I Think He Can, I Think He Can...

My first day of summer vacation was yesterday! Hooray! I thought I'd feel so wonderful when that day came, but really, I felt completely exhausted all day yesterday--not a way to start vacation. I think it was a combination of just plain winding down, and the fact that the day before when I was cleaning my classroom, the overhead abruptly slid from my hands (I had grabbed it by a compartment that opens--oops) and hit me in the temple...ouch. Really, ouch. There was a little swelling right away, but that went away with some ice, and the bruise/red mark left is very small.

I feel so much better today and ready for the break. Sooo, I decided that today would be the day to start potty training. What!!?? Yeah, we'll see how it goes. I think I've typed these words before---I DON'T REMEMBER POTTY TRAINING THE BOYS. It's so bizarre, because I DO remember potty training Chel--it was right before she turned two. I remember the little potty chair, setting it in the kitchen, and giving her M&M's for rewards. I know the boys were potty trained when they were 3, and that once Matt was trained during the day, he never had an accident during the night, and that when Kyle was around 6 or 7, I told him he wasn't going to wear diapers to bed anymore (even though they were wet every morning), and from that night on, he never wet the bed. But that's it. I'm guessing it wasn't easy, but maybe like childbirth, I've forgotten just how "painful" it was. lol

Day one with Evan:

I put the thick, big boy underwear on him this morning after he woke up around 7:30.

Around 8:30, I started taking him to the bathroom every half an hour. He protested, but the Elmo potty seat helped distract him a bit.

I poured the warm water.

Nothing...until 11:00....he clapped, smiled; I clapped, smiled. And I thought to myself, "Look how long he can stay dry-- 3 and a half hours!" Well, no. First, he didn't drink very much in the morning.

To sum up the next hour, he went pee 3 or 4 times---the first unscheduled time he had taken off the underwear, and I saw him looking down there. As soon as I saw a single drop, I said "no" and rushed him to the toilet. He went a little. He then went a couple more times--a little each time--in big boy underwear. Sigh.

We'll see how it goes. I definitely don't want this summer to become a stressful time. I'm thinking I'll buy some pull-ups to take some of the pressure off of following him around, although I'm fairly certain he won't want to keep those on.

Besides the fact that I'm on summer vacation,

part of my reasoning for doing this is that he doesn't like to keep a diaper on...especially when he goes to bed. I have to put the diaper on, a pair of underwear over that, and then a onesie to keep him from taking it off. And during the day, he'll often take it off right after he wets in it, or like the other day, poops in it.

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It's been absolutely lovely having Chelsey home for the past month. In just a short time, she has taught Evan where his hair, ears, nose, teeth, eyes, belly button, elbows, fingers, knees, toes, and "tooshy" are! After we ask him where they are, he'll point to them and then say them fairly clearly.

His favorite is his tooshy.

He gets on his hands and feet, sticks his tooshy up in the air, and says "tooshy." So funny. Sometimes when we ask, he starts to point to the wrong body part, but then catches himself and corrects himself. Funny again. Yesterday, I grabbed the camera to try to record this, but he had been doing it a while, so his "performance" was a bit week. I'll try again when he's refreshed.