Big News

Well, it's big news for me at least. Everyone in my house is growing up and I'm loving it! Christian has been potty training for about a week now and it's been a remarkable experience. I had been dreading this whole thing for months and I had been putting it off because I didn't want to deal with it while I was 8-9 months pregnant and then I didn't want to deal with it while having a new baby. I figured I'd be cleaning up accidents constantly and we have carpet that's less than a year old, so I was really not looking forward to potty training. Well, it's been completely different than I imagined. So far I've cleaned up one accident and it was in the kitchen (and actually I think Auntie Amy cleaned it up). Christian's had a few accidents outside but that's just because he didn't want to come inside and interrupt his playtime. So finally I told him he could pee outside in a specific spot by a tree (I know I'm grossing some of you out, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do). Christian took this whole peeing outside thing quite literally and the next thing we know he's pooped in the yard too. Ryan and I quickly clarified the rules about that and it hasn't happened since! Christian spent the first few days asking for a diaper but he's over that now. This morning I walked into his room and he had taken his nightime diaper off. He said it was bothering him and he didn't want to wear it. The best part was that after a night of 10 hours of sleep the diaper was dry! Yippee!

The picture above is of our reward system. Christian gets a certain number of stickers and then he gets a prize. The prizes have basically been things he would be getting anyway like a new Lightning McQueen bathing suit, a colors workbook, a new Cars toothbrush, colored pencils, etc.

Christian's favorite prize so far has been this Thomas the tank engine ABC puzzle. This morning I overheard Abby and Christian singing the ABC song trying to figure out which piece should come next in the puzzle. This is a great way for them to learn their letters.

The other big news is that McKenna has been sleeping in her own room, in her own bed for about 7 hours straight a night (last night it was 8 hours)! When she came home from the hospital after having the flu she was still having trouble breathing, so she had to sleep in an upright position and I had to be pretty close to her to make sure she wasn't having trouble breathing. So for the past several months she's been sleeping in a swing in our bedroom. This is a hard habit to break and I was nervous about moving her to her own bed because she's been sleeping through the night for awhile and I didn't want to ruin it, but she's doing pretty good. She still ends up in her swing around 5am, but other than that she's staying in her own room, in her own bed.

So my babies are growing up and it's great!! God is so good! Just so many blessings! And yes, I do count easy potty training as a great blessing!