Potty Progress

Last Thursday Ms. Sonja shocked me.  She said, "Bring underwear and changes of clothes for Will on Tuesday."

He's not ready for this.  
I'm not ready for this.  
This is going to be messy.  
He exhausts without potty times on the brain.  
He's not interested - I've tried.  

All of this flooded my mind, but I said, "Okay!" with a sheepish grin.  When I told Mark the news, he inquired if Ms. Sonja was going to come be with us on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  :-)

We had already instituted the bribe of M&Ms for pee-pees on the potty.  The prior enticement of M&Ms for poop in the potty was not interesting enough for him to even try, so we changed the plan.  The problem was he was rarely interested in going potty for the M&Ms reward.

Here's Will with Meme showing off his M&M bowl:

Last Thursday when I picked Will up in the afternoon, he was going potty with Ms. Candice.  I decided that a picture with Ms. Candice (and Ellie, who was in the bathroom at the time) might be needed motivation for the weekend.

We had a quick dinner with Daddy and Uncle Matt before they went to their Dark Knight Rises marathon movie premiere.  They left at 5:30pm Thursday, watched Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises at the Regal Commonwealth 20 Theater.  Despite working that day, Mark said he didn't get sleepy during the movies!  So many people were at the theater for the premiere that Mark said the parking lot looked like a normal, busy day when they left the theater after 3am Friday!

So Will and I were on our own during the first potty homework evening.  Knowing that we were going hardcore with the big boy undies and that there would surely be more accidents, I bought some a couple more packages during the day.  He was SO excited to see his new big boy underwear on Thursday evening.

I made a sticker reward chart for potty progress before going back to school on Tuesday.  This was the chart after Thursday evening - he did a really great job for me!

And THIS is the sticker chart through Monday.  Some of the days he wore Pull-ups when we spent some time out; he really did do a great job for us.  A couple of times he even had a dry Pull-up when we went to change him!  We *think* he's starting to get the hang of this!!

We sent Will to school in underwear on Tuesday and picked him up in the SAME clothes and underwear!  That's right... no accidents!  His teachers were thrilled with his progress!

Recent Goings-on

Will is continuing his adventures on the potty.  He even tells us he needs his "privacy" sometimes!  Mommy taught him that word when she was working with him on #2.  :-)  Even after one successful "go," he is NOT interested in any more attempts.  Even with a standing bribe of M&Ms.  It will happen, right??!!

Will has enjoyed making phone calls to Meme and Pawpaw and Memaw and Pepaw.  He was on a streak of making calls every evening after supper.  I think the grandparents enjoyed this!!

Instead of just letting him play with the Guitar Hero guitar, Mark decided to show how to "wear" it.  Will did him proud by showing that he knew what to do with it right away.  Between the guitar and the piano at Meme and Pawpaw's house, I think we have a musician on our hands!

Matt has introduced us to a new card game called Fluxx, which he received as a Christmas gift.  Here's a quick description of the game from the game's website:

The card game with ever changing rules! It starts out simple, with just the Basic Rule card: draw one card and play one card during each player's turn. But New Rule cards quickly make things chaotic.

Even the object of the game will often change as you play, as players swap out one Goal card for another. Can you get the Rocket to the Moon before someone changes the goal to Death by Chocolate?

I have found some wonderful recipes on Pinterest, and I tried a couple this past week.  One is "Cake Batter Dip," which I found here.

Cake Batter Dip

1 (18 ozs) box cake mix

1-1/2 c. yogurt

1 container Cool Whip (I used light)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until blended.  Cover & refrigerate! Serve with graham crackers or vanilla wafers.

Pictured above is my first masterpiece - I used a Strawberry cake mix with vanilla yogurt.

Pictured above is my second masterpiece - I used Funfetti cake mix with vanilla yogurt.

(Out of my two attempts, I preferred the Strawberry!)

Another recipe that I LOVE was "Easy Crockpot Potato Soup," which I found here.  I LOVE that it is SO easy and SO delicious!!

Easy Crockpot Potato Soup

1 30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns

3 14oz. cans of chicken broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese {Don’t use fat free - it won't melt!!!}

In a crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT for the cream cheese.  Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat.  About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese and keep heated until thoroughly melted.  Serve with cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, green onions, or whatever else you think would be good!!

NOTE: For today's soup (pictured above), I added a can of corn and did a trick with the cream cheese.  The first time we made the soup, we noticed the cream cheese did not melt all the way.  When it was time to put the cream cheese in today, I microwaved it for about 30 seconds, then blended it with a bit of the soup in a mini food processor.  This was definitely worth it - SO creamy!!

After a nap one afternoon this week, Will held a concert in the kitchen.  A little "Mr. Sun" and "Jingle Bells" were on the lineup.  Pants on the head were a plus for concert-goers.

Wordless Wednesday

Mark gets the credit for this one.  We have been working on potty stuff - Will pee-peed once on Monday!! - but he must have overheard me saying we were potty training.  Hahahaha!!!!