Potty Training

It's been way too long and the pictures on this blog are tragically outdated, but I have 20 minutes between meetings and I figured I'd give everyone a potty training update. WARNING: This post will discuss pee and poop. Enter at your own risk.

Ryan had been asking for "underwears" for a while now since his friends at daycare, Lucy and Sidney, have been wearing them for a while. We decided to wait until after Justin's mom's visit so as not to make her deal with accidents (you're welcome Gi-Gi!) Last Saturday, we decided it was time and put Ryan in underwear. We explained the potty to him, showed him all his new underwear, and watched the Potty Power DVD a couple of times. We had him in underwear only, no shirt or pants, and took him to the potty every 30 minutes. For nap and nightime, we put him back in a diaper. Results? Well the good news is that more went into the potty than didn't. The bad news is that we went through 9 pairs of underwears and a whole lot of mine and Justin's patience. We locked ourselves in the house for 2 days in potty purgatory, not leaving for anything. It was stressful and annoying, but by Monday morning, Ryan had started to get it. The one thing he wasn't getting though was poop. Each day he peed in the potty, but waited until naptime or nighttime to poop in the diaper.

On Monday we happily sent him to daycare with 8 pairs of underwears, several changes of clothing, and a hearty "good luck!" He did great, with only 2 accidents.

On Tuesday, we had a major breakthrough. Huge poop in the potty! I jumped up and screamed and completely startled Ryan, but we celebrated with lots of hugs (and a little chocolate).

On Wednesday and Thursday we had only 1 accident a day, and Ryan has started going 1.5 to 2 hours between potty breaks.


Over the weekend we did great, no accidents, but he did wait until naptime or nighttime to poop in his diaper. Not a big thing we figured, he'll get it again.

On Monday Ryan came down with a cold and that's when all hell broke loose. He's consistently doing well at daycare, going every hour on command and having few accidents. When he's home it's a different story. He wants to wear his underwear, but he doesn't want to go to the potty, so he holds it for 2 hours and even though we get him to sit for a minute every once in a while, he won't go. He'll now wait to pee on the floor instead. I did some research and this appears to be a willful toddler thing probably in rebellion of my constant reminding and hovering. I mean, I guess it would be a lot of pressure to have someone ask you every 5 minutes if you have to go and then watch while you're going. So we're going to try to back off and see if we can get him back to his week 1 greatness. And if not, that's ok too, we'll put the diaper back on for a couple of weeks and try again.

So all in all, we appear to be experiencing the roller coaster ride that is potty training. But as my co-worker reminded me, he won't go to college wearing diaper. Probably.

Pictures Long Overdue

Ever since I started my new job, I've had little time to post about the life of Ryan. Needless to say, Ryan is doing great, talking up a storm and coming up with a new way to make us laugh every day. I finally got around to going through pictures (from Christmas!) and here they are:

Here are pictures from Christmas when we had a wonderful visit from Justin's mom:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jmwade/Christmas2009#

And here are pictures from our adventures in Europe.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jmwade/Europe2010#

The Beginnings of Sex Education

This post may be TMI. Read at your own risk.

(Mommy steps out of the shower. Ryan is waiting there to open the shower door for her.)

Ryan (staring at mommy's you-know-what): Mommy, is that your penis?

Mommy: No Ryan, Mommy doesn't have a penis.

Ryan: Daddy has a penis?

Mommy: Yes

Ryan: Ryan has a penis?

Mommy: Yes

(Several moments go by while Ryan ponders.)

Ryan: What is that mommy?

(Mommy wonders what she should say. Should she go clinical? Should she call it a "hoo-hoo"? "Va-jay-jay"? "Cutchie"?)

Mommy: It's a vagina.

(Several more moments go by while Ryan ponders.)

Ryan: Do I have one?

Mommy (after doubling over from laughter): No Ryan, only girls have vaginas. Boys have penises. Justin!! It's time for you to get Ryan ready now... please!

