Potty Training

About a week before Eli's birthday, he was running around naked (I was in the process of getting him a diaper and clothes) when he suddenly stopped what he was doing and ran to the potty. Of course, Josh and I were incredibly delighted. That was the beginning of our potty training. Well, officially anyway. Technically he's been receiving some training since he was 18 months old. Afterall, he knew exactly where to go. We got him his own potty seat when he was 18 months and showed him what he needed to do. We taught him how to say poo, poo, pee pee, and potty, which he uses all the time. We even bought him a book about it, which he frequently requests. Still, I wasn't expecting to really concentrate on potty training until the beginning of the summer. But he's ready now, and he uses his potty all the time, so I guess I need to concentrate on it whether I'm ready or not.

He runs around naked a lot now because he'll go on his own as long as he's naked. If I put underwear on him (Gerber cloth training pants), he'll go about half the time. If he's in his diaper, we have no success. That's because he still thinks it's okay to go in his diaper, which I can understand since that's where he's gone for the first two years of his life. All of the sudden I'm telling him that he shouldn't go in his diaper, and I'm sure that's pretty confusing. Anyway, he knows that he shouldn't go on the floor, which is why he'll use the potty when he's naked. When he wears the underwear, he tries to go on his own, but he has trouble getting them off fast enough and has had some accidents. I think that has discouraged him because he prefers to be naked.

My dilemma is trying to get him to tell me when he has to go. If he could learn that, it would be a lot easier when he wears his underwear because I could help him. I feel sort of bad putting a diaper on him when we go out or when he sleeps because I think that's a little confusing for him. The other option is to be tied to the toilet with him all day long, but I'm not sure I can handle that. I need to go out. I probably need to just be brave and put underwear on him when we go out, expecting that there will be a number of accidents for a while until he learns to tell me that he has to go. One day he'll get it, and I'm sure I'll be elated.

By the way, the picture above is of Eddy, his monkey. Eli decided he needed to teach his monkey how to use the potty since he was learning. I thought it was so cute, I couldn't resist taking a picture.

P.S. Eli is doing a lot better without his binky. The first night was the worst, but we haven't had anything like it since. He still resists going to bed, but he always has, even with the binky. The last couple of nights he's slept right through without waking up asking for his binky.

Pulling the Plug

It came a little earlier than planned, but Eli made his own diagnosis. He decided he was ready to pull the plug...or so he thought, anyway. It actually happened on Wednesday night when I was at a Relief Society meeting (formerly known as enrichment). I came home to a crying child who was up much later than he should have been. Josh said Eli couldn't sleep because he had thrown his binky in the garbage.

The day before, Eli had been complaining about his binkies because he had bitten holes through both of them. I told him we weren't buying him any more binkies, so he used them for a little longer, but eventually he couldn't take it anymore. The joy was gone. On Wednesday night Eli came out of his bedroom and told his dad that his binky was garbage. Josh asked him if he wanted to throw it away, and he apparently marched to the trash can and threw it away. Twice. I guess when Eli couldn't sleep, Josh got his binky out of the trash and offered to clean it for him, but Eli took it and threw it away again. He keeps asking for it every time I put him down for a nap or bedtime, and I keep reminding him what he did with it. Sometimes he's quiet and stares as he remembers what he did. Other times he actually starts clapping because he knows that getting rid of his binky is one more step to becoming a big boy.

Still, getting him to sleep has not been a fun task these last few days. The first night he woke up at 3 AM and threw a tantrum for 45 minutes. Josh and I were at a loss. Our son was an addict, and he was going through a CRAZY withdrawal. We've never seen him do what he did that night. It's been better since, but we are still a little short on sleep around here. What else is new, right? Actually, he's been sleeping so well for about 2 1/2 months now that I almost forgot what it's like to lose sleep at night...........ALMOST.

Anyway, I hope this passes quickly because his Grandma Pratt is coming in a week to babysit him for 5 days. We were going to wait until she left, but Eli made the choice. Now Grandma Pratt has to deal with no binky AND potty training, which we're also in the middle of right now (Eli initiated that too). I'll blog about that later. Good luck, Mom Pratt! Are you sure you still want to come?

