Lagging

I noticed the other day that Tyler is once again lagging behind his brothers in the height department. This happens every few months and always Tyler catches up... eventually. He's never caught up in weight (he's 3-4 pounds lighter than Chase or Jackson), but he always catches up in height. Right now though, the difference is quite big! Check it out (that's Jackson with him)!

Meanwhile, as the boys grow up so do their destructive tendencies... Poor Mr. Penguin! He no longer has a head, wings or feet!

Friday Photos

Today  I was going to blog about the boys' laughter and how I enjoy hearing them crack each other up. Considering the last 5 minutes have been filled with whining, crying and fighting though I'm having a hard time focusing on my chosen topic. Instead I'll just share a couple of pictures from the park yesterday. Hopefully the boys will be in better moods soon!

Jackson

Tyler

Shameless Plug: Looking for something for Father's Day? Might I suggest the Just For Dad Combo from my Etsy Shop! Orders must be placed by tomorrow (Saturday) night!  

 

I Heart Faces Week 20 Challenge

The challenge this week over at I Heart Faces is faces and flowers. There are lots of great shots to admire over at their blog, but here is my entry! It's Mr. Tyler as a flower.

I Love My Kids

Yesterday afternoon, at about 3:30pm, Tyler wandered out of his bedroom. He'd just woken up from his nap. Instead of sleepily wandering down the hall to say hello to me, he stood in the doorway to his room and broke into song. The tune of choice? I Like To Move It, Move It.

I tried to stifle the giggles as I looked down the hall to see what would happen next. After he ran through the chorus once, he dropped his blanket at the door and walked out to the living room. I stood in the kitchen and watched him dance around the room singing the chorus over and over. Eventually he stopped and came over to say hi to me.

I love my kids. Period.

(Picture taken with my cell phone on the Zoo Train. L-R: Jackson, me, Chase & Tyler)

I Heart Faces - Smiles Entry

For the first time, I'm entering a photography contest over at I Heart Faces! Here's my entry for the "Smiles" theme.

Park Pictures

We're having a ball with the grandparents visiting! Monday night we took a picnic lunch to the park, where Tyler had lots of fun (and thrills) on the tire swing.

Chase on the merry go round. Kinda looks like he's not sure if he's going to be sick or if he's having fun...

Why 2 Year Olds Should Not Stand To Pee

*sigh* I knew this day would come. The day I'd really be annoyed that my loving husband decided to teach our darling boys how to pee standing up. Let me back up a bit though... Almost 2 months ago, while I was away for a short 36 hours, Nick decided to teach the boys how to pee standing up. Needless to say I was pretty annoyed when I called home and Nick told me what he was doing. I believe I whined something like "But Niiiick! The mess is going to be terrible!" He assured me the boys were doing a good job hitting the toilet but I was skeptical.

Turns out Nick was right. Chase and Jackson have been awesome at it! They rarely miss, so the mess has been minimal. Tyler hasn't really cared for the whole standing thing, so I haven't pushed it. In the last week though he decided he wanted to stand too. He seems to have a problem though...

Tuesday afternoon was a gorgeous day and we were playing in front of the house. Tyler said he had to go potty and his brothers didn't want to come inside, so I took Ty's shoes off at the door and sent him inside. He'd been gone a long time when I leaned in and said "Do you need help TyTy?" I could somewhat see him crouching on the floor of the bathroom, so I figured he was struggling with putting his clothes back on (something he likes to do himself). I took a few steps into the house so that I could get a good view....

Now picture if you will, Tyler squatting right in front of that dish towel and rubbing it in circles. I laughed. I had to! He had obviously pooped while standing to pee, and then realized that shouldn't have happened. Instead of coming to get me, he went to the kitchen, grabbed a dish towel and was trying to clean it up himself! I thanked him for trying to clean it up and told him to just leave it for me to clean. This all happened at about 5:15, so I made an executive decision: I was going to leave the mess for Nick to see, so that he'd know what he's "done".

Nick pulled into the driveway about 10 minutes later.

