Potty Training 2.0

For the most part, my son has been very easy.

Transitioning to a crib from the bassinet = Easy
Transitioning from a bottle to a cup = Easy
Transitioning from formula to milk = Easy
Transitioning from crib to toddler bed = Easy

He's taken transitions and changes like a champ.

Then came potty training entered our lives.....!!!!!

My easy, adaptable, child = GONE. Potty training has been like a war zone. There have been casualties. We've lost some beloved pants and underwear through this process.

I first introduced potty training in March/April. At first, I thought, "Oh, he has this! This is going to be Easy!" NOPE! Wrong.

At first, things were going lovely. He was totally getting it. He had hardly no accidents. Then BAM. it started to become a battle. I didn't want potty training to be a war between us. So, I started to back-off a bit on the potty training. It didn't help that daycare didn't want to help with the potty training at the time. So, I think it was confusing when he would be there in a diaper and at home in underwear. I totally get that, which is why I started to back-off.

Anyways. Fast forward to today. Daycare finally says, "Let's do this potty training thing!" I get super excited because now he'll get the messaging at home and at daycare. Woohoo! That's great... right?

Well, we just started this week and daycare is starting to think he's not ready....

NOOOOOOOOOO!

See, my son KNOWS when he's going. He will look at me and just go in his underwear. He doesn't care if he's wet. I know he has the bladder control, I know he knows when he's going.

But - HE JUST DOESN'T CARE. He's OK peeing in his pants. He's OK if he stays in his wet pants. Totally gross, right? But to my toddler son, he doesn't care as long as he gets to keep playing.

So, we're giving it a trial try this week with daycare and home focused on potty training. They have "potty buddies" at daycare. If the week doesn't go well or if we don't see any progress (just need a little forward progress from him), then daycare might pull the plug on potty training until he's closer to 3.

<sigh>

I really hope this week is a turning point for him...! I really do. I don't want to rush him, but it'd be nice not to buy diapers anymore! It would also be nice to get past this difficult part in the potty training process. This, by far, has been my least favorite part of parenting! Pee on the couch, pee on the floor, pee in the underwear, pee on the chair.... pee everywhere but in the toilet. <sigh>

Let's see what happens this week.

Toddler Sized Independence

I've been working on trying to give my son some "independence." Meaning, letting him do things on his own without me pestering him :)

To help with this, I made some changes to make things more accessible to my son:

1) Used a command hook so my son can hang his towel himself in the bathroom. Even added a little letter for him. Saw this on Pinterest. Now he can hang up his own towel. He loves hanging his own towel and really likes that his letter is there.

It looks crooked! But it's not, it's just the angle of my camera. :)

2) Saw this trick I saw on Pinterest to put kid's toothbrush lower and under the sink. She used Velcro and attached to the cabinet door.

http://livingwellmom.com/2013/10/organizing-toothbrushes-toothpaste-out-of-sight/

I was going to do the exact same thing, but when I was at the store, I decided to just use an over-the-door basket instead. I only have one child for now, so this will do. If I have more and this doesn't work anymore, I will probably do the Velcro trick. Before my son's toothbrush was in the medicine cabinet and he can't reach there. (I have the "clear surface" thing going on and nothing is on the bathroom counter.)

Here's what it looks like. There's a cup for his toothbrush, one for flossers, and one for toothpaste.

We probably don't really need the toothpaste cup and can just place it in the basket. Will see how that works out. I haven't added labels & not sure if I will (that may be done when/if I have more kids). Now, all is within my son's reach and it's still hidden and off the counter. Yay and yay! Now my son can get his own toothbrush, add toothpaste by himself, and brush his teeth. He's really enjoying this and giggles every time he gets to brush his teeth. 

3) I started this awhile ago, but in the pantry - I cleared out the lowest shelf for my son to put his plates/cups/silverware on. He sets his own place settings, puts away his own dishes in the dishwasher, and also puts away his dishes when they're clean from the dishwasher. This is his little spot. Sometimes he organizes it really nicely, other times - not so much! But I try my best not to "fix it" and let him run with it. Every meal he's super excited to grab a plate, silverware, and a cup. 

Breaking the Budget?

None of this was in my budget, so I was worried I wouldn't be able to get any of this done this month. I looked at my budget and didn't want to allocate more funds mid-month, as that goes against the whole "instant gratification" thing I'm trying to avoid. Instead of waiting a month to finish these small projects, I decided to just re-allocate funds to my "household goods" funding category. There were a few spending categories that I allocated funds to, but can live without this month. 

Other things we are working on: 

1) He's learning to put his clothes on and learning to take them off. This has been an interesting process. He can totally do it by himself! But he will whine and complain so I'll help him out. I'm trying to find a happy medium with him because I know he can physically do it, it just might take him a little longer.

2) He's learning to put his own shoes on. He's got this pretty much down, but he's still practicing. Sometimes he'll get left/right mixed up, but that's to be expected.

3) Started a "tomorrow drawer" where all things needed for tomorrow are placed. He's working on picking out clothes (top, bottom, socks) and putting them in the tomorrow drawer. Then, in the morning he gets the clothes from the drawer and works on getting dressed. This has led to some mismatched outfits! But he's loving making the choices and using his "morrow" drawer.

I'm still looking at other ways to give him more independence and have him start doing things on his own. So far, these small things are helping with that. Plus, I love how excited he gets when he can do it himself and how much pride he takes in it. Hopefully good habits will come with this and it'll be easier as he gets older (a parent can hope!). 

