Potty Training pt 3

Eli makes the creepiest looking lego trains

just look at that abomination!

About three weeks ago I made a real effort to potty train, albeit a short one. It was unfruitful but maybe not completely. I wish I knew what to do and what to say to make all of this click to them, so far I'm just experimenting with ideas and advice from others.

I would love to know how parents of other countries (mostly non western cultures) manage to potty train the majority of their kids by the time they are 2 yrs old! Maybe it's something that is deeply embedded in their culture or that they start potty training from birth since they can't afford diapers, who knows? I'm certain I'm not going to crack their code anytime soon and if I could it's probably too late since we are going on 2 and a half! I wish I didn't have to subscribe to the American notions of 'ready-ness' that I don't totally believe in but alas what am I to do, we are what we are and I have no other advice to turn to. So with that said, the boys were and are not showing any signs of 'ready-ness' like hiding when pooping or frequent dry diapers. In fact lately if I smell a poop they run in the opposite direction at the mention of a diaper change, why?! It can't feel good to have poop all over your bum!

So here is what we did, a few days before I prepped them about the upcoming potty training, we read a book about the matter and I explained what would happen soon. When the day came, I put them in big boy undies and leg warmers to keep them warm and took them to the bathroom every 20 min. At first it was easy since it was still a novelty to them, but after a handful of times I had to get creative to get them to sit down for more than 5 seconds. I would read them short books or sing itsy bitsy spider. We did this all morning until nap time around 2/3pm, and boy was it exhausting! I still intended on continuing post nap but there was complete mutiny! They were not having any more of it so I decided to call it quits then and there. I wrote down every time anyone peed whether in the potty or in their undies. I found out that they are very inconsistent they do not pee in regular intervals. Caleb and Thomas both went once in the potty and thankfully there was no poop to contend with. So if I had to guess it was probably a coincidence that two of them peed in the potty and not from any of my efforts. They still got lots of praise and a sticker of their choice as a reward for peeing in the potty. I guess it wasn't enough of a motivation to get them to do it again or maybe they are just not "ready" yet.

Since the attempt, the boys seem to be more, how shall I put it, educated on what goes on in the bathroom. They also now, for some reason, stand up when they are going to pee during bath time, which lets me know they are becoming more aware of when they need to go. I have not a clue how pooping in the potty plays out but I won't worry about it for now, at least not until we get some success with going number one in the pot. I may not know what I'm doing but I do know this should not be a struggle, maybe hard work from me but not a power struggle between me and my child(ren).

One thing I have heard more than once is parents claiming that the kids they potty trained at 3 years old said it was done in like 2-3 days, no accidents at all, not even at night, DONE! While the ones that potty trained at age two had accidents at frequent intervals. Hmmm? A bit reassuring if my boys turn out to be late potty trainers but I'd still rather take the occasional accident, ha! Anyways, we'll try again in a couple of months and I'll keep looking for signs of "ready-ness!"

Oh Crap! #46-51

Oh Crap! moment #46

The series of pictures above, which were actually many different jumps that I made to look like one big jump, is only for you to see that Caleb is taking his jumping to the next level. Till this day I had only seen him jump off of a step half this height. I saw him up on the bench, I turned around and heard a crash, I looked over and saw him on the ground. He couldn't of, could he? I asked him if he jumped off and to do it again so I could believe him. Sure enough he did it in front of my eyes only his time he actually landed the jump a little more gracefully. He repeated this jump for what seemed like hours (thank goodness I thought, maybe he'll tire himself out and actually nap today!). Well, the other two were quite impressed so Eli gets up there and jumps, falls, and starts crying, never to be attempted again. Thomas gets up there as well, bends his knees but then steps right off also never to be attempted again. I think it got to Caleb's head because a few days later when we were at the science museum, Caleb decides to jump a platform that is about three times higher than that little bench above. We all see him do it without any ability to stop what has already started. He lands and we all breath a sigh of relief but then we all see what happens next. We see it in slow motion, the momentum catches up with his un-proportionally large head (as most toddlers have). Like the videos you see in drivers ed of people getting whip lash in car wrecks, his head whips back and then forward crashing onto the carpeted yet very hard floor! A big fat busted up bloody lip, a bruised up nose and rug burn on his chin is the consequence impulse descision! He just got too cocky...jumps are now far and few in between and most importantly at heights he can actually handle. 

