Baby soft legs.

Chose your words carefully!

When Harrison was little and he had a poopy diaper, we would say ooh did you do a poopers? So the word poopers was in his vocabulary from an early age. Then when they got really stinky, we added the word, so it became a "Stinky poopers". And that's still the words Harrison uses, for No1 and No2! Now, had we thought about it, we would have chosen our words more wisely, these words are fine for at home, but while out?

In line at Kroger?

"Stinky Poopers Mummy!"

Not so much.

Maybe will Allister will will call it going potty instead ;O)

The ultimate test.

Harrison passed the ultimate potty test this morning, so I think we are officially done!

Yay!

We were outside playing in the sand box this morning while his baby brother napped. And he did a little shiver, he does that when he needs to go potty. He started to undress, bless him. Right there in the garden! So I said do you need to go potty, he didn't need to answer by the look on his face! I took him inside and he went potty.

No accidents!

I'm sure there will be accidents to come, he is still fairly new at this game, but I think for the most part we are done and dusted!

It feels good to not have to ask if he needs to go potty 100 time a day.

I found these two cute play things...

On the end of my legs ;O)

Messy imagination.

I'm so glad we have a playroom!

I can't imagine the mess we would have in the house without it, I am forever picking up toys as it is, little cars trucks and trains especially. Harrison loves to play, and plays so well. He makes every thing into an airplane or car, everything goes zoom zoom or broom broom in this house!

He has a wonderful imagination and role play is starting to emerge, he will pretend to cook things in his Elmo kitchen, and he is again playing with toys that he hasn't played with in ages.

He once again loves his little people barn and farm, and Mr. Potato head has taken on a whole new role with Toy Story!

I love to watch him play, and to play with him.

Its such fun.

Sippy cup.

I have introduced Allister to his first sippy cup. Yes it's super early. But we have our reasons.

Firstly, I think its probably nice to have a sip of water when you eat, not have to wait until your next feed. Also, Allister, like Harrison, doesn't really like a bottle. With Harrison he was drinking well from a cup at 6 months, so I could just skip bottles and put my milk in a sippy if I was not around to nurse.

Don't worry, we are not giving Allister a ton of water! its literally just a dribble, not even 1/2 oz! Its just practice for now.

Toddler proofing and naps.

Baby proofing takes on a whole different meaning when you have a toddler.

It surprises me when I go into houses where they have no toddler proofing, no gates, or cupboard locks. Nothing!

Now, they obviously don't have a boy like Harrison!

There is an argument to say, don't baby proof, they will learn not to touch stuff, run up stairs, etc etc etc, I do understand this completely.

However Harrison is learning not to touch stuff, he even says "Touch Stuff!" on a regular basis now ;O)

But kids are different, and Harrison is more inquisitive than the average two year old, I just don't have the energy to be on constant guard wondering what he is up to, and if he is safe. Especially when I am nursing Allister and can't see what he is up to! Poor Allister has his feeds interrupted enough as it is! Especially since Harrison has take about 1 1/2 naps in the last 3 weeks, and he REALLY needs to catch up on some sleep!

Big time.

He is a time bomb waiting to happen right now. Everything is drama, he is so worn out. I have taken all the books and toys out of his room today, just left a few soft toys, I hope this does the trick. I don't know what else to do! We have the same routine, the same old time as usual. I've also tried napping him earlier, later, all to no avail. I wouldn't mind if he didn't actually need the sleep, but as soon as we get in the car he is asleep in 5 minutes or less. Matt and I even drove around for an hour on Saturday to get him some sleep. He is so over tired he is waiting to explode and have a tantrum at every opportunity.

Ive taken him to the park and pool before hand to wear him out. Nope.

Ive snuggle down with him in his bed. Nope.

Ive laid him on the couch in front of a movie. Nope.

The only thing we can think of right now is to get him to bed super early, like 7:30 and hope he sleeps right away so he can catch up a bit, assuming this doesn't mean he wakes up super early! We will try it tonight, dinner, then bed, right away.

Anyway, back to baby proofing!

We have locks on many doors, gates everywhere and fragile stuff put away. Its enough of a job to stop him playing with the DVD's, climbing on the glass TV cabinet, out of Guinness's dog food and water, out of the pantry, stopping him playing with the toilet paper and so on and so on. I do not want to be telling him off , and saying NO, all day, that's no fun for either of us!

