Lesson Learned

Dear Greyson,

My last letter to you at the beginning of the month was about the poop wars. I can officially say Mommy and daddy have won the battle. You are doing so awesome with potty training. It has been the most frustrating and rewarding thing we've ever done with you. Seeing your face light up when you go potty is so exciting. And calling everyone, usually Aunt Jenn, to let them know you pee pee'd or pooped in the potty, shows how proud of yourself you are. As of recently, you've discovered the Potty Dance. It is hysterical. I've been trying to get a video of you doing it, but of course you stop as soon as the camera comes out.

For the quite awhile we were keeping your potty chair behind the recliner in the living room because I figured out that you didn't want anyone to see you while you were pooping and you needed time to relax, so the ipad or a phone usually kept you busy while you went. We've slowly moved the potty chair out from behind the recliner and into your bedroom. We haven't made it into the bathroom yet, but we'll get there!

Tonight you ran through the house yelling, "I'm going pee pee!" and ran back to your room. Yay Greyson! You even kicked Daddy out of the bedroom while you went. "No Daddy go away!" When you were done I went in to get the pee catcher and do the potty dance with you. I left the bedroom with the pee catcher to clean it out and when I came back into the room you were grinning from ear to ear and pointing to the potty chair. Inside the potty chair, sans pee catcher was a big 'ol Greyson sized turd. You were very proud of yourself. :) I was too, but I would have been much happier had the pee catcher been inside the potty chair.

Let's just say, I learned my lesson.

I love you buddy, forever and longer.

Love, Mama

Tonight you

The Poop Wars

Dear Greyson,

The last week and a half you and daddy went out to Rockford to visit Grandma and Red Papa. Mommy didn't get to go because she had to work. It was a long, sad, lonely week. Luckily we were able to Skype at least twice a day. That definitely helped but it wasn't the same.

Daddy decided that since you were going to be together nonstop for a week and a half he would buckle down and do some serious potty training. Day one went really well. Day two, not so well. Daddy was very frustrated but mommynsaid to keep it up. He powered through and you returned to BG 75% potty trained! Daddy followed the 3day potty training method. We don't tell you to go or ask you to go, we remind you to tell us when you need to go. Over and over and over. Amazingly, it works!

Right now though, we are in the middle of the poop wars. You are definitely winning. You refuse to poop in the potty. Apparently that one time in November was a fluke. We will continue to forge through this relentless battle.

This afternoon we began shopping for a new bed for you. You told us you needed to go potty so we ran to the bathroom. While in the bathroom you told us you pooped, you didn't but for some reason you were convinced you did. I was digging in the bag and you asked what I was doing. I told you I needed something in the diaper bag. You looked at me and said, "there no diapers! That's a big boy bag!"

I love you Buddy! Forever and longer!

Love Mommy

Funny Boy

Dear Greyson,

I have said this many, many times, but you are a funny kid! I asked you today what you wanted for lunch. Your response:

"Mac and cheese man"

I just about lost it. Which of course just egged you on. You kept saying it over and over. But of course, as soon as I got the video camera out you wouldn't say it. :/

We are currently working on not being scared of Santa Claus. You call him, "Canta". You keep saying "Canta is nice" and "No crying Canta lap". All on your own you decided that Canta is going to bring you "Mickey Fouse Dupples" (Mickey Mouse Puzzles). We even downloaded and app on our phones that is a talking santa, which you love to play. We'll see if our hard work has paid off when we go and visit Santa.

I love you Greyson, forever and longer!
Love, Mama

O-P Stop

Dear Greyson,

Thanks to your Papa, you have a new obsession. It's with stop signs. He taught you to look for them and spell it. Except you are so cute and only say, "O-p Stop". We try and tell you it's 's-t-o-p stop" and you will occasionally add an s or t but never in the right order. It's so cute and I love it. We actually have to drive around the block before coming home so you can see more.

You also have taken to this little plastic gray ball. You call it "Baby Greyson" and you take care of it. You like to put it to bed, give it a bink, change it's diaper (complete with adding powder powder and using a real diaper), hugging and kissing it, and carrying it around. This evening you even had to give it a bath. I loved it! I don't know where this came from but it's so sweet. IF you ever have a baby brother/sister I just know you will be an awesome big brother. For now we'll settle with helping take care of "Baby Greyson" and your little cousins.

Yesterday you may or may not have swallowed one of my diamond hoop earrings. :/ I stupidly left them sitting on my night stand and you found them. I fished one of the earrings out of your mouth and the other one is no where to be found. We asked you about it and the first thing you said was, "uh-oh I eat it". But when we asked again you would say all sorts of random things, like, "it's in my ear" and it's down here". We have yet to find it. Some friends of mine that are nurses told me not to worry about it unless I see blood in your diapers or you complain of stomach pains. Otherwise, we just wait for it to pass. Unfortunately this could take up to a few weeks. Needless to say, you are not allowed in our room any more and I am going to invest in a jewelery box.

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

POOP!

Who would have thought that bodily functions would be such a huge deal? Not, me. But guess what? THEY ARE!!

DRUMROLL PLEASE.....

Ladies and gentlemen, Friday, November 4, 2011, GREYSON POOPED ON THE POTTY!

Boogers

Here's a conversation that Greyson and I had on the way home from the library.

Greyson: "Mama boogers" and makes sniffing noises.

Me: "Oh no! Boogers!"

Greyson: "Boogers all gone"

Me: "Where did the boogers go?"

Greyson: "I eat the boogers"

Boys!

It's June!

Dear Greyson,

I cannot believe it. Next month you will be two. It feels like your first birthday just happened! It really is amazing how fast time is flying. You are growing up so fast and it is so much fun!

We had a really busy last few weeks of May. We went to Cincinnati and now we're in Illinois visiting Grandma and Boppa. While we were in Cincinnati you of course loved on your Uncle Dave. Papa Santel set up his choo-choo for you and you LOVED it! You sat with Uncle Dave and Andy in the middle of the track and watched it. Every so often we'd hear "choo-choooo!" We went to the park also. You loved the swings and the slide!

While we went to Aunt Jessica's wedding you spent the night with Jess and her family. Emma loved on you the whole time. Mama was really nervous about leaving you, but you did awesome! When we picked you up, Jess told us that she never wants to hear the phrase, "What's that?" for a long time. Compliments of you!

The day before we left for Rockford we went out to dinner with Grandpa. We went to Easystreet and it was so yummy! You were giving Grandpa high-fives over and to be funny, you licked your hand and then gave Grandpa five. You got big laughs for that one, which is exactly what you were going for!

Obsessions as of right now are still Choo-choo's (Thomas the Train) and Toy Story. You love Woody and Woody's hat. You love counting! You can almost count to five, sometimes you need a little help and other times you don't. You will randomly just start saying numbers though, which is so funny. Most of the time it's "9 2 5" or 99 2 5" or some variation. You also know the shape, star. We've been working on shapes a lot. At dinner tonight you were saying the word circle as I was drawing them. Mama downloaded a game on Dada's phone for you that you love! It shows either colors, shapes, numbers or letters and you have to choose the one that it says. You love pushing the buttons "bought-ens" as you say.

You are getting more and more brave in the pool. Unfortunately, because of that we have had a few spills! You slipped getting out of the pool and hit the side of your face once and the second time you were chasing a ball and slipped. Mama caught you the second time luckily! Thank goodness Grandma and Boppa bought you a swimming suit with a life vest in it though. You are a fearless little boy!

We are having a great time in Rockford. You have your Grandma and Boppa right where you want them! Boppa taught you "Cheers" and then clink glasses. He is pretty proud of himself for that!

Pool pictures to come...

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama