Can't I Just Hire Someone To Do This?

One of the reasons I love where we live is because of the wealth of resources that we have access to. There seems to be a top-notch specialist for just about everything we would ever need (and believe me, we've paid for them). So, I'm wondering...why can't I hire a Potty-Training Specialist?

We've definitely have hit a stride in our training, and I think with this long weekend approaching that we're going to just bring out the big guns and do an ALL BIG BOY UNDERWEAR WEEKEND. He's doing great, staying dry in his Pull-Ups and using the bathroom when we ask, and when he TELLS us he has to go. I'm hoping that with these 4 days of being around our home will help me make the jump. I don't mind the laundry, and I'm planning on hitting up Target for some more back-up pairs. I really think he's ready to make the jump and I know I am. I feel like we've been potty training for like 6 months. I'm over it. The kid is 2 years 8 months old. I really wanted him to be trained by this Christmas, and definitely before his 3rd Birthday in February. I'm ok with accidents, but I've got to get him out of the Pull-Ups. Those things are HORRIBLE. I think all the do is just confuse the kid.

I know Christian is going to be really angry at me about 15 years down the line when he reads my blog archives and comes across all this talk about his bathroom habits. So, once again Christian, I'm sorry.

Big Boy Changes

This summer has been full of transitions for Christian. The biggest being that he has to be patient since Mommy has to share her time between him and his little sister. Last night when I was organizing my scrapbooking gear that I plan on bringing to our beach vacation (what else can I do at night other than drink margaritas on our porch?), I started making a list of all the little things that have changed for Christian since he got out of school the first week of July:

1. NO MORE BINKIE! I know, I know...any SLP will tell me that I was hindering my little guy's development by letting him use a pacifier. However, to my defense, he only used it at night. I was worried about the transition, but his surgery to remove his adenoids helped make it a little smoother. Before he went to bed the first night, we told him that his doctor didn't want him sucking on anything at night because it would make his nose hurt more. He gave me the binkie, and that was that. HOORAY!

2. NO MORE CRIB! All my girlfriends in my neighborhood know what a toss-up this was for me. We wanted to keep Christian in the crib as long as possible, mostly due to the fact that I didn't want to deal with newborn sleep issues from Lily, while also trying to help Christian transition into his new bed. Well, a couple of overnight trips helped make that transition easier. He sleeps on his air mattress when we go away and LOVES it. While I was with the kids in Michigan, Chuck converted the crib to a big boy bed. AND HE LOVES IT

3. NO MORE GOOPY NOSE! We are beyond pleased with the results of Christian's adenoid surgery. Poor kid has been walking around since October with the crusty nose. He's sleeping better. He's breathing better. And his face doesn't have boogers all over it. Thank God.

4. Progress on the Potty While we're still struggling a bit, Christian has made MAJOR progress on the potty. I know when he's reading this blog archive when he's 16 he'll be mortified that I've chronicled his bathroom habits, but it's been such a big deal in our family that I feel like I HAVE to! We've gone from not using the potty at all, to using it about 75% of the time for #1 and about 25% of the time for #2. He runs to the potty for #1, and always tells me if #2 has happened, or if it's "Too Late". He's used public restrooms, and has started waking us up in the morning to make his "pee pee". I hope by Thanksgiving that I only have one kid in diapers....

All of these transitions have impacted Christian's speech in a very positive way. He's slowing himself down and catching articulation errors that in the past I had to remind him to correct. He's consistently speaking in at least 6-7 word sentences. And his repetition of questions that he does not know the answers to has really taken a dip as well. Other than our weekly Early Intervention visits (which have been more like monthly since our travel schedule), Christian has had no formal therapy this summer. I am so glad that we took the summer off. He starts back into his rigid routine of 5 days of school, plus weekly Early Intervention, plus an additional day of Speech Therapy in just 3 weeks. He's had an AWESOME summer, and I am SO proud of his progress in everything!

Rock City

We've been at "Camp Nana" since last Friday. Chuck flew back home on Tuesday, and will be joining us again next week.

Our days our full of trips to local soft-serve ice cream shops (something that the DC Metro Area is SERIOUSLY lacking), playing in Nana and Papa's backyard, and of course, some trips to Target. We had a fun family BBQ on Sunday, and on Monday, Papa came with us to a sprinkler park. Once the kids are down, I've been able to catch up with some old friends in the evenings, and Aunt Sarah and I even went to the Dave Matthews Band concert on Tuesday. Christian has been having an absolute blast being the center of attention.

In addition to the usual language explosion that Christian always has when he's around my parents, we hit a MAJOR potty training milestone here. While at a little coffee shop, Christian turned to me and said "Mommy, I have to go pee pee. It's going to come, Mommy!". So, I asked him if he wanted to go sit on the potty. Sure enough, he followed me into the bathroom. I lined the top of the toilet with paper, plopped him on the bowl, and watched him go IN A PUBLIC BATHROOM. YEAH CHRISTIAN!

Christian also is now wearing his snazzy brown coil on his CI, which looks really nice with his light brown hair. We chose an all beige system, as he was our little bald man at 14 months when he was implanted. He's really proud of it, and has pointed to the coil several times and said "Mommy, my CI is brown! I'm a handsome boy". I am so happy that he likes it!