**UPDATE - Potty Training Chronicles**

So, I totally jinxed myself. I knew it would happen and that I shouldn't say anything about our potty training successes at such an early point in the journey. But, I did. Oops.

Just the next day Tyler had 2 accidents. The first time was right after nap. While the boys were napping, I too, took a nap. I have been leaving Tyler's gate off of the doorway to his bedroom, so that in case he does wake up with the urge to go to the bathroom, he can get out to go. He is now able to pull his pants down to go on his own. **Sidenote...just had to make a quick dash to the potty. I turned around to watch the boys playing together at the train table and see Tyler laying on the floor under the table. Uh-huh, you guessed it, he was starting to poop!!! I got him to the bathroom and he finished on the potty. But we still have the issue that he won't finish. He only goes a little bit and then insists he is finished. So, we make several trips to the potty each "round".

Here is our collection of toys back to their home on top of the refrigerator! :-) I know as with every other milestone in a child's life this will click at some point. But, please...for my sanity, I pray this happens soon!!

These were from the beginning of the day...

and then there were more!!!

The Potty Training Chronicles

I'm laughing out loud at how many of my posts in the past several weeks have revolved around our Potty Training mission. I should have started out calling these posts "The Potty Training Chronicles" and numbered them in parts. I guess if I had done that, I'd be on Part IV now.

Ok anyway...so I am SO proud to say that we had another #2 success yesterday. After 10 (no kidding) frantic "Mommy, I have to go poopy" trips to the potty, he finally felt like he "really" needed to go, and went with no trouble. This time, he earned a Mater (it's a good think they have made like a hundred of these cars!!!).

It has now been (dare I say) almost 5 days since we last had a #2 accident. When it comes to peeing, he does use the pull-up as a crutch sometimes and lets himself have accidents in them occasionally, but we know he can keep himself dry if he has too. Saturday afternoon while we were out running errands, he informed us he needed to go pee-pee. We told him to try and hold it and we'd find a place for him to go. (He literally held it, LOL). After getting stopped at a couple of red traffic lights, driving through a shopping plaza trying to figure out where we would have the most success in finding a potty for him, and having to wait in line to use the restroom, I was SURE we were going to be in need of a new pull-up. But I was so pleasantly surprised when upon pulling down his pants I saw all of his Diego characters still in tact (for those not going through potty training right now, the pull-ups are "smart" and have images on the front of the pull-up that disappear when wet). He then sat on the potty and peed for nearly a minute, I think.

He has also proved that he can go at least through his nap dry, as I forgot one afternoon and put him to bed in his big boy underpants. He made it all the way through his nap, but had an accident because he was stuck in his room (I had gated him into his room...he likes to escape from time to time), and he couldn't get out quick enough to make it to the potty. Surprisingly, this upset him VERY much.

I think that was our last accident in big boy underpants. When playing outsite he will now come tell us if he needs to go (unless he's in a pull-up...then he just goes, I think). And even in the grocery store today he told me he needed to go. I was sure I was going to kick myself for not insisting he put a pull-up on before we left the house. So, I took an extra set of clothes in case. Just as we were heading for the check-out, he let me know he needed to go. I told him to hold it again (and he did) and we made it in time.

This potty training journey began on Monday, April 6 and by that evening, I was so ready to pull the diapers back out and try again later. But, after three weeks of persistence...by golly, I think we might have it (I am definitely knocking on some wood, right now)!! It has definitely been a journey and a process, but I'm so proud of our little guy now!!

Woo-hoo, #2!!

Ok, so it only took, let me see...19 days, but we finally had a breakthrough last night with Tyler. Over the past nearly 3 weeks of potty training, we've gone from NEVER telling us he need to go #1, or #2, to almost always telling he he need to go #1 (although sometimes a little too late), but still not wanting to tell us about #2, to almost mastering, #1's, but still having a fear of the #2. He would tell us he needed to go #2, but when we would sit on the potty, he never would actually go.

But...last night (stripped down to his birthday suit), he said again "Mommy...I need to go poopy." So, once again, we trotted off to the potty. I was sure that this would be like every other time where he would try to push, but then said "I can't do it". This time I took a little motivation (in the form of the CARS ferrari he has been eyeing for many days) and sat it on the sink. I told him that was his motivation to go poo-poo in the potty. I reminded him that a lot of his friends go poopy on the potty, as well as Mommy and Daddy. As I was listing everyone off he says "and Tyler goes poopy on the potty" and he actually did it!! I don't exactly know what clicked last night, but we sat there for less than 1 minute and did it!!

Here he is proudly showing off his new ferrari! I'll spare you the actual pictures of the poopy though!! :)

Fun with Friends

With the weather turning warmer this past week (finally) we were able to get out and have some fun with our friends. On Wednesday we had a "bike or trike" playdate with our MOPS friends. Tyler didn't actually do much riding (he did have fun pushing Bryce around though), but he had a good time visiting (and snacking) with his little buddies.

Tyler delivering the newspaper to Aly's basket

Giving Bryce a push

and of course we had to have snacks

staying out of the rain

"I can't wait until I can play with them, too.
For now, I'll just eat my snacks and watch them."

