Potty Training 101- Please don't try this at home! My actions are not to be emulated!

And so it begins again... Potty Training... sigh. Let me preface this by saying that this blog will be of little interest to those who read it besides me, so feel free to skip it.

So our little munchkin turned 2 at the end of April. I've sat him on the potty a handful of times with no real interest shown on his part, not even the slightest tinkle. I had all but thrown in the towel on the idea of getting him potty trained early when randomly he showed a little spark. It all started with Crue insisting on wearing Canyon's big boy undies- I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this already. Anyhow, we were at Target this last week and as we strolled past the underwear something caught Crue's eye. Toy Story undies- *insert gasp of excitement here* and we had to stop and choose a pack. He chose a pack of Diego underwear as well, but the level of enthusiasm wasn't quite the same- so we can exclude the gasp this time. Then we wandered over to the candy aisle where I let him choose a potty treat. Smarties were the drug
of choice; no doubt following in Auntie Kelly's footsteps with that one. Throughout the rest of our shopping experience he wouldn't let go of those darn underwear. He carried them through the store, cried when I had to briefly hand them to the lady checking us out and insisted on holding them all the way home... there was something special about these undies. When we got home he had snuck a couple pairs out of the pack- to which I responded by telling him that he could only hold them if he went potty like a big boy. Within half a minute that little boy was up the stairs pulling his potty chair out to the kitchen. He stripped himself down to just a t-shirt in another 30 seconds and was on the potty before I could bring the groceries in. That adorable little man sat there for at least 5 minutes (which is a long time in Crue's world) clinging to those tiny underwear and his bag of smarties. All of a sudden he stood up, announced that he had "pee-peed" and beckoned us all over to see. There was just a little bit in the potty, but we threw quite the potty-party regardless. I told him that if he went "poo-poo" I'd get him a new garbage truck (which is with more than diamonds in his world)!! Crue asked "From the store?!" and I kid you not within 2 minutes there was a little nugget in that potty! AFter that we threw We through a huge hoop-la of a potty-party, put his big boy underwear on him (he insisted on wearing the "Rex" ones) and went on with our evening. Of course 2 minutes later I found him in a puddle on the kitchen floor... stinkin' accidents!! I then decided to use guilt as a tactic... bad mommy! I told him that Rex was sad he got pee-pee on him and he had to tell mommy if he needed to go potty. Crue was sad too that he had to give up his prized "Rex" undies so quickly. Well, wouldn't you know, the guilt worked! While he was eating dinner he hopped down from his chair and said he had to go potty... shortly thereafter we had a large puddle in that little potty which was quickly followed by an impressive #2! Holy cow- had my baby potty trained himself?! I was ecstatic!! I put Crue's undies back on him and our conversation went as follows (and goes this way each time I put underwear on him).
Me: "Tell Mommy if you have to go potty. You don't want to pee-pee in your underwear."
Crue: "Rex will be sad?"
Me: "Yes, Rex will be sad if you get pee-pee on him."
Crue: "I kiss him?"
Me: "Sure bug."
And then he proceeds to kiss his underwear... every time... same routine. We had two great days with the potty. He even wanted to go on the big potty a couple times and was successful within seconds. Well... I guess I counted my chicks before they hatched because the second I told myself that this was going to be a piece of cake- he decided going potty wasn't all that great and his underwear were over-rated. Serves me right for being so darn optimistic. So I haven't tried much this week, but we'll be back on the saddle in a week or so- I promise.

Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo! Here comes the meat wagon (name that movie) or should I say "fire department!?"
Last week at 3AM we were rudely awakened by the blaring of our smoke detectors. "Fire! Fire! Fire!" they screamed. Seriously?! Rob, of course, wakes in a panic (I was surprised he didn't immediately reach for the kitchen knife he sometimes hides under his bedside table) and starts stumbling aimlessly around the room. I hop out of bed, 100% oriented and walk to the hall where I smell for smoke and then proceed to the boys' room. The alarm is still screeching and the little guys are both hysterical. We each grab a baby and head for the stairs, when all of a sudden it stops. What now? We decided it was probably some strange false alarm and put the boys back in bed. I stayed to console them while Rob went to call the non-emergency #. He wanted to be sure we shouldn't evacuate for fear that we might not wake in the morning if there was some sort of carbon monoxide leak. Good thinking in that stupor of his! The fire department suggested we evacuate anyhow and sent a truck to the house to investigate. We got the boys up again and loaded them into the car where we watched Backyardigans while we waited for the firemen to sweep the house with their fancy CO detectors... of course there was nothing. But Crue and Rob got to sit in the firetruck which seemed to make it all worth it, for Rob that is. Poor Cruiser didn't fare too well after our run in with the alarm. He was suddenly terrified of all the smoke detectors on the ceiling and immediately started having nightmares. At nap the next day I had to tape paper around the detector in his room so he could sleep. Poor baby would just lay wide eyed in his bed staring at the blinking green light saying "It scare me, it scare me." Dad would hold him up to the different detectors in the house and let him touch them, but it wasn't helping. I quickly invested in a fancy nightlight and that has seemed to do the trick:) Phew!! He's still asking about the detectors, but he's not near as scared as he was.

