First Week Back

Song of the Day: Icona Pop - I Love It (feat. Charli XCX)

Yesterday ended my first week back as a stay at home mom!  To be honest, I was kind of nervous.  It was supposed to rain Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but thankfully it only rained Wednesday!  Having the fence has been such a life saver!  Before, it was so nerve wracking to be outside with both kids when both Kyle and I were outside, let alone, by myself.  They like to run in opposite directions, at different speeds, and you never know if this will be the time they don't listen...  not relaxing at all.  With the fence, we just go outside and play!  We also got a kiddie pool up, so when it's nice they can play in it.  I've tried to kind of structure our time and still do arts and crafts and educational stuff like they would at daycare.  We made some flowers, and now we're going through the alphabet and coloring pictures that start with the same letter.  We've only done A (apple, alligator), but it should be pretty easy until we get to Q. 

Wednesday was Elliot's birthday so we went to the zoo!  Thankfully we got there right as the rain ended, and it didn't rain while we were there!  Elliot loved the goats and the tiger.  When we got home Caroline napped and Elliot was too excited to nap!  He kept getting out of his bed, so I tried laying down with him in ours and he kept saying, "Mommy, happy birthday to me.  Mommy, do you like happy birthday?"  Or something to the like of that, over, and over, and over.  After Caroline got up we went to the store and got stuff for the cake.  Elliot requested a rectangle cake, with blue cake, and blue frosting.  Thankfully the request was easy to fill :)  He also wanted macaroni & cheese for dinner - shocking! lol.  When Kyle got home, we had dinner, then I cleaned up while Kyle built Elliot's drum set.  He actually got the drum set for Christmas, but in the midst of everything else, he kind of forgot about it, and it was still in the box a few weeks later, so we decided to re-gift it to him for his birthday.  Elliot LOVES the drums.  Anytime we go anywhere there's a drum set, he looses his mind because he wants to play.  I actually had to leave an art fair/chicken q a few weeks back because he was throwing a fit because he saw the drums for the Jazz Band and wanted to play.  In fairness, he was also hungry, and it was really close to nap time, but the melt down was completely justified in the eyes of a (then) 2 year old.  So, I'm trying to keep Elliot out of the dining room while Kyle is working on the drum set.  Finally, everything's ready so we put the drum set in the doorway so he'll see it when he turns the corner.  In our minds, we'll have him open his other presents, then the last present will be the drum sticks I wrapped, and then we'll show him the drum set!  Perfect!  Haha, well, as we were sitting down, he bolted for the kitchen, and saw the drum set in the dining room.  This is what happened next.  

All week I've been trying to start getting Elliot interested in going to the potty in the toilet.  He really doesn't see the point, lol.  I'm not really sure what to do, so we have a potty chart that's been up for a while, and every time he practices he gets a sticker.  When he practices 10 times he gets a treat, and when he actually goes in the potty, he gets a super special treat (currently a tootsie pop).  Thursday morning he didn't want to put on clothes, and I said, okay, but reminded him he had to go in the potty and I asked him about every 10 minutes if he had to go.... I was cooking in the kitchen and Elliot ran past me into the bathroom.  All of the sudden I heard a tinkling sound.  "Oh crap." was my first thought.  I turned the corner to see that Elliot had lifted up the toilet seat, stood on his stool, and was peeing into the toilet!!!!!!  I was so excited, but didn't want to get too excited mid-stream and stop the whole thing!  He acted like it was no big deal, but was super excited to get his sucker!  A little while later he and I had a heart to heart, where I had to try to explain to him the poop comes out of his butt and not his penis.  Knowing that going poop in the potty would get him another sucker, he was standing in front of the potty, grunting, and squeezing his penis while saying, "Mommy, it's not working!"  I almost died laughing!  I've realized that he'll go pee in the potty only if he's naked.  I haven't tried to brave underwear after he pooped in his buzz lightyear ones on Monday (gross).  And I get it, he knows he can go in his diapers, and he doesn't have to stop playing until I notice he's smelly.  But, he's also shown that he can totally go in the potty without needing my help!  What a little stinker :)

Yesterday, my dad and brother came down and finished the play set!  It's so nice to have it done!  Of course, this morning Elliot wants to go outside, but everything is soaking wet and cold :/  Does the weather not realize it's Memorial Day weekend??  We're going to a cookout this afternoon, so it'd be nice if the kids could all play outside, but it's looking like we'll all be indoors.