Breakthrough at Bartells

Today was an absolutely fabulous day. In fact, these days having a 3 year old has been quite fun. Highlights of today and recent days include:

• Here's the big one - he's back in underwear now after reverting to pull-ups due to some major potty training issues. We ran down the street to Bartell's to do a little shopping and I left Austin in underwear (usually he's in pull-ups when we're out of the house due to an intense aversion to public toilets). We were about halfway done when he told me he had to go pee-pee. I took him to the bathroom where I intended to put a pull-up on him, but to my delight he did NOT protest when I suggested he use the public toilet. I held him while he went and he did great. I was in shock. We are very proud of him


• We baked banana bread together. He called it "bread soup" while he was mixing the wet ingredients.


• I asked him how old he was & he said "four". I said 'oh, I must have missed your b-day' and he told me he's old enough to drive now.


• He has discovered his penis. Yeserday he kept taking it out of his pants. When Grandma was leaving he had it out and in his hand. I told him to put it away and wave bye to Grandma driving away. He started waving to Grandma, but had his penis in his other hand and he was smiling saying "hold penis!"


• Ran around the house asking "where the heck is mama?"


• The past couple days he's told me "Sleepy today. Need nap today", which is just so fantastic. Much better than fighting every single nap. When I put him down for his nap today, I said see you at 4 (which is the time I make him stay in his room until) but he said "no, 5."


• I swear he was just a little angel today. Even hung up his coat, took his shoes off at the door, cleaned up his toys, and helped with housework. What is going on??

Little Things I Love About My Family

I love that Austin insists on listening to NPR in the car. Whether it's jazz or talk, doesn't matter. Freaks if you turn the station. This is not something he got from me. He chose that station on his own.

I love that Brian calls Austin "sir".

I love that if you make a kiss noise to my cat, Peyton, he yawns.

No More Binkies!

Yep, yesterday we went through the painful process of stripping him of his comfort item. He still has his blankie so we're not total meanies. Just before bed, we put them all outside and left them there and during the night the binky fairy came and took them away to the babies and left a bike! It was quite heartbreaking. We've talked about it for a long time but I don't think he thought it was actually happen. He basically fell apart at first. Then when it was time to go to sleep he wasn't hysterical, but he had a hard time sleeping. Brian eventually went in there and stayed with him until he fell asleep. At 4:45am Austin woke up crying because his sticker came off his hand. So I'm rummaging around in the closet looking specifically for a cat sticker to replace it. It look a bit of comforting, but I got him back to sleep. Tonight he fell right asleep with no complaints whatsoever. We had an exhausting day though. Fun summer day at a baseball game. I asked Austin what his favorite part of the day was. He said "baseball." I asked what part of the baseball game he liked best, he said he liked drinking water....when the water all gone...filled it up more...held lid.

The Big 3

What a fun few days we've had. I took my big vacation of the summer - a whopping two days off from work. Ran errands and went to the gym on Thurs. Austin played a video game the whole time. The days of tears and screams at the gym are long gone. Friday was his b-day and we opened presents from "vacation gramma" (my mom) and a couple from us. We also went to the zoo. Saturday was his b-day party and once again we had a huge turnout. He had a great time. Today, we played with some of his gifts. He kept dragging out this one gift, a kid computer that hooks up to the TV from Brian's dad. I didn't have it figured out, so we played Candyland instead. I had low expectations; I figured he had a few months until he could understand how a board game works. But he did great! He mastered taking one card at a time, moving his game piece, and patiently waiting his turn. It was so fun.

Today we had a cute conversation about returning some books to the library. I explained the library was closed so we couldn't go in. I wasn't sure he understood, but he proceeded to ask if the doors were locked, and then told me I should bring some keys to get in.

Lately, when he does something he's proud of (including going down a big slide and successfully navigating his way to the pictures on our computer - he can use a mouse now) he says "Did it!" and raises his arms victoriously.

Approaching 3

Things have been a little more challenging recently because Austin's Almost 3 Behavior has been crazy. Everything's a struggle especially getting dressed and sitting on the potty. Actually, he's not really interested in doing anything other than watching movies or listening to music. Apparently, I have a teenager already. He hasn't been getting enough sleep so that definitely has contributed toward it, and he's had a little cold so that's part of it as well.
Some cute stuff that he's done lately:
Today we were in Home Depot shopping; Austin was holding the light switch that we were buying. I saw him flipping the switch up and down and looking at the store's lights to see if he was turning them on and off. He did that for quite a while. It cracked me up!
He's adamant about wearing his diapers lately and not using the potty. He refuses to even wear pull-ups. I tell him all the time that soon he'll be too big for diapers and then what will we do? He says "Sevens, momma, sevens". (He wears size six diapers.) When I told him they don't make sevens, he said "Tens?"
A few days after that, I was trying again to get him to use the potty and wear a pull-up, but he refused and wanted diapers. He pointed to the pile of diapers on the shelf and said "Out of diapers, go potty." I said "Really? When we're out of diapers, you'll start going potty again?" He said yes, so we high fived and that's the plan. I like his negotiation skills.

