Opening gifts on Christmas Eve at our house with the Babbitt family.
Making cookies with Daddy for Santa. I hope Santa likes colored sprinkles! 
Setting out the cookies and milk for Santa. Reagan also wanted to leave an apple for Rudolph, an orange for Dancer, and carrots for the other reindeer.
Christmas on the 28th with the Grimes family at my dad's house. What is better than bubble wrap???
We hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours!
I'm taking Em's advice. Reagan has been in real underwear all day today, and we're not going back. We're in it for the long haul. Oh gosh. What have I gotten myself into?
I have been getting wonderful tidbits of advice, and I want to follow all of them. But I feel like this day and half of Kelly Type Training has already done the damage of Reagan resenting the potty.
Examples:
1. Give him one M&M for sitting on the potty and more or a bigger prize for doing something on it. (We actually have M&M treats through out most days. What else is there to give?? I'm thinking 1/2 a mini cupcake or something.)
2. Set a timer for every hour and put Reagan on the potty. (We've just constantly been asking, "Do you need to tinkle? Do you feel like you need to poop?" Every answer is "no".)
3. Use the big potty. (He HATES the big potty. Ok, so use a little potty. We have one, but it is entirely too small. We can't afford an extra potty. I think I just need to stick to the little potty until he has a few successes and then graduate to the big potty.)
4. Wear a pull up over his underwear if we need to run a quick errand. (I will definitely do this. This way we're not going back on the only underwear idea.)
I wish I could hire someone that is an expert at this so they can do all this work. :) I can pay you in mac and cheese.
No Wii yet. I'll be sure to let you all know.
For all of Reagan's life I have said over and over that I would NOT put him in Pull Ups. And I have said that I just want Reagan to be 100% ready to potty train so that it doesn't take a month of training~~just a day or so. And I have said that it doesn't matter to me when he is trained~~he won't be wearing a diaper when he graduates from high school.
And I still want all those things.
But something, I don't know what it was, changed my mind yesterday.
I'm ready for him to be trained. Or at least in the process of training. I think he's the only kid in his Mother's Day Out class that isn't in a Pull Up or in real underwear. And I'm really ok with that.
However, there are times when it gets to me that he's in a diaper. Like at church. He is in the toddler class at church because he's still in a diaper. I've been told that he can be in the very, very early stages of training to move up to the 3 year old class. And we walk by the 3 year old class and they are doing such fun age appropriate things. Where as in the toddler class they mostly just play with big toys (like a kitchen or ride-on things). And who wouldn't want to give that up, right? But as a mother I want him learning in Sunday school and doing more challenging things.
And he's by far the oldest kid in his Sunday school class. I jokingly tell him to help his teachers with the babies.
David said last night that he thinks Reagan is lazy. (His words, not mine.) I'm quietly agreeing with him. I think that Reagan IS 100% physically and mentally ready. He is just choosing not to sit on the potty.
So today he was in a Pull Up. (Oh my gosh!!!! Something I would never put him in.) He had a choice between a Pull Up and regular underwear. He decided on the Pull Up, and I went with it. He sat on the potty once~~nothing happened. I don't know if he tinkled in his Pull Up, but he did poop in it. It was time for a nap, so I put him in a diaper for the nap. I told him that he'd only wear a diaper when he sleeps.
So things are changing at our house. Today we officially started potty training. Who knows? I may be able to dedicate all 365 of these posts (new challenge--post EVERY STINKIN' DAY in 2008) to potty training. But please pray that maybe it will only take 3...or maybe 15...or even 30.
Pictures of the holidays coming soon.
In response to Emily's post...
My 3 year old made it, too! Although I'm not sure if he quite understood what was happening. He just had to kiss his mommy for some odd reason in the middle of playing~~and say "Happy New Year".
We had a wonderful evening! We spent the early part of it with our playgroup buddies. The kids played upstairs (very nicely with each other) while the adults played Wii downstairs. Then we were off to another set of friends for about an hour.
Happy New Year to you all! I hope all your wishes come true in 2008.
