My Sickies and Potty Training Update

Gavin has had a head cold for the past 3 or 4 days now.  And when Gavin can't breathe through his nose, he always wakes up crying in the middle of the night.  When he wakes up crying, he always wants to "sleep in Mommy-Nanny's room."  He has slept in my bed while Andy (Nanny) was working night shift for the past 2 nights.  He's still stuffy, but I gave him an antihistamine before bed and I'm hoping he'll sleep through the night.  Of course, Colin started with his runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes this morning.  Please, God, let him sleep through the night.  I'm exhausted!  I was able to take a 30 minute nap with Colin on the couch while Gavin napped today, but it just wasn't enough.  Luckily, it's 8:18 pm, both boys are already in bed and asleep and I'll be in bed by 8:30 pm. ;)


Potty training update:  I gave up on underwear.  Here's an excerpt of a what I posted on WilmingtonMommies about it on Valentine's Day...


I am a bad mother. Between nursing an infant and trying to potty train my 2 1/2 year old...I want to shoot myself! I never get a second to sit down, eat, or anything for myself. I'm only able to type this rant because my mom and dad are here from NJ and this is the only way I won't scream at my poor toddler. I know it's not his fault and he's not intentionally trying to piss me off, but he has already peed his pants 3 times today and pooped twice...all in his big boy underwear.

My mom suggested putting him in pull ups for a couple of days and stop the potty training all together just to see how he reacts. He was doing SO well. He HAS peed and pooped in the potty once today. I kind of hate to back track at all...but I just can't take the constant peeing and pooping on in his pants and on the floor, laundry, nursing, feeding the big guy....I'm at my wit's end!!!

What should I do? Is this all just too soon?

and then the update I posted on the 15th...

Thanks for the support, everyone. I put him in pull-ups and it's been a welcome break for me...with a few surprises. He is still telling me a couple of times a day that he needs to pee. He's peeded in the pull ups a couple of times, but has also peed in the potty. He knows when he has to pee, but can't hold it long enough to make it most times. If I put him on the potty, he will pee, but he doesn't always want to sit on the potty.

He also made me laugh tonight. He was taking a bath and Mom-mom was beside the bathtub while I was nursing Colin on my bed. All of a sudden, he started whimpering and saying "no, Mom-mom...help, Mom-mom" and started peeing in the tub. By then it was too late to try to get him to the potty, so my mom told him it was OK to finish peeing. He was so upset. He NEVER used to care about peeing in the tub. It feels like such a milestone to me. It's like he's really getting the whole concept. I just need to be patient, I guess. I didn't want to spend the money on pull-ups, but I really think they are worth it for now. My mom always tells me stories about how my sister and I had "crash courses" in potty training and were done in 2 weeks at age 2 years and 2 years and 3 months. I guess I expected Gavin to do the same. I'm over that now, though.


For the last week or so, Gavin's been doing really well.  He doesn't want to use his potty anymore.  Only the big potty.  Sometimes he uses the potty seat and sometimes he wants me to hold him directly on the big potty.  He calls our potty "Mommy-Nanny's potty" and the spare bathroom (which we call Gavin's bathroom) is "Mom-mom-Pop-pop's Potty".  If I prompt him to pee when he wakes up and then every 2 hours or so, or whenever he grabs his pee-pee, then he does really well.  He even wakes up dry from his naps and about 50% of the time overnight.  If I don't prompt him, then I would say he tells me he has to pee-pee somewhere around 1/3 to 1/2 the time, and he's improving.  We went to storytime at the library last Wednesday.  I was holding Colin and we were listening to the librarian read Dr. Seuss books and he says (loudly) "Mommy, have to pee-pee!"  I said, "great" and whisked him off to the bathroom expecting his pull up to be wet.  He was dry, he peed on the big potty, and went right back to storytime.  He even said, "hurry up, Mommy!" when I was pulling up his pants.  LOL!  He's doing great and, although I really didn't want the extra expense of pull ups, he's doing really well in them.  My boy is growing up. :)


I also registered Gavin in preschool for the fall.  He'll be going to Scotts Hill Christian Academy 2 mornings a week with his friends Addison and Grace.  He's excited about going to school with them and I think it will be good for Colin and me too.  I hope he likes it!

