He did it!

The house smells incredible right now. I'm making a recipe that I found on the inside of the butter box. (Specifically, these.) There's something that feels so daring about making a recipe that comes from the product package.

Anyway, I'm here to say, William DID IT!

Besides wearing a diaper at night, Will is officially in big boy underwear!

And the only accident he's had in weeks was (OF COURSE) in the church nursery. Thankfully, I had a change of clothes. I won't ever leave the house without one until he's.... four? Besides, the accident was TOTALLY my fault. I should have taken him before dropping him off, and I didn't.

He's been wearing big boy underwear for at least a month now. A month! At less than 2.5, he's officially a Big Boy!

I was having QUITE the time of it. I told my friend Ashleigh, "I can't get him to go on the toilet. We try and try and sit and sit and he won't go! He holds it until I put his diaper on for naptime, OR until he can't hold it anymore and he pees all over the floor. I've tried treats, reading books... I don't know what to do."

She suggested running the warm water in the bathtub, undressing him, and letting him stand and pee in the tub . I wasn't sure if that wouldn't just be training him to pee in the tub, but she said, "At least he wouldn't be going in his diaper."

I figured I'd give it a try.

So the very next morning, I told him he was going to be wearing big boy underwear. I put him in the bathtub with warm water running, and he peed. I knew he would. I lavished him with praise and gave him a little treat. The rest of the day, we did that. It worked great!

The following day - oh, rats. It was a doctor's appointment for Barrett. I figured there's no way I was going to take Will out in underwear. But when I got out the diaper, he shocked me and said, "I want to wear big boy underwear." This! From the stinker who had been telling me he didn't want to wear it for weeks now! What could I do?

I packed a change of clothes and right before we left, he peed in my shower. And he did great! I kept telling him, (Over and OVER), "Remember, you're not wearing a diaper!"

That became kind of a catch phrase through this process and now, sometimes, when I put him underwear on he'll tell me, "Remember, you're not wearing a diaper!"

He went straight from diapers to underwear. I didn't want him to feel like it was okay to go sometimes and not other times, and plus have you priced out Pull-Ups lately? Holy Sheesh. I had them in my cart and then was like, UM no. He knows he still needs a diaper at night, but he gets a treat if he keeps it dry all night (only happened two or three times though). I'm sure the poor sister volunteering in Toddlers in Sunday was wishing he'd been wearing a pull-up, however.

After about a week of that, it was like he finally knew how to control his pee, and he pretty much effortlessly transitioned to the potty. I thought we might have to gradually transition him away from peeing in the tub, but it was as easy as saying, "Okay bud, let's try the potty now." Oh yeah - and I stopped giving a treat for going pee pee in the shower, only for the potty.

I HIGHLY recommend the "My Big Boy/Girl Potty" books by Joanna Cole. We actually got both from the library and Will loved the girl one just as much. He definitely identified with the characters and we quote the book a lot. "'Don't worry,' said mommy. 'All children have accidents sometime. Next time you'll remember.' And you know what? Next time, [William] did! You can be like William. You can learn to use the potty too! Then won't you be proud of yourself!"

And after I say that, William gives me a huge grin and asks, "Say it again?"

December dudes

I have NO business blogging right now. I'm in way over my head but my kids are adorable and hilarious as always and I want to hang on to it!

Last night Will said, "It's reawwy (really) dark outside! Let's turn it on." Turn on what, buddy? "Turn on the outside."

He likes to say really. I'm reawwy sweepy. I'm reawwy hungry. I'm reawwy tired.

He also likes to answer questions lately with a full sentence. William, are you hungry? No, I'm not. Only, 9 times out of 10 he uses the wrong phrase. Will, are you okay? Yeah, I did. Will, are you being kind to Barrett? No, I don't. 

Lately, Will's obsessed with:
Sitting in Barrett's crib with a blanket draped over the side and "doing puppet show"
Talking to Wendy from Bob the Builder (constantly voiced by yours truly)
Anything stuck in the muck
Asking daddy "how was your day?" and then interrupting him - every time - to point out the buck mounts in the living room
Playing in the kinetic sand with his tractors

Lately, Barrett is totally on the go!
Everything's in the mouth. Not super happy to stay in the carrier unless sleepy. Still the world's happiest guy. Even when sick! Sleeping better and better all the time (between colds, of course, and even during them sometimes). Explores, explores, explores. Loves 'lift the flap' books - he'll flip the flaps back and forth endlessly. Loves the Tegu wheels - for some reason he crawls around with one in his hand almost constantly. Searches for the fuzzy side of his blanket and the instand he finds it - thumb in mouth. He's a cuddler and a laugher and a wiggle worm.

What a couple of dudes!