Potty Training Week 2

A recap of the 2nd week of potty training, hopefully much better than the first!!

Monday 10/17: Today was a fantastic day! He wore the same pair of underwear ALL day long (except during nap and bed time)!!!! He woke up wet, but I think that was just because we didn't quite make it in time. We even went for a short (1 hr) trip and he stayed dry the whole time. He also did poop in his diaper during nap time but other than that Parker did fantastic!!!

Tuesday 10/18: This morning Parker woke up dry and he made it to the potty! The rest of the morning was fairly uneventful, except for the one accident that he had. I had to run a few errands in Breckenridge so I put him in a diaper just to be on the safe side and when we got back a couple hours later, he was still dry! Yay :) Nap time again consisted of pooping in his diaper, twice. And then he had another accident before dinner, so over all it wasn't the best day but, I have faith that it will be better tomorrow!! He is doing a lot better about keeping his diaper dry, and I think he knows now that he has to go potty in the potty and not his diaper. He did finish out the night by going potty again before bed, so at least we ended the day on a good note!

Wednesday 10/19: Parker woke up dry again in the morning and after his nap. I believe he only had 1 accident today.

Thursday 10/20: Parker went poop in the potty again today! We have been staying kept up in the house the last couple days to try and really make sure he gets it, and I think we are getting closer. Maybe tomorrow we will venture out to the park or something to get out of the house. We are so proud of how well he is doing! He did have 1 accident today, however, but only having 1 accident each day for the last few days is awesome.

Friday 10/21: Today he didn't quite make it to the potty when he first woke up, but that was mainly our fault for not helping him get there faster. We then took a short 1-hour trip to the park and he stayed completely dry the whole time!! It was great :) After his nap he was again dry and a little bit later in the afternoon, right before dinner time he had one accident. Then after dinner we took a trip to the store and he stayed dry. On the way home we asked him if he needed to go potty and he said he did, so we hurried our fastest to get home before he had an accident. Well, he held it and went in the potty! Good job Parker! The days are getting better with only really having 1 accident in his underpants. I don't really count the ones in his diaper because most of the time it's just us (me) being lazy and not taking him to the bathroom.

Saturday 10/22: Parker again woke up dry this morning!!! We might just have to try and risk putting him to bed with underpants on and see what happens! A couple hours later, after breakfast he went poop and pee in the potty...YAY :) Can you tell I just get even more and more excited as each day passes? Just the thought of only have 1 child in diapers is just so nice and so close! This afternoon we had to go grocery shopping and look for costumes for the boys up in Silverthorne (about 45 minutes away or so). We decided to risk it and let Parker wear his underpants the whole time, but went prepared with extra clothes and a towel for his carseat in case he had an accident while we were driving. On our way up there we found out that Chris needed to go to Vail first to pick up some primer for work which is about 30 minutes or so in the opposite direction of Silverthorne...it made me a little nervous, but luckily since it was nap time the boys both fell asleep and slept the whole way. When we got to Sherwin Williams we asked if Parker needed to go potty and he said yes, so we took him inside and he went! Then when we finally got to Target we had him try again, but he didn't need to go, so we just continued our shopping. Right before we left we had him try and he still didn't need to go. However since it was dinner time we found this burger place that we wanted to try (wasn't really that great by the way!) and afterwards we asked if he needed to go and he said yes and he went!! We had a couple more stops to make before heading home, but to sum it up...We were gone for a good 6-7 hours at least and he stayed dry the ENTIRE time!!! He even went again when we got home, which means that Parker went the ENTIRE DAY without having 1 single accident, in a diaper or underpants!! WOOHOO Parker, way to go :)

Sunday 10/23: Today was accident free also, except he did poop in his diaper this morning before his bath..ggrrr. But other than that, he did great! Even at church! I'm pretty sure he has the concept down, now we just need to fine tune everything and get him completely out of diapers and having him actually tell us that he needs to go so we don't have to nag him about it all the time. I had really been dreading doing this for quite some time but the whole process really wasn't as difficult as I had thought it was going to be!!! I'm glad the worst part is finally over! Hopefully :)

Finger Painting Extravaganza

Tonight I let the boys do some finger painting after dinner, with some edible 'finger paints' (a.k.a. vanilla pudding with food coloring) mind you. I'm pretty sure it was a hit and they will be wanting to do it again!
It took Parker a couple minutes to get the hang of it and actually put his hands in the 'paint'. I had to push his hand in and show him how to do it and then he was all for it! He really isn't someone that likes to have dirty hands, so this was a big step for him! He refused to taste it though! lolTyler had absolutely NO problem getting dirty and playing around with all the colors!Getting a little messier...I just LOVE this picture!! It cracks me up :) I don't think he could get any messier!! hahaMmmm...Yummy!!!

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for ICE CREAM!!