Oh Crap! moment #47

So we quit trying to brush the boys teeth after they eat dinner while still in their high chairs, why you ask? Because every time they are in the bathroom, which is a lot because heaven forbid I use the restroom by myself, they jump up onto the counter in the manner pictured above and brush their teeth with Phil or I's toothbrush (note to self, put their toothbrushes next to the sink). They are little monkey's and never fall off, except this one time. Eli was perched up there one day (his dad was in there also), I was in the kitchen and heard a horrendous crash followed by a very painful cry. Yes Eli fell backwards and landed on the step stool, then fell off the step stool and his head hit the space heater that was on the ground. He was on concussion watch for the rest of the day...

Oh Crap! moment #48

Their room is a jungle gym now, this was going to be a picture to show you this but it ended up being a picture of Caleb falling head first!

Oh Crap! moment #49

Eli and Caleb getting into a fisticuffs. It happens all the time, they bite, push, and for a while now they hit!

Oh Crap! moment #49

A Hotwheels at the bottom of my toilet, I've lost track of how many things I've fished out of the toilet. The words "oh crap" echo in my head when I realize I have to stick my hand down there!  One other notable incident was when I found my Sensodyne toothpaste in there. Had it been at a more prosperous time I would have chucked that thing into the trash can without a second thought! But we are pinching pennies nowadays and that stuff is $6 a tube! I washed it (thankfully the cap had been on) and tried not to think of where it had been!

Oh Crap! moment #50
The boys ability to climb out of their cribs hasn't always been a bad thing. For about two weeks Caleb, the first one to get up, had been climbing out and jumping into bed with us. It was great, because we could snuggle the crap out of him (so to speak) and for a short while I began to think that it would be so nice to co-sleep. If only we didn't have to exclude anyone since five in a queen sized bed simply couldn't work. Anyways, if Caleb walked in early enough he'd even fall asleep again until the other two woke us up again. It was a blissful two or so weeks of waking up to a snugly cuddly baby. Well on this particular day we did not wake up with Caleb snuggled in between us but instead to an irate screaming Eli. This was the scene when Phil and I walked into!

There was a brand new bag of Cuties on the kitchen floor containing about a dozen oranges. Caleb brought them ALL to Thomas. Thomas was peeling them and sharing them with Caleb. They had eaten so many oranges that towards the end they were just chewing them to drink the juice and then spitting them out. And poor Eli, who at the time couldn't yet climb out of his crib, was screaming his head off because he wanted oranges too! We have since installed those do-hickeys on the doorknobs so they don't wreck havoc in the house while we sleep. 

Here is a pic of Thomas peeling oranges, he is really good at it! I tell you, for only being two their fine motor skills are impressive!   

Oh Crap! moment #51

Call it the terrible two's or that they just really love taking baths but lately it is such a struggle not to take them out of the bath kicking and screaming! I decided that at this bath time I'd let them stay in there as long as they wanted, in fact I wanted them to practically beg me to come out! That was the plan but it back fired on me terribly! We were in there going on 1hr and 15min when it happened, it was the first time this had ever happened. I still don't know who did it because I had looked away for two seconds, but somebody POOPED in the bath water!!! And it wasn't your friendly solid turd, it was a very soft poop and diffused evenly in the water in a matter of two seconds, yuck! I quickly turned the sink faucet on and rinsed them off as best I could while they are kicking and screaming because they do not want to get out! After I got everyone diapered and clothed I drained the tub and washed their contaminated bath toys in the the sink. So gross!

Updates

New words: so I don't think I will keep track of new words anymore except for the ones that are particularly funny or interesting. Caleb's newest word is tortilla but he pronounces it either tootoo-tuta or just tuta-tuta, so glad they didn't skip the made up words phase because it cracks me up every time he says it : ) Eli says money and dewey both of which I will assume he made up since we never say money around here nor do we know anyone named Dewey. Not sure if he has assigned them any meaning but I did try to explain to him what money was. Lately he also says 'matam' a lot and we are not sure what this means either but it kind of sounds like 'damelo' (give it to me, in Spanish) but that's just a guess for now because sometimes it doesn't fit the context.

Caleb has been putting two or more words together. For example, the other day he was kind of singing 'up up nuna (luna)' which means 'up up moon'. Funny how he's mixing both languages, but it's to be expected. On another occasion he was in my room and he says "mama, papa, (points to self) and says mimi (while pointing to the bed)" he was trying to say that mom, dad and Caleb sleep in that bed. I'm impressed! Eli is also starting to put two words together as well but Thomas isn't quite there yet but he does put together a lot of words with signs (that are either made up or ones I've taught them). Caleb's favorite two word sentences are 'no don't' and 'no fill-in-the-blank (enter whatever I've asked him to do), but I guess this doesn't come as a surprise considering they are in the midst of the terrible two's!

