Success and learning curves

So we are on Day 5 of potty training! Overall Aidan is doing very well. I am so proud of him! He stayed dry the entire day yesterday and woke up dry this morning. We even drove to Huntington for dinner and back. He has used the potty twice in a public restroom ( another reason I did not take the initiative to potty train him- public restrooms creep me out). I have found some handy dandy toilet seat covers that not only are nice and thick but have stickies on the back side so they adhere nicely to the seat and are a little longer on the sides so they cover a little of the sides too! I have many memories of my mother carefully covering the toilet seat with toilet paper when I was little. These are sooo much better! Toilet seat covers and all still werent enough for Aidan to potty at the park today. We had a playdate with the mom and tot group I belong to. I took him to the potty twice there but he just couldnt go- can I say park restrooms are GROSS and I dont blame him! We were there for a couple of hours. As I was packing up our picnic lunch to go home and Aidan was playing on the play structure I looked up to see Aidan with his pants and underwear around his ankles and attempting to run to the bathroom. Poor baby just couldnt make it and decided to strip right there at the playground. lol! I was proud of him for having the right idea and attempting to make it to the bathroom.

The first couple of days I pretty much let him run around the house naked. This I learned the hard way was a BIG mistake! Since I wanted to stay close to home anyway I decided to do some Spring cleaning. I got out my Shark steam mop ( which I love btw) and steam cleaned my entire kitchen, downstairs bath, and dining room. The floors looked gorgeous! I sat down to take a little breather and check my emails. All of a sudden Aidan runs out of the living room and I hear him grunting. I hear him exclaim I pooped! in a very proud voice. I walk through the kitchen and see big piles of poop all over my freshly steam cleaned floor. UGGG!!! He just couldnt hold it but at least got a large portion of it in the potty and the rest all over himself and my floor. We still celebrated because he had the right idea but in my head I was saying a few curse words. lol! Luckily I hadnt even put the mop away yet and just went over it again. The lesson I learned is that it is best NOT to let your child run around naked when they are potty training and to ALWAYS keep at least underwear on them. lol!

The 2 videos I posted were taken the other night at about 11 pm. Aidan has been having a hard time going to bed lately on the days that he has really good naps. As you can tell he was totally awake! He picked up his harmonica and started playing it so I quickly whipped out the camera. I think I am going to have to start limiting his nap times so he goes to bed earlier.

I lied...

Last summer just before Aidan turned 2 we bought him a potty . He showed a lot of interest and actually did well using it for a couple of days. He then lost interest.... He has sporadically used the potty but for the most part it has just been sitting there collecting dust. I have been going back and forth as to what I should do. For awhile I have been thinking that I will just wait until he is "ready" and let him potty train himself. I have been giving this a lot of thought lately and as he is getting closer and closer to 3, I am getting a little ansy about the whole potty training. I REALLY want him to be potty trained by the time he is 3. Im not sure what I will be doing in the fall but do know that I want him to be in a part time Preschool. Many of them require the kids to be potty trained and I dont want that to be the reason he is not able to go to a program especially if it is a really great one.

This leads me to the title of this post... This morning I lied to my child. This is not something I would ordinarily condone or do but felt it was necessary. Lately when I ask Aidan if he wants to wear a pull up or big boy underwear I get an emphatic NO! I WANT A DIAPER!! I decided today was the day that we would BEGIN potty training. LIKE IT OR NOT! I think some kids need to wait until they are ready and some need a little push. I think my child is one of the latter. I think he would still be in a diaper at age 5 if I let him. He is to comfortable in a diaper. This morning I lied and told him that we didnt have any diapers and he would just have to choose between a pull up or big boy underwear. He chose big boy underwear but has been running around naked for most of the day. He has done really well ! We even ventured out this morning to the grocery store and pharmacy and he stayed dry. He has had a few accidents but it is different than last summer. As soon as he has an accident he gets a look of horror on his face and says " I pee peed!" We rush to the bathroom and he finishes up on the potty. Last summer he would be wet and could care less. He would stay wet if we didnt say something to him. The biggest news of the day is that he pooped in the potty today too! I couldnt believe it and hadn't really given much thought as to how I was going to deal with the whole pooping issue. I was sitting in the living room and he diappeared for awhile. I heard him grunting and knew exactly what he was doing. I had visions of a big pile of poop on my kitchen floor, but when I found him he had done it in the potty! Yeah Aidan! It was cause for BIG celebration! We called Mimi immediatley to share the news. Poor thing was really concerned about his potty being dirty and kept asking me to "Clean it". We went to eat at Aidans favorite pizza joint ( because they have video games- he doesnt even realize yet that you are supposed to put money in them but likes to sit at the race car one and pretend to drive. lol!) to celebrate. It was really crowded tonight and it took a REALLY long time to get our food. Aidan could care less because he was busy "playing" his games. We went to Kmart prior going to eat. By the time it was time to go it had been almost 2 hours since he pottied last. I was thinking to myself- I need to get him home and get him on the potty. To late! As we were walking out the door he yelled " I pee peed" I need to go to the bathroom. Sigh.... Oh well, at least he is now saying he needs to go to the bathroom ( even if it is after the fact). All in all I consider today a HUGE success!

