Potty Training Adventures

When we first introduced the potty seat to AJ, he was scared of it and would have nothing to do with sitting on the potty. Then, he began sitting on the potty ever so briefly and saying, "I did it," without ever actually doing anything. Then my dad suggested I put him on the potty and put his hand in warm water. I tried this and AJ had a great time playing in the water, but never peed. For about a week, he'd ask for the bowl of water just to play. Next, we started playing with toys and reading books. We still do this as well as bribe him with infant fruit puffs (he still loves them) whenever he actually goes pee pee on the potty. This has finally been more effective. He is both peeing and pooping on the potty at least a couple times a day, but we are definitely not potty trained yet. However, he will stay on the potty a long time now. He is highly motivated to get puffs and will sit and sit and sit hoping to go so he can get puffs. I don't think he actually has good bladder control yet. When he goes, I think we are just getting lucky. AJ's newest infatuation is Spiderman. We have one Spiderman book. If I tell him I want him to see if he can go pee pee on the potty, he will say okay and the proceed to go get his Spiderman book to take in the bathroom for me to read to him. I really need to get a new Spiderman book. I am getting tired of reading the same one sooooooo many times a day.

Clothes, Shoes, and the Color Yellow

AJ's favorite color has been yellow for a long time now and continues to be so. If he colors or paints pictures, he always wants the yellow. (He already used up the whole yellow bath crayon) For the last couple of months AJ began having an opinion regarding what shoes he wants to wear each day. Some days, it is a struggle because he has a pair of rubber rain boots that he wants to wear more often then not. They don't really go with most outfits. Now, AJ is getting more particular about what socks and clothes he wears too. He is tall enough to see into his sock drawer now, so he picks his socks most days (whether I want him to or not.) Unfortunately, that leaves me trying to pick an outfit to coordinate with the socks he chooses. This is not easy. If there are a clean pair of yellow socks in the drawer, they WILL be worn. If there are not a pair, he will still ask for yellow socks and will only consider another pair once he is sure that all the yellow socks are in fact dirty. After that, I feel like a salesman trying to convince him of the outfit I pick out. If he eyes a shirt with Thomas the Train or Elmo or Spiderman, or one with a firetruck, then he'll want to wear it. Otherwise, I have to convince him that he wants to wear a plain blue sweater today. He also does not like to wear layers. Some very cute outfits he has have a short sleave shirt and a long sleave light jacket or something to wear over it as an outfit. AJ won't have it. He will wear the first layer, but won't keep on the second. My goodness, if he is this opinionated at 2 years old, what are we in for?

AJ's Masterpiece

AJ was in the bathtub the other night and had these bathtub crayons and was coloring on the sides of the tub. Usually he just scribbles and that's it. This time while he was scribbling, he told me he was "making shapes." I asked him what shapes he was making and he told me he was making circles and triangles. (The picture with less scribbles) Then he switched sides of the tub and kept scribbling and said, "Mommy, I draw daddy." After I oowed and awed over his drawing, he said, "I draw mommy. I draw AJ." I had to take a picture of the completed work since this is AJ's first family picture that he has drawn for us.

AJ's Work

Dave decided that AJ needed a train table for Christmas, but of course could not wait until Christmas once we got it, so put it together and neatly arranged the track and pieces. Dave wanted me to get a shot of it before AJ got to it. So I took a before and one picture 30 minutes after AJ woke up and started playing with it. In his defense, the table was pushed against a wall and he could not reach the back of the track, so he climbed on top of the table to get to the back and ended up tearing the track apart on accident. So, Dave put it all back together and then glued the track together. Oh, and we moved the table out away from the wall so he can walk all the way around and move the train through any part of the track.

More Thanksgiving pics

Here are some pics from the visit with my side of the family. AJ still loves his cousins Josh and Ellie and of course grandma and papa. I would have liked to get a nice picture of Uncle Barry with AJ, but AJ is still scared of Uncle Barry. I said the kid had a good memory. I think he is still traumatized from the snow sledding incident from last April. We need to welcome Aunt Paula to the blog. We have many pictures of her in photo albums and in frames in our house, but this was the first digital pic I had of her. Welcome to AJ's Aunt Paula.

Thanksgiving 2006

Well, it's almost Christmas, so maybe I should get in a post about Thanksgiving real quick. We had a great, but all too short visit to Kansas. We tried to cram in as much family time with everyone as we could. AJ loved his time with all the grandparents. We also got to meet AJ's newest cousin, KayLeigh. AJ loved the baby. He kept asking to "hold it." He held her a lot and kissed her. We got lots of great pics in KS of all the family. Here are some with the baby, and the rest of Dave's side of the family.

The Roles We Play!

AJ has placed Dave and I into specific roles. He is so funny. In the morning, he wants his mommy to take care of him and he wants mommy at bed time. He will throw an absolute fit if I am home and Dave tries to read him his bed time books. He will only let Dave take care of him in the morning and at night if I am not home. Daddy's role is to play with him. If Dave is home, AJ will not let me play chase with him or play ball with him. If I try to play ball, he will take the ball from me and say, "No mommy, Daddy's turn." Then he will give the ball to Dave. I get to play ball and chase when Daddy is not home, but otherwise, I just get to watch. Of course, the fun part of not being involed in the chase when Daddy and AJ play chase is that I get to be home base during the chase. AJ will run from Dave a few laps and then will come running into my arms, knowing I'll "protect" him from daddy. I think Dave likes Tuesday nights because I'm at work and he can do the bed time routine and cuddle with AJ to read bed time stories. I know how that feels because I enjoy the times I get to be the number one playmate with AJ when Dave is not around.