Potty Training

So, 4 nights ago, Gavin put himself on the potty after a nap.  Before this day, the potty was just something to sit on, like Mommy and Daddy.  He woke up dry and I asked him if he wanted to try to potty.  He said, "OK" and let me take off the diaper and sat himself down and after about 10 minutes, he went pee pee.  He was so excited for himself and I gave him some Skittles as a treat.  The next day, he really didn't show any interest.  Since he's only 2 1/2 and I've always been told that most boys don't potty train until they're around 3, I didn't really think anything of it.  But then yesterday, Gavin woke up in the morning with a soaked bed.  We put super-absorbant overnight diapers on him, but he still leaks out.  Anyway, I stripped him down and he ran right to the potty.  Unfortunately, I think he had just peed, because he couldn't go.  When I explained that to him, he said, "Pee pee in potty, get ski-huls (skittles)."

We then proceeded to have a potty-sitting marathon.  The poor kid wanted skittles so badly that he made me move the potty to the living room.  He wasn't going to get off of the potty until he peed.  He wouldn't even come to the table to eat breakfast.  I had to give him a Danimals drinkable yogurt on the potty.  :)  It took 1 1/2 hours, but at 1000, he peed in the potty!  He got his skittles and LOTS of cheers.  He was so happy!  Then, at around noon, I put him back on the potty and he peed again!  I couldn't believe it!  It was then that I realized that I wasn't prepared.  I had no underwear for him and no pull-ups.  Just diapers.  If he was showing so much interest, I wanted to go all the way.  So, I put a diaper on him and off to Walmart we went.  We bought 10 pairs of underwear (Cars and Thomas) and 2 packs of Cars Pull-ups. 

When we got home, he, of course, had peed in the diaper.  I put him on the potty, he peed a little and he got his skittles.  Then I put on a Pull-up and his Cars underwear on top.  He was so proud to be a big boy!  He took a 2 1/2 hour nap and woke up wet.  I changed him into underwear and proceeded with making dinner.  That's when it went down hill.  I offered the potty every hour or so, but he still had 3 accidents in his underwear.  I would quickly put him on his potty and tell him to remember how it felt when he had to pee pee and hold it in, TELL Mommy, run to the potty, and let it go AFTER he got on the potty.  I had to do a load of his laundry last night.

I put him in an overnight diaper last night which was wet when he woke up.  I took him straight to the potty, but he didn't go, so I brought the potty back in the living room.  I put him in underwear and clothes.  Well, since then, he's peed in his underwear 3 times. :(  He doesn't seem to get the part where he's supposed to tell me BEFORE he pees.  I just hear him saying "Ut-oh" and go running to him as he pees.  He at least knows he's not supposed to pee in his pants, he just doesn't seem to know when it's going to happen.

On a positive note....I saw him wander over to the corner in the kitchen and just stand there doing nothing.  When I tried to talk to him, he just yelled, "No no, Mommy!"  That's what he does when he's pooping.  I was able to scoop him up and get him to the potty before he pooped and............drum roll, please.............he went poopy on the potty!  YAY!!!  He just only seems to do anything on the potty AFTER he wets his pants and I rush him there.  Am I trying to go cold turkey too soon?  Should I just let him pee in pull-ups?  That just seems like putting him back in diapers.  Should I just put him back in diapers?  I'm not sure what to do....OH NO....he just peed his pants again!  Sheeesh!!!!! 

Conversations of a 2 year old

Gavin's talking like a champ lately and I can't believe that I worried so much about his speech. When he was 18 months old, I actually took him to a specialist to have his speech evaluated. Now, I can't shut the kid up get him to stop talking!

He's starting to speak in full sentences, which is so cute, but sometimes he's still a little hard to understand. There are several words and phrases that he says that I love.

• He still calls Daddy "Nanny". 
• His favorite movie, Cars, he calls "Keen" after the main character, Lightning McQueen.
• His favorite toy, aside from his choo choo's, is his "Mack Tuck" (Mack Truck) or "tra-her-tray-her" (tractor trailer) from Cars.
• He watches his "GeoTrax" DVD on loop...and quotes the tag line (Team GeoTrax, All Aboard),  "Team Geo-tax, ah-aboad!"
• He loves to play with his "Thomas tacks" (Thomas tracks).
• Instead of just having a melt-down, now when he needs something, he says, "Mommy, help!"  This is when he needs me to fix his tracks, get a toy, or especially when he climbs into his crib and can't get back out. :)
• Any time I ask a question, he answers with "How about..."  Me: "Gavin, what do you want for breakfast?"  Gavin:  "How 'bout, cheese toast?"

His new favorite thing is asking simple questions.  These all start with "Is this....?"  For example, "Is this my toy?" or "Is this Nanny's sock?"  Right now, it's very cute, but I know what's coming next....the "why" questions.  Right now, anythings he asks can be answered with a simple yes or no.  I guess I better enjoy that while it lasts. :)  I almost can't remember the little boy that walked quietly around the house just pointing to what he wanted without saying a word.  My baby is growing up so fast.