Great Strides

This is the term the lady at the gym daycare used today. We had our first official No-Cry day at the gym. It makes for a much better workout for me! Too bad the daycare closes at noon and I'm always running late so I only get about a half hour workout. He was playing and smiling when I picked him up.
But the even bigger news is that he pooped on the toilet yesterday! He voluntarily went on the potty and asked for privacy. When I returned he had gone poop. We weren't even working toward this so I was totally shocked. He had a bit of a bewildered look on his face as well.
One funny thing he has been saying lately is "too much" or "not too much". As in "I don't like this hat too much" or if asked if he wants to do something he'll say "no, not too much." I don't know where he picked this up, but he says it all the time. He cracks me up.

Growing Up

Austin has been doing some major growing up lately. In the last couple weeks he has begun to play more independently than he ever has. He will play in our spare room listening to "songs" for an hour or more. He doesn't run right to me in the morning, but just runs right to the stereo or some other toy to start his day.
To my delight he has started talking about intangibles, saying such things as "nice day!", "ready to go to the gym" (even though he's scared), and "miss daddy" (or mommy) when one of us isn't home.
Although he's reluctant, I have had recent success with getting him to go pee in the toilet, not just his little potty. I also got him to try on Pull-Ups instead of diapers. The kid LOVES his diapers, always has, the wetter the better.
And probably the biggest moment for us recently was last week when I dropped him off at the gym daycare and he actually played and was even smiling a bit when I picked him up. This is HUGE for us, mostly for me. For THREE YEARS I have sacrificed my gym time because my kid is incredibly terrified of being without us. It took about 10 times at the gym, each time is unpleasant because he screams & cries the entire time and I cannot relax enough to have a good workout. This particular morning I told him we were going to the gym and he flipped out and hid in our bedroom. He would crack the door open, see me, and scream "NO GYM!" It was not looking good, but I was taking him anyway. Gotta do it. I decided to take him to the library first and he calmed down there and picked out some books. Driving from there to the gym I could not believe my ears when he said "ready to go to the gym." When we got there he remained calm, just a few nervous whines. The lady there remembered him (who could forget?) and she got him a chair and put it by the door. She said that this helped last time. She brought him some books and he sat in the little chair by the door reading. He would get up and explore the place when the mood struck him and always returned to his safe spot, the chair, when he felt he needed to. Thank goodness for this lady helping my kid to feel safe, and allowing me a little peace of mind at the gym for once. When we left the gym that day, I felt on top of the world. Although I get sad that my baby is growing up, moments like this fill me with joy.

Fun Day

I worked from home today so I had the challenge and the pleasure of juggling a full day of work with taking care of Austin all day, and squeezing in a preschool field trip. It was a good day. Had fun at the beach exploring low tide. Back at home, Austin went pee in the potty three times, once he even asked. It helps to break new ground when I'm actually home. It makes the challenge of the working from home day so worth it. One funny thing he said today: We were trying to get out the door to go to the beach & I said "come on, we're late!" He looked out the window and said "but it's still light out!"

We finished the night with a fun game of hide and seek. He started out by counting "ten, eleven, twelve, ready!" but got the hang of counting one through ten. He would only cover one eye though. I told him to cover both eyes and he yelled back "No! Just one!" as he stared at me with his uncovered eye...

Baby Step

Yesterday Austin asked to go the the gym. The gym daycare is where we've been dropping him off for short periods of time while we squeeze in a short workout. He HATES going there; he is still terrified of being without us. The last time that Brian took him, later that day I asked what he did at the gym. He said "cried." :(
But last night he said "gym please." Thinking I surely heard him wrong, I asked "you want to go to the gym?" He said yes. Not sure what that means, but I sure am excited about it. Brian's taking him tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

Cute!

Austin went clothes shopping with me today. While he was taking a bath tonight I tried on a shirt that I had bought and he said "cute." I asked "What's cute?" And he said "Your shirt is cute." I melted - that was so adorable.

Happiness is...

Sleeping in until 8am two mornings in a row cause you just can't sleep anymore!
Sadness is... your son stumbling & bonking his head & saying "guess, momma, guess!" and not figuring out until twenty minutes later that he was asking for a kiss to make it better.
Cuteness is...your 2-year old holding up two Q-tips and saying "Eleven!"

BIG BOY BED!

Hooray - the big boy bed has arrived & is in use! Austin was excited for it to be set up and to start using his Cars bedding. He was, however, dismayed to learn he would be sleeping in the bed alone. He was under the impression that I would be joining him. So, the first night was a little rough. He was very scared so I stayed with him until he fell asleep. During the night he woke up and got upset because he lost his binky and blankie in the massive (twin) bed. He spent the rest of the night in my bed.

