First Day of Potty Training Without Mommy or Daddy

Well, today was the first day of potty training without Mommy or Daddy. I work long days Monday and Wednesday; am usually gone before Noah or Michael wake up. I wrote our sitter (Martha) a one-page detailed description of how to supervise Noah's potty training. Let's just say that no one is as vested in this going well for Noah as much as Mommy & Daddy are.
6:00 am- Noah up.
6:10 am- Pee pee on the potty with Daddy. Great job! Then ate Cheerios and had milk.
6:30 am- Pee pee on the potty with Daddy. Super.
7:00 am- Pee pee on the potty with Daddy. Good job, angel.
7:30 am- Noah told Daddy he had to pee pee. Great job!
8:15 am- Noah went pee pee on the potty with Martha while Daddy getting ready.
When Daddy was leaving, Noah was playing in the garage. Had a pee pee accident in the garage. Took a bath and ate 3 eggs.
9:30 am- Noah went pee pee in the potty.
10:00 am- Great job. More pee pee in the potty. Cheese snack.
10:30 am- Martha said that Noah kept saying, "poo poo," and ran to the potty time after time, but couldn't go. Good try, buddy!
11:15 am- Noah made pee pee on the potty:)
12:00 pm- Nap-2:00 pm
2:00 pm- Noah made pee pee in the potty.
2:15 pm- Noah had a poopy accident in his underwear. Martha said that Noah was so precious and sweet, said, "I sorry." Bless you, angel. You don't have to say sorry. She said that she helped him dump the poo in the potty and he flushed it.
2:40 pm- Little pee pee in potty.
3:50 pm- Little pee pee in potty. Great job!
4:25 pm- Noah made more pee pee in the potty!
4:45 pm- Noah said he needed to pee pee, and made pee pee in the potty. Great job, Noah!
5:00 pm- Pee pee accident in underwear.
5:30 pm- Daddy home:) Pee pee in potty! Noah was outside and told Daddy that he had to pee pee and ran inside and made pee pee in the potty! That's EXCELLENT!
6:00 pm- Pee pee in the potty!
6:30 pm- Mommy home:)
6:40 pm- Noah made more pee pee in the potty! Yay!
7:15 pm- Great job making pee pee in the potty! You're getting so great at this!
7:35 pm- Last pee pee in the potty of the day! SUPER JOB, Noah!

Potty Training Day 4 Synopsis

Potty Training Day 4: NOAH DID GREAT!!! ONLY ONE pee pee accident ALL DAY---and it was early morning, after milk, while he was very into watching Sesame Street...he didn't even notice it came out until I told him and showed him the wet floor! I'm so proud of my little fella. I'm rather anxious about how tomorrow will go. Noah's sitter will be here all day, and I hope to goodness we don't regress, because this potty training business is exhausting! Here's how our day went today.
6:10 am- Noah awake. Went pee pee on Daddy's potty at 6:18 am. Great job!
Drank milk.
6:40 am- Pee pee accident on carpet. Lots of pee pee. Noah was watching Sesame Street and pee pee'd and didn't even know it, bless his little heart! He just drank a lot of milk and was so into the show, he didn't even notice until I showed him his underwear were wet. Sweet little honey.
7:15 am- Noah went pee pee on Daddy's potty...much encouragement, but he went.
7:45 am- Noah went pee pee on the potty with no problem.
Mommy left to work at hospital for just a little bit.
8:00 am- Noah ate eggs.
8:15 am- Noah went pee pee on the potty, but was fussy.
8:45 am- Noah went pee pee on the potty; brought his stuffed Elmo with him. Daddy said this helped. Then Noah & Daddy went for a tractor ride.
9:15 am- Noah went pee pee on the potty with Elmo.
9:55 am- Noah went pee pee on the potty with Elmo.
10:00 am- Cheerios
10:30 am- Pee pee on potty with Elmo; a little more fussy.
11:00 am- Pee pee on the potty, minimally fussy.
11:30 am- Pee pee on the potty, great job!
MOMMY HOME:) Lots of hugs for my great potty man!
12:00pm-3:30- LONG NAP!
3:50 pm- Noah said, "pee pee," and went pee pee on potty. Good job!
4:10 pm- Noah went pee pee on the potty, and then we went to Cindy's house for a visit. NOAH STAYED DRY THE WHOLE TIME:) EXCELLENT!
4:45 pm- Noah went pee pee on the potty. Super!
5:15 pm- Noah went pee pee on Daddy's potty. Great!
5:45 pm- Noah went pee pee on Daddy's potty again:)
6:15 pm- Noah said, "poo poo." Sat on the the potty but didn't make any poo, but made pee pee. Great job to notice you had to go!
We went to the rental house and Noah stayed dry the WHOLE TIME! AWESOME!
7:10 pm- We stopped at a church parking lot and went pee pee grasss, and then got ice cream as a prize.
7:45 pm- Last pee pee on the potty for the day! WHAT A GREAT DAY! NOAH, YOU'RE DOING SUPER, BUDDY! MOMMY & DADDY ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

Visit From Aunt Susie, Uncle Doug, Matthew, & Nick Nick

I had to work half a day today, but was home about lunchtime. Noah was asleep, so Susie & I went to the mall and bought some more underwear for Noah. When the boys woke up, they swam and swam in the pool, and we topped it off with pizza for dinner! Susie's boys have had 2 weeks of swimming lessons, and they really paid off! Matthew used to be scared of the water, but he swam for almost 5 hours and was jumping in the deep end all by himself! Go Matthew!

