Toddler Play Day

This week I had a toddler get-together with a couple of friends. We all wanted to let our kids play together and also have the company ourselves. I invited several people to come, but this time only two other ladies were able to come. They both have little girls (22 months and 18 months). We started with letting the kids explore and play "together," which wasn't really together, but in the same area, and then ate lunch. We had all the littles sitting together; they were so cute! After we got done eating, I brought in a tub of snow and we were going to attempt to paint the snow.  The kids were so curious as to why I was bringing it inside. My boys immediately started trying to get their hands in it. :) We got some medicine droppers and used colored water to paint the snow. It was neat, but very challenging because the children were still so young, they didn't quite understand how to do it and what they were doing. So they wanted to dump it, or spill the water, etc. Ian just wanted to eat it, which was fine, except it got all over the floor. Jabin tried to do it fast and squirted it straight across the snow onto another girl's shirt... etc. Whew! I'm not sure how the teachers of toddler classes do anything with so many children!! We only had 4 toddlers and it got a little crazy.  Jabin loved to dig in the snow with his little shovel and tried to make a snowman with it. I should have brought some in before, when it was too cold to go out. Now it is getting warmer outside, so the snow is melting... which is GREAT!!

 I brought out a little farm sensory box, but they didn't really play with that. The little ones just threw it all out. Hahaha. So much for trying to plan something fun to do. Jabin liked it, but the little ones just wanted to go, go, go. No sitting down for them! So, overall it was fun, but I think my expectations were too high. :) They just wanted to do their own thing! Maybe next time I'll have some older ones come and try again. :)

Encourage One Another... Build Each Other Up

These past few weeks I have been feeling very alone. I have been "stuck" at home since we've been sick and the weather hasn't been good. We've pretty much been doing the same general things everyday. Sometimes I just need a break from the routine. I have also been feeling like Jabin needs to be able to play with other children and needs to make some friends. That's a little bit hard when you live in a big city and don't know many people. Recently, we had family pictures taken. The lady who took them has 2 children, a toddler and a newborn. She lives a few streets over from us and so with doing that we've had some contact. So I went to pick up my pictures and so we decided to let the boys play together awhile. It was so nice to just be able to sit and talk. It was nice to give and take advice and encouragement. Sometimes it's just nice to hear someone is going through the same things that you are, without pretending to have all the answers or being "super mom." It was so refreshing! Talking about the challenges, but also the joys of being a mom. I'm so glad to have had this time to make a new friend and hopefully we'll be able to get together again. (The boys played together too, so that was good... haha!)

1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,  just as in fact you are doing."

Potty-Training 101 ~No Turning Back

Yesterday was a BIG day for our family... Jabin officially started using the toilet! He's used it before but not regularly. We aren't turning back now. No more diapers!!! I wasn't ready to take the plunge, despite him being ready, or seemingly ready, for awhile, but finally got the energy and determination I needed. It is definitely as time consuming as I thought it would be, but it is going pretty well. I used the techniques of the book "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" by Nathan Azrin. The general idea is to allow and teach the child to do each step themselves. I don't think I fully followed the process, because he hasn't quite gotten that he needs to go to the toilet by himself when he feels the urge, but he is learning and has had a really good day today, with actually going when I take him to the toilet. He used his potty chair yesterday and spent a lot of time sitting. This morning when he woke up, I set him on the toilet and he went right away, so we just used the toilet the rest of the day. He usually goes if we go out of the bathroom, otherwise sometimes we are distracting. We are using training pants and plain underwear with a plastic cover over it. It has been working well. The training pants absorb more liquid when he does have an accident vs. the plain underwear. So far we haven't had any really messy accidents... crossing my fingers and hoping I can stay focused... :) I'm sure it will happen. I try to take him about every 30-35 minutes, but sometimes I am busy doing something and forget. You really have to think about how much he's eating and drinking and try to gauge when he may need to go. I will probably use pull-ups when we go out somewhere, just so it will be easier to change if he goes without letting us know. The method starts with teaching a doll or bear how to use the potty. You do that several times, praising them for dry pants and showing disapproval for wet pants. After your child understands the steps, you practice with them several times and several consecutive hours you spend with them, giving them drinks and helping them learn to go in the potty. When they have an accident they have to go for practice runs, again. Practice, practice, practice! That's what we are doing now. I am hoping to be able to spend another morning doing it, because our session yesterday was probably not quite enough. It is hard when there are other people around, like an 18-month old... :)

Surprises in the Kitchen...

Yesterday I went out to the kitchen after changing Ian and found the refrigerator door open and a dozen eggs scrambled on the floor... Jabin was in the other room playing with crayons. He came into the kitchen and said "uh-oh" several times. I'm just happy that I cooked eggs the night before; otherwise there would have been 2 dozen eggs on the floor. :)