Me: I need you to go look at the bathroom.

Nick: Why?

Me: Just go look.

Nick: Which one?

Me: The boys'.

A few minutes passes...

Nick: What happened in there?!

Me: I believe Tyler was standing to pee and didn't know what to do when he suddenly had to poop too. I think you need to give him a little pep talk.

Nick: Oh dear.

Me: Did you see the dish towel?

Nick: Yeah. Why did you cover some of the poop with that?

Me: Oh that wasn't me! That was all Tyler! Apparently he was trying to clean it up.

Laughter from both of us

Me: You stay out here and play with the boys while I clean up the bathroom and finish dinner.

Nick: Feel free to toss that dish towel. 

Finally Done With Daytime Training

Potty training has been a loooong adventure with a couple of the boys. When we started with Chase late last July (a month before they turned 2) and he picked it up right away (virtually no day-time accidents after only a week and a half) I thought for sure Jackson and Tyler would pick it up just as quickly. Boy, were we spoiled by Chase!

At Christmas Jackson and Tyler still weren't pooping in the toilet. Every once in a while they'd do it, giving us hope that the months of torture were almost over, but it never lasted. We finally decided to up the ante when it came to what kind of "prize" we would hand out for successful pooping. We told Jackson and Tyler that if they made it to the toilet in time that Daddy would bring them home a special treat. They never knew what the treat would be, but it was always (well, almost always) a hit. Jackson was hooked and started using the toilet on a regular basis in January. Tyler did it a few times and then lost interest again. ARGH!

About 3 weeks ago my sister came over one Sunday afternoon. She had with her a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs (Easter Candy). Yum! She gave the boys each a couple and they were a huge hit, especially with Tyler. The next morning Tyler clearly needed to poop but wouldn't do it. The constant back and forth to the potty went on all day long. I told him at one point that if he did it in the toilet I would immediately take him to the store and he could pick out his special treat.

Finally at 7:20, after he was already in his PJs, he pooped in the toilet. I kept my word, threw some slippers and a coat on him and took him to Walgreen's while Nick continued to get the other two ready for bed. On the way to the store I asked Tyler what he wanted for his treat. He immediately said "eggs Auntie Laura had!". We walked to the Easter section and I couldn't convince Tyler that a light up Easter toy was better than peanut butter eggs, so at 7:30pm I let my child eat a couple of Reese's Eggs.

For the next couple of days Tyler pooped on the potty a couple of times a day, just to get 2 coveted eggs! Sweet! We'd found the right bribe reward finally! When the eggs ran out at home we went back to Walgreen's for another reward where he again chose candy (a Cars themed egg). Apparently we have a kid with a sweet tooth!

Anyway, we've been phasing out the rewards and Tyler is still rocking the pooping on the toilet. Woohoo! Nick and I are thrilled to have three, 2 and a half year old boys be fully day-time potty trained! Now I'm just hoping the night time happens naturally sometime soon here. I've been told by a PT "expert" that it often takes kids 6-9 months from the start of PTing to get both day and night time down, and we're at month 7 right now. Here's hoping it's soon! But even if it isn't, I'm just thrilled right now to not be cleaning out poopy underwear.

Tyler Likes To Move It - Video Clip of the Week

Very little intro is needed for this short little clip... Tyler likes to dance. The boys like our Wii game Just Dance Plus, we get a kick out of watching them dance and try to follow the moves on screen.

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway! Click HERE to go to that post.

3 Hours of "Fun"

Yesterday between the hours of 10:30 and 1:30 was, um, "fun". For the last week the boys have had nasty colds. Last Friday night in fact I ended up taking Tyler to our doctor's walk in clinic because he had runny nose, bad cough and had just spiked a fever of 102.5. Turned out he had an ear infection in one of his ears. Whew! Dodged the H1N1 bullet there! (They've only had dose one of that shot, so aren't fully protected yet.)