Potty Training Day 3 Synopsis

Potty Training Day 3-
Up @ 6:00 am. Noah went pee pee in big potty with NO FUSSING! Great improvement!
Drank Milk
6:28 am- Noah said "all done" and grabbed his penis. I asked if he had to go pee pee, he said, "pee pee," and went pee pee on Daddy's potty with no fussing! Yay!
6:48 am- Pee pee accident on floor-Was watching show.
7:12 am- Pee pee on hall potty; didn't want to, but did.
7:41 am- Noah went pee pee on Daddy's potty.
Mommy went to work. Daddy wrote down the next few hours.
7:50 am- Noah was outside, said, "poo poo," ran inside and tried, but nothing came out.
8:05 am- Noah tried to potty again, none.
8:35 am- Tractor ride with Daddy
8:45 am- Noah made pee pee on potty with Daddy; No fussing:)
9:10 am- Noah had a pee pee accident on the floor.
9:30 am- Noah was playing with penis. Michael told Noah to go potty, and Noah went to the potty. Just a little pee pee were in his underwear, but Noah went pee pee in the potty very well.
9:55 am- Michael took Noah to the potty, but Noah was fussing and throwing a fit on the floor. Noah started going pee pee on the floor but finished on the potty. Way to turn it around, buddy.
10:25 am- Tried to pee pee several times, but nothing came out.
10:40 am- Fussy, but finally went pee pee in potty.
11:00 am- Noah told Daddy, "poo poo," and sat on the potty for a few seconds and just a touch of poo came out, but he couldn't/wouldn't finish.
11:05 am- Noah said, "poo poo," again and ran to the potty, but nothing came out. Then the fun started. Every 5 minutes between 11:05-11:25, Noah ran to the potty and tried to poopy, but couldn't. Poor little guy was constipated!
11:50 am- Small piece of poopy in Noah's underwear.
11:55 am- Another tiny piece of poopy in underwear.
12:05 pm- Daddy put Noah in his diaper for nap time. Daddy knew Noah was constipated and told Noah that he could poo poo in his diaper if he needed to go. Noah wanted to get to the potty, and ran to the potty, but made very large poopy in diaper. Daddy wrote, "No wonder he wasn't able to go before now." Poor little angel tried his hardest to poo poo on the potty. He is SUCH a sweet boy. I felt SO bad that I wasn't there to help him feel better.
Mommy home just after Noah went down for a nap.
12:30-3:30- Noah napping.
Aunt Susie, Uncle Doug, Matthew, & Nick Nick came over for a visit at 1:00.
Matthew swam outside while Daddy & Uncle Doug had man time. Nick Nick napped.
3:30 pm- Noah made "pee pee grass," which means he got to pee pee outside in the grass, which he thinks is fun before going swimming.
4:30 pm- Noah made another "pee pee grass" while taking a break from swimming.
Swimming and pizza with cousins. Lots of fun!
5:57 pm- Noah made a pee pee in the hall potty. Aunt Susie clapped, too!
Not long after this, Noah said, "poo poo," and would run to the potty but wouldn't sit on the potty. Poor little guy kept saying "poo poo," but was so overstimulated with his cousins and all the commotion. He'd run to the potty, but not get on, or get on just for a minute and then jump off. We ran back & forth to several potties for about 30 minutes.
6:35 pm- Noah said, "poo poo," again, and ran to Daddy's potty. He tried to go on the potty, but quickly got off. He then had a poo poo accident. Poor litttle sweet boy of mine. He is so sweet, was saying, "I saw-wee" (I'm sorry), "I saw-wee, yucky. Oh man!" Bless his little heart. I told Noah, "It's o.k., Love," but Noah was upset. It just broke my heart. We EXPECT these things to happen, little darling! It's o.k. He was just so, so precious.
6:40 pm-Just 5 minutes after the poo poo accident, Noah said "pee pee," and he was right! He got the feeling he had to go and told me, which was REALLY GREAT PROGRESS! He made it to the potty and did great! Good job, angel!
7:10 pm- Last pee pee on the potty for the day. Noah did a super job today! Potty training with a house full of cousins is not the ideal situation, but I'm glad Noah had them over, because he had fun. And he did great, especially in light of all the stimulation.

