Other non-potty news

Hayden is almost a different kid these days. He has turned into a little grown-up sponge, picking up everything and taking it all in while maintaining it. I'm almost shocked on a daily basis by the things he has come up with.

He's getting really good at his ABCs. He likes to practice right before bedtime and the end of the alphabet is definitely his favorite part. One night he counted to five. It's really fun, because he starts off slowly with "one....two....three-four-five". The next night he counted to ten, but would only do it once because "I count 10 for daddy." This week when we started our counting he went to ten for me...but I was excited when he kept going and got to 17. Go Hayden!

We're also working on spelling his name out loud. When we started, it was "H-9-Y-E-E-N". Now he lets me do the "H" but then follows with "E-E-N". We've dropped the 9 but haven't added the A just yet. Not bad little dude, not bad at all.

He picks up new words every single day and is getting really good at whole phrases and sentences. Right now he has Jay's copy of Walden and is holding it upside down, turning pages and pretending to read. I hope he stays a book worm like mom! He loves to be read to, and will repeat the words after me. Green Eggs & Ham, Goodnight Moon, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone are his current faves.

We practice our colors every day, and on the ride to school he points out everything he sees. On the way into the apartment complex, he likes to count the speed bumps, point out the pond and ducks and look for daddy's truck or bike. He loves to sing songs, and "Row Your Boat" is the best thing EVER with his little hand motions. He really likes to tell us which animal makes which noise, and his "meow" is so so funny. He definitely has some of his mommy's accent!

I am so amazed at how much his little brain comprehends. He is so observant and I can't believe his retention. He is also in a hugging phase right now, and wants all his toys to give each other hugs because "friends hug". He is such a sweet boy and we are so lucky to be his parents!

Yep, more potty training

Hayden had a 100% day at school on Friday! I decided when we woke up on Saturday morning that our focus for the whole weekend would be on the potty. We try to be consistent but this weekend I decided overbearing was more appropriate. Luckily for me, it paid off! Hayden used the potty all weekend with only one accident. Please keep in mind his cousins were over here all day Saturday and into the late evening, and then on Sunday his Nana and Papaw watched him while we went to lunch and a movie. So it was awesome for him to do so well through the distractions.

So far this week he's 100% at school and at home! I'm really proud of him and think he's really just starting to get it. Something clicked in his little toddler brain this weekend it seems and I'm really excited about it!!

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Happy 5th Birthday Zoe!

Her party was at Pump It Up, and the kids had a blast jumping and bouncing in the dark with their glow necklaces on. Hayden didn't want to leave the room for snacks, cake and presents, so we had to explain to him that it was someone else's turn to jump.

It's so hard to believe she's 5 already! When she was born, we had just moved to Germany and didn't even to get to see her in person for almost 10 months. Now she's starting kindergarten in the fall!

Happy 4th of July!

This year we had quite a big event scheduled to celebrate America's birthday. Long before we left Germany, we thought about getting together with some of our Benning-bound Army friends for Independence Day. That's a four-day we knew they'd be getting, and South Carolina seemed like a good place to "meet in the middle". When we mapped it, we realized it was a 3.5 hour drive for us but an 8 hour drive for our friends. That was a lot for a four-day, so we accepted that it might not happen. But Liz and Matt go down to SC for the 4th every year, so we decided we'd head down for the holiday weekend. We were excited to see our friends, the boys were excited to have the bikes where they can ride sans helmet, and Hayden is always excited about something new.

A few weeks before the 4th, we found out that one of our very good friends was going to be at Ft. Bragg for some training and that his family was driving up for the 4th to see him. Ft. Bragg is much closer to Myrtle Beach than Ft. Benning in, so a plan emerged. We were SO excited to be able to spend the weekend with TWO of our favorite families! Hayden, Oscar and I loaded up while Jay slept in a little on Friday and we got on the road. About 90 minutes into the ride I realized I left the keys to the beach house at home. Doh! I called Jay to let him know we didn't have the keys with us, and we just kept going on our way and hoped he'd catch up!

Hayden, Oscar and I arrived with no keys and Jay was at least an hour behind us, so we headed to the park to stretch our legs. We walked to the swings and slides for a few minutes, but then Hayden wanted to take Oscar down to the water. There's a pond with a fountain at the bottom of the park so we headed that way. Hayden loves to hold Oscar's leash, but I don't usually let him when we're around a bunch of people so I held the reigns. Which was moot, because once Oscar saw the ducks in the water, he pulled out of his collar and dashed into the water after them. I couldn't believe it! Oscar usually has to be coaxed into the water but he jumped right in! The ducks scurried away but Oscar stayed in and swam a bit. Jay and I joked how things like this NEVER happen when I have an extra set of hands, so naturally it was bound to happen while I was on my own.

We got back into the truck and grabbed a little lunch. Jay and the Pollards arrived soon after, keys in hand, so we were able to get in and get settled. The boys did some grocery shopping while Amber and the little boys and I hung around in the A/C and talked about how big our kids had gotten in the six months it had been since we'd seen each other. That night we decided to grill out, and Matt and Liz joined us for burgers and hot dogs. We went to play mini-golf at a really fun place with a train! It took you to the top and you played your way down. Hayden had a great time playing putt-putt for the first time, and loved all the water and waved every time the train went by us. After golf we got some ice cream before heading home. Not a bad way to start our vacation!

