Potty Training

Potty training has gone GREAT for Max, I think. I wasn't even beginning to think about potty training, but my mom kept talking to me about it and offered to pay for supplies. I just don't understand everyone's aversion to changing diapers. I finally started getting excited about it and decided it was the best time to start. I figured we would have to start right now and be established in using the potty before changes started coming about in the next couple months with Bryan graduating and us most likely moving. So it was either now or I would wait until after he turned 3 and we were moved and accustomed to our new accommodations and whatnot. We started potty training April 8 and it only took a few days to potty train #1 (pee), but we're still working on #2s (poop) a little bit.

- Day 1: We went out and purchased a potty seat/toilet attachment/step stool and underwear. We practiced throughout the day with just putting Max on the seat fully clothed, then without bottoms, but didn't worry about him trying to use it and always put a diaper back on afterward.
- Day 2: We started with the bare-bottomed method. Max quickly refused to use the potty seat OR the toilet attachment, but Bryan had already thrown away the box so we are stuck with it! I think he really enjoys being able to watch himself pee. After two full-on #1 accidents, I began putting Max on the toilet every hour so he could get practice using the potty. He was doing great and I was a little sick of seeing his dangle all day so I began putting undies on him, which is where he had his first #2 accident. It freaked him out soooooo much and I began to question whether it was a good time to potty train or not. A few times throughout the day he had also asked for his diaper when he was just bare-bottomed. I just felt so bad, especially with his speech delay, sometimes I'm unsure of just how much he understands. Max doesn't have a baby in the house for me to tell him "babies wear diapers, big boys use the potty" and he has no older sibling or cousin around as an example of someone who wears undies. I felt I should just grin and bear it though and I'm glad I did. I put pull-ups on him for nap and bedtime.
- Day 3: I decided Max needed to learn to tell me that he had to go potty, so I put him in undies and no longer sat him on the potty every hour. He had a few very minor #1 accidents and always stopped himself when he started to have one. He'd come to me freaking out about it and I would put him on the potty where he would finish his business. This was his last day of having #1 accidents. He had a #2 accident in his undies. Another pull-up for nap and bedtime.
- Day 4: Max was very much potty trained for #1s by now! I was done with him having #2 accidents in his undies so he went back to being bare-bottomed. This time he knew when he had to go #2 and that he had no other choice, but to do it in the potty. Going #2 in the potty really freaked him out. Luckily I could tell when he needed to go and I would force him to sit on the potty and the only way he would go was if I was hugging him. He chose to wear undies for naptime and chose pull-ups for bedtime.
- Day 5-17: Max is finally starting to be comfortable going #2 on the potty and will calmly let me know he has to go and head over to the bathroom on his own, though it still freaks him out a little bit. Last night he chose to wear undies to bed so I guess we're done with pull-ups now too! From day 1, he never had an accident at naptime or during the night, so I'm pretty confident about him not needing pull-ups at night.

Max was rarely ever naked except for bath time and maybe a little bit afterward, so I'm surprised at how quickly he's embraced his nakedness and often goes bottomless after he uses the potty. I know it's been over two weeks now, but I had no idea he'd be completely out of diapers or pull-ups and into undies so quickly! I never put a pull-up on him when we went out either and he's successfully used a public restroom and a church one. It was a relatively easy process for us in my opinion (Bryan may say otherwise). We used a sticker chart for about the first week. I wanted to encourage him to use the potty, but I didn't want to pressure him so I tried not to make too big of a deal about it. Every time he went #2 he got an otter pop though (his absolute favorite). I think 2.5 years is the perfect time for potty training, in my experience with one child. Needless to say, Max in undies is THE CUTEST!!

Two and a Half Max

Max is 2.5 years old and I figured it was about time I wrote a post just for him. There is so much that I want to say about him; I hope I'll be able to organize my thoughts in a manner you can understand!

- Max is SO smart!
- Even though he has a speech delay - something I've never really wrote about on my blog. I think I'd like to do a separate post on that. 
- He recites the whole alphabet, even if most of the sounds are just an approximation. He recognizes each letter.
- He loves for me to sing the alphabet song and goes crazy during the "LMNOP" part.
- He counts to ten. He only says the vowels and it's so cute to hear him. He recognizes each number.
- Sometimes he gets confused and when he intends to count objects, he says the alphabet instead.
- He knows all of his basic colors.
- He knows all of his basic shapes.
- He is still obsessed with trains. I don't think that will ever go away.
- His favorite thing to watch on the Kindle is videos of trains just passing by. He doesn't like Thomas the Tank Engine show anymore, but he still likes the toys.
- He loves jumping. He jumps around the apartment and he jumps like crazy on his bed. I probably shouldn't allow that, but he's just so happy when he's doing it!
-He loves to be outside and tries to escape anytime we need to go somewhere and screams when we have to come back inside. Bribes sometimes work for that. I'm more of an inside person so we don't get outside as often as he would like. He'll go out on the balcony as a substitute, but he gets splinters like crazy. He's pretty patient with me when I have to pull them out.
- We started potty training and day one went wonderfully!
- He loves to do art: play doh, finger paint, markers,...but it usually consists of him telling me what he wants ME to sculpt, paint, or draw...which is usually a train.
- He's still a picky eater, but he loves sweets and candy, like his mama. We need to cut back. Badly.
- Bryan got him into watching Pokemon and he loves it...
- When he tantrums, they're usually pretty short and he's pretty gentle about them. I should get one on video, but if I try to pull out the camera during one, he hides his face in my shoulder and can't be removed. He has a couple different kinds: the screaming (screeching?), crying, red-faced one that usually comes with bedtime, and the disagreement/protest one where he prances up and down and shakes his hands in front of him (not a good description...)
 - He loves books, but I've recently discovered that he won't pay attention unless we read them before nap and bedtime. He's too active to sit still for them otherwise.
- His favorite songs are Wheels on the Train, Popcorn Popping, and Eensy Weensy Spider.
- He is also an avid Beatles fan! He asks me to repeat Beatles songs all the time when we listen to them in the car. Though he has since broken our car stereo by putting coins in them, so there's that.

He is a sweet sweet boy. Even though it can be really difficult at times, we wonder all the time how we could be so blessed to have him. We couldn't love him more than we already do!

 He was running down the hall to me and started running with his eyes closed. Sometimes it did not go well.

 Ever since he could stand, he's loved hanging out in the window, especially when it snows. He also get super bad bedhead that can't always be fixed.

 He was having fun

 This helicopter was at Walmart and while Bryan paid for our stuff, I would take Max to play in this little area. They have since removed it though!

 He just loves those selfies!

 Cloud dough! 8 cups flour, 1 cup baby oil. This stuff is so wonderful and lasts for a long time!...Until you get sick of cleaning it up and bathing your child every day and destroying your back by sitting on the hard kitchen floor...then it becomes the devil.

 He posed like this.

 He found my goggles. I'm not sure how he knew what to do with them since he's never seen anything like it before.

 He was posing like this too, with his eyes closed.

 He loves tickles from daddy!