Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Unexpected Potty Training

Warning: This is a detailed post of Chases potty training.  
I want to remember! 
Last Wednesday, Chase decided to use the potty for the first time...5 times in one day!  One time on his own, 4 times prompted. 

Thursday we were at school all day and super busy but he did use the potty one time in the evening.
 
I wasn't ready to potty train.  I had plans to potty train over Christmas break when no one was in school, when things slowed down a little bit.  Chase had never really shown any interest in the potty.  In fact, when I sat him on the little potty he shook with fear.  I wasn't going to push it, at all.
Then, last Wednesday hit and everything changed.  
 (He will hate me for this one one day...)
After Wednesday, I thought, "Maybe I should."  But, then I talked myself out of it.  Then, Thursday when he willingly and so proudly pottied again I decided to try while he was so willing.  We had a rainy Friday and lazy weekend ahead of us.  There was really no excuse not to. So, Thursday night I got out a stack of undies, cleaning supplies,  prepared the bathroom, and pepped talked myself over and over and over. I  did not want to do this!
 
Friday, Day 1

  I showed Chase his 'choo choo undies' and he was so excited to have them on. He refused to potty and had an accident 1st thing.  A little bit later he wet his undies (not a full blown accident) and then finished in the potty.  He spent the rest of the day pee peeing on the potty.   A few times on his own, a few times being prompted. When he pee pees he is very proud of himself and says, "Me Sashu" (Mrs. Sasha- his teacher) like she will be proud too! He spent a lot of time on the potty not going as well.  

As the morning and day went on he started getting silly and Brother had to stop going in with us.
 He went to nap in a diaper and woke up dry. He refused to potty right away but 10 minutes later went into the potty and went! He did really well all afternoon but did spent a lot of time on the potty. For Friday Dinner, Nanny and Grandad came to us because we wanted to stay close to the potty.  This ended up being a great idea since he even did a BM in the potty on his own and continued to have BM in the potty.
Saturday, Day 2
It couldn't be this easy. Day 1 went really smooth. 
Chase didn't even care for the "rewards" (jelly beans) he just went potty all day yesterday.
Saturday, he woke up dry and went potty right away. He only went potty 2 times in the morning but had no accidents while we played outside!  Then, he woke up from nap dry again. We played outside all afternoon and he came in to potty (only once or twice). He did have one BM accident in his undies but he had no peepee accidents all day. We got brave and decided to venture out and took the boys to Gringos for dinner.  He stayed accident free the whole time.  After bath he had another BM accident. That night we had David, Mandi, and P over and he stayed up late with no accidents. After I put his diaper on he told me he had to potty and went straight to pee on the potty.  
He did awesome!  No pee accidents all day!  (And, that's all I'm counting right now.)

Sunday, Day 3
Chase woke up with a wet diaper and refused to potty. He got into his undies right away but  had an accident about 10 minutes later playing.  He did tell me he had to potty and ran to the bathroom and finished on the potty. Then, he had a BM accident.  (No fun! What happened to day one and going in the potty?!?!?!) He didn't potty again for quite some time. I'm starting to think he just doesn't need to go.  I mean, obviously.  He's not had many accidents.  He just doesn't drink a ton (like brother) and goes less frequently.   Around 10:30 Gaga and PawPaw came to visit and he was very  busy with them.  Eventually, he did use the potty twice with Gaga. He skipped nap but he fell asleep in my lap late in the afternoon. He stayed dry for his short nap but was not happy when I woke him up.  I knew he had to pee. It had been hours.  Daddy and Colt left to run a quick errand and he was extremely upset.  He had an accident in my lap and screamed and threw a fit when I put him on the potty.  I asked him over and over if he needed to go throughout the rest of the evening and he said yes a few times but flipped out when I tried to get him on the potty saying, "donwanna" (Don't want to).  He was so tired and cranky. This afternoon, well day, has definitely been the toughest.
For dinner, went over to David and Mandis  and he very very very unwillingly went pee two times.  He needed to make a BM but was petrified to do it on the potty. He didn't want to do it in his undies either.  It was tough. We eventually left and came home where I knew he still needed to potty.  We got him ready for bed and put his diaper on and he still wouldn't make a BM even though he told me and acted like he had to.  I'm not sure if this is good or not.  He knows he has to do it in the potty but won't go in the potty or his underwear/diaper.  He almost seemed scared of the potty all of a sudden and now he is giving himself a tummy ache holding it in. He eventually just fell fast asleep in my arms and I could hear his tummy gurgling.
So, over all this was the sort of day we had.
I knew it couldn't be that easy.
 