So he will, I hope, learn boundaries from the stuff that is in reach, and where I can see him and keep him safe! And the bigger picture of keeping him out of mischief when he is out of sight will come later.

Happy Birthday Pooh-Bah

I asked Harrison to draw a picture for Pooh-Bahs birthday, this is what he drew.

Apparently this is fireworks :)

Happy Birthday Poo-Bah.

Love from Matt Claire Harrison and Allister

x

More giggles

Allister is the giggliest baby right now! Whenever we get him dressed or undressed he spontaneously laughs! Its so cute.

Its hard to catch on camera myself, so this video isn't great, but enjoy anyway :)

Dry nights - Potty training update

Harrison had his first dry night last night! Such a big achievement for my little guy :)

We are not intentionally training for nights yet, but Harrison seems to want to train himself, so I don't want to ignore it and end up with a bed wetting boy. Boys tend to have a lot of problems staying dry up until they are much older kids, even past 6 years old, so I cant ignore this.

The last few nights Harrison has woke up crying at around 3am, with or without a nappy on. I figured out this is when he pee's at night. I have felt his nappy before and after he wakes, and its dry before and wet after. Also, on the night he's taken his nappy off, he has wet the bed right around this time.

So last night, Harrison slept with a nappy on. He woke up crying at 3:30am. Daddy goes in and Harrison is saying something we can't understand. So I ask Harrison to show me what he means, he leads me downstairs and I think its an excuse to play! He wonders around looking lost, so I ask him if he needs to go potty. He says yes, we take off his nappy and he goes.

Then goes back to bed without a fuss, although he doesn't go right back to sleep he stays awake for like 2 or more hours!

Anyhow, I go back to bed, and just as I get to sleep the baby wakes for a feed - typical!

So I feed Allister, and then check on Harrison who is still awake, he has removed his nappy. So I ask him if we can put it back on, he says no, so we put on underwear. This morning I make sure to go in and get Harrison as soon as he wakes and he is dry! Awesome huh!

We go straight to the potty and all is fine.

Ive heard some boys take forever to learn when they need to pee at night, hence why they wet the bed. So I really do not mind taking Harrison to potty once a night if it means no more Nappy's! Imagine if we can have no more nappy's, day and night, at 2, that thought makes me so happy. But I'm not pushing it, we will stick with getting a nappy on at night when we can, and if we cant then that's fine too.

I also ordered some special waterproof training pants for naps and the nights when he wont wear a nappy. They are not the crappy old vinyl undies, they are thicker than normal pants, with a fabric water proof outer. Harrison will still feel wet, but I don't mind that, that's how he will learn to stay dry, and if he wont wear a nappy or pullup then this is a good alternative to soaking wet sheets in the middle of the night and naps. I also thought he could wear them if we go out for longer day trips, or when he is likely to fall asleep in the car.

We also have made great progress on our outings. We have been to Target, and to dinner with Harrison in undies, and all was fine. I explain before we go out that he needs to potty, but he doesn't always go, he will learn that he needs to soon enough. Then we go and he does great. We went to BabbiesRus and went to the restroom there so he could see a public loo. Harrison sat on the potty, and we flushed and washed our hands, he was kind of scared and excited all at once! He was fascinated by the automatic tap! I figure we are better off trying out the public bathrooms when he doesn't need to go than having a panic when he does need to go! Also he needs to know that when we are out, he can ask to go potty.

When we get home, he goes straight to the potty so he held it great!

Ive read a lot online about potty training, but know where have I found a detailed explanation of things that kiddies need to learn. Things I had never thought of.

For instance, Harrison has had to learn that when he needs to go No.2 it comes in stages, not all at once like pee. He will start to go, then think he is done and wander off, then go back and do some more. He has finally figured out that he needs to stay on the potty, or at least in the loo, until he is done. This is great progress, and something I had never thought of!

He has also learned to take off his clothes and undies pretty regularly now, and all by himself.

He can flush fine, and just needs help with washing and wiping.

Anyway, that's our potty progress, isn't he doing great!

If I could freeze time....

I would freeze Allister at 4 1/2 months.

He is so adorable right now, it's the cutest age!

He coos and giggle all day long, and laughs when he sees me or Daddy coming in the room.

