Bits and pieces of everything...

So we had a really GREAT weekend! It started off on Fri when we got to spend the day outdoors in this wonderful weather we're having right now. I took the kids to the zoo with a bunch of my friends from my ward (and all 5 of us have baby girls 1 and under-so much fun) and then since Tyler desperately wanted to play at the park (I haven't taken him in weeks because whenever he plays outside-usually-he as potty accidents) we went over to the playground and let him play awhile. He stayed dry the whole time and went potty twice in the restroom while we were out! I was having so much fun with the girls that I kinda lost track of time and we didn't end up leaving until almost 3:00 which is way after the kids nap time. As soon as they were buckled in the car they fell asleep and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to get 2 sleeping kids upstairs so I figured I'd drive around awhile and let them get a little bit of a nap in. I hadn't had lunch yet so I stopped at Wendy's, got me some lunch, and explored apart of Logan I hadn't been around before. I couldn't believe that Tyler was still dry by the time we got home and as soon as we walked in the house, he took off his underpants and went straight for the toilet. He had gone poop in the toilet the night before and I had promised him an ice-cream cone from McDonalds, so after we picked Bobby up from work we headed over to McD's and had some ice-cream!

Sat. started off with cleaning the church at 8:30 am. Bobby had the day off work (yea!) and it was our ward's turn to clean the church this mo. so we thought we'd better help out. W e actually had a really good turn out so it only took about an hour-which is really good considering our building is ginormous! Afterwards the Bishop and his wife treated us to breakfast-french toast, sausage and fruit! A bunch of people were talking about heading off to the farmers market and we decided that would be fun since I've never been to one. So after a quick trip home to let Tyler go to the bathroom and to grab a bottle for Kylee we were off to check it out. It was neat to see all the stands with their homegrown fruits and vegetables and we bought the most amazing salsa I've ever tasted in my life. Seriously we finished off the 16 oz. container just about an hour ago. Delish! It was getting close to the kids nap time so we headed home, ate lunch, and everybody laid down for a good 2 hour nap-my first one in months! When we woke up we decided to head down to the new Walmart in providence to see if they had a bike Bobby had been looking at online. They were out of stock, but we picked up a few other groceries and decided to try a new Hawaiian place called Pounders, that a friend that used to be in our ward works at, for dinner. It was SO good-although Tyler wouldn't eat an ounce-then we headed home, put the kids to bed and fell asleep at 9:30 just talking on the bed!

Today was your pretty typical sunday, but Tyler wore underwear to church-with no training pants-for the first time and stayed dry the whole time! I took him out once during nursery to go to the bathroom and he happily obliged! I am so relieved that there is actually a light at the end of this potty training tunnel! He went poop again in the potty tonight-without too much persuasion-so he's doing so good!

In all the craziness I didn't realize I hadn't posted these 'potty' pictures from forever ago.

The "throne" chair he chose as his "big boy potty"-as he calls it-which comes with royal tunes of praise of course!


His first time going pee-pee in the potty! (8/24/09)


Now this next part I have to give FULL credit to my amazingly, creative friend Callie (who I was neighbors with in Orem). She P.T. her twin boys that are Tyler's same age months ago and this is what she did. I thought it was so cute that I had to do it and it really is what did the trick for Tyler, so I am forever in your debt Callie!

They did Elmo's magic potty powder and she had this cute little Elmo bucket that held the powder, but I just did Tyler's Magic Potty Powder. The "magic" potty powder is baking soda and whenever he went pee-pee in the toilet I would pour vinegar in it and he would get to wear his potty wizard hat (which he actually hated), pour in a scoop of potty powder, and then stir it with his magic wand that had been dipped in food coloring so that as he stirred it, it would bubble whatever color he had chosen that particular time. (by the end I was really good at mixing colors to get some pretty awesome colors! ha ha!)


A little red...


A little orange bubbly...


He LOVED doing this. The first day, it's the only reason he would go pee in the potty-so that he could get his magic potty powder! Seriously, he would stop his pee, run do the whole powder routine, and then as soon as I had washed it out, sit right back on and pee again. Over and over and over.


The excitement lasted through 2 bottles of vinegar and 2 boxes of baking soda, or a little over a week. Then for the next week or so (and still every so often now) he was really into the sticker charts. I did a couple days of every 5 times you go pee you get a sucker and after filling up his whole chart (15 stickers) he got to pull a present out of the grab bag (a bag full of goodies from the dollar store). To date he's filled up 10 potty charts and we don't always remember to put a sticker on every time he goes so...he's done really well. I think we've decided now that he's starting to poop in the potty too, he'll get an ice-cream cone every time he does that. At this rate it's only every 3 days or so. If it becomes more often than that we'll have to think of something else.

He hasn't had an accident in almost a week now and we were out of the house almost non-stop all weekend long so I am SO proud of him! Since he's doing so good I've started to do "dry bum checks" during the day (I think I got this from my friend Joy) and if he's dry when I check him than he gets 2 m&m's (I usually do this mostly when we're out, not so much at home). I have to say all-in-all potty training has actually been pretty fun. Sure there's been a few frustrating days here and there, but for the most part it has been really fun to watch Tyler get so excited and be so proud of himself for accomplishing something new. Thanks again for all your advice and ideas, you mom's are awesome!

Here's my super potty wizard!
Saving Elmo from the danger which is his bedroom


Saving minnie from same threatened danger


Saying, "Word Up!" (from word girl)


This day he was just running back and forth mumbling things I couldn't understand, but if I tried to stop him and ask him what he was saying he would get angry at me for interrupting his flight.






What can I say? He's my potty king!