Fast forward to Wednesday and Jackson and Chase are still miserable, aren't sleeping well because of the coughing at night and now are increasingly irritable. It was then that I decided they might have ear infections too (my kids don't often run fevers when they have one, so sometimes it's hard to tell). So I called the doctor's office and set an appointment for the next morning (and was also able to move Tyler's weight check and ear infection follow up appointment to that day to save myself an extra trip).

Usually Nick is able to meet me for these appointments, even the last minute ones, but yesterday he had meetings all day and just couldn't pull himself away. We got to the office on time, the boys were SO well behaved. No one protested getting on the scale (sometimes they do), they climbed in and out of the Choo Choo when I asked them too, they didn't turn the computer off in the exam room (yep, they've done that before) and then they didn't protest when I told them they couldn't have their lollipops until we got to the car. They all calmly walked from the Choo Choo into the lobby bathroom, all used the potty AND didn't go crazy touching everything in the bathroom.

Oh and before I continue - the health part? Tyler's ear infection was not better, in fact he now had one in both ears, so he's on a different antibiotic now. Chase had ear infections in both ears as well and Jackson had one in only one ear. The really excellent news of the day though? Tyler is gaining weight again! WOO! He gained a pound and a half in the last 6 weeks and is now up to the 25th percentile instead of hovering between the 10th and 15th. The doctor is very pleased with his progress.

Ok, so after such a successful solo trip to the doctor I marched out of that place with my head high. I loaded the boys into the car, gave them all their lollipops and went to the back of the car to open the hatch so I could put the Choo Choo in. Here's where things went south.

The hatch refused to open! All the jiggling, locking and unlocking and kicking in the world would not open the hatch. I finally had to release two very sticky  boys from their car seats and have them sit in the front (which resulted in very sticky controls, doors and steering wheel) while I removed two car seats, folded down half of the back seat and shoved the Choo Choo into the back that way. Awesome. Then I put the car seats back, wrangled my sticky boys back into their seats (during which they added stickiness to my leather coat) and headed for Target.

By the time we reached Target (to get their prescriptions) it was 12:15. 45 minutes past lunch and now 15 minutes past when they usually go down for a nap. After dropping off stuff at the pharmacy I wheeled our very full cart (of kids, not food) to the "cafe" and ordered some not-so-great chicken tenders to share.

Finally, 3 hours, a broken Jeep and $100 later (yep, that's how much antibiotic for 5 days for 3 kids runs ya) we were home and finally going down for nap time.

I sat at the table and down a Diet Coke and life was good again.

So sorry for the lack of pictures lately. I think my camera is dying a slow death. Don't worry though - I'm working on a remedy! 

Cans for Comments is up to 52 comments! Tomorrow is the last day - let's finish strong! Don't forget to visit the other blogs that are participating too - comment there and help folks all over the country! 

Slacker

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have an announcement. I am a slacker. Not a slacker in the ways you might suspect, but a slacker when it comes to my personal health. Remember a few weeks ago when I said I was going to start running again? Yeah... I did great for the first week but then took the last 8 days off. Whoops! I did at least drag my sleepy behind out of bed this morning and start running again, so that felt good.

Not only am I slacker when it comes to exercise, but I'm a slacker when it comes to my diet too. Maybe slacker is the wrong term... distracted puppy might be more accurate. My morning starts with excited determination to stay on track eating wise. I start running along and suddenly see a squirrel (fruit snacks with the boys) and then I get back on course running after my health, then I see a stick (cookies or any other sugary, evil thing)! Oh dear, I spent an awful lot of time with that stick.... So by now I'm just walking after my health when I suddenly spot a tennis ball (cheese and crackers anyone?). Well now I'm just a sluggish puppy so I think I'll curl up in the living room and rest and start fresh tomorrow. Now what was it I was chasing?

It's really no wonder I've been at essentially the same weight for a year. The above is what often happens in my home. It's like I don't care enough about myself. I think it's time to start packing my lunch again for myself like I did when I was working. Lunch is tough here. By the time I get the boys down for their nap I'm drained and the last thing I want to do is make myself lunch so I end up grazing on squirrels, sticks and tennis balls. The one silver lining to this crazy, distracted cloud? When I finally do lose these last 10-15 pounds I should be good to go with maintaining my weight. Ha!

