Potty Training

We started potty training Jack last Monday (9/19/11). Tonya (his daycare provider, we love her) told me the end of the prior week that Jack had started asking to go potty. I wasn't sure if it was because Tonya was just finishing up potty training another little girl so it had sparked his interest or if he maybe was really ready...either way Tonya said she thought we should at least give it a good try and see how he did! Well I'm happy to report he is doing GREAT!

Tonya didn't want to use Pull-Ups (she said in the past with kids she has done the pull-ups with that once they figure out that the pull-up will hold pee/poop it usually deters their progress), so off to JC Penny we went to get some of the thicker training underpants (we refer to them as "unders". Chris and I were going out of town for our anniversay so we decided to wait until we got home Sunday to give them a try.

Sunday night Jack wore his unders for about 3 hours and used the potty one time to go pee. I was excited that he didn't have an accident on our first try! So Monday was the real start of training and to say he didn't do great would be an understatement!

Here is the timeline of the week...

Monday - 7 accidents (6 at daycare, 1 at home)

Tuesday - 2 accidents (both at daycare)

Wednesday - 2 accidents (both at daycare, one during quiet time)

Thursday - 1 accident (at daycare)

Friday - 1 accident (at daycare)

Saturday - 1 accident (at home)

Sunday - 1 accident (during his nap - although he was in Columbus all day with Chris so who knows what really happened)

Monday - ZERO ACCIDENTS ALL DAY!

We are really pretty proud of how well he is doing! He doesn't always tell you when he needs to go, but it's obvious he can hold his pee (most of the accidents later in the week were poop) and will hold it until you take him to the potty! We do a jumping high five and a cookie as a reward (he doesn't like stickers/tape/sticky things so we didn't do the more common sticker chart)!

A friend that has a little boy a week older than Jack asked me what we were doing and what the key was...I told her number one is consistency. We (either at home or daycare) would take Jack to the potty about every 30 minutes and have him sit on the potty and try to go - every 30 minutes! The second thing, I think is, is not doing pull-ups or diapers at all during the day! Jack has only had a diaper on at night and not until he actually gets into bed. He doesn't even wear a diaper during nap time and has only had 2 pee accidents during his nap - awesome! Third and probably tied with second is having an awesome daycare that works just as hard as you do at getting them potty trained! Tonya is awesome and she even works harder than we do/did because she has him the majority of the week while we are at work! I think if your child goes to daycare and the daycare isn't totally on board and you aren't using the same methods it will never work or at least will take a lot longer!

I will say Jack is no where near trained at night time. He still has quite a big of pee in his diapers in the morning, but hey I can do 1 diaper a day, that's nothing - especially when little Miss is slated to arrive in 4 short months! :-)

Way to go Jack, you are an all-star potty trained boy! We are so proud of you!

xoxo

likes to bite!

Jack has a new found passion for biting! It started awhile back, but in the past couple weeks it has increased in frequency. At first every once in awhile he would kind on nibble your mouth if he was giving a kiss, but I never thought much of it and actually thought it was kind of cute! Then he started biting down on our fingers while we brushed his teeth (with the little finger brush - needless to say we use a regular tooth brush now).

But now he is getting more aggressive AND his favorite thing to bite you ask? TOES! Yes, toes - it's so gross, but he seems like he just can't resist! Bare foot, socked foot, shoed foot - Jack doesn't discriminate! He loves them all equally!

Almost every night now he will sneak up on our feet and dive right in (usually going for the big toe) without warning. Sometimes he will grab ahold of your foot first, which gives you time to pull back - other times we are just out of luck! OUCH!

Jack thinks it is down right hilarious! And I'm not sure he is doing it to inflict pain - I think he likes the reaction of us jumping, jerking, and screaming - its funny to him! He also now likes to fake us out and act like he is giving a kiss on the cheek, all the while fully intending to bite your face off!

I started to wonder if he was biting at daycare? I hadn't been told he was, but I couldn't see how he wouldn't be there if he was doing it at home so reguarly? I talked to Tonya today and she said he hasn't bitten anyone other than her and that was only one time. She said they were snuggling and he was burying his face into her and bite her right between the boobs! Oops! Ha, but at least he isn't biting the other children - yet anyway!

Here's to hoping its a phase that he QUICKLY grows out of!

growing up

Jack is getting to be such a big boy these days and with that comes his independence, which is good and in some cases not good! When he doesn't get his way he now throws full out tantrums! He throws himself down on the floor and screams! Jack loves playing outside and making him come inside will guarantee a meltdown! I've started letting him come in on his own terms and then having him shut the door - this usually helps until he realizes that I'm not going to reopen the door for him to go back out!

