Movie Playdate!

We are always looking for fun things to do, and when we heard that the movie theater offers "Summer Movie Magic" for kids, I was all about it.  They show older kids' movies that are no longer in the theater at 10am on Wednesdays.  It is a dollar for the kids and grownups are free!  They also offer dollar drink and popcorn specials. 

I emailed Cal's playgroup to see if anyone would be interested in joining, and a lot of people were!  We met this morning-- they were showing Yogi Bear-- and had SUCH a great time!

Cal loooooooved the theater.  We arrived late (obviously...why would we get anywhere on time??), so we didn't have a chance to grab a drink or popcorn.  I would have liked to get some for Cal; I think he would have loved that!

The kids all had little booster seats to help them see the screen-- so cute! 

Cal held his hands in his lap the whole time (until I let him have a pop-pop for a treat)

We were late, but we still made it before the show started.  We sat in the row in front of most of Cal's buddies-- the theater was PACKED!  Guess this is a fun thing for parents to do with their kids when it is hot out! Cal sat up on his booster seat and was grinning ear to ear. 

The previews were great-- the kids were hooked.  They had one for Happy Feet 2 and they were all staring in awe. 

Kaylee and Brad sitting behind us (pardon the camera phone)

About 40 minutes into the movie, some of the kids were a little over the sitting in a seat part.  I think if we had had the entire row, where they could run back and forth, it would have been fine, but like I said, it was really crowded in there.  So the restless kids headed out to the lobby, but Cal was still pretty content. 

He loved pointing out the trucks and the bears and when the big kids would laugh at something in the movie, he would look at me and start laughing too.

Andy did fine for the first 30 minutes, and then I could feel his carseat rumbling... he had gone to the bathroom and I knew it was only a matter of time for how long he would last!  I took him out of the carseat and held him with the paci for a while, but soon he was over it.  I quickly strapped him in the carseat (while he was crying in the middle of a movie...I was sweating).  Poor Cal was still sitting in his seat as I was scootching past everyone in the aisle.  He hopped down and started saying, "wait, momma! wait!"

After we walked out of the theater, we played in the lobby for a bit and then we played outside by the fountain for a while.  Cal kept saying "pool!" over and over again-- he took his shoes off, ready to jump in the pool/fountain...

Avi explaining to Cal that it isn't a pool

 After we played outside, we walked down to the mall and to the food court where we all had some Chick-fil-a.  We traded in our kids' meal toy for an ice cream cone.  Cal was in heaven:

And, on Monday and Tuesday, Cal did not nap.  This is a kid who usually sleeps for 3-4 hours at nap time.  He did not fall asleep.  I think the whole potty training thing is screwing up his sleep (ugh).  He wouldn't pee in his diaper, so he spent all of Monday's nap trying to remove his clothing and his diaper.  Tuesday's nap, he started off in his regular clothes and took off everything from the waist down in the first 20 minutes.  My mom showed up then with a ton of footie pjs that she just bought.  We put Cal in a fresh diaper and zipped him up.  He spent the entire rest of nap time talking to the doggies on the jammies, singing some song he learned at camp, and trying his hardest to get the diaper off from the outside of his pants. 

Today, however, he sleeps:

And, on a potty training note (for me to remember later in life): we are wearing pull ups now (just to try it out) and they are working out great.  He stayed dry at camp on Tuesday in his pull up and he was dry for the whole movie and peed in the potty at the theater.  After lunch, I had to nurse Andy in the dressing room in Nordstrom and half way through, Cal started saying peepee potty peepee potty....well, my hands were full, so I told Cal to hold it if he could.  He did!  We went to the bathroom as soon as I was done and he was dry!  woohoooo!!!!

Sorry for the constant peepee updates....I gotta keep track of this for later :)

Camp: the class

August camp is winding down, and sadly, Cal's teacher, Ms. Jamie, is moving on to another job, and today was her last day. As a goodbye gift for her, we got her a gift card and decided to attempt to get a picture of the kiddos before camp started today to put in a frame to give her at drop off...

I think these pretty much captured all of their personalities...perfectly!

avi, bea, cal, brad, henry, and jack

august 2011

walking in together....