Ok, and just for your general amusement, here is a picture of Farmer Ty from this morning (thanks Meme and Papa for the cool overalls!)

We're up to 34 comments so far this week! Only 3 more days to comment; keep 'em coming!

Health Update

This morning we took the boys to the doctor's office for their flu shots and for a weight check for Tyler. Back at the boys' 2 year well check, the doctor was slightly concerned that Tyler wasn't gaining weight at the same rate as his brothers. He's always been smaller than them by a pound or two, but in the last 6 months his weight has all but stalled while his brothers have continued to gain at a steady rate.

In March he weighed 25 pounds 5 ounces.
In late August he weighed 24 pounds 14 ounces.
In early September he weighed 25 pounds 8 ounces.
Today he weighed 26 pounds even.

So basically since March he's only gained 11 ounces. His brothers have each gained 3-5 pounds in that time frame. The doctor said normally there's only a red flag if the child has fallen off the growth curve for height and head circumference, neither of which is true for Tyler. However, because he's an identical triplet and because he eats the same (if not more sometimes) than his brothers and is at the same level of activity as them she is a little concerned.

Bottom line, we're to watch him and if we notice any drastic changes in behavior, weight, etc. we are to call her. Otherwise we're to just bring him back just before Thanksgiving and see if his gaining has picked up.

Speaking of weight though - today Chase hit the big 3-0. Yep. He's 30 pounds. No wonder my back is killing me by the end of the day! Oh yeah, and we had no crying or tears today for the flu shots. Such big boys :)

Laugh or Cry

When raising children one must often make a conscience decision. Do you laugh or cry at whatever just happened? I've been trying really hard to choose "laugh" lately, even though I want to cry (or get mad at the very least). Here are two recent examples...

Lately Jackson and Tyler have had a hard time making it to the potty on time between the hours of 4pm and 6pm. It's really quite remarkable how many times the two of them can pee on the floor in those 2 hours (we're talking 4-6 accidents between the two of them in a 2 hour span). I don't know why they have such a hard time in the late afternoon/early evening, but they do. As a result dinner has been late several times because of all the, uh, activities here.

This past Monday night I decided I wasn't going to let these potty time escapades get the best of me or my dinner preparation. My plan of attack? Start dinner at 3:30pm in hopes it was done sometime between 5:30 and 6. Good thing I did too because it took me nearly 2 hours to get dinner into the oven! In those two hours we had 10 trips to the potty, 3 puddles on the floor and I got to rescue a sippy cup from a toilet. All I could do was laugh. And be glad I started dinner when I did!

The next night Tyler did something that had Nick and me rolling with laughter...

Yeah. That would be a large piece of poo you see there on the floor.

We were in the middle of dinner when Tyler suddenly jumped up and frantically said "potty! potty!" so I grabbed him and rushed him in there. I could tell he was starting to poop (something we've been working hard at getting him to do in the toilet rather than his underwear) so I was frantically trying to rip off his pants and his underwear. As I was doing this he also started to pee, so he was spraying everywhere before I finally got him on the toilet. That had me giggling enough and then just as Nick came to see what I was laughing at I noticed the poop on the floor. That sent me over the edge and Nick cracked up too. We told Ty he was so close!

What will you choose to do today when your kid does something crazy/obnoxious/frustrating? Laugh or cry? I'm choosing laugh again; it seems to make the days better.

Uh Oh Tyler - Video Clip of the Week

Last Friday Nick and I took the boys to Target. They received quite a bit of cash for their birthday and not many toys to play with. Considering they've out grown most of the toys they were given at their last birthday and even some Christmas, we decided we'd turn them loose in the toy aisle and see what they wanted to buy.

The final product? A Cars tent and tunnel combo. When we finally set it up for them after dinner Friday night, the boys were pretty excited to crawl through the tunnel, into the tent and then back out again. They even dragged their kitties and puppets in with them.