The next day, nap #1 was a bust as well. He laid down fine, but after a few minutes I heard him jumping around in there. After a half hour, he opened the door and exclaimed "Done!" I had to laugh. Night #2 he went to bed fine, but we heard him jumping around again. Brian went in and told him it was time to go to sleep, not play. He protested, but got back in bed & slept all night. In the morning he was rewarded with a new Matchbox car. Here are pics of the first day with the new bed and this morning, when he got his car for sleeping all night.

Also, here is a picture of his lunch I made him yesterday because it was just a cute little meal. People often wonder what I feed him (because he's vegetarian.) This particular meal (cheese & black olive english muffin pizza, red bell pepper, garbanzo beans, avacado, shredded carrot) was a hit; he ate a little of everything but especially liked the carrots and peppers.

LA Trip

It's been over a month now & I never wrote about our trip to LA. What can I say? It was a great trip. We had an near perfect family vacation. It was GREAT to go to Disneyland, see my mom & aunt, see Susan & the family, meet up with friends from WAY back in the day (as far back as kindergarden (thx Facebook), and just have all around crazy good times that wrapped up each night by 9pm :) Here are a few pics.

3-5

It finally happened. My age finally caught up with me. For the first time in my life, I don't really like my age. Up until now, I never had a problem with any age, not 30, not even 35. But it just hit me - my metabolism has slowed down, my face looks tired, not taut like a 20-something, and my back aches. They said the metabolism slow down would happen at 30, but it did not. I rode the ride of eating whatever I want for 5 years past that, laughing in the face of those that said it would happen.

It's hard to accept. It's not fair - why can't I have nachos for dinner (again)??!

Toddler Adventures

Oh my goodness, Austin keeps us laughing and on our toes. Today, "Gamma Dottie" and Grampa were visiting and he was having a great time. He liked showing off for them; of course they are a great audience. He disappeared for a while, while we talked. I could hear him talking and laughing by himself down the hall. After a few minutes, I went to look for him and found him in his crib! He totally scaled the wall. It's a good thing we have been planning to go buy a big boy bed. I found the one I want this morning online at Ikea. We'll go get it next weekend. Good lord, the kid likes to climb these days.
Another thing that he's doing right now cracks me up. Whenever he knows he's not supposed to do something, he does it anyway and then says "Hug?" and gives me a hug. It is SO dang cute. He pushes all the keys when I'm typing and after each push, he says "hug?" and hugs me. Earlier today, I came into the room where he was listening to music and the fan was unplugged. I got mad and said "Did you unplug the fan?!" He yelled "HUG!?" and ran over to hug me. It's rather irresistable, exactly what he means it to be.
Last night we went to dinner with "Gamma" and his cousin Kaleb and his visiting Grampa. They are going on vacation so on the drive home I told Austin that Gramma was going on vacation so he wouldn't see her for a week. The whole way home he said "More Gamma please." Very cute, I can't wait to tell her that. She'll love it.
Austin can say many many words now. He can repeat just about anything. He finally says his own name which is really cute, along with Gamma, Kylie, every letter of the alphabet and all the numbers through twenty.
Due to Gramma's vacation, I am working a weird schedule next week so I can be home half the time to watch Austin. I can't take any vacation time right now, so I'm grateful for the few extra hours per day at home. I'm going to try to squeeze in a ton of things into a few extra hours though, very typical of me.

Solo Ride

Last weekend, after attending VegFest, we walked around Seattle Center checking out what fun could be had for a two-year old. I was pushing Austin in his stroller when we passed by the kiddie rides. Being a seasoned amusement park rider, he literally jumped out of the moving stroller when he saw the rides. He ran up to the ride he wanted to go on and tried to get in the gate. This was a little car ride on a track for very little ones. No adults allowed. I explained to Austin that this one wasn't a good idea because Mommy was too big for this ride and he would have to go on it by himself. I thought that would be a deal breaker for him since he is very clingy. (He even freaks out on carousels because I'm standing next to him and apparently that's not close enough.) He was very insistant that he wanted to go on the ride and I asked him a few times if he understood that he'd be riding by himself. He said he still wanted to go on it. So finally I thought, what the heck, let's try it. Who am I to hold him back? Something in his demeanor told me that he understood & didn't care. When we went to buy tickets, he didn't even want to come with us, he wanted to stand in line for the ride by himself. When it was time to get on the ride, he got right up there and had no problem at all going on by himself. We were all prepared to have to stop the ride for him to get off. But boy we underestimated him. He took his car driving very seriously, turning the steering wheel the whole time and had a very serious look on his face as he went around & around the tracks. He eventually would crack a smile as he passed us and we were waving and smiling at him. I stood there totally crying because I was so incredibly proud of him and it was so damn cute. We didn't even have a camera with us, but I did get a short little video on my phone. It was amazing.

