What has this turkey been up to?

Well, he has successfully, completely, 100%, absolutely, without a doubt, totally been potty-trained!

He wears a pull-up at night and he always wakes up dry. The pull-up is for me and my comfort. I'm trying to get the most amount of sleep I can before Collins gets here because I know what is in store for me!

Banks, thanks for doing this for your Mom & Dad. We really appreciate you getting out of diapers before we have to start buying diapers all over again for your younger brother. I hope I get the courage soon to take you out of pull-ups. We're really proud of you and our checking account thanks you, too!

It not workin' and The Mouse

Banks' newest saying. He uses it when anything (and I mean anything) doesn't work. When cars don't roll or go, when windows don't roll down (b/c they're on child lock), when sippy cups get clogged with orange juice pulp, when doors won't open (b/c they're deadbolted) and when he sits on the potty and doesn't teetee.

Yes, you read correctly. Banks is sitting on the potty and actually using it 90% of the time. But, sometimes, he just sits and sits and sits. To which he says "it not workin'". I'm not really sure what is going on. I think it must have to do with being the little brother and watching Hughes. He does everything else Hughes does so I guess this should be no surprise to me. However, he did just turn 2. So, I'm going to go for it. We'll see how he does this week with underwear on during waking hours (at our house).

So, if you're wondering what I'm doing this week it'll probably look like this: cleaning up messes, washing lots of underwear/pants, cursing myself for even trying, and , oh yeah, packing for Disney! Yeah, you heard me - we're going to visit The Mouse - woohoo!

Progress & Poop

When I pick Hughes up from school I always ask him how his day was and what did he do. I usually get silence. When I ask him if he colored, the answer is always no. When I ask him if he read books, the answer is always no. Even if I ask the teacher before hand about what they did, Hughes always answers no.

So, today when picking him up and buckling his car seat, I asked him what he did today. AND HE ANSWERED! He told me he did a "pirate puzzle with a sea monster" and "he built an airplane". I am still giddy one hour later over this accomplishment. It probably seems so small to most of you. But, you have to understand, I don't have fluid conversations with Hughes. We have question/answer period at best (parents doing the questioning, Hughes doing the answering). So, for Hughes to give me something other than a "no" is quite exciting. We are making progress!

Banks big progress has been the word "yesh" aka yes. He says it at the right time and his "yesh" just makes me smile. Also, this 2 year old teetee'd on the potty by himself. He got out of the tub and sat on the little potty and did his business. I came back into the bathroom only to find teetee in the potty. I asked Hughes if he did and he said "no". Then, I asked Hughes who did. To which I got the response "Banks did". I made a really big deal about it. So, the next day, I went upstairs to do something and there again was teetee in the little potty. I came downstairs and asked Banks if he teetee'd. He answered "yesh". I, again, made a big deal about it. At that point, I also realized that Banks had taken his diaper off. Two minutes later, I hear David yelling from the downstairs bathroom "who pooped on the floor". It was Banks. At least he went to the right room and he did lay toilet paper on top of it.

So, that's my latest poop story. Banks is interested in using the potty but I think we're just going to take it easy on the training. He did just turn 2 in September so I'm not going to push it and make it hard on myself. I did that with Hughes and it backfired.

And then there was one. . .

**Read At Your Own Risk**

Maybe I'm not cut out to be a "boy mama" after all! Here I've thought for the past almost 4 years that God gave me boys for a reason - I like to hunt bugs, catch frogs, be outside, play sports, etc. I thought I was meant to have boys and be just like "Miss" Jane. Well, then Hughes through me for a loop and now I'm second guessing my "boy mama" self.

Meet one of my topiarys - I have one on each side of my fireplace. Years ago when I babysat for this wonderful family in Mt. P, the wife was getting rid of these. I loved them so I asked if I could have them. This was 6 years ago. They have been with us since that day and I think I love now more than I did then.

Have you figured out the story yet?

It's match is now on my back porch with the base of the topiary soaking in a water/clorox solution. Now, have you figured out the story? Let me start from the beginning . . .

