Potty Training Again!

The biggest news this week is that we restarted potty training! We've decided to put him in pull ups at night time, but during the day he is in underwear. We've had one whole day without an accident! Today we ventured to the Co-op and also a quick trip to the library (we had already lost Nico's library card and needed a new one!), where we tried unsuccessfully to use the children's restroom. So, we still have that hoop to jump through: Nico's first use of a public restroom. But we will get there. He didn't have an accident while we were gone.

For the #2s, we've been rewarding him with cars. He has had 2 successes in this area. He can see his next reward whenever he goes into the bathroom. We tape them to the wall or put them on the counter. He always asks for it whenever we go in there. For peeing, we give him one dried raspberry.

The only pic I got of Nico and Guy this week was a bit fuzzy. Nico was hanging out between Guy's legs while he was reclining on the love seat.

Before we started potty training again, we did do some fun things out of the house. We went for a walk! It had been a while since we'd done that, it being so snow filled and cold outside.

We also took a trip to Barnes and Noble, where we hadn't been since before Christmas. Nico got to play with his old pal the train, while I perused all the Mo Willems books that were stashed nearby.

Potty training commenced on Sunday after Nico's nap. We spent the next 4 days hanging out in the kitchen with the kitchen rugs removed. We played a lot of Roll and Play and generally didn't get much else done. Nico loves to go through the blue pile of cards, which have you find something around you of a particular color. "Find something PURPLE!" He loves this, and is getting very good at recognizing colors. We usually do this with a basket of his cars nearby so he can find a certain colored car. And he only has one purple car, so that's the go-to item for finding something purple. Potty training has been a great bonding time for me and Nico!

Nico also helped me make Guy's lunch yesterday. I took a picture of Nico doing this and then printed a small picture out and taped it to the top of the container with a note that said "Made with love by Joanna and Nico." Nico took his own pen and scribbled all over it so that you could barely read the words anymore. The container held a mixture of granola (homemade by Grandma Salisbury), greek yogurt, dried raspberries, and a sprinkling of chocolate chips.

Nico's bloodwork came back fine just fine. Still waiting to hear about Guy's. I just had my blood drawn this morning so it will be a few weeks for that.

And I have another video to share! We finally shot some video outside with our GO camera, and the quality is amazing! Nico doing some jumping over sidewalk cracks. High def!

Potty Training, snow, books

Potty training has regressed back to diapers! You think you know everything until you try to potty train your toddler in 3 days. When we attempt to potty train him again, we will take a much slower approach. When I put him back in diapers it was a sigh of relief, I could finally just snuggle him on the couch in peace instead of accidentally throwing him and the iPad off the couch when he started peeing.

For Christmas we got Nico a game called "Roll and Play". Anyone with a toddler might find this game fun. It comes with a big stuffed die that the child can roll (er.. THROW), and then depending on the color that is rolled, they pick a card. Then you have to do what's on the card. Most of the time when we play this game, after a few rolls of the die, Nico reverts to manually flipping the die onto the side he wants. After a few of those, he then skips the die entirely and chooses a card color pile to mow through. In the picture, Nico picked the yellow "Make an angry face" card. He clenches up his arms and shivers them back and forth really fast.

Garbage day fell on the one day this past week that we were flooded with snow (Tuesday). Nico and I made an adventure of our trip to the curb. It took quite a while to haul the trash can through the snow over the grass, but we were sure to pause often for pictures.

On Wednesday we went to the library and got Nico his very own library card. He chose the card with a fish on it. What he mostly likes doing at the library is climbing up and down the stairs to the second floor. 2nd to that is pulling out all the dinosaurs from the toy bin and putting them on the table. Books, he could probably take or leave. I did pick some picture books out so we could check something out on his new card. And we needed some new books for reading time after dinner. Have I mentioned already that after dinner is book time? We read books at other times, but after dinner is when Nico reads books on his own at the kitchen table while I finish the dishes. Then I grab a book and join him at the table. It's a nice routine to have. I've been able to read through 3 juvenile fiction books in the past few weeks because of this!

His favorite of the library books is one called "Animals Home Alone". No words, just pictures. He likes to find the fish on every page.

Today (Thursday) we went to see Allicia and Evie. They had lent us some toddler underwear and waterproof pads for our potty training, so we were returning them. Nico loves going to see Evie.  I saw Nico actually play WITH Evie today, and interact with her to the point of "asking" her to come into the fort with him so that she could follow him out through the fort's window. They play really well together. Nico got real silly and was letting his personality show, it was fun to see.

Oh, and forgot to mention about docs and things. Guy had his blood work done this week. Still haven't heard anything from Nico's blood work (which usually means that he is just peachy). I get my blood work done tomorrow. Then we will all be done with blood and doctors for a while, hopefully!