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!!