A Day in the Life

I did a 'day in the life' post back when Jack was 8 months old.  I thought we were much overdue for an update considering not only has quite a bit of time passed, but another person has joined the family!  Here's a typical day in our life right now while Jack is 3 1/2 and Molly is 5 months old.


5am-ish:  Molly wakes up to eat.  Mark gives her a diaper change, feeds her, and then she goes back to sleep.  For about the last week she's been waking earlier than usual.

7.20am:  Molly is up for the day.  I'm still tiiiiiired so I give her her monkey to play with in hopes that she can entertain herself for a short time and I can doze a little longer.

7.40am:  Molly decides she's over the monkey so we both get up for the day.  I change her diaper then settle her on her playmat while I grab some coffee.  I check out things on the interwebz for a bit while I drink my coffee.

8am:  Molly and I play for a bit and then I offer her a bottle.  Even though she seems hungry she can't decide if she wants it or not.

8.30am:  I hear Jack waking up.  He likes to talk/sing to himself for a little bit in the morning.  I keep trying to get Molly to eat, but she's not cooperating too much.  Guess she's not that hungry.

8.50am:  We head back to get Jack up.  After bouncing around in bed for a bit he gets a diaper change then we head to the kitchen for breakfast.

Today he had yogurt and a banana oatmeal muffin for breakfast

9am:  I set Jack up with his breakfast and then take Molly for another diaper change (dirty diaper this time!).  I realize she's tired so I lay her down for her first nap of the day.

9.10am:  Jack's done with breakfast.  He gets some playtime and watches some PBS shows while I get the bag ready.  We're heading to play with friends later this morning once Molly wakes up.

9.30am:  Jack's turn for a dirty diaper change and then I get him dressed.  I put diaper laundry in the wash and then I start getting ready to leave while Jack plays.

10.20am:  Molly is awake.  I get her ready to go, start the diapers through their wash, put on my wrap, grab everything, collect both kids, and we're out the door just after 10.30, nearly and hour later than usual.

Ready to go!

10.55am:  We finally make it to the park and meet up with friends!  There's playing, lunch and bottle are consumed, more playing, and socializing for me and Molly too.  She's a ham.

Too busy to stop for lunch!  Jack ate a cheese stick and 1/4 of his PB&J while standing up.  Then he was off again for more playing!

1.15pm:  Oh no!  It's starting to rain on us.  Time to head home!  We make a quick exit.  Molly ends up falling asleep in the car, but only for a very short time.

1.40pm:  We arrive home.  I clean up a spill that the dog created by knocking over a cup while we were gone.  I get Molly a fresh diaper, then change Jack's diaper (dirty diaper #3 for the day), then when I return to Molly I realize she has a dirty diaper too.  She tends to like to go in a clean diaper :/  So, another diaper change for her (dirty diaper change #4 for the day!).

2pm:  Everything and everyone is cleaned up.  I start the diapers through their final rinse then I settle down to give Molly a bottle while Jack plays.

2.15pm:  I lay Molly down for her 2nd nap.

2.20pm:  I get Jack settled for quiet time, which includes putting together his train tracks.

Lunch today is dinner leftovers, hamburger with sauteed mushrooms and onions and some honeydew.

2.30pm:  Lunch time for me!  Finally!  I sit down to eat and watch some TV that no one else likes.  Today it's My Teen is Pregnant and So Am I.  Horrific, yet fascinating.

2.50pm:  Molly's up.  I guess we're going to do two short cat naps between the car and this one rather than one real nap.  Oh well, at least it's something!  I settle her on her playmat to play and then switch the diaper laundry over to the dryer.  I sit down to finish up my show.

3.05pm:  Molly is tired of entertaining herself so we have some play time and practice a little with back carrying in our new woven wrap.  There's a pretty big learning curve to use it, especially with back carries, which I can't seem to properly accomplish.  Well she's... up there?  I took her right out because it was a poor wrap job.  Try, try again!

