Potty Progress

Since we have been gone for two weeks on vacation, then Thanksgiving, AJ seemed to have lost his progress on using the potty. He has been in diapers all week at school. He was sat on the potty at school, but hadn't done anything there.

Last night AJ decided he needed to "help" me potty and followed me into the bathroom. While I was sitting there, AJ pointed at his potty, said "potty", and started pulling down his pants. He kept getting up and down for a while, so I figured he was just playing again. Then he went over and tried to flush the regular toilet. When I looked down I saw that he had actually went pee pee in his potty. Since there was no flush handle on his potty seat, he was trying to flush the big potty.

This weekend we will try to put him in his underwear for the first time. Fun, fun, fun...

Weird Things follow-up

Apparently my doll has won the Weird Things contest over at MamaDrama. I have found out what her real name is and started to do some research. Seems she might have some twin sisters out there somewhere...


http://www.bigredtoybox.com/cgi-bin/toynfo.pl?saucyindex

Santa and Funship Freddy

It seems AJ has developed a phobia of Santa and large costumed characters. We thought it was kinda cute that he was afraid of the Funship Freddy mascot on the cruise. During the Camp Carnival Talent Show, AJ was much more interested in watching Freddy's every move with great suspicion, than with actually participating in his class dance.

Last night we went out to Katy Mills to have AJ's picture taken with Santa again. He did so well last year, and we got such a cute picture. This year, however, AJ didn't want to have ANYTHING to do with Santa. He didn't want Santa within 6 feet of him. I felt bad for the poor Santa -- he really tried to engage AJ, but AJ would just scream and look away.

Guess Daddy's idea of an annual Santa picture is going to have a gap...

Weird Things Contest

Jenny over at the MamaDrama blog that I frequent, has put out a challenge to show her the weirdest thing that you have. My entry for this contest seems to freak out everyone but me. Jenny seems to have an eye for the macabre, so I think she will like my "evil possessed doll" also. This doll was given to me MANY years ago by my grandmother, and I have never seen another one like it. On the surface she seems like a normal doll, but when you pump her arm up and down she changes facial expressions. Here are some of my favorites.



One night in college I had a party at my apartment. The next morning (after drinking a bit the night before), I found my precious doll sitting at the end of my bed with this expression and holding one of my kitchen knives...

I can't imagine why anyone would have a problem with that.

Relaxing Vacation

This is a child who knows how to party down on his first big family vacation. Here is AJ enjoying Jamiaca.

Here he is enjoying the Cayman Islands.

And partying hard in Cozumel.

Still going in our cabin.

And really enjoying Camp Carnival.

Sneak Preview

Things have been a whirlwind since we got back from the cruise on Sunday afternoon. I am unpacking and repacking to leave again tomorrow for our annual Yaklin family Thanksgiving in Falfurrias. I know I have to do a long entry about the cruise, but here is a sneak preview.

Here is AJ relaxing on the Lido deck.

Countdown to Cruise-time

Hubby has talked of little else but the cruise for the past six months. To the point that I told him not to mention the word again. Today is my last day at work before we leave, and I think I finally have a case of "vacation-itis".

Okay, I'm back now. Apparently I will not be allowed to tie up loose ends today and coast through the day. There have ben nothing but emergency fires to put out since I walked into my office this morning. AAGGHHH!

I'm looking forward to relaxing on my stateroom balcony, spending some quality time with Hubby and AJ, and celebrating the big 4-0 in style. I'll post pictures when we return.

Peace out!

Shopping Needed

We had a little chat with AJ's lead teacher this morning at school. She says that he's doing really well with the potty and we should go ahead and start putting him in big boy underwear. Let me get this straight -- we are leaving in 5 days, taking a one-hour ride to Galveston, standing in line for who-knows-how-long, going on a seven day cruise (complete with 3 shore excursions), coming home on another hour-long drive, going back to school for only two days, leaving for a 4-hour car ride, staying in a hotel room for 4 nights, then taking another 4-hour car ride home. And this lady wants me to put AJ in underwear for the first time? Who is she kidding? I think we'll wait until after Thanksgiving. Jeez, he has only gone pee pee on the potty a few times...And I don't think I'm ready to start changing his clothes 4-5 times a day.

I think she and Daddy are going to have a hard time convincing me...

Wanna Potty, Part Deux

We seem to be making some real progress in the potty department. Of course, that progress will more than likely go away when we leave on Sunday for our vacation. AJ went pee pee in the potty twice at school yesterday and even did it once at home last night. Unfortunately, he had pulled off the little deflector shield on his potty at home, so most of it just went all over the bottom of his shirt....Oh well, I've cleaned up worse stuff than that lately. He was very proud of himself. I think it might just be starting to sink in.....

Wanna Potty

We bought AJ his very own potty this weekend. He apparently took that to mean that he needed to potty CONSTANTLY from that point forward. We set it up in the spare bathroom and he would run to the bathroom door yelling "wanna potty". We pull down pants, remove the diaper, let him sit on the potty, he would play instead of doing anything in the potty, I'd get him up, put on a new diaper, pull up his pants, go back into the living room. Then five minutes later -- "wanna potty"! Off we go to repeat the process. We spent most of the weekend in the bathroom. Of course the one time that I made him get up before he wanted to, he peed on the floor....I know it's a case of the boy crying "wolf" (or potty), but I just know that the one time I ignore his question would be the first time he would have actually DONE anything in the potty. So I guess I will just spend the foreseeable future hanging out in the bathroom. At least I quickly broke him of thinking that if he was sitting on the potty, that I had to be sitting on the big potty too...

Reverse Trick-or-Treating and Vampires at School

Halloween is over....YAY! AJ looked absolutely adorable in his clown costume even if he wouldn't leave the red nose on. There would be a picture posted here, but the batteries are dead in the camera and the pictures are locked inside. AJ had a couple of parties at school. During morning snack time, they put on their costumes and trick-or-treated to the other classrooms. During afternoon snack time, they had juice boxes, cookies, and fruit. One of the other children bit AJ on the back of the neck during playtime. They put ice on it for a while, but there is still a big bruise on his neck. Must be the Halloween thing....biting on the neck is a first for us.

After school, I picked AJ up and took him to the church for Heroes night. Daddy acted in a skit, and after the program, about 165 kids went "trunk or treating" in the parking lot. AJ's clown costume was again a big hit. AJ went to each trunk, said "tukteet" and held up his bag. After the first few trunks, he would go up to the next trunk, reach his hand into his bag, and try to give candy back. Thus is born the new fad of "reverse trick or treat".

It was a long day. AJ was so enamored of his costume that he wouldn't let us take it off. He passed out in the car on the way home. I finally managed to remove costume and clothes from a still-sleeping kid. He woke up long enough for me to let him down to go say goodnight to Daddy, but he walked straight to his bed, crawled in, and lay down. Daddy and I said "Night Night". AJ just waved at us through the bed rail and said "bye bye".