Benefits??

Ok- I need all you experienced Moms out there to let me in on the secret.  When will I see or appreciate the benefits of having Scotty potty trained??  Because as of right now, I'm not seeing too many.  There is the fact that I don't have to buy diapers for him anymore and if we were to go somewhere packing a bunch of underwear will take up less room than a bunch of diapers.  But other than that I'm not seeing many benefits!!  There's the arguing when I tell him to go to the potty when he's dancing around but he would much rather play than go to the bathroom.  There's the totally disgusting toilet that has to be cleaned-   and how does a  little boy that sits down  to pee get pee all over the  place???  Then there is the panicking whenever we have to go somewhere worrying that he will have an accident and having to pack extra pants and underwear, going right before we leave, being the drink Nazi and not letting him drink more than is needed to sustain life, rushing around to find a bathroom as soon as we arrive at our destination just to have him sit there and not go, take him a few more times and have him sit there and not go, then see him holding himself when we are as far away as possible from the bathroom and have to give myself a heart attack running him to the bathroom hoping he doesn't pee on me as I carry him there!  And then there is the celebrating when he does poop on the potty only to have him announce that he's done and needs me to wipe him- gross!  It was much easier to clean him up after a poopy diaper then when he's sitting on the toilet.  I'm really proud of him and he really is doing well with it, I just think that I'm the one that is having a hard time adjusting to this new stage.  It seems much easier to me just to change diapers than to go through all this!  

Hmm..I guess another benefit is that Scotty has earned a couple trips to get ice cream from doing his sticker chart and I have been a recipient of a treat from his hard work!  And after we got ice cream today we stopped at a park and played and had a really great time.  So I guess there are more benefits when I stop to think about it.  Fun, quality time with him is always a benefit, no matter what we had to go through to get it.

TV

Since a few of you have pointed out that Grant's love of tv is probably inherited, I thought I'd talk about my love of tv!  I love tv.  I'm not ashamed to admit it.  I think tv is one of the greatest inventions ever.  I think I have always been a tv lover.  From the times that I would cry when Mr Rogers would say goodbye at the end of his show, to cheering when Jim kissed Pam on the season ender of The Office.  As I type this I'm watching and thoroughly enjoying a show about a potential serial killer that works for the police- thanks Mel!  I'm not a fan of much daytime tv (just an occasional Ellen, Oprah and the beloved Cosby Show re-runs!), but come evening time I'm in for the long haul.  We don't have cable or satellite but I can make do with network tv.  It's probably a good thing we don't because I would probably get stuck watching HGTV all night long.

An interesting dilemma I'm facing now is tv watching and kids.  Even though I love tv so much I don't want my kids watching all the time.  I do my own personal watching when Scotty is napping or after he's gone to bed at night.  Any tv watching during the day is PBS for Scotty.  I was doing pretty good with letting Scotty watch a few of his favorite PBS shows and that was all, but then Grant was born.  Then tv became an entertainer when I was exhausted.  Then as Grant got older and we fell into our new routine I had to cut back on the tv watching for Scotty.  Poor guy.  No more endless stream of Curious George, Arthur, Dragon Tales, Super Why and Clifford.  I was proud the other day when we had the tv on and Scotty turned it off and said "Let's play Mommy!"  Maybe even with my bad habits I'm still able to teach Scotty a better way.

My little turkey and couch potato

Scotty has these little goggles that came in a tool set.  He wanted to wear them in the bath the other night and it was so funny!  They were all steamy and he couldn't see.  The best part is that he calls them "gobbles"!!

Scotty wearing his designer "gobbles".

Grant LOVES tv.  He is always twisting, turning and craning to see it.  When we feed him he will turn his head all the way to the side to have a good view of the tv if it is on.  And when I lay him down on the floor he puts his head all the way back to see it.  Is this a bad sign??

Made it out alive!