3.30pm:  Time to rescue Jack from quiet time, he did a great job!  Jack wants a snack and to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally, his newest television interest.

3.40pm:  Once I get Jack settled with a show and a snack, Molly decides she's hungry too.  Time for another bottle.

Today's snack is some banana and graham crackers

Time for a burp

4pm:  Molly has another dirty diaper, time for another change (#5 for the day if anyone is keeping track, I sure am ;) ).  While I'm back in the bedroom I go ahead and make the bed and put away some laundry that I folded last night.

Molly supervises my chores while playing with her little bunny.

4.30pm:  Another dirty diaper for Jack (This makes 6 for the day).  A fresh diaper then we all play for a while.  Molly seems tired, I think this is going to be a 3 nap kind of day.

4.50pm:  I lay Molly down for a nap and head in to clean the kitchen, wash bottles (boo), and pop some sweet potatoes in the oven for dinner while Jack plays.

5.20pm:  I'm finished cleaning, dinner prep can wait a few minutes, and I asked Jack if he wanted to play in the backyard, but surprisingly he's happy inside.  So I sit down for some interwebz time while everyone else is occupied.

5.23pm:  That didn't last long.  Molly's awake.  I get her settled in the Jumperoo for some play time!

5.40pm:  Okay, time to start in on dinner.  I get Molly settled in her seat so she can watch me.

My other helper meanders over eventually.

5.45pm:  Daddy's home!  Yay!  His turn to get Molly a dry diaper :)

Jack is always so excited for Dada to get home!

6.15pm:  We sit down to dinner.  Molly hangs out with us in her bouncy seat.

Dinner tonight:  Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Garlic Green Beans

7pm:  Dinner is finished.  I sit and talk with Mark while he's cleaning up dinner while Jack plays and Molly hangs out in her seat for a bit longer.

7.20pm:  Molly is getting tired.  I take her back and get her a fresh diaper and PJs then it's time for a bottle, some snuggles, and bedtime.  This happens while Jack gets some playtime with Dada and we all watch Wheel of Fortune.  It's tradition.

Don't let that sweet face fool you.  She was exhausted.  Nighty-night!

7.50pm:  Time for teeth brushing for Jack courtesy of Dada.

8pm:  Jack's bedtime.  Dada takes him back for a fresh diaper, PJs, and a few books before lights out.  I clean up the family room then collect diapers from the dryer so I can stuff them along with folding a small load of clothes leftover from yesterday's washing while watching TV with Mark.  On tonight's TV schedule: Real Housewives of the OC and Under the Dome(!  So excited for this, loooved the book).  I'm only into highbrow programming, obviously ;)

11.15pm:  We head to bed.  I try to read my book for a few minutes, but can barely keep my eyes open so it's time to sleep!

Big Boy Bed

Jack got a new big boy bed!

Sunday was spent rearranging things to accommodate his new bed.  Before this he was still in his toddler bed (converted from his crib), but he was getting pretty big for it, plus we're going to need the crib for Molly soon so it was time for a new bed!

We removed the crib (obviously!) and rocking chair from Jack's room.  We replaced the rocking chair with a little papasan chair that we picked up at a garage sale this weekend (score!).  We'll be able to snuggle in bed with him to read bed time stories now, but for "rest time" Jack liked to sit in the rocking chair to look out the window at the cars going by and read some books on his own.  His new chair should serve this purpose just fine.

We had to shuffle some things around and the changing table is still in his room for the time being until we can make space for it in Molly's room-to-be so things are kind of squeezed in for right now.  We'll rearrange things again once we finish stage 2 of all this transitioning.  We also brought Jack's train table (which used to be in Molly's room-to-be, which is currently the playroom/office/storage) into his room.  I was a little hesitant about this because he's never had toys in his room before, but so far he's done fine with it and really seems to enjoy having toys in his space.