A Week of Celebration

It's official; Eli is a two year old! On his birthday last Thursday, we began the day by going to Hermann Park. He has been begging me to ride the train again every time we go, so I told him we would do it for his birthday. I know we did it for his birthday last year, but maybe it will become a birthday tradition for him as long as we live here. Who knows? The important thing is that that's what he wanted to do, so that's what we did. I was babysitting for a friend who has a near three year old, so he went with us. Eli enjoyed playing and riding the train. We also had a picnic in the park. Since the squirrels and birds were eager to eat what we were eating, Eli and his friend had a great time.

Josh was able to get the afternoon off, so we went to the Museum of Natural Science and watched a movie about dolphins and whales on the IMAX. It was Eli's first time watching a movie on the big screen, and he loved it! During the film, he kept reaching out to grab the 3D images. It was cute!

That evening, of course, he opened his birthday gifts and ate birthday cake. Thanks to everyone that sent a gift. He loved them! Sorry about some of the pictures being so blurry. Our camera has problems, and it was causing us trouble during part of the day.

He loved his birthday cake too! Since he loves garbage trucks so much, I made a 3D garbage truck cake for him. He kept pointing to it and saying "garbage." He blew out the candles perfectly in one fell swoop, and he dove into his cake. I guess he decided that when something is that good, face first is best, as you can tell in the picture.

On Saturday, we dyed some eggs, and had a small Easter egg hunt in our house. Earlier in the week on Wednesday, he had an Easter egg hunt in the park for playgroup. He really enjoyed picking up those eggs and putting them in his basket. Of course, he also loved what was in the eggs too!

We had a great Easter Sunday! We enjoyed the many general conference talks, and then we had company for dinner. The missionaries dropped in on us during dessert, so we fed them and then went to a small discussion. They are teaching some women that live in our apartment complex.

I have to share one quick story. I was telling Eli about why we celebrate Easter. I had some pictures of Christ with his arms stretched out to show the marks of the nails in his hands. Earlier in the week, Eli had scraped one of his hands, so he had a small sore on his palm. I was using that to help tell the story of what happened to Christ. He looked at his hands, and then he touched the picture of Christ and said, "Jesus, owie." One of his favorite movies is Finding Faith in Christ. Every time he wants to watch it, he points to the DVDs and says, "Jesus." I'm amazed that at such a young age, Eli knows the name of Jesus and can recognize Him in pictures. He doesn't even know how to say his own name yet! I'm grateful for the teaching moments that I get to have as a mom.

Third Time is the Charm, Right?

So much for hoping that not traveling would keep Eli healthier. This has been one of the worst cold and flu seasons ever! We're down to our third cold in 6/7 weeks. I say "we" because Eli and I get them together. Even Josh has managed to get one of the three. I'm sick of being sick, and I'm sure Eli is too. It's not like I haven't taken preventive measures--washing hands, disinfecting toys, washing bedding, etc. I didn't even get this many colds when I was teaching, and believe me, there were plenty of opportunities. I'm hoping this third one is the charm, and when it's over, we'll be done with getting colds.

On a brighter note, Eli is learning so many new things. I can't believe he'll be two next week! He's recently been learning his letters, and can identify all of them. He'll even see the letter and repeat the word we've been learning for it. Today at the doctor's office he pointed to the letter A and said apple, and he loves the letter G because he associates it with garbage. We're still working on numbers and colors. He knows the color blue very well and says it all the time, but he doesn't really say any of the other colors yet, though he identifies some of them when asked. Of course, what I wish he would learn really quickly is how to use the potty, but I guess I just have to be more patient with that one. He's such a big wetter that he really needs to be out of diapers because he's been leaking all the time lately. We've never had that problem before with cloth, and we've tried the disposables, and he still leaks. Anyone who has suggestions on what's worked for you, feel free to share.