Pancakon

To no one's surprise considering he's my son, Ryan is a chatterbox. The moment you walk into his room in the morning you get an endless stream of questions, requests, and observations. "Go downstairs? Get ready first? Go downstairs? Mommy sleeping? I like my blanket. I liiiiike it." etc. etc. He also does pretty funny stuff these days. So in the interest of keeping a diary of these precious moments, here are some of the gems from this week:

Precious Moment #1
On Sunday morning I made chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. We cut them up into little pieces for Ryan, and since he's content to starve himself if you don't actually feed him yourself, I started feeding him the pancake.
Mommy: Ryan, do you want a bite of pancake or bacon next?
Ryan: Um... pancakon.
Mommy: You want both at the same time?
Ryan: Yes! Pancakon!
He then proceeded to devour his breakfast, one bite of pancakon at a time.

Precious Moment #2
This morning Ryan grabbed his humongous stuffed elephant and carried him around.
Ryan: I carry baby. This Ryan's baby.
Daddy: I think Ryan's ready for a sibling.
(Ryan puts the elephant on the floor and starts riding it like a horse.)
Ryan: Go baby!
Daddy: On second thought, maybe he's not quite ready.

2 Year Check-Up

We had Ryan's 2 year check up today. I tried to get an appointment during the holidays but apparently everyone else has that same idea, so we had to wait till Jan 5. Ryan is still a smart, healthy boy with no developmental concerns. Yay! Here are the some of the highlights of the visit:

Height: 36" (82%) Does this mean he can go on all the rides now? Incidentally, the doctor said that you can predict someone's adult height by doubling their 2 year old height, which would make Ryan a 6 foot tall man. I can see that...

Weight: 25.6 lbs (16%) Still tall and skinny. The doctor was unconcerned about his weight gain stating that he probably just has high metabolism and he'll be one of those people who can eat whatever they want and not gain a pound. Given his daddy, I guess this makes sense too. We are staying on whole milk to help him gain weight.

Physical exam: The doctor noted that Ryan has the long legs and arches of a runner. The first half-Indian Usain Bolt perhaps?

Development: Ryan mentioned a color and the doctor was surprised to learn that he knew all his colors already. He asked us if Ryan was really smart or something.... How do you answer a question like that?! Of course, he's smart! :-) We actually said something about how his friend Zach knew his colors early and Ryan wanted to keep up. It's good to have smart friends too.

Asthma symptoms are being well-controlled by his Flovent, so we're going to continue that through the winter.

The bad part of the visit was the shots and blood draw. Ryan got 2 shots including his second H1N1 vaccine, and had to get his blood drawn to check for lead and hemoglobin levels. He was fine during the first shot, cried a little during the second, and screamed during the blood draw. :-(

Freedom of the Seas

We had such a fantastic time on the cruise! Pictures to come next week, but for now, here were the highlights:

We went with my family: my mom, Anju, Anjay, Avani, Aria, and Arjun. Ryan had SO much fun hanging out with his cousins, and was really sad to see them leave yesterday.

The ship - Royal Caribbean, Freedom of the Seas. I think we had 4300 passengers or something crazy like that. Anju and Anjay did the rock climbing wall, the kids enjoyed the H20 zone and we had fun watching people wipe out on the FlowRider. Amazing amenities on the ship. Royal Caribbean definitely does well with the entertainment and activities. There was never a boring moment, never a time when there wasn't something fun to do, and the production quality with the shows was pretty amazing for a cruise ship.

Our rooms: We were in the VIP suite at the very back of the ship (yes I know it's aft Justin) which basically meant we had a huge balcony that looked out over the water. Totally awesome. We also got special seating at all the shows, and access to the super secret concierge lounge where they handed out free drinks from 5-8 every evening. We all took advantage of the lounge but the boys especially did it up, making friends with Patrick, the bartender. VIP status didn't mean as much as we thought it would, (I never saw a butler), but it was nice to have some extra perks. And the balcony alone was worth it.

Embarkation day: I got food poisoning. Not a good way to start.

Day 1 - At sea - Had fun getting dressed up for the formal evening and singing karaoke.

Day 2 - Labadee, Haiti - It's a private Royal Caribbean island, so the crew basically takes all the food and drink from the ship and makes a "picnic" for the guests. Justin and I did a kayak tour while Ryan hung out at the beach with the rest of the family.