***********

On Thursday we joined our friend's the Chad, Ryan and Mia at the park for a picnic lunch and some playtime. We had lots of fun and Tyler learned to ride a scooter. Guess we know what he's going to want for his birthday!

Lucas loved being able to swing

All the fun playground equipment to play on...
but yeah, they choose to play in the mud!!

Chad was a great friend and shared his scooter with Tyler.
This was Tyler's first time riding a scooter.

Baby Mia (Chad and Ryan's baby sister). She's just 5 months younger than Lucas and they had fun "talking" to each other. Soon enough they will be great playmates, too.

Chad giving Tyler a lift up the hill.

We are SO excited that the weather is finally warming up, so we can spend more time playing with our friends, and enjoying our new backyard.

Lucas 1st b-day Portraits

I wanted to do some unique/cute shots for his 1st b-day photos, so we attempted to take some shots in downtown DC while the Cherry Blossom trees were blooming. I also got some cute pics with his birthday hat. I do still want to do some more traditional looking ones, but I haven't had the time for them yet. Now that the birthday party and his baptism ceremony are over, maybe I can make these the next item I tackle. For now, here are the photos from the first two sessions.

The outdoor shoot was much harder than I thought it would be. Not only is it difficult to keep him contained, but the posing was REALLY hard. I think I picked the wrong time of day to use natural lighting, as most of the pictures have really harsh shadows. These are a few that weren't terrible!!

And these are the ones I took in his cute "Birthday Boy" bloomers/hat that I had made. Man is it hard to get a one year old to stand still. The first time I attempted these I was doing it by myself, which was IMPOSSIBLE. By the time I sat him down, turned around to get the camera and got it up to take the picture, he was half way across the room!! So, I tried a second time when Daddy was around to help pose/shoot! I did get a few decent shots, but still tough and frustrating.

These are a few of my favorites...all of the hard work is so worth it, when you get a shot like this!!

This is what I meant about it being so tough to get the shot. By the time I was ready to take the picture, he was nearly out of the shot!!

He was not happy with me. I kept trying to put the hat back on and he was letting me know that he was DONE with the darned hat!!

I still do want to try and get some more traditional looking portraits, in his birthday outfit, but I thought it might be a good idea to give him a break from the camera for a little while. Maybe then it will be easier to get some smiles out of him. And right now, he's not feeling the greatest, so the smiles are few and far between anyway.

A Blessed Day

This morning at church, we finally had our son Lucas christened. It was a LOT later than I had hoped, as he is over a year old now. But the past year has been so crazy busy for us. And, I really wanted for Lucas' godparents to be able to be here with celebrate with us, so this turned out to be the best time.

I was a little concerned about how the service would go. With his first birthday, it seemed as though Lucas had developed a little bit of separation anxiety. Our pastor loves to walk around the church with the newly baptised child and talk about the importance of the childrens's programs we offer. And, I was afraid Lucas would get upset if he walked away from us. But, he did not at all. It may have helped that he had met Pastor John previously, so he wasn't necessarily a "stranger". My other fear was that my children would disrupt the service. The motto of our church is "where children are seen and heard". But, this doesn't mean that a baby babbling, or a toddler yelling through an entire service does not annoy some people. We really wanted Tyler to be a part of the service too, so we opted to keep him in church with us. He did okay for the first part of the service, but after the baptism was over, he got a little antsy. So, we opted to take him to the nursery. We kept Lucas with us, but he too was quite jabbery during the Praise Team's performance. Pastor John came over to talk to him and whisper to us that "we mean it when we say where children are seen and heard". But, since we were sitting in the very front of the church, and they had had a little problem with Pastor John's sound system in the earlier part of the service, we opted to take him to the nursery, as well.

The service was so nice though, and we are so happy that the Taffoni's were able to share the day with us. Thanks Lucy, Matt, Larkin and Matthew for making the long trip!! Oh, and no, the dresses were not planned. Lucy and I were not the only one sending coordinating dress. Two members of our praise band, as well as my mother, were also dressed similarly, and the Pastor joked that he must have missed the "memos" that were sent out. :)

Thanks to my sister we have some pictures from the actual baptism...

and these were taken outside after church. I forgot to mention that Lucas was also battling a little virus today. Not only had he been up on and off since 4:30 am, but he also had an elevated temperature. This accounts for him not looking like his usual, cheerful self, and the absence of an entire group shot. He simply was NOT having it!!

Easter Fun

Easter was SO much fun this year. In my home growing up, the Easter Bunny never hid our baskets, or eggs. But, he did in my husband's home, so this is a tradition we were hoping the Easter Bunny would pass along to our kids. The past two Easter's Tyler was a little too small to really understand it, so the Easter Bunny left his basket in plain sight. Not this year though. In fact this year, he had two baskets to hid.

It was SO cute to watch Tyler scurry through the house looking for the baskets. He found Lucas' first, and his shortly after. Then, it was off to look for the missing eggs.

Have I mentioned how hard it is to take a picture with a nearly 3 year old and a 1 year old? This was the best of probably a dozen tries...and guess what, it was the first shot!!

Taking a break for some candy.

Checking out his loot with Daddy.

The baskets.