Jack has also started insisting on holding a fork during meals. He uses it sometimes and he gets so excited when he successfully pokes his food and actually gets it in his mouth! It's cute!

Jack is now running around the house and loves it when people knock on the door! He gets so excited to see who it is! He is back in his own crib, but still plays for quite awhile before actually falling asleep!

We went to the doctor last week for Jack's flu shot and he weighed just over 23 pounds and was 30.5 inches long (yes he is getting taller)!

The cutest thing happened this morning when I dropped him off at Tonya's! Usually I sneak out when he isn't looking or I say a quick bye and Tonya takes him the other way. He never really cries too much and I can always hear him stop before I even get off the porch, but this morning was different. As soon as we walked in Jack wanted to play, I sat and talked to Tonya for a minute and then it was time to leave. I told Jack I was leaving and he made a bee-line for me, I thought oh he is going to cry! He walked over arms out (I thought b/c he wanted picked up), but I just squated down and said "Ok, give me hug and kiss," he hugged me and I kissed him on the cheek and he promptly turned around and went back to playing! What a big boy! That was the first time HE ever gave ME a goodbye hug and kiss!

xoxo

sicky sickerton

Over the weekend I noticed Jack felt a little warmer than usual, but chopped it up to teething because he wasn't acting any different. Well yesterday morning I took him to daycare and told Tonya he felt a little warm that morning so I gave him Tylenol, but that I thought it was just teething and told her to call me if he got any worse...9:15am I get a text from Tonya saying his temp shot up to 102 - 103 degrees! Needless to say I HAD to go get him.

On my way I scheduled him an appointment to see the doctor (or nurse practitioner since our doctor works at a satelite clinic on Mondays and the other doctor at the clinic was booked FULL). In the mean time Jack is fussy and just wanted to sleep and sleep! We got to the clinic and didn't wait long before we were seen by the doctor (he was loopy and I was not impressed), but he said it looks like he has some type of bacterial infection mixed with a sinus infection - say what? Anyway, he said his lymph nodes in his neck were swollen and there was lots of redness and swelling in his nose. We got an antibiotic and he sent us on our way...

I thought - easy enough... until I checked my voicemail last night only to hear Tonya saying, "I won't be open tomorrow. After you picked Jack up this morning Piper (her 3 year old) spiked a 104 degree temp and they took her to the doctor (after her husband got home from work at 2pm) and they think she either has 1) Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease or 2) Fifth's Disease"...GREAT! I'm familiar with HFandM as it has already made it's rounds through daycare since Jack started, but I still need to look into what 5th's is? Needless to say now I'm FREAKING out b/c I'm hoping Jack doesn't have one of these common/fairly common childhood illnesses that our doctor, I mean nurse practitioner who obviously didn't specialize or even see babies that often, wouldn't be familiar with...I guess I'll just have to see how today goes.

Jack is home with Chris today since I was out of the office yesterday...I'm taking bets on what time everyone thinks it will be before Chris calls me and says, "What is his problem? He has been crying and screaming ever since you left!" Haha!

big bully

Jack has turned into the BIGGEST BULLY! He is down right mean - I just haven't determined if it is on purpose or not... He has a new found love of hitting his mom (me) over and over again. He slaps me on the arms, on the face, just about anywhere! It's frustrating...oh so frustrating! I tell him "No" and give a little pat on his hand (now before anyone flies off the handle and tells me I shouldn't spank/pat/slap/tap/etc. my child - let's just not go there, I'm in no way causing him harm). Now this form of discipline doesn't so much seem to be working because most of the time he laughs and thinks it's funny, so now I'm at a loss.

I've also tried totally ignoring him, which is hard when he is whacking you, but I have - that didn't seem to have much effect either.

The BIGGEST issue is that Jack doesn't just like to hit this mom, he is hitting at daycare. Just this morning one of the 3 year old boys was sitting on the ground when we got there, I put Jack down and as soon as Jack headed for Logan - Logan scooched backwards away from Jack really fast! I looked at Tonya and she said, "Well it's because he knows whats coming!" Jack hits him! Ugh! What am I supposed to do!?!?

signing off - Frustrated and Embarassed

a slap in the face

I got a MAJOR reality check/slap in the face yesterday - here is how it all went down...
Cast of Characters -
Darci - myself (duh)
Tonya - Jack's daycare provider
Tanner - Tonya's 11 year old son
Logan - Tonya's 9 year old son

Tanner: Dionthe (the neighbor boy) thinks you're hot!
Darci: Dionthe is gross!
Logan: Well you ARE kinda hot!
Darci: Well thanks Logan!
Tanner: Hm..I'd say you are OK, like somewhere in the middle...
Darci: Oh, really? Well you should have seen me before I had a kid!
Tonya: Yeah, you should see her pictures on facebook from her wedding! She was really tiny!
Tanner: So you used to be skinny too?
Darci: Sad look on face...
Tonya: Yeah and she had really long black hair!
Tanner: So why'd you cut your hair off?
Darci: I don't know! I think I'll go home and NOT eat dinner now! Thanks Tanner!

