Potty Update

I started potty training Ben on Tuesday. He had been very interested in sitting on the toilet for several weeks prior pretending to pee, then blow his nose, then climb down and pretend to wash his hands. He would climb back on the toilet and start over for as long as I would let him play. I wanted to wait until after we had made the four hour road trip home to start something new, though.

Monday we purchased a potty chair and pull-ups at Wal-Mart. Tuesday morning I took him into the bathroom and showed him his new "toilet." I sat him on it bare bottomed and he said, "Don't like it." For the rest of the day I let him sit on it fully clothed whenever he wanted to. He also spent a lot of time examining it, taking it apart, swinging the seat on his arm, and wearing the "pot" as a shoe (as seen in the picture above).

Wednesday I sat him on the potty chair after his bath and bare-bottomed when I changed his pull-up throughout the day without him complaining that he didn't like it. He continued to check out the potty chair once causing me to exclaim, "No!! Yucky, yucky, yucky! We don't drink out of the potty."

Thursday he preferred dancing around the bathroom naked to sitting and ended up peeing on the floor three times and pooping once. I gave him a sticker anyway for getting close.

We spent several long stretches in the bathroom Friday. (I timed one and we were in there 30 minutes. Since I have a bad head cold and don't feel well, it felt like forever.) He preferred playing naked in the bathroom to putting on his pull-up. I was getting frustrated, but while we were eating supper, he said, "Need to poo." I, of course, jumped up and hurried him to the bathroom. It was just gas, but I thought it was good that he recognized it as needing to go to the bathroom.

This morning he told me, "Need to use potty" so I rushed him to the bathroom. I stripped him down, then the timer buzzed in the kitchen. I ran to get the muffins out of the oven and when I returned he was sitting on the potty saying, "Me can do it." He really did poop this time, but had gotten up and missed the potty again. Although, he has yet to actually use the bathroom in the potty chair, he is making progress. Maybe he actually will figure this out. I was doubting it yesterday.

Now I just need to keep him sitting on the potty long enough to complete the process. I'm thinking some books to look at might work.

In the Corvette

This evening all of Ben's friends (Cat, Ernie, Clifford, etc) took rides on Ben's red Corvette convertible. He was very frustrated that he couldn't ride in it himself. I suggested that when Daddy got home he could ask to sit in his Corvette. Ben was very excited about this idea. When John got home, Ben was distracted because we were fixing supper but soon remembered to ask, "Sit in Corvette?" John was happy to comply. Since Ben spends most of his time with me, and surprisingly I spend more time in the kitchen than the garage, sometimes Ben's more excited about baking than cars.

Ben checking everything out. He really wanted to push some buttons. (Notice that he's holding his red Corvette.)



John showed him how to blow the horn. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated that. Ben thought it was great, though.

This video clip is for Mary Varner who asked (a long time ago and we never videoed it for her) to hear Uncle John's Corvette.

Cake Monster

Ben and Cookie Monster watching the cake bake.

Messy, Messy

We've been having lots of fun with art projects lately. Today we played with markers, stickers, and glue. The glueing was highly supervised.

I had really just planned for us to use glue today, but when I opened the container with the construction paper, I found markers and a couple of thousand stickers (no exaggeration) leftover from the year I taught junior high and the two years I taught Sunday School.

Today's masterpiece. I drew the circles testing to see which markers worked.

Ben's House

Emalee got a big playhouse for Christmas from Danielle's parents so we loaded her old one in the back of my Durango (it was very tight) and brought it home with us. It's a little girly with the pink windows, but Ben thinks it's great. We put it together yesterday afternoon and he cried when he had to leave it and go inside. He would look out the window at it in the backyard and say, "house, house" in the saddest voice. We went out after lunch today and played in it again.

He loves opening the windows and doors. In and out, in and out, in and out.

Happy Birthday Emalee!

Blowing out the candles on her Little Mermaid cake. It was very cute and tasty!

Cydnee was reading the cards to Emalee.

A pink trimmed hat from PawPaw and MawMaw.