In Molly's room-to-be we removed the desk and chair ( :(  I'm losing my craft space) and moved the crib in it's place.  We also stuck the rocking chair in there, but we can't easily get to it to use it right now.  As soon as I get a chance I'm going to have to clean out the closet in that room, which we use for general storage (garage sale time!), so we can shuffle things around to have it in more working order.  For the time being the bulk of Jack's toys are going to stay in there so he can use it as a play space.  The dog's cage (which she only uses overnight, her preference) is also in there for the time being, but obviously we're going to need to figure out a different arrangement with that situation.

Ugh... that room is such a mess now.  I feel like as soon as I get things arranged and find a place for everything it's time to rearrange again!  First, I spent time sorting things out, packing things up, and finding places for new holiday toys.  Then, I had to make room for Molly's things once she was due to arrive.  THEN I had to rearrange things a bit more to make room for the train table that was still sitting in our family room a couple of months after Christmas that I was fed up with looking at.  And now it's time to shuffle things around again.  I guess that's what happens when you have too much stuff and minimal space!

For stage 2 of rearrangement (in order to get Molly's room fully functional) we'll move Jack's toys out and store some in his room, some in the family room.  The dog's cage will come out and the changing table will get moved from Jack's room to Molly's room.  Once we get the changing table out of Jack's room we can move the book case to a more desirable spot.

We hope to keep Molly in our room for at least another 6 weeks or so, so we have time before we really need the room ready to go so we'll be working on this not-so-fun project as we have time for it.  I would at least like to get the bed and rocking chair fully functional very soon so that we can use the chair and so that I can start laying Molly down in her bed for daytime naps to help with the eventual transition.

Jack's first night in his big boy bed was Sunday night.  That afternoon we went out and bought bedding and he seemed excited about setting everything up.  Right before bed he was a little hesitant and asked for his bed, but he quickly got over it and took to the bed nicely.  He slept all night without issue so I'll count it as a win :)

He really likes having his train table in his room and has spent quite a bit of time playing back there this week.

I have fun fabric on the way to make Jack a duvet cover for his new big boy bed.

Hope it turns out well!

Over it

That's it.  We're throwing in the towel on potty training! 

It's taken 6 full days of full, daytime potty training for us to realize that this just isn't going to work out right now.  I approached potty training all along with the mindset that just like everything else it was developmental and not something that we could force.  I planned to take a very hands-off approach and let Jack dictate when he was ready.  Maybe that's not the approach that everyone believes is correct, but it felt right for us. 

Recently, I really did think that perhaps he was ready.  It wasn't 100% clear to me, but there were signs so I thought it was a possibility.  OF COURSE we're ready for him to be done with diapers and somehow, my thinking quickly evolved from 'maybe we'll take this whole thing for a test drive to see how he does and maybe he's actually ready and it'll happen', to 'I'm ready so it has to happen now'!  Other parents are seemingly able to make their kids use the potty, so why can't we? 

Well, let me tell you, this is not something which can be forced.  Or at least not with all kids.  Not with my kid.  Maybe some kids respond better to their parents attempts, or maybe they're ready in their own way when the attempt is made, but I can tell you that it's definitely not something that can be forced with my kid.  I wish I would have just heeded my own instincts (what is the one piece of advice I always give new parents?  Listen to your instincts!  This approach has served me so well over the last 3 years, I don't know why I chose to ignore it now!) and given up on this situation days ago. 

And I know why I didn't listen to my instincts.  It's a combination of me wanting it to happen, not wanting to admit that everything we've been dealing with for the last 6 days has been for naught, him being SO close and knowing that one of these times it's just going to "click", and that outside pressure that I mentioned before.  This somehow equated to my thinking diverging from 'it'll happen when it happens' to 'it's my job to make it happen and if I can't make it happen I'm not doing my job'! 

But thank goodness, we only wasted 6 days putting us all through unnecessary stress before realizing that this is just like anything else.  It can't be rushed and Jack has to be on board.  We didn't spend days or weeks intensively teaching him to walk.  He had to work that out on his own.  We didn't spend days or weeks trying to force him to talk.  He had to work that out on his own.  We actually did try pretty hard to teach him how to eat as he was on the later side with that, but you know what?  Still something that had to evolve and he had to work out on his own! 

