Potty Training

In general we try not to post anything on the blog that would greatly embarrass either boy.  We'll see what Josh and Sam have to say about that when they eventually find it.  So with that in mind I'll try to keep this a PG rated version of potty training.  We have decided that Josh is officially potty trained.  That doesn't mean we are done with diapers and we are a long ways away from that point but Josh spent the past two long weekends entirely in underwear (8 out of 11 days).  We are still doing nap time and bed time in diapers but even when we went out, Josh was in underwear and he did a great job!

We started potty training over the summer which was a bit later than we wanted.  We didn't want to do it when Sam was born or when he had a new teacher so we delayed it a bit and we think that made it more difficult because Josh became more afraid of new things.  We gradually got him to use the potty more and more and after a few months he had no trouble doing it but he didn't want to wear underwear.  He was initially excited about it, but then realized it was scary and refused.

There are many tough parts of parenting but so far Julian is putting potty training as his least favorite part.  After several miserable weekends of trying to force Josh to wear underwear, we decided to take a break.  Everyone said not to force it and take a break.  Unfortunately we didn't see any signs of change.  When asked Josh always refused to wear underwear.  He would occasionally use the potty but we didn't force it on him.  With the new year we tried again and after an hour of arguing got him into underwear.  Then we tried something we had never done before - we left the house!  This was a breakthrough moment for us.  Our outing was not a complete success but Josh overall was more confident in wearing underwear.  We realized that it was likely sending a mixed message that he had to change into a diaper to go out.

The next weekend we had to fight a bit to get him into underwear, but he didn't want to take them off once he was wearing them. So we did more outings in underwear. We also got the great tip to stop making him sit on the potty every X minutes. Then before the MLK weekend, he said he wanted to wear underwear on the weekend and when the time came he didn't argue at all. Since then he has worn underwear anytime is he at home or with us.

Our work is not done - he refuses to wear underwear to or use the bathroom at daycare so we have to work on that.  We aren't really sure how to approach this one, tips are welcome. The pediatrician said to let peer pressure work, but there are only a few kids that are 3 in his class, and only 1-2 are not in diapers. He is a pretty stubborn kid, so we aren't sure he will randomly decide to wear underwear to daycare without being forced. We have offered him several good bribes, and no luck. I think it is time to try a new strategy.

I had been dreading potty training since before Josh was born. And I can say it was nothing like I expected. For us, all of the challenges so far have been emotional. I expected some manipulating and stalling, but not the level of fear and controlling the situation. Hopefully in a few weeks we will be done, but we'll see!

Playing!

One of our first outings with underwear, failed trip to the library...

Off to Home Depot!

Christmas in Florida

This year for Christmas we went to Florida to spend time with Margaret's family.  Our trip got off to a rough start as our flight was delayed 4 hours.  We were flying with Margaret's sister and her cousin so we had plenty of people to hang out with.  Josh ran around a lot but Margaret's cousin's daughter thankfully kept track of him and overall the wait wasn't that bad.  Both boys napped (at least a bit) on the flight which was nice.

Margaret's parents have been renting a house in Siesta Key and we rented a house just off the key.  The house was very nice and we decided to have both boys sleep in the same room.  Since  we tried this previously at home we thought it could work.  Overall it went very well and both boys were well behaved.  Sam has been waking up earlier than normal (around 5am - one time at 4am) so I had to run in and grab Sam before Josh would wake up.  Sam was willing to go back to sleep after eating so we did get to sleep more although then Josh would soon wake up so we had to then balance not waking Sam.  Sharing the room worked although it was a bit stressful.

Our house was about half a mile from the beach so we went there a few times.  We can now definitely say both boys are beach bums.  At six months Josh had no interest in the beach but Sam at eight months loves it.  He loved crawling on the beach and seemed to enjoy eating the sand (good thing I asked the pediatrician about that!).  Josh still had little interest in the water although he did get his feet wet.  Josh mostly enjoyed destroying sand castles I would build and running around.

The house we rented had a pool which gave us a chance for Josh to get in some swimming.  We didn't get many swimming opportunities this past summer so we wanted to be sure Josh wasn't scared of the water.  After a little bit of cautiousness at the beginning he was jumping in on his own and swimming on his own (with the help of some water wings).  Sam enjoyed being in the water as well--he loves splashing.

