Way to Go, Ben!

So since last year Paul & I have been taking the boys with us to the KSL Cougar Coach's call-in show that they broadcast live from various car dealerships in Utah valley. They usually have hamburgers & hot dogs and then you can win various prizes too! Until last night, Paul & I had always entered ourselves into the raffle but never our boys. However, after last week's show (where they raffled off several pairs of tickets to the first game) we determined that if our boys were old enough to have to buy a ticket to get into games, they should be old enough to win tickets to get into the games! I mean, they're already helping to pay for everything and we have, on average, already taken them to at least two games a year for the last 2 years! So last night, Ryan's & Ben's names got put in and Ben's name got picked! He won a really nice jersey! He was pretty excited about it!

Okay, so it's a little big...just give him a few years! Ben saying "Touchdown!"
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When I took Ben up there to claim his prize, the "Voice of the Cougars" Greg Wrubell, the host of the radio show, made a joke about how the winners need to be potty-trained to qualify. I could see they were slightly hesitant (only slightly) to let him win but I let them know, "Hey! He's old enough that we have to buy him a ticket to get into games!" And they laughed and said well okay, and just kind of laughed it all off, making the comment to everyone that being potty-trained was a requirement for all winners present.

Incidentally--this is the part I didn't tell everyone at the dealership--just five minutes prior to the drawing, Ben forced me to take him to the bathroom because, "I want to potty-train, Mommy!" No joke! Those were his exact words! And then he actually did go potty on the toilet! Maybe his timing was inspired! Funny, huh?

We've now got the jersey hanging on the wall in their room....We're kind of thinking maybe next year at the Cougar Kick-off we could get Max Hall (QB) to sign it since it's his number!

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20 Years From Now, This Will Be Funny!

Okay, I'd been warned that 3 yrs old boys were actually worse than 2 yr old boys. I was hoping to escape it....I guess part of me knew I wouldn't. I mean, I've noticed for awhile now that Ryan has a knack for getting into things he knows he shouldn't and doing things he knows he shouldn't.

So what did my dear, sweet 3 yr old do this time??? Well, let's put it this way: this time it was bad enough, I was mad enough, that when I told him to go to his room and sit on his bed (before I did something I would regret).....he didn't put up even the smallest protest. He ran upstairs, got in bed, and even took a nap without so much as a whimper!

Ryan....dear, sweet, potty-trained little Ryan peed all over the cable box yesterday. And not just a little bit....oh no! He made sure he doused it well! The frustrating part is he is officially potty trained now.....he's gone for weeks without accidents and he doesn't even wet the bed most nights....he was just having a super-rebellion yesterday! Before peeing on the cable box he'd already peed his pants twice!

I had been in the room about 2 minutes prior to the incident but left for some reason and when I poked my head back in there a couple minutes after he had done his deed (which was only about 6-8 minutes after I had left originally), he told me he had peed his pants (which were on the ground on the opposite side of the room). I cleaned his pants up quickly but didn't think to check anything else. He didn't bother telling me about the cable box until about 5 minutes after that when the picture on the TV froze and he wanted me to get it working again. Then when I asked what happened (before I got to the box) he mentioned casually that he had peed on it. I saw red and ordered him to his room...I think the expression on my face was enough to warn him not to challenge me.

But like I said before, this was a very rare occasion where Ryan understood pretty quickly how much trouble he was in (he probably saw a vein in my forehead ready to burst or my eyes ready to pop out of their sockets or something!) because he didn't fight the punishment and then when Daddy got home and he had to tell Paul what he'd done, he started crying and was actually quite remorseful and promised that he'd pee in the potty from now on! I could tell he truly felt bad about it.

Paul called Comcast to tell them the box isn't working anymore (and he told them the truth as to why it's not working anymore) but so far they've asked him to take it in and they'll replace it....so far they're not going to charge us for it. Of course, if it can't be fixed they'll probably end up charging us for it....yikes!