The only thing we could do in those situations was to support him through the process and provide him with the opportunity to do it and you know what?  Despite any worry that went towards those milestones and others, it all worked itself out.  I'm realizing the same is true for potty training.  It's not something you can *make* them do and while you know that on an intellectual level it doesn't stop you from madly googling all sorts of potty training topics for day and days trying to figure out how to do just that, make it happen!  You can't!  And that is why there are so many "right" ways to do this and so many conflicting opinions.  It all goes back to every child is different and every child is going to be ready for it at a different time. 

With the dawning of this realization, or really a return to my original thinking, which ever way you want to look at it, we're finally going to stop the torture!  Not one of us have enjoyed these past 6 days and there have been tears from both Jack and I. 

Our situation is not a power struggle.  It's not because he doesn't want to do it, or is choosing not to, it's because he *can't*.  As I said before, he has the control piece and he has the understanding of the general process.  He very much does not want to have accidents in his pants, but something is stopping him from being able to release into the potty.  This translates into him holding his pee for unnaturally long times and getting extremely anxious and frustrated when he gets to the point where he just CAN'T hold it any longer.  It is incredibly difficult to watch him go through this process.  And we're to the point where I'm genuinely concerned about potential negative impacts - both mental and physical. 

Something just isn't there yet, and I came to this realization after spending the vast majority of 3 hours earlier today trying to get him to pee in the potty.  I started making him sit on the potty (which he will do as long as we don't give him an option and keep him entertained while he is there) as soon as I could tell he needed to pee, but hours (with intermittent, but short breaks) spent entertaining him on the potty (which is incredibly taxing.  Trying to stay upbeat and positive and use all my creativity to keep him relaxed and sitting there isn't as easy as it may sound) he still hadn't peed.  It *finally* happened when he got to the point that he couldn't hold still because he had to go so badly and was visibly upset.  I again forced him to sit on the potty and amidst tears his bladder finally released while he happened to be on the potty. 

He earned the damn Hot Wheels car that we've been trying to bribe him with for days and he accepted my excitement, but I could tell.  I could just tell that it wasn't something that he did.  It was an involuntary action that I timed well. 

We've been continuing this potty training pursuit hoping that if we somehow managed to get him to pee in the potty a few times he would become more comfortable with it, but getting to that point is nearly impossible.  This wasn't something he was comfortable with or something that he wanted to repeat and that wasn't going to change regardless of the reward we presented him with or how excited I was or how many times we did this.  It's brutally difficult watching Jack struggle with this when I know he would do it if he could and I'm tired of putting that pressure on him and unwilling to continue it any further.  I only wish I had come to this realization a few days ago and saved us all some frustration and stress. 

So for now we'll put him back in diapers full time.  This is just not important enough to justify what we're going through to try to achieve it. We'll try again, but I can tell you that next time we try we won't be spending 6 days forcing the issue with no improvement.  I'm not sure if we'll wait a while and put him back in underwear to see what happens, or if we'll try to wait for some sign from him that he's ready (hopefully!).  I hope he's ready soon, I just wish we knew what kind of timeline we're facing so we could all just sit back and relax and wait!

Potty Training

I've discovered the tenth circle of Hell.  It's potty training a three-year-old.  I'm not sure what we as parents have done to deserve this purgatory, but we're here.

I posted several months back contemplating the topic of potty training.  Leading up to that I had already spent so much brain power just trying to figure out where/what/when/how to address potty training and since then we have intensively been working on introducing the topic.  Well, as intensively as you can without totally forcing the issue.

We have watched videos and shows, read countless books (over and over again, Jack actually really enjoys potty books), picked out big boy underwear, talked about the big boy underwear, talked about the potty, let Jack shadow us while using the potty, talked about all the people we know (real and imaginary, and in fact, not completely people, like Thomas the train and Daniel Tiger) who use the potty. 

