Last Potty Update, I Promise

Declan is doing great on the potty. When he's home, he stays clean & dry and is willing to sit on the potty whenever I send him. He's told me he wants to go potty a couple of times but I mostly just send him. When he's out, though, he's easily distracted and basically pees his pants all over the place. Still, not too bad for 4.5 days into potty training. His nap diapers have been dry and last night after he went to bed he came out of his room to tell Rainer (in the saddest little voice) "my peed in my diaper." So I think we're getting there.

After the accident extravaganza at playgroup/our friend's house yesterday, though, I sent him to daycare today in a pull-up.  I am not a fan of pull-ups (never used them with Talia) and I don't expect he'll have had any success in keeping them dry. I have to dig out the Kushies cloth trainers for his next daycare day.

In the meantime, he seems pleased as punch to be a big boy that wears gitchies:

We'll keep working on proper gitch placement. :)

Sunday Update

A few accidents but 3 pees and 2 poops in the potty. Not too shabby.

So Far, So Good

M'big boy wears gitchies.

#2 finds #2

After several weeks of unsuccessful exploration, Declan just pulled a handful of poop out of his diaper. Then he got super disgusted that his hands were full of poop, so he wiped them off on his shirt. Then he got super disgusted that his shirt was full of poop, so he came to find me and said "Diss shirt stinky. My need new shirt!"

That boy is wearing gitchies after he gets up from his nap whether he likes it or not. Check back on Monday to see how our impromptu potty-training weekend has turned out.

To Declan at Two

Declan, it seems like just yesterday you shocked us all by being born a BOY, and here you are already two years old! We still don't know who you look like (although our nearest guess is Grampy) and we're waiting to see if you'll be tall like Mommy (haha) or tall like Daddy.

It's been a big year for you. You were just turning one last year when you gave us the scare of a lifetime and introduced us to the world of babies turning grey and breathing treatments at the hospital. Looks like you inherited Uncle's crap lungs - sorry about that, buddy.

You were just 13 months old when you became a big brother. You are sandwiched between sisters and the three of you are already thick as thieves, we can't wait to see what you will be like when the three of you are teenagers!

You were late to walk and it wasn't until you were 18 months old that your little buddy Thomas came over and got you going. But you made up for your lack of mobility with your never-ending chatter.


You are bright and curious. You talk constantly. Seriously. You don't stop from the moment you wake up until the moment you fall asleep again - my ears are tired at the end of the day. Fortunately, most of what you say is so hilarious we can't help but laugh. Here are a few of your latest gems:

"My will PUSH Thomas and my will say sowwy!"

"Das Tah-yee-ah's milk? Das my milk? Das Weeby's milk? Das Daddy's milk? Das Mommy's milk? Where Daddy go? Daddy at work? My want Daddy home. Das my sock? You like my nice shirt? My pants? I eat...."

"Tah-yee-ah! NO PUSH ME SHIRT!!!!!"

You love to play pretend with your big sister and to push your little sister around in her walker.  Your favourite toys are balls, hockey sticks, and trains. Sometimes you come in with me to drop off Talia at school, and it breaks your heart when you can't stay and play.

You are so smart. When your Daddy and I can't find something, we send you off in search of whatever we're looking for and you almost always deliver. When Grandma and Grandpa looked after you last weekend, we weren't surprised that you were Grandma's big helper. You aren't much of a cuddler but when Grandpa is around you could (and often do) cuddle with him for hours at a time.


You like to play in forts and you love when we set up obstacle courses in the living room and you're actually allowed to jump around on the furniture. When you're in the tub you like to wrap the toys in your facecloth and pretend they are your babies.

You eat like no other kid we've ever seen and your father is going to need a second job when you're a teenager in order to keep you fed. You love to come home from daycare and inform me that Tante Sue has "Cho-late muk" at *her* house.

You are sweet & sensitive and rough & tumble, all at the same time. Right now you are wearing gitchies over your diaper because you want to be a big boy and a baby all at the same time - which is exactly the combination you are these days.

Before we had kids, we used to wonder what we would do if our kids weren't funny. Of course, there are so many more important things to worry about when it comes to kids!! So we've been blessed that so far, our kids are happy and healthy, and we're lucky enough that you're even funny, too. You make us laugh every day and we can't wait to see what the next year will bring us! Love you, buddy!

Lousy Healthy Kids

So I'm sure you've all seen the fun spaghetti-in-wieners pictures that have been floating around the Interweb for months now. And since I'm never one to turn my nose up at an Internet craze, (Rockin' Green Diaper Detergent? Amber teething necklace? WHO'S WITH ME????) I thought I would make these kids a little treat and stick some noodles in wieners today for lunch.

Step 1: Chop up some wieners and shove some spaghetti in them. I used whole wheat spaghettini and put about 6 or 7 noodles in each piece of hotdog.

Step 2: Throw it all in a pot of boiling water.

Step 3: Disgusting, no?

Step 4: Your kids who are not used to eating crap like hotdogs will laugh hysterically at the "jellyfish" and then push their plates away, waiting for their real lunch.

"Do you seriously expect me to eat this bullshit? Make with the fruit, lady!"

So lunch was kind of a fail. At first I was all "That's what is for lunch. Eat it." Then I remembered that it's actually good if my kids don't like hotdogs, so I stopped being crazy and cut up some apples, cheese and grapes. Fruit is fun, right? RIGHT?!? Sigh.

It Takes Two

So, as long-time followers of the Raine Drop (Hi Jennifer! Hi Shannon! Hi Donni!) know, Talia has had several versions of Ted E. Bear. This has served us well, since for 2 years she insisted on chewing on his face, and he would eventually become disgusting beyond repair. So Mommy would "wash him" (ie, buy another Ted) and everyone was happy.  Eventually we started staying one Ted ahead of her, which was handy for leaving one in the daycare bag, accidently leaving one behind at Uncle's, etc. She doesn't chew on his face anymore, so Ted v3.0 is actually in good shape, but we still sub Ted v4.0 in for the occasional bed-wetting or vomit incident.

It worked so well that we smugly bought 2 monkeys right off the bat with Declan. We've had Daycare George and Home George since the beginning, and it has worked just as well with Declan as it did with Talia - until recently. Because now we have a 3.5 year old who insists on opening any zipper she comes across, and naturally one morning she got into the daycare bag, saw Daycare George, and ran him right over to Declan......... who was cuddling on the couch with Home George.

It's all over. The success of Home and Daycare Georges depended entirely on them never being seen together in the same room!!!! Now one George is never enough, Declan insists "I wanna nother George!" and cannot sleep with just one. The Georges have never been happier.