Camp ends on Thursday and I am so sad.  This is such a great group of kids and Cal has been having the best time with them.  I am thankful that his timidness seems to be fading the more time he spends with these kids... so fun!

2 steps forward, 2 steps back

I haven't written about potty training in a few days... here is an update!

So, Tuesday at camp went reallllly well: no accidents, he went on the potty every time, it was great.

Wednesday, home without Eddie for the whole day and Cal did okay, but not great at ALL... we were going to go for a walk with some friends and we were racing around trying to get ready to go.  He told me he had to go, and I didn't get to him fast enough and he had an accident.  We changed clothes and set off on our walk. 
Before we took off on the walk, I asked him if he needed to pee and he said no, but I really didn't want him to pee in my stroller, so I pulled his pants down and encouraged him to go outside (gotta love boys).  He did a little and said all done, so we loaded up the stroller and set off.  He did great on the walk, no accidents. 
We got back to my mom's house and went inside, where I immediately put him on the potty.  My friend and her kids were there too and I think Cal didn't want to miss out on the fun, so he peed a real little bit and then started saying all done all done all done.  I let him off the potty (my fault) and about 10 minutes later, he had an accident.  I changed his clothes once again, but wasn't going to get frustrated: he isn't even 2 yet...accidents are bound to happen. 
We got home and he started saying peepee potty over and over again so I ran him inside, but he had a real small amount already come out (tmi? sorry!), but the rest went in the potty. 
This is when Andy started getting really fussy (see next post...) and I was about spent.  We were on our 4th pair of underpants and I was exhausted....but determined to not let him back in a diaper... we had come this far...we are sticking with it!
Cal did not have any more accidents the rest of Wednesday-- he does really well when we are at home....even told us every time he had to go-- we didn't have to ask him once.
Thursday, Cal went to camp again-- super excited to go, once again.  Last time I took him, I took him into the bathroom before I left, but I didn't do that this time.... well, this time at pick up, Cal was wearing someone else's shorts (Sally, quit laughing....) and a diaper.  He had gone through the pair I sent him in, and the TWO backup pairs I sent as well.  They said every time they took him to the potty, he would pee, but only a small amount, and then he would get back with the group and would go in his pants about 10 minutes later.... kinda like what he did before. 
I think he doesn't want to miss out on fun times with his friends, so he pees just a little so he can hurry and get back to the group, but then really has to go, so he just goes in his pants.  He's the only one in his class that is using the potty, so I think he doesn't like being taken away from the group. 
So, I asked his teacher what we should do, and she said it's totally up to us.  She will support us either way.  I really appreciate that because I feel like he's so close, but he would be so far without her support...

After camp on Thursday, Cal did NOT want to nap.  I went in after hearing him say "peeeepeeeeeeee" over and over again to find my little man with his shirt almost all the way off (his arm was out the neck hole...and stuck), his shorts off and his diaper off.-- he was sticking his "part" through the slats of the crib, attempting to pee out of the crib.  Yes.  I am serious.  Nice, right?
Thursday afternoon, Cal did great with the training and told me every time he needed to pee.
Friday, I was reaching a breaking point.  I haven't had a break in a while and I think it's just catching up to me.  I think having Eddie gone, Andy sick, and dealing with the potty training, all the while Cal is learning to express himself by saying NOOOOO all the time... is really wearing me out.  I was pretty much at my wit's end by 9am.  We were having a play date a friend's house with a pool and I was looking forward to some one on one time with Cal (my mom graciously offered to keep Andy).  I think Cal is craving more attention from me, since it used to be just the two of us, and now Andy needs me so much and that is taking away from Cal....so I think he's been acting out to get more attention from me (and it makes me soooo upset).  Anyway.... I was losing my mind early on Friday and started second guessing the whole potty training thing.
We went to the pool play date and were swimming along, having a great time, when Cal said "peepee, Momma."  I said, do you need to peepee?  And he said okay! So I lifted him out of the pool, and he ran over to the woods/side yard, and started pulling his pants down!  I ran over to him and helped him and he peed a TON in their side yard!  I was pretty impressed he didn't just go right in the pool! That was a huge plus.
After the pool playdate, we were heading home, but I stopped by the club to pick up lunch.  I should have had him get out to pee while we were waiting,  but I didn't.... and he peed in his car seat on the way home.  ugh.  He didn't tell me he needed to go, and I didn't ask him.... that was my fault. 
Friday night, he did great-- no accidents, and today is Saturday, no accidents.  He has been really good about telling us today when he has to go. 
And this is total TMI, but we are waiting for #2 action... it's been a few days.... YIKES. 