I have come to discover that it's no wonder I'm so confused about potty training despite feeling fairly educated on the topic because you've got "experts" on one side saying if you're kid isn't potty trained by 18-months you're lazy more than anything and that waiting until the child is ready is a bunch of made up modern day parenting hooey.  There are "experts" on the other side who say don't even try to potty train before the kid is really ready even if this commonly means the child will be somewhere between 3- and 4-years-old for fear of creating long term physical and mental problems by forcing the issue before its time.

All of this conflicting "expert" advice has left my head spinning and me feeling like we've pretty much ruined the poor child before we've even started the process.  Helpful.

Added to that, I've started to feel this outside pressure.  Not pressure in the sense that other kids around his age are potty training so he has to too, because I recognize that every child is different, but pressure in the sense that what if now is the time and I miss the sweet spot?  What if we've pushed it this long and pushing it even longer will only make it increasingly harder?  Also, there's some sense there (likely mostly imagined) that I'm not doing a good enough job as a mother if I can't get my child potty trained by a "reasonable" time.  Or at least TRIED it.  I feel like my hands-off approach was starting to make me look lazy, or disinterested, or even neurotic, which certainly is not the case.

It's hard when you don't know the best way to approach something as important as this because all I want is to make this learning process as easy as possible on everyone involved.  If that means doing it now, I'll do it.  If it means waiting, I'll wait.  If it means cleaning up accidents for weeks to yield the best results I'll do that too!  Whatever, I just want my kid successfully potty trained without any physical or mental damage and as a bonus it sure would be nice if my sanity was also intact by the end of it all.

Right around the time of Molly's arrival (of course!) Jack started showing some signs of potty training readiness.  I had always wanted to "wait until he was ready" (whatever that means), but was at the same time afraid of "missing the window" (whatever that means).

So once things settled down a little bit (and Mark was still blessedly home to help with the process) we decided that we would just put Jack in underwear and see what happened.  We figured it would be apparent pretty quickly if he was ready for this whole thing.

Over the weekend we talked to Jack about how on Monday he was going to start using the big boy potty.  We had picked out a potty seat long ago, but he hadn't wanted to touch the thing with a 10-foot pole.  He had, however, voluntarily sat on it recently, which was part of the readiness signs.  We told him he was going to get to wear his fun big boy underwear (which we've also had for a while, but he hasn't wanted to wear) and it was going to be so much fun!  Surprisingly, the times we brought it up he seemed unusually interested so I thought, hey, maybe we're on to something.  Maybe he really IS ready and this is going to be great!

Motivation in hand, when Jack woke up Monday morning we promptly removed his night time diaper and put on his big boy underwear explaining to him that he needed to use the potty, otherwise his pants were going to get wet and we went on our way.

A little while later he inevitably had an accident.  He wasn't upset to the point of crying or anything, but he wasn't happy that his pants were wet.  That's fine, we said, it was just an accident.  Next time you'll put your pee pee in the potty and your pants won't get wet!  We changed his pants and went on our way.

A little while later he had a second accident and we repeated the process.

After those first two accidents he hasn't had any more full on accidents like that.  But he also isn't going on the potty.  What he's now choosing to do is hold his urine until he is at the point of exploding and then one of two things happens a) it's bed/nap time and he gets his diaper put on so he goes then, or b) a little bit leaks out relieving the pressure just enough that he can hang in until a diaper is produced.

Yesterday he had not. one. accident. (small or large) the entire day.  Pants and underwear totally clean and dry.  He even got quite a bit in the potty at one point, but that was actually because we timed a potty trip for one of the times when he just couldn't possibly hold it in any longer and amongst tears some finally made it into the potty.  HOW did this kid hold his urine all day long like that?  He of course was able to relieve himself at naptime in a diaper and at bedtime in a diaper.  He also finally had a bowel movement after holding it all week, which was quite concerning.  