Sunday afternoon Tyler discovered a new fun way to play with the tunnel. He was the only one up from nap time and he was being quite entertaining to Nick, Laura and myself!

Dear Tyler

Dear Tyler,

You've been my littlest guy since you were born but you more than make up for your size with your spunk and character. Daddy and I dubbed you the ham of the group a good 15 months ago at least and you've continued to live up to that name.

The facial expressions you come up with crack us up and make us say "aww" all at the same time. There's just something about your squinty wink that's simply adorable! That look has almost become your classic Tyler face.

Sometimes I wish I could harness the seemingly unending energy you have. I'm at awe sometimes how you can dance, twist and jump in the living room followed by wrestling with your brothers or your dad and still have enough breath to laugh hysterically. As amusing as your antics are, your quiet moments are truly endearing to me. The adorable way you can sit on the couch just holding your blanket up to your lips (not chewing on it like Jackson does with his, just holding it up) melts my heart.

Speaking of heart melting, there's just something about the way you look up at me with those big, gorgeous blue eyes that makes my breath catch sometimes. Pop that lower lip out like you so often do and I wish I could capture the look on film.

I love your love for books and the way you'll run and grab book after book just for the chance to cuddle in a lap for a few moments. I hope you never lose your love of reading or your love of sitting on laps, but I know when you're 16 you won't be into the lap thing so much.

You'll probably eventually be as tall as your Daddy but you'll always be my little TyTy.

I love you!
Mommy

Tyler's First Bra

Yesterday as I was loading pictures from my camera onto the computer I noticed an interesting looking shot of Ty. At first glance I thought he had toilet paper wrapped around his body, but then I looked closer...


Yup, that would be Tyler wearing my sports bra. According to Nick (who snapped this beauty of a blackmail picture) Tyler was messing around in our room while Nick was dealing with simultaneous accidents from Chase and Jackson. As Nick was finishing cleaning up the other two boys, Tyler wandered down the hallway like this. Nick (wisely) knew he had to take a picture of it! Oh and then apparently the little man was quite upset when Nick made him take the bra off. I look forward to showing this picture to future girlfriends!

1 Down, 2 To Go

Chase is doing great with his potty training! Saturday was his second completely accident free day and that included the 2.5 hours we were away from home (church and the 15 minute car ride each way). Yesterday he didn't have an accident until 5:30pm - so close to back to back accident free days! I rarely have to remind him to tell me if he has to go, as he's great at coming up to tell me. He's not 100% there, but I obviously feel pretty great about where he's at just 2 weeks after starting and at a shade under the age of 2.

Yesterday we started on Jackson! Let me back up though to Friday - that's when I took him shopping for his big boy underwear. The distracted mom that I am, I totally forgot to take pictures of him in the store! He was so speedy grabbing the Elmo package that I didn't even think of the camera in my purse. Jackson wasn't nearly as excited about the underwear though as he was of the new "gicky" (blanket) we were buying him!


Those who frequent this blog will remember that Jackson is a blanket sucker. He's very particular about which of the dozens of blankets he will suck on though, so his two blankets of choice are quite rank. Seriously. I wish I could convey smell on here, because the stench is truly horrendous. Look at these pictures.... The blanket on top is the brand new white one, while the two on the bottom are the older ones. Those old blankets used to be white and they used to smell fresh, but no amount of bleach or oxiclean can get them clean now!


It was a sigh of relief from me when I showed Jackson this new blanket in the store and he was ok with it. I asked him if he would like to eat that blankie and he nodded yes (and immediately upon arriving home and cutting the tags off he shoved the blanket in his mouth). Success! On the way to the checkout register Jackson stopped twice in the middle of the aisle, put the blanket on the floor and lay down with his head on it and said "Night, night gicky". It was stinking adorable but I feared for his life as many of the moms in Target seemed to be on a mission that day.


Day 1 of potty training Jackson (yesterday) went better than Tyler but not as great as Chase. He was the happy medium :) He went through 13 pair of underwear all day, which is the same number Chase went through on day 1 and did pee in the toilet once (5pm). He was only a little damp this morning when he woke up and he also stayed dry during his nap yesterday afternoon. I'm optimistic about today!


