Wind, Tennis and a Big Kid Bed!!!

So Friday - we didn't have anything going on and it was supposed to be a nice day. Walker and I discussed playing tennis and he was excited. We woke up on Friday and the wind was blowing so hard that we could hear it blowing through our windows. Still he insisted on playing tennis. I tried to explain the wind and how it would be too hard to play, and not that fun, but this is my child and he insisted on playing tennis. I loaded his little bike in the back of my car and the rackets and the ball and we headed over to play tennis. All the way there we could hear the wind blowing through my bike rack on the car, "What is that noise Mommy?" Walker kept asking. I kept telling him it was the wind,

"Are you sure you want to play tennis?" Of course he's sure. We got over to the spot we were going to and parked. I pulled out all of our gear and he got on his bike - which started to blow away!

I said, "Are you sure you want to play tennis??" He's sure of course.

He started pedaling and we got a little closer to the courts and it was at this point that he realized just how much the wind sucked. I said, "Are you sure you want to play tennis?"

"I just can't ride this bike," he said, "put it back in the car."

We did and then I said, "Are you sure you want to play tennis buddy? If the wind is like this on a bike it will be like this playing tennis too." He was sure.

It took only a couple steps walking to the courts when he said, "Bunner (Bummer)! It's too windy to play tennis. Hey Mom, do you want to go to the library?"

Walker is completely potty trained now and so he's only been wearing diapers at naptime and at bedtime. Naps have been a little funny lately - sometimes he calls out for us after about an hour when he clearly hasn't slept - as we've heard banging and what sounds an awful lot like jumping in his room during this time... A couple times he's come in wearing underwear instead of the diaper we put him down in. Recently though he's been up there for hours - like 2 to 3!! So on Wednesday when I went in there to get him there were like 6 opened up diapers on the floor.

I said, "Bud what are all these diapers doing in here?"

He said, "Mom I peed in them."

"All of them?!?!"

"Yeah, so I changed my diaper." Okay - when you can change your own diaper I think you're too old for them...

I said, "Hey Buddy from now on you need to pee in the potty during naptime when you have to go pee. There's no reason to ruin all these diapers."

"Okay."

Well in the basement we have a trundle bed ("the magic bed") that he's been coveting. So we discussed that if he peed in the potty during naptime and didn't need the diapers anymore then he could get the magic bed. He was certain he could do it, so I put him down on Thursday and Friday with the same results. Friday however there were TONS of diapers in the bedroom and he had gotten into some in his closet. He also found the wipes and pulled a bunch of those out too. So today the magic bed moved upstairs into his room. While the bed was getting put together I asked him to pick up all the Good Knight books he was reading during his supposed naptime. He was using the toddler bed mattress as a slide at the time and said, "Mom I can't. I'm just to essited!" After Handy Daddy and I worked our hardest to get it up, we called in the reinforcements. Jay's friend Tyler came over and put the rest of it together. Ta Da!

He's just not that into me?

Tonight we went to dinner with some friends and on the way home from dinner Jay and I were talking about what the friends had done for Valentine's Day. They had gone to see the movie, He's Just Not That into You.
Walker was sitting in his carseat in the back and he asked, "What movie did they go see?"

I replied, "He's Just Not that Into You."

He said, "Into me?"

"No, the movie is called He's Just Not that Into You."

"Into me?" He repeated, "into me?, who's he?" At this point he started asking if it was a scary movie. I explained that it was a funny movie that only big people thought was funny.

"Oooohhh, He's Just Not that Into You, that's the name of it" he said, finally getting it.

A couple minutes of peace and quiet in the car and then he said, "What was that movie called again?"

I said, "He's Just not that into You."

"Into me?" Just when I thought he had it...

A few minutes later he asked if we could go see the movie Bride Wars when he gets older. "Can we watch it together when I'm big like you?" I hope he remembers this when he's older.

The Coveted Marble Set

So this is where it all begins... I've toyed with the idea of starting a blog for a looooong time, and I don't think I can wait any longer. Walker is 3 now and we looked back at some videos of him at age 1 today. Where did all that time go?? There were so many things that I was sure I would remember, and now I'm not so sure, hence the blog. It's tough to know where to begin, so how about with today!

We've been working with Walker on becoming potty trained for the last, oh I don't know, eighteen months or so. He's been an all or nothing sort of guy - sometimes it's all, sometimes it's nothing. (We might know someone else like this too :) ) He's been peeing on the potty ALL the time for quite awhile, the pooping though - that's another story. When he started changing his own diapers we decided we had to take some serious action. The doctor recommended that we give him a bit of a laxative every day to make it easier for him to practice. The fun begins there. We decided to start this a couple days before the Super Bowl - this was like a holy holiday for Jay this year. The Steelers were in the game. We started giving Walker the laxatives for 3 days before the game - still no poop. Jay had a Super Bowl party for the holiday this year. So approximately one hour into the game - Walker nonchalantly whispers to me "Mom, I have to go poop". Hallelujah! It's working I thought- so we race to the bathroom quietly because he doesn't want anyone else to know - he needs his "privatcy" - and he does it! About a half an hour later - this all happens again - and again we're in business. Well let me just say, that while I am not in the least bit interested in the Super Bowl, I can feign interest at a party. I had NO idea who won the Super Bowl this year - despite cheering I'm sure I missed - because I spent the entire night in the bathroom with the child who the laxatives finally caught up with. Let's just suffice it to say that this evening in the bathroom was just the beginning, as the night wore on the poop didn't just make it in the potty.

What is all this talk about poop you might ask? Well we had heard that potty training isn't so difficult - the books and other parents who had gone before us made it sound so serene and easy. "You just have to wait until the child is ready," they said, "he'll just wake up one day and want to use the potty." Not our child, I tell you. We tried EVERYTHING - it started with a toy from the dollar store, then we moved on to a chart posted on the bathroom wall with princess stamps, then we started the BIG bribes of just about any toy in the "pooping box" (a box you blindly reach into and pull ot something good), finally just a choice of things out of the old pooping box. Walker's desire to go in the potty went down as he got each new item, until finally one day we decided that we'd had enough! If he could change his own diaper, choose to go in the bathroom to go potty, and come out and ask to be changed when he was done - he no longer needed diapers. We prepared and prepared ntil finally the day after his 3 year old birthday party - the diapers were gone. Mr. Stubborn, independent decided that he could hold it. 3 days went by and he was still holding it! So - we resorted to laxatives. They sure worked!

About six months ago Mimi came to visit and saw this marble set that Walker had been coveting at Dandelion Toys. We're talking the Marble Set of all Marble Sets - gigantically tall with all different colors and marbles and cool moving pieces. This thing has been the carrot since then. Well today was the day - the day Walker arrived at Dandelion Toys and we purchased the marble set!!!!