And we're off to buy a Wii tomorrow...
Background info: I was busy all day on Monday cooking and cleaning the house for company (remember the lamb?). David spent the entire day with Reagan out of the house so that I could clean up.
It was my night to put Reagan to bed...which I did at about 11:00pm!!! Santa must have been circling our house waiting for the little guy to finally go to sleep.
Here is our conversation while we were laying in bed listening for reindeer bells.
Me: I missed you today. I was so busy that I didn't get to spend much time with you.
Reagan: What did I do today?
Me: You went to the park with Daddy.
Reagan: The sand park.
Me: Yes. Did you dig up dinosaur bones?
Reagan: Yes.
Me: What else did you do?
Reagan: Went to HEB to get a blue candle!! (um, this blue candle ended up being a gift to me...little guy can't keep a secret)
Me: And then you came home.
Reagan: To give you a hug.
Me: Aaaahhh! That's nice. And then you took a nap. And then Tita and Grandpa and Grant and Uncle Ricc and Victoria and Ale came over for dinner.
Reagan: Then what did we do?
Me: We opened presents.
Reagan: And I got a recycle truck!!!
Me: Yes, you did.
Reagan: This was the best day!
(How cute is that??)
Me: Just wait until tomorrow...
I'd be in trouble if it were!
I'm getting very excited about Monday. On Christmas Eve, David and I are hosting lunch here at our house for his family. Well, it is my family, too~~the Babbitt's are all going to be here.
I'm getting a bit nervous about the meal. I am doing something other than the traditional turkey, and it is something that I have never made before. And just to give you a clear picture, I have only made ONE other big dinner before. Our first Christmas married, David and I had his family over and I made a turkey. So I'm thinking that if I can do that, I can do this, too.
The menu:
Leg of Lamb with Roasted Pear and Pine Nut Relish (from Cooking Light)
Mashed Potato Gratin (from Cooking Light)
Green Bean Casserole (a traditional favorite, but lightened up as much as possible)
Broccoli and Rice Casserole (not light at all...in fact, store bought...shhhhh!)
Crescent Rolls (it isn't Christmas at MY house without them)
I'm still thinking about what to do for dessert. And I'm also thinking of having a veggie tray out for when everyone arrives.
What I worry most about is when to cook everything. I have one oven, and I have 4 things that need to be in that oven at some point in time. I'm sure I can figure this out, though.
I am also on the hunt for 2 to 4 gold chargers. I found 4 at Linens n Things that I did not like. Then I found some at Pier One that I like, but they are a bit too big. I need to take them back. I think I saw some at Target yesterday, and I'll also look at Bed Bath and Beyond later. (I'm mostly excited about how the table will look!! I LOVE using my fun china!)
Yeah, I know. Lame post.
Happy Holidays!!!
December 30, 2006After a relatively long process, my grandaddy passed away early Sunday morning. As you can see, the above picture was taken just about one year ago, which amazes me what can happen to a person in a short period of time.
As my mom said, we were all prepared, but we're never really ready for something like this. The GREAT news is that we know he is back with my grandmother right now~~and I'm sure she was getting very impatient!
Grandmother and Grandaddy had a wonderful love, and I always hope to mirror that in my relationship with David. At our wedding Grandmother gave us some great advice. After being married for years and years, she said the secret to a happy marriage is giving each other a kiss before bedtime every night. It is a warm image to think about Grandaddy leaning over to Grandmother every single night and giving her a gentle kiss and saying "goodnight".
I love my grandaddy very much. I have wonderful memories of him~~spending some time during the summers with him in DC; how tall he always seemed to me, especially when we hugged "hello"; the way he always wore a hat (mostly a baseball cap perched high on top of his head); his love of gardening (yummy cucumbers); his woodworking skills; the oldest Aggie in my family (WHOOP!); his quiet, yet very funny, sense of humor; the way everyone seemed to love him and think of him as their own grandaddy!
I love you, Grandaddy. Give Grandmother a hug for me and Reagan and David!