Last week, David moved the couch to get something that had fallen behind there and told me that it smelled like tee tee. Surprise, Shock and Disgust are things that filled my head. I gave him some cleaning stuff and sent him behind the couch. He never found the source but was confident that it just had to be a mishap by Hughes. Well, fast forward to today. I'm upstairs while Banks is napping doing things that a wonderful, dutiful housewife does (clean bathrooms, fold laundry, watch a little tv, laying down etc). I come downstairs to play with Hughes - we do puzzles, we dance. Then I go over to the corner to pick up his cup to get him some juice. I notice the urine smell again. Charlie is sniffing one of my topiarys. I look and the base of my topiary tree has been soaked with tee tee! I asked Hughes if he did that (secretly praying that Charlie has done this but knowing deep down that Charlie is house trained) and he said no. Then, I asked him "who did it" and he said "I did". Surprise, Shock and Disgust once again enter my head.

How and why would my beautiful 3 year old tee tee on my fake topiary? I mean, I know I let him tee tee on bushes outside but I didn't think he would do it inside on my fake plants. I guess I learned my lesson and there will be no more tee teeing outside on bushes unless absolutely necessary.

Let me tell you something else I learned - tee tee smells really bad but clorox/tee tee combo is stomach-wrenching.

I can handle a lot. I mean, remember, I did make it through the "stool stool" but come on! Hopefully, this will be the last of Hughes' potty experiments. Who knows what Banks is going to put me through?????

Clorox Take Me Away!

I am so disgusted right now.  I'm also sorry for the post I'm about to write.  Anyone with small children who haven't been through potty training might want to stop now.  Anyone without children should definitely stop now!  

I warned you.  

Hughes is in his room for quiet time.  He was making a lot of noise and I was afraid that he was going to wake Banks up so I went into his room to tell him to keep it down.  When I walked in, it hit me right in the face - the smell, that is, of a nasty poop.  I asked Hughes if he had an accident, he replied no.  Normally, if Hughes needs to go potty during nap he knocks on the door profusely until I come.  Today that was not the case.  I checked his pants - nope.  I checked a pull-up on the floor - nope.  Then I spotted his step stool that has a lift-up top - right!  He used his step-stool as a POTTY!  

I am shocked, disgusted, confused, etc.!  Why did my sweet boy do that?  He's never done anything like that before.  We don't even teetee outside!  We always use the potty!  Why did he choose to use his step stool?  He's been using the potty since Oct.  - why is he experimenting now?

I fussed at him and told him that we do not use the step stool as a potty and took it out of his room.  I put him in the bed and closed the door.  Then, I had to clean the damn thing!  More disgust, more shock, more confusion!  I want to wash my hands in clorox and throw the step-stool away!!!!!!

Is my sweet boy turning into some crude child?  If this happens again, I'm going to throw up!

Full Moon

Well, most of you know that we are attempting potty training at the Holman household.  We are succeeding more and more of recognizing the urge to go.  So, as you can imagine, it is much easier for Hughes just to wear his underwear around the house.  I mean, who wants to constantly change shorts and that makes more laundry for me.  So, I've been letting Hughes lounge around the house and backyard in his undies.  One of our many attempts to make it to the potty resulted in wet undies.  So, I took them off of him but not having any dry ones downstairs I just sent him into the den while I finished up with Banks in the kitchen.  I figured what could he possibly do - get the rug wet - been there, done that!  I finish with Banks and then go and check on Hughes b/c it is awfully quiet.  The below picture tells it all.  Unfortunately, it is not from the angle I received when I walked into the den.  I got the Full Moon!  For modesty sake and possible future political aspirations by Hughes, I decided to take the picture from the head down.  

Speech and Potty Training Update

We had Hughes' IEP meeting today with the speech pathologist and school.  Hughes is going to be receiving 60 minutes of speech per week.  I will be taking him to the local elementary school once a week.  The pathologist was very encouraging.  I think Hughes will like her - she's young and seems energetic.  He is going to be sharing his time with another 3 year old.  His first session is the 10th.  I'm very curious to see how it goes.  

Also, we started potty training again.  As far as I can tell, Hughes is really good at holding it until I put a diaper on him for nap or bedtime.  He's only had one accident/day for the last three days but he's only really used the potty once in 3 days.  When I sit him on it before nap - nothing.  When I tell him to get back in the bed 10 minutes after putting him down- soaking wet diaper.  It is so frustrating!

Potty Training 101

Well, I've jumped into the deep end and there's no turning back - I've started potty training Hughes.  I wish I could say it is so EASY but that would be misleading.  We have good days and a lot of bad days.  The bad days are the times when I miss daycare.