That's all I have to say about that!

milk mustache

Jack is on his way to milk mustaches! Yesterday was the first day we starting weaning Jack onto milk! Tonya is giving him half formula half milk bottles now! I think we are going to do this for a week or so and then start giving him less and less formula until he is off formula! I'm aiming by his first birthday! Tonya said HE LOVED the milk - I was affraid he might not drink it or it would upset his tummy...he did wake up alot last night, but that's really nothing new so I'm not sure if the milk had anything to do with it or not...We shall see!

Here we go on the "No More Formula Ride!" keep your fingers crossed its a smooth ride!

xoxo

11 Month Birthday!

Today Jack turned 11 months old! I can't believe we will be celebrating his 1 year birthday in just another 4 short weeks! Time has flown by...I remember like it was yesterday sitting at the house on maternity leave thinking, "OMG - what have I done?" Haha. It definitely took some time for me to adjust to being a mom, but now I wouldn't change a thing!

Here's an update of some of Jack's developments:

• Jack is pointing.
• Jack is clapping.
• Jack is waving.
• Jack gives kisses when asked and sometimes when he isn't asked.
• Jack says Mama, Dada, No, and Huh-uh reguarly and I'm convinced he knows who Mama and Dada are when he says them...well Mama for sure.
• Jack doesn't like when he see Mom walk by and not come to see him - he screams until I come back to get him!
• Jack still loves daycare.
• Jack loves to give you a pat on the back for picking him up!
• Jack is starting to observe the world around him more and more everyday.
• Jack has mastered his "split scoot" and I'm not sure he will ever crawl.
• Jack is starting to try and discover how to pull up to things and if I give him my hands to hold he will stand up by himself, but I haven't found him standing next to any furniture yet.
• Jack drinks 3-4 bottles a day and is now back to eating his baby food as well as table food!
• Jack has ZERO teeth.
• Jack loves to flirt.
• Jack has a mean bone in his little monster body.
• Jack is starting to use toys in the manner they are meant (drives trucks around on the floor, etc.)
• Jack throws fits.
• Jack is starting to semi-sleep better (I'll regret that).
• Jack loves to throw things.
• Jack goes from sitting to knees and back to sitting.
• Jack will stand when placed as long as there is someone to entertain him.
• Jack can sometimes sit up on his own, but this isn't consistent and mainly only happens in his crib or pack n play.
• Jack weighs just under 21 pounds - I'm not sure on his length as Chris didn't pay attention at the dr. this week.

This is all I can really think of. All in all Jack is doing great (minus the whole pneumonia thing)!

xoxo

Great Debate Update

I thought an update or more info was necessary after some of the comments I have received on the whole teething debate. Everyone thinks it sounds like teething to them, which is good and bad in my case.

I have tried Tylenol alternating with Motrin - doesn't seem to help much. We've tried the Teething Tablets - didn't see anything come of that at all. I haven't tried Baby Orajel, but I'm going to get some (hence we I haven't tried it), but I looked last night and I seriously DO NOT SEE ANYTHING in his mouth! No swollen gums, no white spots, no nada!?

I mean I totally wish/hope that he is teething because I'm dying to let him try more table food and I'm starting to wonder if he even has teeth anywhere under those gums - I mean he is 9.5 months old for goodness sake!

But I did start him back on his reflux meds this morning because the more I watched him the more I thought he was showing some signs of reflux - rearing his head back, not wanting to lay down on his back, the non-stop hiccups, it's always worse at night after he has ate all day long (Tonya says he is fine all day at daycare, but around 5:30 or so he gets super duper cranky!), wanting bottles over food - this soothes the pain in his throat, the wet burps have begun again as well and waking at 2am screaming.

