Jayden's Potty Progress

My little man has been such a good boy, since his potty training. He goes all on his own. He even closes the door and cleans up the potty. So far, we haven’t had any incidents in public. When confronted with a port-a-potty, he was scared and backed off, but luckily I knew there was a normal bathroom just a little ways away and took him there instead. My new baby bag item is a tub of antibacterial wipes. LOL Jayden rarely wets his pull ups and if it does happen, it’s only if he sleeps in. A couple of times, I have forgotten to put on Jayden’s pull up for naps, but so far, no accidents.

Today, I came home from work to find out that he had a minor setback. He was in his favorite chair, in the recline position. His feet were up and his arms were tucked under his head and he was watching his cartoons. He’s usually only this focused when it’s just before nap time or bedtime and he’s oblivious to everything except the TV. Well, he must have completely forgotten where he was because he had an accident.

When I came home, Esteban had just finished cleaning up and he was not happy. I sure am glad I wasn’t the one home because I would have gone through the roof. Instead, I came home, Esteban told me what happened and I had a normal reaction. “Well, he’s bound to have an accident every once in a while.” He just looked at me.

The August Stomp!

We met my sister and her family and headed to Lakeridge Winery. They were having what they call the August Stomp! It was a great event. They had bounce houses, festival type foods, a live band and grape stomping. It looked like alot of fun, but I couldn't convince Esteban to get into the barrel with Jayden. We were truly blessed with the weather. Besides being a bit humid, it was gorgeous the entire time we were there. We did the wine tasting. That's always lots of fun. And no visit to Lakeridge Winery can be complete without making the grand purchase. LOL After that, we went towards the back of the property for the event. Jayden of course would not get into the bouncehouse, but after a while we lured him out to dance floor where he ran and around with Aiden and Maya, stopping to clap for the band every once in a while.

I'd also like to add that this was our first public outing since potty training and we had no accidents. Way to go Jayden!

Here's my sister's family on the way out. The kids were starting to get a little cranky.
Here's us. Notice how Jayden is refusing to take his picture. Of course. That's my little man!
After, we went back to my house and made pizzas. We had a great day! And I am so thankful that Esteban was able to come along. Thanks to his new schedule, we can do alot more things together as a family.

Esteban's New Schedule!

Well, we’re going on almost two weeks since Esteban changed jobs and so far, I love the change! We have much more family time. And I have much more flexibility with my work schedule now. It’s wonderful. He’s a lot more busy at the Dolphin than he was at the Swan, but that’s a good thing. This is a picture of the Swan side. The Dolphin side is on the other side.And even though he doesn’t go in until 6pm, he only comes home about an hour later and as expected, still making just about the same amount of money. Way to go darling!

We had to alter schedules at home, but I don’t mind it one bit. Jayden and Maya wake up and have their milk with some dry cereal or fruit. Then at 10am I make a light breakfast for them. Esteban wakes up shortly after. I make the kids lunch between 12 and 1pm and they go down for nap at 2pm. Then Esteban and I actually have adult interaction time. We can talk without competing with Jayden and Maya. We can make plans, discuss finances, or just relax. Sometimes Esteban naps when the kids nap if he had a rough night or if he woke up early. But if not, he works on his projects around the house and I usually get an early start on dinner.

I love being able to cook dinner for him before he goes to work. And I especially love cooking in complete and total peace. Esteban and I sit down to dinner between 4 – 5pm. If they kids are awake, they eat with us, but most of the time, they are still asleep. Then he gets cleaned up and goes to work. I clean up the kitchen and everything is ready by the time the munchkins wake up. The kids have dinner at 6pm and clean up is now a cinch since most of it was done while they were still sleeping. And we have the rest of the evening to do whatever we like. We go for walks, do art projects or I let them have free play so I can have internet time.

So although I would prefer for Esteban to be home at night with us, I am really enjoying this new schedule. We have 4 extra hours together a day on my off days and because we have more time together, I’m much more relaxed in the evenings on his off nights. I don’t mind it as much if he wants to go see the game or have a beer at the neighbors. Plus, since he starts at 6pm, I can get a full days work in on any day of the week. He doesn’t have to have specific days off like before. And twice so far, we have actually had a day off together. Imagine that!

Because of our decision to be the sole providers of our kids, we never had to utilize daycare. That was great because we knew our kids were always safe and in a loving environment. Plus we didn’t have any of the associated costs. The down side was that our marriage was taking a beating. We never had time together. Now, things are like they always were and I thank God for that.

A Quick Update

I had to work today so Jayden spent the day with Daddy and it was so hard for me to let go and let Daddy take over. But that's another story...