He'll lay and play all by himself which is so fun to watch, playing with his feet and grabbing at toys. He is never grumpy, and always happy. He isn't demanding, and thinks we are the best thing since sliced bread!

I love this age....

...and then I think of all the cuteness to come.

Sitting up, crawling, the first time he says Mummy or Daddy, the first steps he takes, those little chubby legs running around the house, and getting in to everything.

That's when I realize I don't want to freeze time at all, I just wish these moments lasted a little longer. Milestones are coming faster and faster. Before long I'll have no babies in the house any more. So I'm treasuring these moments as much as I can.

Its a bitter sweet feeling to think I may never be pregnant again, being pregnant is such hard work (for 90% of women). But I feel so sad at the thought of never being pregnant again. It seems so final! But I am 90% certain that we are done with our family, if you asked Matt he would say we are 100% done! We love our boys so much, we want to have the time, money and ability to give them the best of everything. Most importantly to be able to give them the attention they need, the quality time, the one on one time. The ability to be able to take them on vacations without having to pay for 5 or 6 flights and 3 hotel rooms! These are the practicalities of having a larger family.

So, even though there's a part of me that will always be broody for the 4 kids I planned to have as a 9 year old, I think we can say our family is complete.

And we always have the ability to change our minds!

Bye Bye Bunny

Since we dropped the Binky the bunny is just not the same

:(

They went together like Mashed potatoes and Gravy,

Fish and chips,

or 2 year olds and tantrums!

"Binky bunny, Binky bunny, Binky bunny!"

Never again will I hear Harrison so urgently request his two favorite things!

Harrison will occasionally ask for bunny now, but its so so rare, I may even stash it away in Harrison's baby keepsakes for myself!

Its stinky and dirty but I love it, it reminds me of Harrison the baby.

He is such a big boy now, and doesn't need his lovey any more.

My boy is growing up so fast!

I heart them

Random things.....

I can not keep Allister on his back right now!

Not even for 1 minute, as soon as I lay him anywhere -FLIP- hes on his tummy!

He then wiggles and worms and tries to get comfy. He napped on his tummy yesterday, again, and actually got himself to sleep. I'm hoping he gets comfy soon as he kept waking up in the night. I hate that he is on his tummy, squishing his little nose into the mattress, but what can you do! I have the fan on in his room to help with air circulation, and a tight fitted sheet. So I should relax, he is also 4 months now, which is a lot safer for him. But you cant help but worry!

I just put him down and he is already on his tummy, sleeping soundly with his hand in his mouth.

Cutie-pie!

My lovely Harrison was back yesterday. He was a good boy for the most part.

He did his potty business all day, with zero accidents.

He went down for a nap, but he didn't nap. But at least he tried.

I went in to get him and he was naked again! From the waist down anyhow.

But clean and dry. As soon I went in to check him, he says "Potty Potty". I kind of know this is an excuse to get out of nap, but since he has had over an hour quiet time, and I'm teaching him to tell me when to potty I cant refuse. I take him to potty, he does nothing, and so we go downstairs and have some more quiet time in front of the TV.

This evening we had the MOTHER of all tantrums at bed time.

He was saving himself for a biggie.

He was screeching so much, he had snot running down his face and he even pulled my hair -hard- to get a reaction because I was ignoring him.

All you want to do is hug them, but it makes it worse!

I left him to calm down, and once he did I used our latest trick to get him to wind down for bed.

We snuggled in bed together, and watched the Sydney new years fireworks on my iPhone.

He kept saying "Bootiful eye-er-works mummy!"

Moments like these melt my heart and make it all worth while. I love my boys to pieces!

Some serious business is going on here.

We did it :)

We left the house in big boy pants, and no accidents were had!

We went to Avery Park, and played for around an hour.

It was a short first trip, but you have to start somewhere.

I also am starting to think the tantrums before nap time and linked to Harrison's inability to vocalize his need to potty before he goes to bed.

So today I said to him, he had 5 minutes to go potty before we nap.

So he went potty! And went to nap without much of a fight, there was a little fight, but not much.

He is all about control, I can't take him to potty, he likes to do it all by himself, if I try and take him he screams.

So I am hoping this will help. If I can give him warnings like "go potty, we have 5 minutes before we are leaving" etc etc it may just work!

It did today.

Super duper Tantrums.

Harrison is right in the throes of the terrible twos.