We found a cute little place that makes homemade ice cream so we decided to treat ourselves to some! The boys thoroughly enjoyed theirs!!!Tyler was being goofy and was arching his back and sticking his tummy out while I was trying to take his picture...Silly kid!!This is him doing his "looking glasses" for our church primary song, Popcorn Popping. He likes to do the hand motions for this song, it's too cute!The sugar has clearly started to kick in!!

Breckenridge, CO

Today we decided to walk down the Main Street in Breckenridge and look at all shops. It's such a cute little town and even though about 1/2 the stores/restaurants were closed until November, it was still fun to walk around and see what they have. We walked through a couple kid's stores and one even had a whole section at the back of the store of toys, train set, mini trampolines & slide, coloring tables, bouncing horse and TONS more for the kids to play with. It was AWESOME and the boys never wanted to leave! There was even a minuscule little park, we're talking like one tiny slide made from a rock and a platform thing they could climb on and that's it. Parker had fun playing there for a few minutes though. That is until he noticed everybody playing in the river a short distance away. And not it is definitely not warm enough to swim in the water and it was freezing too, but of course Parker still needed to go and touch it! We also attempted to take a couple pictures, but it didn't quite turn out all that well. I guess that's how it goes when both boys are tired from not having naps and are restless.I really wish this picture had turned out, it would have been so cute! Ty was actually crying and wasn't wanting me to hold him, Parker wouldn't cooperate as usual and smile for the camera and I don't think Chris knew his brother was taking the picture because he wasn't smiling. Grrr...oh well I'm sure we'll get a really good family picture of us some day!!This would have been cuter if Tyler would have stood still for just a couple seconds more!!! lol

Potty Training Week 1

This is just a recap of Parker's 1st week of potty training, mainly for my record, but feel free to read it if you'd like! He has progressed some every single day and we are anxiously looking forward to the day when he is completely out of diapers!!!!

Monday 10/10: Today I decided I wanted to start officially potty training Parker once and for all. I made up a sticker chart for him and once he fills up a couple rows with stickers he gets part of his Thomas and Friends Train that we bought him (It has 2 parts and we decided to split it up instead of giving him the whole thing at once.) The morning didn't really go all that great. He had a few accidents before 10:30 am and it didn't really help matters having Tyler want to be right in the middle of the action. Parker did however finally went potty on his Car's potty after lunch!!!! WOOHOO :) I decided that I'm just going to focus on day training first until he gets that down and then work on night training. So for nap time I just put his diaper back on and then since we had to run some errands later that afternoon/evening I just left it on and just took him to the potty fairly often. Not too much else happened on the first day.

Tuesday 10/11: This morning he woke up around 5:45 and when I asked him if he needed to go potty he said YES!!! I was surprised he actually said that since every other time I ask him if he needs to go he says no. Anyways, so I took him to the bathroom and he actually went after about 5-10 minutes! YAY!! I thought that maybe this was a start and that it was actually starting to click...but that was the only time he actually went in the potty on the second day too :( I guess I am just going to have to be patient and it will come. It's just seems to be a lot harder than I had thought it would be. It's almost as if he doesn't really care about going in the potty or something because it doesn't really seem to phase him if he has an accident. I can't help but get a little frustrated, even though I shouldn't. I know he will get it, hopefully sooner than later though!!

Wednesday 10/12: He got up early again and I asked if he needed to go potty and he didn't really say anything this time, but went to the bathroom with me anyways. After sitting there for about 5 or 10 minutes again he didn't go. His diaper was wet when I took it off, so he must have just gone before I could get him to the bathroom. And then I stuck him in some underwear and just set the timer for ever 15 minutes and he went potty in his potty once more!!!! So far, before noon he has only had 1 accident!!!!! Even though he has only gone once every day for the last 3 days, I think it's definitely a start and as each day passes I learn a little bit more and the fact that he only had 1 accident this morning is again definitely some progress. I just need to stay strong and not give up and maybe by the end of the week he will be going more than once a day in his potty chair. One can hope right?! lol

Thursday 10/13: Today was a little bit better. He went almost the entire morning without having an accident! Overall he went 3 times in the potty and was able to finally earn part 1 of his Thomas and Friends train!!! He was so excited and he can't wait for the rest of it!

Friday 10/14: The morning was a bit of a struggle with about 2-3 accidents before lunch time. However, after his nap he was on a roll and went in the potty 3 times IN A ROW!!!! No accidents all afternoon/evening. I think we are finally starting to make some progress?! We are so proud of him!