We spent Christmas at the house and all the kids seemed to have a good time with their new toys. Everyone brought their own stockings, so we just did small gifts. Josh did NOT want Santa to come to our house which simplified things. Margaret got me a small drone which I enjoyed playing with (I checked, it doesn't have to be registered). Margaret's dad cooked a turkey, and we ordered some side dishes for dinner. Margaret went to the grocery store unsupervised and bought all the desserts they had, so we had a good variety of those as well. Margaret's parents brought over a little christmas tree, which all the kids loved. She was worried before the trip that it wouldn't feel like christmas being away, but it ended up being really nice. Josh even enjoyed the family tradition of watching the Dinosaurs Fridge Day episode.

On our second to last day we went to Busch Gardens.  We went there last year with Josh and he really enjoyed it.  This year it was more crowded and harder to see very much.  Both boys slept most of the way home and when Josh got home he took another nap on the floor.

We got to spend lots of time with Margaret's sister's family and Margaret's parents.  My dad now has a condo in Florida so we got to spend a bit of time with him as well which was nice.  It was nice to get out of town for a week although traveling with young children is always a challenge.  Overall the boys were very well behaved and both of them loved being outside.

The flight home was a bit rough - I think everyone was just ready to be home. Sam would not sit still and Josh refused to nap.

Getting some work done while waiting for the flight

Happy to be in Florida

Cousins on Christmas Eve

Family beach selfie

Enjoying the pool

Driving at Busch Gardens

Beach bums!

little guy loved the water!

<3 this little beach bum

loving the pool

Fish in water

Happy Birthday Josh!

Happy Birthday to Josh!! His checkup isn't for a few weeks, so we won't know his stats. But he seems to be growing pretty well!

Over the past year Josh has grown up into a curious, smart, kind and awesome little boy. He loves to help us in the kitchen, cleaning, bring things to the car, or with Sam whenever he can. He loves monkeys, reading and playing with legos or cars and trucks. He has recently started pretend play and is getting very imaginative. He loves loves, loves playing outside, and doesn't really care if it is hot or cold.

More recently his thought process has gotten much more complex. He loves to make deals, or negotiate and he has gotten very clever. He is a sponge and picks up on everything.  His speech has really improved in the last month or so as well.  He consistently talks in complete sentences and his vocabulary has greatly increased.  He is also getting better at pronouncing words than he used to be.  Gone are the days of cortiyone (cortisone), yamby (laundry), galage (garage) and other Joshisms we got used to.

Physically he is doing really well. He loves running, and is a great climber. We recently took him swimming a few times and he is doing really well. In the next year we want to get him a bit more into some organized athletics--swimming lessons and maybe soccer. But we need to be on top of signing him up before they book up.

Along with the increased thought processing, he throws some pretty typically 3-year-old tantrums. We used to be able to easily distract him, but it is getting a bit more challenging now. He has also discovered that he is afraid of some things, also pretty typical behavior. We can already tell these will be some of our biggest challenges this year.

Potty training has been a slow process. He is physically and mentally ready, but not emotionally. We are letting him go at his own pace for now, and hoping he decides that he doesn't want to wear diapers anymore at some point.

We have begun the search for a new pre-school for him. Any recommendations near the Kensington/Rockville area are welcome! The one we liked best is not nut free, and that is a deal breaker for us right now.

Is 3 too young for a drivers license?

Just doing some cleaning

Playing with his toys

Listening to a birthday message from Aunt Heather

Asthma

Sorry for the lack of posts on the blog - we'll try to be better.

In early November Josh got sick on a weekend.  One of his typical colds - cough, runny nose and a fever.  By Sunday night however his breathing got very shallow and he wouldn't stay asleep.  Margaret and I decided we needed to take him to the hospital.  A friends mother was in town and she came over to watch Sam (who was already asleep) and we went for our fourth round at the hospital.  Josh was given oxygen and some medicine (same as last year with RSV) and got another XRay (I have lot's of images of him now!).  They said he had a respiratory virus and prescribed steroids for a few days.

He stayed home on Monday from daycare and seemed to be doing better.  Tuesday was Sam's six month appointment and the pediatrician wanted to see Josh as well for a follow up.  After talking with the pediatrician, and listening to Josh's breathing, she diagnosed that Josh has asthma and as a result he is more susceptible to have this sort of issues when he gets sick.  She prescribed a lower dose steroid which we should give him daily through the nebulizer.  We were a bit upset about this diagnosis although not entirely shocked.  With Josh's allergies and how often he gets sick (and my history of asthma) we were partially expecting this at some point.  But to hear it finally was tough to take.

