I'm A Big Kid Now!!

So, we've been dealing with Sutton's nighttime routine for some time now. And it's getting easier. It's by no means EASY, but we're getting down a routine, which is important for Sutton. He's a slave to his schedule, as most kids are at this age. But now we come to a new hurdle.

Potty-training.

A question to you moms out there-how did you do it? I had a co-worker who had success with the potty-training boot camp. Letting your kid bare-bottom it for about three days or so. He swears that his kid was potty-trained in a weekend. But here's the problem. You have to wake your kid up an hour after they went to bed, so they can use the potty. If I wake up Sutton after he's gone to sleep, he's up for the rest of the night. Which means that I am up for the rest of the night. Not the best solution for me. So, I mentioned using Pull-Ups. Which my co-worker informed me, negates everything you're teaching your child.

So, what do I do? He can now tell me, "I make poopie." Which, sure enough, he pooped his diaper. Then he lets me take him into his room, he lays down on the floor, and I change his diaper. He watches us use the toilet (I know, awkward) and he says "Mama go pee-pee." Or "Daddy go potty." So, he knows what it is. But anytime we try to pull down his pants, or get him to sit on the little potty, he FREAKS out. Crying, and trying to pull his pants back up.

How do I get him to get over this fear?

I wanted to show some pictures of Sutton's bathroom. It turned out so cute! We went with a Dr. Seuss theme, to coincide with his room.
We got these adorable towels from Pottery Barn Kids.
We got the larger one with his name on it! Cute, huh?
The next picture is my favorite. I found these amazing little paintings on Etsy. The shop is named "Meandmypaintbrush" and she makes Dr. Seuss themed paintings for the bathroom!If you can't see it very well, they say "Wash Face" "Comb Hair" "Brush Teeth" and "Wash Hands." They are so cute, and really make the bathroom complete!!

Transition

There have been a lot of changes in the MacDonald household lately, and I think it's taking its toll on all of us. But especially on Sutton. He's growing up so fast, and I think all the new stuff going on in his life scares him a little.

When we first moved into our new house, we immediately tried to make Sutton's room as normal and familiar as possible. We hung up his pictures, and we put his books into his little bookcase, and pulled out his comfort items. (I call them the "trifecta"-his blanky, his binky, and his duck) But nighttime was still hard for Sutton. Whenever we would put him into his crib at night, he would cry for about five to ten minutes, then settle down and fall asleep.

Then he learned to climb out.

He's tried to climb out of the crib before, with no so good results. As Dave puts it, he learned that gravity is a constant and a bitch. But this new house has carpet in the bedrooms, where our old house had wood laminate floors.

So I get a call at work last Friday from Dave, who tells me that Sutton woke him up. I say, "You mean with his crying?" "No," Dave says. "He came into the room and woke me up." Uh-oh! Sutton's crib is a convertible crib, so it can be switched to a toddler bed. But Dave wanted to wait until Sutton did it more frequently. Uh yeah, for the next three mornings, Sutton climbed out of his bed and came into our room. Time to switch the bed over.

So, on Sunday, we changed the bed to a toddler bed. And that's when it became a LOT harder to get Sutton down for bed. Usually, he went down anywhere from 7:30-8:00. Now, it can take up to two hours for us to get Sutton in bed.

It's a struggle of reading books, playing with his toys, rocking in the rocking chair, etc. Like last night. It was my first time putting him to bed by myself. Dave had put him to bed on Tuesday night, and said that Sutton cried for an hour. Luckily for me, Sutton was very tired due to a full day at school. He snuggled with me on the rocking chair, then agreed to lay down in the bed with me. I stroked his forehead and rubbed his back. He turned over to his tummy, which was a good sign that he was ready to go to sleep. Which I love, because that's how I sleep. Like mommy, like son.

But when I left the room, that's when Sutton started crying. Sutton's room doesn't have a real door, it has two folding doors. So Sutton can push them open at any time. So we had to start putting a baby gate on the other side on the door. But the noise of setting up the gate wakes him up, and he starts screaming and crying. We're trying to get our landlord to let us put a regular door on his room, but so far no luck.

All you parents out there, please tell me that this transition gets easier. Right now, I hate how upset he gets. I know he thinks that we're leaving him, and he is still not used to his new room. I hope he;ll get over this. Oh, and now, he's showing signs that he's becoming ready to be potty-trained. He tells us when he's pooped. Only he runs in the other direction when we try to change his diaper. One big boy thing at a time. So we'll wait a little longer before we start potty training.

In closing, here are some pictures of Sutton's room.
This is the view from his doorway.
His little toddler bed, complete with the guard rails.
Another view of his bed, with books on the floor.
His adorable Dr. Seuss bedding, which my mother-in-law got for him.
The other side of his room. See the horse on its side? It was a present from my dad and step-mother. It whinnies and neighs when you press its ears. He loves to play with that horse. So much so that we had to cover it with a blanket and tell him that horsie was going night-night, and he had to too.

Moving Craziness

Well, I am still alive! I know this little blog of mine has been woefully neglected this past two weeks, but you can hardly blame me. First, we moved. Second, I've been sick. And third, in our new house, the computer is right outside Sutton's room. So no more blogging late at night for me. When I start typing on the keyboard, he hears my fingers clattering, and starts yelling "Who's dere? Who is it?"

So...moving. I hate it. Always have, always will. It's chaotic, and confusing, etc. Even more so with a two-year-old who is determined to "help" you. By unpacking everything you're trying to pack. But we got through it, and that's all that matters.

We moved into our new place on April 1st. And we still have boxes everywhere. I know, you're saying, "It's the 11th!" But, in our defense, we're waiting to get a storage unit. We downsized when we moved, but we still have a ton of old baby crap that needs to be stored until we finally decide to have a second baby. And since the computer is now in the corner of our living room, we have a lot of office crap (like bookcases and books) that we don't have room for. So they're sitting in our living room and in our garage until we can get them moved.

Moving was even more difficult, because on Saturday (the 3rd) I got the worst case of food poisoning I have ever had. I have never been that sick in all my life. So I was no help to Dave, and he had to finish the last few hours of moving all by himself. In 85 degree heat. In a two-story house. Me, I laid on the bed with Sutton, watched movies, and tried not to vomit.

Here are a couple of pictures of the new house. I'll try to get more.
The living room with all the junk and boxes.
Sutton snuggling with Dave (Sorry, this picture is really dark)

Sutton is so impressed with our new house.
Can't you tell?

Next post, all about our exploits with a certain little boy who has learned to climb out of his bed. Next up, toddler bed!