1 (Almost) Two Year Old + 1 Two Month Old = 1 Crazy Mama

Already fighting over their toys

The big news last week was that Dominic sat on the potty and (drum roll) peed!!  Before Dominic’s bath I sat him on the potty as I’m trying to start this as a quick part of his bath/bedtime routine.  One great thing about boys is that you can tell when they are about to urinate, so I saw the “indication” which encouraged me to have him sit a little longer.  We sat and read 2 of his potty books a couple of times each, and when he got up, we saw that he had peed in his potty!  We gave lots of praise but since we were unprepared for this random occurrence, Brian and I did not give him candy or stickers.  We tried it again the next night - as we had gone out and bought some M&Ms for him, but it didn’t work.  Brian attempted to give Dominic an M&M to reward him for sitting for so long on the potty, but Dominic promptly spit it out.  This was the first time he’s ever eaten an M&M - or any other kind of candy for that matter - and apparently he doesn’t like them.  How crazy considering how much I love M&Ms.  Dominic hasn’t peed on the potty any more but he has pooped 3 times since then.  Although Dominic doesn’t verbally tell me when he has to go #2, I almost always know by his face.  Let’s just say, he’s very expressive with it.  The first time it happened, we were over at my parents’ house while our house was fumigated, and as my mom and I were playing with Dominic, it was apparent that he was trying to poop.  We quickly took him to the toilet.  Thankfully, my mom had a little Elmo seat to put on top of the toilet (for my niece), so he could sit comfortably without falling in.  Before we knew it, Dominic had pooped.  This time we gave him a Snickers that my mom luckily had. He ate a couple of bites and then dropped it on the ground.  He was much more responsive to us cheering for him.  He pooped in the toilet again at our house a couple of other times since then too!

Sitting on the potty...hanging out with his lil bro

We now have a little toilet seat for downstairs (a Cars, the movie themed one) at our house as well as his little potty upstairs.  Our "potty training plan" at this point is to continue putting Dominic on his potty before bath time and on the potty seat when situations arise, reinforcing these occurrences as best we can, but we’re not going to do full-blown potty training until the end of March when things settle down here a bit.  I’ve already reserved the weekend with Brian, so he’ll take the Monday off work the week of Dominic’s spring break.  That way we can have a 3-day weekend to potty train with Brian home to help and then have a lighter load of activities that week, so we can be home more and potty-accessible as we get used it (assuming it’s a success).  I’m not holding my breath that it'll work, but I am going to at least try!

So happy to be looking forward!

Another highlight of last week was that we finally turned Dominic’s car seat around so he’s forward-facing.  As most of my friends know, Brian and I have been very adamant about keeping Dominic rear-facing until he’s 2 since the American Academy of Pediatrics changed their recommendations and I read up on the research about how dangerous it can be for children under 2 to be forward-facing in a car accident (the YouTube videos of the crash test dummy babies are terrifying).  We caved with less than a month to go after a couple of weeks of Dominic being more difficult than usual getting in his car seat.  Before that, Dominic had been very happy rear-facing - probably because he didn’t know anything different.  So far, he seems to love seeing the world from this new point of view, and I like being able to reach around and grab his feet.  Dominic enjoys climbing in and out of the car seat himself and is much easier to buckle forward-facing.  Either way, it was definitely worth the wait!  

Playing together

Preschool Registration was the week before last, and Dominic thankfully got a spot for next year’s 2 year old program 2 days a week.  There was a LOT of back and forth about which school to go to.  I kept having to remind myself, “It’s preschool, not college,” but Dominic’s education is something that is very important to me.  Originally, my plan had been to send Dominic to the All Saints Preschool since that is our church.  Unfortunately, many changes have been taking place at our church, which included increasing the prices by 20% over the current year’s prices. 

Choo Choo!  Dominic playing at the park.

Fun on the slide! 

Jumping at Catch Air! 

After much thought and research, Brian and I decided that Chamblee Methodist, where Dominic currently attends Parents’ Morning Out, is a better fit.   I created a spreadsheet comparing prices, extracurriculars (yes, extracurricular activities in preschool!), and every other aspect you could think of.  Chamblee Methodist is one of the two preschools in Dunwoody that is accredited for both PreK

Dominic jumping on our neighbor's new trampoline.  He's begging us for one now. 