So, to recap, yes, he will sit on the potty if we force the issue.  No, he will not pee in the potty.  No, he does not like his pants to be wet and avoids it at all costs.  He's actually rather upset when he has an accident because he just can't control it any longer.  But NO, he will NOT pee in the potty.  I don't even want to think about #2.

He has the necessary control (that's extremely obvious).  He has the understanding of the process.  He does not want to have accidents in his pants.  But he's too scared to do anything on the potty and I don't know how to get him past that without him actually GOING in the potty to see that it's okay and it actually makes you feel better!

Bribes Rewards have not worked.  Timed potty breaks have not worked.  Letting him dictate potty breaks (which means just not going to the potty) has not worked.  All of those results have yielded a kid who "potty dances" around the house for more than 1 1/2 hours rather than letting his bladder release in either his pants or on the potty.

I'm at a complete loss.  Jack has been in underwear full-time during the day (except for nap and bedtime) since Monday and I feel like despite being SO close we're not going anywhere and it's nothing more than torture for all of us. 

On one hand I feel like backing off might be the answer.  Let's discontinue the whole process and revisit it in the future in hopes that something will change between now and then and he will suddenly be okay with the process.

On the other hand, we've all put so much time and energy into this process and we're SO close.  Maybe he needs the exposure to the process in order to become comfortable with it and maybe continuing on is the best thing we can do to get him over this hump even though it's difficult for all of us right now.

I really, really don't know the answer and I don't think I've ever been so educated, yet so clueless on a parenting topic before.  

If anyone has experienced a kid who was scared to use the potty (and I'm not talking about using the potty itself, I'm talking about actually peeing in the potty) and was able to successfully get past it, I'm all ears!

Jack - 3 years old!

Jack is 3-years-old.  THREE!

For some reason that just seems so mature to me.  He's a little boy now, a baby no longer!

I've found this age to be great and not-so-great all at once.  We've both done a lot of growing over the last year.

We had Jack's birthday at a local playplace this year.

Watching him grow and develop?  Awesome.  Seeing his personality really shaping up, having conversations with him, witnessing his imagination starting to really show,  all full of greatness.  Testing boundaries, testing boundaries, and let's just throw it in there once more, testing boundaries, that's the not so great.

I've definitely found this stage the hardest yet.  I just feel so clueless sometimes.  I mean, the whole goal of parenting is to raise a well adjusted, happy, productive member of society, right?  But I'm fairly certain this time, right now, is when some people start down the path to becoming an ax murder and an ax murderer for a son, I do not want!

We kept things as simple as possible bringing in a couple dry snacks and cupcakes and getting pizza, pop, and salad provided by the place where we hosted the party.

Yes, this is what's going through my head when we're talking about the same. things. for the thousandth time.  Shouldn't he know he can't do this by now?  Clearly I'm not parenting effectively, but what the heck should I be doing differently?!  Parenting should be a degree offered in higher education because I certainly need further study.

Having a 3-year-old has tested my sanity and determination and strength the way nothing else ever has and when I say being a mom is the hardest thing I've ever done in my 26 years I'm not over-exaggerating that.  Parenting is a mind game if nothing else and your kids live to push your sanity to the limit.  That's why they're all sugar and spice.  They push and push and push until you're sure you can't do this parenting thing for one more minute without ruining both of you, but then they snatch you right back from the edge of crazy by doing something so cute and sweet that you just can't stand it!

Parenthood: a lesson in extremes.

Well, the good news is we've both survived 3 years now with our sanity (mostly) in tact.

All drama aside, Jack really is at a very fun age.  We can have conversations now.  Like, real, whole conversations using complete sentences.  When did this happen?!  A few weeks before Christmas it's like he just woke up one day speaking proper sentences and just understand things so much more.  That's the point where I think he really became a 3 year old.  When I look back at his language development over the last year it's just mind boggling.  At his 2nd birthday he wasn't talking much at all.  He definitely had a good grasp on words, but I don't think he was really doing much more than very small phrases, if that.  Now?  Whole conversations!  It's no wonder he slept like crap all summer.  There was a lot going on in that little head!