Popcicle--Yummy!

It can't be said that i deprive my son of all things yummy. He was thrilled to be eating this sugar-free popcicle. Look how happy he was!

Cousins!

AJ and his cousins, Ellie and Josh. My brother Sean took the picture and was kind enough to share!

More Birthday Celebrating

So we had a fun weekend with a full house. Grandma and Grandpa Cook flew up from Kansas, Uncle Barry flew in from Colorado, and Uncle Sean and cousins Josh and Ellie drove in from Michigan. What fun! We celebrated AJ's birthday and just generally had a great time visiting. On Saturday, Dave and Barry took in an OSU game while the rest of us went to the Science Museum. AJ loved having his cousins here. They kept him quite entertained. AJ was just generally thrilled to have everyone here. I picked up grandma and grandpa from the airport and then went to get AJ from daycare. AJ was so excited when he saw that the grandparents were with me to get him. He started laughing loud and calling for "Papa" (what he calls grandpa). Grandpa was probably glad for the arrival of Josh and Ellie because until AJ knew the kids were here, "Papa" was AJ's sole playmate. He didn't want anyone else to play with him. At least he would still give everyone else hugs and kisses.

Handsome boy

These are some pics of AJ in a cute outfit that his Mamaw sent him for his birthday. I squatted down to take the pictures and my little copy cat had to squat down too for one of the pictures. Grandma Kay sent him a great care package too for his birthday and AJ is showing off one of his new gifts with pride. We have to thank grandma Kay for this great book she sent AJ for his birthday that has all kinds of vehicles and makes the sounds when you push the buttons for each vehicle. The first one in the book is a fire engnine and AJ is BIG in to police cars and fire trucks so he LOVES this book. Ever since we got this book, I finally got a break from the NO David books. I hid them in fact and AJ is okay with that as long as I read the new book grandma sent. For the first several days, I think we read that book about 6 times a day. Now, AJ only makes me read it a couple times a day.

Potty Training--ha ha

So, for the longest time AJ absolutely refused to sit on the toilet. He acted afraid of it. Now, he will sit on the toilet with no problem. In fact, he will even say that he wants to go to the potty or that he has to pee pee, so I'll take him to the bathroom, sit him on the toilet, he'll sit for a minute and then proudly say, "I did it!" I don't know what he thinks he did, but he has yet to actually go pee pee in the potty. He'll then tell me he is done and jump off. I know he knows what pee pee is because one day he didn't have a diaper on when he peed and he started yelling "I pee, I pee!" Now, if I can only get him to do that in the toilet!

Happy Birthday!!

I can't believe our little guy is two years old already! Time just seems to be going so fast. He looks like a little boy, but I swear he is still my baby. In fact, AJ knows it too because if I ask him where mommy's baby is, he'll point to himself and say, "AJ." The two year old memory is amazing. It seems like he doesn't forget anything. We took him on a train ride to a pumkin patch last weekend and I made him wear this goofy hat (it was the 1st time he had ever worn it). This morning, I got the hat out to take to daycare because the coat I was sending him in didn't have a hood and they were taking a field trip to a different pumpkin patch. AJ saw the hat and started saying, "choo choo, choo choo train, choo choo." I tried to tell him that he needed to wear the hat to keep his ears warm, but he wasn't going to go on the train today. All the way to daycare, he kept telling me, "I want go choo choo." He is like that about a lot of things. If he sees something or does something, he will ask about it weeks after. He remembers everything! (even when we would rather he forget)

AJ's first sentences

AJ does not have the clear and extensive vocabulary that his cousin Ellie did when she was his age, but he tries to talk more and more. I'm sure that a lot of what he says can only be understood by Dave and I. He is starting to use short 3 word sentences. His very first sentence was "I want it." He also says, "I don't want it."; "I got it."; "I see it."; "There it is."; and "I fix it."

We're in trouble!

AJ's current favorite books are a series of books that Dave's sister and father gave to Dave. Thue first book in the series is called, "NO David." They were given before we ever had AJ and were never intended to be AJ's books, but he found them beside the bed in our room and has loved them ever since. I think we are in trouble because they are books about a little boy named David who is constantly getting in trouble and whose mother is always telling him, "No David." I don't think it is a good sign that AJ finds it so funny!

Growing Up

My little guy is growing up. He is getting big. Even though I was beginning to think his sign language ability was going to prevent him from ever speaking, he is trying more and more to say more words. Last count was that he could sign about 50 words, but I have stopped trying to teach him any more sign now that he is verbalizing. I'm trying to encourage him to use his words. AJ is learning his colors and shapes right now. He can say "circle" and likes to point out objects that he sees that are circles. His favorite color is yellow and likes to tell us when he sees something "yeyow". AJ can't say his L sounds. Blue sounds like "boo". And I love you sounds like "ayayu". And we love you AJ!!!

Wyondotte Lake Water Fun!

This summer we got discount member passes to one of the water/ amusement parks in Columbus. Wyondotte Lake is one of the Six Flags parks. There are lots of rides there, but we stick to the kiddie rides and the water slides. I was so surprised at how much AJ loves the bigger water slides. We slide pretty fast and I can hear AJ saying, "wee wee" most of the way down! He wants to go down over and over again. I make him climb up the steps holding my hand, thinking it would tire him out and he wouldn't be as eager to make the climb again, but as soon as we shoot out the end of the slide, AJ either says "again, again, or more, more".