Adventures in potty training...

My sweet boy... a week or two ago we were riding in the car, and Cash was playing with his miniature Woody and Buzz Lightyear. He started talking about grown-ups and wanted me to know that Woody and Buzz were like grown-ups, and were "men." He said that he wasn't a man, but was a boy... I explained that he was a boy, but that one day he would be a grown-up man too. He asked if I was a girl and if Isla was a girl... after some explaining about how I'm a woman and one day Isla will be too, he sat and looked thoughtful for a minute. Then his expression got very serious and he said that he decided that he "didn't want to grow up." I told him that he didn't have to worry about growing up for a long time and he looked relieved, then got serious again and asked if he would be a man when he woke up from his nap. I assured him that he would not be a man yet and would still be a boy when he woke up and again reassured him that he had a loooonnng time before he had to grow up. He grinned at me then and said, "Good!" But he is growing up so fast...

          We revisited potty training again this weekend (started yesterday). We had tried a month or so ago, but he just wasn't ready and we didn't want to push him too much with Isla still being such a big change for him. He's seemed a little more willing/ready lately, so we went for it again this weekend since I have four days off in a row to work with him and two of those Daddy will be home to help. I got him pumped up about his new "big boy underwear" the night before, with plans for him to pick out his pair each time. Pull ups were a no go last time, because they're really no different than a diaper (just more expensive!) and he didn't care if those were wet. We decided to just try the underwear thing so he can feel when he's wet. Yesterday morning he woke up and I tried to make things as fun/exciting for him as I could, but he did NOT want to sit on the potty at first or have anything to do with the underwear. As the panic started to build (I was so determined to do this!) I kept my cool and he decided that maybe he did want to try some of the cool Batman underwear. (What did people do before cool character underwear??? How did boys ever get out of diapers??) He didn't want to sit on the potty at first... and peed in his pants. However, he did NOT like the way it felt (Hooray!! He didn't care that he was wet when we tried potty training before), so I was very reassuring to him and he was willing to sit on the potty for a minute while I got dry clothes. He peed in his pants one more time, then I asked him if he just wanted to run around without any pants. He decided he liked that idea. So my three year old boy ran around the house all day yesterday literally half naked in only a t-shirt. About 30 minutes after the second accident, as he was playing in the living room, he jumped up with wide eyes and said, "I feel pee pee coming!" I got excited with him and we ran to the potty and he peed in it! WAHOO!!! He was so excited (almost as much as I was), and couldn't wait to call Daddy to tell him. Then to my amazement a little while later (and still half naked) he did the same thing again! This naked thing works! I think it helped him notice when he had to pee better...? THEN another little while later, as I was nursing Isla, he jumped up from playing again with wide eyes and ran into the bathroom to his potty without saying a word. I could see that he was sitting on the potty from my chair, and heard him straining... then a few seconds later I heard him stand up and he came running out with wide excited eyes... he POOPED in the potty on the first day of potty training!! I'm so proud of my little guy. I was seriously worried that he would be starting kindergarten in diapers. He can be so hard-headed sometimes, and our last potty training attempt was a dismal failure, so yesterday was a huge relief! We were so excited about how well he did yesterday we went ahead and gave him his Batman Cave and Batman toys we had been saving for when he's potty trained. He was thrilled. We still have a long way to go, but he seems ready and we'll get there. We put him in a pull up last night (he's such a heavy sleeper, night time is going to take some practice), and he was only a little wet when he woke up this morning. So far today he's only had one accident this morning and since then has been doing great (and is even fully clothed today, haha!). It's been so nice not to have to change his diapers!
       

Miss Isla Kate is growing so incredibly fast... She's outgrown her bassinet officially this week. Last night was night four in her big girl crib and she's done wonderful. I, however, have been teary every night I've put her to bed in it. I can't believe she's so big already. Even though her crib is still in our room, it's on the other side of the room (really only about 6 more feet away) and it feels like she's across the house. I got up three or four times to check her before I went to sleep that first night. I'm such a wuss! She's sleeping really well though - usually nurses for the last time around 8:30 or 9 (usually her longest feeding - she'll nurse 20-30 minutes) and sleep till around 7ish. Sometimes she'll wake up around 4 or 5 to nurse, but she almost always goes right back to sleep and will sleep till closer to 8 if that happens. Then she usually takes one long nap during the day and another shorter one in the afternoon, nursing about every 2-3 hours or so during the day for about 5-10 minutes each time. She's taking a bottle a little better when I'm at work, but still won't eat as much as she does when she can nurse. She eats enough to keep herself satisfied, though, and when I get home it's chow down time. I usually don't work any days back to back (12+ hours is a long time to be gone) and she makes up for it the day after I work with more frequent nursing. She's definitely not lacking in chunkiness for it!