SO, I really think this whole process is just that: a process.  There are going to be good days, and there are going to be bad, and we knew going into this, that he would not be accident free-- that's crazy to even think that.  I do second guess our efforts sometimes, but even now, when he's in a diaper, he tells us when he has to pee, and he holds it until we are at the potty.... that's a pretty big step.  We will see how camp goes on Tuesday.  I'm looking forward to returning the shorts... let's just say they weren't quite my style...... (Sally, shut up!).

Here's hoping to a dry rest of the weekend.... well, it's raining now, so a dry weekend for CAL at least :)

Mother's Intuition

Momma's just know when something isn't right with their little ones.  Mother's intuition is not something to be messed with...

Let me back up.  Eddie had to go out of town on business at 5am on Tuesday morning and was returning Wednesday afternoon/early evening.  I was going to be home alone with the boys, which is totally fine, not a big deal, I can handle it (but it sure makes me appreciate having him home--!).

Tuesday night, Andy slept a 9 hour stretch!  I was THRILLED!  I couldn't believe he went that long!  And once he woke up and ate, he was right back asleep again-- ahhhhh, it was awesome! 

On Wednesday afternoon, around 12, Andy got a little fussy, so I figured he was just tired and I put him down early for his nap.  Cal went soon there after... Andy woke up after about an hour and a half and ate and burped like normal, but then started the most pathetic cry ever.  I thought maybe he was still tired so I tried rocking him.... he was reallllllly upset at this point.  Tears were pouring down his sweet cheeks :(. 

Thinking it was a dirty diaper bothering him, I laid him down on the changing table where he let out the loudest shriek I have ever heard a kid make.  I picked him up, diaper-free, and held him and he was just so upset.  He was crying like he was in pain...and it was a different kind of pain than his tummy pain that he had previously. 

I carried him around for a while trying to get him calm and he would rotate whimpering, crying, and shrieking.  It was breaking my heart. 

After about an hour of him crying in pain, I called the advice nurse line at my pediatrician's office.  When the nurse called back, she talked to me like I was a mother about to walk off of a cliff.  This was our conversation:

Nurse: how long has he been crying?
Me: for about an hour and a half
Nurse: well, you know babies can't use words to communicate
Me: really? huh.
Nurse: so they have to really get their talking out through crying. It sounds like your baby is just frustrated right now and is trying to talk it all out.
Me: seriously?
Nurse: Yes, seriously-- babies sometimes cry for no reason.
----->I wanted to reach through the phone and smack her------
Me: yes, I know that, but he seems like he's in pain
Nurse: I bet he just needs to burp.  Have you tried burping him?
Me: yep. He had a great burp.
Nurse: Well, I bet you've been eating something that upset his tummy then.
Me: noooo, don't think so...
Nurse: well, you know babies can't talk, so they have to express themselves through crying... I bet he's just had a stressful day and wants to let you know about it.

UGH!

After going around and around about how some babies just need to express themselves through crying, I hung up the phone.  She made me feel like I was being an over-reactive mother. 

Andy was still diaper-less, and I had a feeling there might be a movement sometime soon, so I laid him down to diaper him and all hell broke loose.  He started shrieking over and over again and couldn't catch his breath in between shrieks. 

I called the appointment line, but of course, there were no available appointments that afternoon.  Soooo, I texted  my pediatrician (so bad, I know) and asked if she could fit us in.  I believe my exact words were: "Dr. K: Andy is in pain. Don't know why. Can you see us? Please? We love you."  I do love my pediatrician....

She wrote back to come on in.  Eddie pulled in the driveway right in the middle of this and bless his heart, he walked into quite a scene!  I filled him in and he said it was obvious that Andy was in pain, but he thought that maybe it was just gas.  I told him to call the nurse on the advice line and they could chat about gas and expressing themselves, but I was heading to the doctor.  Eddie agreed it was smart to take him in.