Day 3 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica - It was pouring in Jamaica. At the time we were hoping they would cancel the excursions, but thankfully they didn't. Justin and Arjun did the ATV tour while Anju, Anjay, and I went ziplining through the trees. We had lots of fun although our clothes may not have survived the rain and mud. Ryan, Avani, and Aria hung out with Nani on the ship running around the balcony.

Day 4 - Grand Cayman - Our underwater observatory tour was canceled but we did get a tour of the island and trip to the turtle farm. Justin, Ryan and I spent the afternoon at the beach where Ryan kept tasting the water and saying "salty". Genius I tell you. In the evening we did more formal wear and more karaoke (this time the classic "I Will Survive"). And saw a great ice show.

Day 5 - Cozumel, Mexico - Lots of shopping. In the evening we hit up the nightclub and I danced like a crazy woman in front of people I would never see again. Fun!

Day 6 - At sea - It was a little chilly (probably around 70) so we did some indoor activities like bingo, trivia, etc. This day went by way too fast. Ryan enjoyed the water park even though it was freezing out. I defrosted him a bit by putting him in the hot tub for a couple of seconds.

Yesterday we spent about 10 hours in the Orlando airport (and we were the lucky ones able to get home at all). Ryan didn't seem to mind being stranded, he was a huge fan of the moving walkway and we must have gone on about 50 rides. He was way too excited to nap, so we figured he would conk out on the plane. Nope. He was definitely tired, but wouldn't lie down, and just kept getting more and more exhausted. He finally fell asleep around 10 to be woken suddenly at 10:45 for landing. Overtired + possible ear pain due to cold + possible nightmare about a dog = MAJOR MELTDOWN. He writhed and screamed for what felt like an hour but was probably just 15 minutes. And I'm usually one of those really apologetic parents, but I was myself in danger of a meltdown and instead of apologizing, I was silently daring my fellow passengers to say anything.

All in all, loved the cruise. We had so much fun playing blackjack at the casino, participating in all the activities on board, enjoying the ports and excursions, and eating like it was going out of style. I'm still full. It was especially fun with a kid since we got a chance to visit a bunch of ports without having to pack and move. This comes in really handy with a toddler.

That's all I can remember for now, but I'll post pictures soon.

Random Update

I keep thinking I need to update the blog, but first I want to download Halloween pictures, or recent trip pictures, or post about that thing that happened 2 months ago. This is stressing me out, so instead I'm just going to post as things happen. And if I happen to miss some photos, I'm sure you'll see them on facebook anyway someday.

A couple of random updates about Ryan:

1 - He's hilarious these days. He constantly goes around pointing at things and saying "I like it" in a way that's a weird combination of Forrest Gump and the kid from those Life Cereal commercials in the 80's. We rented a huge truck for our trip with the Summerses to Annapolis for Thanksgiving, and EVERY time we got out of the car he would say "Mommy, I like it. I like the car." Over and over and over again. (It also works when he doesn't like something. He saw a dog he didn't like and mentioned to us about 50 times that he didn't like the dog.)

2 - He's smart enough/old enough to tell us what hurts. Last night Ryan had a low-grade fever, but he kept pointing to his ear and saying it hurts. Now considering Ryan likes to point at things and say "ow" all the time while laughing, we weren't quite sure whether to believe him. Plus he usually gets a really high fever with an ear infection. But he kept insisting that it hurt so we took him to the pediatrician's office this morning, and low and behold, he has a bad ear infection in that ear. Turns out it's good to listen to your kid.

3 - He's a manipulative little devil. Normally when he touches something he's not supposed to, Justin and I tell him "no touch" and he repeats it back and then doesn't touch it anymore. Yesterday morning he came into our bedroom, reached under the bed, and turned off our power strip. I told him "no touch" and he pretended not to hear me. So I kept saying it asking him to confirm, and instead he threw his arms around me to give me a big hug and kiss. He refused to acknowledge what I was saying, instead trying to distract me with kisses. I'm on to you kiddo.