According to Daddy’s report, Jayden had a great day with no accidents. His diaper was a little wet in the morning and so was his pull-up after nap, but that’s the least of my worries right now. After a few false alarms, he went poop on his own. Esteban said Jayden was dragging him to the bathroom all day long, but he felt it was a great success! I’m very proud of my big boy.

Hard Core Potty Training: Day 4

Jayden woke up today and gave me a very hard time about going to the potty, but at this point I’m not about to back down so I took him kicking and screaming. I was very happy to discover that his diaper was dry. He did what he needed to do and we moved on. During breakfast, I noticed he was fooling around so I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said yes. Immediately, I noticed that he had to poop and after he went pee, he was very quick to jump up and say all done. I reminded him that he couldn’t go poop in his undies. He has to poop in his potty. He told me he was scared.

Long story short, we spent one hour in the potty. I even lost my nerve and told him to come up off the potty, but he said no and he sat there. I held his hand. I hugged him. I kissed him. I told him not to be afraid. I read him a book. I practiced his letters with him. I gave him privacy. We talked about the weather and his Titi, his cousins, his daddy, his sister, and everybody he could think of. I even prayed with him. And finally, he did it. He went poop in the potty. I felt so relieved and thankful and he was so excited and proud of himself. I rewarded him with two m&m candies.

After nap, Jayden’s pull up was dry. Yeah. Another success! The rest of the evening was uneventful, except for the fact that Jayden wants to go to the potty every few minutes. Sometimes I think he just wants the m&m, but as long as he’s going successfully I’m happy. I’ll find a way to wean him from the chocolate soon enough.

Hard Core Potty Training: Day 3

Today started out great. Jayden woke up. I immediately took him to the potty and he went with no problems. This was an improvement from yesterday, when he went in his diaper just before I could change him out of it. I was still reminding him to go every 30 minutes or so because he didn’t go poop yet. After breakfast, we went to the potty but no luck so we washed hands and moved on. I went to the kitchen with Maya and Jayden went to play in his room.

All of a sudden, I see him run out of his room to the screen room, but I thought he was looking for a toy. And then right before my eyes, I see him making that weird face. He’s watching me watching him and he comes back and says he has to go potty so we run to the bathroom. I quickly take his pants off and out it flings. I look at Jayden, horrified and I see the pee dripping down his leg and I was beside myself. So he got his spanking and sat on the potty while I cleaned up. I spared him the long lecture, but he knew I was upset. He came over to me for a kiss and a hug, which of course I gave him, but I went ahead and reiterated that he had to learn to go pee and poop in the potty. Ok he said.

After that, he was great. He went, usually on his own with no prompting from me. During his nap, he barely wet is pull up. Then, after dinner I took him to the bathroom to wash hands and sit on the potty and I heard him tootin’ so I asked him if he had to poop and he said no. I told him he had to do poop in the potty and he said no, not yet. A little while later, I hear him whimpering in his room. When I get there, the door was locked. Now I’m scared because I can hear him crying and the door is locked and he won’t open. I’m fumbling around with the skeleton key but I’m nervous so it doesn’t open. Finally he opens it on his own and sure enough he’s pooped in his undies again! Can you say angry?

How many spankings does it take? My heart is breaking for even having to go there with him. I don’t know why he’s afraid, but somehow I have to help him get over his fear of pooping on the potty. I know he's not the only child to be afraid of their own poop, but it's nerve racking!

So after that he said he had to pee, but he had already leaked in his undies (no doubt from fear). I took him to the potty and he finished up there. And then he wanted to go to the potty for the rest of the night every 15 minutes. I’m going nuts with this guy. Clearly, he’s got the pee part down. It’s the poop part that is throwing everything off. I’m really hoping that he’ll get it by tomorrow because after that I go to work and he’ll be home with Daddy and he's the king of throwing off my routines.

Hard Core Potty Training: Day 2

Today started out ok. Jayden was hesitant to get out of his diaper and into his undies, but he handled it well. I was most worried about the first go of the day, but after a couple of visits to the potty, he went like clockwork. The day went by pretty smoothly. There were no accidents and we went through only one pair of undies. In fact, he was even telling me on his own when he had to go, which was great. Sometimes he was dragging me to the bathroom and went through the motions, but he didn’t have to go. Of course, he figured since he held up his end of the bargain, I should hold up mine. I informed him though that he only gets an m&m IF he goes to the potty.

In the back of my mind, I’m a little worried that he did not poop today. He normally goes everyday and I don’t like the idea of him holding it. But he can’t hold it forever. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.