Poor little guy whimpered all the way to the office and I carried him in in my arms and he was the most pathetic thing you've ever seen. 

He weighed in at 14 pounds, 10 ounces and had a temperature of 100, which is no big deal at all.

When the doctor came in, she looked into his ears and he was none too thrilled about that one.  He screamed and shrieked and cried.  She asked how long he'd been like that and said, "he is in a great deal of pain right now..." I wanted to cry.  She told me she had concern about the draining in one ear.

She had me hold his arms down so she could look in his ears again, and then she went to get another doctor to look at them too..... the other doctor came in and took a look and they started mumbling back and forth to each other and I could only pick up bits and pieces over Andy's crying.  I heard them mention his soft spot on his head and I heard the word meningitis.   I was beside myself. She had the nurse come in and give him some Tylenol and put some numbing drops in his left ear.  

I picked him up and worked on calming him, and he finally just passed out in my arms.  When the screaming had stopped, the nurse came in and told me that her other 2 rooms of patients were all so worried about his since his screaming sounded so sad. :(

The doctor came back in to talk to me and check on Andy.  When she came in, he woke up and started cooing and laughing---!!!!!  The doctor said she was so happy to see that and that she was realllly worried about him when we brought him in.  Well, that about set me over the edge.  I asked her about meningitis and she said, "he was in so much pain like a child with meningitis, but he is totally fine." Then I asked her about the soft spot, and she said they were just commenting on how the soft spot was pulsating so much during his screams, but that I shouldn't worry about it. 

When all was said and done, Andy had an ear infection!  His first one-- on his 12 week birthday :) Go figure! I apologized to the doctor for being an over-reactive mother and she looked me in the eye and said "you don't mess with mother's instinct. You knew your baby was hurting and you did the right thing by bringing him in."  See?  That's why I love my doctor!

Oh, and when I told her that Andy slept for 9 hours the night before, she said she thought that was because he wasn't feeling well.  Ugh. haha....

sweet little nugget with his first ear infection...

Camp: Diaper Free

Cal woke up this morning screaming "CAMP!!!!!" from his crib. During breakfast he said "camp?" about 30, 000, 000 times.

Cal was more excited than his mother. 

I was THRILLED for him to get to go back to camp-- he loves it and has the best time, but I was apprehensive about going sans diaper.  I emailed the director and explained our situation and told her about our weekend (in a LOT less detail than on the blog-- don't worry).  She was very encouraging and told us they would help in any way.

Cal went to camp this morning with a bag full!  I sent him in underpants, but packed diapers in case it just wasn't working out for them today.  I also included in the bag: 2 pairs of shorts, an extra t-shirt, and another pair of socks because, well, you just never know...

When we got to camp, I took Cal to the potty there and he went without a problem.  I left thinking I would get a call, but I didn't.... when I returned for pick up, I was fully prepared to see Cal in a different outfit, BUT HE WASN'T! He was still in the same clothes-- not one accident! woah... perhaps I need to give the kid a little more credit!

I'm not sure how verbal he was with the teachers letting them know when he had to go, but they said they took him about every hour/ hour and a half and he went each time...!  I was pretty excited!

At pick up, he was playing with his favorite friend, Brad-- this time they were trying on a ladybug costume.  It's okay though because they are both secure in their masculinity-- ha!

We will see how the rest of the week goes!

Birthday Party Preview

Sound the Alarm!!

Tales of a Potty Training Weekend

Here we go... take a deep breath with me.

Note: this is NOT a potty.  It is Andy's BUMPO.  Cal likes to pretend it's a potty.  We are fine with that as long as he doesn't treat it like a potty... also Note: golf club in hands at all times.

I wrote before that Cal was interested in the potty, but his mother was not quite ready (she's so selfish). Now that things have calmed down with the screamer sweet one, Cal is still interested, so it's time to devote a little time and effort to the cause.