HMF Disease + Potty Training

There was an outbreak at daycare of Hand/Mouth/Foot (HMF) Disease! Munchkin ended up getting it, so I've had to keep him home since it's highly contagious. I wasn't sure if Little Guy would get it too, so I was asked to keep him home too just to make sure (during the incubation stage). 

I guess in a way it's a good thing I was laid off, since I've had the kids home full time due to this. That wouldn't fly if I was working. 

Little Guy didn't get HMF, thank goodness. Munchkin took about 8 days to fully recovery from HMF. Luckily he never had a fever with it. I hope to NEVER deal with this one again, it's horrible how long it takes to get past it. 

Since we were stuck at home, I decided to try and potty train Little Guy! A little earlier than I had planned, but just by a week. Might as well be productive, right? Here's how it's gone. 

Day 1: 

• Originally tried to go commando-style. It really bothered Little Guy and he kept asking for his diaper! We went commando because he peed and I didn't notice it and neither did he. With much protest, decided to try the underwear on. 
• He needed to go poopoo and asked to go to the potty. Once on the toilet, he couldn't go. He waited for nap time and went poop in his diaper. 
• The first time he went peepee in his underwear, he seemed surprised - just looked down at his leg. I ran him quickly to the bathroom to sit on the potty. 
• Overall: 4 accidents -- 3 he noticed, 1 he didn't 

Day 1 wasn't too bad! Little Guy was annoyed with not having a diaper and acted out a bit, but wasn't too bad. He didn't manage to go potty on the toilet yet, hoping he is "getting it" though. Ended up putting him on the potty every 30 minutes or so. 

Day 2: 

• Moved the "fun potty" to the most used bathroom. It makes fun little noises. 
• In the morning, he didn't want to put on the underwear! He tried to throw it away in the trash!  
• I placed him on the potty after breakfast and he went peepee! He didn't even seem to notice. I made a big deal about it, let him flush the toilet, waved bye-bye to the peepee, and he got an M&M. He is highly chocolate-motivated. 
• He asked to sit on the potty 2x's. He didn't end up going, but he asked!! Then had an accident right after he got off the potty. 
• Accidents: 7
• Peepee on Potty: 4x's 

Day 2 was a lot better! At this point I wasn't sure if Little Guy had the bladder control to master potty training. Had to wait and see how he progressed. 

Day 3: 

• He didn't fight the underwear this morning! 
• Had 2 accidents back-to-back, but the second one he ran to the bathroom and finished on the toilet. 
• I've noticed he's having "half accidents" where he slightly soils his underwear and then will finish on the potty. 
• Accidents: 4
• Peepee on Potty: 6
• Poopoo on Potty: 1! This was almost an accident. I had just put him to bed with a diaper. I heard him grunting (his poopoo sound). I asked him if he was going poopoo and he said, "Yeah." So I rushed him to the potty and he finished on the potty. But he did it! 

My son really impressed me this day and this is the first time that I truly believed he had bladder control. He didn't have as many accidents. The funny thing is, he giggles every time he pees on the potty! When he goes, he's been practicing releasing the pee, stopping it, then releasing more. The whole time giggling. 

Day 4:

• Peed on Potty first thing in the morning 
• Fought going to the potty a few times, but went pee once he was on the toilet. 
• Accidents: 1
• Peepee on Potty: 6
• Poopoo on Potty: 0. He did go poopoo in his diaper during nap time. We did the whole "ritual" of flushing the poop down the toilet and I told him, "poo poo goes in the toilet."

I couldn't believe that he only had ONE accident the entire day! So very surprised. He stopped having those "half accidents" and could hold his urine in longer. 

Day 5: 

• This was really only a half-day of training, as he went back to daycare for most of the day and used a diaper there. 
• Accidents: 0
• Peepee on Potty: 5 at home + 1 at daycare 
• Poopoo on Potty: 0

He's really starting to get the hang of taking his pants/underwear on/off by himself. Been practicing with him. He even initiated going potty once by himself!  He's also really good at holding his urine and then releasing in the potty. 

Overall, I think he's on his way to being potty trained! I'm a little surprised it's gone relatively well so far. We'll continue on and see how the rest of it goes. Once he masters potty training at home, we'll venture out without a diaper and see how it goes. I've been worried about this part because I don't want him to pee in the carseat (I just washed the paddings). But I'm going to have to risk it, once he starts initiating more at home. I want him to be successful and don't want him to fail.

I also got him some Paw Patrol and Thomas the Train underwear, which he LOVES. Hoping they add a little excitement to the potty training adventure. 

Talking about Adoption with my Toddler

It may sound weird, but I had a little panic attack when I realized that I have NOT spoken to Little Guy about adoption!

I always said that he would always know his story and would know he's adopted from the beginning. I guess with all the uncertainty for so long, with not knowing if I'm going to adopt him, that I just didn't talk to him about adoption (in case it didn't happen that way). He's been with me since he's been born, so it's hard to even think that he's not my birth child. I'm the only mom he's known. So sometimes I just forget that I have to be the one that explains things to him (in age-appropriate ways).

My hopes are that Little Guy embraces being adopted and looks at it like a positive thing. I know there may come a time when he becomes resentful, but I want to try to instill the value of adoption and what it means. I want him to be proud of his story and own it. Which means I have to start talking about it with him.

I was just thinking the other day that he has no clue that this huge, big day, is coming up -- our adoption day...!