Tonight when it was time to go to bed I "magically" found a diaper . Tomorrow if he asks for one I will tell him that diapers are for bedtime and offer him a pullup. He will probably opt for underwear again because for some reason he is anti pullup. Now I just have to tackle the whole passie issue but that can wait for a little longer....

Here are some pics from last summer when we first got the potty.

Day 4 and 5 Florida- Epcot and Universal

Day 3 of Disney was not quite as magical as our day at the Magic Kingdom but Thank Goodness we were at Epcot and NOT the Magic Kingdom. The one thing happened that Disney can not control - it rained! Boo. We got to Epcot and got to see a few of the attractions before the skies opened up. FYI - I would NOT recommend taking very young children to Epcot, it is more for older children and adults. I however appreciated much more this time then when I went when I was a preteen. It started raining when we were in one of the attractions. It was a DOWNPOUR and not just a light sprinkle. We ducked for cover for awhile. I then went and bought us some ponchos. We had early dinner reservations in China so we decided just to go for it. I bought Aidan a child sized poncho and then covered the stroller with an adult size poncho. Luckily I had packed my umbrella. By the time we got to the restaurant- about a 10 minute walk/jog- Aidan was out like a light! I couldnt believe it. I then had to decide if I was going to wake him up and take him inside to eat or to stand in the rain. I NEVER wake a sleeping child but made an exception that day! I woke him up and he did surprisingly well at dinner after I held him for about 15 minutes. When dinner was over it was STILL raining. We had to make a decision. We picked THAT day to take advantage of the free transportation from our hotel. The down side is they only picked up late at night. We had 4 hours to kill before the first pick up. There was an attraction that Clinton REALLY wanted to see and was indoors so we walked there. It was a 40 minute show so we decided at least it would be a reprieve from the rain. When we got there Aidan was sleeping AGAIN! AAAHHH I was a little frustrated at this point. I knew he was REALLY tired so I told Clinton to go in and enjoy the show and I would stay with Aidan. So Clinton went to see the show and I stood in the rain for 40 minutes ( I did at least sit at a table with a small umbrella over it which provided a little cover) with a sleeping baby who was as snug as a bug in the "tent" I made him. When Clinton got out of the show I decided it was time for us to LEAVE - I had enough of the rain! We caught a taxi back to our hotel- so much for the free transportation that day. lol! Everything we had with us that day was SOAKED when we got back to the hotel. My shoes did not dry off until we got home and I was able to put them in the sun to dry.

The last day we went to Universal. Again, not a place I would really recommend for small children. They did have a Barney show and clubhouse that Aidan LOVED! They also had a water play area but it was to cold that day to enjoy. All in all it was a good day!

First arriving at Epcot- the weather not so bad. I posted this picture on Facebook. Someone commented- Who are those people? LOL! I didnt even really notice the family in the photo. I was concentrating on the characters. These characters were all over Epcot and were very cute.

The above pics were the only ones I got at Epcot. I REALLY wished I would have gotten a pic of us in our ponchos. Im sure we were a sight!

Eating lunch at Fishermans Wharf - San Francisco only in Florida at Universal Studios. lol!

