The Ebb and Flow.

Well, I think we're officially off our 2-week-streak of being an angel.  The brattiness has returned and so have the timeouts.  C'est la vie of being two, eh!?  Overall, though, he's been fine.  We really enjoy this stage of development-- they seem to develop so much right in front of your eyes.  Good stuff.

 Testing out the Halloween costume-- MONKEY!  Very apropos, eh?  (There's a hood that goes up...)

 Dad and Elliot made a day of it the other day and biked down to Buckingham Fountain (upon Elliot's request).  It was chilly but they were fine.

 I really think these two monkeys have too much fun!  Poor Elliot, once Dad goes back to work...

Firehouse, Here We Come!

Another night of food progress... it's kinda funny how I am now realizing how easy it was to just feed Elliot cereal every night and not worry about preparing a proper meal or always eating at the same time if he wasn't eating the same food.  We are going to make a conscious effort to force the food more, and force a "family dinner time" when we are altogether for an evening meal on the weekends (Pat has class all week).  Tonight, Elliot ate all his fish AND peas (albeit a very small serving!), and pretty readily at that.  Dinner was done in 30 minutes or so, no real battles, just a few countdowns or "family bites altogther!"  Off we went to the firehouse before bathtime with Elliot beaming, chanting, "Fish AND peas!  Mommy, Daddy, so proud!"!  We're gonna have to get creative with our rewards after the novelty starts wearing off.

 Hard to get good photos in this lighting and with such reflective engines...

The firefighters are so patient and welcoming.

 Chillin' with my iShuffle.

 This reading session with Dad turned into a whole process of seek-and-find... I'll try to get some video up here soon of the process.  We were cracking up.

We have had a wonderful week/2 weeks with Elliot.  He's been pleasant, responsive, and just happy to putz around a bit.  I don't know if this is a phase (and we'll be back to terrible twos soon?) or if the reprimands and such are working.  It seems to be corresponding to the transition to his big boy bed and more foods, so maybe he's feeling empowered or liking the positive reinforcement matched with the punitive measures...??  I do think the increased communication plays a big role.  He might just be growing up a bit.  Sniff, sniff.

Fish and Parties!

Quick update... night before the 1st day of school, and I should be in bed, but I know I won't be able to sleep.  Thought I'd get some photos up here.

The latest:
- He's been doing well with the mattress on the floor, until today (it's been almost a week!).  There's only been one or two instances of me seeing his lamp click on, then off, or the like.  This morning was the first time he opened the door and came into our room instead of us going to get him upon waking.

This afternoon, I saw/heard his door open, peered down the hall only to see him putzing around, something pink hanging out of his mouth (finger puppet pig?), and then the door close.  He did not see me.  Huh, I thought.  A few moments later, I hear him pittering down the hall.  His excuse, "To see mom."  All attempts at napping were in vain today when it ended with a well-timed poop.

- Another food challenge, with fish and green beans this time.  The deal-- eat a serving of either, and it's a trip to the firehouse again!  After an hour+, we did the horribly-looking "I'm gonna hold you down and force this into your mouth because I know you'll like it," tactic.  It started the ball rolling (so mission accomplished) and with gagging, countdowns, clapping, ridiculous-looking dancing for each bite, the fish was eaten.  Off to the firehouse.  He got to sit in the truck, pretend to drive, turn on the lights, and came home with some pages to color and a giant balloon.  What a night!

(He's quite the con-man-- tries to get rewards/treats for things he already does... we made french fries in the oven, and he has been eating these ok.  He looks at me with a grin, "Firehouse?  Eat french fries?"  Nice try...)

- Two birthday parties this past week.  Big hits.  The day after was full of, "Diane's party, NOW."  No sense of time.

- Lots of evenings or trips to the lake lately.

- A cool thing the other day-- it was getting dark, and he says, "Star!" and immediately corrects himself to say, "Airplane."  I asked, "How did you know it was an airplane and not a star?"  He gets a coy grin, no answer, and I ask, "Do stars move?"  A big, self-assured, "Nooooo," followed.

 Making specs out of Play-Doh.

Going to feed the ducks with dad with a bag full of old bread.

 A smooch from my lovebug!

Diane's birthday party was fun.  Great courtyard with plenty of community bikes, trikes, you name it. 

I love these shots.  Of course, they couldn't move without help. 

