Training the Potty

Is it just me or would training a toilet be easier than training a toddler to USE the toilet?

Oh, its just me?

My bad.

We have had some serious potty training issues. (And by serious I mean inconvenient.) You see, I missed the first window of opportunity with potty training Zachariah. I saw signs of him being ready, but I had ZERO desire to start potty training. So I ignored the signs and figured I would start when I got my act together. Well, by the time I was ready to start potty training I found out I was pregnant. And then 4 months of constant puking ensued. I couldn't potty train a toddler while staying in the bed/hanging over the toilet all day, so I put it off again.

So by the time I was done puking I had missed the window of opportunity. He was not interested anymore. But I decided to try anyway. I was actually convinced that if I potty trained a certain way he would "get it" in 2-3 days and I wouldn't have to worry about it ever again!

Yeah. I'm dumb.

To make a long story a little shorter, we tried a certain method and it failed. While it works great for some kids, it did not work for Z. We tried another method and it still didn't seem to do much. I then realized that Zachariah was not recognizing the "urge" to go. Once he would start peeing he would obviously know he was going, but he just was just not getting the whole tell-mommy-BEFORE-you-pee-thing.

In four days he peed in the toilet once. One time. And that was accidental.

Needless to say, I was discouraged and very aggravated. He wasn't "getting it" and I felt like a big fat failure for not doing this when he was showing signs of being ready months ago. I'm not going to lie... there are not many times where I feel like a failure as a mother. Quite honestly, I think I do a pretty darn good job at being a stay at being a mom. Sure, I could use some work in a few area's. But for the most part, I am rocking it. So this whole failing at potty training thing hit me hard. I was in a mini-depression for a few days because I just had zero desire to try anymore. So we stopped the potty training process. We put him in pull ups and decided to let it be for a few days/a week and then try again once I could re-energize myself.

And do you know what happened? Within two days of being in pull ups and me not saying a word about using the toilet he started telling me when he had to pee. He wouldn't catch it completely, but once he started peeing in the pull up he would stop and finish on the toilet. He then started becoming VERY uncomfortable in pull ups and diapers. (Seriously, when he pees or poops in them he waddles around like a duck. It cracks me up!)

Now, he is still not potty trained, but I am planning on starting the process again with full force in the next day or so. And you know what? If he still doesn't get it, thats ok. I have decided that I am ok with the fact that he may not be fully potty trained at age of three. As with any other milestone, kids move at different paces and I need to keep remembering that.

Anyway! As of right now, that is my potty training story. When he is fully potty trained I am sure I will be posting pictures of him in his Lightning McQueen underwear, so watch out! :)

Big Boy Bed

Yep. It finally happened. Last week my baby moved from a crib to a big boy bed.

Watching Zachariah move from the crib to his big boy bed has been so fun. And a little frustrating. But mostly fun.



He is so proud of his big boy furniture. Whenever someone comes over he is excited to show them his room. He constantly talks about his big boy bed and tells us how much he "wuvs" it. We still need to get some stuff on the walls (while in his crib he decided to redecorate and take everything off the walls that was in his reach) and we want to get a lamp for his dresser, but besides that we are super pleased with the new look.




The first couple nights were rough. He cried for his crib, he clung to me and begged to be rocked (too bad for him, cause we took the rocking chair out). As soon as we would leave he would jump out of bed and open the door to come find us. And that became a fun game to play. After two hours of him coming out of his room to find us I finally put a childproof door knob cover on his door so he couldn't get out. And let me tell you, that worked like a charm! As soon as he realized he couldn't get out he just climbed back in bed and eventually went to sleep.




Nap time is still a challenge. He will get up and read books, play with his stuffed animals or moisturize his skin with Desitin before he ends up falling asleep. There have been a few skipped naps as well... but we are getting there. I am quickly learning what needs to be put on a higher shelf in order for him to fall asleep quicker.




All in all this experience has been a good one so far. Zachariah is having a blast with his new found independence and I am having almost just as much fun learning an in depth lesson about patience.

More pictures of Z in his big boy bed coming soon. :)

Big News

First things first. I want to thank all of you for voting in the poll and commenting about Zachariah's hair! I was really having trouble deciding what to do, but you guys have helped me out a good bit. I have decided to trim the back a little and hope that it gets thicker with time. I am wanting to trim it this week and if I really on the ball I will show you some before and after pictures. :)

Now, onto the real reason for this post. I have news. BIG news.

