Random Pictures from this Summer

In my attempt to catch up on this blog, I am lumping several pictures together that aren't related...

Once Wyatt started to sit up on his own, he could take a bath with his big sister... something they both really enjoy! Lila likes to help wash Wyatt and give him toys; Wyatt likes anything Lila does!

I took these pictures during my intensive potty training days when she was going without anything on her bottom. Because she went #2 in the toilet, she got to have a popsicle. I took her shirt off to avoid stains, and thus she is sitting on the back porch enjoying her popsicle in the nude. Now I will digress a little and talk about our potty training experience... by far, the most difficult parenting task I have had so far I think. (I am sure I will look back on this when she is 13 and wish for these days back!) I want to write what worked for me so that I can come back to this when it gets to be Wyatt's turn. If it helps any of you out there, all the better.

Around the age of 2, Lila started to indicate that she was ready to try potty-training. She would tell us that she was poopy and ask to be changed. So we started trying to work with her on going. We offered rewards (a sticker chart and m&m's). Finally we offered a BIG reward, which was a doll, when she filled out her sticker chart. As she got closer to finishing her chart she did very well at telling me she needed to go potty. But once she earned the doll, she stopped doing as well and I started to get frustrated. Up to this point she was still wearing diapers which meant that I had to take it off/put it on each time. If she went in her diaper, it was easy to clean up but also not as motivating for her to go on the toilet. Anyway, when I started to get frustrated, we took a few months off. Then when the weather got warmer, we did a few days in a row of PTITN (as pictured above!). This really worked great to get her to recognize that she needed to go... and then go! In fact by the end of the 3 days, she would go potty without even telling me she needed to go. She did go #2 a couple of times, but more often than not she would just hold it until bedtime (when she would wear a diaper). Again, we tried rewards with a chart. I tried taping a diaper to the underside of her potty seat for her to go #2 (which worked one time but not again). But in the past 2 weeks, she has had NO accidents and has gone #1 and #2 in the toilet! During this time she has been wearing pull-ups. I tried putting underwear on her after her PTITN days, but she had a couple accidents so we switched to pull-ups. I think we are ready to switch to underwear now. Such a simple thing... going potty in the toilet... but what an accomplishment. It has been a major rollercoaster of forward and backward steps, and I'm sure she will probably still have a couple of accidents in the next few months. I have been greatly encouraged by family and friends who are/were also potty-training their kids at the same time. Just to have someone to share in the frustration and triumphs! For those who are still working on it - and to my future self - hang in there!! Eventually your child will figure it out! Ok, on to something else...

Wyatt still doesn't crawl even though he is starting to walk along furniture. If it's open carpet, he does his worm technique to get around. So how on earth he got INTO this excersaucer, I have no idea! I'm not sure he knew either because he couldn't figure out how to get out!

There is something so fun about a clothes basket... especially when 2 can get in there!

How is this comfortable? Anyone?

A rare shot of me with my two kids who look nothing like me.

Lila "reading" to Wyatt... a glimpse into the future perhaps?

Enjoying the birthday cake frosting before the birthday!