He goes from sweet adorable boy, to terror in the blink of an eye, or, more accurately the sight of a nap! Or his bedtime in general. He is climbing on everything, throwing things, food, drinks toys. Screaming a lot, and basically being a very terrible two year old.

Sometimes he doesn't want to wear a nappy, put on underwear, or PJ's at bedtime.

He doesn't want a story, then he does, he hides under the bed where we cant reach him, and runs kicking and screaming saying "upstairs upstairs!" He means downstairs.

I know all about the right way to deal with it, ignore the bad, praise the good, be consistent blah blah blah

But its SO HARD!

Its hard not to yell, scream and throw tantrums ourselves.

But we try.

We are the adults after all!

We still love and adore him, we just hope this phase passes very VERY quickly.

Right now we are treasuring the sweet adorable moments,

and trying to ignore the not so nice ones.

We are trying to set some boundaries and keep consistent with them and time outs, and it does seem to be working. We have to remember he has had a lot of changes lately, baby brother, new big boy bed, no Binky, no nappy's! Its allot for a little boy to take in.

We were more consistent yesterday and it did help lots, he still didn't nap, but went down last night fine. Today he has been a lot better too.

Watch this space.

Tummy sleeping.

Allister is rolling like crazy now, he's spending a lot of time on his tummy. Today he rolled during nap time and instead of waking up screaming he settled down back to sleep. I hate the first few times they do this, I checked on him so many times!

I'm hoping he starts napping longer now though, he's been waking himself up and his short naps together with Harrison's tantrums have been taking there toll.

The ball

Allister loves this ball as much as Harrison did, and I love those giggles!

All but done :)

This is a potty training update, so if you don't want to read about bodily functions bail out here!

There are many definitions of when a child is considered potty trained. And there is some argument over whether some children are potty trained, or its their parents who are actually potty trained, because they take them to the bathroom, or undress them, or ask them constantly when they need to go.

That being said I now consider Harrison to be Potty Trained. He is not 100% done, but we are about 80% there. He will take himself to the loo, most of the time, pull down his underwear and go. No1 and No2.

He needs help with clean up and hand washing because he can not reach the tap!

CONGRATULATIONS HARRISON

for reaching this awesome milestone, at the grand young age of 25 months :)

There are a few things we are still working on.

1- Pulling down our underwear need more practice-

Then we will add trousers and work on those too.

2: Letting me know when he has to go, he takes himself and so I go in after him and help him finish up, and check he remembered to take off his underpants.

3: Naps- We are not yet clean through a nap, but only because he hasn't figured out he needs to go before he naps! We only ditched nappy's at nap time on Friday, and I really do think it was the turning point for doing no.2s on the potty, he figured out he couldn't save them for nap time, so he had to do them somewhere!

Then we can work on night time, but I think that may take a while yet.

I think the Cold Turkey method worked for us, and I will post a step by step of how we did it for those who are interested. I really think it only took 3 days to get to an understanding.

I'm hoping all the day time steps will be complete before he starts his Moms Day Out program in September. We have 7 weeks, so I think that's plenty of time. We have not had an accident during awake day time since Friday. Now we will have to leave the house in underwear and see how that goes!

A day in the life of.....

A stay at home mum.

A potty training, breastfeeding two under two (can I still say that?) mum.

I read this article the other day and it inspired this post. What do we do all day?

So I thought it would be interesting for others, and me to look back and see whats did I do all day?

I mean other than blog and play on Facebook.

So here is my day today, we are staying home right now as we are potty training, so we get more bored than usual and watch a lot more TV than we would like! After potty training is more complete (is it ever actually complete? ) We will wean the TV some, but right now we need to stay close to home!

3:50 am: Allister wakes for a feed, I go in his room, feed him for 20 minutes or so. Return him to his crib and see if he falls back to sleep. Yay! He does! So do I. I am trying to get Allister to sleep longer at night, so we are trying to keep him in his crib instead of our room. This is new this week.

6:30am: Matt brings me a nice cup of tea! My lovely well trained husband! This is when I should get up, go to the basement and work out, but instead I go back to sleep.

7:00am: I get up, drink my still hot tea, check email on iPhone, look at blogs, use the bathroom (sorry lol). Go downstairs and let out Guinness, feed him, pick up any stuff lying around.

7:45: Brush teeth!

8:00: Feed baby who has woken. Get him washed and dressed.

