Adventures on the Potty

As you can see from my last post Will is potty trained.  Well, there are still accidents now and then.  Take this Wednesday for example; we usually meet up at the church with some other mommies and kids so the kids can run and play while we work out.  So halfway through, Will came running up to me with wet pants and said," Can I go pee?"  Looks like you already did kiddo.  We hurried to the bathroom and he peed a lot more.  Then I realized that his extra pants, underwear and socks were in the car (which was already cold at this point), and that our car was on the other side of the church building.  No problem right?  While everyone else is working out in the gym, I'll just run my half naked boy around the hall so no one sees, then I can zip to the car and back and get him redressed.  Too bad I forgot another ward was there doing their playgroup.  So we're running down the hall, Will is totally weirded out because he's missing pants and we hear voices...close voices.  Oh man, the door to their playgroup was wide open and I just saw all of the mom's faces when they saw my poor boy being run past.  We still got him redressed and he just had to be carried because his shoes were wet and there was fresh snow on the ground.  I'm pretty sure I'll be taking his backpack inside from now on, especially during the winter.

Today he happened to be sitting on the toilet doing his business, and he was taking quite a long time.  I kept checking in with him (he likes the door mostly closed, who doesn't?) and then finally went in to tell him times up.  What did I find?  A new roll of toilet paper completely unravelled into the toilet.  Huh.  Didn't think of that problem before.  Guess we still have some work to do.

Hooray! Will did it!

So it's official.  Will is potty-trained.  Two weeks ago I told him he needed a bum change so he went and got all of the bum changing stuff out.  That was it, seriously, if this guy knows to get out all of this business, he certainly knows how to tell me he needs to go to the bathroom.  So I the next day I loaded him up with juice and rootbeer and after many trips to the bathroom that day he got it.  The next day he was onto my scheme and wouldn't drink nearly as much.  Anyway, now he has been going to the bathroom like a champ and without an accident for the last 10 days (well, except for the one that was my fault because I was going to the bathroom and didn't hurry fast enough).  Lucky for us, it looks like our main problem in the near future is just not aiming at the wall but in the toilet. 

Taking the Plunge: A New-New Years Tradition

Once upon a time, some smarty pants decided that it would be awesome to start the new year off with a nice dip in Lake Michigan.  Somehow that turned into a big Chicago tradition for many and so every New Years Day at noon, a bunch of crazies strip down to their skivies in sometimes subzero weather and take a nice cool swim.  Jeremy was one of those this year, apparantly I will be next year too.  Somehow I don't think I quite realized what I was promising when I told Jeremy, "I will next year honey, this year I'll just take pictures."  So let's take a look at Jeremy's crazy adventure.  We started off by meeting at one of our friends house in our ward and then caravaned off to North Avenue beach. 

Jeremy pumping himself up to get iced.  Luckily on the 1st it was at least in the single digits with the wind chill.  The snow had melted the previous day and the wind came and froze everything, including our car doors that morning.

We'd been watching the travel channel and their "Top 10 Beaches", Will got excited and wanted to go to the beach.  "Can I go beach Mama?"  I told him sure, but I don't think this is what he had in mind.

One of our friends was smart enough to bring a tent, it blocked a little bit of wind and kept some of the kiddos warmer.

Going in...

Yup, you can see a little kid in there.  You didn't think they had immunity to this challenge did you?

At least Jeremy was smart enough to bring flip flops so he wouldn't be barefoot on the ice when he came back.

I had never seen him run out of the water so fast.  But he swam all the way out to the buoys, when under then back.  I am so proud.

Pandemonium with people trying to get undressed to go in, or getting dressed to avoid hypothermia.

Jeremy told me the worst part was that he couldn't feel his feet unless he moved them, at which point it felt like they were going to break when he bent them.

Will had tried following his Daddy out into the water and was glad when he came back.  I think Jeremy was too.

Notice the ice still in his beard?  It did melt eventually and Jeremy got warm after taking a nice long nap under our heating blanket. And they lived happily everafter...until next time.

Christmas Fun!

The excitement begins with putting up decorations...

 Then of course, the gingerbread house.  Always good to eat, Will liked eating it for breakfast most mornings.

My Dad's family always did English crackers every year for Christmas, so we've begun to continue the tradition in our house.  Who can ever have enough of the corny English jokes?

New pj's for Christmas Eve.

Notice all of the presents, and what one does he play with?  The one from the dollar store that we put in the English cracker.

Will and Jeremy having fun with Legos.

Nice new shirt.  It's totally him right?

Me getting caught taking a nap on the floor. 

I love this time of year because it seems that we are more in tune with the spirit as we spent time with family and friends.  We had a great time on Christmas Eve at the Nygard's with a waffle dinner and all the crazy fun.  Christmas day we had the Robinette's over for dinner and Will loved playing with his friend Megan.  We missed our family very much, but are glad for great friends to be able to spend Christmas with.  Most of all we are grateful to celebrate our Saviour and his life and example he set for us.