I know he's young, not even 2 yet, but he understands things very well. I really want adoption to be part of his story and for him to be comfortable growing up knowing that he's adopted. So, I went on a search for "Toddler-Friendly Adoption Books". I have a bunch that I've requested at the library and will see if any of them are any good, maybe I'll even do a review of them (if it's worthwhile). There are mixed reviews on Goodreads for some of them and some really low review scores. I have a few ready for pickup at the library today, so we'll start "reading" about adoption tonight :)

I've also been thinking about making him his own "Adoption Book". I've always wanted to do this. I can't really finalize it until we have our adoption (so I can include a picture of us at court in the book). So, I've been thinking about that and what it's going to look like. I'm going to include pictures of his birth parents and of our family. Maybe a family tree? Still thinking about it. I want it to be age-appropriate and make it into a board book of sorts. Or perhaps just do pages in Word and print them -- putting them in a binder. That way I can add to it. Having Munchkin come live with us is a good thing, I think it'll be great to try to explain foster care and how some kids may only stay with us for a little bit. Maybe I will include a page with all of his foster "brothers and sisters". So many ideas. I need to start being actionable about these things.

Adoption books are great and all, but his story about being adopted from foster care is very personal. I want him to see his pictures and see how much he was loved by his birth family and by me.

I need to do more searches of blogs to see how adoption was discussed/introduced. This is all new to me too and I want to do it right. Here's to hoping and praying for a smooth start for my Little Guy in understanding adoption.

Parenting Two: Night Time Routine Adjustments

The transition to adding so many people to our home in a short period of time, took a little long to acclimate to. Luckily the "good morning routine" has and still continues to go smoothly. It was the "good night" routine that was difficult for all of us: Little Guy, Munchkin, and me.

Most of it was Munchkin adjusting to a new routine and Little Guy getting used to sharing my attention. For me, it was balancing all the night time activities between the two kids with maintaining the house somehow. It was pretty hectic for a few weeks in my house with both kids adjusting.

It took a lot of tweaking and adjustment to get back to a "peaceful" night time routine. But I think I finally have it down (after 3 weeks of making changes).

Normally, my kids would have separate rooms. However, a friend is living with us for a few months and is in the spare room. Therefore, the boys have to share a room - which can be difficult since Little Guy's never shared a room and Munchkin is still a baby. For the first few weeks, Munchkin slept in my room while I worked on getting him to sleep through the night.

This was Little Guys' night time routine before Munchkin. Originally, I tried to keep this same schedule and then just add Munchkin's items within there.

• 4:00 p.m. - Play Time / Floor Time
• 5:00 p.m. - I cook dinner / Little Guy watches a show or sits at table / Late Afternoon Nap
• 5:30 p.m. - Little Guy and I eat dinner / I clean up after I'm done / Baby Wear Munchkin 
• 6:00 p.m. - Bath Time / Bath Time
• 6:15 p.m. - PJ's / Brush Teeth / Story Time / Last Bottle for Munchkin 
• 6:30 p.m. - Cuddle Time, extra play time  / Munchkin bed time 
• 7:00 p.m. - Little Guy in bed 

On paper -- it would fit together just fine. However, Munchkin had different ideas. He would become extremely fussy at about 4:45/5pm every single evening. He was hard to settle and wouldn't take a nap (even though he was tired). He would be fussy all evening until he was in bed. So I knew I needed to make a change. His screaming and fussiness was impacting all of us and our once "peaceful" night routine became extremely stressful! 

I made change after change after change. Finally found a routine that has worked the best: 

• 4:00 p.m. - Bath Time for the boys 
• 4:45 p.m. - start Baby Wearing Munchkin/prep dinner for Little Guy. Note: he didn't like the Moby Wrap or the Onya. So I bought a new carrier, the Tula - which he seems to like. It's also really comfortable for me as well! Sometimes he'll nap in the carrier, sometimes he'll stay awake and fuss a bit. But he does better if I'm holding him. I need the hands-free, so the Tula has worked great. 
• 5:00 p.m. - Dinner for Little Guy. I try to eat at this time as well. If Munchkin is too fussy, I will eat after the kids are put to sleep. I have also changed cleanup time to after the kids are asleep. 
• 5:30 p.m. - Head Upstairs 
• 5:45 p.m. - Last bottle for Munchkin / Little Guy plays 
• 6:00 p.m. - Little Guy brushes teeth / Story time with the boys 
• 6:15 p.m. - Put Munchkin down to sleep / Extra cuddle time with Little Guy. Munchkin will sleep until 2:30 or 4:00, drink a bottle and go back to sleep until 6:15-ish. 
• 6:30/6:45 p.m. - Put Little Guy down to sleep. He's been doing better if he goes down earlier and he'll sleep until about 5:45/6am. 

So far, this has worked the best. It's not fail-safe, of course! But right now it's working well! It's now a "peaceful" time again :)

When Munchkin started sleeping for at least 8 hours at night, I moved him in Little Guy's room. I was surprised that it has gone so well!

First night sharing a room, Little Guy would reach through the crib and pat Munchkin saying, "it's ok". He also would sing to him. Very cute.

Now, since Munchkin is asleep by the time Little Guy goes in the room to sleep - Little Guy goes right to sleep and Munchkin doesn't wake up. I was also concerned that Munchkin would wake up Little Guy at the early AM feeding time. But nope, Little Guy stays asleep and doesn't wake up at all.

Things are finally running smoothly in the Family C household, thank goodness! Took a little longer than I expected, but with all the changes going on in our house - I guess it was not surprising it took us so long to adjust.

I'm really enjoying Munchkin. He's such a happy baby boy. He wakes up happy and is happy most of the day. He does need to be carried a lot, but I'm hoping that as he adjusts to living here that he'll be more comfortable not being held as much. For now, the Tula is my go-to carrier. 