Monday, Day4
 Chase woke up almost dry. He was a little hesitant to take off his diaper, but did.  He waited a while to get on the potty, as usual. He just doesn't want to get on the potty. I saw him holding himself so I asked if he needed to potty and we went into the restroom.  I got him on the potty but he acted scared and wouldn't go. We tried again a couple minutes later and I made him stay on the potty and he went. We took Bubby to school without an accident and came home to play.  He went twice on his own and he actually went into the restroom alone both times and got started.  Before nap, I asked him to try to pee and he did.  I put a diaper on him and he woke up and went straight to the potty.  Then, through the afternoon, he peed in the potty 2 or 3  times telling me on his own he had to go.  At one point he did start going into the potty and just sitting then saying " I done." but not doing anything.  I think maybe he needed to make a BM.
 
Tuesday, Day 5 (School!)
 Chase woke up pretty wet.  He woke up very early so he had plenty of time to go potty before school.  In fact, he went 3 times.  As we got closer to leaving I could tell he needed to make a BM. I bribed him with everything I could think of and he actually went just a little in the potty before we left.  We got in the car to head to school. We got to the next street over and he said he had to pee.  I turned around and went home. He tried but didn't go. When we got to school I found out his teacher was out.  YIKES!  I dropped him off loaded up with clothes.
 
I'm happy to report, he had a great day at school.  He sat on the potty numerous times but never went.  He had a very dirty diaper at nap and when I picked him up he was in undies.  I put him on the potty before we left school because he said he had to go.  He didn't.  (I think the big boy potty scares him). We got home and he used the potty after a few minutes, only going a little bit. He spent the rest of the afternoon/evening using the potty!
 
So, this ends my Potty Blog!  I am so proud of my little Chase Man.  He did this on his own.  Although I know we will have ups and downs ahead of us, there's no turning back!!!! He didn't need sticker charts or, jelly beans, or rewards.  He was just ready!
I can hardly believe we are almost a diaper free home!  (We will keep diapers at nap and night for now.)
 
UPDATE...
Day 6 and 7...
Day 6 went awesome.  We dropped brother off at school and even ran a few errands.  We came home to potty and then went back out again.  He did great all day.
Day 7 Chase got up early for school and only went pee only once.  We headed into school and he was excited for Ms. Sasha to be there. I asked him over and over if he needed to potty but he didn't. He went the whole day without a pee accident but did have a BM in his underwear. I'm happy he can hold it but don't think he should be holding it all day.  His teacher expressed concern that he was not ready because he was petrified to sit on the potty.  We left school, a little defeated, and got down the road and stuck in the high school letting out.  Chase had to pee. He was calm at first but became panicked saying how bad he had to go and holding himself.  I finally got to a place I could pull over and he sat, reluctantly, and peed in the car potty.  He had leaked a little in his undies but stopped a full blown accident. We got home and I decided to put the little potty away. For 3+ hours he refused to potty on the big potty. I sat him on it numerous times but he refused.  After he held it as long as he could, he went.  And hated every second!  I started to research what on earth I could do and asked a few friends as well (all of Facebook). I decided I'd try to let him stand and he was very happy to do that.  He was quite tall standing on a stool and his aim was awful, but he did it!  Then, I threw a couple Cheerios in the potty and you'd have thought peeing on a "erio" was the most fun a boy could have.  Since then, he's peed numerous times on the potty standing up on a stool aiming at a "erio". 
So, what seemed like such a stressful afternoon turned out to be okay.  Now, we have to concur BM in the potty!
 