Oh and a quick Tyler update - this weekend we focused on getting a snack to Ty the minute he woke up from his nap and I'm happy to say the weekend was afternoon tantrum free!

Stumped

Yesterday, late afternoon I made a run to the happiest place on earth - Sonic Happy Hour. When I returned home with my Diet Coke in hand I noticed Nick was playing outside with Jackson and Chase and Tyler was crying in his room, while the counter on the microwave ticked down. 10 seconds later the timer went off and I told Nick I'd grab Tyler for him. I walked down the hall, opened the door, took one look at Tyler, turned around, headed to the back deck and had the following conversation with Nick....

Me: Did you by chance put Tyler in his crib without clothes on?

Nick: No!

Me: Well he's naked now. Completely. No shirt, no shorts and no diaper.

Nick: He definitely had clothes on when I put him in there.

Seems our little tantrum thrower is now a pro at removing his clothes in under 2 minutes. That's right, I called him a tantrum thrower. What's that? You thought the afternoon tantrum was supposed to stop now that we stopped potty training him? Yeah, we thought that too. Apparently this horrible afternoon tantrum is something different.

So let me break this down for you and share a theory my sister in law has and see if you all have similar or different theories.

• The afternoon tantrum is hugely different from the normal tantrums he throws for not getting his way.
• The afternoon tantrum always happens sometime between 2 and 4.
• Sometimes he starts the tantrum as soon as he gets up from his nap and sometimes it's 30-60 minutes after he wakes up.
• He gets plenty of sleep so I do not believe this is sleep related (11-12 hours at night and 2-3 hours during the day).
• The tantrum is between 30-60 minutes long, often times on the longer end of that range.
• During the tantrum there is no consoling him: he does not want to bed held, he does not want a drink, he does not want to eat.
• He is often violent towards me (or Nick) during the tantrum, trying to bite, kick or hit us.
• He has adjusted just fine to being back in diapers, so I don't believe he's "holding it" anymore.
  

Ok, so my SIL's theory is that it's blood sugar related. Her nephew went through a similar thing until they figured out his blood sugar was crashing (which was when he'd have the tantrum). Now that his blood sugar is regulated by regular snacks and meals he's better. She could be right about this being Tyler's problem, except that we do offer regular meals and snacks (7:30, 10, 11:30, 3 or 3:30 and 5:30). However, lately the boys (Ty included) have been eating less at meal times. For example, yesterday Tyler wolfed down his grapes at lunch time but hardly touched his quesadilla.

So what do you all think? Could SIL be right? Any other theories? If these continue through the weekend I will strongly consider a call to our doctor early next week to hear her thoughts.

Hiatus

We're taking a little hiatus from potty training Tyler. Generally this is thought of as a poor move in the PTing world because it just confuses the child to have them put back into diapers, but I think in Tyler's case this is definitely the right move. Let me back up and explain though...

As noted on Monday's post, Tyler had a horrific tantrum Sunday afternoon. Nick and I suspected it was because he needed to go to the bathroom in a bad way but didn't want to wet his pants nor did he want to use the potty. He finally calmed down after he peed on the playroom floor.

Monday was fine tantrum wise, but we weren't making much progress PTing wise. He would sit on the toilet for us, in fact sometimes for a long time (one night he happily sat on it and talked our ears off for an hour!) but he would never do what he was supposed to do on it.

Tuesday he threw another epic tantrum in the afternoon. This one was more violent then before and I have a horrific bite mark on my leg (I wanted to show you all how horrific it is but my camera batteries are dead) to show for it. His loud screaming, hysterical crying, back arching and violence (trying to bite and hit me) freaked me out. 40 minutes into the tantrum I broke down in tears because I didn't know what to do to help him calm down. Thankfully my other boys were perceptive of Mommy's emotional stability and instantly climbed into my lap to give me the sweetest hugs and kisses.

