Paw-E & Neenees

Over Memorial Day weekend, Stephen and I opted to try out potty training with Miles. Our original thought was to do this in August when he would be out of school. But because of COVID, we have a lot more time with him. So, we used the 3-day weekend to go for it.

I bought a potty, some fun undies, treats and solicited advice from Becky on the method she used. Potty training in 3 days - I'm in! We were ready to go. 

We woke up that morning and told Miles it was a super exciting day. "Today you are a big boy! Today we are all done diapers!!" He was all excited... not sure if he knew why... but excited nonetheless. 

Day 1:  A mad success! SO many parties at the potty and over the top excitement. It was pretty fun. No accidents and in great spirits all day. Could it be? Would this be THAT easy? 

Helping Dada with his new sno cone machine. Delish. Purchase approved

When it's too hot outside and you need to stay close to the potty

Day 2:  We lessened the amount of of reminders and we had a few accidents. But with all things considered, he did great.

Day 3:  I retract my previous "easy" statement. This day was pretty exhausting. I learned that what you feed your toddler may come back to haunt you. Something did not sit well and we were back and forth, in and out of the potty with more dirty undies than expected. Lots of wiping, lots of changing. My back was spent at the end of the day. Apart from his belly troubles, he fell into the "too busy playing" category and didn't make it to the potty in time. We also think he was experimenting with his body to see what did what and how long he could hold out. "Mama! PAW-E!!" *runs to potty*.... leaving a little puddle of pee on the floor. It wasn't all lost though - the idea was definitely still there. Some additional reminders and assistance from us and he was back on track.

Shirts with no pants has been the preferred attire in our house lately

The coming days were similar but getting increasingly better. It's been almost 2 weeks and we'll go ahead and call it - potty training has been a success! We've noticed the little wetting of the undies before going to the potty has been a re-occurring thing. So, I took some advice from Becky and put a basket full of clean undies in the bathroom for him to grab plus a bin for wet undies. He's gotten the hang of pretty much everything, which is so nice. Wet undies go here, grab dry undies here. Putting the undies back on..... well.... he's still working on that. "Look Mama! New Neenees!" *waddling into the room with both legs through one hole*

I am so happy for him and his new found independence. We're still on alert and have told the girls to be on alert as well since he's still learning. But, we've made so much progress. I'm confident (even with his speech a little behind) that when school starts, he'll be ready.

Note for future potty trainers:  7 pairs of undies is NOT enough...... pretty sure I'm up to about 30 now 

Miles Speech Update

As many of you know, we did a speech evaluation for Miles last Fall. We felt that he was doing fine for his age, but might be a tad behind. So getting a second opinion offered that extra validation. Like we thought, the therapist said he was age appropriate and on par with where he needed to be. She sent us over things to look for as he neared age 3 as well as 3 and a half.

Since quarantine, I feel like Miles' speech has grown exponentially. I'm not sure if it's because he's home more often and I'm hearing more, or if that "light bulb" has gone off. Some of his words are a little muddled and we haven't reached the goals set by the therapist yet, but he's doing so well!

For those curious, our goals:
- Finishing the end of words by age 3 (she said if he's doing it sometimes, but not others, it's a good indication this skill will develop on it's own)
- Using the K and G sounds by age 3.5
- And being understood 75% of the time by friends and family by age 3

[ Note:  This video is LONG. We got an ABC box of books from Becky with words starting with each letter. He was cooperating so well, so I went ahead and did all the letters ]

...yes, it's supposed to be a black screen :P

It's Official - Carson's First Word(s)!

We've been listening for awhile now and it's the same pretty much every time.

First he signs it, then he says it. "All Done!" Sometimes he just says "Done!", but it's there. Yay Carson!

When Stephen reads this, he's going to tell you Carson's first word was "Dada". Let me set this straight. Yes, he could say that a long time ago. However, he doesn't use to when talking about Stephen. He doesn't correlate the two. So technically, not a word yet. *wink*

A little update on his walking: We're up to 10 steps! I was hoping he'd pickup on it a little faster, but he just isn't interested in practicing. Sometimes when we're working with him, he just keeps his legs lifted and doesn't put weight on them. We have him just bobbing there in mid air hoping he'd plant his feet. He does not. If he's not into it, he won't do it. Such a stinker.

Step by Step - Carson Style

Carson has been cruising like a champ, but hasn't quite gotten the confidence to step off on his own. Stephen and I have been practicing with him by holding his hands or having him walk short distances between him and me. We'd gotten maybe one or two solid steps and then Carson would lunge towards us. So, not really there yet. Until now!

Yesterday we set him up with the alligator walker Omi bought him for his birthday (thanks Omi!). He had no problems. Just hopped right up and rolled across the room. So cute.

With that under his belt, Stephen and I tried a longer distance walk between us to see what he'd do.

6 STEPS!! Yay Carson! He's got the strength. Just needs a bit more coordination with his balance. After that, I think he'll be off running. Time will tell!

ps. If you noticed his face, he's had a rough couple of days (literally). Miles jabbed him with an airplane and popped his eyebrow open. Then, Carson face-planted on the floor and his tooth went through his top lip. AND THEN, he fell (or was given a slight push....) out of the sand box. He hit his lower lip near his chin and his teeth went through his bottom lip. So we've got an open eyebrow, 2 open lips and a scrape on his chin. Poor babe :(

Overdue Family Photo-op

I've been passing through our front hallway for over a year now telling myself, "Man, we really need to re-do our family photos." Well, we finally did it. Thanks to our awesome photographer Becky, we were able to get some pretty good shots. Miles was less than enthused, so getting some genuine smiles out of him took some work. But, Stephen and I are really happy with the outcome.

And for giggles, this was pretty much the feeling of the whole session. Carson being smiley and goofy while Miles was just over it. "CHEESE!... okay treat?! Treat?!" We had m&ms to bribe him to smile. He caught on pretty quick. One super fast smile and then asking for candy. ha!

Mama - that's me!

While I'm usually not a huge fan of being in the spotlight, Mother's Day was something I was looking forward to. A day out of the norm that has become quarantined life.

I told Stephen the day before that all I really wanted for Mother's Day was a chance to go running in the morning (it's how I stay sane through all this covid drama) and mimosas. Lots of mimosas :D He said "Sure babe, whatever you want. It's your day." A+ hubby right there. Little did I know, sneaky dude was planning something much bigger!

Yall.... all I have to say is this day was above and beyond. Todd and Stephen went all out and Mother's Day 2020 did not disappoint! I was with Becky pretty much all day and her promptness on blogging aided me in an awesome #repost!

Check out how our day went HERE.

Hats go off to the guys for such a sweet surprise. We learned later just how much planning went into this which made everything just that much sweeter. And yall - the bread knots? Made from scratch! *mouth watering*

Remind you of anyone?

Hmm...... I feel like we've seen this before......