Cutie Colin!

I don't remember exactly when this was, but I remember that it was at the end of nap time on the weekend when I had been sleeping and Philip brought a somewhat sleepy Colin to lay down with me!  So cute!

I have made my first attempt to potty train Colin!  I went for two whole days without going anywhere and put him on the toilet a bunch.  

Here is one of his potty books that we will have him imitate, it's so cute when he does it!

I have him sitting down to pee, so I am not 100% positive, but I think I heard a tinkle, yay!  After two whole days, however, I wasn't sure he was still understanding the "gotta go"  feeling.  

Colin understands what a cactus does now!  

We still let him have his pacifier at nap and night.  He will keep it until we tell him to put it away.  He was having fun with it!

Rock climbing at physical therapy!

Love the way he folds his arms for the prayer.  Had to get a picture of it!

Colin wearing his "Batman," which has become his general word for cape.  Thanks grandma for the cute capes!

I love how he still wants to be helpful!

He actually ate some apple, yay!




Colin with his "baby," the glow worm!

Mr. Potato Head fun!

His cousin let him hold a chick!  He loved it!

Caterpillar!

Trying more apple, yay!

Roller skating at PT!  

He used sticks at first, but was able to skate on the carpet by himself by the time he finished skating!

He tried these moon boots, but he wasn't impressed.  His feet were a bit too small to easily wear them.  

He loves his blankies!

I see you!

Mischievous little man managed to fold up part of his pack and play mattress during his nap time!  

Here comes trouble!  On our way to Sacramento his brother gave him his markers....

Colin is at a REALLY cute age right now!  Sometimes I wish he would stay this small forever!

I can dress myself!

Today Gavin was going pee in the bathroom and I brought him a shirt and jeans to wear. I dropped them in the doorway of the bathroom and told him to put them on. I went and did something around the house and a few minutes later, (much to my surprise), he had dressed himself!!!! I know that's not all that exciting for most of you, but it's great for me: one more step in his development.

He was playing "ostrich" for the camera again!



I had to take a picture because he put his jeans on backwards!!!



Mr. String Bean. You can see that he is definitely tall and thin...look at those ribs!



I finally caught his face when his arms were in between times of covering his head! Every time I took a shot he'd cover his head back up with his shirt!



On a funny side note: We went out to run errands and when we got back he went into go pee in the bathroom while I was getting lunch ready. He then came out wearing his pajama top! Lately he has been loving to strip down every time he goes to the bathroom. The good news is that he hasn't had a pee accident in a while during the day and he now takes himself to the bathroom. The bad news is that he still likes to poop in his pants. My friend said that I need to make it more work for him. Have him put his own poop in the potty and change his own clothes, etc. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Crazy or Cool?

I checked a book out of the library called Infant Potty Training by Laurie Boucke. It is also know as elimination communication, you can see Wikipedia's definition here. Basically you take your baby to the bathroom or use some kind of receptacle as early as from birth on. (At this point I could support Colin on a tiny potty seat or sit on the toilet with him.) You look for cues from baby and start training them to respond to cues from you, whether you make a certain noise or take them to a certain place (like the bathroom). Yes, I know it sounds weird, (I thought so too, when I first heard of it when Gavin was a baby), but then I started reading this book (for curiosity's sake) and the author of the book used her own children as examples. Her first two children did traditional western potty training, starting at 15 and 18 months. They were dry during the day at 3 1/4 years and 3 1/2 years. They had accidents at night until they were about 10 years old. Her third child she began at 3 months using this method and was COMPLETELY potty trained by 25 months! I know it would take a lot more work earlier on to use this method, but after struggling with potty training Gavin (and him REALLY not caring) the idea of more work now for sooner results sounds WONDERFUL!!! The author says that it could take up to 2 years to complete, but that's still a sooner age than Gavin will be completely done.

Tell me what you think! I'm really considering it to save on diapers (either cloth or otherwise) and to get Colin totally trained MUCH SOONER!

The Gavinator Stories and Updates

I thought what he did with this blanket was cute: it looks like he is "King Gavin."



I have a policy of no trains outside, since it would be easy to ruin or break them. He had one of his Thomas trains in his hand and I told him he couldn't take it outside. Then he grabbed this train and said, "How about this one?"



Gavin began potty training one week ago today! No success the first day, but peed on the potty the second. Then there was Easter and all that excitement, then we went to the zoo, and then the park the next morning. Then the next day I went shopping in the morning and all these things distracted him from going in the potty. So he's only had a few successes, including trying to go poo on the potty once, but I think he is getting it. There is no way I could have stayed home for a week straight without going crazy... so I will take what I can get. We have also been spending time outside, and I don't expect him to be able to make it to the potty from outside, so if we were inside I know he would have done better (although when we were outside he peed off of the side of the trampoline, so he is definitely aware). One of the times he went out of sight for a while and it turns out he went poo! He told me about it right away and showed it to me. Don't worry, I didn't take a picture, hehehe. I now know that he knows when he is going and he can make it to the potty, but just needs practice. I am not even worried about nighttime or nap time, those will come in time. Whenever we are home he is either naked (I have let him do that outside) or in big boy pants. I hope to have many more successes soon.



