Who is Rocky at 2.5 Years Old?

Rocky at 2.5 Years Old

My little girl is not a patient person, but with puzzles, she's surprisingly focused.  I saw an interview with Sheryl Sandberg on 60 Minutes where she says, "I want every little girl who someone says 'they're bossy' to be told instead, 'you have leadership skills' because I was told that and because every woman I know who's in a leadership position was told that."  In that case, Rocky has amazing "leadership skills".

Rocky is quite the little talker nowadays and is understandable to most people.  I always thought the second child would walk, talk, climb, etc. a lot faster than the first, but it's quite the opposite in our house.  Rocky predominantly speaks English, but can count up to cinco in Spanish and mười [ten] in Vietnamese.  Out of the blue, she'll spice things up by using the few Spanish and Vietnamese words she knows. For example, "Mommy, I want to eat kho bo [beef jerky in Vn]" or "This is my boca [mouth in Sp]".  Her favorite colors are pink and purple and number is two.


Growing up with a big brother means you're into what he's into.  Not because you're trying to please him, it's just reality.  You were born and there were all these cars, Legos, and Power Rangers at your disposal.  Additionally, it's fun to steal the one toy your brother told you not to touch.  Rocky loves playing with Peanut and misses him when he's not around.  I can tell he feels the same way.  Rocky loves to do this thing where she stands with her arms out to block your path and says, "say the password".  And the password is "samurai".  Can you guess where she learned that?

What's the password?

In Rocky's teachers words, potty training is going "remarkably well".  Rocky's starting her third week back at school and has had only a couple days with accidents.  She's pretty much accident-free at home and doing a good job of telling us when she has to go.  I think Jared and I are pretty happy with the results and thankful this went as smoothly as it did.  I was pretty excited yesterday when I put away her diaper Genie.  My days of changing diapers are over!

Rocky is still a picky eater mainly dining on eggs, peas, and some kind of carb.  She naps once a day for about 1-2 hours and sleeps 12 hours at night.

Talking in the Boys' Room

Taking Peanut into public bathrooms is hilarious. He always wants to know who else is in there.

CHUY'S

One time we were at Chuy's. Jared took Peanut into the men's room where he made his first successful public deposit. A few seconds later, another patron enters the other bathroom stall.

Peanut: Is that mommy?

Jared: I don't think so. [As he hurries to get Peanut cleaned up.]

Peanut: Mommy! I went poo poo in the potty!!

Other bathroom patron: [Lets out a muffled giggle.]

THE LIBRARY

Again, Jared takes Peanut to the potty. They are the first ones in there. Then someone else comes in.

Peanut: Who is that?

Jared: I don't know. Hurry up Simon.

Peanut: What's his name?

Jared: I don't know Simon.

Peanut: [Yells toward the stall next to his.] What's your name?

Other bathroom patron: [Complete silence.]

Observant Little Peanut

After having dinner at the Central Market, Jared and I divided and conquered. I went grocery shopping while Jared took the kids to the playground. Of course, Peanut had to go to the bathroom so Jared lugged Rocky and Peanut through the crowded store towards the men's room. On the way there, Peanut saw a little person for the first time in his life. Our very observant (and loud) son had to point out, "daddy, that man's little".

Potty Training - Update

I'm happy to admit that Jared was right. For months (well, years) Jared tried convincing me that Peanut will use the toilet when he is ready. If we push him too soon, he's more prone to accidents, which neither one of us want to deal with. But, I couldn't help myself and tried proving him wrong until July when I reached the point where I was too big, tired, and hot during my pregnancy with Rocky that I couldn't strong arm Peanut into submission anymore, so I admitted defeat. I still intended to have him toilet trained before summer 2011.

It finally clicked. I am so proud to report that bowel movements are deposited into the toilet at Peanut's command. This was our primary goal. The boy eats as much as an adult and goes 3 times a day. I'd ask you to imagine what it's like changing his diapers, but don't want to gross you out. He still wears a diaper or pullup, but tells us when he needs to go.

Jared doesn't really care about Peanut urinating in the toilet; of course, I want it all but it's definitely secondary to the other. Peanut's teacher, Ms. Wanda, thought differently. Once I told her he's showing progress on the potty, she told me to have him in pullups with underpants over them. A couple of days later, she took the liberty of removing his pullups entirely. Imagine my surprise when I picked him up and he was in underpants. The entire car ride home, I was a broken record saying, "Don't go poopoo or peepee. You're just wearing underpants." Peanut's response, "Why Mommy, why?" OK, you asking me "why" does not instill a lot of confidence. He's been pullup free every morning at school for about 2.5 weeks and has had 2 peepee accidents. That's 85% dry, not an A, but I haven't had to wipe it up, so I'll bump the B+ up to an A-. I'll let him run around the house up until "naptime" in underpants, but rely on the security of the diaper/pullup in the afternoon.

When I wrote the first post about Peanut's toilet training progress, I was a little afraid I'd have to eat my words, but am so proud that this is the update I get to post instead. :-D

Bye Bye Binky

It has been 7 days since Peanut "lost" his beloved binky (pacifier). Yes, he still got a pacifier during naps and at night. A week ago, Jared was putting Peanut to bed and couldn't find the binky. They tore Peanut's room apart looking for it, but no luck. Jared and I were about to dip into the backup stash when we thought this was a good opportunity to get rid of the binky (something we meant to do a year ago). Oh boy, we had no idea what we had in store.

With a binky, Peanut easily took 2.5 hour naps and slept 11 hours a night (8pm to 7am). The last 7 days have been another story. First of all, Peanut has not taken a single nap since. On the first night, Peanut didn't fall asleep until almost midnight and only because Jared sat with him for about 30 minutes. The second night, same thing, but he fell asleep around 11pm. On night 3, Peanut passed out on his own around 10pm because he was exhausted. Peanut's been falling asleep on his own about an hour earlier each night since, but it hasn't been easy. He comes out of his room about ten times with excuses ranging from needing a toy left in the living room to wanting to go to the potty. Tonight, he passed out a little after 8pm.

For three years, the pacifier was Peanut's sleep cue and aid. That is what he used to fall asleep. He slept so well that we didn't want to change a thing. He's retraining himself now and it's been a painful process for all of us. Luckily, it hasn't interfered with his potty training. I was sure it was going to make him regress, but it seems to have had the opposite effect.

I am hopeful that the potty usage continues to go in the right direction and his naps come back.

Potty Training

Starting two weeks ago, I noticed Peanut initiating and making (on average) 50% of his solid deposits into the toilet.

We were in San Antonio visiting my mom after a kiddie New Year's Eve party and Peanut did something pretty exciting. He asked and successfully used the potty! Up until then, he's only used the potty at home.

Over the last two days, Peanut has made all of his bowel movements in the toilet. He goes 2-3 times a day so that's 6 dirty diapers I have NOT had to change! Today, Peanut started telling me when he needed to urinate too.

Our primary goal is to have all bowel movements in the toilet. At that time we will move Peanut into underpants if he hasn't mastered urination yet.