Either way - his reflux meds won't hurt him and we can try weaning again in another few months and if it's teeth then teething TOTALLY sucks! We'll see hopefully here in the next week or so if we pop a tooth through or if his meds take his symptoms away (it takes about 5-7 days for the medicine to start working again - grr...).

xoxo

kisses from woowoo

Jack was so sweet this weekend - he was giving Chris and me tons of kisses! Jack isn't really the cuddly type of baby so this comes as a surprise to me! We were all laying on the couch and Chris asked for a kiss and Jack gladly obliged; leaning in then opening his mouth and planted one on Chris' mouth! So cute I almost died! Then I asked for a kiss and he leaned over and not only opened his mouth, but suck his tongue out and happily slobbered - I meant kissed me on the mouth!

The first few times I ever received kiss from woowoo I must admit I wasn't that impressed due to all the slobber and open mouthness, but they have absolutely grown on me! I will gladly be on the receiving end of a "open mouthed, tongue out kiss" from woowoo anytime!

By the way - woowoo is Jack's nickname at daycare. All the kids started calling him Jackie WooWoo which then became just WooWoo, but I like to write it woowoo in all lowercase because I'm cool like that! I call Jack googer (like booger, but with a "g"), but woowoo is starting to take over b/c it's so darn cute!

xoxo

Jack The B.A.

B.A. stands for Bad A$$...

This is a couple weeks old story, but I'm just now finding time. I picked up Jack from daycare one day and Tonya said, "Man he was onry today!" I was like, "Jack were you onry, were you a bad boy?" Tonya says, "Well, him and Chase (Chase is about 6 weeks younger then Jack) were sitting on the floor playing and Jack handed Chase a car, then took it away, then he handed it back, then took it away. So Chase just kind of turned away and started playing with something else, then Jack let out a scream and launched the car hitting Chase in the eye! Chase now has a black eye!" I was like, "Are you serious? Jack that's a mean naughty boy!" Haha!

I seriously doubt Jack threw and hit him on purpose - unless he is just a bully, but I don't think he understands other people have feelings yet and that he hurt Chase, but it was a little funny!

However, karma is a BITCH b/c the next day when I picked Jack up he had a black eye! I asked what happened and Tonya said well he was excited playing and grabbed a car from behind and swung it around and hit himself right under his eye! Poor Baby Jack! It really wasn't that bad, he just had a small red mark and it didn't even really bruise at all!

xoxo

7 Months Old...Already!!

So my little boy turned 7 months old on Monday! Time is flying by! Here is a quick update on his development and new skills!

• Jack is sitting completely unassited and without any pillows or people for support/security! I can leave him on the floor and he is perfectly fine. He lifts both hands off the floor to play with toys, he turns from side to side and leans over to grab toys and then sits back up. He hasn't figured out how to sit from laying down though - I think it has to do with him not liking to roll?
• Jack is still sleeping from 7pm until anywhere between 5:30-7:30am. If he wakes early he gets a bottle and goes back to bed - sometimes until 9:00am! What a good boy!
• Jack has started eating baby food. We skipped over cereal for now and he has had Pears and Squash with no tummy troubles! I think every weekend we will be adding a new food and see how it goes!
• Jack still doesn't have any teeth, but has been teething hard lately so hopefully soon!
• Jack is a jabber box! Dadadadadadadadada is all I hear!
• Jack is also a major screamer! He screams when he is excited mostly and flaps his arms up and down to add to the excitement! Tonya says he screams at all the kids all day long at daycare! I'm sure she loves that! But its how he communicates so I'm fine with it!
• Jack is starting to show some seperation anxiety tendencies - mostly when Momma leaves, but he loves daycare so we never have the problem there! It's mainly when cranky, tired, or hungry!
• Just last night Jack started getting his knees under him while on his tummy and pushing backwards! He's been wiggling around on his belly spinning circles for a few weeks now though. Hopefully crawling is in the future in the next couple months! Although he still has no desire to stand, at least not for too long.

xoxo

Happy 5 Month Birthday!

Today is Jack's 5 month birthday! It really doesn't seem like it's been 5 months, but it has! Really there isn't much new this month in the way of milestones, but here is a list of some new things and changed things!