Well, after one and half days spent sitting right outside the bathroom with Scotty, we have emerged potty trained and still alive!!  He's doing pretty good- still having some accidents but he's catching on.  He's just too busy playing to stop and go to the bathroom!  But I did enjoy the one on one time spent with Scotty, even though we were mainly talking about potty stuff, I felt close to him.  And nobody told me about the warm overflow of parental pride at the first tinkle in the potty!  I had tears and everything.  It was quite a moment for me to realize that he's growing up and I'm ok with that and even happy that he is mastering a big boy skill.  

As I was feeding Grant today I remembered that the only time Scotty would snuggle with us from 6 months to 1yr old was when we were feeding him his bottle.  I was so sad to give up bottles at 1 because that was my only snuggle time!  So I snuggled Grant for a long time after he was done feeding.  I'm going to try to remember that he will soon be wanting his independence and I need to cherish every snuggle moment that I get before they are gone.  

When Miles and Scotty went into his room tonight to get into bed, Scotty flops onto the rocking chair and announces "I'm hyper!"  That was an understatement!!

Doctor day

Last Friday we took both boys for their 3yr and 4mo checkup.  I was worried about Scotty getting his shot because he is now fully aware of what is happening.  I hate shots!  I explained before we went that he would be getting a shot and that it was going to hurt but only for a minute.  He said that he doesn't like shots and that we should go to another doctor and not get a shot!  But everything went really well.  Scotty said "Ow!" but was quickly distracted by the cool band-aid.  Grant didn't start crying until his 2nd shot was done, cried through the 3rd and 4th shot but stopped crying as soon as I picked him up.  My boys are so brave!  They are both growing well.  Scotty is still 50th percentile for both height and weight.  Grant still has a little head- 75th for height, 60th for weight and only 10th for his head!  I wondered if the doctor would raise her eyebrow when she found out Scotty is still not potty trained, but she just said ok and didn't think anything of it.

After the doctor we went out to lunch and then we went to Toys R Us to let Scotty use his birthday gift card.  We had a great time at the toy store.  They gave him a crown which he loved and announced on the speaker that it was his birthday.  He had quite a few people tell him happy birthday!  He went running around looking at all the toys and then he found an RC train set that was set up and he had a great time playing with that for quite awhile.  Then we went over to the bikes and the big drive-able trucks and cars and spent a long time there driving them.  He found a 3 wheeled scooter and loved scooting all over on that.  I didn't know how he was ever going to choose a toy to get!  Until we made our way over to the truck section and he found a garbage truck.  That was the end of our searching- the garbage truck was the winner!  It has a dumpster on the front and it lifts it up and dumps the garbage into the back of the truck, then the truck raises and dumps all the garbage out.  He loves his "bargage" truck and has spent lots of time playing with it.  He says he is going to drive a "bargage" truck when he is "bigger and bigger"!  

After the toy store we went to Mervyns to buy Scotty some two piece pajamas.  He has always worn the one piece zip up pajamas, but now that he is going to be potty trained we had to switch to the two piecers.  We found them, got in the car and Scotty was asleep in about two minutes with his garbage truck on his lap!  

4 nights!

Well, Scotty made it 4 nights before he got out of his bed- that's pretty good!  Tonight when we put him to bed he was in there playing, talking, bouncing and having a grand ol' time!  I went in and told him to go to sleep once and he was quiet for awhile.  But after he'd been in bed for about an hour and 15 minutes we heard his door shut.  So I went down the hall and his door opened- he saw me coming and he went running!  The sound of his feet pitter pattering was hilarious and I had to pause outside of his door to stop laughing.  When I went in I found him laying on his pillow on top of his comforter on the floor with his stuffed daddy Shamu and baby Shamu right there with him!  He said he wanted to sleep right there on the floor, but mean Mommy made him get back in his bed.  I had to laugh when I saw him with his little bed all spread out on the floor- ruining my plan to just put him right back in bed with minimal talking when he did finally get up!  When he was at his Grandma's the other day he took a nap on the floor of Grandpa's office and I'm sure that is where this idea came from.  We'll have to see what the next few nights bring!  I'm sure he'll still lay in there and yell for us before dawn tomorrow morning- urgh.

