The Start of Halloween Fun!

I love Fall, I enjoy the pretty colors of the changing leaves, and the fun that fall brings.  As a child I remember Halloween being so much fun!  And now that I have a child the holiday has become somewhat magical again! Seeing all the children dressed up in costumes, giggling, and just enjoying themselves!  And of course children enjoying all that CANDY!  What would Halloween be without the candy! :)

Nolan is going to be a dinosaur for Halloween, however even though he seems to like his costume, he just hasn't wanted to put it on for his friends or family.  I am hoping as the weekend progresses, we will actually get to see him in the COSTUME!  As it is super cute!   So for now he has been sporting a Halloween Skeleton sweatshirt.

We have had fun already with the Holiday festivities.  Nolan made numerous trips to the Pumpkin Patch, and we have taken in a few Halloween Parties.  Last weekend we took Nolan to the YMCA's Halloween Party.

Playing Pumpkin Buckets

And of course the Cupcake he WON!  This was the best treat of ALL!

Our Fun Craft for Halloween--Ghost Lollipops!

Nolan and I made some fun and super cute ghost lollipops for his preschool class!  He had a great time placing the stickers on the orange card, and wrapping the lollipop with kleenex to make the GHOST!  And he maybe enjoyed having a lollipop TOO! He is super excited to hand them out at preschool tomorrow!

My Growing Baby Belly

It has been a while since I have posted about my pregnancy!  Life has been busy taking care of a toddler, and I have to say that this pregnancy is going by fairly quickly--some days faster than others!  I am getting more and more excited to meet our little princess!  And I am counting down the last 5 weeks.  And I am realizing how much I still have to accomplish before my precious little girl arrives.  Nolan is becoming more excited about his baby sister, and I think he is going to make an excellent BIG BROTHER.

Baby Belly at 30 Weeks

Baby Belly 34 Weeks

Nolan's Potty Training Adventure

With a baby on the way in December,  I really wanted to give potty training a GO! One of my friends recently successfully trained her 23 month old little boy using this method.  Little Llamas: Potty Training 101, it is fairly aggressive, it requires you throw out the diapers and basically put them in underwear.  So I thought if she could do it--so could I. 

Before we started training, I had taken Mr. Toddler to the store and he picked out big boy underwear.  I picked up pull ups for naptime, and bedtime.  We bought two potty chairs, and one for the toilet.  Mr. Toddler was eager to sit on the seat with his clothes on, and would tell me when he "pooped" in his diaper so I thought this boy is ready.  I bought stickers and made a potty chart, and bought some dollar store prizes for when he goes in the potty.

Well, today was GO time.  We have been talking for weeks about how,  "Nolan is a big boy now, and big boys wear underwear!  Big Boys go to the potty on the potty!" etc...We even put a doll on the potty in preparation, and showed how the doll goes potty.

Well, Nolan is not in love of the big boy underwear, he seems afraid to put it on.  So I skip to method two, we will just let him go naked around the house. I gave him some juice, which is quite a treat, since we normally only have milk at home.

I moved the potty chair into the family room to make it like a potty party.  And he was watching one of his favorite movies, "Happy Feet."  I started asking at 5-10 minute intervals if he had to go.  And at first he was adamant, No!  Then after about 1/2 hour he dribbled a drop on the floor, and looked at me.  "Mommy, I go potty."  I asked him to sit on the potty, but he kept refusing.  I showed him the bribes, aka, hot wheel cars, which seemed to motivate.

He asked me to go to the upstairs potty, where I have another potty chair set up.  And I turned on the water, and stood in the hall.  At this point I knew he had to go, as he was walking around with his legs crossed.

Well, we HAD SUCCESS!  He was able to go, even though most of it hit the floor, lesson to myself, that we have to hold his private downward, or it sprays.  But he was excited and so was I!  We called the grandparents, and of course Daddy, and he got to pick out his hot wheel toy.

I continued to push the issue for another hour or so, but he became very irritable and "crying" uncontrollably. He obviously was uncomfortable, and he had to go, but was refusing to sit on the potty.  After about an hour, he was exhausted and crying, and so was I.  So I caved and we put back on a diaper, and he soaked it in about 1 minute. And of course was much happier.  So now, I have to figure out how to make him sit and go, and not be afraid, and how to teach him to empty his bladder completely.

We attempted once more that evening for about an hour, with no success, but no accident either!  He was so funny during this time.  He really wanted to go because he knew another "hot wheel" was waiting for him.  His comment to me, "Mommy I go in minute, it is loading!"  I laughed and laughed some more.  What is so funny, well I always tell him the DVD player is loading, or the game is loading, so he is patient and waits.  Well apparently, his pee pee needed to load too!  I love the thought process of 2.5 year olds!

I am certainly hoping for more success over the next few days!

My little man is almost 2 and 1/2

We just had our two and 1/2 year checkup, at the pediatrician.  Nolan has improved on the percentage rankings for his weight.  I was really worried, since he is the pickiest eater, and he is the smallest in all of his classes.  He is now 28 lbs, and 35.5 inches tall.  Which was 25% for weight and height.  I was shocked, since we had been in the 10% percentile for weight previously.

Nolan's vocabulary has significantly grown over the past two months!  He is now saying 3-5 word sentences, and is just really cute in the way he pronouces his words!  I am amazed at some of the things he says, or knows!  Every day this little man just AMAZES Mommy! Here are some of the latest:  This list is more for me to remember down the road what he was doing at 2 and 1/2.

My dad was over the other day helping install a light in our ceiling, and he was climbing around in our attic.
Nolan at the bottom of the ladder, yells up:  "Be Careful Grandpa."  Just so sweet.  Then Grandpa hits his head on a nail in the attic, and comes down the ladder, with blood on his head.  Nolan's response:  "Oh No, Grandpa What Happened?"

He loves "candy corns,"  he must get that from mommy!  But what is funny is he calls them "Party Corns."

Today, he tells me while eating fruit snacks, "Mommy, these Nemo's are delicious."  The fruit snacks were Nemo fruit snacks.  But what shocked me was his use of the word delicious.

He has been in love with the Halloween season, of pumpkins, and visiting the pumpkin patch.  But he calls all the pumpkins, "pumpkin patches!"

He also has started to ask, "What's that?"  He is super inquisitive.

He also has learned to sing the ABC song!  I really need to videotape that one!