I don't have a "potty seat" on the potty now, because we had one and it was worthless. Susie told me that she's tried them all, and the only one that has worked well is one she ordered off Amazon. So here's my dilemma. I want to make things easiest on my sweet Noah in terms of going poo poo on the potty. (He's got the pee pee just about down!) If I order the potty seat from Amazon, it won't be here until about Wednesday, and that's longer than I want to wait. It's not at Toys R' Us, but I could get another sorry one until the other one arrives. Or I could just travel to Athens and get Susie's. So I talked to Susie & she was sweet enough to meet me in Frankston so that I didn't have to drive the whole way. At the last minute, Noah decided he wanted me to rock him to bed, so Michael is the one driving to get the potty set. Oh the things we do for this boy. LOVE IS A VERB.

Noah's 2nd Day of Potty Training: Synopsis

Day 2 of Potty Training: Better Day Overall...in fact, after I looked at the OVERALL day, it was markedly better. However, this morning was a bit trying at times, but we made it through. Here's how day 2 of Noah's potty training went.
6:05 am- Noah woke up, very wet diaper. Tried to go pee pee in the big potty, but no pee pee. Improvement is he didn't fight very much to try to go on the potty.
6:12 am-Milk
6:30 am- VERY resistant to going pee pee, but eventually went pee pee on the potty at 6:35 am. 7:05 am-Again, Noah was quite resistant but went pee pee on the big potty. DID put on underwear with no problems, which was a good thing:) Go Noah!
7:35 am-Pee Pee on "Daddy's Big Potty," (our bathroom potty) with NO PROBLEM or resistance. (Daddy cheered him on, and Noah did great:)
8:03 am- Noah went pee pee on the small potty. No problems. Good job!
8:32 am-Pee Pee on big potty with NO FUSSING! Go Noah!
8:47 am- Pee pee accident on the floor. No problem. Mommy mopped it up with the steam Shark. As soon as it was mopped up, Mommy went to put up the mop and returned to find:
9:00 am-Pee pee accident. At first I thought maybe Noah got into my caffeine free coffee, because I found him in a big pile of wet, spreading the wet all over the floor with his hands and feet. Nice. BUT IT WASN'T COFFEE! This was the SAME spot I just mopped. Oh well. I mopped it again.
9:22 am- The last accident took a bit of time to clean Noah up & mop up the floor. I received a text message from Mary Beth, checked my message, and sure enough...ANOTHER pee pee accident in the SAME spot on the floor. At this point, I was taking deep breaths, and remembering that this is a process. Once again, out came the Shark Steam Mop!
9:50 am- Noah went pee pee on Daddy's potty. No problems. No fussing. Excellent!
10:20 am- Noah said, "poo poo," so I quickly swept him up and took him to the potty. Noah kept throwing fits, trying to lift the big potty lid. I tried to explain to him, model to him, etc. that when he poo poos on the big potty, the lid is down (unlike when he pee pees on the potty). He eventually quit fighting me, and sat on top of the potty, which I thought was great...until a big squirt of pee pee came directly onto my shirt. Noah just thought he had to poo poo, but was just figuring out "the gotta go feeling," which was pee pee. No problem. I turned him right around and he pee peed in the potty. Sorry baby. Mama's bad. We relaxed with a prize and a fun snack as a reward for making it through all that!
10:50 am: Noah made more pee pee in the big potty with NO FUSSING:)
10:56 am: Milk before winding down for nap.
11:18 am: Huge fit about going potty. I let Noah just throw his fit on the bathroom floor because he was in tantrum mode. While throwing a fit, Noah had a pee pee accident on the bathroom floor.
Took a break with nachos with Mama.
11:37 am:Noah went pee pee on the floor (minutes before our timer went off). Oh well. Good try. Cleaned it up.
12:30-3:00 pm- Nap time for Noah. Mommy mowed the front & back yard and cleaned up.
3:05 pm- A little fussy after waking up, did not want to try to potty; nothing came out when he tried, but I appreciated him trying.
3:30 pm- Tried to pee pee in the big potty (reluctant again), no pee pee. Fussy.
4:03 pm- Noah made pee pee on big potty with no fussing. Great:)
4:30 pm- Pee pee on the big potty with no fussing! Hooray!
4:50 pm- Pee pee outside in the grass (We were outside, so he thought that was cool).
5:23 pm- Pee pee on big potty. Go Noah!
6:15 pm- Pee pee on big potty. Yay!
6:40 pm- Noah said, "poo poo," so we rushed Noah to the potty and tried to encourage him to go, but once again, it was Noah feeling "that gotta go feeling." He went pee pee on the potty, but I'm really proud that he mentioned that he had to go! Way to go, Noah! You're making progress!
7:04 pm- Noah went pee pee on the hall potty for the 1st time. No fussing or problems at all! Great job! No accidents since 11:37 am this morning. THAT'S GREAT NOAH!
So, even though we continued our ups and downs, Noah made lots of progress today & I'm VERY proud of him! Changing the underwear also made a huge difference! Day 2 Down.