Definitely too big for her bassinet now... :(

       

Isla's using her hands so much better now... she's starting to be able to grab things and put them straight to her mouth. She loves her little bugs with the crinkle wings (they were some of Cash's first toys), and her little zebra. She's also got a little pink bird that she's figured out jingles when she moves it. I love watching her little face as she's playing and looking around. She just looks so fascinated, and it's so funny to watch her expressions when she hears/sees/does new things. She's an observant little thing and she loves watching Cash play. She'll get mad if she can hear him but not see him. She'll burst into a big grin when she sees him and he talks to her.

Isla was "talking" to Cash

My sweet boy... he loves her so.

I left the room for just a minute and came back to this... He had covered Isla up with his cherished blue blanket (his lovey) and had brought all of his toys over to play with her. 

My happy girl "talking" to her toys. 

She's practicing "talking" more and more now... she likes yelling just for the fun of it, and will startle herself when she gets too loud. She coos and is really starting to babble some... I love her little noises. She wakes up so happy in the morning, just talking to herself and kicking her legs. When I peek over the crib at her she'll burst into the biggest smile and start kicking and cooing like crazy. How can you not be in a good mood after that?

Mama's home!

I had to work again yesterday... Isla still isn't crazy about a bottle, but seemed to eat enough to keep her satisfied. She was ready to nurse as soon as I got home though! I think she actually missed me too... while she was nursing she kept stopping to smile at me and coo with milk running down her little chin. Another big milestone yesterday evening - Isla giggled her first REAL little giggle! Twice! I was holding her hands and helping her "dance" and just being silly, and she GIGGLED! We did it again and she giggled AGAIN! Sweetest little noise ever. It made me feel loved since she seemed so happy to see me. She was probably really just happy to see food, but I'll take it either way!

Cash was in bed when I got home last night, but this morning when he woke up he gave me a big hug and said, "I miss-edd you last night, Mama!" Nothing makes you feel more loved than two little ones being genuinely happy to have you home again. Love my little boogers. It's almost worth leaving them just to have them so happy to have me home again. Almost.

Man of the House and Isla's hands

It's been a good morning. My wonderful hubby made us a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, and biscuits, we had a lovely morning conversation with Isla (who's now napping), and Daddy and Cash are chillin' on the couch watching Star Wars Episode V while playing with his Star Wars ships. Cash is enjoying pointing out all of the parts he has on his ship that are the same as the ones in the movie. When Mason or I try to talk during the action scenes, Cash is quick to shush us. He's quite engrossed.

Yesterday as I was in my room getting dressed, Cash came sauntering in and said, "It's a good thing I'm a strong man, Mama." Wondering what he was thinking about, I asked why. "Because I'm man of the house while Daddy is working, Mama," he replied oh so matter-of-factly. It IS a good thing I have such a strong little guy... I love how his mind works. He's so full of imagination and remembers so much. When Mason came home and I told him what Cash had said, he told me that last night when he was putting him to bed he had told him that Cash was man of the house when Daddy was gone and that he had to take care of Isla and me. Cash took his responsibility very seriously... he talked all day about how he was keeping us safe and how he was such a strong man. Sweet guy.

First thing yesterday morning he wanted to go check on his baby since she was still in her bed...

He's not always a little sweetheart, though. He's always been super-sweet with Isla, but we've noticed him acting out in other ways sometimes... he seems to cry a lot easier at times and will throw little fits with obviously fake crying over very small things. Part of that I know is him just being a three year old, but it's seemed to peak here lately. I think part of it is attention-seeking since Isla can be demanding at times with her needs. He's never been aggressive or shown resentment towards Isla herself though, so I'd much rather deal with the behavior issues than hostility towards his baby sister. We're trying to be patient with him and give him extra positive reinforcement for good behavior, and most days that works pretty well.


