Potty Training

 

Potty Training. I hear the organ playing ominous music in my head, ESPECIALLY when you have a boy, because everyone says they are harder. The majority of my friends have girls, and were telling me things that worked for them, and some of these tips were helpful for sure, but Jake’s sitter kind of helped me pull the trigger. 

My original plan for potty training Jake was to do it a year ago. I wanted him potty trained before the baby, and thought I had the perfect opportunity since my doctor put me off work because of covid. Problem was, Jake wasn’t even close to ready. I had read this “I trained my son in three days” article and was attempting this crash course type method. I sat my just turned 2-year-old down on his potty and he sobbed. He was not ready, he was scared. For the next several months, we suggested the potty to him, but he was dead set against it. Come to the first week of August, and he was finally ready…keeping in mind, Brock was born August 10th…not a great time. So needless to say, that didn’t happen. Doing any kind of bunce back after a baby takes some time, then it was Christmas, then it was hard because I was nursing. Why this matters, I have recently discovered, toddlers like to shout “I need to pee” at the worst times. I was talking to his sitter about it and with her son (Jake’s best friend) she had to just rip off the band-aid. This is what that article said a year ago too. We got him a couple packs of underwear and some chocolate easter eggs because bribery works, and went to it. Another thing I put into play, I made it a game. We were on “Team Potty” and we made a score board, if he got to the potty, team potty got a point. If we had an accident, team accident did. We even had a victory dance (which was adorable might I add). I am pretty proud to say, Team potty had like 18 points, and team accident had like 4. 

The actual training part is over, he knows what to do. I am basically support staff now. Diaper budget just went down (now Mommy is doing our victory dance).

It's Not the Same as Last Time

 

         When Jake was born, he failed to latch for almost 2 months, then we had 8 months of uninterrupted nursing. I remember reading an article, that I should never had read, titled “One last time”. In this article, the woman wrote about the very last time she would nurse her baby, and how hard it was on her. If I am being honest, I did cry for my last session with Jake. BUT there was a little relief when I stopped nursing him, because those two months left a little tinge of resentment to nursing, and what was more, I knew the plan was I would be doing this again. 

Nearly two and a half years later, Brock comes along, and this time I knew what I was doing. I knew what went wrong in the first hours with Jake, and I was not going to let that happen again. Brock was nursing within the first hour of his life and doing a pretty good job might I add. There was supplementing once after one feed in the hospital, and it was like 30mls. He did skin on skin with me for the first 24 hours of his life. He came off me to be changed or check by a doctor or nurse other than that he was on me. He wasn’t allowed a pacifier or bottle until 6 weeks, so we knew we were good, and we were good. We were great! 

For the last month or so, Brock is showing more interest in the bottle than the breast. He latched for 3 gulps usually and screams at me, he has been miserable…except during his bottle feeds. He downs it like a champ and is usually chill. So, my plan was to try him with formula, and see how he is, just a couple feeds. Well, that was at the beginning of this week, I was going to slowly drop feeds over the next month, but Brock had other plans. He wants the bottle, and it is killing me. I wanted to go longer with him nursing, because I could this time, but my second born is far more independent than my first. He has gone bottle for all but one feed today. I am keeping my bedtime feed tonight. He will drop another tomorrow, and I’ll get my one last feed with him tomorrow night. 

I have been crying hysterically all day today because it’s not like last time.  I have no resentment to nursing this time, and I do not plan to have another baby to do this again. This is it, it is over. I never thought I would be this bad with him, I was so much better when he moved into his own room than I was with Jake moving, I thought (hoped) nursing would be the same. Instead, I am a blubbering mess. It is funny how different milestones hit you differently with different kids. 

              K, Luv Ya, Bye

Nancy

Mini Christmas

 Merry Christmas! I was waiting to post that. My little man turned 3 last week. With the world in the state it is, I was not going to have a party, but I DID want to do something special for him. Because Jake is very much a chip off the ole block, I thought a “Mini Christmas” was the perfect idea, and he agreed. We celebrated on Sunday, while Cale is off. 

The day started with an excited little boy discovering Pickles (our Elf on the Shelf) had returned for his big day, and he was in a jar (yes, we had a jar of Pickles) so he could take him with him everywhere he went. Also, the jar got broken at one point in the day.

        We went downstairs where he opened his gifts, most of which were wrapped in Christmas paper. Jake had never had pancakes before (I am not a huge fan, and I do the cooking) and lately he has been talking about them. So, I made pancakes, they were a huge hit. I took notes on this for Christmas, because he HATES my typical Christmas breakfast (only made it for years prior to his birth, no biggie lol). 

We were then supposed to decorate cookies we had made the night before…but he decided he wanted to play with his new toys. I literally slapped icing on each one and used some sprinkles, that was it. 

           We all played with his toys, and he picked a couple Christmas movies to watch. This kid had been talking about the Benedict Cumberbatch Grinch movie, and Santa Claus is coming to town for weeks. We did not watch either. He chose the original Grinch, Frosty the Snowman (has never shown an interest in this one ever), and Flintstones Christmas Carol…so obscure, but it was his day.

         He requested Pizza for supper, so I made it on Naan bread…which was not good as far as he was concerned, he wanted me to make “regular pizza”. This kid only likes Cheese on his pizza, and likely would have preferred I make him a frozen cheese mini pizza. The night before, Cale and I iced 20 or so cupcakes and placed them in the shape of a Christmas tree, these were well received. 

         After we were all done eating it was JUST starting to get dark, and I had put out the word to put your Christmas lights on in our area for about 2 hours or so. Of course, it was mostly our friends who complied, but not ONLY our friends, which was a nice surprise. We took a drive and stopped at a few friend’s places for gifts. What was great about the drive was the gratitude in my boy’s voice. When we drove by his best friend’s house, they had put lights back out just for him. He sounded almost choked up when he told me “Mommy, they’re very nice people”. He would sweetly say thank you when he saw any Christmas lights on, and I think it did what my goal was, to make him feel loved. 

We concluded the day with him saying goodbye to Pickles and telling us “This is the best Birthday ever”

K, Luv Ya, Bye

Nancy