Potty Training - Part Deux.

I had a revelation.  It was as if God spoke to me.  

I could hear hallelujah! and  amen! ringing in my ears!

At this point you are probably thinking... Lucas is potty trained!  No.  The opposite.

Luke's teachers along with Casey and I decided he isn't ready.

That is not entirely true.  Lucas decided he wasn't ready.

We just finally listened.

Long story short - Luke is back in diapers.

He couldn't be happier.  We couldn't be happier.

We didn't come to this decision lightly, but those

of you that we talk to regularly know we have been 

contemplating it for weeks.  

Lucas was doing great at first.  He had lots of success.  He had lots of failures too.

But we were hopeful that it would finally click.  

Then he started reverting back and the situation kept

getting worse.  He was stressed.  We were stressed.  The Clemmer household 

felt like it was falling apart.  His teachers and I discussed that he was a 

young 2 and clearly wasn't ready.

Every kid is different.  We tried.  We failed.  We will try again.

They assure me he will not go to college in a diaper.

So, what was my revelation?

That I was trying to make Luke grow up too fast.

That there was another baby in the house now 

and that meant he had to be a big boy.  A big brother.

Bottom line, Luke is a baby.  He is my baby.

He is barely two and I am making him "run" through these milestones.

He will tell me when he is ready.

In the meantime, I just want to love on him.  Enjoy him.  Giggle with him.

The last couple months I dreaded getting up b/c I knew it 

would be a day full of accidents, him throwing fits 

and refusing to go to the bathroom.  Being Luke's mommy

was no longer fun.

He has been back in diapers for almost a week now.

We are having fun again!  We are enjoying each other again.

It may make me sound lazy, but really I just 

couldn't ask him one more time if he had to go potty and have him say no.

Then go on my floor 5 minutes later.  I was on pins and needles all day long

waiting for him to show me he had to go and waiting for an accident.

So I am back to changing two little boy's diapers again.

Two little boys with the cutest bootys in the world!

I consider myself lucky.

 

Liam is 6 months old.

Lucas @ 6 months.

18.1 lbs. (60th percentile)

28 inches (90th percentile)

Liam @ 6 months.

(rice cereal all over his face!)

15.13 lbs (20th percentile)

26 inches (15th percentile)

(when I was looking for pictures to compare my boys,

I found the two above.  funny that they are wearing the same

onesie!  so not planned...obviously.)

Not only do they look nothing alike, but

Liam is so much smaller than Lucas was.

It is so funny to see them side-by-side.

waterpark.

My MOPs group had a play date scheduled today.

It was looking grimm with a threat of rain so they cancelled it.

Of course I didn't know this until I had both boys in

the car and ready to go.  We went anyways.

 Luke had the water park all to himself.

 He loved it!

 And Liam + I loved watching him.

Happy 1/2 Birthday Liam.

It's hard to believe Liam is already 6 months old!

Since he is my last baby, I find myself celebrating the small

stuff that I didn't necessarily celebrate with Lucas.

Like his 6 month bday.  We had a little "half cake"

even though Liam couldn't partake in it.

We will be celebrating his 1st birthday before we know it!

iPhone Photos.

Casey + I got the iPhone back in December.  We love it!  Love. it.  This is the first phone that I have been able to take great pictures on-the-go and email them or text them to family and friends.  Unfortunately, that means my professional camera rarely sees the day of light anymore.  Partly due to the fact that I have a toddler and a baby.  That doesn't leave me with a free hand to grab my camera.  But also because I always have my phone on me.

With both boys asleep, I found time to download photos from my phone.  I thought you would like to see some of my favorites.

 summer time.  hat time.

 boy band in the making.

lucas' afternoon with the mirror.

he had no idea i was taking pictures of him.

saturday morning love.

 liam love.

friday night = pizza night.

practicing his crawling technique.

he is so close!

sweet boy.

My advice on potty training...

...avoid it at all cost!  Or wait until you HAVE to do it.

Say, before they leave for college.

 Luke's new underwear on our head!

We will do anything to get him potty trained.

Ok, not realistic?  Well, in my opinion, then you SHOULDN'T do it if:

 - you have a infant that likes to be held all the time 

(holding = happy; set him down = screaming!)

- you are the infants main source of milk 

(never fails - Luke always starts to pee when I am feeding Liam)

- your infant can roll over + fall off places if not placed "properly" 

(you never know when you are going to have to 

make a mad dash to the bathroom)

- your 2 year old is not the best communicator for his age

(by the time you know what he said, he has already gone to the bathroom)

 - your 2 year old is a 2 year old 

(hello terrible twos!)

 - you have responsibilities other than potty training 

(laundry, cooking, cleaning, ... the list goes on) 

 - you don't like the sound of your own voice or that of your husband's

(we are a broken record from the moment we wake up - "tell us if you have to go potty"; 

"potty Luke?"; "let's all go to the potty!")

... you get my point.

So it's been a month since we did the 3 DAY POTTY TRAINING PROGRAM.

We were expecting the worst for those 3 days.  We anticipated very

little sleep for the weekend, lots of "messes" and cabin fever from staying 

home for 3 days straight.

 Big Boy in Big Boy Underpants.

Surprisingly, Luke did really well; he did better than we anticipated.  

He immediately went into big boy underwear that Friday morning 

and hasn't been in a diaper since.  He made it through

the nights with no accidents.  He made it through his naps with no

accidents.  Yes, he had accidents in those 3 days, but that was expected.

Was he potty trained at the end of Sunday?  No.

Is he potty trained now a month later?  No.

Will he ever be?  I am beginning to wonder.

Is it too late to go back to diapers?  Believe me I have asked!

He has great teachers at his MDO who work with him as well.

They tell us he is really young to be potty training already and doing so well 

(not according to the PROGRAM).  His teacher also tell us to be 

patient with him (easy for them to say; he doesn't scream every time

they take him to the bathroom or scream NO! like he does with us).

This milestone is a great example of how you think life will turn out

and how life REALLY turns out.

Casey and I have learned a lot from this experience.  There has been 

more praying than usual at this house.  In our Young Families Class at 

church last week, we learned to count our trials as joy as we

work out our faith.  Maybe God is preventing it from "clicking" 

in Lucas until WE learn patience. 

We have heard people have kids who learn to master potty

training in 3 days.  Our son is not one of them.

That's ok.  We are happy to be only buying one size of diapers.

We just didn't anticipate the amount of laundry we would be doing

or the amount of trips we would be making to the bathroom.

I thought Lucas was ready to be potty trained.

I forgot to ask myself if I was ready.

Live and learn.

Too early to say, but I don't forsee Liam being potty 

trained until he moves out!

My Boys!

My camera is full of shots of Liam...

and a few of Lucas too!

I finally downloaded them.

 Liam started rolling over and holding himself up

at 4 month old!

 Two peas in a pod.

The faces this kid makes!  He cracks us up!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Bathing Beauty.

 A face this mother loves.

 This kid can't go anywhere without a truck.

 Fun in the sun shade.

Think he has outgrown the kiddie pool?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 All smiles.

Sweet Angel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Did you hear Granpa got a golf cart?  Cool!

 Taking a ride with daddy.

 Luke's obsession - cars + trucks.

one, two, three...