Little Guy: Toddler-isms

Toddlers can be so much fun. I've noticed that Little Guy is doing more and more as his personality is shining through as he gets older. Here are a few captured moments I didn't want to forget: 

• We were listening to the Music Channel and "Let it Go" from Frozen came on. All of a sudden Little Guy starts singing "Let it go!" I tried to record it, but then he got distracted. It was so adorable. Now, he goes around singing "Let it go!" 
• He's starting to put his arm over his eyes when he doesn't like something I said. 

• Hugging his stuffed animals and rubbing his nose against theirs. Giggling the whole time. 
• Hugging his stuffed animals and patting their backs. 
• He's been getting bit at daycare by another toddler. Daycare says that he's learned to "tease" other kids already. Hmmm. 
• He now has an obsession with "crackers". He will whine if he sees them and ask for "crackers" and sign "please." 
• Pretending his food is a plane or car or person or phone and making the corresponding noises to go with them. 
• Putting food in his mouth, then spitting it out and saying "hot" - then blowing on it. This was on a cold piece of lunch meat... 
• Looking at his toy Elmo's bottom and asking Elmo, "Poo Poo?" Or playing with the dolphin toys in the bath and when water comes out of the bottom, asking "You Poo Poo?"
• At IHOP, spilled the salt onto the table and then tried to lick it up. 
• Went to a Gymboree class and he was having so much fun, laughing during the umbrella portion and the bubbles. He loved it so much. 
• He's starting to help feed the dog!
  
  
  
  I feel so blessed that I get to adopt him. He's such a joy and is so much fun. 
   

20 Months is a fun age - Most of the time

Thought I would do an update on my Little Guy. He's totally indoctrinated into Toddler-hood these days. What's fun about all of this is, this is the first time I've had a Toddler from the beginning! So, most of these things are new to both of us. It's so fun watching him grow up. It still feels surreal to know that I'm adopting him and I will get to watch him grow up to become a young man! He's such a blessing and he's so much fun! His little personality just shines.

Favorite Activities: 

• Lots of talking I don't understand, but I pretend to, and he acts so serious while he's talking to me about whatever he's talking about. 
• Toddler whining - trying to get him to "use his words". It's drama up in here sometimes. 
• How fast he can run away from me. He's there, then he's not! Maybe when he's older he should get into track. 
• He loves making fishy faces when eating Gold Fish or playing in the bath. 
• He likes crawling on the floor pretending to be a dog. 
• Hitting his head on anything and saying "ouch" - then laughing. I don't like this one very much... 
• Randomly falling and hitting his face, not on purpose and getting real "ouchie" moments.  
• Making his stuffed animals dance and talk. 
• Randomly licking stuff - like anything and everything. Yuck! 
• Jumping - or trying to. On the bed, on the couch, on a chair - on anything. 
• Trying to go up and down the stairs like a "big boy" - even if his legs are too short to reach up the steps. 
• Playing peek-a-boo & yelling "boo" when he pokes his head out. 
• Dancing like a sumo wrestler. 
• Blowing raspberries on Mommy. 
• Working on the "shock" face for everything & looking at me to make sure I have my "shocked" face on too.
• Chewing food and spitting it out - just because it's funny and makes the food look interesting.
• Saying "Cheese!" when taking pictures. 
• Going up the stairs when he should be going down. Going down the stairs when he should be going up. Laughing his head off when I'm chasing after him! 
• Being really good at the store and walking by mommy nicely. Then, out of no where -- runs down an aisle screaming at the top of his lungs. Leaving mommy to chase him, which he thinks is hilarious as he laughs and laughs and laughs until I finally get him. Then he looks confused when he's confined to the cart and not free to roam around. 

Chores/responsibilities: 

I didn't realize I was giving Little Guy "Chore" type responsibilities. But I guess I have! It's been working well thus far, he is at the age where he likes helping and doing things for himself. Hopefully it'll build good habits.

• Put clothes in the hamper 
• Put toys away while singing the "Clean Up" song 
• Put shoes away in basket 
• Get shoes when time to put them on 
• Putting diaper in the trash 
• New: Cup stays on cup holder on table - responsible for getting cup when thirsty and putting it back. 
• New: putting plate and cups in dishwasher (with help) - opening dishwasher, pulling trays out, placing items inside, then closing dishwasher. 

Choices:

I've also been giving Little Guy "Choices" when I can. He really enjoys looking at his options and then pointing one out that he wants. This has surprisingly been going really well.  

• Gets to choose "story time" book. Usually give the option between two. 
• Gets to choose PJ's and clothes. Option between two. 
• Chooses carnation packets to make.
• Chooses snack items. 

Parent Fails: 

We all learn as we go with this parenting thing. Here are a few things I learned recently with having a full fledged Toddler. 