8:30: Put baby in bouncy chair, shower, get dressed and ready. Harrison wakes up while I'm in the shower, i leave him to play happily.

9:00: Get Harrison up, he has taken off his nappy and his pj's, thankfully no pee or poo to clean up though! I get him washed, brush his hair and teeth, Put on underpants and a shirt.

9:15: Go downstairs armed with 2 boys. Lay Allister on his play mat. Fix Harrison grapes, 2 eggs and 1/2 a bagel.

9:30: Go read 2 books to Allister. then lay Allister down for his morning nap while Harrison finishes his breakfast. Return to find Harrison has thrown half of his grapes on the floor saying "one, two, three, six, nine!". Followed by half the bagel. I eat 2 eggs and the other half of the bagel. Pick up grapes, wipe floor.

9:45: Clean up Harrison, ask him if he need to go potty. Do dishes, clean kitchen. Harrison runs to potty and pees, yay! We wash hands and he gets a small treat.

9:55: Baby is still not asleep, I go up to see whats up. He has a dirty nappy, i change it, then rock him to sleep and hope Harrison isn't up to something! I enjoy the cuddle time :)

10:30: I go online, start this blog, check email and Facebook. Its so addictive! Harrison whines for Toy Story- I give in as we are staying home. And I know he will stay near the potty that way. He pees on potty again. Repeat treat and wash hands routine. I google info on potty training.

10:45: I put on a load of laundry, Thursday is towels day. Clean Guinness's dog bowls, clean kitchen and kitchen table.

11:00: Harrison runs to big boy toilet, pees, his pee shoots over the toilet potty seat all over the floor. I clean it up and remind him to point his penis down. We wash hands, he doesn't mention a treat so nor do I!

11:15am Harrison asks for a snack, I fix him a drink and snack. He runs to the big toilet and again his pee shoots on the floor! I catch him in time to get some in the potty.

11:30 Baby wakes, I go get him. We come downstairs I get ready to feed him. Then Harrison needs potty again! Is this boy made of pee? I put Allister back down, go in the bathroom and make sure he does it in the loo. Wash hands, have treat blah blah blah.

11:45: Nurse Allister, he waits so patiently! I guess he is used to it! We put on WorldWorld and Harrison snuggles next to me while I nurse. we have already exceeded the 2 hours a day of recommended TV! I play pat-a-cake and sing songs with Allister while WorldWorld finishes. Harrison sits on my shoulder because he is jealous, but he kisses the baby too so its ok :)

12:00: I go get some bread from the freezer, and something for dinner. Time to make lunch. I Quickly update this blog. Harrison plays and Allister watches from his mat. Its a well used mat! I'm hoping Harrison poops before his nap, and also that he is done peeing for a while! I fix leftover Lasagna for lunch with carrots and cucumber. Harrison decides he doesn't want the lasagna, so I get him some crackers and cheese. He eats the crackers like Cookie Monster saying "Yum yum yum!" and there are crumbs everywhere! I do dishes while he eats and then change over the laundry. Let out the dog.

12:45: I clean him up, the table up and the floor up. This takes a while! He goes pee, mostly in the potty. We wash hands again. He doesn't ask for a treat, i think we don't need them anymore, just the first couple of days.

1:00 We play on the floor for a bit. I play pat-a-cake with Allister and sing Skinnamarink song. He giggles, its my favorite! Harrison plays with his 2 singing Easter ducks. He giggles too, that's also my favorite!

1:30: Time to nap! We all go upstairs, I change Allister's nappy. Harrison does the "Charlie Chaplin" walk. I ask if if he needs to poop, he gives me a look. I tell him to sit on the potty, he jumps off and says "All done!!". I tell him he has to sit on the potty, so he gets back on and he does his poopers! Yippee! We wash hands, again! I read 2 books to Allister, "Goodnight Moon", and "That's not my train!" Harrison climbs in the crib and plays with his brothers stuff. I put Allister down, now its Harrison's story time! I put him in underpants, scary! We read "Going on a bear hunt" and "I love you Daddy". He knows the stories so well I have him finish my sentences!

2:00: Allister is still awake, so I rock him to sleep. I quietly put Allister's clean clothes from yesterday away and go downstairs, I do more laundry. I'm freeee! Although Harrison is still awake so im not counting my chickens! I do some more blog, right now as we speak! I speak :) Now time to clean some.