Oh and the best part.....Paul & I had to be ready to go to the temple yesterday evening! Yeah. Not exactly an event that puts one in the best state of mind for the temple! But honestly, of all our parenting moments, I feel like we didn't do so bad with this one. I mean, yes, I got very angry very quickly, but both Paul & I handled it better than I thought we would. I don't feel like we (well, I, especially) did anything too drastic, harsh, unfair, or improper in handling it which is somewhat of a relief.....It helped that Ryan didn't argue with me about going to his room and that he willingly took a nap because I had time to cool down before he woke up and Paul got home..... so in the end, we were still able to go to the temple without guilty consciences of how maybe we could have handled it better or something like that. Maybe there's hope for us as parents after all! And I'm sure 20 years from now, this will be funny!

Potty Training Bandwagon

Well, since Ryan is now 3 and Ben is almost 2, and everyone I know is now training their own toddlers and it therefore has become a very popular topic that I'm hearing about frequently, I figured it's time to jump on the potty training bandwagon. I had a thought when Ben was born that since he & Ryan were so close in age, I'd just wait a little with the first and do them both at once! I don't know if I truly intended to do it that way but then I stalled and stalled with Ryan to the point that the moment of truth has arrived, it's time, and now I really can do them both at the same time!

I started yesterday and was so frustrated that I gave up by noon!....maybe I made it to 1:00 but that's about it. Ryan was just not cooperating and Ben appeared less than interested. Ryan peed all over the kitchen, Ben peed all over me....we went through about 9 pairs of underwear in a 3-4 hr period between the two of them. I told Paul I was going to wait another couple of months until Ben was officially 2 and Ryan was the magical 3 yrs 3 months I'd read so much about on quite a few message boards online (seriously, 3 yrs 3 months seemed to be the common age). Paul (safe at work) said no, we should keep trying now. Unfortunately, I knew he was right. I couldn't give up that easily.

So this morning when we all got up, I decided to try again. My first obstacle was when Ryan decided, "I don't want underwear! I want a diaper!" Finally, after much pleading and crying, I conceded to put a diaper on him with the understanding that he still had to go potty on the toilet and that if he went potty in his diaper, he'd have to wear underwear anyway. I know, sounds kind of backwards. Underwear isn't supposed to be the punishment! Anyway, that's how it went. Then I cleverly put Ben in underwear and gave him a sucker (yes, first thing in the morning) for wearing his underwear. That got Ryan going! He still didn't want to put on underwear at first but he sure wanted that sucker! After he realized the only way to get a sucker was to wear underwear, and after he went potty for the second time that morning--the first time being before we put the diaper on (and the diaper did stay dry!)--he decided he wanted to wear underwear! First obstacle conquered! YAY!

So I set the timer for 20 minutes and every 20 minutes we would go in and go potty on the toilet. Then they each got one piece of chocolate (about the size of a peanut M&M) every time they went potty. Ryan caught on to that really quick and started putting himself on the potty every 5 minutes or so just to get a chocolate but I only gave one to him if he actually peed. Then he got ridiculous about it so I told him he had to wait until the timer went off to go. That worked! On occasion he still came to me before the timer went off so I let him go but it wasn't every 5 minutes. The only accident he had this morning was when he pooped in his underwear and that's partially just because he won't poop on the potty yet. Ben only had one accident this morning which I was okay with!

This afternoon I got a little brave and took the boys to see Grandma because she had some of her aunts & uncles & cousins visiting and she wanted them to see the boys. I figured it takes less than 20 minutes to get over there so I had them both go potty right before we left and then they both went when we got to Grandma's! Unfortunately we were there for a little while and I didn't realize the time so Ben did end up having an accident at Grandma's. However, Ryan did not! He went once at Grandma's and then made it all the way home totally dry!

This evening Ryan had one accident and then Ben had a fairly significant poop accident but other than that, considering how awful yesterday was, this is a major improvement!!! And then tonight I've been babysitting a few boys that come over here once a month--two of the three are quite a bit older than Ryan and so have been potty trained for years--Ryan noticed one of them use the bathroom by himself with the door closed and so after that, Ryan wanted to go all by himself with the door closed! I wasn't allowed to be in there! But I know he went. I don't know what happened between yesterday and today but whatever it was....THANK GOODNESS!! Ryan should do even better tomorrow!! It sure makes me glad I didn't give up so quickly!