Monday, May 21, 2012

A Boy and His Superman Underwear!

Recently my family relocated across state for a new job opportunity for my husband. Knowing the move was coming soon and our house was slowly filling up with boxes, I pushed off on the tell tale signs of potty training readiness exuding from my son. There was no way I would be able to accomplish all of these tasks and rush him to the potty before peeing everywhere. So, I waited. Once we moved and were basically settled, I continued to avoid the signs. I think I just wasn't ready to go through this big ordeal again.

A bit of back story. I use the 3 Day Potty Training method. This means that by the end of the third day, your child will be potty trained. You cannot use diapers, pull ups, plastic underpants, or any other "crutch" for the duration of these 3 days. I used this method with my older daughter. They say boys are harder to train than girls....if you believe this, feel free to meet my daughter! It was awful with her. She didn't seem to care if your pants were wet or dirty...imagine my frustration. At the end of the 3 days with Leah, she grasped the concept, but decided playing was more fun, and would just sit and pee all over instead of running to the potty.

Now, I decided that the best time to train my son would be 2 weeks ago, as my husband would be home to help with the other kids. So we went to the store and picked out 26 pairs of underwear for Jackson. Yes, 26 pairs. I wouldn't have a ton of time for laundry, so we had to buy a ton! He was so excited that night as he sifted through all of the different characters on his new, big boy underwear. As we put him to bed that night we told him, "This is the last diaper you will ever wear! No more baby diapers tomorrow buddy!" He was pumped!

The next morning came and I was dreading it, but I had to keep a positive attitude or Jackson would not respond well. So on went the underwear! His first character choice? Superman. Needless to say there were many accidents the first day. 17 to be exact. But the major problem wasn't the accidents. Jackson was so excited about all of his new underwear that he wanted to keep changing them! Every 5 minutes he wanted to wear a different character...this became old very quickly.

As the day wound down and bedtime came around, he was doing much better. I just thought to myself, "tomorrow has to be better." And folks, it was! It all began to click with him. That is just the way this method works. He only had 4 accidents the second day. The third day, 2 accidents total. And those don't actually count as accidents. As a boy, he had a hard time aiming at times. Finally! Success!

The fourth day we ventured out of the house with him. We went out to eat. And guess what? He went potty like a big boy twice at the restaurant! Jackson's concern is not how many characters he can wear in one day anymore. He wants to keep Superman clean!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Time flies when your having babies


As I have said before, I have 3 great kids. Leah is 5, Jackson is going to be 3 in a fewo this, and my baby girl, Lucy, is 9 months. Today as I watched them all playing outside, I thought to myself, "weren't we just in the hospital having Leah?" I just cannot believe how quickly the time goes by as you watch children grow. And as you add more kids to the mix, the clock seems to be on warp speed! Not only am I watching my children grow up way too fast, I am now seeing my nieces grow up at remarkable speeds!




 I think about how it seems like just the other day we brought Leah home from the hospital. New parents. Young parents. We had no idea what we were doing! And now, this week, I have to register my baby for kindergarten! Unbelievable! I think because Lucy is our last child, I am fighting with time even more! Every month I take her picture to keep record I her growth, I just hate that I have to place a higher numbered sticker on her onesie!



 I am sure I am not the only one who has thought, "what did I do before I had kids?" But I honestly don't remember doing anything a worth while as raising children! What a blessing and honor it is to have them for this short time. After all, they are only on loan, they belong the the Lord. So, however fast this time goes, I MUST cherish it. I MUST make the most of it. And I MUST live and guide them. Oh these preciouse little bitty times are so short. Soon they'll be grown and moved on. I love these little babies. Yes, my babies. Always my babies.