Saturday 10/15: This morning when he woke up a couple hours later than earlier this week (thankfully!) I took him to the potty and even though he had gone poo in his diaper, he was completely DRY!! I sat him on the potty and he went right away. He then went potty another 3 times in a row with out an accident! So I guess that makes it a total of 6 times in a row from yesterday evening to mid morning today. Pretty awesome :) We then spent the rest of the afternoon in Breckenridge and I think that may have set him back just a little because he didn't go the rest of the day :(

Sunday 10/16: Today was an AWESOME day to say the least!! He woke up this morning with a completely DRY and clean diaper! Yep that's right, clean and dry!! I was so proud of him! I stuck him on the potty and he went right away! When we had him go before we left for church he was a little wet and wasn't able to go. That's okay, especially knowing what I know now. We kept him in a diaper while we were at church just in case since he hadn't been telling us that he needed to go. Well, since our drive to church is 40 minutes we had him try to go potty when we got there and he didn't go. However during the middle of sacrament meeting he actually said he needed to go potty!! WOOHOO :) lol So I asked him if he really had to go and he didn't say anything but just left our row and out the chapel door...quickly I might add, so I followed him since Chris was with Tyler in the hall. And surprise!! HE ACTUALLY WENT!!! Needless to say I was probably more excited than he was because lets face it, it was the 1st time he actually said he needed to go without us asking him and then he went! Anyways, in the middle of nursery (after Sunday School for Chris and me) I went in and took Parker to try and go potty. He was still dry but didn't have to go. When church was over I picked him up from nursery and asked him if he needed to go potty and he didn't really say anything but Chris informed me that his teacher said Parker told her he needed to go right at the end of nursery. So I quickly took him and he went AGAIN!!!! I got even more excited!! He went again after lunch and this time actually went POO for the first time (this potty training round anyways. He's gone 3 times before)!

After his nap he sort of woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was a little cranky so we didn't really push the whole potty thing. He said he didn't have to go. Well during dinner he said that he needed to go, so Chris took him in and his diaper was a little wet, but that's okay, he went poo in the potty again!!! Anyways, overall it's been a GREAT day!! After 1 full week, I think we are finally starting to make some awesome progress! In no time he will be a potty trained BIG BOY :)

1st Snow!!

Yep, you better believe it!! October 6, 2011 was the very first snow of the season here in good old Alma, Colorado. It's crazy that just last week we were enjoying all the pretty fall colors on the trees and now in just a matter of days the seasons have completely changed. Looks like we don't get to enjoy fall this year, which I'm a little sad about because it's so beautiful.

Well last night and this morning it snowed a good 3-5 inches. It was so pretty outside with all the trees covered with nice white fluffy stuff!! We had decided to go in to Denver today, which is about an hour and a half from us, and go shopping and possibly try to find a fun pumpkin patch to take the kids to, if the weather was okay there. So we ventured out after Tyler's nap and just took it slowly down the mountain towards Breckenridge and Frisco, the two towns right before the freeway. It's only about 35 minutes to get there but it took us a little longer with the snow, hills and switchbacks, but we got there and grabbed some lunch to eat on the way to Denver. When we got on the freeway we were immediately slowed way down to like 4 or 5 mph and cars were slipping and sliding, we saw several people chilling on the side of the road both voluntarily and involuntarily, a few people almost collided with us and so we quickly decided that it just wasn't worth it to go to Denver today. So we just got off at the next exit, in Silverthorne, and did a little shopping there. Since our main snow/winter stuff is still in our storage unit in Idaho we didn't have anything for the boys to wear to play in the snow. We headed over to Target and took a look to see what we could find. It just so happens that we were able to get everything, boots, hats/gloves, and snow bibs for both boys and snow pants for me and an inter-tube to play with. It was fun, even though we didn't get to go to Denver. The boys are now all set for the coming winter season :)

When we got home, we got them all dressed and went outside to play for a bit...and they loved it! To see the rest of the pictures on my Facebook, click here. To see a cute video of some of the fun, click here.

The view from our house on the very 1st snow day!The lovely snow this morning after it had been snowing most of the night...Tyler wasn't too sure about the snow at first, but he warmed up to it pretty quickly.Parker's 1st Snow Angel of the season. Much improved from last year, I might add!Hard to believe that Parker wore that coat last year! hahaHe likes eating it...didn't take him long to figure that out!Right before he felt the need to throw snow at me!!And it came back to get him...hahaTickle Fight!!

Sunday Afternoon Drive

Today we decided to go for a drive in between Conference Sessions to get out of the house and enjoy God's beautiful creations! We drove up to this spot that Chris goes to to make calls up the mountain from where he makes calls. It had gorgeous views and was a fun place to see the valley below. We love it here in Colorado and just can't believe how pretty it is all around us. ENJOY!!!
Don't you just love the colors of the trees??? I'm sad because the trees are already starting to lose their leaves and will be bare in probably a week or two :(Chris' brother is living with us right now so he came with us on the drive!I couldn't get any of Parker playing where he was facing me, so this will just have to do. He sure does love to run!Just love his dimples!