He's still really into cars and trucks and pretty much anything that moves (surprise!).  Jack has quite a few little monster trucks and he likes to line them all up and set up his crunch cars to play Monster Jam (which is also one of his favorite things to watch).  He makes them jump and drive around and emulates the announcers and sometimes he pretends that the trucks get broken like on TV.    He's also pretty into Thomas the Train right now and even sings the theme song.  He drives so many miles on his knees that I'm sure he's going to wear holes through every pair of pants he owns.  He's already done so with at least 3 pairs and several more are well on their way.  Good thing the worn in look is in style, yes?   

He loves reading and has several books memorized.  You'll hear him over the monitor when he wakes up in the morning or when he's having quiet time "reading" books to himself.  It's so adorable I just can't stand it.   My Truck is Stuck is among his favorites and he loves to act out the story with his cars and trucks while reciting the story.  Love!

We read so often that he's so excited when he gets new books to read!  He loves visiting the library and picking out books and when I make a quick stop on my own to pick/up drop off books I usually try to pick out at least one book to bring home to him because he just enjoys it so much.  It's definitely a treat to him and one of his favorite things.

Something he has started doing recently is singing songs.  Most often it's songs he has heard on shows or movies, but he sometimes just makes up his own, which is just as adorable as it sounds.  He has known his ABCs for a while, and that's still a favorite.  He really started singing songs right around Christmas because he liked songs like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman and Jingle Bells.

Jack did a good job blowing on his candles this year, but still needed a little help to get the job done!

He knows all of his letters by sight and has for quite a while now.  We're working on matching sounds to letters.  He also mostly knows his numbers 1-9 by sight.  We're still working on this as it seems that there isn't as much opportunity for seeing them/talking about them as there is with letters.  He's proficient at counting to 15 and we're working on getting to 20, but he frequently just likes to stop after 15.  He knows all his colors.  For some reason he often confused yellow and orange until recently, but I think he has that worked out now!

He had a ton of fun at his party!  He was talking about it for days afterwards and asking to go back!

So, quiet time.  Yeah.  This has been quite the transition.  Over the summer he was sleeping very poorly.  I knew he was going through a big developmental period and I'm sure that's what was causing the problem, but it didn't stop me from cursing the heavens and wondering my my kid would. not. sleep. fortheloveofallthat'sholy!  Yes, I desperately need him to sleep so that I can sleep (see aforementioned needing sanity to remain in tact.  My level of patience is directly correlated to the amount of sleep I get at night.).

Towards the end of the year, his night sleeping really did improve, but he seems to be transitioning out of naps completely.  And what a fun transition it is!  (sarcasm, don't parent a toddler without it.)  Of course the problem is that although he really doesn't seem to need a nap every day there are some days when he does and he just really can't make it clear til bedtime without a nap.  Enter: quiet time.  When he started to leave naps behind it was quickly apparent that he still needed some sort of rest time.  He needed the opportunity to sleep if he was able to, and at least some down time, if not.  Plus, momma needs a little break during the day to regroup and prepare for the rest of the afternoon/evening.   Jack has never been one to sit quietly for an extended period of time watching TV, and definitely doesn't fall asleep anywhere but his bed.

He (not so) patiently waited nearly 24 hours to enjoy his cake!  He kept asking if it was time to eat the cupcakes while I was making them.

When I first recognized the need for rest time Jack was still in a crib.  He would just stand in there, throwing his menagerie of animals and blankets out of his crib screaming for me over and over.  It was not relaxing for anyone involved.  Shortly thereafter we transitioned him to a toddler bed (his crib breaks down into a toddler bed).  I was dreading this process and we kept putting it off, putting it off, until finally, right around Christmas, we took the plunge.  And you know what?  It was no big deal.  He transitioned just fine.

He participated for a little while in opening gifts this year, but didn't make it through them all.  Too much playing to be done!  He loved exploring all of his gifts once we made it home though.  Side note: The little girl in pink next time him?  Party crasher.  She wandered in towards the end of the party.  Guess Jack's birthday party was the place to be!