Saturday the boys had an early morning tee-time so they were out of the house before 8am. We got the boys up and ready to hit the beach. They were so excited! The Pollard boys had never seen the ocean and we couldn't wait to get them there. Gabe and Logan had a great time playing in the water but Hayden was still not interested. We hung out in the sand and tried a few times to get Hayden in the water but he just wouldn't budge. The boys finished up their golf game and came out to join us and build a few sand castles. After we cleaned up from the beach, we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe, one of our favorite haunts we tried to hit in every city we could while we were traveling in Europe. Always a good time!

Sunday we went back to the beach for a bit, and then headed to Alligator Adventure. What a fun place! We saw alligators and crocodiles, white alligators and the world's largest alligator, one with no tail and babies not yet in the water with their big brothers; we saw bats and lemurs, lizards and frogs, turtles and tortoises; even birds and a few cats! Hayden loved seeing all the gators and got to touch a baby one! His favorite part was petting the giant tortoises and it was really hard to tear him away from them! After the gators we headed to Grandma Pam and Grandpa Don's house, Matt's grandparents, for a BBQ and some swimming. Hayden had a BLAST in the pool and it was almost an act of Congress to get him out of the water! The boys took turns throwing him up in the air, and he even did a little swimming on his own in his life jacket. Logan took a liking to the little pool, which he dubbed "Logan's pool", but told us he would share his pool with us. We enjoyed chicken wings and burgers and dogs, and Lizard's cucumber salad didn't last long of course! We were SO stuffed but managed to make room for some of Grandma Pam's brownies. Yum!

We could tell Hayden was getting tired because he kept tripping over his feet. He ran into the gate and got a nice goose egg on his forehead, and after he fell two more times we decided it was just time to go. Hayden fell asleep immediately in the car, and we headed to pick up some fireworks while he napped in the truck. We headed to Barefoot Landing, where we thought they were doing fireworks. We walked around, got ice cream, did some shopping and waited. Then we checked again and found out the fireworks weren't until Monday night! Bummer. We headed back home and I think we all were ready for bed as soon as we walked in.

Monday morning came and we made breakfast and started packing up. The last day of vacation is never any fun. We were sad to see the Pollard go and even sadder to head back to reality, but we were so glad that we got to spend the weekend with some of our favorite people!

More of the potty training chronicles

Well this week we've made some big progress. We still have a long way to go, but I feel like he's finally starting to get it. It still takes M&Ms, stickers, coaxing, pleading, begging and bribing sometimes, but it's getting there. Yesterday he did pretty well at school and then did great at home. This morning he woke up and we watched our "cartooms" and he wanted to eat breakfast. I told him we'd have to go potty first, and amazingly he got right off the couch and headed to the bathroom. In record time, he decided while in the bathroom that going potty was a good idea, so I'm already going to call today a success, no matter how many accidents might occur. Mornings for us are SO tough because we have to get up earlier than either of us wants to. Fighting a screaming toddler over the potty is not really my idea of starting off my day well, so I try to wake us up a little earlier so he has time to wake up and make his own decision that he has to go. If only I didn't have to be at work until 9!

The Potty Training Chronicles

I love being a parent. Specifically, I love being Hayden's parent. He is so energetic and full of life, so full of laughter and silliness. He is willful and independent and his own person at 2 years old. I learn new things from him every day and I love to watch how he handles challenges and obstacles. It's amazing to see his little brain working around a problem until he has a solution.

So it is no surprise to me that potty training is frustrating for us both. Some days, he's 50%. Others, he's 0%. Everything in between pretty much sums up daily life. Some days he comes home with three bags from school of dirty clothes; other days he's fine all day at school and loses it as soon as he walks in the door. What's a mom to do? We don't want to force him, or be too lax. We have M&Ms on the back of the toilet, we have a potty seat and a stool so he can decide "how" to go, we have a sticker chart and fun undies. We limit drinks at a certain point in the evening, and one day last week we sat in the bathroom at 6:30 am and I said "I don't care what time I get to work, we'll stay in here until you decide you're ready to potty." Luckily for me it was a Thursday and he knew Zoe would be at school and he didn't want to miss her.

Today, we have a victory. The war is not over, but in this conflict I need to win a battle or two here and there. He used the potty all day at school and came home with a special sticker. He was so proud of it! About an hour after he got home and had had his snack and juice, I convinced him to use the potty. Success! I'm hoping the bedtime potty routine is easier and more on his own decision making, but I'll take what I can get! Tomorrow is a new day and we'll keep trying!

Happy Father's Day!

Hayden has the best dad! To celebrate father's day, Jay wanted to go out to eat...and to buy Hayden his first bike. After much deliberation at Toys 'R Us, and convincing Hayden we were NOT there to buy a motorized car, Hayden picked out (who could have guessed) a Buzz Lightyear bike!

He's gotten really good at steering and braking, just have to work on pushing the pedals to go forward!