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Potty Training Day 7

Today was a great day! Carter got five stickers — nothing different from yesterday, he was just more spaced out. He did so well, holding it longer today and going pretty quickly once he was in the bathroom. He also went twice by himself! The timer was set for 75 minutes, but sometimes we’d forget to turn it back on after he went so he held it for about two hours once or twice. No accidents, but he pooped in his diaper twice — before we changed this morning and then again before bed. It seems morningtime is a regular time for him to poop, which makes me excited as he’s never had a “routine”, he just kind of pooped whenever. So perhaps this weekend we’ll try the trick I got yesterday — you put him in the bathroom with no clothes after breakfast and tell him he has to stay in there until he poops. Sounds a little cruel, but the couple in the article did well. Their son went after five minutes the first day, and after a week he had pooping on the potty down pat! Maybe next week we’ll keep underwear on him at night to see how he does. He stays dry most nights, and maybe he’ll hesitate to go if he has underwear on. We’ll see how he continues the next few days! Looks like I don’t have to buy size six diapers until Lauren needs them… YAY!

Potty Training Day 6

Today was a 7-sticker day, accident free!! :D (Okay, so technically it was accident-free, but he did poop in his diaper before he changed into his underwear.) Carter didn't fight me at all today -- the timer would go off and he'd go follow me into the bathroom to go. We didn't have to count, he went almost immediately! I think now he's finally realizing that he goes, he's done, he can get back to playing! This afternoon I had put Sam down for his nap and was in the process of getting Lauren down for her nap (so I was nursing her in her room with the doors shut) when I heard the timer go off. Normally if I'm not near Carter to say something, he'd just shut the timer off and start it going again -- he tells me he has to wait for it to beep again. I was prepared to fight with him a little when I got done with Lauren, but surprisingly I heard him walk to the bathroom, then the toilet flush, then the sink on washing his hands -- HE DID IT ALL BY HIMSELF!!! :D I came out and asked him if he went potty and he excitedly said yes. The next time the timer went off I started to get up, but Carter looked at me and said, "No, I'm going to do it myself." I couldn't have been happier or more proud!

Tomorrow I'm going to change the timer to go off every hour and fifteen minutes (adding the fifteen minutes) since it seems he's holding it better now. There were only a couple times today that he peed quite a bit too. My goal is to eventually have the timer going off pretty far apart, so he can learn to go in with his own cues. I'm so excited, and hope this continues!!

Oh, and I got a little advice on helping him poop on the potty (thanks, Aunt Roi and Cindy!) so we might try that out this weekend. I think I need Matt home for reinforcements! :) I'll fill everyone in on that when it happens...

Car Update

It's been a week since the accident and I hadn't heard anything. First off, I had to contact the body shop last week to find out if they needed anything from us. The adjuster had already been there from the other guy's insurance company and they had his info, but never thought this was someone else's car! So I gave them my contact info and he said he'd let me know after he did the estimate. I talked with the same guy today and he apologized for no one contacting me -- he actually seemed surprised no one did, but I think he'd be the guy to contact me in the first place since he did the estimate and contacted the adjuster! So, anyway, the car is already torn down and the parts arrived today. The estimate is just shy of $4,000 and it will basically get a brand new front end -- bumper, grill, both headlights, moulding, upper tie bar, emblem, hood, fender -- and then painted and such. I'm assuming the radiator was busted since the fluid leaked all over, but he only mentioned body damage. The estimated completion date is next Monday the 28th.

On another note, I had to take a form to my insurance agent this morning (along with a copy of the crash report). This form had to be filled out and signed by my agent, then mailed to the Indianapolis Bureau of Vehicles within 10 days of the accident or my license would be suspended. Sound stupid? Yeah, I thought so too! None of this was my fault, yet I could face penalties and have to go out of my way to get this stupid form taken care of! Hopefully this will all be over soon...

Potty Training Day 5

Today was only a 3-sticker day. He was reluctant most the day to even go and try! Maybe my expectations were high from yesterday? I thought after such a good day he'd continue on this track. Guess not. :( He had two dirty accidents and two wet accidents -- we even had to throw out a pair of underwear it was so messy!! I know not all of you wanted to hear about that, but I'm just telling you how it is. He always seems so happy and proud when he sees how happy I am that he's dry and going in the toilet, but the other times he just doesn't seem to care much. I know we'll have good days and bad days... I just don't like the bad days all that much! We'll try again tomorrow and hope for the best -- I'm not giving in or giving up! This is going to be the time Carter gets out of diapers for good...

Potty Training Day 4

Today was a great day!! He did poop this morning before we got him in underwear, but I was actually thankful for that. Still wish he would go in the potty, but at least it was easy clean-up. (He also had one dirty accident in the early afternoon that was not fun!) He was excited to put his underwear on and set the timer -- off we went!! He went every time his timer went off, with hardly any fighting to even go in the bathroom (like usual). I came up with a new game to try to get him out of the bathroom a little quicker, since I was the only one home today and had Lauren and Sam to watch as well. We'd pick a number for me to count to -- if I got to that number before Carter peed, I won; if he peed before I finished counting, he won. He loves games and counting and this worked perfectly!! He got so many stickers today that he already completed a potty chart. He picked a train video as his reward, and started his next chart (already has two on it!). I'm just glad today went as well as it did. I was insanely calm about everything today though. Things that normally tick me off or make me have to calm myself down so I don't erupt just didn't do it to me today. I also think that Carter getting more attention throughout the day helps too. He already tried to rebel, knows we won't back down, and is liking the little games, getting stickers, etc. I hope that this continues day-to-day, and gets to where I don't need to set the timer. I also hope he soon realizes when he has to poop and will go in the potty!! Once he gets the hang of this we'll keep underwear on him at night -- he was staying dry overnight, we'll just have to get him into the habit of going to the bathroom first thing in the morning. I'll keep you posted on progress!

More Teeth!

Lauren got her seventh tooth today, so now she has all four on the top!! It was the top second left one. :) I couldn't get her to show me all her teeth, but you can see her top two here. :)