Are you ready for it?

Zachariah spent his first night away from home this past weekend.

(No, not THAT kind of news! Sheesh.)



Yep. Its true. Friday night he packed a bag and drove himself to Mimi and Poppie's house. Well, I packed the bag and Daniel drove, but you get the idea. I was a bundle of nerves but Daniel took me to see Avatar in 3D, so my mind was a bit distracted for a while. :)




This was a big step for me. In all of his two years of life, my baby has NEVER spent the night away from home. But Mimi and Poppie were itching to have him over, so we figured we might as well try.



And good thing we did! Because Zachariah had a blast. Seriously. He talked about spending the night over there for two days after the fact. And he cried when we picked him up. Oddly enough, I loved that he didn't want to leave. It made me feel good that he had that much fun. It will definitely make it easier to leave him the next time. Heck, I have already started planning the next sleep over! :)



Oh, and he picked out a cute little suitcase for his "overnight bag". He LOVES that thing. He pushes his suitcase all over the house. Its adorable. But what else is new. Everything my kid does is adorable.





So all in all, this slumber party was a great success. And surprisingly enough, I didn't shed a single tear that night. Well, I think I did during Avatar. But if we don't count the movie theater, no tears were shed. :)

2 year old pics

So I am in major Halloween Costume Crisis Mode. Due to the fact that Zachariah is deathly afraid of his pirate costume, we will be going a different route for Halloween this year. And due to the fact that there are hardly any costumes left this close to Halloween, my child may be going as a cranky toddler. But I do have a few other options I am going to try, so we will see if one of those happens to work out. I will keep you posted on my progress/stress level. :)

In hopes of getting my mind off of the Halloween Crisis, I am going to show you a few of Zachariah's 2 year old pictures! (Click here to see the blooper reel)











I think one of these two are my favorite. I can't decide which one...






Anyway! More of the pictures will be up on facebook sometime soon. And by soon I mean whenever I make a dent in my To Do List.

Happy Monday! :)

Climbing

Lets just say that I am fortunate that this little monkey has waited this long to start his climbing adventures. And that his Daddy gets to deal with it this weekend. (Hee hee) :)








He is so excited when he climbs a new object. It is just plain adorable. And annoying, but I am trying to focus on the adorable part of it right now. :)


And yes, you do see a thousand dirty dishes on my counter. I am not sure why, but my maid forgot to come by that week. I am going to fire her the next chance I get, don't you worry!

Biloxi Bound

Guess what? I am leaving today to go see my brother! I am so pumped. I haven't seen him since he left for boot camp. Now he is in Biloxi and we will get to his the casino's together. :) You wanna know the crazy part about this trip though? I am leaving Daniel and Zachariah here.

Yep. You read correctly. I am leaving my son for three whole days. This is big folks. Real big. The longest I have ever been away away from him has totaled up to four hours. In two years I have only spent up to four hours away from Zachariah. And most of the times I leave him its only for two hours.

Typing this out I realize how crazy that is. But in my defense, its not like I don't trust anyone to keep him. The grandparents keep him once a week. At least! I just don't make time or plan to be gone for longer than two to four hours. Pitiful huh?

Well all that is going to change this weekend, because Mom is outta here! And as I said, I am pumped. Zachariah's temper tantrums have made it so easy to decide to do this. :)

I will be documenting the whole trip, so don't you worry. There will be tons of pictures to come once I am home!



Despite his two year old tantrums, I sure am going to miss this little booger.

2 Years Young

My sweet baby boy,

I cannot believe that you are two years old today. Seriously, that fact alone sends my jaw dropping to the floor and it sends tear streaming down my face. You are not my little baby anymore!

Your vocabulary is growing daily. You are running everywhere. You eat the same things Mommy and Daddy eat. You are showing signs that you want to use the potty. You have an attitude and you are not afraid to show it (I am sorry to say you got that from me). You are making friends. You help me cook in the kitchen. You help me clean the kitchen! You are brushing your own teeth (with a little help from Mommy, of course). You are not crying when we leave you in the nursery at church. You are forming sentences, therefore successfully communicating just about everything you need. And besides all of that, you are learning things that most three year olds still have not learned! I don't know about you, but to me all of these signs point to full fledged toddler-hood. :)

Zachariah, you have made me one of the happiest mommy's ever. You are incredibly silly, absolutely adorable, and the sweetest kid around. I can't even begin to imagine my life without you. You have made me and your "Da" some of the proudest, happiest parents in the entire world.

