. I thought he was finally understanding the stories from our books - but, he stood up and lo and behold, there was a bowl full of pee in that potty!! WOOHOO!

It was exciting for both of us - I clapped, told him what a great job he did, and he helped me flush it down the toilet (another part of the process he thoroughly enjoyed).

I figured I wouldn't push my luck with the pooping part and just called it a day with the potty adventures. So, we cleaned everything up, put clean fresh clothes and a diaper back on him, and went about playing in the house.

Only, about 15 minutes later, he started trying to poop again. I asked him if he wanted to go back on the potty, but he shook his head and said No. I said, are you sure? I can come with you if you want. So, he grabbed my hand and we went back into the bathroom to sit on the potty once again. He hopped on and off several times, not really sure about the whole ordeal. But finally, during one of the last "hops" back on the potty, he did a final grunt, looked up at me with an "uh-oh!" and immediately stood up.

He had pooped! He seemed a little shocked at first, but then super curious to see the results of his efforts. ;-) Even trying to touch it! *sigh* Once he realized it was a good thing to poop in the potty, he got very excited and smiled and clapped and yelled "Yaaaay!". And, once again, helped me flush it down the big toilet (and then proceeded to flush, and flush, and flush, and flush, until I had to redirect him to something else).

I still feel like we're miles away from potty training - but it also felt like a small amount of progress, so I'll take it!

15 months old

The big one-five. This last month has gone by in such a blur I really don't know what to post about!

Logan had his 15 month check-up today - and he did GREAT as usual. He's had an enormous growth spurt these last few months, and is now 33" tall (95%!). He's gained just under two pounds weighing in at 23 lbs, 10 oz (50%) and his head circumference is 48 cm (75%) round.

Other than the minor cold he's still getting over, he checked out just fine. Dr. Safir was impressed with Logan's strength and muscle tone, as usual, and said we've got a very inquisitive feisty smart little kid on our hands.

I commented at one point that he's not without his faults - a real pain in the ass many a time - and Dr. Safir just looked at me and said "Bree, I'd have to wonder if he was really your kid, if he weren't just a little bit of a pain in the ass"

Ha! What a smart ass (Dr. Safir was actually my own pediatrician, so it goes without saying he knows me, and my entire family, very very well).

He also teased me when I lamented that as much sign language as Logan is picking up, he still doesn't speak too many words. At that, Dr. Safir stopped cold and said "Oh crap, that's right Bree, I forgot to tell you your son has brain damage".

Yes, this is the sort of doctor we have (and love). You can imagine how many more sarcastic jokes and comments there are when Jon is in the room with me!

In any case, he said to stop worrying so much since Logan clearly understands us just fine, he's just taking his own sweet time with speaking (he told me it's not until 2.5-3 yrs old that you'd want to be concerned).

Logan also got a big cocktail shot - full of DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis), HIB (Meningitis) and IPV (Polio) all in one. But, our little trooper didn't even bat an eye. He literally squinched up his nose and lips when Dr. Safir gave him the shot and then, as Dr. Safir and I looked on, waiting for the outburst, Logan just looked at him like, "WHAT, IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT??" And proceeded to rip off the band-aid that Dr. Safir had quickly stuck to his arm and stuck it back on Dr. Safir's face instead.

Classic.

It was a proud Mama Bree moment.

(Climbing up his chair to reach the toys we've put on top of the speaker box)

Logan is still signing up a storm - the newest words he's mastered since last month are milk, eat/hungry, and help. Help is actually a biggie for him - and thank goodness he's learning to ask for help, because he's such a temperamental little guy with a very short fuse. However, imagine his frustration when he spent the night at Zafu and Zabuton's this last weekend, signing for 'help' over and over again, only they had no idea what the heck he was signing. :)

(Logan signing 'help' since he couldn't quite reach the toys)

And, within the last week or so, he has started saying "Hi" as he waves hello to anyone that comes by, or when he pokes his head out from playing peek-a-boo, or my favorite, when he wakes up in the morning (we hear this teeny voice coming from behind his closed door saying "hi hi hi hi hi hi hi" over and over again).

Today, Miss Kim gave us the big news that even though there are a couple other kids that are older than Logan, she thinks he'll be moving up to the next class before them. He's just extremely mature for his age, has already been on the toddler schedule for some time, listens and obeys the teachers quite a bit (I know, I don't believe her either), and most importantly, seems to finally be getting a tad bit bored of his class. I'm done with this joint Mom. Time to move on.

It's both exciting and depressing news. I've been Miss Kim's biggest cheerleader and really hate the idea of losing her. On the other hand, I can't be selfish and hold my son back just because of a teacher. There are plenty of other good ones, and more importantly, Logan's development isn't going to slow down and we want to make sure he's always stimulated and excited at school each day. The good news is, once he moves into the next class (later next month), they'll begin potty training!

And man oh man. If that isn't a carrot to move parents along, I don't know what is.