He also fell out of bed just a few minutes ago.  That is only the second time and he only whimpers a little and goes right back to sleep.  It's probably a good thing that we had to use the crib/toddler bed until we can get his big bed.  Less height to fall and less traumatic experience!  He's such a big boy now.  We'll be doing potty training next Tuesday and that will be the definite end of all traces of babyhood for him!  Makes me a little sad.  But on the bright side:  I will only have to buy diapers for one kid now!!

Another step to full big boy status

Since we can't get Scotty his official big boy bed until the basement is finished (before high school maybe??) we have kept him in his crib.  The other night I put him in it and he told me that he is too big for this bed!  I knew then that we needed to get things moving quickly.  Then the next night I had a great idea pop into my head and I don't know why we didn't think of this sooner.  We bought a crib that converts into a toddler day bed and then can eventually convert into a full size bed- so why don't we make it a day bed for the time being?  We told Scotty we were going to do it and he got so excited and laughed hysterically!  Today was the big day.  He loved helping Miles take the bolts out and as soon as we had the front rails off he runs over and jumps on.  Then he grabbed the baby monitor and started "fixing" and "vacuuming" his bed!  At nap time he was so excited to lay down on his "new" bed and he went to sleep quickly.  About an hour later I heard him start to cry a little so I went to check on him and he was laying on the floor.  I asked him what happened and he said that he fell down.  His first time falling out of bed!!  Pause to wipe the tear away.  He went back to sleep and when he woke up he just stayed in bed talking until Miles went in and told him that he could get up, then he swung his legs over the side, bounced out and ran out to tell me that he got out of his bed all by himself!  When he went to bed tonight Miles heard him in there talking so he went to see what was going on and Scotty told him that his stuffed animal had fallen on the floor and would he please pick it up for him?  He didn't even get out of bed to get his stuffed animal!  We figured that he would either stay in his bed and call us when it's time to get up or else he would get up a billion times.  So far he has just stayed in and we'll keep our fingers crossed that he'll continue!  Except that we'd love for him to get himself up in the morning, grab a snack, turn cartoons on and let us sleep in a little - but I have a feeling that is a bit too big of a dream!! 

"Vacuuming" his bed- he likes things nice and clean!

Time flies

Grant is 4 months old today.  He is growing up so fast.  He is a big boy also.  I'm excited to get his stats at his 4 month check up tomorrow.  I had to get out Scotty's old 6-9 month clothes for him today because the 3-6 month stuff is getting too small.  I remember being sad when Scotty would outgrow his little clothes, but I seem to be more sad with Grant.  Maybe it's because I'm not able to savor every single moment with him like I did with Scotty.  But he is such a good, happy baby that every moment I do spend with him is joyful.  I sat with him after feeding him this evening and held him in my arms while he talked to me in his cute little coo's.  It was so cute!  Scotty is starting to interact with him more and it is so fun to watch.  He talks to him and brings toys over to him and he has asked to hold him and feed him a couple times lately.  The holding and feeding only last about 30 seconds but it's a start!  

Here are some recent pictures of our little cutie for your viewing pleasure!

Smiling at his Easter toy.

He works his hand out of his swaddling blanket and happily chews on his fingers.

Basement update..

The drywall is done, all but one door is hung and Miles will be starting on the baseboards soon.  Hip, hip hooray!!  I CAN'T WAIT until this blankety blank project is finished.  In the meantime, Grant is quickly outgrowing his bassinet, Scotty is ready to be potty trained and needs his big boy bed asap, and now we have added Scotty's new birthday toys to the millions of toys strewn throughout every square foot of our upstairs!  Plus- I really miss Miles.  He is always working in the basement and I really miss hanging out with him in the evenings and on Saturdays.  Theoretically I could go down there and work with him, but we have found through personal experience that my presence is only a distraction and annoyance and not very helpful!  I help him when I am truly needed and let him work his magic when I'm not.  I am also having a really hard time being motivated to do any house cleaning whatsoever.  There isn't a spot for everything so I can't put things in their spots, so I just leave them wherever they have happened to fall.  I just keep telling myself that it will be all better once the basement is done and we can move all the crap downstairs.  Of course, then there will be the issues of having to clean up the playroom, a whole other level of house to vacuum and another bathroom to clean, but that is a worry for another day!