Riding in the Barbie Jeep with Emalee. She is a very rough driver. She slung Ben back and forth but he didn't care. He loved riding. He also LOVES Emalee.

The men, Ben and Wyatt Allison, in the playhouse cooking.

Boing, boing, boing

Ben and I went home this weekend for Emalee's birthday party. I took Ben over before lunch to jump with Will and Emalee. He called bouncing on the jumper going, "boing, boing, boing." Since I couldn't slide, Will took Ben down.

Going to Grandma's

When I was little I had a suitcase that had "Going to Grandma's" written on it. Here is Ben pulling his suitcase that he got for Christmas from Nana and Granddaddy out to the car to go visit MawMaw and PawPaw.

Making More Messes

Yesterday we played with Play-Doh. This morning, Ben carried one of his folding chairs to the kitchen and said, "Play-Doh." I decided to try something new again today, though. We got out the water paints.

Ben had a great time. He particularly liked swirling his brush in the water. The painting closest is my art work. We traded sides, paints, and brushes several times.

Ben did this one by himself.

Play-Doh: Take 1

Ben got Play-doh for Christmas from Jim and Fran. I put it away after Christmas to save for a time that we needed something new. After weeks of cold, it was time. I moved his table and chairs to the kitchen to make clean up easier. He had a great time. He rolled, pinched, and arranged it for an hour. At 11 I needed to start cleaning up so that I could fix lunch. I bribed him with Capt'n Crunch Crunch Berries to put it away without fussing.

Notice all the cool Play-doh accessories. Before I took it out of the can I specifically told him this was not something to eat. I was a little concerned that he might try to eat it since last week's cut-out cookie dough was edible.

Snow Day

Friday morning Ben and I bundled up and went outside to see the snow. Ben had never been outside while it was snowing. When it snowed earlier in the winter, it was after Ben had gone to bed. I'll be honest and say we didn't stay outside and play in it. It was cold and wet. We walk around a little bit and looked at everything covered in snow. Ben said it was, "messy, messy." He really wasn't sure what to think about it.

Valentine's Day Cookies

Today Ben and I made Valentine's Day cookies. I've never made cutout cookies before so I was impressed at how well they turned out. We made hearts, of course, and some moons and puppy dogs just for fun.

Just Like Daddy

On Monday, Ben wanted to wear sunglasses because both John and I were wearing them. He wouldn't let me help him put them on. After much stuggling he finally got them over his ears and on his nose. Only one problem, though. They are upside down.

Yesterday, he worked very, very hard to get in both of John's boots. Just one boot was pretty easy, but to get both of them on was very difficult. He had to lift his legs very high. Once he got them on, he couldn't move in them. They are steel-toed and probably felt like they weighed a ton on his feet.

Return of the Sideview

17 weeks
Please note that John took this picture last night after supper at the end of a long day.

It's a . . .

GIRL! Both John and Ben went with me to my doctor's visit. When the lady doing the sonogram told Ben he was going to have a sister, he said, "Uh-oh." He didn't know what she was talking about, but he knew it was bad.

She seems to like standing on her head as much as Ben.

We didn't call anyone immediately and I had silenced my phone at the doctor's office. When I checked my phone, I had several impatient messages and one panicked text from Cara who had decided something was wrong.

Playing with Daddy

Ben's friends are having a snack in their block living room built by John. Before they ate, Ben asked Grover to pray.

Grover is sitting in an arm chair, Cat is on the couch, and Ernie is napping on the chaise lounge.

All Ben's Friends

Ben has lots of friends -- Cat, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Ernie, Cookie Monster, Grover, and Oscar the Grouch. And all of them sleep with him. In the morning, Ben's arms are overflowing as he tries to gather them all together to take with him when he gets out of bed. Ben's imagination is really starting to develop. Yesterday Woody (who doesn't sleep with Ben, but sits at the coloring table) enjoyed French toast sticks for breakfast and Ernie's nose was runny and needed wiping. This morning, Cat needed his teeth brushed (with an old toothbrush).