An Amazing Email From My Dad

This is an amazing email I received from my dad today. I am constantly astonished at how incredible he is. I know I have been abundantly blessed to be raised by such a wonderful father.
This is my email verbatum,

"Dear Ones-
At a memorial service for workers having died in the last 3 year cycle, there was this thought at the convention-
Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me."
John 14:1.
"Let us remember with thanksgiving those who have gone before us with the sign of faith, for they were created by God to offer Him praise and thanksgiving forever, and He gave them new life through His Son in Holy Baptism, and nourished them in the company of His people at His holy table, and in His mercy has summoned them to His nearer presence so that they may continue in joy."

Someday I will be gone from your presence and there may be many remembrances that you have of me-some loving, touching, and warming,- for those I am grateful- others perhaps painful, disappointing, and harsh- for those I am deeply sorry and ask for your forgiveness.

But all of those remembrances that you might have, please cling to and hold fast what is my faith. God brought us into this world to serve Him and others. He gave us new life in the waters of Holy Baptism. He nurtured and sustained us in the body and blood that Jesus shed, and He will call us home to His eternal comfort and peace in His own good time and way. This is my faith- the hope that I cling to and rely upopn. It may not always be apparent, seen in my words and actions, or lived in my daily life. For those failings and short comings God gives me His free and full forgiveness. And because He has loved me, called me, redeemed me- bought me back- I am His and will remain so forever in His loving care and mercy.

I love you all and pray that this faith is yours also and sustains you as it has, does, and will me.

Dad"

Potty Training Summation: Day 1

I jotted down notes of our 1st day of potty training in a spiral notebook. Here's what it read for today.
7:50 am: Pee pee in underwear when Mommy trying to get him to go on the potty after the timer went off. Noah didn't like it. He was a little scared/confused by the puddle below him.
Had a hard time getting him to put his underwear back on.
8:20 am: Noah went pee pee in the potty:) Didn't want to put underwear back on, but eventually did.
8:50 am: Noah went pee pee on potty! Yeah! Didn't like putting underwear back on. Asked for a hot dog, so I gave him one and he ate it. We had cupcakes for breakfast, so I'm going to pick my battles.
9:22 am: Pee pee accident (wood floor). Noah cried some when I told him we were going to put the underwear back on. I switched to the Gerber training pants which were a little more padded and softer.
9:40 am: Pee pee accident on floor.
Mommy to shower.
9:55 am: Poo poo in pants. (See previous post about the details if you like to be grossed out.) Tried to pee pee in the potty, but Noah couldn't.  Susie called to check on me.
10:30 am: Pee pee accident.
10:55 am: Pee pee on potty---immediately went to mall to buy more underwear from Gymboree! Stressed me out...thought for sure we'd have an accident, but Noah stayed dry!
We got home at 11:45 am.
11:45 am: Pee pee on potty.
12:30 pm: In diaper for nap. Mommy & Noah both exhausted!
Noah slept for 3 hours, and I let him! I napped for one, myself.
3:40 pm: Showed Noah all kinds of fun new underwear from Gymboree. Asked him if he wanted to put them on, "No." Eventually put on underwear, but with resistance.
4:00 pm: Pee pee on potty. I had to give Noah a piggy back train ride to get in the bathroom, but he did it!
4:25 pm: Tried to pee pee on potty, but couldn't.
4:35 pm: Tried to pee pee on big potty...Noah wanted to try that. Noah was cooperative, but no pee pee came out. Good try, buddy!
4:41 pm: Pee pee accident on floor. Oh well. Went to try to make pee pee on potty, but none came out.
5:04 pm: Pee pee on potty:)
5:20 pm: Pee pee on floor
5:40 pm: Pee pee accident in chair
5:45 pm-Mommy went upstairs for a break after Daddy came home with food.
5:46 pm- Noah had pee pee accident on the stair step. Daddy there.
5:50 pm- Noah had pee pee accident in hall by his room.
6:05 pm- Mommy came downstairs. No finishing dinner or break for Mommy.
6:06 pm- Noah upset, needed consoling. Snuggled with Mommy. Had some milk.
6:25 pm- Pee pee on potty with Mommy's encouragement. Then went swimming with Mommy in swim diaper. Put in diaper and watched a show to get ready for bed.
8:00 pm- Last pee pee before bedtime...Noah wanted to go on the BIG potty, so Mommy held him up and he had his biggest pee pee of the day on the big potty! Good job, buddy! Get some rest! Mommy loves you:)