They had a Simpsons area at Universal

Highlight of the day- Playing in Barneys clubhouse.

Waiting to see the Barney Show...

still waiting......

still waiting....

and still waiting.....

ahhhhh..... the big purple dinosaur himself.

A short video from the show. It was PERFECT for a 2 1/2 year old. I mean if you sing "If your happy and you know it" it is RIGHT down their ally! LOL!

Disney Day 2- Magic Kingdom

Our second day at Disney we went to the Magic Kingdom. There are no words to describe it except "magical". Clinton arrived the night before while Aidan was sleeping. We were soooo happy to have him with us. When Aidan woke up in the morning the first thing he said to his dad was "where's Annabelle?". So funny. He knew that Annabelle was always with us when we were together and knew she was missing. The second thing he did was bring his dad a book and said "read it".

It was interesting to compare The Magic Kingdom to Disneyland. They are very similar. I think Disneyland has a few more things that are in other sections of Disneyworld.

As soon as we got off of the monorail and went through the entrance we saw that the characters were doing a show in front of the castle with the Princesses. I just love the Disney princesses- I guess I am still a little girl at heart. We stood there and watched it for a long time before Aidan decided that it was time to move on. LOL! The second thing we did was ride the cars. I think this was Aidans favorite part because he got to drive and even got his own drivers license! The boy LOOOVES his cars and is always wanting to drive mine. He just cant understand the concept that he has 14 more years to go before he can do this. lol. It cracks me up how grown he thinks he is and how independent he attempts to be except when it comes to potty training- ugh! He still has no interest in using the potty.

We spent a majority of the day in the section ( I forgot what it is called) that has all the kids rides. We rode the carousel, flying Dumbo, Its a Small World ( which I think is better at Disneyland because the outside is so pretty), and Snow Whites spooky forrest. Believe it or not this took a couple of hours. It was really crowded that day and HOT! We needed to take a break for lunch.

After lunch Aidan took a nap. I watched Aidan while Daddy rode the Teacups and then Daddy watched Aidan while I rode Splash Mountain. I stood in line for an hour! It was worth it though because it was quite refreshing on such a hot day! Aidan was still sleeping when I found the boys but woke up soon afterwards.

We ended our day with a ride on Space Mountain ( have I mentioned that Clinton and I both are TOTALLY KIDS when it comes to amusement parks and rides?) We just couldnt leave without riding this ride. We got a fast pass, came back at our specified time, were able to do the child switch off ( I think it is so great Disney lets you do this) and within 20 minutes we had BOTH ridden a ride that normally has a minimum wait of an hour and a half. Cool!

We took Aidan to one of the outdoor play structures in Toontown and let him play for awhile. We then took the train back to the entrance where we caught the Monorail back to where we caught the tram to our car. LOL! lots of forms of transportation at Disney!

First arriving at the park Watching the Princess show

Aidan decided to switch hats with daddy.

Watching a Bugs Life 4 D movie.

Riding the Carousel

Waiting in line for Its a small world.

Mommy and Daddy being kids.

One of my fav pics from the day.

Aidan does not look very happy in this pic but it was because he wanted to GO!

Aidan picked out his own hat- Pluto! I kept calling it Goofy and he kept correcting me.

Taking a break in Minnies house. Notice the matching shirts!

Disney Day 1

Like I mentioned before, Aidan and I arrived in FL a few days before Clinton. We spent one of those days just hanging around the hotel and going to old town. The other day I decided we needed to get out and DO something, so I decided we would spend the day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. There were many things I liked about this park. First, we went during the middle of the week so it wasn't crowded and the lines were minimal for everything. Second, they had one area where they had all the characters! I LOVED this. You just had to stand in a short line to see your favorite characters. We never did get to get up close and personal with the characters at the Magic Kingdom because you had to time it just right and the lines were sooooo long. There was NO WAY Aidan would have waited. We got to see Chip and Dale and Goofy before we had to scoot on over to the Lion King show. Can I say PHENOMENAL! It was sooo beautiful and literally brought tears to my eyes sitting there watching it with our little boy! After the show we went to the "Asia" section where Aidan took a looong nap. There was a section that was kind of rain forresty and had lots of beautiful trees for shade. Aidan fell asleep right in the middle of the path- and you know what? I spied with my little eye a very inviting bench underneath some huge bamboo so I decided to take a little siesta myself! Thats right, I took a nap right in the middle of Disney! LOL! It was quite refreshing.