• Jack now blows Raspberries like nobody's business. I'll wake up in the middle of the night and he is blowing and blowing and blowing, and in the morning when he wakes up he is automatically back to blowing. It started out really cute, but then he started getting a little more spit behind them and now if you are within a foot of him you are most likely to get sprayed! Ha! It's still cute, even though Chris cannot stand spitty/drooly babies. He thinks they look dirty or something.
• Jack is talking more and more and is starting to make some sounds like ba and da every once in awhile. He is still more in the just babbling weird noises stage, but every so often we here a syllable or two.
• Jack made the transition off his Nutramigen formula and has been on Parent's Choice for about a month. It all went pretty well although he now has to get about 1 oz of apple juice with 3 oz of water every day to keep his system going or else he gets a bit stopped up...ugh!
• Jack is sitting up better with every day that goes by - I'm really hoping that by the time we get his 6 month pictures he will be really good at it! We'll see.
• Jack still isn't rolling over, but he is getting closer - I just don't think he has any interest in it?
• We've had a bit of a sleep regression or well, maybe a change is a better word. He still goes to bed at 7pm. He used to get up anywhere between 1 and 2 or would sometimes sleep all the way through - it was totally unpredictable. The last week or so he has started sleeping until almost 4am, he eats then goes back to sleep until I wake him up to get ready for daycare - usually about 6:45am. I actually kind of like this schedule better b/c it allows me to get ready for the day before he is awake and screaming for me to pay attention and play with him! I'm just hoping that gradually 4am will turn to 5am, then 6am, then 7am! That would be nice!
• Jack does not NAP on the weekends! He takes a morning nap of about an hour and an afternoon nap of 2-3 hours everyday at Tonya's, but when he is home on the weekends - I'm lucky to get 30-45mins a couple times a day! What the heck!?
• Jack has also began to show his displeasure with a situation - it's like on command. Here are a couple examples: he will be sitting contently and will then follow you as you leave the room and he will turn his neck, look over his shoulder, until at last he cannot see you and then immediately SCREAM! Ha! Another example, he was happy as a clam swinging the other day for like 15-20 minutes by himself in the living room while Chris and I were cleaning up around the house, but as soon as I made the mistake of walking through the living room in his direct line of sight and then back out he was SCREAMING again! We haven't experienced any "stranger anxiety" or anything like that - he will still pretty much flash smiles at anyone and everyone so that's good!
• Jack is getting bigger and bigger! Another last note is that we went the whole month without going to the dr. for some random reason! This is a first - before this past month I don't think we went more then 2 weeks without some reason to go to the dr.! I think my new momness is starting to wear off and I'm not totally freaking out about everything!

I think that's pretty much it for month 5 in Jack's world! xoxo

Why Is He In His Underwears?

First off, I call Jack's diapers his underwears - just sounds better to me. Anywho, Chris picked up Jack yesterday from daycare and when he pulled into the drive at home I went outside to get Jack and Chris goes, "Um..he is naked...well I guess he has socks on." I was like, "What? Why?"...

I open the door and sure enough there is my little man all strapped into his carseat wearing nothing but his underwears (and socks)! Chris explained that they had been playing outside (Jack was on the covered porch in the shade) at daycare and Tonya said she didn't think he would get too hot, but thought he might like the breeze on his skin (I had already told her if they went outside she could strip him down to his underwears if she thought he would be hot)! Chris said Jack was just as happy as a clam, sitting in the bouncy chair just playing - in his underwears (and socks)! haha!

The site was just too cute not to snag a few photos before he woke up...

xoxo

Our First Week At Daycare

Notice I said "OUR" first week at daycare, not Jack's first week at daycare because this has definitely been an adjustment for all involved! Monday and Tuesday he was only there half days and she said he was good both days. Wednesday he was there until 2:30 and then we picked him up for his Well Baby Visit. Today was the BIG DAY - he stayed at the daycare all day from 7:45 until 5:15 - that's like 9.5 hours! That's the longest I had been away from him EVER! I wouldn't even leave him with either or his grandma's that long - so needless to say today was rough! My stomach was in knots most of the day and I just constantly wondered how he was doing and if he was being good for Miss Tonya and how he was feeling from his shots yesterday, etc. etc. etc.

Well here is the report for the day: First I have to mention that when we dropped him off this morning I had to tell Tonya that he hadn't had a BM since 6:30 the night before so it might be a bad day if he had gotten binded up with gas and couldn't poop. So the first thing Tonya said was, "Um...he had a blow-out today! He was sitting in the bouncy chair and he EXPLODED...all over the chair, on her daughter who was sitting in front of him entertaining him, then all over Tonya when she picked him up, and all over the towel she had to lay down in order to protect the changing station from Jack's Natural Disaster! Haha! She said he took a long nap from 1:00 until about 3:45 (she actually called me and asked if she should wake him up to eat or let him sleep longer and I said let him sleep until at least 3:30 so that we would be on schedule for tonight but that he could go as long as 4 hours from his previous feeding if he was napping). We were both a bit concerned b/c his blow-out was pretty runny, but we assumed it was from his shots the day before, but she said he had another BM after his afternoon feeding and it was back to a more normal, pasty consistency! Whew...

But all in all she said that today was his best day yet! So I'm optimistic that he is going to do just fine at Miss Tonya's!

xoxo