Saying good-bye to diapers!

We went out to celebrate with this little one tonight. Yay for Kinley being potty trained! Mason will be 10 on Wednesday, so after 10 years of diapers we are saying so long to one more phase of parenthood.

Potty talk

Last night after Cooper pooped in his diaper, I had a conversation with him about the rewards he would get for going potty in the toilet. This is how the conversation went.


Me: Cooper when you go poop in the potty, you'll get a cookie.
Cooper: I went poop, can I have a cookie?
Me: Yes you did go poop, but you went poop in your diaper, not in the toilet. You'll need to go poop in the potty if you want a cookie.
Cooper: (disappointed look)
Me: And when you go pee in the potty you can have 2 M&M's because you are 2.
Cooper: No I'm 4.

Cooper's even BIGGER news!

So I already know I'm going to get A LOT of flack for posting this, but frankly, I don't really care! I am SO totally excited! Today has been a great day for Cooper in the potty training arena. This morning he peed in the potty for the first time (see earlier post), then after dinner he did this for the first time in the potty!

GO COOPER!

P.S. The morning after, Cooper saw this picture on the blog and said: "That's my big huge poop" and wanted to look at the picture for a while. I think he's pretty proud of himself.

Cooper's big news!

According to the professionals, one of the signs to look for to see if your child is ready to potty train is if they pull at, or pull off their diaper all the time. Cooper does both of these things ALL THE TIME! So for a few weeks we've been letting him sit on his potty, with on results.

I've even bribed him.

He ALWAYS wants to watch his Thomas the Train movie, so when he asks to watch it, I tell him he can IF he sits on his potty while watching it.

This morning he wanted to watch his movie, so out came the potty. I decided to load him up with fluids and have him sit on the potty periodically until he went.

On his second try, he went!

You can't see the pee in this one, so here's another, just to prove he did go.

Now if he would just do it consistently and start pooping it the toilet too, then we'd be on a roll!

I'm a BIG kid now!

I don't want to speak too soon by saying that Mason is potty trained. So I will happily say that he is well on his way to Begin potty trained. As any of you who have read my post from this past Thursday, you would know that I began the process that day. I have to admit that the first 24 hours was stressful.

Friday he sat on the potty for much of the day, with about the same success as Thursday. He peed in the potty three times and only had one accident, which really wasn't too bad. He had pooped in his underwear, but came to me as soon as he had done it, so nothing was mushed up on anything. The underwear were save-able if you can believe that. Him pooping in his underwear was still stressful and I wondered if this was what I really wanted to deal with at this time. But then I calmed down and tried to be rational, I was going to have to go through this at some point, so I may as well go through it now. I tried to tell myself that it would all be worth it in the end, I wouldn't have to potty train him in our new house and get pee all over the new carpet, and I wouldn't be spending as much money on diapers.

Saturday we took a break from the potty training when we went to Riverfront Park and I think this threw Mason off a bit because he didn't have any success the rest of the day.

Sunday we stayed home from church (can you believe that) to continue the training. The morning was tragic for Mason. He pooped once again in his underwear, but this time they were not save-able. So as we cleaned him up and put his underwear in a plastic bag, showed him the underwear, and told him that we were going to have to throw the underwear away because he pooped in them instead of in the toilet. Mason watched me throw the underwear in the garbage and began to cry. Later that afternoon Jeff let Mason try peeing standing up, right next to Jeff as he went "potty". (sorry of the mental picture, I'm sure it's just what you all wanted, right?) Well, Mason was very successful at peeing standing up, probably more successful than most adult men are.

Monday we had just one accident in the morning. But as soon as he began to go, he stopped himself and we went to the bathroom where he finished going and was also able to poop in the toilet!

Today he did not have any accidents! YEAH! He told me when he needed to go and went right in and did his thing (standing of course because he wants to do it just like his Daddy.)

I am really surprised at how fast Mason has potty trained, I really figured it would take him at least a few weeks before he went a day without an accident, not just five days. I am so proud of Mason, but also of Jeff and I for finally sticking to the potty training this time. I hope Mason continues to have the same success with this.

I don't have any pictures of his poop this time so sorry for those of you who enjoyed the last picture and you are welcome to those of you who did not.

