The Potty Chronicles: The Day Mommy Gave Joey A Complex

Ugh! I knew it couldn't all be this easy! Of course .. maybe it could of had I not totally traumatized our child and brought him to the point of uttering, "I/Mommy be better" and "Noooo Mommy. Nooooo" in a sad, dejected and (tiny-bit) defiant voice when I ask if he needs to go to the potty. Cause that's where we are now folks. Insert Mommy's sad face here.

Unrelated picture of Joey demonstrating a "happy face" because I know people just want to see my kids.. and what's a post without pictures? ;o)

Basically, it went down like this. A little less than a week ago, we were in a mad dash to the potty motivated by the urgency in Joey's voice when he said he needed to go potty NOW. Okay, run to potty, rip off J's pants, pull off diaper, insert Sponge Bob ("Dubba Dubba") seat, set Joey in his place, breathe because we made it, and wait. I was waiting patiently as we sang and held hands (all kumbaya, I know, it's a sight) because I knew he needed to go number two (sorry, TMI, but I have a two year old and three month old so it's what my life is made of) and I knew if I was patient enough we'd have a big celebration, and Joey could have "TWO tandies!!!", and we'd all be overjoyed.

Demonstrating a "sad face."

Yeah, well ... it turns out I had not been fast enough in our dash to the potty and the evidence was found hiding under J's diaper.  FOUND BY MY FOOT, PEOPLE! You could probably pretty accurately imagine the scene that ensued.  Lots of "Oh my GOD!"s and frantic washing and throwing things on the back porch and such...

Joey's "angry face." ... Which actually looks a lot like his "smile" face now that I look at it. Ha!.

So basically, my little potty champion observed the whole scene from his perch on the potty.  Asking at one point, in the most innocent voice possible, as I washed off my foot, "Yhat's yong Mommy?" And, really, now that I'm fully recounting this I feel really bad about the whole thing.  Why couldn't I have just smiled and handled this all with grace and giggles?  Apparently, human poop on your bare foot catches you off guard.

Joey's "scary face."

Post Poop-On-Foot Day, Joey has been reluctant to go on the potty.  I was puzzled until I had to change his diaper one day and asked if he wanted to try the potty and he launched into a litany of sad, crazy, phrases that included things such as "Joey's poop on the bact a' Mommy's foot" and "I better now" and "Mommy all better now?" and ugh ... my heart sank. And it was clear what had happened.  I'm pretty sure Joey took my frantic ohmygodIhaveyourpooponmyfoot to be yelling at him and not about the situation.  Which was not the case, but how was he supposed to know that? 

 Don't yell at my brother!

So now potty time involves a lot (a real lot) of protest and tears (Ugh! why didn't I just laugh?!?) and holding it in when I know he really needs to go.  It's got Joe and I shooting each other glances that say, "Ohmygawd ... what do we do now?".  And seriously, we're torn between letting him abandon the whole thing because everyone says it's supposed to be positive and making him work through it now because we don't want this to develop into something even larger.

In an act of solidarity, I will resist all things potty! Don't think you are getting me to poop more than once every three days now!

Add in the fact that Grace has joined forces with her brother in her own sort of protest and basically the little ones have managed to gain all control around here (kidding!).  That and the fact that I have Joey in the most unpractical of potty training pajamas, little footie-one-piece gems, because, A: I have a crazy love of having my kids to match (notice their coordinating jammies??) and B: this is the last year J will fit into them (Tears! My baby is growing up), have created the perfect storm. 

 Who? Me?

So where do we go now? Basically, I cannot buy any more coordinating footie pajamas. They are not helping matters and I must exercise restraint.  (Why did Joey have to start potty training now?! He's putting the kabosh on cute bedtimes!) Anndddd .. I'm thinking we're going to move in the direction of LOTS of sitting on the potty, with tons of making it happy added in, to desensitize him. As of this morning I have Joe adding in a potty dance to the list of rewards which basically has Joey in stitches and me sitting there alternating between thinking Please God don't let Joey EVER mimic this in public and My kids have SUCH a good Dad.

