potty training, orange juice, and a construction worker

 

Jason came home one day with a bunch of toys he got on clearance at Walmart.  We were going to give them to him for his birthday, but then we decided to try to use them as potty bribes since he got them for so cheep.  We have tried different kinds of candy, stickers, letting him pick out his own underwear, the "running out of diapers" method,  doing the potty dance, high fives, and more.  Potty training has been challenging, to put it mildly.   He was really excited the night Jason brought home his potty presents, and went pee in the toilet five times to get a puzzle.  I was really excited thinking we might have actually found something to get him motivated.  The next day, he could care-a-less, and refused to go in the toilet.  He even said Chase could have the presents, because he didn't want them. We keep trying off and on, but he is so stubborn.  He can hold it for a while, and can use his toilet if we make him (ie..no Elmo until you go pee pee in the toilet), and so on.  He really wants to wear big boy undies, and we put him in them frequently, but he doesn't want to use the toilet, and will just have constant accidents.  Sigh....  I know we will get there, but in the mean time it is not much fun. 

 We planted a garden in the summer, and my tomato plant is just now finally bearing fruit!  There are some BIG tomatoes on there too!  Wesley likes to go out and help me find the red ones.  I have neglected it so much, and it is a jungle of tomato plants, so a lot are hiding under all the leaves.  I will have to post pictures sometime. 

 Wesley is always doing something silly!

 Chase cries every night while I cook dinner.  Sometimes I can distract him long enough so that neither of us goes insane.  However, some nights I can't handle it.   It is too hard to wear the mobe wrap while cooking, so I tried the backpack.  It worked ok, but he is sooo heavy it hurts my back!  It was worth a try and a quick picture :-) 

 Sweet Chase at the park.  We like to go to the park a lot with my sister in law Jennifer and her three kids.  Since there are five kids under the age of 4 between the two of us, usually the park is the easiest option if we both want to go anywhere together. 

 I never liked the idea of letting your baby or child sleep in your bed.  I thought it was a bad idea, and besides being dangerous, created bad habits. Wesley very rarely did, but he did so well on his own he didn't need to.  Chase, however, is a very different baby and doesn't do as well by himself.  Plus, I have slowly come to the realization that he will outgrow this stage (at least that is what I keep telling myself).  Soon enough he wont want to cuddle anymore, and he wont want to be near me all day.  I will miss it, and I know that for right now, he needs me.  If that means I get to cuddle with him to get a few more hours of sleep, and to make him happy...I will do it :-)

 Wesley is so good at smiling for the camera, and has always been so photogenic.  Chase makes me work harder to get good pictures of him.   A lot of my pictures of the two of them look like this one.  Wesley being silly and smiling, and Chase is staring at him wondering what he is doing. 

 Wesley was running around, and I asked him to stop and smile for the camera really fast.  He does NOT like to stop what he is doing, which is probably why he doesn't want to pee in the toilet.  However, if I work fast, he will give me a good smile for a few seconds, and I can get a really good picture. 

 Remember the big bag of oranges we collected from the tree in our back yard?  Well, Wesley helped me to juice some of them, and we enjoyed some fresh orange juice.  Yum! 

 

 My little construction worker.  It is fun when kids get older and they can pretend, and entertain themselves for a while.