Potty Training: Day 13

VICTORY. Liam was pretty much trained for peeing in the potty after 3 days. Poo was another story. After nearly two weeks of cleaning poo out of underwear, he finally poo'd in the potty today! It was the result of blatant bribery, but apparently that's how it's done.

So, just to be clear, this isn't the kind of happy occasion where you post a pic on Facebook, right? Because I'm about ready to break into song. The end of two kids in diapers is nigh! I'm so proud of Liam. Naturally I know no one wants to see my kid's poo on Facebook, but on the other hand it would probably be a great way to clean up my friends list--get rid of the squeamish ones and all...

On days like this being a mom is GOOD. I love days when I don't feel I've fallen short or failed my kids in some way. I love these days when I feel like I did it right.

LAFD Museum and Memorial

Sitting here with a glass of wine, reflecting on what turned out to be a great day. We took Liam to the Los Angeles Fire Department Museum and Memorial in Hollywood. I thought he would enjoy it given how
much he likes fire engines right now. He certainly had a good time, and Eric and I enjoyed taking him
to the museum. The museum was neat too, of course, but nothing beats the enjoyment a parent can get from watching their child light up and have fun. Loved it! Connor slept through the whole thing. Compared to Liam as a baby, Connor is more of a sleepy baby. Can't complain about that! I'm a lucky mama to have such wonderful, sweet boys.

Today was also a red-letter day on the potty training front. I encouraged Liam to sit on the potty first thing this morning since his diaper was dry when he woke up. He sat down, but eventually got up because he "couldn't make his pee pee come out." A few minutes later--even though he had a diaper
on and could have used it--he came to me and said he had to go potty. Sure enough, he sat down and
darn near filled his little potty! He wore a pull-up on our outing, but he was dry when we got home and
peed in the potty twice more. I am a proud mama! He was rewarded for his efforts with an Optimus
Prime Rescue Bot and the promise of more to come if he keeps it up. He did have two poo accidents today, but because it's common knowledge you have to train for #1 and then again for #2, I'm not counting those against him. Thankfully they were not messy accidents, so cleanup was as easy as I could hope for. Here's hoping we are well on our way to having a fully potty trained 3 year old!

Potty Training: Day One

Two pee-pee accidents so far--one in the morning and one just now (2:30p). Neither of them have been big accidents, but he's gotta be carrying around a bladder full of urine--not to mention #2... Thus far he hasn't gone once in the potty, despite the fact that I'm making him sit on it every 20 minutes or so for at least 10 minutes. Rapidly beginning to see why so many moms say they *hate* potty training!

2:45: Accident #3 (#1)

3:37: Accident #4 (#1)

4:48: Accident #5 (#1) - Gusher! Anticipating he must be full to bursting with pee, I put rubber underwear
in over his regular underwear. Thank goodness I did. It spared my carpet the worst of it. I took him straight to the bath tub, cleaned him up a bit (SO much pee!), then just gave him a bath. I put a diaper on him after the bath. I think we'd both had enough of practicing using the potty for the day! This is gonna be intense.

Christmas 2012

Watching Christmas specials on Christmas Eve with Daddy.

All told Christmas 2012 was a fine holiday, and a fun and restful time was had by all. This was the first Christmas we truly played Santa Claus, waiting until Liam was dreaming of sugar plums before assembling his present in front of the tree. Santa brought him an awesome play kitchen this year, and let me tell you, his elves broke a sweat getting it together. The assembly required metal screws, but the plastic pieces of the kitchen had no holes drilled in them. Then there were all of the little sticker decals to stick in their proper places... Let's just say it was a relief when the kitchen was finally assembled just before midnight.

Santa brought Liam a play kitchen this year.

Liam is still a little young to really understand Christmas and all it encompasses, so he slept fitfully until 9 a.m. He never sleeps in, but of course he chose to do so on the one morning of the year mom and dad are looking forward to him waking up! When he did finally wake up and saw his new kitchen, it was love at first sight--he jumped in immediately and started "cooking." He also got a toy Dirt Devil vacuum because for a long time now one of his favorite pretend play activities has been to "ba-bong." That's Liam-speak for "vacuum." For months now, every toy he played with became a ba-bong, so we decided to get him an actual toy vacuum. He loved it, and once he fired it up, there was no stopping him all morning.

It was a fun day of presents, play, and eating, but we were all tired by evening and ready to call it a day. The only problem I'm left with is trying to figure out where to put the new play kitchen in our limited living space. I've already put old toys intended for younger ages in storage, but a little creativity will still be needed to organize those toys that remain in such a way not to clutter up the place and thus annoy me. With a November birthday followed by Christmas, Liam tends to get a huge influx of toys at the end of the year. Since we aren't done having kids, we aren't giving old toys away yet, so this annual toy juggling routine is here to stay for a few more years.

Liam "ba-bonged" for hours on Christmas Day.

Oh, and one last, encouraging note:  Christmas Eve brought an early Christmas present--Liam used his potty for the first time. Huzzah! He's since used it several times, but we still have a long journey ahead of us. For now he sees the potty as a kind of novelty thing he uses when he feels like it, not necessarily a way to leave diapers behind. So, he's not going to be wearing underoos any time soon, but we have taken a solid step in that direction. 

A bonus Christmas present for mommy--
Liam used his potty for the first time!