2:15: I clean the downstairs loo, and floor, thoroughly because, well you know why! I pick up all the toys, there's lots. Vacuum, sweep, dust and tidy. Harrison is still awake, I hear him! I go check on him, he is fine, we tickle kiss and I tell him to go to sleep.

3:00: So I'm done with cleaning for now, although I could always clean more and more! And both boys are asleep, or having quiet time at least. Harrison's quiet time is not so quiet though! So now I can chill for a bit, watch TV, do ironing, or some job off my to do list! Or sleep, exciting stuff in this house lol.

3:10: I decide to grab a snack and chill for 30Min's as I think the baby will be wanting to eat again very very soon! I watch a DVR'd episode of SYTYCD.

3:30: Baby wakes, I had 20 minutes of me time! I go get him, change his nappy and then bring him down. I feed him while watching the end of my show. Harrison is still awake, I wonder if he stayed clean?

4:00: I go get Harrison, lay the baby in his crib while I do. Hes dirty, but only a tiny bit, not bad as he just played for the whole time! I'm trying to teach him to tell me when he needs to go, for someone so verbal he's so quiet when it counts! I clean him up, check the room for mess, and pick up all his toys. He only has one small box of toys in his room, but he has emptied out every book on his bookshelf. I pick everything up and put it away, ready to be picked up again tomorrow! I wonder why I bother?

4:20: I get Harrison a small snack and drink, he plays and I quickly update this blog so I don't forget! I decide its time to hang out and play with my boys, but its too hot to go outside so we play inside. We play puzzles, Harrison and Guinness run up and down the house. We sing the ABC song and others, and play make the baby laugh! In the middle of all this, Harrison pees twice on the potty. Then climbs onto the basin. Then takes all the loo roll off the roll. Loo roll is toilet paper.

4:45 Look online for toilet paper saver child proof thingy.

5:00: I feed Allister some rice cereal mixed with breast milk. He noshes it down like a champ :)

5:15: I read the boys some more books.

5:45: Try and get baby to take a nap so go put him in his crib. Come down, Harrison peed in his underwear. Only accident of the day, for all I know he sat on the potty and just didn't pull them down. We have to work on that part! Clean him up.

5:55: Try and get hold of Daddy Matt so I can plan dinner! As usual no reply ;) Put Quinoa on to soak.

6:00: Try to guess if I should start dinner, wonder what time Matt is getting home? Email him and try to call again. nagging wife.

Cut up veggies for dinner, put oven on. Check on baby- Fast asleep! Nice.

6:15: Get hold of Matt, dinners at 7. Lay table, get Harrison snack of carrots and cucumber to tide him over till dinner as he is getting hungry and grumpy. Put Toy Story on again. Clean up the pee Harrison did in the Bumbo Chair thinking it was a potty!

6:30: Put dinner in oven. Chill for a bit.

6:40: Put Quinoa on and broccoli water to steam. get mail. Harrison peed on potty, take him to wash hands etc.

6:50: Baby wakes up, hurry to feed him before dinners is cooked! Turn all of dinner on to low, and feed baby. Harrison decides to go pee while I'm feeding Allister and tries to drag me over to his potty so I can deal with it, I get him to wait. then Harrison decides to sit and play with all the DVD boxes even though I tell him not too, and because he is pant-less catches his privates in something, and screams! I put the baby down and check his bits, he is fine and I'm sure he wont be playing with the DVDs again!

7:15: Finish feeding baby, Daddies home! Yaaay! Have dinner, Egg white Quiche, Broccoli and Quinoa with veggies in.

7:30: Do dishes, clean up. Pick up toys, again!

8:00: Daddy Matt puts Harrison to bed with a story while I bath Allister, then dress him for bed. Feed him, and read him a story.

9:00: Both boys are in bed and Harrison is fast asleep! The baby soon follows. I go to Kroger and get groceries.

9:45: Back from Kroger, put shopping away. Then we watch Dexter! Loving it :)

10:30: BED TIME! Oh yeah....

5:15am: We start all over again, but Allister slept in past Matt's alarm for the first time ever!

So there's a typical Mum day. Although I normally do leave the house with the boys, at least 3/4 days a week. We tend to go out after breakfast, to the park, pool, store, or just on the garden. But were staying home one more week for potty training. Then Ill brave leaving the house without nappies! Oh and we do try to watch less TV, but it helps with the potty training. Once we are done I'm going to go back to a TV ban before our naps.