• I was working on transitioning Little Guy to a booster chair and training on forks/spoons - at the same time. I thought it would be nice to have him sit at the table with me instead of sitting a little away with the tray table on his booster seat. Well, the first thing he does is STAB the table with his fork! My table now has some nice scratches on it. Needless to say, I'm now training him on utensils and we'll work on the "getting to eat at the table" thing later. 
• Usually, when Little Guy is ready to get up - he gets out of bed on his own. One morning I hear him whining, but not very loud. I look at the monitor and he's still in bed. So, I don't worry about it. 30 minutes goes by and he's still whining and in bed. I think, "that's weird and not like him." So, I finally go in the room and it turns out his foot was stuck in the crib portion of his toddler bed! He was stuck and couldn't get it out. That's why he was in bed. I felt bad, maybe should've checked on him sooner! 
• We had our "First poop incident". He was napping in his diaper and had a big poop. He was sitting there playing with it, taking it out of his diaper. I heard him on the baby monitor, but I couldn't see what he was doing as he had his back to the monitor. When I walked in, he held up his hand to me and they were covered by his poop. I was shocked and said, "Oh s***!" Bad move, he then started repeating the phrase over and over again. First Parent Fail: putting him in only his diaper for nap time. Second Fail: Word choices. 
• BUG BITES! Bugs just LOVE him! Ugh. I've been researching bug sprays for kids. He has a bad reaction to them and they end up swelling pretty big. Poor guy. Need to find a solution! 

Little Guy is growing up so quick! 

Update: Toddler Bed Transition, a month later

Last month I decided to transition Little Guy to a toddler bed early. The first week was a challenge, for both of us, learning how to make it work! Now, a month into the new "freedom" a toddler bed provides has went relatively well.

He received new "Cars" sheet, pillow cover, & plush car toy.

Struggle: not getting enough sleep! 

He just wasn't sleeping enough, kept getting up to play with his toys. He's normally a really good sleeper. I decided to stop using the lamp for a night light and instead use the closet light, keeping the closet door ajar.

That seemed to help, so he didn't have too much light in the room - stopped him wondering around the room as much.

Struggle: Playing with his toys 

He started putting all his toys in his bed and playing with all the toys that are in his room. Every - single - one! Maybe I should take some of them out at bedtime? Hmmm... 

Struggle: Sleeping on the floor

Challenge eventually turned into making him stay on bed! He kept sleeping on his Turtle or Pillow on the floor. Also, he kept playing. Let him sleep on the floor? Let him continue to play? He's not whining... maybe I should just leave it alone and pick my battles?

Struggle: Taking things out of drawers 

Pulled everything out of drawers. Then, in the morning sang the "cleanup " song and put it all back before I even got in there!


Struggle: Keeps getting out of bed 

Eventually, when he was OK with me leaving the room (no whining or complaining) - I decided to focus on him staying in bed when I leave. So, I used the monitor and every time I saw him get out of bed, I would say "in bed" - either through the monitor or at my desk (close to his room door).


Surprisingly, he listened (for a few days)! It took a few times - but he would eventually just stay in his bed and play with the toys he has there. His toy truck is a permanent bed object now! He "parks" it there and won't get in bed without it. This was short lived though, as it eventually turned into a game for Little Guy! So, I had to think about choosing my battles again.

Struggle: Wakes up so darn early! 

The hardest part is how EARLY he keeps waking up!!!! He's waking up at 4:30/5am. Lucky for me, he just plays with his toys. But then I feel so rushed in the mornings trying to sneak around to get ready. Once he hears me, he will whine.

By the end of the month: All month, I contemplated on "picking my battles". Can I win the battle of him staying in bed all night long?

Answer: No way!

About a week ago, I decided to just let it be. Sometimes he'll end up on the floor or sleeping on the turtle, but then goes back to bed eventually. He plays with his toys sometimes for an hour after I close the door, but he's not whining.

When I leave the room he doesn't whine, that equals a win in my book! He does eventually fall asleep after he plays for a while. So, why force it? I've decided I'm going to try to just let him play in his room and sleep where he wants to sleep. I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually. Right? But the big win is = he's fine when I leave the room and feels safe enough to play in his room alone.

Overall, it hasn't been the easiest transition. It's been a learning experience for sure and one of my first "pick my battles" choices. I would say that at the end of month one - it's been a semi-success! I just had to readjust my expectations and meet Little Guy where he was. 

Making Progress: Toddler Bed Transition, the First Week

It was a rough week with Little Guy transitioning to a toddler bed. I didn't have any expectations of how it would work since it was so impromptu on transitioning him! I do wish I had more time to research things prior to the switch though. Although I've fostered a variety of ages and children, I've never gone through the "toddler bed transition" or the "potty training" portion of parenting! Potty training will be its own adventure for sure.

I'm glad I transitioned him when I did because now he's climbing on everything and anything! Need to keep an eye on him, he's sneaky. I know when I can't hear him, he's up to something.

Here's how it went down:

2nd Night: The second night was more challenging! It took 2 hours of going in and out of Little Guy's room. He woke up in the middle of the night and came into my room, I put him back when he fell asleep. My bad, I wasn't consistent - I was tired! I actually thought it was close to wake-up time, thought it was 4am, but it was actually closer to 1am! 

Time: 2 hours 

Up-At-Night: 1x  

3rd Night: Decided to use a few different techniques. When it was bedtime, I turned on his little lamp (very soft glow) and used the door monkey lock for the door, so he couldn't just open it and wonder out.  He would keep screaming "the light! the light!" and "ni-ni! ni-ni!." Then he cleaned up his toys! I thought that was cute. We normally sing the clean up song before bedtime, but I left the toys out, so he could play with them if he wanted to. I had to go into his room a few times to help calm him down. He finally went to his bed after an hour, and went to sleep. He was up 4 times during the night, but shorter periods of time and I didn't have to go in his room at all because he went back to bed by himself.

Time: 1 hour

Up-At-Night: 4x's 

4th Night: Used same technique as the night before. Added it to our nightly routine: bath time, put PJ's on, brush teeth, story time, lights off. NEW and do together: Close door, close blinds, turn on lamp. Then: sing song, hugs/kisses, ni-ni.

