How do they do that?

So John came to me last night to ask me if I had gone to check on JP and I had not at this point. We put him in bed to go to sleep and this is how he was found! What is really cute is that he is wearing his new baseball pj's!
So tonight, I knew when Corley got home from "school" she was tired but I did not want to lay her down as it was close to dinner time. She fell asleep in the middle of her dinner eating Chicken Spaghetti! What was even better is that she would use her other hand to pick up some dinner and put it to her mouth but never put it in her mouth, she would just suck her thumb!!!

Don't worry I did not leave her there all night, she got a bath and was ready to go and play! And yes she still went to bed at 7:30 and was asleep very fast!

One Week

I am so proud of JP!!! His first week of potty training is going great!!! I was nervous about taking him to school on Monday and was prepared for a phone call saying they need more clothes and underwear! I was shocked when he only had one accident at school on Monday!!!! Way to go Champ!!! He averaged about 2 accidents a day and some days it was only 1 accident in that day! John and I are so proud of him! There are time he won't stop playing but from other mom's that I have visited with have said that this was a common issue with them. The fun part of this process of raising children is watching him just sit on his potty reading books, watching Handy Manny or playing with his Ipad (well its really is daddy's but lets face it JP has it more than John does). So mom's that are thinking about this process, I will say it isn't that bad! When he does have his accidents we don't get onto him, we just tell him that he has to stop playing and go to the potty, we also make sure he has pants that he can get on and off fast!

I sure do hope this will help someone one day!

Day 4 at home

Well today was the last day of potty training at home, tomorrow JP returns to school and I pray that he does well and that I have packed enough extra clothes for him. We are very proud of him and we have had very few accidents. I will say that on Friday evening I thought to myself that maybe he is not ready but Saturday there was a change that made me feel that he will be able to complete this hard task! What I can say is that I am more tired than I expected, but its worth it when I see how happy he is when he comes to tell me that he went in the potty, that sweet happy face makes it worth it.
So this is what I did:
Friday- set a timer for him to go and sit on the potty every 15-20 minutes, which got expanded to every 30 minutes when he was not needing to go at 15-20 minutes. I would let him sit on the potty for as long as he wanted to, so we read books, watched shows/movies and played games on the Ipad! We had our accidents this day.
Saturday morning-the same routine as Friday, but that afternoon I had him go without underwear as my mom felt that he may not know where the pee was coming from, that worked!!!!
Sunday he started to know when he needed to go to the potty and he would go on his own!
Monday morning we woke up to a surprise, his diaper was dry, John and I were excited for him! It took him a while to go this morning but he knew when he needed and he ran to his potty!!
Know that he is not perfect with the potty yet, but I feel that we have had a great start and I know that we will still have our accidents, but I look forward to buying him big boy underwear and not diapers anymore and so will my bank account!!!!!

JP you have amazed us this weekend and have been a great sport with it all! We love you and are so proud of you!!!!

Day 3- even better

Well all I can say that I am so thankful that JP has done an amazing job with potty training. I talk to God about it every night the past few days and have just asked him to give me guidance and strength to get through these next few days and weeks with JP during this process. What I can say is that he is answering my prayers and I am so blessed! I know that all this praise and glory



Day 3 he woke up and told us he needed to go potty, but he did not want to take his diaper off, after a bit of talking to him about it, he wanted to take off his diaper but mommy couldn't help! (I think he knows once that diaper was off that there was not another going back on). He sat on the potty and I went to get Corley from her crib and he came in and said he went potty, so I went to check and yes he did!!!! Not only did he go potty but he had a BM in the potty!!!! I was so excited that I was yelling and screaming praises with him! John came in and celebrated on the couch. My brother in law is in town and was sleeping on the couch, needless to say I don't think he was sleeping much more, but he joined in the celebration with us!!!! He has gone to the potty several times this morning, unfortunately he has a little bit of diarrhea, but in the end that has been a good thing because he knows the feeling and is running to the potty!!!! I did not want to potty train with diarrhea, but he it is working out just fine!