Isla is growing so incredibly fast... she's 11 1/2 weeks old and wearing six month size clothes! Her head control is getting so much better every day and she enjoys sitting up in her bumbo chair. We never had one of those when Cash was a baby, but I love it now! I had her sitting in it yesterday as I did laundry and she had the best time playing with her little zebra. I had it propped where she could see it good, and I looked over one minute and she was using her little hand to reach for it! She reached over and grabbed his nose and sort of threw him - she seemed to surprise herself that she touched it.

I love her little look of "hmmmm... What just happened here?" Right after this she looked up at me and yelled. Silly girl!



She has some of the cutest little faces - a lot of them really similar to the ones Cash used to make.

It's so neat to watch her... it amazes me how alike she and Cash are and yet how different they are. The newborn phase was so much easier this time around since we (at least sort of) knew what to expect and didn't feel so much like rookies. Just the little things like knowing that a simple burp or changing a wet diaper can hush ear piercing screams, or how to cuddle her or swaddle her to get her to sleep better. There are differences though... Cash used to nurse for at LEAST 15-20 minutes each feeding, where Isla knows how to chug and only nurses for 5-6 minutes each time and empties me out just as efficiently (and obviously doesn't have a problem gaining weight!). Cash didn't care if he was wet or dirty and was perfectly content to sit in a wet diaper and not cry about it - we always had to check him to know if he was wet or dirty since he wouldn't let us know. Not Isla. Her diaper can be slightly wet during the day and she'll make sure we know about it. Cash hated getting his diaper changed, and would cry most of the time, Isla seems to love getting hers changed and will grin and coo the whole time. Cash HATED baths and getting baby lotion put on, Isla LOVES it. She can be tired and fussy and crying like crazy and I'll take her in the bathroom and start her bath water and she's instantly silent with a content look and will then coo and sigh through the whole bath process, even through drying off and lotion.

Cash insists I need to be a princess that needs rescuing, so I must go... Obi-Wan and his space ships are chasing off the bad guy (aka Daddy) and coming to my aid.

Morning talks with Isla and Episode IV

I had to go back to work for the first time on Sunday... it was so incredibly hard to leave my sweet babies - especially my sweet baby girl. I don't worry as much about Cash now - though I miss him like crazy when I'm away from him, he knows how to speak his mind and make his needs known and is more independent now. My sweet Isla is still so small I hate being away from her for a minute. One day last week I went to have my hair cut and knew I'd be gone for a few hours, so we decided that would be a good time for Mason to test her out on a bottle of pumped milk for a trial before I'd be gone 13+ hours my first day of work. When he tried to give it to her she just chewed on it and let it dribble all over her and smiled at Daddy as if to say, "What do you expect me to do with this?" She ended up eating a little bit, but wasn't too impressed with the bottle idea. The day of my leaving arrived and she ended up doing fair - the first two bottles she just chewed on, but then got hungry enough to take a couple 5-6 oz ones. Needless to say when I got home she was more than ready to nurse, and the next day she nursed almost every hour! My little girl just likes her milk from the tap. Hopefully next week when I work she'll do a little better... but I have to admit, I'm glad she likes me more than a bottle!

Isla has figured out that she can use her toes to touch her toys on her playmat. She'll be lying on the floor with her toys dangling over her head and instead of reaching up with her hands, she'll raise her legs and stretch her little toes as far as she can to make the toys wiggle. Silly girl! Although in the past day or so she has tried reaching for a few of the toys - with hands that is. It's absolutely amazing to watch her develop... its crazy how she changes everyday. Each day she's a little more alert... and I love our morning conversations. She will coo and make all sorts of sweet noises with intent facial expressions to go with them, as if she's telling me something incredibly important and is anxiously waiting for my response. The more I talk back to her the more she says. Sometimes she'll seem fussy and we'll start "talking" and she'll instantly be happy, as if that's all she wanted - to have a conversation with Mommy.  It's so incredible how God created her/us. All of the sweet little baby coos and smiles He created just for our enjoyment. All of the little adorable things babies do, He planned (and since He has such a great sense of humor He also added in plenty of gross stuff too!).  Every morning when she wakes up and I peek over her bassinet, she bursts into the biggest grin and kicks and waves like crazy. How can you not be in a good mood after that (even if you look at the clock and it says 4 AM)? She's so happy to see ME. I know one of these days when she's 16 she might be talking to her friends about how much she hates me and how I ruin her life, but for now I'm going to enjoy these sweet moments of her loving me and wanting me more than anyone else.