Hopefully this will all be short lived and the terrific twosome will be back to their selves in a matter of days

*Fingers crossed*

You've got to admit they are super cute in their matchy matchy snowmen jamies :o)

Also, Joey fought a sinus infection and won this week.You can kind of tell in his face in this last pic that he was feeling sick.That now makes Joey's lifetime score in the never-ending battle of Joey vs Sinuses, Joey: 2 and Sinus Infections: 8 million. Yay for tubes in the ears! They give my kid a fighting chance.

Family Pictures! :o)

Our

 family pictures

 now

 have

FOUR people!!

Thanks for the help, Mom!

Stumble Upon

Daily, Joe and I get to stumble upon scenes like this.

It is our greatest reward.

 Notice the hand holding going on.

Overheard:

Grace: Crying

Joey: (before anyone else gets to her) Yhat's yong honey? I yock you? Ooo--tay.

I make it to the living room and take a seat on the couch to watch the show I know will unfold.

Joey: (singing gently) Yock da baaaaby On da twee top .. Yock da baby..

I warn that the rocking, which is becoming ..."enthusiastic," needs to be gentle.  He slows down and looks back for approval which I give. This is rare, this searching for approval.  He is two now and sometimes delights in the mischievous.  But not with Grace.  He loves his Grace.

I call to Joe in that hushed, serious, hurry-up-before-you-miss-this tone that gets used around here a lot these days.  Joey, concerned, looks back once again for approval, worried that I was addressing him and not his father.  I assure him he's doing a great job.  Joe comes in and I recount Joey's attempts to take care of his sister.  This is not a rare occurrence but we praise him like it's the first time every time and tell him he's the best brother in the world.  Our praise falls, unneeded, on deaf ears.  He is in a world of his own with his sister.  She is his reward.

Clapping and "dancing" with Grace to the bouncy chair music.

Pumpkin Pie is Yummy

but we'd pick Gracie Pie any day :o)

Rolly Polly :o)

This little one has something very important to share.

With much concentration and lots of muscles, Gracie Pie managed to roll herself over today and then did it over and over again.

Oooh, brother bear did not get this down until his four month birthday, see below.  That's one for the girls.

Also, wow ... I wish I was motivated to learn how to take better pictures before I had Joey.

I'm super grateful for a supportive husband who pushed and pushed me to buy our camera and indulges my interest. I know it's not important to everyone, but to us pictures of our kids are just priceless.

All these moments are so fleeting..... and we have two year old and three month old ...... when they are eighteen and twenty I'll be having a heart attack wondering how this all happened so fast.  I just know it.

The Potty Chronicles

One week ago, last Thursday night,  Joey greeted me when we got home by telling me I needed to go "buy Joey a potty."  We already had a little seat for the toilet that he and I had purchased about a month ago.  I asked him if he wanted to try to use the potty right then and he said yes.  He was right (!) and so began Joey's potty training.

 We have been planning to start the process right after Christmas, when J will be closer to two and a half.  We still are going to wait until then to get involved in pushing or prompting him to get serious, but he is doing so well on his own!  I ask him every now and then if he wants to try and every now and then he is the one who asks us.

 He gets an M&M and a sticker with every successful attempt.  Every time I ask him if he wants to try he inevitably says, " Yeah I try. Pee pees go down the potty? Get tandy?" Clearly, the "tandy" is a strong motivator. :o)

Really, the whole thing is just super cute.  If he sits on the potty and nothing happens immediately he says, "Not yurkin' Mommy... I don't hear some."  As soon as he's done, he'll look at me and say, kind of quietly, "Ho-wayyy!" 

We're so proud of our big boy!

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Pie Pie is having a hard day today and for some reason will not let me put her down.
She's never like this and today has been a reality check regarding how hard it could be to be home with a two year old and a new little baby.  I really need to clean but it's just not going to happen.  Instead, we have this going on.

Swaddle, binky, faces touching, hand full of hair to hold.
It won't always be her idea of heaven, but it is right now.

Biased

I know she's ours, but this baby is just

 every positive adjective under the sun.

Fallapalooza Part I {2011}

You can find 2010's post here.