Afterwards, I left the room. Little Guy started screaming again, BUT he stopped screaming after 5 minutes! 5 minutes! Yay! After the 5 minutes, he went to bed, talked to himself for 30 minutes and fell asleep! In his crib, he used to do that. I didn't have to go back in once. Then, he woke up at 4:30am and brought toys in bed with him and played. This is really good progress! Hopefully this will be the turning point to be fully transitioned!

Time: 5 minutes!!! WOOHOO! 

Up-At-Night: ZERO 

5th Night: Little Guy only fussed for a minute before grabbing his toy car and bringing it to his bed. He played with his toy car for 30 minutes and fell asleep hugging it. He loves his cars :) 

Time: 1 minute 

Up-At-Night:  ZERO

6th Night: Now we're onto the weekend and trying to nap-time is tough! He ended up sleeping really well in the afternoon, which was nice. But took him a long time to get settled.

That night, there was a little regression, had to go back in 1x before he settled down. But I guess it's not always going to be perfect every night. He played for awhile. His truck is now a permanent fixture in his bed! He's been practicing talking and making 2-letter sentences when he's in bed: "The light." "Dog barking."

Time: 20 minutes 

Up-At-Night: ZERO

7th Night: Nap time was a struggle again today. He was tired, but just kept trying to get into things. With his new climbing skills, it's not fun! Luckily there's not much for him to climb in his room, but there's still the danger of the dresser! 

At night, things were "back on track" with him going to sleep. Probably because he had such a short nap! He only complained for a minute, then played with his toys for 30 - then went to sleep. It'll be nice when I can leave the room without him screaming for me :(  I know he's not really "screaming" he's just trying to get me to come back in the room -- but still, I'm tempted to go back in every single time! I haven't though, which is good. It's just hard. 

Time: 1 minute. 

Up-At-Night: ZERO! 

Overall, I would say the transition is still a work-in-progress! He's done extremely well adjusting, but it's going to take more time for him to feel secure in the toddler bed. I bought him a toddler pillow and some "cars" sheets. I'm going to introduce them to him next week and hope that makes going to bed more fun for him.

Next Steps: I think it'll be good when he doesn't feel he needs to whine/scream when I leave the room. That's going to be the next milestone! I don't mind him talking and playing with his toys - he did that previously in his crib. I think I might try to find him a plush car though. He has this hard lego truck he's keeping in his bed, he cuddles with it sometimes!

Also, since he has all this freedom - he's been waking up REALLY early, getting less sleep. I'm hoping that he is able to get back to sleeping his normal 11-12 hours at night. Right now he's doing 10 hours, which is good for his age! But he does better with 11-12 hours sleep / night. Plus, he's waking up so early - I don't have time to get up myself and get ready!!! I'm normally up and ready before he gets up. But with him waking up at 4:30/5am, that makes it a little more difficult. I've been trying to be "quiet" when I'm up so he doesn't hear me! The joys of Toddler-hood.

I have to say though, that I'm really enjoying this age! He's so much fun and his little personality is so precious :) 

Road Trip Last Thoughts

I really enjoyed going to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure! It's been a long time since I've really gone to the parks to explore. I grew up in Southern California and used to go to the parks all the time. I think it's been at least 5 years since I've went to the parks for more than just a few hours at a time. It was really fun going and seeing things from my adult eyes and seeing Little Guy experience it for the first time.

I had a good time seeing my God Daughter and being there for her graduation.

Packing: I didn't over pack! I packed just about enough clothes. I did bring a little bit too much snack items though. 

Driving: The drives went well! The TV's worked out perfectly. The kids had enough distractions to keep them occupied. We didn't have to stop more than I wanted to. 

The Parks: I think we got to see and explore the parks enough. Although, another day at Disneyland would have been nice (but may be too tiring). 

The Beach: The beach was nice and relaxing! This was a good thing to do with small kids. 

Character Breakfast: Glad we did the Character breakfast! But won't be doing PCH Grill again.

Hotel: The hotel was in the perfect spot. I loved the location and the walking distance to the parks. The extra $$ was worth it, IMHO. Especially when you have little kids. If I didn't have little kids,  I probably would've opted to take the shuttle at a hotel further away. But with kids, the convenience and the ease of going back to the hotel for nap time - was totally worth it.  

Toddlers: Little Guy is a great traveler! He adjusts really well and didn't have any meltdowns (that weren't age-appropriate). He loves to explore and preferred to walk and go where he wanted to go (which caused some issues when he had to ride in the stroller). 

Little Miss... this trip was too much for her. No matter what precautions were taken, it didn't help subside her complete and utter meltdowns. 

As a foster parent, I can see that she was over stimulated. But also as a foster parent, I travel a lot... and I've always included my foster kids in my travels. I've never had a foster child react like this before. Yes, there were breakdowns by other kids, but not to this extreme. It was overwhelming and frustrating. 

They tell you in MAPP training to not judge the behaviors, to think about what has led to the behaviors. Yes, I know - she was over stimulated. Should I have left her at home in respite? After leaving her in respite for a week while we were in Hawaii (I booked that trip prior to Little Miss moving in with me)? It's a hard thing being a foster parent sometimes and dealing with these extreme behaviors... especially when you're on vacation and spending a lot of money! I wanted to include her, do something nice for her before she left... 

Hindsight is 20/20. I should have just left her in respite. But there's no way for me to have predicted the extremity of her meltdowns. It was so bad, I've never seen her like this for the time that she's lived with me. I'm going to put her in respite this weekend, because I seriously need a break from her right now. It was so exhausting. After she leaves, I'm not going to be taking any more foster kiddos -- I need a break! 