Anyway, back to quiet time.  Once we put him in the toddler bed he had access to the rest of his room.  This was scary.  Early attempts at quiet time resulted in him being angry in his room, getting into trouble in the form of kind of tearing things apart, and the like.  But we stuck with it because it was important for both of us.  When we could tell he was doing something he shouldn't we went into his room, told him no, explained again that he was supposed to be resting and that he could read books if he wanted to.  We also tried to end quiet time in a reasonable amount of time and to go get him when he was actually being quiet/resting if it was at all possible so we could reinforce to him that this is what we were looking for.

Eventually, maybe a week or two later?  Quiet time was really quiet time.  Now he goes in his room, we go through his usual bedtime routine of reading 3 books, laying down, getting covered up, giving kisses and saying goodnight, and then when he doesn't sleep (much more often than not) he just kind of hangs out back there.  He sings and talks to himself and reads books and after about an hour (unless we can tell he's getting very restless, which is a recipe for disaster) we go get him and tell him what a good job he did with quiet time.  Or at least this is how it goes a lot of days.  He still has days where he tries to rebel.  Hopefully this will continue!  Who can't use a little rest mid-day?  Nobody, that's who.

Grilled cheese and sweet potato fries.  Always a favorite!

I feel like his eating has improved over this last year.  There's still a lot of room for improvement, but he's much more apt to try new things now than he was several months ago.  I hear the picky toddler stage eventually improves.  Despite being somewhat restrictive he does eat a decent variety of things.  He's still not big on eating meat, but sometimes he'll surprise us with what he will eat.  One thing he does tend to like quite a bit is meatloaf.  We're getting there.  He still only drinks water.  I even let him try some hot chocolate after playing in the snow a few weeks ago and he didn't care for it.  Ah well, water is best for him anyway!

Jack has transitioned very well into being a big brother.  Of course I was worried about what his reaction would be to getting a little sibling, but to be honest, I wasn't as nervous about it as one would think only because I know Jack.  He's pretty laid-back and accepting.  Plus, it doesn't hurt that he's rather interested in little ones even allowing for the fact that it's different when that little one is permanently living in your house!  He's still fairly uninterested in Molly, but that's to be expected as she doesn't yet have much to contribute to their relationship.  He is concerned about her and he does pay her some sporadic attention and sometimes likes to help care for her by carrying bottles or overseeing a diaper change.  I'm confident that this ongoing transition will eventually yield a good sibling relationship between them and I can't wait to watch it evolve.  Jack is a great big brother!

On Jack's actual birthday we celebrated by playing at an inflatable playland.

Another favorite of Jack's is playing with other kids.  He loves to get together with kids from our playgroup and frequently requests to "see friends".  He just loves being around other people his age and he'll happily play with kids younger as well as older than him.  He just loves to be on the go and at least once a day everyday requests to go somewhere in the car.

And followed up with lunch at Panera, like last year!

Speaking of the car, another milestone for Jack is riding forward-facing in the car.  When he was about 2 months shy of 3-years-old his convertible car seat expired and we needed to get a new seat for him.  We decided to go with a Graco Nautilus, which is forward-facing only, but is a 3-in-1 seat with extended 5-point harnessing so it should last us a long while.  I was hoping to make it until at least 3-years-old before turning him, but considering the circumstances it was time. He loves facing-forward so much because he can see everything!  He was content to be rear-facing just because that's all he knew, but now, he can see the world!  He spends all of our car rides just chattering away about all the vehicles he sees and asking about what all the street signs say.  Now, if I could just get him to understand that it's hard for me to hear him upfront so he needs to speak up if he wants me to be able to fully understand what he's saying!

Another great year has passed and I might just survive the whole toddler stage after all :)


Finally!  It only took me 6 days to finish this post and get it up!  I guess that's what happens when you have a 5-week-old baby who needs attention round the clock!