Anissa lives across the alley and is always hollering a "Hi Elliot!" across the way.  So cute.  She turned 5 this week.  They put the playgym with the slide landing in the pool.  Very cool.  Elliot got pretty tired and it got a little slippery, and after 3 good falls, we called it quits. 

First trip to the firehouse for eating peas.  The second one for eating fish we failed to document.  The firefighters were eating dinner the first time, and I didn't want to interrupt, so we just looked from afar.  Sounds like this past trip was quite spectacular.  

Just So Cute!

After not going to sleep on the mattress on the floor last night until after 10:30p, I was sure Elliot would be a mess today.  About midnight, he awoke crying because he had wriggled off the top end onto the floor and Pat put him back in the crib for the night.  However, he slept in until 10am (rare that he catches up for being up late!), and Pat managed to convince him to try the nap on the mattress on the floor again with, "Big boys don't get out of bed when it's naptime."  It must have worked...

Over 3 hours later, I peaked in on Elliot. He was laying down, knees propped up, with his little blanket completely over his head, face, everything. I whispered, "Are you still sleeping?" He responded with a miniature, crisp, "Yes." I crawled down onto the mattress, peered at him through the blanket holes, and said softly, "Do you want me to leave you in here for a little bit longer?" Another miniature, "Yes." I replied, "Ok, I'll crack your door, just come out when you're ready," with a big head nod from him to acknowledge this was just fine. So cute.

I really wanted to snap a photo, but I didn't want to disturb the rest of his slumber.

He Ate Peas. And Climbed Out of the Crib.

Finally got the little t-ball set out in the yard.  He seemed to dig it.  He tries on the deck too, and I have to remind him it does not belong in the house...

Potty training was a bust.  Bleh.  Five days in, and we had only one really good day, and that was more by chance (he ended up holding it all day until the diaper at nap-time, and surprised everyone, including himself, when he peed just before bed one night...)  We called it quits when he stopped sitting on the toilet, had 3 accidents in two hours, and never once, in the five days, made a step toward the toilet when he started to go in his pants.  We'll try again later.

The big accomplishment is that he ate a serving, although small, of peas!  Last night he ate 3, said he liked them, and I offered a trip to go see the fire engines  if he ate the little bowlful.  No go.  Then, today, Pat put more on his plate at lunch with the same promise.  At 3:30pm, as we lay down finally for a nap, he sits up and says, "Eat peas."  "Now?!"  "Yes, now," he responds, and starts to get up.  Uh, nope, "I'm bringing the peas to you.  If you eat them, great.  If not, it's to bed."  "Watch Thomas?" (his dvd)... and yes, I promise 10 minutes of Thomas if he eats them.  Darn kid, he eats them right away and we sit up to watch the stupid video.

Yesterday was a no-nap day, and with me having a migraine and needing time to work, I was a bit disgruntled but enjoyed my afternoon with him.  (I gave him 90 min, and when he was still yapping away, I went in, met with "Park!?"  Sigh...)  Today, I put him down finally, fearing that he had gained a second wind, and after an hour of yapping again, I hear a loud scream.  I knew what had happened...

Last night, when I went to read to him before bed, I stepped out to get his animal or something.  When I reappeared, he was inside the crib-- he had climbed in!  We talked about how dangerous this was, etc, and Pat and I started talking about what's next and how eeep, any minute he could try to climb out as well.  That was today, boom.  He tries to crawl out and lands on his face on the floor.  I flew in to find him sitting up, both hands cupped to his mouth, him bawling.  Thank goodness there wasn't even a bloody lip!  Nothing a little snuggling didn't remedy immediately.  Amazing.

My heart skipped plenty of beats.  Right away, I went back to get the mattress from our trundle bed for his floor.  This production of dragging it down the hall, the hooplah, etc, all of course led to no nap after all.  The set up now is not sustainable-- in his room is now his large crib, the double bed for guests, and now a twin mattress on the floor.  We decided that we could just make it to Ikea tonight to buy a bed rail (we're not too hip on the toddler beds) and miss traffic if we left around 7p, and put him in his pjs there, letting him fall asleep for the 9pm ride home... not a bad plan, eh?

