Brotherly Love

Potty Animals

We are now in the thick of it. It is round number two for potty training for Parks and Wyatt. We have been gearing up for this for some time now and really wanted both of them to be diaper-free when Ridley gets here. Parks always seemed to be a little more ready for this than Wyatt, but we hoped that Parks would drag Wyatt along with him as his motivator. Even now, we have little battle of competition between the two (for toys, where to sit at the table, who closes the front door, which color sippy cup to use, etc., etc., etc.).

Our first attempt was met with little success. We couldn't get through the constant accidents they both were having, although Parks always wanted to finish up in the potty. Wyatt was not so eager. We were on ever-vigilant puddle patrols. We tried all the videos for a happy, fun, fantastic potty time. There were some interesting things on those videos. We tried some interactive books about the topic. Nothing really seemed to click with them.

Another month passed, and Parks was really starting to get uncomfortable with diapers. He began very aware of their presence, especially when full. On the other hand, Wyatt was not so much. He could sit for hours in a poopy diaper and not care. We tried M&M's and small Tootsie Roll pops as motivators (M&Ms for number 1 an Tootsie Roll pops for number 2). Parks really started to get it. Wyatt was still showing little interest, but we made every effort to include him in the process. Parks was doing well with the pee-pees in the potty but was still having problems (or apprehensions) with number 2. He is already prone to getting backed-up and holding out to go on the potty complicated the matter. We finally tried incorporating a chart that had been helpful for a friend of ours where for every fifth successful "big job" was rewarded with a special toy just for him. Not to be left out, we also made a chart for Wyatt where he could get a special toy on every fifth pee-pee in the potty.

This last weekend we took Parks to the "Blue Store" (Wal-mart) to pick out his third special toy. Wyatt still has an empty chart, and when we ask him if he would like to try to pee-pee on the potty, his answer is a matter-of-fact "no." We still keep asking.

Birthday Presents

Guess what the boys favorite present was from their birthday: Woody and Buzz Lightyear!!


They have asked to wear these pajamas every night this week and multiple times to wear them to school.

P.S. - These are our silly faces.

Happy 3rd Birthday - Parks and Wyatt

Another Big Scare

We were at a park yesterday with the boys playing on the swing sets and playgrounds that they had. For the most part, there were no real issues of the day. Parks was a little upset that the playground equipment was damp from the previous night's rain, and Wyatt could sit in a swing for a 4 hours completely entertained. Both were enjoying the slide on one of the forts as we helped them up the ladder and down the slide.

We moved the party over to another fort that the boys had not been on yet that morning. This one did not have a slide, only monkey bars, a sliding pole, and knotted rope that provided fast exits to the mulch below. I helped Wyatt navigate up the wooden ladder and got him on the platform. Randi and I were both standing there talking as I started to help Parks up the ladder as well. Both of us lost track of Wyatt for about 20 seconds, then Randi saw what was about to happen. She yelled out to me and then to Wyatt, but it was too late.

Wyatt had walked to the other side of the fort and stepped right off the edge of the platform. Randi went running over to him, but by that time, he had hit the ground. It was about a 6 foot drop, and he landed square on his upper back. I still had Parks halfway up the ladder when it happened. I put him down and Wyatt did not make a sound for a few seconds. Then, he finally started to cry. We could not see anywhere that he was bleeding or anything else externally that might be immediately evident. He cried for a really long time. We kept checking him for bruising or bleeding, but it is hard for a 2 year old to tell you where exactly it hurts.

We monitored him the rest of the day and talked to our pediatrician about warning signs that we needed to be looking for, but from what we could tell he appears to have bounced back (no pun intended). Randi went and woke him up in the middle of the night once to make sure everything was okay. The only thing we can see are a couple of scratches running down his back. We debated hard about taking him to a Children's Hospital facility and may go ahead and get a CT Scan done for this and other non-related symptoms of his Duane's Syndrome that we are on the lookout for. Please pray for his healing. We keep thinking back to Natasha Richardson and what tragically happened to her.

The Hidden Poop

I was told by my wife to rename this post, "The Missing Poop."

So, Parks was running around the other night refusing to wear clothes (yes, we are at that stage). Randi can smell that he has a poopy diaper, but he does not want her to change him. He is running away from her all over the house. We ask him if he has a poopy diaper, and, like most of his answers, he screams "no, Wyatt!!"

At this point, he is in our bedroom and comes out of there with his hand in the back of his diaper. We immediately cried for him to get his hand out of there. We ask him what he was doing, and he has no answer. We checked his pants and they felt a little lighter. We asked him again, specifically, "Parks, did you take poo-poo out of your diaper?"-----"Uh-huh." Next, we ask, "where did you put it?" No answer.

We start looking in our bedroom for any small, round, brown balls. We look all over and can't find anything. We ask Parks again, "did you take the poo-poo out of your diaper?" This time we are back to the old game of "no, Wyatt!!" We look all over for the missing poop but have yet to find anything. Who knows if he actually took anything out or if we'll find it in the middle of the night under our toes when one of us get up to get some water or use the bathroom?

Fun With Friends

We took the boys to a birthday party on Saturday evening. It was for a friend of ours and his daughter who share a birthday. We had a fun time cooking out, playing in the back yard, in & out of the bounce house, and hanging out with friends. Since Parks and Wyatt's 2nd birthday was on Friday, they decided to include the boys in the celebration. I believe Parks had a total of four bounce house head-butts. He was repaid later on in the evening with an accidental wiffle ball bat to the arm by another kid. Wyatt ate everything in site, including pickles, cupcakes, hot dogs, baked beans, etc.. The boys were wiped out after all the hard playing and slept until after 8 a.m. the next morning. This party was a prelude to their birthday bash this coming weekend.

Wyatt and Parks blowing out the candles on their birthday cupcakes.

Parks in overdrive.

Wyatt, "where is your bottom lip?"

The only time he left the bounce house was to eat something.