I truly cannot wait to see what God has in store for you, because kid, it is going to be big. You are going to do great things, and I am going to love watching every minute of it.

I love you bunches, little monkey. And don't you ever forget that.

Brief Update

Zachariah has been in a jibberish stage for a while now. Don't get me wrong, he has a list of about a dozen words that he will throw around on a very regular basis, but he loves the jibberish.

Personally, I find it to be one of the most adorable things ever. He will just come up and talk to us (in what seems like another language), and he will be so passionate about what he is saying. I just wish I knew what he was trying to communicate to us!

All that to say, I have been amazed at how much his vocabulary has grown over the past week. Seriously, he has added about ten words to his vocabulary in just a few days. And it isn't like he says it just once... he has incorporated them into his daily schedule. He will go out of his way to find a reason to say "tu-tle" (turtle). It is SO DANG CUTE.

Anyway. I decided to list the words that he has learned and added to his vocab over the past week. If this doesn't interest you, I apologize. But I needed to write this all out so I had a record of it. And what better place to do it than my blog? :)


New words... and a few phrases.

"Pu-ple" (purple)
"Tu-tle" (turtle)
"Ta-tor" (tractor)
"Dumb" (yeah. this one is my fault)
"Basketball" (seriously. he says every letter of this word. this is one of my favorites)
"Et's-doe!" (lets go!)
"Dishis" (delicious)
"Cak-cakes" (pancakes)
"bowl"
"I each" (I can't reach)
"Oo, at's dat?" (Ooo, whats that?)


And on a somewhat related note... Z has been kicking butt with his animal noises. He cannot tell you the name of the animal (except a very select few), but when asked to identify a certain animal, he will do a VERY realistic sounding noise. It has seriously blown me away. His favorite animal noise lately has been an eagle. And if you have ever heard an eagles squawk... well, lets just say I am hoping he moves on to a butterfly noise soon.

I am hoping to video tape some of this, but I have to be sneaky about it. Or else he will just want to watch himself in the video camera. So once I can figure out a plan of action, I will hopefully have some videos up here! :)

Pinch Me

Is that a piece of celery in my kid's hand???
Nah. Couldn't be. My kid refuses to eat mac n cheese these days, much less a piece of celery.
Must be another adorable child.




Excuse me, young man? Have you seen my son, Zachariah? He is 20 months old, 30 something pounds, and just about the cutest child on the face of this earth.

Wait. What? YOU are Zachariah?? Huh. That's odd. Because the Zachariah that I carried in my womb wouldn't be caught dead with a green veggie in his hand... much less his mouth.


Oh. My mistake. I see it now.
Yep, that look is a dead giveaway.

Sorry, son. You just confused mommy for a bit. But I am back now and looking forward to you eating LOTS of raw veggies from now on, okay??

:)

Go Me!

I hit a monumental milestone today. To most people it will seem silly, but I took a huge step today. One that I have been dreading for MONTHS.

I left my son in nursery at church. For the first time. Ever.

Here is the thing. Up until he could crawl he would sit in church with us. He was quite the pleasant baby. Everyone would rave about how quiet and well behaved he was. And he truly did an amazing job. But once he started crawling he was NOT fine with sitting still anymore. He wanted to be on the go. At all times.

So I started taking him back to the nursery. And since he has not EVER stayed with anyone, except his grandparents, I was not about to leave him. (He had some separation issues as well. It took a while to grow out of that) And I didn't mind being back there. It was fun to see him play with new toys and occasionally interact with other kids.

Well, around his first birthday we had to stop going to church due to nap scheduling. Since we were going to a "new church", they didn't really have cribs in the nursery. And even if they did, Z wont sleep anywhere but his own crib anyway.

Since he now only takes one nap a day, the timing actually works to our advantage. So we decided to try going to this particular church again. I planned on staying in the nursery with him the whole time, but his back was turned to me just about the whole time I was in there! So I figured I would just go sit with my hubby and see how Zachariah would do (After being assured that the ladies would come get me if he started crying).

And you know what? He did great. No tears at all. He played his little heart out. He actually got a little angry that we made him leave the new toys!

No, I wasn't extremely attentive during the service. And yes, I kept checking my watch to see how long it had been since I left my baby... But we are making progress. And I couldn't have asked for better results as far as leaving him in the nursery went.