I got a free gift card from Shutterfly, so I decided to make a little baby book for Isla. As I was working on it and looking through newborn pictures, Cash spotted some of Isla with mouth wide open screaming right after her birth. He studied them for a minute and then stated, "That my baby crying at the hospital. She was crying because she missed her Cash and wanted to come home. She was saying, 'Take me home, Cash!'" Sweet boy. She does love "her Cash" as he calls himself. If she's fussy, he'll go over to her and tell her, "It's ok baby, your Cash is here." I love that he loves her so! I know sometimes he gets annoyed that she requires so much work, but he's always so sweet with her. He may show is frustration acting out in other ways, but he's never once showed any intentional aggression towards her and really seems to care about her. I'm so proud of him. It's going to be fun to watch them together as she grows and can interact with him more. 

Cash loves Obi-Wan and his space ships, so Mason decided to whip out the Star Wars movies for him to watch for the first time yesterday. He put on Episode IV and watched with him (fast forwarding and rewinding to all of the action scenes). Cash was fascinated... though a little confused as to why Obi-Wan was so old. He had his lightsaber and X wing, Y wing, and Tie fighter toys and was acting out the scenes. Every time he saw a new guy he wanted to know if they were good or bad and if they were bad, he'd shout, "Obi-Wan is going to get him!" Mason was beaming with pride! Now all Cash wants to watch is "Chewbacca and Han Solo." He got a pirate ship for Christmas, and instead of getting some actual pirate figures to go with it, Mason insisted on getting him Chewbacca and Han Solo figures and told him they were "space pirates." I think he's hooked now. He's officially a Star Wars guy. 

Captain America, Obi Wan, and Iron Man... BFFs. Who knew?

Life at the Brewer house is nothing exciting... it's pretty boring actually. And that's how we seem like it most of the time. Cash, my hard-headed, sweet, imaginative, and exhausting three year old, keeps us on our toes, especially the past few months since his baby sister, Isla Kate arrived (Cash still insists her name is actually "Baby"). Though he can be obnoxious and incredibly aggravating at times, Cash has so many moments of pure sweetness, and he has such a big imagination. That's one of the things I love most about him, his imagination. At any given time here lately he pretends he is one of several superheroes... Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, and Spiderman are his favorites. He also has the Star Wars characters thrown in occasionally - Obi Wan and R2D2 usually. And in his world they are all BFFs and join forces to rid the world of "bad robots," "bad crabs" (which are our hands pretending to be "bad crabs"), and "mean dinosaurs," or at least put them in time-out until they learn how to be nice. If he's not a superhero, he's a "good knight," a "nice musketeer," or a "nice pirate" with sword in hand saving princesses (aka his sister and myself) from Captain Hook.
          Isla is growing like crazy... at 10 weeks old she's already outgrown all of her three month sized clothes and is wearing mostly 6 month stuff. She's got a nice double chin going for her and a few rolls on her chubby little legs. She definitely likes her groceries. She's such a sweet little baby and usually only gets fussy in the evenings when she's tired and hungry. She's cooing like crazy now and loves smiling and "talking" with me, especially in the mornings when she first wakes up. She loves sitting and watching her brother, and will sometimes get fussy if she can hear him but not see him. Some of her best first smiles were at Cash. Cash seems to adore her - he's already protective of her. When we're out, if another kid approaches her, he'll immediately move over to Isla, put a hand on her and eyeball the kid with a warning look. The first thing he asks in the morning when I get him up is, "Where's my baby?"

          So my life is pretty boring... but it's nice. My kids are my whole world, and for now I'm perfectly content to be a "mama princess" and let "Iron Man" and all of his friends "rescue" Isla and myself and "keep us safe."