We Did It

I never thought this day would come, but Reese is FINALLY potty trained!!!

At times I thought Reese was going to be in diapers for the rest of her life because she was NOT interested in the going potty on the toilet! 

Back in May I decided that we were going to potty train Reese.  We went and bought her some cute underwear and a little toilet seat.  I felt ready, unfortunately Reese was not.  The first day she went on the toilet once.  I would sit and watch her and then I would get busy doing something and she would sneak of into one of the rooms and pee.  By the end of the third day of potty training Reese would not sit on the toilet anymore.  She wanted nothing to do with the toilet.  If I tried to sit her on the toilet she would throw a MAJOR temper tantrum and start thrashing around on the toilet.  After three VERY frustrating days I decided that I had had it with potty training and that Reese was not ready.  Kicking and screaming I put Reese back in diapers.

I didn't mention the toilet for the next few months.  I didn't try to force her to sit on the toilet.  I acted like the toilet didn't exist.  In August Reese turned 2 and a half and I decided that it was time to get her excited about the toilet.  Ben and I would tell Reese that we were big kids and that big kids go potty on the toilet.  We also mentioned {quite often} that babies wear diapers.  When Reese would say she was a big girl we would say, you're almost a big girl, you need to go potty on the toilet and then you will be a big girl.

Well she wanted to be a big girl.  She would ask to go potty on the toilet so we would sit her on the toilet and she would push out a fart and she thought she went potty on the toilet.  We would tell her what a big girl she was and ask her if she wanted to learn to go potty on the toilet, YES she would say.

Looking back, I realized that when I tried to potty train Reese back in May I was VERY unprepared.  I was determined that this time around was going to be different.  I started reading about different methods of potty training.  I went to the store and bought some of Reese's favorite candy, lots of juice boxes, salty treats, we printed out a chart with Tinkerbell on it, we bought fairy stickers {Reese is really into fairies right now}, we bought little fairies as a reward, and we told her when she finally learned to go potty on the toilet like a big girl we would go and buy a Rapunzel dress!  She was excited and all weekend long talked about going potty on the toilet.

Monday morning we were going to begin potty training, but Sunday afternoon Reese kept hiding in my closet and saying she had to go poop.  I tried and tried to talk her into going and sitting on the toilet to go on the potty but she wouldn't do it.  Finally that night I found her in my closet trying to go so I picked her up and sat her on the toilet.  She sat there and went potty all by herself.  We were all really proud and started off with two fairy stickers on Reese's chart!

 She was so excited and so was I!  I kept telling myself, "I can do this!".

Monday morning came along and Reese picked out her favorite Rapunzel underwear and we put them on.  She kept telling me that she was a big girl now!

I started pumping her full of juice and salty snacks but she really didn't eat or drink that much.  I set my timer for 20 minutes and told Reese every time the timer went off we were going to go and sit on the potty.  Well for 2 hours we went and sat on the potty every 20 minutes but Reese would not go.  I had her sit on the toilet for as long as she could.  We would read books, sing songs, and we even painted her nails while she sat on the toilet, but she wouldn't go.  Finally after two hours I had her go sit on the toilet again and I ran some water while she sat there.  FINALLY she released it!  I jumped around and did a little dance for her, gave her a high five, and was truly ecstatic that she FINALLY went potty on the toilet!  Reese jumped off the toilet and said, "Mom that was AWESOME!"  Yes Reese it was!  Then she said to me, "Mom you happy?"  Yes I am I told her!  Then she said, "Mom is Jesus happy too?"  I couldn't help but laugh but I told her that yes Jesus was definitely happy too!

The rest of the day was a breeze!  When Benson woke up from his nap Reese wanted to teach him how to go potty on the toilet so she would walk into the bathroom and show Benson what to do and then go potty on the toilet.  Benson and I would do a little dance for her and we were all SO excited that Reese was a big girl now!

The first day of potty training was so easy.  She didn't have any accidents and I felt like potty training was a breeze!  Tuesday, the second day, started off great too.  Reese was telling me when she needed to go potty.  I had also taped her little fairies on the wall and told her that after going potty on the toilet three times she would get one.  She was determined to get those fairies.  She had two accidents that day but I knew that we would eventually have a couple.  Reese finally got all of her fairies at the end of the day and was so excited!

Potty training this time around was so much easier.  I don't think Reese was ready back in May and neither was I.  I felt much more prepared this time around.  Reese did fantastic and I am so proud of my big girl.  We went and bought her Rapunzel dress last night and after we put her dress on she said, Mom I need my hair now!  We laughed and then she told us what a beautiful princess she is!

We can't believe how big our little girl is getting!  I am just relieved that she is not going to be in diapers for the rest of her life and she finally decided that it was time to be a big girl!

Locked Out

My Reesie girl has quite the personality.  Some days she can be as sweet as can be.  