Here's the time line of the weekend (and a few days prior):

Thursday 8/4:
Cal woke up from his nap and took it upon himself to remove his (VERY FULL) (very) dirty diaper.  He so kindly placed it in the crib and yelled out repeatedly: "Mommeeee!  I poooooooped!" hmmm. MAJOR clean up required.

really you can't make this stuff up.

Friday 8/5:
Mom goes in after nap time to find a completely naked little boy sitting in the corner of his crib, peeing.  Yes.  That is right.  Shorts? Off.  T-shirt? Removed (didn't know he knew how to do that).  Diaper? Gone.  Only thing on him was his paci (which he was holding in his mouth like a cigarette, but that's another story).  Apparently his diaper was wet and he didn't want it on anymore...some say this is a sure sign that a kid is ready to be out of diapers.  (Personally, I think it's a sign that he is turning two and he knows how to take the stupid thing off...).  Andy was screaming and needed attention so mom put a diaper on Cal and went to get Andy.  As mom is feeding Andy, Cal comes into the room carrying a pair of big boy underpants (some might also say this is a sign that a kid is ready.  Whatever.  I think it's a sign that he likes the trains on the underwear).  We put the big boy underpants over the diaper, just to appease the child that is screaming for his big boy pants.

it's blurry because I realized he was sitting in pee right as I took this.

About 20 minutes later, Cal comes to me (I'm sick of referring to myself as mom....) and says "pee pee!  Pee pee potty!!!" But he had his diaper on, so I just made a mental note.  Well, I decided that now was as good of time as any... let's do it.  I removed the diaper and was about to put on the underpants, and asked him if he needed to peepee first.  He said, "okay!" and ran to the bathroom.  And peepee he did. A lot.  It was pretty cool! He finished and completed the routine which I am trying to ingrain in his brain: FLUSH, LID DOWN, HANDS WASHED.  That last one is tricky though because after he pees, flushes, and puts the lid down, he wants to go celebrate with someone.  He's pumped.  But we work on it, nonetheless!

After the success on the potty, I reward him with a "pop pop" which is just a little dumb dumb sucker.  He is sooooo excited about his reward.  It dawns on me that I need to come up with a different reward since he will be peeing a LOT during the day...I can't give him a sucker for each time.  Maybe he will get a pop pop if he poops on the potty and something smaller, like an M&M for pee...just thinking out loud.

About 30 minutes (and some juice) later, Cal says "poo poo!!" so we race to the bathroom and he gets the giggles as he sits on the potty.  Like, can't stop cracking up giggles.  I thought it was hilarious too... this time there was no poo, but he did peepee again... just a little.  We were on a role.  No accidents yet.

Eddie got home another 30 minutes later and we played for a while and then Cal announced he needed to peepee again.  I was thrilled that he was letting us know!  Eddie took him in this time since I was holding Andy and he peepeed for Eddie: horray!  He was a little disappointed when he couldn't have a pop pop since we were about to have dinner.

Eddie wanted The Loop for dinner so he took Cal with him, sans diaper (but with shorts!) to pick it up.  I told Eddie Cal should try to go one more time before leaving and Eddie didn't think there was any way he would have to go again, but I insisted he try...he went peepee...(listen to the momma!!!).  When the boys returned with dinner, Cal was ready to eat and Eddie was even more anxious to eat.  I was nursing Andy so I told Eddie that Cal needed to try again before eating (he has peed in his high chair more times than I'd like to count...).  Eddie felt like since he went right before they left, there was no need for him to go again.  I kept my mouth shut, and Eddie sighed and said FINE.  He put Cal on the potty and he peed...a TON!  hahaha  Eddie came out and said: "you were right. he had to reallllly go!"  But, looking at the positive, he had to go, but didn't go in his pants!  WOOHOO!  Big step right there.

After dinner, Eddie brought Cal upstairs and Cal was saying "poopoopoo" over and over again.  He put him on the potty, but after about 3 seconds, Cal announced it was "all done!!!" and ready to get in the bath tub.  I think he probably could have gone a little then, but he was excited to get in the tub.

He went down tonight in an overnight diaper and we will start again tomorrow... it could be a VERY trying day for me.... praying for patience, calmness...and some good wine by happy hour!

