16 Days of Summer: Day 10

Monday kicked up the start of our second week. But for Theo, it signified "Life as an Only Child" - at least during the day.

Sophia started at Norman Bird Sanctuary summer camp for the week. She was going with buddy Ainsley and new buddy Avery. The girls couldn't have been more excited. After dropping her off, Theo and I celebrated by doing exciting things like grocery shopping and visiting T.J. Maxx. The TJ Maxx visit was actually to buy him big boy underwear. He's been attempting to potty train himself over the past 3 months (despite our apathy). With all of the beach and outdoor time here, he's actually been pretty successful (except for the time he came to tell me he had to go and I scooted him out in the yard by the bushes and he proceeded to drop the deuce. Though I guess that can be considered success too!)

We acquired some spiffy new boy undies with Turbo on them. I guess he's a fast snail? We essentially picked them as they were the only 2t undies there.

Monday evening took us to family night at the club where the kids partook in some giant hill sliding. Here's a link to the Facebook video, which friends will be able to see. The still shot is her and Avery dragging the huge piece of cardboard up the hill. Last year, Sophia wouldn't really go near the top of the hill but this summer has been a huge change. She clearly has the need for speed!

And a quick shot of cool little man. 

Hurricane Potty Training

I've always envied those moms who said "Oh, potty training took us the weekend" or "She just 'Got' it" or, as some of my more militant friends went the "He's 2. We trained. That's what we do" route.
For Sophia, I knew it would come. I wanted it to happen. We had the seat, bought the M&Ms but couldn't really connect all the pieces.

Admittedly, some parts of parental laziness clearly played a role - I had no desire to sit inside all day on a perfectly gorgeous Saturday to train when we could be outside running around.  At the end of the summer, I signed her up for a town program that required kids to be potty trained, with the hair brained idea I could make it happen in 2 weeks.  Ha...good thing they gave a refund.

So around came Hurricane Sandy. Stuck inside all day. What a better time to give it a go. And magically (and I choose that word precisely because that's what I attribute all the stars aligning) it worked. After running around for an hour or two with no pants, out came the "Mama, I have to go potty." To the potty she went and it worked. So she got a load of praise, two M&Ms - red & brown, and stamps for her "Potty Chart" (aka a lame piece of paper with a grid drawn on it taped to the wall). Bam, another time before bed. This is pretty cool.

It's been a week now, with only 1 accident (completely attributable to parental rushing out the door) and even managed to get comfy with #2. We've switched to pull ups for sleeping times. Hopefully, this continues as well as it is going.
I'm so proud of my little girl - of the smile on her face after success.

Hooray and sigh... My toddler is officially a little girl.