And that makes me happy. :)

First Baking Experience

Today has been a very boring, rainy day. Zachariah had been very fussy and nothing was appeasing him. I mean, the kid has six teeth coming in at once, and four of them are his first year molars, so he kind of has an excuse to be fussy. But I was holding out hope that I could cure his mood with something other than the TV. So I decided that we would make some muffins. Good idea, right? I thought so.

Zachariah was having fun dumping the mix and milk into the bowl and then stirring it all together. So while he was chit chatting to himself (mainly in Japanese), I was patting myself on the back for improving his mood.


After a few stirs, Z decides he wants to eat the muffin mix. I calmly tell him, "no, we are going to eat it later, lets keep stirring, okay?" Then the Muffin Meltdown of '09 begins...

Turns out I didn't help his mood at all. We will try the baking thing another time. When he isn't so emotionally unstable.

(And yes, I realize I am a mean mommy for putting these pitiful pictures up. But he is just so darn cute, even when he is having a meltdown!)

I Love This Kid

I have noticed over the past couple weeks that Zachariah is looking a lot older. I don't know what it is, but he is looking like such a big boy. Maybe its because he doesn't need me to carry him much anymore. Or maybe its because he is using more words, as opposed to baby babble. Maybe its because he is giving me "real" kisses, as opposed to the open mouth slobbery kisses that I was so used to. Then again, it may be because he is a year and a half old today. Yeah... that will probably do it.

Happy 18 month birthday little monkey! I love you!

P.S. If you could stop growing up so fast, that would be great. :)

Happy 17 Months Zachariah!

Yep. My little monkey is 17 months old today.

This kid is constantly amazing me with his smarts. He knows just about every letter sound, he is learning his colors, he is LOVES identifying body parts (mainly facial features, but feet, hands, and belly button are frequently visited as well), and when asked, he will identify and make the appropriate noises of just about any animal.

He is a great eater, a great sleeper, and has one heck of a personality. He means the world to us, and we couldn't have asked for a more wonderful child.

Happy 17 months, Zachariah! I love you bunches!

In Other News...

It has been a while since I have posted a "Zachariah update". Since it is long overdue, this will probably be a bit lengthy. So I apologize ahead of time. :)

Age- First things first. He is 15 months old today. I cannot believe he is this old! He has turned into such a fun little toddler. This is SUCH a fun stage! I absolutely love it.

Teeth- The official teeth count is now up to four. Yes. my 15 month old son only has four teeth. So that means that I still have to cut things up into smaller pieces than a typical one year old would be eating. Which is fine, because I have been doing this for a while now. But eventually we need some more teeth in that mouth! :)

Walking- This kid is EVERYWHERE. I am sure you have gathered that from some of my other posts dealing with toilet paper and diapers. So yeah. It keeps things interesting around here to say the least. :)

Communication- Z's vocabulary seems like it is increasing daily. I love it. The words that he says on a regular basis are: bye-bye, ball, momma or mom, dad or dadda, up, this, juice, and penguin (see the next paragraph). His occasional words are: thanks, Daniel (we think this is coincidence, but its still funny), bath, and squirrel (at least its very close to squirrel). He is still doing sign language as well (eat, more, all done, milk, please). And this is by no means sign language, but when he has pooped in his diaper, he will either pat or pull at it, trying to say poop... which is helpful. So between the words and signing, its getting easier to decide what he needs/wants.

Obsessions- Now on to one of my favorite things about my son. He is completely obsessed with penguins. And since penguins are my all time favorite animal, I love that he loves them! He has several penguin stuffed animals, but his all time favorite is Mumble from Happy Feet. Every time he sees it he gets the biggest smile on his face and gives it a huge hug. Its ADORABLE. Whats funny though, is that he calls penguins "ba". Yeah... I don't know. Our guess is that he is trying to say bird. Regardless, he will walk around the house looking for his penguin saying "ba". It cracks me up.

Well, that's about the gist of it. My kid is growing up way to fast. The end. :)
I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Bragging Rights

Bear with me for a bit, while I take some time to do a bit of bragging. :)

Zachariah got some Baby Einstein Alphabet Books for his birthday. He absolutely LOVES these books. Several times a week, he will bring them up to me and we will go through every single book (Each one only has three pages, so it doesn't take too long). I will start each book by pronouncing the sound of the letter that is on the front. Z picked up on that pretty quickly and he has been repeating the letter sound after us.