Fiveteen and More

So I just finished a super hard week at work, and now would like to just slide into weekend mode by having a glass of wine and reflecting on all of the cute and cool things Austin has done recently.
Brian has encouraged him to learn his numbers 11-20. I hear him practicing by himself all the time. I like how he calls twelve "twoteen", calls twenty "Oteen" and says "fiveteen".
He now can say "thank you" instead of signing it. Yay! It sounds like 'crank you".
We encouraged him to use the potty again. Yay! Although, I think I made a mistake by telling him that pee pee is actually water that went through his body and out his penis. He freaked out when I told him that. I guess it is a pretty weird concept if you're not already familiar with the logistics of it all.
Every night Austin gets a binky when he goes to bed. His Elmo doll in his crib also gets one. Tuesday morning he was sleeping with me (thanks to an especially rambunctious evening with his playgroup friends) and when he got up he noticed a second binky in our bed and exclaimed "Elmo's binky!"
Basically he's been super fun and developing like crazy. I will post about Disneyland soon!

A Momentous Evening

I can't believe it. Tonight, for the first time ever, Austin went to bed without his binky. Austin has been very attached to his binky since birth. It's gotten much, much better during the past several months; he only needs it at night and for naps. But every single night he asks for it as soon as I put him in bed. Tonight, he just gave me a kiss, listened to me while I told him good night, etc., and then I walked out of the room and didn't hear a word from him! Seriously, this is such a big deal.

Some Noteworthy Items

I haven't written in a while and Austin continues to say and do funny and cool things. Here are a few things I don't want to forget.
Who can forget yesterday's playgroup? Austin was in rare form. When Sophie, Kylie, and their moms came over yesterday Austin got a little shy, for about 2 seconds. Then he started goofing off and was all over the place, laughing hysterically. He showed Kylie & Sophie how much fun it was hiding in the blinds, playing in the closet with the vacuum, and playing swords in his room. He had an infectious laugh and a penchant for getting reactions out of the girls. Of course, one hour after going to bed he was up crying out "Mom!" I brought him to bed with me and he passed out right away. In the middle of the night, I awoke to him laughing in his sleep. So cute.

He likes to hear baby stories. These are stories I tell him about when he was a baby. He really likes to hear about how when he was a baby he didn't eat food, just drank milk. And when I ask him where the milk came from he says "Mama's boob!" really loudly. Although I have told him where the milk came from, I certainly never told him to shout it. Very funny. Also, I tell him that when he was a baby he didn't brush him teeth, because he didn't have any teeth. Only gums. He got a little confused the other day and when I said he didn't have any teeth, he said "Only lips" (which he pronounces 'ips').

The morning of my birthday a few weeks ago, we started a few new things. I started letting him play on the computer, on an open spreadsheet. It helps him with his letters and numbers and engages him for a long time. That day while working on his spreadsheet he went and got his calculator for maximum calculating ability. I swelled with pride. Just like mom, he loves to calculate. We also started dancing that morning. Until now, we couldn't really listen to music in the family room, because he would mess with the stereo and/or CD player, making it impossible to listen to music. Now we listen to music & dance all the time now. He's got the moves! I'm not sure who told him to scrunch up his face while dancing, but that's his trademark dance look. On my birthday, we calculated and danced at the same time. What a perfect birthday. I finally got the inspiration to began to rebuild my Itunes library. I got all emotional because while listening to music I also started looking at the pictures on my phone and I realized how many cool things have happened to me in the past couple years. Not just with Austin & Brian, but with my friends too.


Usually at preschool he is very clingy, just as he often is anywhere but at home with just us. But last Friday he took baby steps toward being more independent. He goofed off with some other kids, being silly like he likes to be. Then he was upset because I wasn't right by his side watching him play, but I had a job to do. I was art sorter. His teacher was able to coax him over to the art table and he became interested in dumping glitter on glue. At first he wanted to wash his hands every time he got paint on his hands, but after a while realized that it was OK to have dirty hands. So, two small victories there. I will probably frame that particular painting. Then, when it was time to go outside & play, he took off without me and didn't even care that I wasn't right behind him. His desire to play trumped his separation anxiety. Baby steps! As I prepare to enroll him in a drop off class for fall, I feel optimistic that it may be OK. If he can be brave, so can I.

We're Going to Disneyland!

Yay! We're so excited. It's like the Disneyland commercial where the kids can't sleep the night before their trip and then they pan over to the parents room and they can't sleep either. I am super bummed that It's a Small World is closed for renovation though. I think Austin would really like that ride. Pirates of the Caribbean? Too scary?? I think so. We'll see.