Potty Training…

Ah, the dreaded potty training.  Everyone kept telling me to wait until Hudson was ready and to be perfectly honest – I didn’t really know what that meant?  I mean how would I know when a 3 year old was ready?  Well, as it turns out it is like most things in life – you just know.

We tried in January and he was NOT ready.  It was quite possibly the most miserable 12 hours of both of our lives.  I tabled it and decided to wait a few months.  Every so often I would ask him if he was ready to go big boy potty and every time he told me “no, mommy. I wear diapers”.  Mercy.

Last week, on a complete whim, I asked him again.  This time he said “yes!”  Okay, I was not prepared. At all.  And frankly, the timing?  Not the greatest.  Easter weekend was coming up, we have  a trip (that includes a plane ride and a 2 hour car ride) coming up – so potty training was probably not the best idea right this minute.  BUT, he was ready. We had 3 open days.  So, we went for it.  And he did AWESOME.

For my purposes (and the purposes of our family scrapbook:)) I am going to record what we did…

We spent 3 days straight in the house, which is enough to drive us both crazy since we are on-the-go people, but it was necessary.  I pushed the fluids big time – milk, water, juice, etc. After the first initial accident, I asked him every 20 minutes (I can still hear the oven timer in my sleep) if he needed to go.  After that first one there were zero accidents!  So proud of our big boy!  I rewarded him the first couple of day every time he went with a toy car or a sucker.  By the end of the first day he was letting me know when he needed to go. 

Now, the public restroom?  That is a different story.  He pretty much refuses to go in public (and I can’t blame him – who likes a public restroom?) and instead holds it until we get home.  I have got to figure out how to get him to go (rewards aren’t even working), but I know eventually he will get there. 

Overall, he is doing REALLY well!  And we are very proud of our big boy. :)

Pushing the juice! :)  He wanted Harper up on the table where he could talk to her (don’t worry she was very well supervised):

Checking out one of the reward cars:

And yet more juice…:)

Gatesey is 3!

We celebrated one of our favorite little girl’s birthday last weekend!  Gatesey turned 3!  Mallie hosted a very fun party – complete with an egg hunt and an appearance by the Easter Bunny himself!

Happy Birthday Gatesey!

Just a typical day…

I know we have gotten incredibly lucky with how well Hudson has adjusted to having Harper here.  He honestly loves her so much and it makes my heart burst every single day.  He is constantly asking to hold her or hug her.  He kissed her good night every night.  If she is on the activity mat or in the bouncy chair when he comes flying by – he stops to talk to her, asks how she is doing, etc.  In the car he is so sweet to her – sings to her and talks to her.  If she starts crying in the car he immediately looks for her “bop” (pacifier) for her and tells her “don’t be sad baby…be happy!”  When we go anywhere just the two of us he wants to know where she is and what she is doing.  And though she can’t verbally express her love for him yet, she certainly does it through the huge smiles and belly laughs she gives him. I love watching their relationship grow everyday.

She is in love…

with her feet…

Backyard fun for us…

means staring out and trying to figure out where to start….

spying on our neighbors (okay, really that is only fun for Hudson)

and of course bubbles…

Sitting pretty…

Harper really loves the Bumbo (much more than Hudson ever did!).  And she really loves her Sophie!!!  She really goes to town on poor Sophie and it cracks us up.  She is getting very close to sitting up independently.  She has the tri-pod stance down pat. :)