Son in the Sun

We recently bought Jackson his first scooter. He had played on one at a friends house and seemed to do quite well at it. I also took this opportunity to introduce knee pads to Jackson. Surprisingly, he loved them. It's a good thing, too, since he took a digger on a neighbor's drive-way about 10 minutes after putting them on. Would it be weird for me to just keep knee pads on him all the time? I realize that he is a two year old boy and they are suppose to have bumps and bruises, but this is just madness! I think both of his shins are just one giant bruise!

Also, we decided to get a bigger pool for the yard so that Jackson and Molly could both play in it. Well, Molly hates water so I guess it's really just for Jackson. Anyway, I found what I have been told is one of the coolest kids pools ever! You can judge for yourself, but I think it's pretty awesome. The is a hook up for the hose in the back of the monkey's head to make it into a sprinkler. It's a toss up whether Jackson had more fun playing in the pool, or helping Mommy blow up the pool. To all my friends and family who have small children, I don't recommend letting them help you blow up anything. It gets pretty gross. :) At least, not if you plan on putting your mouth on the blow-up piece also.

First time away...

So, this weekend is our first time going out of town since we started the potty training. We put Jackson in a pull-up for the car ride, just to be safe. Amazingly, he told us each time he needed to go potty, and stayed dry for the entire car ride.

Since we have been here, however, I have discovered a new challenge. I got Jackson and Molly a new little pool to play in. Jackson has been very eager to play in it. My problem is that, each time his little swimmer gets wet, he seems to think he is peeing in it and freaks out shouting, "pee pee potty! pee pee potty!" The first few times we would rush inside to the bathroom. He would pee once and the rest of the times, just sit there. Eventually I would just get frustrated and make him be done in the pool.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

Fun-in-the-box!

This past weekend, my wonderful husband bought me a much wanted patio set for Mother's Day! All four chairs came in the same box. It was a big box. In keeping with my inner child, we wasted no time in putting the box to use!

Jackson loved closing Mommy in the box and Molly liked the box because it kept her off the grass. :)

After that, we spent some quality time on the playground. We even managed to find a riding toy that was short enough for Molly's feet to touch the ground. She loved it!

As for the potty training, Jackson is still doing great (although he did go in the sandbox once). But, as they say, no peein', no gain, right? (yeah, I know. Bad joke.)

My Mother's day was wonderful. Jason's dad, Terry, and his wife, Laureen, came out for the weekend so that Jason and Terry could go to the Cardinals v Reds game. We also took a trip to Ikea and got Molly her own Ikea chair so she could stop stealing Jackson's.

For more photo's of our fun weekend, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/themcginthys.

A brief outing...

This afternoon, we took Jackson out of the house, for the first time, in his training pants. All we had to do was go to Old Navy and the grocery store. Keep in mind, Jackson had never gone potty in a public bathroom. The toilets are usually way to high and the gap in the front of the toilet seat usually freaks him out. All these things considered, Jason and I decided to take our chances (and a change of clothes and training pants). When we got to Old Navy Jason took Jackson straight to the restroom. To our surprise and delight, Jackson seemed to have no problem going potty!!!

Next, we went to Meijer to pick up a few things for the weekend. While we were there, Jason asked Jackson if he needed to go potty. Jackson said, "yes" and Jason ventured into taking Jackson to another public restroom. Unfortunately, the stall was occupied. Decided to just accept whatever might happen, we skipped the potty, finished checking out, and went home. Again, our wonderful boy stayed completely dry!

Our next challenge? Getting Jackson to poop on the potty. I'm open for suggestions on this one.

35 is a magical number!

Potty training is continuing to go well. Yesterday, however, was a little rough. I forgot to wash Jackson's training pants so all we had were his regular underpants and pull-ups. I don't recommend training with either (all though pull-ups are good for naps and bedtime). First, Jackson pee'd right through his underpants while playing in Molly's room (good thing I had pet stain remover). Then we put a pull-up on him since we went out for a bike ride. He stayed dry through the bike ride, but then went in his pull-up without even telling us. (I forgot to mention that he did at least tell us he had to go potty when he had the underpants on). Finally I got the training pants washed and we got right back on track. We haven't had a single accident today and we're just about to have lunch! I think I'm going to have to buy another set of training pants.

Oh yeah! The magical 35. Well, that seems to be the perfect number of minutes in between trips to the bathroom!

So far, SO GOOD!

Progress...

So, today was day two of our full blown potty training. I think Jackson is doing great! This morning, he only had one accident in his training pants. He has even started sitting on the regular potty and actually peeing!

I didn't expect much from the afternoon since we were going to a friends house for a bbq. I just put a pull-up on Jackson and figured I would let it slide. Well, he went a little in his pull-up but then told Jason that he needed to go potty. So I took him into the bathroom, sat him down, and he went right away! It was great!!!

I realize that completely potty training him is going to take some time, but if it continues like this, I just might not lose my mind!

The beginning of our journey...

Today began our first day of truly potty training! So far, he has gone on the kitchen floor twice and a little bit in his training pants twice. But on the brighter side, he has finally started to tell us when he needs to go potty. He has told me, three times, that he needed to go potty! And I have only used one pull-up and no diapers today! I can see the money dancing in my pocket!

I must say, training pants are a wonderful thing. I use to wonder why bother with training pants when all they really are, are thicker underpants. Well, after seeing Jackson pee right through (and I mean right through) his underwear, I can see how that could get annoying. As soon as I put the training pants on, everything changed. He actually felt when he was wet and came wobbling to me, shouting "pee pee potty!" Sure, he didn't always make it, but this is our first day. I consider this day a complete success!