Saturday 8/6:
After a long night with Andy, Eddie got up with Cal this morning and put him in a diaper.  I slept for another (glorious) hour and came downstairs.  I promptly removed the diaper, determined to be diaper free during awake hours. 
Cal immediately peed on the potty for me and we put on shorts, no diaper for the morning. He wanted a pop pop, but I told him that pop pop's were for poopoo only (can't believe I use this kind of lingo now!).  He said "okay" but went to the drawer where the pop pop's are kept.  I gave him a treat instead, a chunk of a chocolate chip granola bar.  As soon as he finished he started saying "more treat, more treat!"  I told him that he had to peepee on the potty to get more treat.  So, again, he said "okay!" and ran into the bathroom saying "potty potty potty potty."  Hmmm.... the treats might sort of be working, but I'm not convinced that he gets it.
I continued asking him every 20-30 minutes if he needed to peepee. He would either say "no" or "okay!" and if the answer was no two times in a row, I made him go sit anyway.  Each time I did this, he peed.
Andy and I went to the grocery store to pick up some other kinds of treats so that we could reserve pop pops for poopoo.  Eddie was going to play outside with Cal and he promised to ask him to peepee while I was gone.  I got back an hour later, and Cal was still accident free! 
We ate lunch and he peed on the potty several more times, really liking the new treats: M&Ms! Yummmm!
Side note story: Cal has been taking stuffed animals and trying to diaper them while talking to them: "okay baby, you go peepee" or he will pick up the animal and put it in Andy's bumpo and say: "go peepee potty, baby, pee pee potty!" SO funny... after he picks the animal out of the bumpo, he will say okayyyyy, then try to re-diaper him.  It cracks us up!
Cal went down for a nap today at 1:00 in a diaper, but with his big boy underwear on top, and then shorts on top of that (he insisted about the underwear).  After putting him down, there was some CRAZY screaming coming from his room so I went in to find him with both legs sticking out different crib slots, completely stuck.  He was taking off his shorts and his legs slipped through the slots.  The kid is determined to get the diaper off!  We will see how he is dressed when he wakes up.... I'll update from the afternoon later...
Cal woke up from his nap and when I went to get him, he had his shorts off and was pointing at the trains on his underwear saying "choo choo!!!" The kid loves trains.  I carried him straight into the bathroom and onto the potty. He didn't need to go, but he tried.  I took him off the potty and straight into underwear without a diaper.

The afternoon went well.  He went potty several times and had no accidents...! A few times he would get a treat (2-3 M&Ms) and then would say "more treat?" and when I told him he had to go potty for a treat, would say "okay!" and run to the bathroom, pulling his pants down as he ran.  I'd put him on the potty and he would push as hard as he could to get anything to come out so that he could get a treat.  HA!
I read somewhere that little boys especially are hard to potty train because they hate to stop playing to go to the potty...this makes TOTAL sense with Cal.  He doesn't want to leave his trucks for a second to stop and pee.  This will be a challenge we work around..maybe we will take the trucks with us into the bathroom....
All in all, we had a very successful first FULL day of potty training.  He is wearing a diaper tonight for bed, but we are going to try for diaper free during awake hours again tomorrow.  We did not have a "number 2" today, so I'm sure that will be fun tomorrow (he has gone number 2 on the potty several times before, so I don't think he's scared of it...). I think tomorrow we are going to take him to a park, so it will be out first real outing, diaper free, but it's outside so if he has an accident, it'll be easy clean up.  Plus, this park has bathrooms, so we can run him up to them if we need to.
Hoping for a good Sunday in this weekend of trial and error!

underwear on the head... that's where it goes, right?

