Summer Park Adventures

Today Lucas and I went to a new park. It had a great playground with MANY slides (His favorite playground activity). Here are a few shots I got while he played!

Dry Pull-Ups, Complete Sentences, & Testing, oh My!

Ok....so if someone had told me 5 years ago that I would get really excited about my kid peeing in the toilet, I probably would have thought they had spent a bit too much time sniffing the markers. However, being a parent has a way of making you celebrate things you once thought were....well....not really celebratory. Take my two year old, for example. As of today, he has successfully made it thru a full day of having a DRY Pull-Up. A Pull-Up is a more expensive version of a glorified diaper. It looks and acts like underwear (you can pull it up and down throughout the day), however, you are not subjected to messes on the floor/clothing if an "oopsy" were to occur and JR didn't make to to the bathroom. Pull-Ups are designed for us sad & pitiful parents who are too Wussy to go cold turkey with REAL underwear....and yes, I'm in that camp.

anyway.....Lucas made it thru a full day getting to the toilet (affectionately termed "potty") in order to pee into the toilet and NOT in his pull-up...and as a result, I did what any red-blooded, well-educated mom would do... the funky chicken DANCE OF JOY!! It is hilarious if you haven't seen it. But most moms know this dance!! Just a quick aside, we are not dealing with excrement yet...just pee...one hurdle at a time!! haha...

as I put my sweet and sleepy boy to bed tonight, my heart hurt a little. This potty training thing is the last bit of "baby" left in him. After this, he really is a little boy and no longer my baby. How can I possibly be sad about this? Learning to rid the body of waste in the toilet so I DO NOT HAVE TO HANDLE IT is a good thing, right? Of course, it is...and yet, sadly enough I want to hold on to his babyhood and not let him turn into a full-fledged boy. It doesn't help that he gets irritated when I tell him he is "my baby." He looks at me with the most serious face and says, "I not a baby, mommy. I a big boy, and I am strong!" Oh my, Lord! Where did he learn to speak in complete sentences? When did that happen? How has this little person become so articulate? I never agreed to that so soon!! I just look at him and remember how small and helpless he used to be...so weightless in my arms...so needy...Now, he wants to do everything himself...dress himself, put on his own shoes, put on his own socks (which is hilarious to watch by the way)..."I do it, I do it," he exclaims...For better or worse, I guess I am along for this ride...this roller coaster of parenting with its extreme highs (when he cups my face in his little hands and says, "I love you, mommy. You smell dewishious.")and its lows (the realization that this precious time is fleeting)...all in all I am, extremely proud of his potty successes and so will exhuberantly display my funky chicken dance of joy--even though my heart will be aching inside my chest.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS

MOMMY Playgroups ROCK!

Lucas and I had such a fun time at our MOM's playgroup. It was also a celebration of our friend Cindy's birthday. The boys got to play in the water, sand boxes, bouncy house, AND eat popsicles and pizza. Lucas had a blast and we didn't get home until after 9 pm. Woohoo...Lucas and Mommy are definite party-ers! It was so fun to get together with good friends and visit and LAUGH!! We are both blessed to have such good friends!