Not too much else is going on in our world. Canyon has become a maniac on his bike. He has started putting a broomstick across his path and jumps his bike over it- training wheels and all. He rides way too fast and stresses Rob and I out! He was going too fast the other night and ran head on into the side of a car- fortunately the car wasn't damaged and I wouldn't have been too disappointed if Canyon had been a little damaged, but he was fine too. Both boys are now obsessed with "bam-baids" as Crue calls them and each wears a new one daily with pride. It's so fun having these little boys around!!

The 4-Wheeling Trip... dun dun duuunnnnn!

So this last weekend was the 4th of July- hooray! Uncle John, Aunt Kell, Brycen and Kels were all here in town- double hooray!! Rob decided to plan a fun weekend away for the group of us up at Daniel's Summit where we snowmobile sometimes in the winter. We rented adjoining cabins and Rob brought 4-wheelers for each of us. We took off on the 4-wheelers just before 2PM, each with a little munchkin in our lap. Rob has snowmobiled there multiple times and assured us he knew the lay of the land... and here's where it gets fun! Aunt Kelly's rig broke down about 100 meters into the trek-boo! Don't worry- all was not lost! We rolled it back down hill and had it towed back up to the cabin. We figured out that it was the starter and it would need to be started by hand should it stall again and we were back on our way- hooray! We got about 3 miles into the trail when we came upon an awesome shallow little river to cross. We spent the next 15 minutes splashing through it and taking photos. The boys had an absolute blast! Crue couldn't get enough- so fun!!! We hopped back on the trail and continued on for another hour and a half. Crue eventually fell asleep in my arms and never seemed to mind the bumpy terrain. I guess he was really tired- poor little guy. Randomly the sky darkened and we found ourselves in this yucky little rainstorm. Aunt Kell thought maybe it was a good time to head back, but nooooo- Rob said the trail looped around to the lodge and we should continue... and so we did. Not much further up the trail we ran into snow on the trail- 4 feet of it! Kell was the guinea pig and took her 4-wheeler up first. After some minor maneuvering she paved a decent enough trail that we could all follow. The little guys played in the snow while they waited for us to get the rest of the quads up the hill... and then we proceeded on our way again. At this point we're probably coming up on 4 hours. "Fun" is definitely starting to fade at this point:) Though we remained on a trail it started to become more and more treacherous. The late spring snow and water had dug ruts so deep that we had to take the kids off the quads multiple times to safely make it through. With no real "home" in site we continued to follow the leader in the rather futile hope that he actually knew where he was going. At about 5 hours we found that we no longer had a trail to follow- uh oh. What now? We can't go back the way we came- for one, the thought of backtracking over that scary terrain made Kell and I want to curl up in the fetal position and cry... and secondly there would be no possible way of making it back before darkness enveloped the lot of us. At this point I'm getting concerned and mad and sad and tired and whatever else adjective you can come up with to describe this situation. Rob still believes he can get us home, we're calling the lodge wherever we can get reception to try and get directions, Crue has fallen asleep again and things are feeling a little bleak. Eventually we opted to pave our own way through the brush- bumpy, but I felt like we were actually getting somewhere... or maybe not:) While we were heading it the right general direction- that lodge seemed like it would never appear over the next hill... and I was right... it never did. After over 6 hours on the 4-wheelers, with Crueser crying for the last hour of it we all decided to head straight for the now visible highway and find someone to rescue us. We all kinda breathed a sigh a relief once we were next to the passing motorists. Phew! It was over! Or was it? To add insult to injury we became a scrumptious dinner to the millions of mosquitoes that decided to congregate at the exact location we exited the field. Really?! You've got to e kidding me! We made the boys dance and run around like wild animals while we not-so-patiently waited for our hero to come from the lodge to pick us up. The munchkins loved the dancing and didn't seem the least bit alarmed that they were quite possibly being eaten alive. "Lance," I believe his name was, came storming in like a knight in shining armor- scooped us all up in his shiny van and delivered our bitten, mud splattered, sore bodies to the lodge just 3 miles up the road. A cabin never looked so good! We had a truly fantastic dinner (or maybe we were just so thankful to see food), jumped in the swimming pool to clean off, took baths and spent the last little bit of the evening in John and Kell's cabin before all passing out in our beds. Just a couple hours into our slumber poor Crue woke up with his terrible growing pains for which there seemed no remedy. After over 30 minutes of crying Rob took him in the car to Heber (30 minutes up the road) got him some medicine and brought him back sound asleep. Everyone slept the remainder of the night away- phew! We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, had an awesome breakfast, packed up and headed out on the 4-wheelers again! "What?!" you may be asking yourselves. Yep, we did it again. This time however, Kelly and I called the shots. After Rob tried to get us to try a "new" trail that was clearly marked "No ATVs or Off-road Vehicles" to which we all scoffed- we headed back to the original trail. We took the quads back to the little river and played in it for about an hour- which we ALL seemed to love. We tried a small trip up another trail and turned around when we thought we had gone far enough- look at us learning our lesson:) We headed back to the lodge- had another yummy meal and took the 4-wheelers out for one more quick jaunt and then called it a day.
While 6+ hours on a 4-wheeler was miserable at times and my left hand has yet to regain its strength and sensation- I am so grateful that I have a husband who comes up with these fun things to do, because heaven knows I'm not creative enough to put these things in motion. Thanks Rob!