But other days....well lets just say her mischievous side gets the best of her.

This past week during Benson's morning nap I decided to call my Grandma Cook.  It had been way too long since I had talked to her.  I turned on a show for Reese to watch so I could have a few minutes to myself to talk my Grandma without Reese coming up to me and asking me who I was talking to over and over again.   

The weather has been really nice here in Dallas, so I decided to go out on my deck while I talked to my dear grandma.  I left the door open so I could hear if Reese was getting into anything.  After sitting out on the deck for a few minutes Reese came over and closed the door.  I kept talking to my grandma but decided to go and check on Reese.  I got up walked over to the door and tried to open the door.  That is weird I thought why isn't the door opening.  So I tried again but it didn't budge.  It was then that I realized that my sweet little girl had locked me out of the house!!!

"Hang on a second Grandma, my child has locked me out of my house!" I hear my grandma laugh.  I look inside and there is Reese sitting on the couch watching her show.  So I knock on the door and told her to come over and unlock the door.  Reese came over and tried to open it but couldn't so decided to go back to the couch and watch her show.

All the while I am thinking, great now I am going to have to call the apartment complex, beg them to come and unlock my apartment and then come and unlock my patio door so I can get into my apartment!  I knocked on the door again and yelled, "Reese come and unlock this door right now!".  I think she knew I was serious because she walked over and unlocked the door this time.

After I got off the phone with Grandma, Reese and I had a nice little conversation about not locking mommy out of the apartment.

Sadly this is NOT the first time Reese has locked me out of our apartment.  The first time she locked me out I had the keys with me so it wasn't such a big deal, but I think after this incident I had better think twice about going outside alone. 

The last week and a half

My kids have been very excited for the last week and a half. 

Why were they so excited?  Because Ben has been home for the last week and a half.  We have loved having him home.  Grad school is hard and lots of work so we have not seen Ben a whole lot in the last 3 months.  We missed having him around and have been looking forward to his week and a half break all summer long.

We went swimming a lot {although Ben would have like to have gone more}.  Reese was especially excited to go swimming with Ben.

 She talked about going swimming with Ben all of the time.  Although once he started throwing her high into the air I think she wasn't quite as excited to have Ben there.

The pool was perfect.  The best time to go is in the morning because you have the whole entire pool all to yourself.  It is our favorite time to go swimming.

 Benson loves swimming too.  He is my little water bug.  If you blow bubbles in the water he will laugh and then dip his face down into the water and come back up laughing, but sometimes he drinks too much water and comes up coughing and then laughing.  Ben found a fun new way for Benson to swim...

I didn't think it looked to comfortable but Ben said that Benson loved it...thank goodness for dad's and inventing new ways to make things fun!

We also had lots of play time together.  Reese got her princess clothes from Grandma and Grandpa while Ben was home so we  got play dress ups a lot.  Reese and I were the beautiful princesses and Benson and Ben were our handsome princes.

I got to wear Reese's tutu but the only place it would fit was my head, so I was an Egyptian princess!  Ben said I couldn't post these pictures of Benson with his prince crown on but they are too cute not to share.

He was the cutest prince around.   Since we had two handsome princes, we of course had to have a ball.  We turned on Reese's Sesame Street player and danced to the Sesame Street theme song.  It was quite the ball.

The thing that we were most looking forward to was our trip to San Antonio.  We drove down Tuesday morning and stayed until late Wednesday night.  Our first stop was the Alamo.

We didn't stay long because Reese ran under a rope that was blocking off a room.  We told her to come back before someone saw.  When she finally came back we told her she couldn't go into the room...she informed us that she was looking for the princess!

Then we went to the Riverwalk.  Everyone told us to go to the Riverwalk.  We loved downtown San Antonio.  We loved the atmosphere, the yummy smells, and all the restaurants lining the river.

It was a little hard to get around with the strollers, but we had fun strolling along the river and smelling all the yummy food.  We left and went and got some food at California Pizza Kitchen.  It was the most delicious food we have had in a long time.  Ben and I both agree that it was worth every dollar {I think we were a little bit hungry}.

But the main reason we went to San Antonio was to go to Seaworld.  

We have been excited to go for a long time.  Reese was especially excited to see the dolphins and she told us that she wanted to see an Octopus and some pirates.  Well I didn't know if we would see an Octopus or any pirates, but we assured her that we would see plenty of dolphins.  And dolphins we saw! 

We even got to feed and pet them.  That is something I will never forget.  They were so friendly and would swim right up to you.  Reese was a little timid at first but then picked up a fish and fed them.

We went to all the shows but Reese didn't care to sit through any of them except for the Sesame Street show that they had.

To see Reese's face made the whole trip worth it.  She was especially excited when I told her she could go down and stand by the stage.  When she looked at me she looked like she was ready to cry because she was so excited.  Elmo and Telly reached out and touched her hand.  She was all smiles!  I LOVED seeing how excited she was about everything!