Later Tuesday afternoon (after the tantrum was done), I e-mailed the lady who wrote the Potty Training E-book I've been using. I explained my hunch about Tyler's tantrums and asked her if she thought we needed to take a break and if we did how badly would that mess us up down the road. Or did she think we needed to keep pressing on and perhaps getting him his own little potty would make things exciting enough that he'd use it properly. She e-mailed me back and said PTing should definitely not be this stressful on the little guy and that I should follow my mom gut here and take a break, but explain to Ty that he's not being punished by going back into diapers. After talking that night, Nick and I agreed that if Tyler through another fit on Wednesday afternoon that we would take a break from potty training him.

Yesterday afternoon, just as soon as Tyler woke up from his nap, the tantrum started. It took me almost 2 hours to get him to wear a diaper and keep it on. The first time I put it on him he screamed and pulled at it until I took it off. When I finally got it on him the second time he was ok with it. About 20 minutes later he was standing in the kitchen with me when he looked down between his legs and said "uh oh peepees!" but then seemed awfully confused to not see anything hitting the floor.

He's asked several times since then to sit on the potty but we've declined each time and told him we'll do it again soon. How Jackson does with the PTing will largely dictate when we start Tyler up. At this point I think I'd like both Jackson and Chase to be done potty training before I take on Tyler again.

So there you have it. We're taking a break with Tyler. Can I just say how glad I am that we did Chase first? If I didn't know how successful this could be I probably would want to just give up on the whole idea for the next 6 months or so! Here's hoping it's a tantrum free afternoon here, otherwise I'm at a loss as to what's making him flip out so badly. And here's hoping Jackson trains more like Chase did...

A New Look & PTing Tyler

First, let's discuss this adorable new blog look I have (I'm much happier about this than how PTing Tyler has been going)! Hilary at ScrapBlog Designs by Hilary did an amazing job, don't you think? I've always wanted to have a pro re-do my blog, but just hadn't gotten around to it so it was perfect timing when I won a blog redesign earlier this month (I won it at Little Bites of Heaven).

If you're thinking of a redesign (or even just a partial design like a new header image or a button for your blog) I highly recommend Hilary. She was a breeze to work with and her prices are quite reasonable (I paid a little extra for my button and a 3 column layout). Tell her Three Times the Giggles sent you!

Oh, and grab my button please (over to the left)! I'd be honored if you'd stick it on your blog :)

_________________________________

Alright, on to the potty training drama. That's what it was this weekend. Drama, drama, drama.


Considering Tyler had pink eye and couldn't go to church Saturday night, we decided to move up his start date by a day. Saturday morning he was so excited to put his new big boy underwear on (Disney's Cars) and he must have asked to sit on the toilet 5 or 6 times in the first hour he was awake. It was adorable and hilarious to see his enthusiasm!

As the day wore on we noticed the kid seemed to have an "iron bladder" (as Nick called it)! He can hold it for 2-3 hours at a time, but it seems to be because he doesn't want to wet his new underwear but he also is a bit unsure of the toilet. It wasn't until 9pm (yep, 90 minutes past bedtime - he and Chase were "playing" us with constant requests for the potty) that he finally went in the toilet for the first time!

Yesterday started out ok but then turned into pure torture. Seriously. It was brutal. The very short version of the day's events? Tyler seemed to develop an irrational fear of the toilet for some reason yesterday afternoon. He would flail, kick, scream and cry if anyone brought him remotely close to a toilet (so yes, we stopped trying). Very weird! He then spent a whole hour flopping around on the floor and running around the house absolutely hysterical because he had to pee but didn't want to do it in his underwear or on the toilet. He finally snuck into the playroom and "relieved" himself and was all better. Crazy kid!

I'm happy to report by yesterday evening he was back on track. I think largely due to the excitement Chase generated in his bubble making skills. You see, Chase discovered that if he pees into the toilet water he can make bubbles! Now he and Ty constantly ask to "make bubbles". Whatever works for them!

All in all, I'm optimistic about today. I think things will click for Tyler soon now that he's sitting on the toilet again. It's just a matter now of him making the connections.