We loaded up our tiny ones and headed to the pumpkin patch yesterday.

It was about 80 degrees and exactly as busy as you would think it would be on Columbus day weekend with nice weather.  Surprisingly, inside it didn't seem all that busy but the parking lot was loaded.

It was super sunny!

We all had a great time. Enjoy the pictures.

 Joey enjoyed getting to "feed" the animals more than I thought he would.  There was this tiny, cute, white, baby goat and when we excitedly said, "Joey, look at the baby goat!" he took off running with his hand over his eyes like you do when you are searching for something in the distance and shading the sun while yelling, "Where are you, goat?". It was so funny.  Isn't the goat cute?

She's cute too.

Joey was most excited about the tractors and the food.  No surprises there :o).  The poor baby just wanted a "puntin tou-tie" but by the time we were leaving  he was too tired to even realize it never quite happened for him.  He happily settled for a round cookie with orange icing and declared it a "puntin tou-tie."

Grace conked out while we waited for our lunch.  She likes to be all wrapped up and hold something while she falls asleep.  Her favorites are your finger or the tufts of hair on the back of her head.  She had access to neither one since her headband was covering the hair she likes so she settled for the strap of her dress.  Her binky fell out so she settled for her finger.  She is just heart-warmingly sweet and perfect.

This is Joey's face watching his father bring him a "special pumpkin sippy" full of "special pumpkin juice".  He's at this great age where all you have to do is add the adjective, special, to the front of something for him to truly believe it is the most special thing on earth.  I totally milk this. I love to watch his face light up and it makes him thrilled over things like apple cider in an orange plastic cup.

Magic.

He was also wilting fast at this point so we decided to try to perk him up with and influx of sugar :o).

The pumpkin cookies still alluded us so he settled for apple cider doughnuts.

  Grace has also decided to give up her protests and now takes a bottle like a champ.

Our pumpkin is still small this year .. but now we have two.

I still love the picture of him by this sign last year.

It's crazy to think of what a difference one small year can make.

 Joey truly picked his pumpkin this year.

Last year at this time we had one baby literally toddling through the pumpkin patch, still occasionally choosing to crawl.  Our second baby was no more than a hope and a desire, though that was quickly about to change in just a matter of weeks.

 And now we're a family of four with one child old enough to literally be running through the pumpkin patch and one so small that she still keeps her little baby hands in fists :o)

The play area was loaded with kids.  One older boy pushed past Joey and looked at him and said, "I'm a train robber."  Joey looked up at me, paused, and said very seriously, "I a twain wobber."  He kept locking eyes with other kids and saying, "Are you wobbin'?"  So cute.  Nobody had a clue what he was talking about :o).  He's clearly in a very impressionable phase.

Wobbin' twains.

If you know Joey then these pictures say it all.  This boy does not sleep anywhere but his crib (and car seat on long trips).  There are times I would give anything for him to fall asleep snuggling us like when he is sick, or we're watching a movie at night, or it's the middle of the night and something is bothering him.  It's just not his style and he always wants his crib.  The boy was pooped!! 

 These pictures are from us waiting in line to ride a pony.  I kept asking him if he just wanted to go home but he insisted that he still did want to ride the pony.

After a long, sleepy wait in the beating hot sun, the baby got to ride his pony.

About half way through, Joe, not kidding at all, goes, "Uhhhh ... I hope he's not so tired that he lets go and falls off."  I had been thinking the same thing. To make it worse the person leading the pony was at the front of the pony and not looking at at Joey at all.

He was bobbing and weaving on that pony like a drunken sailor.

I was happy when it was over.

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Our annual cornstalk picture.

I love this ridiculous picture.  It's just so funny to me how Joe and I look all chipper and happy, Grace is all like, "Why is this camera always in my face?" and Joey is totally on his last leg and not trying to hide it.  It is just such a real picture.

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One quick picture of our two muchkins together.

Joey got to pick his sister's pumpkin this year.

 And we were done :o)
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And because I'm totally obsessed.
Here's what was waiting for me when we got home and I opened the back door.

Agh! She just kills me.
Look at those little chub legs and baby toes!