Cuttin' the Rug

So you guys remember way back, like when the boys were only 7 or 8 months and I met a long lost cousin at an assembly? Well he got married and we were invited to his wedding. It was Phil and I's third wedding of the year but the boys very first wedding! It was a very traditional wedding and I think the boys really got in touch with their Latin roots (see video of the boys dancing below).

Eli helping himself to some appetizers

some handsome dudes at the wedding

Phil talking to the boys about the drums up on stage

T looking silly

C

Eli and his bud Rafael

the boys looking identical to me for once

me and C

Phil trying to get T to dance with the little girl

We danced the night away, I seriously hadn't danced this much since my own wedding!

my cousin and his beautiful bride : )

So here is a super cute video of Caleb and then Thomas dancing at the wedding...at this point the boys had done so much running around that Eli only wanted to dance while being held (I think he was starting to come down with a cold).

Updates

It's been crazy around here so I haven't been able to blog in a while. We got our first wipe out since like May! The boys have gotten runny noses a few times in the last couple of months and even Phil and I have been sick but nothing that has even slowed us down. This time, for more than one whole week we have all been pretty miserable! Thankfully, I think we are on the other side of this now : )

I finally met my maker when it comes to haircuts. Not only did I not know what I was doing but the boys were exceptionally uncooperative. It was only meant to be a trim and it was barely that. From the front the boys look like they have bowl cuts (see pics above) and no matter if I gel it and comb it to the sides their hair always wants to come forward (and hence look like a bowl cut). Next haircut we are doing its buzz cuts all around unless they are better behaved! Either way they look cute : )

I have many more updates but they'll have to wait till I have more time...

2 yrs and 3 mo!

CET

The boys just one year ago, they were still such babies!

 It feels funny posting something on the first day of the year and not having something meaningful to say. I don't have anything special prepared but let me just say 2012 was a great year for many reasons, more than I have time to write about. It was a year of zero night time sleeping drama, everyone sleeps through the night and we hardly ever skip a beat there. Phil and I get plenty of sleep which is extremely helpful when dealing with three toddlers all day long, my patience would run out all too quickly if I was only running on 6 hrs of sleep.

The boys have most of their teeth now with the exception of one or two molars. you can see in the pic above they only had about four teeth a year ago. I'm so glad to have my fears of choking eased with their new ability to fully chew food and they get to enjoy a much wider variety of foods because of it.

In the picture above they did not utter a single word other than mama (and maybe kitty), now they have a vocabulary of about 40-50 words and Caleb has recently taken up putting two words together (more on that later). The other two will probably follow suite within a few weeks if not days, as they always do. They've acquired so much personality in the last year which makes them a lot more interesting and fun (yay!) but also very opinionated too (boo!). This was the year they changed from babies to boys both physically and intellectually.

I do not have high hopes for 2013 since we are in the thick of the terrible two's and from what I've heard, three is not a whole lot better. And I'm pretty sure this will be the year that naps are given up for good. My only dream come true hope is to have everyone potty trained before they turn three! I will throw them a party (I'm serious) if they do : )

T on a chilly day

C

EC

This was too sweet not to share but the other day instead of running past the baby doll section of the children's museum the boys actually stopped and played there for a good 20 minutes. I must say it was one of the most endearing things I've seen the boys do. There is nothing like seeing your little boy pick up a baby doll, rock it, give it a kiss on the head and then put it to bed in it's crib. I'm glad the boys are getting in touch with their maternal side : )

Eli in the very back was more interested in being the baby

Thomas was the most into the dolls, here he is giving it a kiss

C

Thomas puckering up for another kiss

Nerdy Caleb

Sorry I haven't been doing my consistent twice a week posts but Phil's been taking a lot of time off and that usually means we're off having lots of fun and adventures so that doesn't leave me with much time to blog.

C, finally a dry spell! The boys were itching to get back on their bikes : )  

T

C

T looking debonair 

the boys chasing after strange dogs

"raise the roof, woo woo!" (Thomas is sooo 90's)

C

T looking so handsome

rare moment where the boys don't crawl all over the person that's trying to read to them 

nerdy Caleb, wearing a pair of dad's old glasses

won't they look cute when they start wearing glasses?

Lots of cute pictures are piling up, I have several 'oh crap!' moments to write about and need to write about our first real attempt at potty training. Much to come, so stay tuned!