That's all folks!

PS: There's probably a ton of typos here because I couldn't be bothered to proof read, not that that normally helps because I am rubbish with that sort of thing, but there's you are!

Also I think this must be my longest blog ever!

Also, I wonder why I am not skinnier with all the running around!

Allister's 4 month well check.

Allister did great at his appointment today, he had 2 shots. He didn't even notice the first one, and SCREAMED with the second, but only briefly! He came home and had a good nap!

His stats:

Weight: 17lb 10oz (95th %)

Height: 26 inches ( 90th %)

Head: 43.3cm (Greater than 97th%)

He is almost 18lb my big boy, but is not off the charts this time, I guess that's why he has been hungry and feeding more, he wants to maintain his curves :)

His head shot up allot, my Doctor said it nothing to worry about as he is just trying to catch up with the rest of him!

He is doing everything he should, giggling lots, rolling and grabbing at things.

She sat and played with him for ages and said if all babies were as good, cuddly and giggly as him she'd have more!

She said to go ahead and give him fruits and veggies whenever we want as he's taking to the solids so well. So I'll be making more baby food very soon.

His next appointment is 6 months.

Harrison was very well behaved this visit, he sat and played nicely, and didn't peel all the posters off the wall like last time. That was a relief! I think he was happy the shots were not for him.

Harrison's words....

Harrison has been saying all sorts of new things lately.

I love to hear him speak, and discover new things to say.

He is now doing 4 and 5 word sentences, this morning he said-

"Watch sesame street on TV now?"

He has started to say "I" and "Me" now too when referring to himself instead of "Harrison".

He says "Okay" allot too, which is so cute.

He also says "Right There!" when pointing to stuff.

He will also finish the sentence in most of his books, he knows them by heart!

On a down side, he hasn't napped in a few days, I am hoping he doesn't want to give them up just yet!

Cute photos

Some photos from the last couple of week....

Harrison in his Iron Man floaty, hanging out at the pool.

Allister's first time in the baby pool.

Harrison pulling his wagon with Daddy :)

Allister's first solids, he liked it!

Potty progress :)

After such a success at first, we took a little potty break because Matt and I were getting a bit stressed, and that's not good for Harrison. I wish we hadn't! It was like starting all over again this time, I should have stuck it out and got rid of the nappys. Oh well, lesson learned! So we started over this week, and today we went on leaps and bounds!

We have not been napping well, and having lots of accidents, but I stuck with it! Today we napped without a nappy- I figured he took it off this morning anyway! And he had just been no 1&2 so I assumed we were good for an hour or two. And we were! He woke up dry and comfy.

Then this afternoon he took himself to the potty a few times to pee and we had a few accidents still.

A while later he started to walk like Charlie Chaplin! I told him to go potty and he did no.2! Then again before bed he did the same, on the big toilet. I'm so proud of my little guy :) he's doing so well, it's such a big step. (any mum will tell you how tough it can be to potty train! Those who don't yet- you wait :)) and he has been so against going poopers on the potty, even though he has done it a couple Of times.

So- that's it. I'm writing it here so I don't go back on my word. Nappy are for night time only! That's it. I know he's ready, he knows he is ready, so I just have to brave the risk of messy pants and remember a change of clothes!

I hope I'm doing the right thing.

Claire

Sent from my iPhone

Careful what you wish for!

Since we've been working on potty training I have been trying to teach Harrison to take of his underpants and trousers. Its funny, because most kids learn this very easily and start randomly taking off their clothes at inappropriate times. Well, we have been lucky enough not to have this problem... until now.

This morning I go into get Harrison up, he has been quietly playing in his room as usual, waiting for one of us to go get him.

He is naked from the waist down.

No nappy, no PJ bottoms.

"Stinky poopers!" Harrison exclaims, and points...to the top of his dresser drawers!

Oh fun.

"Is there any more poopers?" I ask.

""Guinness eat."

Whaaaaat!

I have no idea if Guinness really did eat any of the poop, I guess we will never find out!

So I search the room for remnants of poop, there's some on his feet, the bed, the carpet, on top of his rocking horse which he has been bare-bum riding!

Oh the joys of two year old's.

