Potty Training - Substantially Complete

I've lost track of how many days it's been since Luis started using the potty - which is a good sign. I can still count the number of accidents on one hand - which is probably a better sign. (Except that one of those accidents involved thinking that Luis said "I need to poop" when he'd actually said "I pooped".)

The first time he woke up at 2a to pee in the potty, I was thrilled. And after about 10 days of being totally dry in the morning, I stopped putting a diaper on him at night. Then, I changed his sheets three mornings in a row - so we went back to a diaper at night (though to be fair to Luis, one of those sheet changes was from vomiting, not peeing). Last night, as we were putting his PJs on after bath, he protested the diaper and asked for chupi's. I was reluctant (changing the sheets on a built-in platform bed is a HUGE pain), but agreed. To help ensure success, I did take him to pee right before I went to bed. This morning, he was dry. So we are going to ditch the diapers all together and hope for the best.

Almost as exciting as his success rate at getting to the potty in time, every time, is his success rate in getting all of the pee into the potty, a high percentage of the time. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

While I am, certainly, very excited about this milestone, I genuinely think that Luis is actually more pleased with it.

Making Himself at Home

The other day, I let Luis watch a show in my room while I got ready for the day. When I came out of the bathroom, he had moved the divan to give him a better vantage point for the TV.

(Almost a) Family Picture

Last weekend, we went to Gloria's to celebrate our neighbor Tim's birthday. When I told Luis we were going out to dinner with Tim and Kyle, he said he didn't want to go. I added that it was for Tim's birthday. Luis paused for a moment to think about the implication of this last fact. "Can I have some of Mr. Tim's birthday cake?" When I told Luis that I thought he could, but he'd have to ask Mr. Tim, Luis replied, "OK Mommy, let's go. Let's go now."

It was a fun night out. I LOVE the food at Gloria's and thoroughly enjoyed a break from my low-carb diet to enjoy two margaritas, some chips & salsa and a BIG piece of cake. (It was totally worth it!!!) Luis, who had started out the morning by throwing up 3 times in 3 hours, recovered nicely and enjoyed about a 1/2 pound of cheese and sour cream for dinner. Not quiet representative of the major food groups, but it did allow for a peaceful meal.

Kyle took these pictures at dinner - it's the closest we've come to a family picture in a long time!

Another Morning Visit by Caleb

Luis's friend Caleb came over last Wednesday morning for an early play date. (Bethany had a 7a meeting and Rincon Day Care is the only one that opens that early!) In an unusual move, Luis slept until almost 7:30. I was pleased that he got that extra sleep ... but was grateful when Caleb had Luis to entertain him.

I think maybe they were too tired to bicker - or maybe it was because they hadn't had breakfast. Whatever the reason, it was a quiet, peace-filled morning, as evidenced by this picture. This is the only time I can remember Caleb and Luis sitting this close together without tears or pushing. It was lovely!

More on the Guitar

As I reported earlier, Luis loves loves loves the cardboard guitar that Diego made for him. It is one of the few toys that has a permanent resting spot - so Luis can find it at a moments notice. Lately, it is often required on a moments notice as well: Luis loves to "play along" to the theme songs of his favorite TV shows (Bob the Builder being is FAVORITE sing-a-long). Here, Luis is rocking out to The Laurie Berkner Band (You're My Family).

Luis, in the evening, often has one last burst of energy after dinner. The way we usually get it out is to play a few rounds of "Chase Me". When one of us chases Luis, it is a simple, almost circular path through the living room, dining room and kitchen. To spice up an otherwise less-than-exciting game, Diego and I tend to take a much more zig-zaggy route through the same rooms. Luis seems to like the more complicated path, but can't quite seem to lead that way. However, last night, in his own effort to make it more interesting, we played Chase Me and Guitar Singing at the same time. I'm kinda glad that no one was home to witness Luis and me, running pretty fast around the house together, Luis with his cardboard guitar and both of us singing, "Scoop, Muck and Dizzy, Rolly toooo, Lofty and Wendy, join the crew..."

The Dallas Monsoon Season

We've had a lot of rain in the last three weeks. Maybe not as much as Atlanta, but a lot. I think something like 13 of the last 16 days have had rain - and the first 5 of those days had heavy, heavy, heavy downpours. Luis enjoyed wearing his froggy boots to school some of the days (we walk the 3/4 of a block to and from school) and his boots and his rain coat on others.

The upside to all of the wet weather is that the temperature dropped about 20 degrees - allowing us to have the windows open. The downside is that toddlers get very stircrazy after so many days inside.

For pictures of Eston McDow and his rain gear, check here.

Just a little off the top...

I took Luis to get a haircut (about two weeks ago now) - he was looking a bit shaggy. I was very specific that while I wanted it short in the back, I wanted just a little off the top. "I like his curls a lot, and want to keep them."

About 10 minutes later, this is how Luis looked. It's a great haircut, and I like how he looks. But I do miss the curls...

Day 5 - I almost feel like I can stop counting!

Another accident-free day in Luis's world of potty training. He needs a new trick because his toilet use is starting to get old here on the blog.