Overall, it was a good and fun trip. Lots going on, but I think the pre-work helped with some of the potential pit-falls of going to a theme park.

Sweet Part of the Trip: Seeing Little Guy enjoy himself and have fun. 

Sour Part of the Trip: Little Miss's Tantrum Parties.

Transitioning to a Toddler Bed

It was finally time... time to transition my Little Guy from the crib to a "toddler bed"! He's been trying to climb out of his crib for awhile now. He's been unsuccessful. Then, last week he managed to climb out of his crib at daycare! We went on vacation and he kept climbing out of the pack-n-play. When we got back, he tried climbing out of his crib!! I caught him before he fell, he was balancing on his tummy halfway in the crib and halfway out.

That's when I decided: Time to Transition! 

I had no intentions of transitioning Little Guy to a toddler bed until he was 2 or 2 1/2. I'm bummed it's so early - he's only 18 months! But it's better to be safe than have him climb out and hurt himself. 

The crib I have converts to a toddler bed. I didn't think I had all the parts, but I was able to find them all and convert it. 

When bed time comes, I introduce Little Guy to new "bed". Little Guy is excited he can climb in and out of bed. We do our normal bed time routine and time for "ni-ni". Little Guy thinks it's funny he can get out. When I leave the room, he starts to scream and follows me. I decide to stay in the room by his bed. Every time he tries to get out, I say "no" and put him back. 

Soon, every time I say "no" he goes back by himself. So, I start moving away from his bed - getting closer to the door. He's getting good at going back in bed by himself when I say "no". So I move outside the bedroom door (where he can still see me). This freaks him out and he screams and chases me. I bring him back to bed and go back by the door. He finally stays in bed when I say "no". 

Then, I start closing the door a little at a time. He's still staying in bed and crying - but he's not getting out. 

Finally, the door is only a crack wide! He stays in bed and finally falls asleep! I close the door all the way. 

Total Time: 1 hour. 

The true test: Did he stay in bed all night?

Little Guy actually did pretty well!!! He fell out of bed once and fell asleep on the floor. I went in and put him back in bed. Then, he woke up at 2:30am and wondered out crying. I brought him back to bed, took about 15-20 minutes to get him settled back to bed. Then he woke up at 5:30 and came into my room, but he made sure to grab his "dog" plush toy beforehand :)

Let's see how tonight goes! 

Road Trip, Day #5: Character Breakfast + Travel Day - headed home!

First thing we did on our last day was pack and load the car. Bigger effort than it sounds with two toddlers! 

Character Breakfast 

It's so crowded at the parks and the lines to take pictures with characters are really long. I made a reservation for a Character Breakfast for our last day in California. I've done Goofy's Kitchen and wanted to try something different. We ended up doing Disney's PCH Grill at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel. 

Mini review: not the best character breakfast ever... but it's hard to compare Disneyland stuff to Disney World...! I didn't really like the food options and the layout of the place was a little odd. 

Little Guy was a little cautious of the characters, but he didn't cry. Little Miss had a different experience. She would wave "hi" and "bye" to them with a smile on her face. But if they tried to get close, she would scream her head off! So, I don't have any pictures of her smiling with the characters. 

Drive Home

The drive home went really fast and was relatively smooth. The kids did well for the most part, besides a few tantrum parties with Little Miss. 

Sweet Part of the Day: Pluto hugging Little Guy.

Sour Part of the Day: Having a toddler kick my seat while I was driving. 

Road Trip, Day #4: Beach Day

After all the excitement of the Graduation Ceremony, going to Disney's California Adventure, and Disneyland -- we planned one relaxing day to the BEACH! 

Since we got back to the hotel so late the day before, we got to sleep in this day! We all got up by 10:30am, which is extremely late for me and the kids. 

The day didn't start off great, as Little Miss continued her tantrum party at the hotel before we left... 

We had a beach in mind to visit, but we ended up at Newport Beach instead. Found some street parking and a beach that didn't have many people there! 

We were able to hang out and relax for a few hours. It wasn't too sunny, which was nice! The water was very cold. 

Little Miss had a few outburst at the beach that weren't fun... But I dealt with it. Overall the trip was a success! 

Later that night, we met with my cousin and God Daughter for dinner. 

Nice relaxing day, considering the busy hustle and bustle of Disneyland/DCA. 

Sweet Part of the Day: Hanging out at the beach. 

Sour Part of the Day: Little Miss's morning tantrum. 

Road Trip, Day #3: Disneyland, the Happiest Place On Earth! (for most kids)

Day #3 was Disneyland Day!!! With what happened at DCA yesterday, I tried to take some precautions to hopefully minimize Little Miss's tantrums - no luck. This day was just as bad (if not worse than yesterday) where her extreme tantrums are concerned. 

HOWEVER, even though she had tantrums-galore --> the rest of us had a good time :) Did same packing as DCA day. Disneyland is much more crowded though!!! Was hard to navigate the crowds and we didn't get to go on many of the Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, or Toon Town rides. If I were to do it again, probably would've done 2 days at Disneyland to fit it all in and not feel "rushed".

The castle!

In Tomorrowland, the kids had a lot of fun with this giant water ball. 

Watched Fantasmic, which was GREAT! I haven't watched the show since I was a kid. Little Guy with his glow sticks. 

