Tales of a Fulltime Mom: Potty Training?

I discovered about six weeks ago that on our cruise, only children that are potty trained are allowed to go into any of the swimming pools on the ship. They can't even go in while wearing a swim diaper. A little extreme in my humble opinion but there it is. I actually knew this from when we went on a cruise when Calleigh was 10 months old but I had completely forgotten about it until I was reading a review that laid it all out. My heart pretty much sank because I was imagining poor little Colby watching his older siblings romping in the pools while he sits forlornly on the sidelines. What a depressing picture. But, considering that he is a mere two and a half and the girls were three and Brady was three years, eight months when they all potty trained, I wasn't too confident it was something I would be accomplishing before the cruise. Nevertheless, the next day I put him in underwear and in about five minutes flat, he already had a puddle on the floor. Not a promising sign. I decided to forgo the idea and just put him in the pool without a swim diaper (I don't think he would poop anyway) and hope nobody came and asked me outright if he was potty trained (they do do this and obviously I wouldn't lie).

Then, this morning, Calleigh randomly asks Colby if he wanted to wear underwear today. He agreed and the next thing you know, he goes the entire day staying dry including his nap (although I put him in his diaper for it). We would ask him if he had to go pee and sometimes he would say yes and sometimes no. If yes, then he would run to either the toilet (downstairs) or his little potty in the bathroom upstairs. I don't think I should be naive and say he is now potty trained (although it WAS this simple with the other three - - although they were older) but I do think if it continues, I can be confident that all will go well on the cruise with the pool. I will feel a lot better if we can get him to poop tomorrow. Either way, I'm happy with how this has turned out.

Isn't it nice to have a big brother who can teach you how to pee outside??

Last Tuesday we had a fun field trip to Publix. It wasn't OUR Publix which would have made it even more fun, but it was still fantastic. Can I just say how much I love Publix? It really is one of the best retail establishments out there because the employees seem so happy and it's clean, etc. They do such a great job with the kids too. We took an hour long tour with one of the groups we are in. They took us through all the different departments and at the end, let the kids scan some items on the register. Everyone was so nice.

Of course, it's kind of hard to be impressed with the cakes after seeing and tasting Jennifer's cakes.

We got to go into the freezer.

The meat department. I had to strongly warn the kids not to yell out "DISGUSTING!" Because I just knew one of them would if I didn't.

The kids backed way far away when he offered for the them to touch it.

Only seven (almost six) years away from being able to work here!

She is the Customer Service manager who did our tour. She looked SO familiar and I finally discovered it was because she used to work at our store.

The goody bags were very generous.

The other side.

It was a big week for Brady this past week. I asked him one day if he wanted to learn to write some letters and he said "Yes." So we got out one of our letter books and I had him write an A. I figured he'd be done at that but then he insisted he wanted to do the whole book. He ended up tracing all of the letters. Of course, he doesn't actually know the NAMES of any of them except for B and maybe O but, hey, it's all good. A few days later, we were having pasta for supper (as is our custom once a week). Brady hasn't eaten pasta in probably like a year, I would say. He only eats the bread and drinks his smoothie. This time I strongly encouraged him to at least try the bowties (which had butter and parm cheese on it). He asked how many bites did he need to take and I said "22." He says "No! That's too many." So I said "13." He agrees and the next thing you know, he ate 13 bites. I couldn't believe it. Baby steps! It gives me hope for my super picky eater.

Aubree decided to set him up with some copy work. (Don't you love the attire? No shirt for one and the other in a Christmas dress. The joys of homeschooling!)

On Thursday, Ron and Elaine came and took the kids for a good portion of the day to go exploring at Blue Springs State Park where the manatees go during the winter. It was right at the tail end as many had already left now that the weather has gotten warmer but there were still some to be seen. The kids are always up for an adventure with Grandma and Grandpa and as you can imagine, I had much to keep me busy without them around! I was able to obliterate all the clothes in the guest room that I posted pictures of last week. Everything is now neatly organized or gone to Goodwill. So nice to have that all done.

Yesterday we went to the Compassion Experience at a church in Winter Garden. It's a traveling exhibit that lets you experience what life is like for under privileged children in other countries. Compassion is a company that helps these kids by getting people to sponsor them. We signed up a few years ago for a girl in Guatemala (we picked there since that is where Ana is from) named Cessia and we have been corresponding with her since then. So the Experience was especially meaningful to us. You wear headphones and you walk through different "rooms" while it tells the story of a girl in the Dominican Republic and a boy in Kenya. It was very eye opening and the girls were still talking about it today.

Not sure how much he got out of it but he did enjoy fiddling with the gadget!

I will show you the rest of our week in the pictures but first a funny comment from Aubree. We were talking about Duncan's job and the girls were trying to understand.

Calleigh: "What does Daddy do for his job?"

Me: "Hmm, you know when you go to the doctor and you have something done, they type the information into a computer so that --"

Calleigh: "No. I mean like, where does he go? What is he actually doing?"

Me: "Well, he goes to a lot of meetings at the hospital or at his office building."

Aubree: "And he gets MONEY for THAT?!!"

Out clothes shopping with Daddy.

Aubree completed her first Nanoblock set - - the Eiffel Tower to go along with our study of France.

Cory and Amanda were in town this week so we hit up Cafe Positano along with the Isidros.

Sweet Tomatoes on Friday - - the early bird special, now that I'm 40.

The kids in groups by birth order. Poor Colby!

Art from last Tuesday - - the Northern Lights

One of Brady and Aubree's art projects one morning. Excuse the laundry in the background. But hey, at least it's folded!

This is typically what happens every Tuesday on the way to ice skating.

Saturday evening we went to New Smyrna Beach for a surprise 40th birthday party for David Whitaker.

Always neat when mutual friends randomly know each other. In the middle is Shelley, Camille's sister, who is friends with my friend Katrina (on left). Shelley was visiting from Tennessee because she knows David and Ashley.