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Sunday, September 15, 2013

Washington County Fair

Yesterday, the boys and I drove out to the Washington County Fair in Brenham to meet up with Zak.  He was helping Byrd with their cook team, Smells Like Beef.  They cooked all day Friday and Saturday.  They competed in Margarita, Bloody Mary, Pinto Beans, Chefs Choice (Dove), Surprise Ingredient (Pork Loin), Chicken, Ribs, and Brisket against 30 other teams.  They worked so hard but they had a great time. We got to the Fair about 11 and it was HOT.  And, it only got hotter.  The guys had an awesome little set up with a tent, tables and even a TV to watch football.  We hung out around "camp", as Colt called it, as the rest of the college gang filed in.  It was nice to just hang out.  It would have been a lot nicer if hadn't been so incredibly hot.  Around 5 all of the food was in and our neighbors, Matt, Amber , Addy and Kenna joined us. The carnival finally opened up and we all headed down for some rides. 
The kids had a great time.  So did the adults.  This is the first time Colton willingly got on a ride.  Usually he's pretty timid about riding rides. He had one of his favorite friends (and girlfriend) with him to influence him to ride, Addy.  They even rode a mechanical bull! Colton TWICE! Chase and Peyton had fun riding some rides too and sweet Kenna rode with the little ones a few times. 
As we left for the evening, Byrds Dad asked Colton to make sure he brings his girlfriend (Addy) back next time he saw him. And Colton said, "No, she's MY girlfriend!"  Those two love each other so much! They walked around all evening hand in hand.
 
Byrd and the boys worked hard prepping everything for the cook off and all of their hard work paid off when they won ...
1st place in Brisket!
Not too bad Smells Like Beef.  Specially for your first cook-off!!!

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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Crazy hair

The curls may be gone
but the craziness is not.
I love this guy and his crazy bed head!
 
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Saturday, September 7, 2013

Week One

 
This week was our first week back at school!
Our first day back was great, unfortunately pictures on the first day didn't go as great.
I got a great shot of Colton and somehow it disappeared.  This is all I was left with.  He was such a trooper trying to help get Chase to cooperate.

Chase was not a happy camper.  He did not want to participate in pictures but I was able to snap a couple in motion.

The boys go to the same school but this year the school opened a second campus.  Chase and I are at the new school and Colton stayed at the old school.  Colton is in the Bridge program.  Chase is in MDO and I am teaching three year old preschool.
Chase and I headed off to our campus and Colt and Zak headed off to Colton's campus.  It was the first day I'd ever gone to school without Colton or not dropped him off in class.  It was much harder than I thought it would be and I cried the whole way to school. It's hard to have your babies grow up!
 
Once Chase and I got to school there was so much to do.  It helped keep my mind off not having Colton with us. 
 Shortly after we got to school, Zak sent us a picture of their first (of many I'm sure) donut run.

Chase and I didn't have donuts but he hung out and played in my class with Braxton, my co teacher, Dawn's, little boy.
 
 I dropped Chase off with his teacher, Mrs. Sasha (Mrs. Monica was busy).  He was not happy and was holding on to me for dear life.  His teachers said he cried on and off through the day but said he did really well. When he got home he told me he had fun. 

Here is Colton with his teacher, Mrs. Zarzee.  He was an old pro at this and Zak said he walked right in and started playing. 
His teacher shared first day pictures with us.  Looks like he had a great day.  When he got home he talked about his class and how much fun he had.  He was excited about the Office Center with a "real stapler" and adding circles to their class caterpillar until they get to the 100th day. On the 100th day they have a celebration.  No parents allowed Colton told me over and over.



Colton's day 2...
In the beloved Office Center!
 Chases day 2...
No pictures but he had a great day!
 
Although this year is full of change I am feeling so blessed at how its started out.  Knowing that my boys are in good hands and loving school makes sending them back so much easier.  They have awesome teachers and are in a great school. We couldn't ask for much more!
Oh and by the way.  My first two days went really well.  I have a lot of little ones (18) but they are all so cute.  The parents are wonderful and I'm working with a friend who is a wonderful and extremely helpful co teacher.
Looking forward to next week!
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