Transition

What's Owen so excited about?

Oh yes, his new bed! (!!!!!!!)

Wow, how did we not get a proper photo of the bed?

Also, yes that's some sort of powderpuff (?) pillowcase.  I don't know.

Also, no those are not his real sheets, and those curtains are going to change too.

HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART:

He's sleeping like a champ in his bed.  I'm afraid to even say that for fear of jinxing it.

He has not climbed out.  Well, unless you count the fact that his wake-up time is now a whole hour earlier and he comes in to wake us up.  I'm hoping that he's just excited and will soon stay in bed if for no other reason than because he's really truly tired.  Otherwise, an intervention will be necessary.  We're not waking up at 6am every day.  Give me 6:30 or 7:00 at least!

It's bittersweet for Kraig and I.  We moved our first child out of his crib!  He's not a baby!  He's a big boy and oh my, that is the bitter part.  The sweet part is that he is unbelievably excited about this bed.  He loves it, he was ready for it, and he is growing up.  That feels good.

We're so proud of him and so glad he's doing well during this transition.

S.O.S.

Potty Training.

aka. The Bane of my Existence.

I wish I could adopt a really laid-back, patient attitude here.  I really do.  I know the pros and cons of both sides of the argument, I know the research, I know the psychological and physiological aspects.  I know.

I know I shouldn't rush something that isn't seeming to work.  It doesn't click.  It sometimes even upsets him.  Psychologically, this is not good.

I also know that allowing him to continue going in his diaper is training him to continue going in his diaper (funny how much sense that makes, isn't it?) and physiologically, there are issues with that (night wetting, more accidents, etc.)

I also know that I'm about to have another baby in 3 months, and for that matter Owen is approaching the 2.5 year mark.  Two and a half years- that is plenty old enough to potty train!  (We started the process at one year, so please save the "he's too young" statements.  Hogwash.  You KNOW how I feel about potty training.)  Besides, we've got one set of cloth diapers and a baby in my belly that is going to need them soon.  (Technically he won't "need" the ones Owen is using for another 5 months since Baby will be in newborn-sized cloth diapers, but diapering two kids while also trying to train the older one and deal with the newborn are NOT things I want to be doing.)

I know many, many, many 2 year olds who are trained and who have been trained for a while.  The funny thing is, they are all girls.  Now, I'm not about to blame Owen's sex for the problem, as I know that we have also never done a diaper-free weekend (we do diaper-free days, except naptime) so it hasn't been a consistent thing.  My fault.  But there is some truth to boys being harder to train.  And when the boy is a product of Kraig and myself, you can rightly throw in a good amount of stubbornness and well, here we are.  (Or maybe I jinxed myself by talking about it so much.  Is this some kind of karma?  I don't like it.)

Owen knows where he is supposed to go.  He knows when he is going potty (on the floor. Sigh.)  He knows he gets praise or even a treat when he goes on the potty.  He knows it all.  He'll even volunteer to sit on the potty (when he doesn't have to go).  But the second it's serious, like he could go on the potty- we have it timed just right... he gets scared.  He freaks out.  He screams and flails.

This is not good, my friends.  I can't push through that part.

So, we're still putting him in big-boy undies or letting him roam sans-underpants even.  We're still encouraging him to tell us when he has to go.  We're still putting him on the potty when we think it's time.  We're trying really, really hard and then all of a sudden he's eating his dinner at the table and saying "I'm peeing!" and it doesn't bother him.  He's just doing it like it's no big deal.

Great.

Help me?  Please help me.

Interesting Articles

I'm sharing these two articles all over the place because, um, they are amazing.  In honor of Father's day this weekend:

A Father's Day Wish

And for parents (and wanna-be parents) everywhere:

How to Land Your Kid in Therapy

Conversations with a 2 year old, episode 4

You know, I hate to always have this disclaimer but... I had nothing to do with this one either.

Owen:  "What time is it?"

Me:  "It is.... 12:35"

(long pause)

Owen:  "It's beer time!"



I think we all know where he picked up that little tidbit.

Conversations with a 2 year old, episode 3

Kraig went to training for work, and had explained to Owen that instead of working that day he had training instead.  During my breakfast with him, Owen had this to say:

Owen::  "Daddy at training?"

Me:: "Yes, daddy's at training today."

Owen::  "I go on train?"

Me::  "Sure, you can go on a train if you want."

Owen::  looks outside to the empty driveway.  "Daddy training, too?  Where's daddy's car?"