Well... now he has moved on to letter recognition! There are 8-10 of them that he knows. I will show him one of the books and he will actually make the correct letter sound! At 14 months old!! I don't know about you, but I was pretty darn impressed.

Below is a picture of the letters that he can recognize so far. I will try to get a video of it sometime soon. Its just too cute!

First Hair Cut

Yesterday, I took on the challenge of giving Zachariah his first hair cut. (Though I would consider it more of a trim. He doesn't have a ton of hair to begin with.) He was a bit squirmy. He kept moving his head up and down, and then tried to swat at the scissors a few times. Amazingly enough, we managed to come out unharmed. At one point I thought I had accidentally given him a mullet though. But all is well. Hopefully the picture hides the unevenness of his hair. I still need to go back and get a few stragglers. But he had enough for one sitting, so I didn't push it.

Before:

After:

My Little Toddler

He has been working at this for a couple weeks now, but I think it is safe to say that Zachariah is (for the most part anyway) walking more than crawling! It took him 13 months, but he has really gotten the hang of this walking thing. It is very bittersweet... to see my baby confidently walking down the hallway with a HUGE grin on his face. He acts as if he had been doing this his whole life. Its just the cutest thing.



We are oh-so-proud of this little man!

I'm Not Bitter...

Before I get into the reason that I am not bitter, here is some much needed background information for you:

I stay at home with Zachariah. I am at home with him all day. Every day. There has not been a day of his life where I have not been home with him. The most I have left him with a sitter (aka: grandparents) has been two and a half hours. I am with him when Daniel is at work and I am also with him when Daniel comes home. I change his gosh awful diapers, I play with him, I console him, I tickle him, I laugh at him, and I love on him. Every. Single. Day.

Often when Daniel gets home from work he will entertain Zachariah while I get dinner ready. It helps me get dinner ready without a one year old hanging on my legs yelling at me, and it gives Daniel some one on one time with his son. So its a win-win situation for both of us.

Now that you have had that bit of information, you may continue with the reason for this post...
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Zachariah took his first two steps today! Or at least thats what I hear.

That's right. I wasn't actually there. My darling son took his first steps in the 30 minute window where Daniel was entertaining him and I was in another room cooking dinner.

Am I the only one that thinks this is just plain wrong?????

Update and Photos

It seems like Zac has changed so much the past couple days. He is definitely not a baby anymore (which makes me sad), but I don't consider him a toddler yet either. So we are in that in between stage. He is still crawling constantly, but he is getting closer and closer to taking those first steps. He has been cruising on the couches and windowsills, and anything else he can find! He has been able to stand on his own for a lot longer now too. But I am still ok with the crawling. He gets in enough trouble already! I cant even imagine what it will be like with him running around the house!

A couple weeks ago Zachariah got his first tooth, then a week later, he got his second! So we have two cute teeth on the bottom gum. (See previous post for picture)

On Zachariah's birthday weekend we took him to Turtle Park to get some one year old pictures. While we were there we played on the playground and he fell in love with swinging. So I am now looking into getting an outside swing for our house! But anyway, here are some of the pictures that we took. If you have facebook you can check there for the rest... I just didnt feel like posting a thousand pictures on here. :)

I love his smile!

Yeah, thats right.
He is standing all by himself.

I had my hopes up about getting a real cute picture of him looking at the camera while sitting on this bench. After several shots like this I just gave up. lol

He loves him some swings!

And this one is just for laughs. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Fun age!

Zachariah is at such a fun stage in his life. I am enjoying him so much more recently. He isnt a "baby blob" that just eats and poops anymore. He is mobile(therefore less clingy), he is more perceptive that I ever thought a baby should be, his personality is coming out like crazy, he loves to play with his toys (even by himself!), he is smiling and laughing all the time, and he is trying his darnedest (how the heck to you spell that?) to carry on conversations- in baby language of course.

Along with all of the other perks of this fun age, Zachariah and I have developed a new morning routine that I have come to look forward to. Every morning after breakfast, I will turn on a Baby Einstein DVD while Zachariah plays with his toys. As soon as he sees me sitting on the couch he will crawl on over, and put his hands in the air for me to pick him up. Then we will snuggle on the couch for 20-30 minuets watching his movie. It is the cutest thing ever. He is so cuddly during that time, and I absolutely love it.

Here is a picture of us watching Baby Einsteins yesterday... in our PJ's of course. So excuse the horrid I-just-woke-up-and-haven't-showered-or-applied-any-makeup look that I am so wonderfully sporting.