Months of Updates

Let's see how much we can update in this little blog post. And I'm not going to start out by saying I will try to get back here and write more often. I want these little updates here so I can look back on this years from now, but for some reason I can't seem to find the motivation to write. Not to mention the fact that I LOVE details when I write and some times it just gets annoying and tedious. Anyway, the only major updates I have are Kaisen's 2nd birthday and potty training.

As mentioned in that last post, Kaisen started daycare at Little Jewels in January. He went in the one year old room (the Penguin room) while Rylan went into the two year old room (the Monkey room). It was rough for Kaisen for the first few weeks and after that there were only a couple days here and there when he would cry when he was left there. He always cried on the rare times that I dropped him off and it broke my heart! In July he spent more time in the Monkey room as they slowly transitioned him from one room to the other. Since moving to the Monkey room, he's been much happier during the day and rarely gets upset when dropped off. From what I'm hearing, Rylan is his little protector. I guess they tend to stick together during playtime and hold hands while walking in the hallway.

Kaisen has improved drastically with talking since starting daycare. His vocabulary is huge now! He can put little sentences together like "Where Grandpa go?" or "Mommy, what doing?", but nothing more than that yet. He can count to 6 on his own, although he some times forgets 4. We watch the animated "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" on YouTube at least once if not twice a day, and he will some times sing along to parts. He especially knows the part where it says "The whole alphabet up the - Oh no!". He usually says the "oh no!" part right along with the singer. He dances like crazy, can "raise the roof" and nod his head. He knows what cows, horses and dogs say. He knows that race cars go "vroom!" and trains go "choo choo!" He even called all trains "choo choo" for a while, but is now starting to call them "train" or "choo choo train".

His favorite TV show is Handy Manny. I have the show set to record on Tivo, that way we are able to watch it at any time of the day. He also loves Toy Story and Spongebob Squarepants. He got a Chuck the Truck movie for his birthday and asks to watch that a lot. I can see Santa bringing a couple more of those movies this year.

Kaisen and Rylan are both addicted to basically any kind of transportation. Cars, trucks (especially big trucks!), buses (city and school buses), trains, tractors, planes, Grandpa's "big truck" and Grandma's "blue car". They have loads of matchbox cars and trucks, lots of big trucks and tractors. Those are the only toys that get played with daily.

The actual day of Easter, Kaisen spent all day with his Dad. The following weekend we celebrated our Easter. The Easter bunny hid 4 baskets for Kaisen to find. He got some candy, fruit snacks, juice boxes and snacks. For toys he got matchbox cars, sand toys, small plastic wagon, Toy Story table and chairs, bike helmet, shoes, tool table, and more. He got so excited with every basket he found and I can't wait to do it again next year.

In June, Kaisen and I went to Florida with Mom and Dad while Emily had volleyball tournaments down there. Mom, Rylan and I drove while Dad and Kaisen flew. We stayed for just over a week in a 5 bedroom 1 story house. There was a pool in the backyard and we were out there at least twice a day swimming. We did a lot of sight seeing and driving through Orlando. We went to Celebration twice, once just to drive around and get ice cream, another to play in the underground sprinkler area. That was such a cool place and Kaisen had a great time running through the water. After Emily's tournament ended at the end of the week, we went to Magic Kingdom. The boys got to see and get pictures with Woody and Jesse, Buzz, Stitch, and Chip and Dale. They went on a lot of rides, took short naps and for the most part, behaved very well. It definitely wasn't a bad trip for having two 2 year old boys. They were both fast asleep before we left the park.

July was Kaisen's 2nd birthday. On his birthday we went to dinner at Grande Cafe. After we ate, the waitress brought him a small bowl of ice cream with a lit candle. As we were about to sing to Kaisen, he stuck his hand out quickly and pinched the flame. It happened so fast no one saw it coming. Luckily he didn't get hurt. He kind of whined a little afterwards, but there was no damage done! I was super excited about his party because it was going to be Handy Manny theme. I made a lot of the decorations myself. I made cupcakes with toppers, the banner for the front door, and little timeline photo sticks. I also made cookies in the shape of tools. The party was at friend's lake house in Hudson and the whole day was great. It was a very warm day, so luckily the guests had the option of sitting inside or out. For gifts Kaisen got, a Handy Manny outfit, books, quite a few Chuck the Truck items (fire truck play set, movie, and truck), remote control car, legos, Curious George movie, a couple big tractors and some little ones, a little James train (a part of Thomas and friends), bath toys, a wood train set, and a Toy Story toddler bed with the bed set.

And now on to potty training. He got a little potty from Santa last year and that has been sitting in my bathroom ever since. He would randomly sit on it, but it never lasted long and he didn't ever actually pee in it. May 29th, as I was getting him ready for bed, Kaisen told me he wanted to go potty. Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was postpone his bedtime so he could sit on the potty and not go. But I didn't want to discourage him so I let him. Well, surprisingly, he actually went! The next night, right before bed, he did it again. I was hoping that was the start to things, but that was it for a couple of months. Mid-August he started showing interest in the potty again. So we did a naked day where he ran around naked all day except for his nap. He peed a total of 17 or 18 times (I was offering a small treat, so he squeezed out everything possible for a treat. Needless to say, that ended quickly.) and pooped once. Since then we did naked evenings when he got home from daycare. I got him some underwear shortly after and he started wearing that instead of going naked. Now, just a month after his first complete naked day, he is wearing underwear all day at daycare and at home. We have even ventured out of the house a few times with him in underwear and have been successful. He does have accidents, sometimes (but rarely) he'll pee in his pants, and he poops in his pants a lot. We're definitely having trouble with getting him to poop in the potty. But for the most part, this potty training is going well! Night training, though, might be a bit more difficult.

I think that's all the updates I have for now. I am happy to be able to get on here and update at all, even if it is months in between each post.