To finish the 4th we headed home, set off loads of fireworks with the neighbors (this is the first year aerial fireworks are legal- woo-hoo!) and Rob drove loads of us up to the top of the hill on the golf cart to watch the fireworks across the valley. It really turned out to be a great 4th!

Canyon- you were AMAZING the entire day on the 4-wheeler! You never complained- not once! You are our little mountain man! You're getting better and better at swimming. This week you jumped in and swam at least 5-6 strokes to Lindsay and of course I found myself tearing up at the sight. We're so proud of you! You're turning into the quite the little fish! Now that you've realized that you love to be under water with your "gobbles" on (I refuse to correct you- I think it's so cute) it's near impossible to get you out, let alone get you to listen to Lindsay. We're so excited that you've finally developed a love of the water. That scared little boy is now a thing of the past!! Though it's not something or should I say someone you talk about anymore- I forgot to tell you about your imaginary friend- and I think he deserves an honorable mention. Randomly for about a week or so you started talking about your little friend. When we asked you what his name was you replied "Forrester Wong" very matter of factly. How did you even come up with such a name? Apparently he reads the newspaper and sits behind one of our leather chairs. Okay kiddo. Whatever you say. You're too funny! You have a new song you learned at preschool and I love it times a million!! "I have a little turtle. His name is Tiny Tim. I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim. He drank up all the water. He ate up all the soap. And now he's stuck in bed with a bubble in his throat. Bubble-bubble-bubble. Bubble-bubble-bubble. Bubble-bubble-bubble... and POP!" So adorable!!

Crue-cumber! You couldn't get enough of the water on the 4-wheelers! I couldn't even get all the way across without you saying "one more time mommy!" You giggled and squealed the whole time we were there and it was by far the highlight of the trip!! Moving on... have I already mentioned how particular you are about your clothes?! Aaahhhh! It's making me crazy! Not only do you change your clothes multiple times a day, but you have a handful of apparently "very precious" t-shirts that you refuse to wear anything else but! Heaven forbid I try and offer you something other than the "chosen ones." You have your "dinosaur" shirt... it's size 12-18 months! May I remind you that you are now 26 months and while you're definitely smaller than your brother was at this age you're not that small. It's currently a belly shirt, but it's your absolute favorite so I'm considering cutting out the dinosaur part and sewing it onto a larger t-shirt- I'm not sure whether or not you'll go for it. You also have your "Pablo" shirt -ya know, the adorable penguin from The Backyardigans. It used to be one of my favorites, but then Uncle Wes let you have markers while you were wearing it and I have never been able to get the little stains out so now when you wear it you just look a little scroungy;) Then there's your "California" shirt(s) which I somehow convinced you came from Aunt Kelly's which makes them cool in your eyes and so you'll wear them. I recently introduced a Mickey Mouse shirt into the mix which you immediately took too and boy was I grateful to have another option! How do I get you to grow out of this?! You have recently become a fan of big boy undies and while you seem to have no desire to use the potty you love wearing undies over your diaper! The picture must be facing forward so you can look at it which leaves you wearing your underwear backwards over your diaper. Could you be any sillier?! You have also discovered a love of band aids. You usually ask for them to cover an owie, but lately it seems like you're using them more and more for decoration. How have I let things get this way?! Our nightly singing routine has evolved over the last week. It used to be that you wanted me to sing Rock-a-bye-baby followed by the ABC's. Now it's "Rock-a-baby" as you call it, then ABC's, Justin Beiber's "Baby-Baby," and we finish things off with "Jai Ho." It's quite the nightly concert we hold, but I'd be happy to do it 'til you're both in high school if you'd let me:)