Wear It Wednesday

As you may have read, I'm trying to make as many memories as I can this summer.  I love, love, love hanging out with my little man and sometimes I even get to hang out with my super cool nephew.  Luckily, today was one of those days.

So we deemed it "Wear It Wednesday!"  (With a little help from Aunt Keely!)

We made tye-dye shirts with the boys.  To say it was an adventure would be putting it mildly. 

Only one major catastrophe.  Reilly tripped over and kinda into the bucket of black dye.  Oops.  I'm sure it will wash off.  Eventually.

Here are some pics from our 1st ever "Wear It Wednesday!"

The rubber banding process has begun!

 Let the dying begin

 Even Dave got into it when he got home from work

 Teamwork is key

 Ha!  We thought rubber gloves would help keep us clean!

 Brady and Kim working together

 Patience was important!

 Just about done...

 Finished product!

 Success!

1.5 hours and 6 cool tye dyed shirts later....it's a wrap!

Let's Get Serious About This Big Boy Potty Thing...Day 1

It's a Wednesday.  Just a normal, ordinary Wednesday.  Only it's not.  It was a "Let's Get Serious About This Big Boy Potty Thing...Day 1" kinda Wednesday.

Potty training is one of our top priorities this summer.  We've been at it off and on for a while now, but when I got up today, and we didn't have any plans, I figured there was no time like the present to get serious about this daunting task that lays before us.

You may have read about the importance of broccoli in this whole scenario. I knew we had a lot in the fridge, so we were covered!   Last week when we were at the store, Reilly also picked out Thomas the Train Under Dunders, so we were ready to go.  We had everything we needed.  Thomas the Train under dunders and broccoli.  Easy Cheesy.  Only it wasn't.

Here's how our day went.  (and yes, these are actual times...and yes, I did write them in a notebook.)

8:45--Reilly woke up and wanted to get out of his crib.  (We had a busy day yesterday and a late night...we're usually up way before this!)
8:46-8:56--Sits on the potty--Nothing
8:56--Put on green Thomas the Train Undies. Pair #1
8:58--Change into blue Thomas the train Undies.  Pair #2  --Note...there was no reason to change other than he's 2 and he changed his mind about what color he wanted to wear.
9:06--Reilly tells me he has to poop.  We run to the potty, shedding clothes as fast as we can.
9:07--Off the potty, no poop.
9:08--Reilly pees on the floor--(I know, I know, lesson learned.  Keep him on the potty even when he says he's done)
9:09--Change back into green Thomas the Train Undies.
9:18--Reilly waddles by as I'm washing dishes...he pooped his pants.
9:19--Clean up and he decides he doesn't want undies on.
10:12--Sat on the potty--Nothing
10:19--Decides to walk around the house with the potty seat on his head.

10:25--A full blown, "I want pants on" breakdown.
10:28--Put on red Thomas the Train Under Dunders, covered them up with some jammie pants.
11:00--Sat on potty.  Nothing
11:20--Sat on potty.  Nothing
12:00--Sat on potty.  Nothing
12:30--Sat on potty.  Nothing.
1:00--Nap time...diaper ON!
1:55--Got up from nap...still dry!
1:55-2:03--Sat on potty.  Nothing.
2:04--Decides no under dunders are the way to go again.
2:15--A full blown, "I want pants on" breakdown. (Again!)
2:20--Red Thomas the Train Under Dunders back on...covered up with shorts.
2:45--Reilly trips over and into the bucket of BLACK dye we were using to Tye Dye t-shirts...and...pees his pants.
2:47--Come into change, we're back into the now clean blue Thomas the Train Under Dunders and a new pair of shorts.
3:30--Reilly pees his pants
3:45--(Yep, he stayed in his wet pants for 15 minutes!) change into the now clean green Thomas the Train Under Dunders.
4:45--Reilly falls asleep on Dave's lap...I put him in his crib and get out the bedsheet that I'm anticipating will have to be changed.
5:30--Reilly gets up...DRY!
6:15--Shower--no accidents in the shower!
6:35--A diaper for bed.

And that was just day 1.  I'm exhausted!

Goin' To The Zoo?

Each morning as I get Reilly out of bed, we begin to talk about our day.  He likes to hear what we've got going on.  He also likes to know where everyone is.  We have to go through the list.  We start with Daddy, go through Aunt Kim, Uncle Glenn, Brady, Aunt Keely and Uncle Jeff.  Occasionally he throws in a couple different names, but usually sticks to those.  Each morning the same thing...he just needs to know.

I can usually place money on knowing what his next question is going to be, even before he asks it.

"We goin' to the zoo, Mom?"

We spend a lot of time at the zoo.  A LOT.  As in, I can probably successfully give the "Keeper talks."  I can pretty much name all the animals.  Reilly knows which animals are next to what and where to go.  He also knows the exact time to yell, "All Aboard" when we get on the train.  Oh, and I can recite the train engineer's little speech too.  Did I mention we are there ALL THE TIME?

My kid loves the zoo.  Let's just say the family pass is a great investment for our family.  Not so much for the zoo though...they have to be losing money on us.