Well... he fell asleep on the way there instead, woke back up, LOVED exploring Ikea ("More things?!"), and was super wired about the popsicle trays we bought, refusing to let go of it and cackling all the way home.  Back home by 9:30p... and by 10:30p, he was asking for dinner #2 in bed, not falling asleep on that twin mattress... the whole night backfired.  Not to mention that we came home with no bedrails... Plan B?  

Ah, Yes, Potty-training...

Because potty-training is such a dangerous sport...





We are attempting this method of potty-training that my sister used and was successful with.  Basic idea-- you use a peeing doll to model what's expected, have the child help "teach" the doll, give the doll treats, and then this transfers to expectations for the child.  The main idea is encouraging and giving constant rewards for dry pants, and revisiting expectations and routines with each accident.  What goes along with this is the idea that the child is self-sufficient-- there is no relying on telling mom and dad, but the child just goes to the toilet, takes his/her own pants down, etc., with no help from the adult eventually.  The method was born from psychologists teaching mentally retarded adults to toilet themselves, then they modified it for toddlers.  Supposedly it can happen in just half a day, but it can take a few days as well.  The book is very convincing.

Well, I attempted this a few weeks ago.  Day one went ok, and we got some promising signs by the 6-hour mark or so.  Nap-time and a park visit interrupted it a bit, but we were like, "Wow, this is gonna work!"  Then, the next morning, I got the phone call that Dad was having emergency brain surgery.  We ditched all efforts to pack up and leave, of course, and made no more mention of it.

At the hospital, Elliot asked to use the toilet so I entertained him, took off his diaper, and put him on it.  Yep, he waited just a bit and peed in the toilet.  Pretty good, he retained something!

Then, we're back in Chicago and on Tuesday morning, he woke up asking to use the toilet.  We did, then he wanted to wear underwear.  Ok, how could I then say, "Nope, I'm not ready, had other plans today, you're going back in your diaper."  All to-do lists were put on hold, and we dove in.  I hesitated to revisit the intense training from day one, thinking he wouldn't tolerate it well and would melt down, so we reviewed the basics and gave it a shot.  Probably a mistake.  Two accidents, and he held it well, but never went on the toilet... just kept going in his pants and getting upset.

We ended the day with him sitting for long periods of time on the toilet, mainly because he knew he was avoiding the inevitable bath/bedtime...

Today is more of the same.  We are failing to get him to connect having to pee with running to the toilet.  He is not tolerating the "practice"rounds that the method insists are necessary with each accident, and I know that would help.  Meltdowns lead to him hitting, etc, lead to punishment/timeout and we lose the positive focus that we should have.  He wants the treat so bad that he's getting upset with himself for not being able to pee when he does sit down.  Pat's ready to bail (but he's only partially helping!), insisting Elliot's not ready.  ??  Me-- I think no matter when he's "ready" or declared such, whether it's 2, 3, or 5, he still has to learn that sensation and connect it preventatively to peeing on the potty.  Maybe it just comes when they're older, but I'm not convinced.  Am I wrong?

I guess I am also realizing that just like EVERYTHING else with kids-- there are stories of success and stories of nightmares with every single stage.  My sister reported to me that one of her girls had accidents for a week with this method while the other accomplished it in 4 hours.  On Facebook already we've been told-- it's easier when they are older and ready, don't even try or force it because they'll just start going when they're ready, stick with it as it's a rough 3 days but it'll work... This all leaves me wondering, so how do we know when to bail or to stick with it?  Where's the breaking point and will I recognize it?  And, of course, my other realization that is a bit daunting-- only Pat and I can answer these questions for our child.  Eep.

The Harens Visit!

Pat's sister came to Chicago for a long weekend with her family about 2 weeks ago or so.  It was a great time-- we hit the museum, the beach, and settled for the playground the last day, as we realized anything beyond that would just take everything we had and leave us all too exhausted for the efforts.  It was Kristie and Jason, and they have Alex (4 1/2), Ben and Jake (2 1/2), and little #4 on the way!!    

Trucking through the city with the crew... not bad, eh!?

Adding Elliot to their mix for a photo.

Taking the munchkins out deep-- Pat has two clinging to him.

Just love this one.  Kinda captures it all.

I kept the kids for just a short while one evening before bedtime... I attempted to make cupcakes with them.  Elliot ended up the dictator, who would not give up his stool and would hand out the cupcake cups one at a time to each of the others.  He was a bit controlling with the crowd of threatening peers visiting but they took it in stride!