Peeks from the Week

Life is a snowball of stress right now. So much to do, so many things coming up, sad, etc. We will get through it, just rough in this moment.

Kip had Kindergarten Orientation yesterday. It was so much easier walking into the building having some history behind us. Kip really is a celebrity there. All the teachers (principle included) called him by his name (or a nickname they have for him). We met his new teacher and saw his classroom. Unfortunately, his two best buds are in another class. Kip is fine with it but I'm a little bummed. I just don't have the energy to start fresh making new mom friends or trying to break into mom groups that already exist. I won't volunteer to be a room mom this year so I doubt I'll get to peek into Kip's school life like I did last year. Sigh.

Anyways, Kindergarten is legit! Like full on subjects and intense academics. Apparently, he will learn how to read this year. Dan and I don't remember learning how to read until the end of First Grade. My memories of Kinder are all fun and games, times have changed I guess. Kip's classroom had next to no toys in it and I felt sad that he really is in big kid school. 

Tomorrow we leave for Colorado. Packing five people is woof!! So much stuff. 

I am looking forward to seeing family but I know it will be really hard to be back home, officially knowing my mom won't be there. I had a dream the other night with her in it. It was just a normal dream with normal stuff but I remember being really happy to see her in the dream and I didn't really remember why until I woke up. Gut punch.

In other news, Kip got his second Covid shot so he will be good to go for Kinder. And Ivy is making potty progress

Please pray I don't need a re-do root canal. Lord knows I don't have time for that.

Catch you all late next week.

Weekending it

It is starting to feel like that slow wind-down of summer. This bums me out, but we are still squeezing out every last drop and I try to remind myself that even after September starts and school begins, there is still plenty of warm weather to carry on the summer fun into "fall." 

This weekend we took the kids to an awesome slash playground in Colts Neck. New Jersey is a really beautiful state once you get away from the industrial area near the city. It is rolling countryside, horse stables, and farms. This area really felt like the Midwest.

Kip LOVED the splash park and Ivy was a little more hesitant. You can really see the sensory seekers vs. avoiders in a environment like this. Ivy settled for a bucket of water and a Barbie doll away from the splashes. We stayed for two hours and then headed over to the regular playground which was HUGE and SO FUN! We all had a blast.

On the way home we picked-up Chick-fil-a and had a picnic at another new to us playground.

On Sunday we pulled out the pool and water table.

And then we covered the driveway in a chalk masterpiece. The kids played outside for over four hours and we had grilled hot dogs outside too. I loved it, I really hope a simple day like this with us all together just hanging out was a core memory for the kids.

We have a really busy week ahead. Kindergarten orientation is on Wednesday and then on Friday we all fly out to Colorado for Marmee's Celebration of Life service. When we return we have one week left before school begins

Book Nook | Potty Training

We are on the long road to potty independence with Ivy. Our primary issue is getting her comfortable with going instead of holding. Let's say she qualifies as "retentive." Read more about that journey here.

Ivy loves books and likes to be read to when sitting on the potty; we've greatly expanded our potty book collection as a result. I think Kip had 4-5 books when he potty trained which we kept for Ivy but have now added a good 7-8 more for our second go around. I think you'll notice the theme.

Kip really enjoys a lot of these books as well, especially The Kids Book of Poop by Professor Poopy McDoodoo. It is pretty funny.

Who knew there could be so many ways to tell stories about this topic, it's a whole sub-genre in the potty training market.

Adventures in Potty Training

Ivy started showing signs of potty training readiness around 19 months old (December 2021). She would tell us when she needed a diaper change or led us over to the bathroom after she had gone. In late January, we got a little over eager with encouragement and bought her some undies and a little seat potty (we tossed the one Kip had - those things get so gross even with regular cleaning). 

She liked sitting on the potty and getting a book read to her or reading a book to her friends she put on the potty, but she wasn't quite at the stage of communicating that she needed to go instead of after she already went.

On February 28 she christened her potty with her first poo. I'll spare you that photo Mandy sent me while I was at work, but Ivy earned two lollipops!

We took the casual approach since she was still so little and only just becoming more verbal. But, she was actually really good about leading us to the bathroom if she happened to notice in time.

She was getting the #2 part down before the #1 part which is generally the opposite. 

