Lesson Learned: Why You Should NEVER Teach a Toddler How to Remove His Diaper

We’ve been teaching Jack how to get dressed and undressed. He loves feeling like a “big guy” and it is helpful to us when he is able to get ready for his bath or take off his jammies to get dressed for the day. As part of this, we taught him how to take off his diaper. I know, I know, what were we thinking?  But in our defense, we thought that this would be helpful to us because it would be one less thing that he’d need to rely on us to do for him. ROOKIE MISTAKE. BIG TIME.

Today I put Jack down for his nap in his shirt and diaper, just like I always do. He didn’t go to sleep right away, which is normal—he usually likes to sing or play in his crib for a while before falling asleep. About 10 minutes into his nap, I hear him crying out for me and saying, “uh-oh.”

I walk into his room and discover him standing at the edge of his crib, no diaper on. Still oblivious I say, “oh, you took your diaper off.”

To which Jack says, “poo poo, mommy.”

I look down in his crib and see poop. Everywhere.

Jack is a mixture of grossed out and proud. Mostly proud. From that moment on, things are a bit of a blur. There was a lot of cleaning up, showering, and explaining to Jack why you don’t take off your diaper when you have to go potty.

I suppose every parent has at least one poop story about their children. Here’s hoping this is my only one.

4 Month Stats

Emmett had his 4-month checkup today. He is one healthy boy! He now weighs 16 lbs. 4 oz (75 percentile) and is 26 1/4 in. (90th percentile) long. He is rolling from his belly to his back AND from his back to his belly. He’s been trying out the bouncer and likes it—but only for short amounts of time!

Be Mine, Valentine

Jack and I made the best of the rainy weather last week and decorated sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day. Jack put himself in charge of sprinkles, and tasting the frosting, of course!

Jack chose the cookies he wanted to give each special person—Nana, Boppa, Auntie Jane etc.

 

 

 

On Valentine’s Day we spent the morning as a family at the zoo.  That night, after putting the kids to bed, Tom and I prepared a fabulous dinner brought to us by his parents—Chilean Sea Bass, wild greens, and asparagus. We even broke out the china and crystal, after all, you’ve got to use it sometime!

One of Jack’s Favorites

Jack and my dad discovered the John Deere website several months ago and it has quickly become one of our favorites. There are 360 degree views of all kinds of different tractors and videos that show the tractors in action!  The following link is Jack’s favorite video—he dances to the beat as he watches the tractor work. Click on the link and then select View 8R Video. Instant entertainment for any boy!

http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCatalog/FR/series/tractors/8r_series/8r_series.html

Whirlwind Weekend

It has been a crazy, wonderful past week. Over the course of a couple days, we sold and purchased a home! Last Thursday we reached mutual acceptance on the sale of our home.  The new owners will be a newlywed couple and this will be their first home. It makes me smile just thinking about them—this was us nearly six years ago. I just know they will be so happy in this house.

Yesterday our offer to purchase a house was accepted. This came after a crazy weekend of counteroffers. We made our offer on Friday, right before Tom headed out of town for the weekend to lead a retreat. I, too, was going away for the weekend to be with Tom’s mother on the peninsula. There was a lot of phone calls, and going to great lengths to find technology (like a computer and fax) to make the deal happen. And thankfully, after all of that, it did happen.

We are ecstatic about our new home. It is a rambler with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. It has a nice backyard that will be great for the boys to play in. There is a family room and a rec room—so much more space than we currently have! It is in need of updating, but we are excited for the challenge and will enjoy making it our own.

March 15 is the big date. Simultaneous closings—move out of one place and into the other…all in one day!

And you know I can never have a post without also having some pictures, so here are some from the past weekend:

Jack and Emmett cuddle on Grandma’s bed.

 

A walk and throwing rocks on the beach.

Bath time in Grandma’s big bathtub!

I Promise There is a Good Reason!

As the title suggests, I DO have a good reason for not having posted anything in nearly a month—we have put our home on the market and it has been CRAZY preparing to do so!

Our home has been listed for a week. We have been preparing to sell it for nearly a year and decided that January was the month to do it.  Two very full storage units and many, many hours of preparation later our home looks amazing (and therefore is totally uninhabitable without all of the toys and gear for the two little guys). I knew that I would go certifiably insane if I had to try to entertain the boys and keep the house looking immaculate, so I escaped to my parents’ house last week to make the first week on the market as smooth as it could be.

We’ve had LOTS of agents and potential buyers through the house, which seems promising. No offers yet, but we are prayerful that the right buyer is out there.

While Tom kept the house looking incredible, the boys and I had a fun week playing in the ‘Vern. Here are some highlights from the week:

 We started the week off right with a visit to Jack’s favorite place, the John Deere dealership. Here he is sitting on a digger.

A visit to the interpretive center at Padilla Bay.

Throwing rocks into Padilla Bay.

Coloring at the freshly painted table that is now on its 3rd generation (my mom, then me and Matt, and now Jack)

Decorating cupcakes with Nana (and tasting lots of frosting, of course!)

Emmett practices batting at his toys.

Boppa and his boys.

Emmett’s favorite resting spot—plopped in the middle of a king-size tempur-pedic mattress!

Strong and Industrious

Emmett’s name means strong and industrious and it couldn’t be more fitting for our little guy. He is determined to be up and running around with his brother as soon as possible! Now that he can roll over, he is working on holding his head up for minutes at a time. Emmett is one strong baby, and pretty cute too!