he didn't bother pulling them all the way up

Sunday 8/7:
Eddie got up with Cal this morning and I asked him to put him in big boy underwear instead of the diaper.  Eddie agreed.  I was upstairs getting Andy down for his nap (he was going down for his nap just as Cal was waking up, if that tells you anything....) and was rocking him in the nursery.  I could hear things going on downstairs and I heard Cal jibbering away and then I heard "potty".  Well, I think I am trained to that word right now, and I think I can understand his jibberish because I am around him so much.  I wanted to scream downstairs "get him to the potty!!!!" but I was holding an about-asleep baby in my arms.  Then I heard him say "POTTY" a little louder and Eddie sprang into action.  It literally sounded like he jumped over the couch to grab him (and he very well may have! haha).  Then I heard Eddie say "ohhh, no...."  We had our first accident.  But to be fair, Cal tried to tell him, he just didn't speak up very well.
A clean pair of underpants and some clean shorts and we were back at it.  He had a real tiny little accident, but he was saying potty as it started, and he finished on the potty.
Once I came downstairs for the day, I started asking him every 30 minutes.  Most of the times, he was happy to go in the bathroom and try (he goes every time).  Other times, when he's playing hard, he kicks and screams and doesn't want to go, but I carry him in there and put him on the potty and he goes immediately.
It seems like every 30 minutes is a lot, but when you think of how tiny his little bladder is, he's gotta go a lot!
Eddie and Cal took Hank on a little walk to a lake near our house.  Eddie said once they reached the lake, Cal announced "poopoo, daddy" and Eddie said he panicked.  Hank was off of the leash, he could hear two dogs coming up the trail and Cal had to poop (is this not the funniest picture??).  Eddie started calling for Hank, he dropped Cal's pants and then sat him down in the middle of the trail to retrieve Hank before the other dogs came...ha! I guess all of that excitement discouraged him from going number 2, but he stood up and peed for Eddie in the woods.
After the walk, Eddie left to go play golf so I was dealing with both boys... I needed to run a few quick errands in my car, so I put Cal on the potty one more time (he went) and loaded up the car to run around.  We were gone almost 45 minutes and made it accident free.  When we got home, I put him on the potty immediately and he peed quite a bit.
He had a hard time going down for nap today-- I really think he didn't want the diaper on.  Again, I put on the diaper, then the underpants, then shorts-- this time shorts that have a button and are a little tight on him so they are harder to take off.  There was a LOT of talking and screaming going on in his room and it finally got quiet (after over an hour).  I went in to check on him and I found the shorts off and the underpants NEXT to the crib and the diaper almost off....but the kid was asleep!

Underwear next to crib. Shorts in crib. Diaper almost off.

I am nervous for camp on Tuesday.  I just emailed his teacher to see what she thinks...diaper or no diaper... I don't want to regress by putting him in a diaper, but is it fair for them to have to take him to potty every 30 minutes?
After his nap, I tried to get into his room as soon as I heard him wake up, so he wouldn't have time to get the diaper off.  I ran in there at the first noise I heard and his diaper was off and he announced, "mommy, I peepee!!"  Honestly, I really think he hates diapers now and doesn't want to go in them anymore.
He spent the entire afternoon in big boy underpants and didn't have any accidents!  woohoo! 

Monday morning-- (this is supposed to only be a weekend update, so I'll keep this part short...): I was nursing Andy getting him ready to go down for his nap, Eddie was in the shower and Cal decided he needed to poopoo.  He told Eddie, while Eddie was in the shower, so Eddie flew out of the shower and put him on the potty and he only peed.  He got him back dressed and got back into the shower and Cal decided to poopoo at that time.  In his pants.  And on the bathroom floor.  Chaos followed. 
HOWEVER, I took Cal and Andy to the post office and Target today and remained accident free.  At Target we went into the bathroom and Cal peepeed like a champ on the potty... I was thrilled!! We will see how the week goes!

Brothers

no words needed :)

This time last year...

On August 6th, 2010 Mr. Cal took his first steps! He's been walking a whole year and hasn't looked back once...

Here is the video we took of the first steps.

I am loving looking back at where we were a year ago!

Camp pick up

Cal had camp again this morning, and again he had a big time.  There were no tears at drop off and all morning before we got there he kept chanting "camp, camp camp!"  He was excited!!!

When I went to pick him up, I almost didn't see him in the corner dressed like this:

I mean, honestly, you can't make this stuff up.  He was wearing a Lightning McQueen costume, held up by suspenders, nonetheless, and a hard hat.  And he was happy as can be. 

They had water day today where they play in little water table outside and one of his teachers told me that Cal was by far the wettest of all of the kids-- haha!  He's loving every minute of it, and I love him having so much fun!