Potty Train

I was talking to a friend of mine (Amber) who's daughter, Abby is ten months younger than Mason. This Sunday Abby decided that she did not want to wear diapers any more. So sense Sunday, Abby has been in "panties" and doing great, with no real accidents to speak of. Not only is she not having any accidents, she is also telling Amber when she needs to go potty.

This news made me excited and annoyed at the same time. Excited that Abby had figured out the whole potty thing, annoyed that Mason, who is ten months older that Abby, still had not. I know what you are all thinking, girls potty train earlier and easier that boys, yeah I know, but ten months earlier, give me a break, Mason should be getting this by now.

So, today Amber came over and had brought Abby's potty seat with her, just in case Abby needed to go. Amber asked if I wanted to borrow her potty seat as Abby was doing really well and probably didn't need the seat. Of course I jumped on that chance to borrow it. Amber gave me a few pointers on what she has done with Abby and then we were off, well actually on, the potty seat that is.

Mason spent a good part of his afternoon on the potty seat, drinking a ton of juice and water, and eating saltine crackers.

Mason peed in the potty THREE times!!! Hip-hip-ha-ray! We are on our way!

Hopefully more updates to come!

Power struggle

I would love to blog every cute little thing Mason and Cooper do but I know this is unrealistic for me, so I figured I would blog once a month to let everyone know what has gone on in our family for that month.

Mason is nearing three years old, and I thought he would be potty trained by now, or at least well on his way. I was so wrong, so far he will just sit on the toilet for a minute or two and then be done. But in the middle of April he did the deed on the toilet for the first time ever, and boy was it a GREAT BIG deed.

April 15, 2008
Mason not only peed but he also pooped in the toilet for the first time! I was so excited! Mason called both his Papas and Grandmas to tell them the great news. I thought that if we made a big deal about it, it would be smooth sailing from then on out. Yeah right! He hasn't wanted anything to do with potty training ever sense.

I don't want to hear from anyone that you think it was nasty that I took a picture of Mason with his first poop. This is a big deal in a child's life (well maybe more so in the parents life) but all the same I wanted Mason to have something to remember this by. And YES I will be scrapbooking this big event in his life.

May 24, 2008

Two "boob toob" watchers, just like their Daddy.

Can you see the resemblance?

May 24, 2008

Cooper is starting to thin out. He is still very chubby, but not nearly as chubby as he was even one month ago. Cooper turned nine months old on May 12th. He had his nine month check up. He weighed 25lbs. So, over the last three months he has only gained 1lb, but has gotten much taller. He is wearing 18-24 month clothes, if I want to put him in some jeans he has to wear 2T. We joke that he is dressed up when he gets to wear jeans because all he can really fit in is loose sweat pants.

May 26, 2008

Cooper began crawling this month. He does sort of an army crawl. He slides across the floor, putting one hand in front of the other while kicking his legs. He can get pretty far and fast this way. Cooper has not crawled anywhere on his hands and knees yet, but is beginning to get his knees under himself. Cooper also started pulling himself up to a standing position (with the help of furniture of course). It is just so crazy how quickly they grow.

May 26, 2008

May 28, 2008
Mason and Cooper in their matching "digging jamies" as Mason calls them. (The pajamas have bulldozers and backhoes on them)

May 29, 2008
Last night Jeff was out playing racket ball with a friend of ours. It was Mason's bed time and like he sometimes does, he was testing me. I put him in bed and he decided he did not want to stay in bed. After the second or third time getting out of bed I told him that if he got out of bed again I was going to put him back in bed and shut his door. So like the curious little boy that he is, he got out of bed again, so I keep good on my promise and I put him in his bed and shut his door. Of course he immediately began crying, ran to his door, opened it, and ran into the living room. I again took him back to bed and shut his door. This time about five minutes passed when I realized it was quiet in the house. I walked to the hallway and this is what I found.

I guess he just wanted his door open...
I wonder what he was thinking as he laid down in his door way. Probably "I'll show her" or "look who's going to win this power struggle" I guess we will never know, but it was pretty funny.


I hope you have enjoyed seeing how much our boys are growing! I know I do.
Until next month I hope everyone is doing well and have a great June.

Of course I will be posting pictures of the progress of the construction of our house every week for everyone to see. (if we make it up to Five Mile to take a picture)