By the time we headed home we had two VERY tired kids.  They slept the whole way home.

 
We loved having Ben home for the last week and a half.  It was great to have him home for dinner, have help with the kids, and just spend time with him {we even got to go out on a couple of dates}.  Hopefully this semester won't be as long and hard as last semester because we sure love having our Ben/dad around!

Dreams do come true

Last week Reese got a fun package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa.  They didn't like that Reese had been using our tie-dye shirts for dressing up as a beautiful princess!  In the package Reese found a princess skirt, shirt, a pretty pink scarf, princess shoes, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and a pink hair bow.

After we got her all dressed up she twirled and twirled in her beautiful princess clothes.  She kept telling me, "mom, now I'm a beautiful princess!".  She was so excited about her beautiful princess package.  What would we do without wonderful grandparents?  They definitely made Reese's dreams come true about being a beautiful princess!

We went out to dinner that night and Reese was so excited about her present she wouldn't take her princess clothes off.  So we made a deal and let her wear her shirt, necklaces, and bow if she would wear shorts.  She was one happy princess!
   

6 months old

Our sweet little man is 6 months old.  We love this guy so much and cannot imagine our family without him.  He has grown SO much in the past few months, but thankfully not quite as fast as he use to.  I was always worried Benson would be 6 months old and weigh 25 pounds and I would be lugging around this ginormous baby.  Thankfully he doesn't weigh 25 pounds.

Benson 6 months stats are:

17 lbs. 9 oz. (58th percentile)

29 in. (98th percentile)

Little boy we love you so much.  You are so happy and sweet.  You love your big sister so much.  You get so excited whenever she gives you some attention and squeal and scream whenever she comes close to you.  If she comes close enough, you like to grab her hair or her clothes and try to give her hugs and kisses.

You have lots of nicknames which include Buddy, Buddy boy, Benson boy, Chunk or Chunkers, and Reese likes to call you Bens.  You love to put EVERYTHING in your mouth.  You love to roll around and are quite the mover.  You are getting better at sitting up but you get so excited about things when you are sitting up that you move to fast and fall over.  You give the BEST slobbery kisses and love to cuddle.

Thank you buddy for coming to our family and putting smiles on our faces every single day.  We love you!

Obsessed

Isn't it funny how kids get obsessed about certain things.  Reese's first obsession began last summer.  She became obsessed with Elmo.  She loved Elmo and all she ever wanted to do was watch her little Elmo movie.  She got her first stuffed Elmo from Grandma and Grandpa last summer and that Elmo went EVERYWHERE with her.  She LOVED Elmo.  For Christmas everyone gave her different Elmo things and she was so excited, but we have moved on from Elmo.

Reese's current obsession is this guy

Curious George aka Georgie as we call him in our family has been Reese's obsession since about Christmas time.  My sister had the Curious George movie on her laptop and she watched that movie over and over again.  She got so excited whenever she saw anything with Curious George.

On our drive to Texas we made sure that we had plenty of movies for Reese to watch.  Our drive was about 24 hours and for those 24 hours Reese watched the same movie over and over and over again.  What was that movie?  You guessed it, Curious George.  Every once in a while she would let me throw in Megamind but about an hour into that movie she would beg for Curious George again.  I think I had that movie memorized by the end of the 24 hour drive.

When we went to California with Ben's family back in April, Reese found out there was the Curious George movie on Netflix and that she could watch it over and over again if she asked one her nice aunts or uncles to put it on for her.  But if anyone else wanted to watch something else she kept asking over and over and over again for Georgie.  The family sat around and laughed and laughed because of her obsession for Georgie.  "I want Georgie", "I need Georgie", "I need to watch Georgie", "I don't want to watch this, I want Georgie" she would say in her little voice over and over again until someone listened.   

While we were shopping at Kohl's one day Ben found this little monkey for 5 bucks.  He just had to buy it for her and this Georgie has become her VERY best friend.  They do EVERYTHING together.  He sleeps with her (thankfully she is okay if he isn't there at nap or bedtime), they eat meals together, they go to the park together, he comes shopping with us, they watch t.v. together.  You name it Georgie comes with us.  These two are inseparable. 

Georgie is the one toy that Reese does NOT share.  She has a hard time sharing her favorite toy with her little brother.  But we sure do love Georgie and the friendship that he has given to Reese.  I LOVE when I can hear her say to George, "You're my best friend Georgie".  What would we do without Georgie?

Unfortunately I think she has passed this obsession onto Benson.  Yes, our sweet little Benson LOVES Reese's Georgie.  He gets so excited whenever he can get his hands on Georgie.  He starts squealing and screaming whenever he gets to hold Georgie.

And then he body rolls George, sucks on Georgie, kisses George, and anything else you can imagine.

We love you Georgie and don't know what we would do without you!