The day at Disneyland was fun! We got to do everything we wanted to do (for the most part) and see what we wanted to see. We were very strategic with riding rides. They have some rides that have "single riders" and we used Fast Pass for other rides. The teenager and I just took turns watching the kids while the other one was on the rides. We took the kids on the rides with no height requirements (although Little Miss missed out on some of these because of the tantrum situation). Worked out really well overall!

Sweet Part of the Day: Being at Disneyland with my Little Guy! 

Sour Part of the Day: "Advice" from other parents on how to manage Little Miss's tantrums. <sigh> 

Road Trip, Day #2: Disney California Adventure

Today was Disney California Adventure (DCA) Day. I was "prepared" with toys, snacks, diapers, clothes, drinks! You can bring in food and drinks into Disney. Here's what I packed: 

• Soft Structured Cooler: located under the stroller that had water and ice to keep it cold. 
• Food Snack Trays for the kids. 
• Some Toys to help with down time. 
• In the Minnie Bag: A bag of extra clothes, PJ's, sunblock. 
• In the Spider Man Bag: Diapers, Wipes. 
• Blankets for each kid. 
• Baby Carrier for waiting in line. 

The day started out relatively well! It wasn't busy at DCA and it's a smaller park, so I didn't feel rushed. The kids were exploring and having fun. 

THEN, the meltdowns began. Little Miss had her first meltdown during the Frozen sing along. It was really bad. I can't add the details here... but they were so bad that someone at Disney came to talk to us about her keeping her shoes and shirt on, and that if I need assistance -- to just find a Cast Member.  Very embarrassing, needless to say. 

I wish I could say that her meltdowns stopped after that, but they actually escalated. She had meltdown-after meltdown. Screaming at the top of her lungs for up to an hour at a time... She ended up staying in the stroller for the most part because she was highly unpredictable on what she would do when she was out. 

Little Guy also became frustrated with her and would go up to her and say, "Stop it! No" and wag his little finger at her. 

We didn't let that impact our day though!! Little Guy still had fun, I had semi-fun, and the teenager that came with us had fun on the rides. 

The cutest thing was that Little Guy would "dance". He would stand in the middle of traffic and just start bouncing, going in circles, dancing :) 

Here's the kids waiting in line to take a picture with a Car in Cars Land. Little Miss didn't actually make it to the picture, as she had a meltdown right after I took this one. 

It was hard taking pictures of Little Guy with the cars, as he just wanted to look at them. He was fascinated that they made noise and that they had eyes! 

We watched the parade at DCA and it was really good! 

We also watched World of Color. I really enjoyed that one. I didn't know you had to have a fast pass to get seats!! By the time we figured it out, they were already out. So we found this spot, a little off center - but it worked out well! I also brought glow sticks for the kids to use when it got dark. Prior to it getting too cold, I changed both kids into their PJ's and put their jackets on - that way when it was time to leave, they can go straight to sleep when we got back to the hotel.



Overall, it was an OK day. Little Miss's tantrums were so constant and extreme and nothing I would do helped her or minimized her behavior. It was really frustrating.

Sweet Part of the Day: Watching Little Guy dance in the middle of Car's Land. 

Sour Part of the Day: Little Miss's extreme Tantrums. 

Road Trip, Day #1: 6 Hour Car Ride + Graduation Ceremony!

It's time for our Road Trip to California!! 

Agenda: My God Daughter's High School Graduation, Disney California Adventure, Disneyland, the Beach, and Character Breakfast. 

Getting ready for a road trip is a little bit easier than preparing for a plane ride! More space in the car for odds and ends, no worries about having to carry everything. 

Packing & Loading

For this trip, I decided to put each day into a zip lock bag. I've done this before, just skipped it for my Hawaii trip. Bags I packed:

• A bag for each day: 1 outfit for each kid + 1 set of PJ's. 
• A bag of just PJ's for each kid (for non-theme park days). 
• A bag of jackets, hats, sunglasses. 
• A bag of extra clothes: 1 outfit for each kid. 

Packing the car was harder. I don't have a huge car!!! So, trying to squeeze everything in there for 4 humans, a double stroller, and a pack-n-play was tough! I had two pack-n-plays (1 for each kid) but wasn't able to bring the second one because there was absolutely no room. Ended up renting a crib at the hotel.

I don't normally let the kids watch TV. I made a huge exception for this road trip. I bought TV's for the car with dual screens (can be played individually or as one). Since I have one kid rear-facing and one forward-facing, this worked out really well.

The Drive 

The drive went relatively smoothly! We stopped twice. Once for snacks + potty/diaper changes. Then once for lunch. Both kids did extremely well.

This is what the snack tray looked like:

Graduation Ceremony 

When we finally arrived in California, we were able to change and head over to my God Daughter's High School graduation. There were a lot of kids graduating, but it was still over in about 1.5 hours.



Afterwards, we went to dinner with the family and did gifts for my God Daughter. I made her two candy leis, a money lei, and gave her a "College Survival Kit". She loved it! I found all of these things on Pinterest and YouTube.

Arriving at the Hotel 

We arrived at the hotel relatively late, about 9:30pm. We got settled and went straight to sleep. We stayed at the Carousel Inn and Suites. The good: Perfect location, as it's only a 5 minute walk to both parks (it's right across the street) - very convenient, the price was pretty good considering the location. Downers: no free wifi, no free parking (only valet services that costs each day), a "resort fee" (although not very resort-y), crib rental fee.

All in all, the road trip to California was a success and everything went as planned.

Sweet Part of the Day: Seeing my God Daughter graduate!

Sour Part of the Day: It was humid! Not used to the humidity anymore!