For those not following me on Facebook, Lauren asked if I had plans for all that money I'm saving by not buying diapers. Unfortunately, I'm going to use a chunk of it buying cleaning supplies to mop up and sanitize the walls and floors in the bathroom, as well as the side of the toilet. Luis has getting to the potty down pat, but he's still working on getting the pee inside the potty. All things in good time.

Potty Training - Day 4

Yesterday was Day Four of potty training. And it was ACCIDENT FREE! Not only did Luis make it to the potty in time, every time, he did so while running errands and having lunch with a friend of ours.

And on Day 3, he made it through his school day (6 hours) in the original outfit (well, the original one after I changed him 2 minutes after our arrival).

Go Luis!!

Potty Training - Day 2

It's been 36 hours of potty training. Overall, I'd say it's going VERY well. The success to accident rate is a little better than 3:1. Tonight I did my first load of laundry that included Luis underwear: six pairs washed, one pair in the trash can, one pair in the laundry.

A Potty for Luis!

Last night, Diego and I went a community production of Guys & Dolls with a friend of his from Rugby. Luis stayed with his best friend Caleb. On the way to Caleb's Luis was protesting - he wanted to come with Diego and me. When I picked Luis up, Bethany gave a rave review of the evening (a relief to me - though Luis and Caleb are best buddies, they can be known to fight like sworn enemies). Luis and Caleb played well together. They had fun having a bath together. They enjoyed a pre-bedtime snack together. I couldn't have been happier with how the evening went.

Except, it turns out that I could, in fact, have been happier. I AM happier. It turns out that sometime during the 5 hours that Luis spent with Caleb and Bethany, he potty-trained!

This morning, at 6:45a, he woke me up saying, "Mommy, I want to go tee-tee." Usually, he's all talk with this and refuses to go to the bathroom; he's just alerting me that he is about to pee in his diaper. But I dutifully took him to the bathroom, and removed his diaper. He stood up at the potty and peed like a pro. I was stunned. We woke Diego up to share the good news.

About an hour later, Luis announced, while playing outside that he had to tee tee again. Diego took of his diaper and Luis leaned against a tree. Turns out it was a false alarm. Over the next four hours, Luis peed in the potty three more times - all at his request (and, all standing up like a "big kid", and like Caleb). One of those times was at a new restaurant during lunch, and once was just after going down (diaper-less) for a nap.

I know that 9 good hours of using the potty, without any accidents, does not make for a potty-trained child. Luis had about 6 weeks in the early spring where he was interested in pooping in the potty, but that fad faded. We've been talking a lot about potty training lately and reading our potty book (see photo), ironically a loaner from Bethany and Caleb. He may wake up from his nap covered in pee. He may not use the potty again for a week. Or a month. All things are possible. But I am really, really, really excited to have a day like this - a success to fall back on if we need to provide encouragement. And I think that it is possible, just maybe possible that Luis may not where another diaper (at least not during the day). I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Cutting the Grass

When we were last in Atlanta, Luis had a good time using Eston's playskool lawn mower (note: at 9 months, Eston isn't actually using it yet, but generously allowed Luis to take it out for a spin). Luis would "mow" up and down the big front lawn. I coached Luis to ask Uncle Randolph (his, not mine) for "50-dollars-please". When a little lawn mower came up for sale on RECPTA, I couldn't resist. I'm glad I didn't, because this lawn mower replaced the big dump truck as the Favorite Toy.

Luis wakes up in the morning and asks to go outside to do the "lawn mowering", as he calls it. He comes home from school and asks for his lawn mower. Yesterday, Diego was using the big lawn mower to cut the grass and Luis decided to give him a hand.

Diego and I are both dreaming about the day when Luis can help out with the BIG lawnmower. Ironically, at least for now, so is Luis.

Back to School

There was actually only a week between Luis's summer session of school and the fall semester starting (and we were in SC for most of that week) - but it still felt like "Back to School" for Luis last week.

I picked up a used Elmo backpack from RECPTA (the parents group in our neighborhood) for $4. Upon initial examination, Luis declared that he didn't like it. But when he found out that there was a juice box left in one of the pockets, it was love at first, er, second sight. (He was not allowed to drink the juice box, but his love has stayed true). Besides loving Elmo, I think what he really likes is that he can carry this backpack by himself. And he has. Every day, to and from school. This is a big change as the old routine was that I carried the back pack AND I carried Luis on my shoulders. Every day, to and from school.

Here, Luis is wearing all of his favorite things - his back pack, his "tall pants", his shirt and his "water shoes". (If you check out the post on our trip to RH, you can see that he wore some part of this outfit almost every day we were there!)

Another Trip to the Zoo

On Wednesday, Luis and I went to the zoo for a quick morning trip. Our original plans for the morning had fallen through, and before I knew it, Luis had too many episodes of Fireman Sam under his belt. We HAD to get out of the house.