Mostly, she just liked the potty books in the bathroom. I found a CocoMelon potty book at Kohl's and that's a fan favorite. By April, we bumped her up to the next size in diapers and tried pull-ups for a couple of days. She doesn't like the feel of the pull-ups (I think they are more bulky in the front that she is used to). So we switched her to a 360 diaper which pulls on like a pull-up but is only as thick as a diaper. Sometimes we would catch her right before the act and get her to the potty in time. Other times, she led us to the potty and sat there for a long time and did nothing. She would get a gummy for trying. By March she had done at least a dozen poos in the potty but probably only two or three pees.

By the end of April, Ivy was about 70/30 for poos in the potty. If she happened to go in her diaper she would get very upset and want to be changed immediately. Any peeps in the potty were purely coincidental. 

In early May Ivy was suddenly a little fearful of the potty seat and often did not want to sit even when we knew she had to go. This was around the same time she started having a lot of separation anxiety. This behavior is very typical of two-year-olds and that coupled with her already timid (pandemic baby) disposition it was not surprising. We didn't put pressure on her so as not to add to the fear. Despite not wanting to sit, she absolutely hated having a dirty diaper and started withholding to avoid the feeling or demanded to be changed immediately.

Early June, we introduced phone show bribery. This worked really well for Kip. He loved watching Lego songs on Youtube while sitting. That wasn't working consistently and she was still holding and refusing to sit.

While my parents were visiting, Ivy held it in for over a week giving herself a multi-day tummy ache. It took 20 minutes of reading potty books, 3 minutes of going pantsless and being really angry about it, and then we moved the potty seat to the living room and put on her favorite show. A few minutes later she went in the potty!!! Popsicle to celebrate. 

Ivy continued to withhold and would actively try to not go in her diaper. We had her sit on the potty most days to try and go but it only worked occasionally. This pattern continued for all of July.

Right now we are at the point of giving fiber gummies daily, encouraging her to drink more water, and occasionally giving her enemas. There are a lot of treats, stickers, praise, dance parties, and even new toys playing into our efforts to get her more regular and comfortable. Right now she gets a sticker on her prize chart for any poo whether in the potty or the diaper.

Did we start too hot out the gate back in December? Oh heck yeah. However, we can't go back so I think our approach right now is still appropriate for Ivy and I believe she will soon grasp the concept to ditch the diaper. We have already seen glimmers of her awareness improve in the last week. 

We didn't even attempt to potty train Kip until he was 2 1/2 so Ivy is still ahead of the game in many ways. Plus, she is so itty bitty it's hard to see her being 100% independent in this area right now. That being said, so far, that common phrase of "girls are easier to potty train" has not proved true for us.

Book Nook | New Additions

It has been awhile since I shared a Book Nook. Here are some new books that circulated through our shelves this summer.

 

How do I justify all these book purchases? Well, Mandy gets many of them, but also, it's all in the name of literacy...and a bit of shopping guilt. However, I will likely donate many of these to our local library when we are past the picture book phase. Our local library has a sad and disappointing collection of kids books and could use a good boost. I'll always keep our favorites but some will move on from us in time. 

My favorites from this selection are Food Truck Fest! (it rhymes) Pick Me is fun, Fireflies is a classic (hello Reading Rainbow), and Beach is simple with great illustrations.

Don't forget about all the other books I shared from our Summer Book Nook last year.

Weekending it

This weekend Dan and I attended a wedding in New York. It had been over two years since we had seen the bride and several of the guests from the church we were attending in Brooklyn right at the start of the pandemic. It was nice to catch-up with people and spend the day with Dan. Mandy watched the kids. It was a daytime wedding which was great so we were back home by dinnertime and picked up food for a dinner picnic/swim at the pool. 

On Sunday, we found a playground and a free botanic garden. We were surprised by how beautiful it was and the kids loved exploring. 

Yesterday was a month since my mom's passing. It felt very bittersweet as she would have loved to see those gardens. But, Mandy and I felt her presence with us and she sent many butterflies to remind us she was there. I know this seems weird, but she would have LOVED this funky tree and little shelf collection of broken pots and twigs. I imagine I would have sent her these photos and she would have requested that we take her there on her next visit.

Miss you mom. Thanks for sending us signs that you're here with us.

We took the kids to experience Cold Stone Creamery for the first time after the garden visit. Neither of them wanted anything mixed-in!!! Guess we'll wait awhile before we take them back for overpriced ice cream and stick with cheap Italian ice from Rita's.

Today marks two years since we moved into our house in New Jersey. Isn't that wild?? Two years since these babies made that crazy decision.

We've learned a lot along the way and spent A LOT more money than we thought we would, but, we're settled and it feels like home.