Gavin sitting on his brother as he likes to do for some reason. He is putting on his potty sticker that he had given to the baby. He was taking it back.



Sorry these last two pictures are sideways, I love the look on Colin's face in this last one. It looks to me as if he is thinking, "What are you going to do to me?"

I ain't afraid of no poop!

I decided that I should do cloth diapering again to save some money. Compared to last time, this time around it doesn't really seem like a big deal. I guess maybe because I'm used to dealing with poop and pee all of the time now? Sure, swishing poo diapers in the toilet really isn't fun, but I can always wash my hands (and I do that plenty of times in a day now)...

The g-diapers were all right, but expensive, and I don't know if I was putting them on wrong, or what, but often times some of the pee leak over the top of the diaper. I already had the diapers I need to do cloth, (passed down from one of my sisters-in-law, thanks!!!) I am using a one size diaper that "grows" with the baby and you can use from when they are small until toilet training, but I bought a few more of my favorite covers to go with them. I thought if I was going to do it seriously, I should really like the covers I use. I don't like the plastic or rubber pants which I have several of. I also have a few air flow covers which I really like that allow some air in when the baby moves. If I am going to do it seriously I should like what I have. I do them all of the time except for at night with Colin (and I haven't been doing it at church, either but I probably should, it's not that big of a deal), but it does make his butt look huge and it is hard to get some of his pants over. But any-who.

I bought a couple of these, they are the wetlands print. I thought that the ducks, frogs, and turtles were so cute!



"Cheese!"





I also bought a couple of the Asia themed covers, one in Colin's current size and a larger size that fits Gavin right now, but will be able to use in the future with Colin as well. If I keep it up, (which I plan to) I will need to buy some more covers in time, but that won't be a big deal.




Speaking of Gavin, he SO does not care about potty training. Even if I put him in a cloth diaper, he just goes about his merry way just the same as in a disposable. I have also bought little charts and big and little stickers (little for pee, big for poo) and told him he could have them if he went pee or poo on the potty. No reaction, except saying that he wanted a big sticker, but when I said he had to go poo for a big sticker he didn't seem any more motivated and just moved on immediately after I told him about it. I even bought him Thomas underwear the other day and told him he could only have them if he went on the potty. We put him on the potty when we got home (he didn't go or anything), then I put on the underwear and told him he didn't want to get Thomas wet (hoping he wouldn't want to ruin them because they are Thomas). We kept checking on him and then one of his cousins came up to play and we got distracted. The next thing I knew, there was a puddle on the floor and Gavin was still going about his business like nothing happened. Hmmm... he couldn't care less about it. Next I am going to try cool alert pull ups that will give him a cool sensation when he pees. Maybe he'll start associating it with the "gotta go" feeling? Not sure. I also have a supply of thick underwear training pants and plastic pants to go over, but if he doesn't care about the wetness with a cloth diaper or with regular underwear, he probably won't care about it with training pants. I think that he just doesn't recognize the feeling at all right now and doesn't care to, either, which I think is essential in potty training.

One of my sisters-in-law suggested that I put him on the toilet every hour. That seems like so much work and I know he would fight me on it. I would also have to stay home ALL DAY and I like to get out every day at some point... I don't know... *sigh*

Underwear Boy

Gavin found a package of big boy underwear in his bedroom, opened it up, and put it in his hamper. I took it out and asked him if he wanted to wear his big boy underwear and told him he needs to use the potty to wear them. He took them from me and put them back in the hamper. I don't know exactly why he put them there; I have washed them, but he's currently not showing any interest in the potty.

It's potty time!

Gavin's going to really love these shots when he is older! Philip bought Gavin this potty book in Japanese that came with a 15 minute DVD, and he loves it! In the DVD there is a song that you sing on the way to the potty and that seemed to motivate him to want to go. Here he is looking at the book. There are several flaps for him to open and also there is a little toilet to set up in the book and we punched the tiger, who is the main character, out so that he can "sit" on the toilet. I am glad that this DVD shows the regular toilet. I like that idea better than using the little potty you have to dump in the toilet anyway. We now only let Gavin look at this potty book while he is on the toilet, so more motivation to be there... Oh, and guess what! While I was out watching a movie with a couple of friends, Philip sent me a text telling me that he was sitting on the potty and he actually did #2 in it...that is the first time he'd done anything in the toilet! Good job, Gavin!