We will sure have a lot of funny stories to tell when Harrison is older.

Like the story about Auntie Julie and uncle Gary who, while potty training, pooped in the potty and then painted themselves with it.

Allisters first meal.

We introduced Allister to solids over the weekend.

Other than the initial surprise "Your sticking THAT spoon in where?!"

He did great!

And guess what....he slept almost 9 whole hours that night?

It could be a coincidence, he only had about half a tablespoon of cereal with rice milk.

His face on the initial contact was so funny!

I guess i need to start making baby food again soon!

Harrison's escapades continue....

Harrison figured out how to get out of his bedroom recently.

He went into Allister's bedroom and found a pen-

I found him in Allister's crib, with pen all over himself, the crib, sheet, and furniture!

Fortunately it all washed out expect for the sheet.

He wouldn't be two without a drawing episode!

Thank P&G for the magic eraser!

As promised.....

I promised you some Allister giggles after the crying video :)

A weekend of firsts!

I got interrupted and didn't write anything in this post lol :)

We had a fair few first on July 4th Weekend!

1: Allister got a little trim! His hair was crazy long at the sides. My boys never seem to lose their baby hair, strange. So his new hair is coming in thicka nd fast and his baby hair was getting longer and longer! Harrison has crazy hair when he was a baby too. We just trimmed the sides a little and kept the hair as a keepsake. We did the same with Harrison about the same age, I compare the hair and it was the exact same color! The only difference being Harrison's hair came through a lot fairer and Allister's seems a little darker, not as dark as when he was born, but still darker than Harrison's.

2: We went to see fireworks, that was a first for me, Harrison and Allister! Well, I have seen plenty of fireworks, but not 4th of July ones :)

3: Allister rolled over from back to tummy, he got stuck and screamed like crazy. He now will do it over and over, but fortunately he hasn't done it in his sleep yet. I hate when they first start sleeping on their tummy, I always want to roll them over, although apparently you don't have too.

Anyway, that was it!

Our wonderful independence day weekend.

We had such a wonderful July 4th weekend.

The weather could not have been more perfect, high 70s/80s and low humidity, so rare for Ohio!

We played outside a lot, on the swings and slide...

In the pool...

We ate Popsicles.

We bounced on our neighbors trampoline,

and made Allister laugh!

We went to watch fireworks!

Our babies first ones!

And got TRD.

Harrison loved the "eye-er-works"

What a wonderful weekend with wonderful company :)

Binky update.

I posted recently about Harrison eating all his Binky's. I cant remember if I told you that he found the lost one in his room? It fell down the back of his chest of drawers. So the clever little monkey pulled out all the drawers, and found it in the space underneath!

Cunning boy!

Anyway- I took it off him, and its been gone ever since. He has asked for it once of twice, and when I said the Binky is all gone, he just excepted it. He still has his stinky bunny though :)

Weaning from the Binky has been so much easier than I thought. you hear horror stories of toddlers screaming and crying for it for weeks. Harrison has always taken well to transition. I guess he was just ready?

Allister is 4 months today!

My little Chumble Chops is 4 months old today, didn't that go fast :)

He's such a big boy, in fact this top he is wearing is size 12 months, and it fits perfectly.

Allister is reaching lots of milestones now, he talks all the time, so cute. He is about to find his feet, he stares intensely at them, and has grabbed them once or twice. It wont be long until they are in that mouth!

Speaking of mouth, just about everything is in there right now! He is mouthing anything he can get those chubby little hands on, and drooling lots too!

He now rolls over both ways, he hates to roll onto his tummy, he screams like crazy when he does! He rolled from back to tummy for the first time on 3rd July.

He is working on sitting, and tries to pull himself up to stand all the time-I wonder if we will have another early walker?

I'm now putting him to bed at the same time as Harrison, and in his crib. Then when he wakes for his night feed (which last night was back to 4am, so much better!) I bring him back in to our room.

the 4 month milestone means we get to introduce sold food, if he is ready. We will start slowly, as we did Harrison. Harrison wasn't interested till 5 months, so we will see how he goes. He is a lot bigger than Harrison so he may want it sooner? I'm looking forward to having him sit with us at the dinner table like a proper family! I'm also hoping Harrison starts to make less mess at mealtimes or I'll have two lots of icky mess to clean up.

Allister has his 4 month well check up next week, I'll let you know how he does.