Our activities - with Blake in tow for most of them - continue to be going well (knock on wood).  Dominic’s favorite activity recently appears to be swimming, which I love too!  I think part of the reason we both enjoy it so much is because it’s a chance for just Dominic and I to spend time alone together.  As much as I love time with both of my boys, it’s nice to be able to focus on just 1 at a time, something I’m able to do with Blake during Dominic’s school days.  Dominic also LOVES the water - splashing, kicking, and pulling his arms.  However, his favorite part the last couple of times has been jumping in off the wall.  Right now, I require that he hold my hand because he tends to not jump out far enough.  Most importantly, now Dominic is able to swim a couple of feet from me to the ladder, picking up his head and pulling up on the ladder to get out.  This is getting him closer to my goal of teaching him to swim to the wall and pull up on it (especially in case he falls in).  My little fish is doing such a great job!  Between preschool registration, swimming, using the potty, the forward-facing car seat, and his 2nd birthday quickly approaching, I’m in shock that my (oldest) baby boy is certainly no baby anymore.  He’s a full-blown little boy!  

Blake, getting so big!

Baby and Mommy

Meanwhile, Blake is growing up too!  My 2 month old (almost 9-weeks) has grown out of many of his 3 month clothes and is on to 6 month clothes now.  I feel like I keep having to clean out his chest of drawers and closet, taking out the clothes that are too small for him and refilling it with bigger ones that will only fit before I have to do it all again in another week or two. He didn't even get to wear some of his clothes because he grew out of them too quickly.  :(

The happiest baby I know.

Blake is sleeping amazing well now.  After he slept for 8 hours during his growth spurts and then - unfortunately - returned to 5-6 hour durations quickly, we began to implement the “Cry It Out” Method.  Since we knew he physically could last 8 hours between feedings, when he woke up after 5 or 6 hours, we closed his door and ours and let him cry it out.  He would cry for about 20 minutes (20 torturous minutes) and then fall back asleep. After 2 or 3 nights of this, Blake officially sleeps 8 hours at a time at night.  Currently, we put him to bed around 9:30 or 10:00.  Then we feed him at 12:00 or 1:00 before we go to bed (preemptively) and he doesn’t wake up again till 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning.  It’s wonderful although staying up to feed him passed midnight and then waking up before the boys get up so I can get a shower in the morning only ends up giving me about 6 or 7 hours of sleep.  We’re going to start moving the “preemptive feeding” earlier and earlier till it’s merged into 1 feeding at 9:30 or 10:00.  This would mean he sleeps from around 10:00pm until 8:00am.  I can’t wait for that! 

 

At this point, Blake is getting stronger and stronger.  He’s holding his neck up very well.  When he’s upset, he (very impressively) stands himself up holding on to us.  His reflux and gas issues had improved for a couple of weeks, but the last several days he has been miserable in the afternoon and especially in the evening.  Blake is still learning to soothe himself, something that I remember Dominic being able to do more easily by this age, but I think it will come with time.  Blake is on a very regular feeding schedule at this point although the naps are still a little irregular especially as we attend Dominic’s activities.  I’m learning to juggle OUR schedule, and it’s definitely getting much easier as I’m learning to do more and more things with one hand.  The trickiest parts of the day are definitely meal times, but I think they're going more easily and efficiently every day.  Here’s what our daily schedule looks like (not including "school days":

8:15 - Dominic and Blake wake up, eat breakfast, and get dressed

10:15 - Dominic’s activity of the day/Blake Naps in his car seat carrier

12:15 - Dominic and I eat lunch/Blake eats

1:00 - Nap time (for all 3 of us if I'm lucky)

3:00 - Dominic plays/Blake eats

4:00 - Blake naps

6:00 - Blake eats

6:30 - We eat dinner/Blake’s short nap

7:30 - Bath time and Dominic gets ready for bed

7:45 - Read to the boys

8:00 - Dominic’s Bed time

9:00 - Blake eats

10:00 - Blake’s Bedtime

12:00 - Blake’s "preemptive" feeding

12:30 - Blake goes back to bed and Brian and I go to bed too

It's pretty crazy, right?  

My boys and me

I'm doing pretty well too, depending on the day. One day I'll feel like I have a good handle on things and am doing well with all of the craziness, but then the next day I become completely overwhelmed, like I'm drowning in the chaos. The harder days seem to come when Dominic has a bad day or Blake is having a lot of reflux issues. Conversely, if Dominic has a good day (few tantrums, little whining) and Blake does too (which honestly is most days), then the day is usually a success. The less time we spend at home having "down-time" and being on a good routine have been the two things that have helped me the most. Last week I did cook dinner almost every night, which was a big success for me. Hopefully, we'll keep having more and more "good days" coming up! 

Daddy reading to both boys (Dominic wanted to lay on the floor with Blake)

Dominic is such a sweet helper, trying to make his Blakey feel better. 

the best brothers ever!