Aidan was still sleeping so I decided to head on over to the "Africa" section where they were going to have the parade. I sat around eating ice cream and watching the African men dance and play their drums waiting for the parade to start. What a relaxing afternoon! The parade started and Aidan was STILL sleeping so I just strolled him right over front and center and watched the parade. You would have thought all the loud music would have woke him up, but my boy can SLEEP! I think I finally woke him up about half way through the show screaming at Mickey. LOL! He watched the rest of the parade kicked back relaxing in his stroller. Have I ever mentioned that Aidan likes to "relax" after his naps? so funny.

One other thing I really liked about the Animal Kingdom was that they had a great Dinosaur section. It had a GREAT play area for kids with climbing structures, slides, and even a huge covered sand pit that the kids got to "dig" for Wooly Mammoth fossils. We spent a lot of time there after lunch.

So day 1 at Disney was totally awesome! Here are some pics....

I just love Goofy!

a not so great pic of Aidan and I with Chip and Dale. It was kind of windy that day.

The parade...

I think I woke Aidan up when I was screaming at Mickey.

This is how Aidan watched the rest of the parade, kicked back and relaxing. lol

This was the shady path in Asia. Look closed in the middle of the pic and a little to the left. Do you know what that is?

Stinky smelly BATS! It was not to much further down the path that I decided to take a little snooze.

The "Dino Dig"

Aidan standing in one of the play structures that just happened to be a jeep.

Riding the Triceratops ride. Very similar to the flying Dumbo ride.

Easter Fun

I will resume the pics from Florida but right now I just wanted to throw in some Easter Fun. This Easter was one of my favorites in memory. Maybe it was because we stayed at home or maybe it was because Aidan is older now and was sooo much fun. This Easter just seemed different somehow and we created some great memories. My mom came down on Thursday. On Friday we took Aidan to get his picture taken with the Easter Bunny. He ran right up to him and gave him a big hug. MUCH different than our experience with Santa this Christmas. Friday afternoon we attended our neighborhood easter egg hunt. Aidan collected lots of eggs and CANDY!

On Saturday my friend Cara came over and we had some fun. We had a cake decorating contest and posted it on Facebook. People got to vote on which cake they liked best. We havent declared a winner but I "ahem" am in the lead 11 to 4! Sweet revenge for her making fun of my "lion cake" ( so she calls it - it was really the EB) I made 2 Easters ago. Tee Hee. After Cara left we dyed eggs. Saturday night I went over to my cousin Terris house to watch the WVU game. I could really care less about WVU but figured I would cheer on the team since they were our representives for the state in the final 4. I spent most of the time holding Terri's 4 month old precious grandbaby while she slept. Just proved to me that I still got it! Nothing sweeter than a sleeping babe.

EB visited Saturday night and Sunday morning was full of fun. We then snapped some pics before church. We came home and mom made some DELICIOUS strawberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast for brunch. I then made a TASTY ham, homemade scalloped potatoes, steamed asparagus and rolls for dinner. Oh and for dessert? Yummy Easter Bunny cake!!!

Aidan at the neighborhood egg hunt. I love him in pink!

Dying Easter Eggs- Wow! SO many great lessons and vocab I got to teach this year!

EB visits....

Cool Dude!

Aidan said "oh my peas!" when he came down the stairs and saw his basket. The kid cracks me up.

Aidan was so funny with his eggs. He picked out a "monster" decoration kit. I had mom help him decorate while I was watching the game. She said he really wasnt into it but every once in awhile would run into the kitchen and say " Im going to decorate my eggs". This picture was taken easter morning. He continued decorating that morning. Once again he ran into the kitchen and said "Im going to decorate my eggs".

I love springtime in the Mountains. The trees are absolutely gorgeous when they are blooming! In this pic Aidan had lost a shoe but was looking so adorable I just kept on snapping.

I threw this one in for fun. Aidan crossing his arms pouting.

I love the shoes I found for him to wear!

Hope everyone had a great Easter!!! We sure did!