Blackmail

So again, if you are uncomfortable talking about poop or potty training, this is not the post for you.

Jim went out and bought a potty seat! He found the perfect seat- Sesame Street themed! So we tried it out and James was very excited about sitting on the "potty". He didn't actually use it, but we caught a few pictures to remember the moment :) I'm sure I can bring these out when he's 16 and relive the memory!



Notice how there is a little pee guard on the seat :)



As I write this James is crying himself to sleep once again. Last night was the worst. Two hours of off and on crying right at bedtime. And then 5-7 wakeups, where he would cry for 5 or so minutes. We didn't have to get up at all to soothe him, but we both woke up each time and it was hard. To top it off, I have a cold and I was my most miserable last night. Thankfully Dada and James let me sleep in this morning :)

I don't know what happened that James is now so miserable with bedtime. He is not a happy boy right now!

Cute!

James switches back and forth between wearing his favorite homemade hats from Tia ChaCha. Yesterday he wore this "Elmer Fudd" hat. Cute!



Good news: James slept through the night again! Yay! He went down quite easily after his bath. No peeps from him all night. We love our sleep :)

Stuck

I've been running around like a crazy lady this week. Lots of wonderful school stuff happening that keeps me busy, but also James is keeping his Mama and Dada up at night! He's had his off days where he gets up several times in the middle of the night. I'm thinking night terrors. Poor James!

We had a fun weekend. On Saturday we went to breakfast early. Here James is eating his oatmeal and playing with his sugar packets. (Who knew they could keep him busy for so long?)


It was funny because when we arrived at Carole's that morning, in the parking lot, James said, "ChaCha!...Donkey!" like he was expecting his Tia and Tio to join us. He must have remembered the last weekend and associated a restaurant with his Tia and Tio. I thought at that moment that he'd happy with the afternoon plans then :)

After breakfast we went back to the Eagle's Nest park in New Brighton for some good play time.




Dada stands guard.








James played peek a boo with another boy.


He LOVES the ball pit!

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We took James to the big boy area of the park, following him through the tunnels and obstacles. It was hard work keeping up with him! It was also hard on our "old" knees.


Here's Dada in the tunnel.






Looking down at Dada below.


Snacktime!


James was very nice to the other kids. He let them enter the ball area. Nice!


"Who you pointing at?"


James' thick hair doesn't stand up on end like this.


We went home for naptime and soon after James woke up, Tia ChaCha and Tio Rich (Donkey) came over for play and dinner. Tia ChaCha played basketball with James. James is actually very good at making baskets! He stands a little distance away from the net and throws.

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Sunday: Hurricane James comes through the living room. Luckily, James likes to clean up when we sing the "Clean Up!" song. (The song consists of these lyrics: "Clean up!" "Clean up!" Haha.)


WARNING: Possibly gross POOP story below
Okay, so now about the funniest toddler moment thus far. I was reading books with James on Tuesday night when suddenly James stood up and got a pained look on his face and said, "Mama..! Poop!"

So we looked down his diaper to see if he had pooped. Nope.
A few seconds later, "Mama! Poop... stuck. Stuck!" (We didn't even know James knew that word.)

So we looked down his diaper again and saw a poop rearing its little head out of his small butt.
I guess James was having a hard time with his poop. He started to do squats and these cute little pelvic thrusts, probably to work the poop out.

When he looked done, I asked, "James, did you poop? Do you want to change your diaper?"

He enthusiastically said "Yeah!" and helped to get a diaper from the basket and then laid on the ground to be changed.

So... yeah, we're ready to think about potty training. He's become very aware of poop, wanting to be clean, and holding his pee for longer periods of time (I guess another sign of being ready). We're off to find a potty seat for James this weekend! I think we've been thinking about getting one for a while now, but now its official.

POOP STORY DONE

I'm sure there are other good James moments to share, but I'm forgetting them at this moment. Come back soon for updates!