We didn't immediately start the daily medicine (we were still finishing the higher dose steroid) and digesting the news.  The higher dose steroid makes Josh completely crazy and almost impossible to control so the idea of having a daily steroid was not pleasant.  After a few more days we started the daily steroid.  We give it to him in the morning when he wakes up.  He likes getting it because he gets to watch videos on the iPad while he is using the nebulizer.

After a few weeks Josh started to get a cough and a runny nose.  We talked to the pediatrician and they suggested adding Albuterol to his daily medicine to help ward off colds.  So far, that seems to be working.  In the last two months Josh has gotten symptoms of a cold three times and each time we boost his medicine and each time it has not progressed.  He hasn't had a fever and after a few days the cough and runny nose go away.

We are going to talk to his allergist when we see him next about continuing this medicine but so far it does seem to be working.  Unfortunately Josh is prone to getting sick frequently but hopefully these new tools at our disposal will continue to work for us and keep him from having larger issues.  I grew out of my asthma and hopefully Josh will too.

Feeling better at the hospital

Showing Josh his XRay

Sleepover

We were having some friends over, so we decided to have both boys sleep upstairs Sat night. I had been thinking about putting Josh upstairs for the night, and then last week he randomly said that he wanted to sleep in Sam's room. So we decided to go for it! I ordered a twin size areo bed (we know we will use it when traveling in the future too). Josh was SO excited about his bed and sleeping in Sam's room! I fed Sam in my bedroom, while Julian did bedtime songs with Josh. Unfortunately, Sam didn't fall asleep eating like usual and then wanted to look at Josh when I was saying goodnight to him. He then played for a bit in his crib and was talking to himself. Julian went to check on the boys about 10 min after I left them. Josh said, "it's dark and Sam won't go to sleep." Both true! Fortunately it didn't ruin his fun. Sam has been waking up early lately, but we were able to get him, feed him and put him back in his crib without waking Josh. In the morning Josh told us not to put away his new bed, because he wanted to sleep in Sam's room again!

We are heading to Florida over Christmas, so we wanted to test having the kids share a room. It is nice to know it worked out pretty well!

Checking out the new bed

Growing up too fast

(From November 24th)

I woke up to find my baby all grown up.  Not quite, but it feels that way. Today Sam started pulling up to sitting in his crib and really crawling. He has been close to both of these things, but it was quite a busy day for him.

With Josh I was excited about moving to the next stage of everything...crawling, walking, etc. This time I have just been loving having a baby. I love that I get to spend extra time with Sam because I'm working 3 days a week. Sam is such a lovable smiley little kid, I just love watching him and snuggling with him. Obviously he has some fussy times too, but overall he is such a chill and awesome kid. I'm really not ready to move past the baby phase. I want time to stand still so I will have more chances for snuggles. I know I will love the next phase too, but there is nothing quite like a baby sleeping in your arms :)

We lowered his crib today and he looks both small and big at the same time. 

humm, this does not look safe

Pretty pleased with himself when I opened the door :)

Halloween!

I was excited about Halloween this year, because it is the first time Josh really understands what it is about. I was not disappointed :-). The past two years I have not gotten particularly creative with costumes, but this year I planned ahead. Josh was the Man with the Yellow hat and Sam was Curious George. I was concerned that at the last minute Josh would want to be Curious George, but he LOVED being the man with the yellow hat. Their costumes were very popular at the daycare parade.

We went trick or treating with our next door neighbors again this year which worked out great. Josh happily knocked on doors with the little girl next door (about 6 months older than him) and said "trick or treat!" And "thank you!" After getting his candy. Last year he wanted to eat each piece after every house, but his year he was happy to collect as much candy as possible. When we got home he had one piece and was very good about it.

After Josh went to bed we sorted through his candy to confiscate anything with Peanuts or that would be unsafe. It seemed like cheating that he didn't know which candy he should select, so he had a lot of peanut items. Never fear, Julian and I took on the task of keeping him safe. We added back some of the safe candy we bought so he wouldn't notice. I was very very worried about how to manage his allergy at Halloween and it turned out to be fine! 

For the next month and a half Josh got to have one piece of candy after dinner. We ended up letting Josh try a few candies that were "produced in a facility with peanuts or tree nuts" but avoided anything that said, "may contain peanuts". He also did surprisingly well with skittles and whoppers, we thought they might be a chocking hazard, so watched him very carefully.  He was very cute about sharing his candy with us, and would break off some chocolate to share or give us some skittles or gummies.

All in all it was a great Halloween!  Sorry we were so slow to post about it :-)

Rarely do we get a picture this perfect :-)

Daycare parade

Curious George

Man with the Yellow Hat

Trick or Treat!

Josh's loot