Me::  "Daddy took the car.  He's not on a train, he is training."

Owen::  confused stare.

Conversations with a 2 year old, episode 2

In talking with Owen about his anatomy, I try to use proper terminology.  Kraig, on the other hand, will throw in a slang term here or there.

Just wanted to make sure that I'm cleared of any blame for this one.

Sophie::  chews on chew toy

Owen::  "Is that Sophie's boner?"

Me::  "That's Sophie's bone, yes."

Owen::  picks up another bone.  "Here Sophie!  Here's your boner!"

Conversations with a 2 year old, episode 1

One of the blogs that I frequent has a "series" of the same nature.  Kids really do say the darndest things, no?  Enjoy.

I was recently reading a childbirth book that has a few photos of women breastfeeding.  Owen came over to see what I was reading and saw one of the photos of a baby and her mother's breast.  Here's what happened next:

Owen::  "Mama what's that?"

Me::  "That's a boob."

Owen::  stares silently for a few seconds.... "I want to see more boobs!"

Oh dear.

July Update

Is it just me or is summer the busiest time of the year?? Getting out of the house to go to festivals, farmer's markets, cookouts and the like have kept us so busy since we got home from vacation. In fact, I haven't really caught up with housework since vaca.... a fact that I am not proud of. I try to clean a little each day (Owen only takes 45 minute naps, oh how I wish he would nap for 2-3 hours at a stretch!!) but I still feel like every room in the house needs a nice deep cleaning. It will just have to wait, I suppose. I'd rather spend time with my little family :) While we have been trying to get out and do things while the weather is nice, we have also tried to lay low and just hang out as a family as much as possible. Kraig's work schedule is so erratic, and I usually work on his days off which means that we have about zero days off together. (Boooo) All of that is supposed to excuse why there has been a drought on the blog. But all of you should be out enjoying the sunshine, too, so I doubt anyone noticed! There have been some exciting happenings in the world of parenting around here. We are so pumped to start solids this week, which meant we had to head out and buy some supplies!! We went to Babies R Us to pick up a highchair, bowls, spoons, and a cereal dispenser (they always get me with their tricky marketing. I mean, is a cereal dispenser necessary? No. Are a lot of things at Babies R Us "necessary"? Double no.) Anyway, we also headed to West Side Market to pick up some REAL necessary items: fresh, local, organic produce for making baby purees! Yay! We picked up some avocado, carrots, and apples for Owen. (We got other produce for mommy and daddy :)) I also picked up some turmeric (lots of health benefits, including reducing risk of childhood leukemia!) I'm looking into other herbs and such that have great health benefits so that we can add those to Owen's foods, too! Owen slept during much of our visit to the market- we wore him out during the first part of the trip, which was to a different kind of market- the Bier Markt! We stopped in for an afternoon snack before shopping. They have really interesting lighting there, and Owen really likes it. He was talking up a storm, too :) A week ago we went to the Taste of Tremont. Owen likes being out and about in his stroller (he rides in the stroller now, not in the carseat) and really enjoyed "people watching". We tried a few things at some restaurants that we have never visited, and met up with a few friends. It was a great evening out! We've been more intentional with taking Owen on walks around the neighborhood. Walking is something we've always enjoyed doing as a couple, and it's exciting to bring Owen out with us and show him around. We also had a day trip to Ottawa to visit my dad! My sister, Samantha, her boyfriend, Brian, and her daughter, Maddie all came in as well and we grilled out. Owen and Maddie really liked playing together, as you can see. He loves interacting with, well, anyone, but especially with other babies! He's also such a flirt, and didn't quite understand that Maddie is his cousin... he just saw a pretty girl! :-D Our Wednesday night group (Lifegroup) has started to get together once a month instead of every Wednesday night, so we are thankful to have that night free again to spend with just the three of us. We are trying to still get together for playdates and such with the couples from the group, and it's much easier to manage this way because the every Wednesday evening commitment was getting to be a little much. It was very difficult to put Owen down for his bedtime (dessert and chatting started at 7:30pm, which is Owen's bedtime) because there were a lot of distractions and 5 other kids! We love hanging out with all of our friends in the group, and had a lot of fun at this month's get together! There are 6 couples and 6 kids (soon to be 9 kids!) all under the age of three! It's kind of a madhouse but very fun. It's been a busy but fun month around here, and we are really looking forward to Owen's well baby checkup this week, and starting solids! We'll keep you posted, as usual ;)