 Reilly started laughing when he saw the camels...they had lost all their fur since the last time we had been there!

 It only appears as if he is using the bush as a bathroom...he's really just looking at the sprinkler that's on the other side.

 We were very excited to meet Pearl, the Amur Leopards, new "friend."

 Seeing the turtles was a highlight of the day...they've been inside for the winter and this was their first day back out!  We visited with them for 20 l-o-n-g minutes!

 This is the "Nope, I'm not ready to leave the turtles, face!"

 This beauty has just recently caught Rei's eye.  He now talks to him and asks if he wants to ride bikes. 

 Bourgess the anteater...

 Just checking out the scenery...

 Reilly firmly believes this bench was made specifically for him.  We often sit and chat here.

 "Hello, Emu!"

 This was the expression I got when I asked why he had chosen the very last seat on the train...where we had to sit backwards...

 But seriously, who could say "no" to this smile?

There was not a puddle untouched, Reilly has some sort of radar...he knows right where they are!

Enjoyment

We're in smack in the heart of summer vacation, and I couldn't be happier.  Many events lately have really reminded me that I have such a short time to hang out with my precious boy, and that I need to take advantage of every minute we have together. (There's soon going to be another blog about this!)

Although we haven't had weeks and weeks off together, we've filled our days completely up and are making new memories every day.  I cherish this time we have together, just hanging out,blowing bubbles, talking, playing with play-doh, going on walks, riding bikes, and watching TV.  I know that this time is precious, and he's only going to be little for a short, short while.

The other day, Dave, Reilly and I were running some errands when we happened upon a park in Elkhart.  Yep, it was steaming hot.  Yep, we were tired.  Yep, we wanted to be in the air-conditioning.  But Reilly saw a park.  And he wanted to stop.  So we did.  I have come to love these unexpected stops.  And I'm so thankful we had the camera with us.

After all, he's only going to be little once.  This is enjoyment in the purest form.

 It's important to search for the most "perfect" rock to throw...

 "Really?  I can throw it and no one will get mad?"

 And it's off...

 "Watch me, dad!"

 He was so excited he was able to put his hands in the water!

 "We've got to find the perfect one!"

All that throwing made Rei tired...daddy to the rescue!

I Shouldn't Be Suprised...He Is My Kid Afterall.

I wake up every morning to this amazing, sweet little voice, saying over and over, "Mom, I wake now.  Mom, I wake now.  Mom, where you at?  I wake now."  It's far better than the sound of any other kind of alarm clock.  And before I ever rush out of bed, I take a few seconds to thank God that the little voice is calling me.  It's calling me, and no one else.

If being a mommy has taught me anything, it's that I never, ever, never, I mean NEVER EVER know what is going to happen 5 minutes from now when my little man is with me.  I can have something in mind.  I can have a plan.  It rarely plays out in real life how I've pictured it in my head.  I have learned to expect the unexpected.  And I wouldn't change a thing!  Not a single thing.

So it's time to start this potty training business.  We've been talking about it for a while now with my very "I like to do things my very own way and will let you know when I'm ready" child.  We've been exploring the potty.  We've been flushing the potty.  We even practice opening and closing the lid and standing on it to brush our teeth.  We're pretty much potty experts.  Except when it comes to sitting on the potty and making things happen.

 Up until Monday, every time we tried sitting on it, it was a horrific, neighbors calling, people showing up at the door to find out why my poor child was screaming kind of experience.  Purely joyful, really.  The stuff memories are made of.

But Monday was different.  We were sitting in the living room and he grabbed my hand and said "Go potty, Mommy."  I hesitantly looked at him.  We've done it before.  We get close and the panic sets in.  I wasn't sure if this was going to be the same, or different.  It proved to be different.  He stood still while we de-pants and sat down like a champ.  We even got results.

Elated was not the right word.  We were dancing, singing, high-fiving, celebrating and having a grand ol' time.  We told him he could have a treat--he chose skittles (not a surprise!) and we were about to be big boy potty pros.

Ok...turns out big boy potty pros is a really strong title.  After all, it had only been one time.  Turns out, we're right back to the "avoid the big boy potty at all costs" frame of mind. 

Until...

Just today, we sat on the potty again, with little fear and anxiety.  He seemed to be okay with it.  We had the skittles ready and we were good to go.  We sat and sang songs, chatted, read a book and nothing.  Not even a dribble.  But, we felt it was a pretty good effort, so we were still going to let him have a treat.  I got his skittles ready, and he says, "No thanks, Mom.  I have boccli (broccoli.)"  Um...

Turns out we don't have any broccoli.  FAN-flippin-TASTIC!

Really, broccoli?  You may remember another broccoli story...we've had a complete 180 since then, and it turns out my son will pretty much do anything for broccoli.  Including sitting on the potty.  For a long time.

So...it turns out, that for today, (and maybe just for today only), broccoli seems to be the secret weapon to becoming a big boy potty pro.  Reilly will sit on the potty with no worries forever, as long as he can eat broccoli while he's there.

Now...I'm going to scour the sale ads for a produce sale...