Good Mama

I tried to be the best Mama I could be tonight. (I insisted Jim go to pool tonight, since he skipped last week.) From the minute we got home from daycare, it was all about James. We played. We went outside and played. We read books. We ate the same food- leftovers and PB&J. We read some more books. We colored. We played with his cups and other objects. We watched 15 minutes of TV only, right before bedtime. James fussed at going upstairs, and he fussed some more in the bath, but I got him to giggle as I tickled him and put on his lotion. Or "otion" as he calls it.

Oh, I can only remember James peeing one other time in the bath, but he did it tonight. He actually TOLD me and I looked down to see him pee slightly. He said, "Poop, Mama" and he peed standing up. I continued to rinse him off and didn't make a big deal of it. I actually thought it was cute that he told me.

Here are just a few pictures from outside. I didn't get too many pictures because it was just me with James outside. I also need to live in the moment a bit more! I didn't capture James on the sled. I pulled him up and down the driveway- it slopes a little and if I ran down, we hit a nice slope and James would say "Weeeee!"







James giggled when I picked up snow and threw it at him.



I need to go and watch more inauguration footage and cry with happiness.

Dear James

Dear James,
You have a new president today! I'm so happy that when you finally know what a President is, you'll know Barack Obama. He will be your first President and you'll grow up knowing a person of color can do ANYTHING. What a wonderful world!

Your future is great. You can do anything and we will support and love you always.
Love,
Mama and Dada

Don't Worry, Be Happy

That's James's new phrase :) Don't worry, be happy!!

I hope everyone had a great MLK Day yesterday. I took my group of students yesterday, along with 10 students from each middle and high school, to St. Paul for the march and rally. It was a good day.



I'm struggling to get a good feed online of the pre-inauguration events. I may need to go home to watch! Seriously.

Well, James is sleeping about the same- occasional great nights, and then 2-3 wake-ups on other nights. There doesn't seem to be a good reason. His eating is okay. His behavior is getting worse. When he is crabby, he is extremely crabby. I know we spoil him, maybe indulge him, so I am determined to be consistent with what he is allowed and not allowed to do. No more foraging in the pantry whenever he wants, no more picky eating, and it is not a terrible thing to let him cry. I even had him in a time-out yesterday because he was VERY defiant and he (purposely?) gave me a good smack to the face. Umm yeah, that's not happening. So I put him in a time-out and had to keep picking him up and returning him to that spot. I need to work on it. I hate to think that we need a permanent time-out location. I mentioned all this to Sandra this morning and she was in disbelief. He never acts up at daycare. Well, from the other Moms, I hear that THEIR kids do the same, so I know kids save it for their parents :)

Saturday morning, in pajamas:







A tantrum started because I wouldn't let him hold my camera.

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Later that morning we experimented with Crayola Tadoodle paint balls. I wasn't impressed with this product. The paint was very inconsistent. James had a good time though.





On Sunday morning we headed to Edinborough Park in Edina. They have a GREAT indoor play area. The structure was several levels high. James is too little to explore on his own, so his Mama and Dada took turns escorting him up. He LOVED it. Lots of climbing, obstacles, tunnels, and slides.

James starts the climb up.



Dada follows.





Hiya Mama!

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After Edinborough, we met Bucka, Bucko, Tia ChaCha, and Tio Rich (Donkey) for brunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Yum.

In the car, James started to get crabby. I was amusing him with this monkey while we waited for Dada to get Caribou treats. James was NOT amused.




Later in the day, we had fun with chalk! Tia ChaCha is brilliant and found this chalkboard mat (like a tablecloth) so James can draw with chalk anytime he wants! It washes off so easily and rolls up for easy storage. James LOVES it! We had a great time drawing shapes and animals.



James found one of my toys. Jim found this old school Little Professor a couple of years ago. James found it and has liked pushing the buttons.







Lately James has loved playing with cups, bottles, spoons, etc. Here he is using Dada as a table :)