Luis now likes to carry his map with him all around the zoo. I'm not sure if it's because Will Rimicci did that when he visited us in April, or because there is a talking map on Dora the Explorer. He often stops and points to it, describing the route from one place he knows in the zoo to another place, describing how you, "start here and then go over the bridge and then walk a long way and then you go up the hill and then you walk some more and then THERE - you are at the park [kids zoo]."
There is a HUGE above ground tank with fish in that Luis loves. We sat there for quite a while watching them. But after Luis told an unsuspecting younger kid that the fish would "bite him", I decided we should move along.
When Eric and Jeanette were visiting in July, we took them with us to the zoo. (Yes, we take almost everyone who visits to the zoo.) Eric picked Luis up and waded through an empty Italian Ice booth to get Luis extra close to the turtles. Turns out, Luis remembers this - as he tried the same short cut on Wednesday. No dice. He did find other ways to get close to the huge turtles and managed to scramble up this statue several times.

On a side note, on the way home from the zoo, we saw a loose goat in a neighbors yard. The next day, Diego and I saw the same goat properly fenced in to the front yard of a house one street away. Kinda surprising to learn that we have a neighbor with goats.

Luis Working on the Chain Gang

As one of the last steps to finish up the kitchen renovation, the contractor installed a french drain around the back part of the house last Saturday (8/29/2009). Luis, never wanting to miss out on the action, got his shovel to lend a hand with the digging part.

Thank goodness we have a Luis-sized shovel.

Rock Hill

Luis and I spent four days in Rock Hill, a little over a week ago. We went to visit, but also to allow me to do some work in the office. It was a fun visit! It's not hard to say what Luis liked best in Rock Hill - Lucy. He asked about her first thing in the morning, asked her to sit by him in the car and at meals, wanted to hold her hand whenever they were walking anywhere, and snuck in to her office about every 10 minutes when we were working. He dubbed her GrandLucy - an off-shoot of Granddaddy, his name for Thomas.

Thomas picked us up in his car, "Granddaddy's sports car!" as Luis called it on Tuesday (9/25). Getting Luis's car seat in the back was a challenge on two fronts - not surprisingly, the Jag is not equipped with the LATCH system for car seat installation and after it was in, both Luis and I complained of not having enough leg room!

On Wednesday night, Thomas and Lucy took us to Luis's first minor league baseball game. He got to see his first real home run, try his first baseball hot dog (which he didn't like), be amazed by Homer the dragon mascot, and unsuccessfully try to pick up the 20-something woman sitting behind us who was there with her boyfriend. Luis lasted 6 innings, I think, before Thomas and Lucy suggested we go home.
Luis loves all of the animals at Thomas & Lucy's house. Here, he was having a visit with Poor Cat. I didn't get any pictures of him with the (four) dogs, but we spent lots and lots of time visiting with them and "giving them love".
It's not a trip to Rock Hill without a trip to see Lucy's horses. A big hit, as always! Luis really likes giving the horses sugar cubes - and makes sure to get one for himself...
Thomas and Lucy have lunch (almost) every day at Thi's, an Asian food restaurant in the down town area. It was great because I could order something for Luis that I knew he'd eat, but wasn't on the menu and Thi generously made it for us. She was also very kind about entertaining Luis while I finished my meal. One day, she took him back into the kitchen for about 10 minutes. He emerged holding this platter of fried dough. After putting it on the table, it turns out that he was only interested in eating the "white part" - the powdered sugar!
The last day we were there, someone was using the conference room where Luis and I had been working (well, where I had been working and Luis had been watching movies on an extra laptop). Thomas had to be in court and graciously allowed us to use his office. After about 40 minutes of Luis needing LOTS of attention, I figured out that I could play his movie on one of the monitors while doing my work on the other monitor - and we could both sit in Thomas's big chair together. It wasn't the most efficient working conditions ever, but it was definitely making the most out of a tough situation.

I did find it very tough to get both Luis and I up, showered, dressed, fed, lunch made (for Luis) and out the door in order to be in the office by 9a. Luis may be an early riser, but he is not fast moving in the morning (or at least, he doesn't take direction well in the morning). My hats off to my working-mom friends who do it every day (or even just some days a week).

My Very Own Guitar Hero

Luis has been interested in music for a long, long time. Listening to songs on the ipod has been a much loved father-son activity since we were in Bombay. Luis went through a phase where almost anything could be used as a drum (especially the bellies of his parents!).

Several nights a week, when Diego comes home, Luis follows him upstairs. Diego plays Luis's favorite songs (Ruby Soho by Rancid and Boys Don't Cry by the Cure) and they jam out together while Diego changes.

Watching all of that guitar playing really inspired Luis. Diego showed him how to play "air guitar", but that wasn't really enough. About two weeks ago, Diego made Luis his own cardboard guitar - or "ca-tar" (like Qatar) as Luis calls it. Luis loves, loves, loves to rock out with that guitar. He holds it (mostly) properly and strums away while marching and stomping and jumping around, all the while singing, "Destination unnnnnnnn-known; Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby Soho!"

It is a sight to behold. I love to watch Luis having so much fun. But I think I much prefer to watch Diego watching Luis enjoy music that Diego has loved for more than 20 years.