His potty seat for those that are going to start or just want to know! We found it one day at Target and he was drawn to the box. I originally did not want to buy a separate potty for him but it was worth it. This potty sings songs once they pee or have a BM in the potty, it has been great so far because there have been times that I have not been in the same room with him and I have heard his "potty songs" go off and I run in there and celebrate with him. If anyone wants to borrow it after we are done that is, then just let me know. I think this one was about $30-35, but like I said worth it!!!! I think having a potty that was his size is great! Corley will even get on it from time to time, of course she is still dressed!!!! The other thing I did was get him prizes that I knew he would love, so find our child's favorite things and let them pick out a prize when they go in the potty. This morning I think I could have ran out of prizes if I let him get one for every BM (since he does have diarrhea, but after a few potty trips I give him one!!!)



Overall this has not been a bad experience!!!



Hope this helps someone in their near future!!!

Day 2!!!!! a few tips!

So day 2 of potty training started of a bit differently since JP spent the night at Grammy and Grandpa's for the first time with me having control. Don't get me wrong he has spent the night at Grammy and Grandpa's before but that is due to me being out of town and in the hospital with the birt of Corley!!!! So yesterday was a day filled with lots of first. So when he got up, Grammy took him to the bathroom and put him in his big boy underwear, I believe this morning we had at least 3 accidents. Grammy told me that she thinks that he may not know where the pee is coming from so she suggested after nap to let him run around with no underwear or pants on and see if that helps! So after nap I was able to get him to sit on the potty and nothing, but did not put big boy underwear back on.....well it was the best advice! Around 5:15 pm I was in my bedroom looking up something with Corley and JP was in the living room and I heard him say "mommy help", so I went to see what was wrong and he said "I pee" and he was sitting on his potty, but I figured that he peed on the floor and I needed to find it, he stood up from his potty and guess what, I found it!!!!! I was so excited I yelled GREAT JOB JP, that is amazing, you did it, now you get a prize!!!!!!! Of course there was a ton of hugging going on and high fives!!!! I was so proud that he knew to go to his potty and pee and I did not have to tell him!!!!!! That was the only time today that he peed in the potty and he has not gone since, but hey it has to start somewhere! He knew what prize he was getting because I told him that when he pees in the potty that I would give him a new train for his train set, ( like he needs another one, but hey if it works I will buy all that I can afford that is).

So I will have to say that yesterday was probably a good benefit of having him sit on the potty every 30 -45 minutes as that helped him learn how to pull off his pants and to sit. He has watched more movies and tv shows than I would ever let him, but there is so many books I can read to him until he gets bored! So a great tip/advice from my mommy was probably the reason why he did pee in the potty!!!!

I will say that we have called it enough for the day and he is in bed sleeping and that is where this one tired mommy needs to go too! So goodnight. Update tomorrow!

Day 1

Well its Friday, February 18, 2011, and it was our first day of potty training JP! We got up and got dressed and took Corley to school so that mommy and JP could spend the day together in his bathroom as we make our fist attempt to potty train him! Our first accident didn't take long and I was thankful that he did not like being wet and wanted to get changed. We sat in his bathroom I seriously think it was about 2 hours. I took the laptop in the bathroom since we could find Thomas the Train videos on Youtube.com, (all that thanks to my dad). I would post that picture of JP sitting on his potty with the laptop on his step stool, but I think John would kill me for it and so would JP once he got older! Just picture it!!! (If you really want to see it I have a copy of it on my phone). When we were not watching the youtube.com, we were reading fun books!



Around 10:30 am, I got a call from daycare saying Corley was not feeling well and had 101.4 fever. So around 11 am I got another call saying the Tylenol was not helping and out the door we went (with a diaper on). So what does that stinker JP do....up you got it stunk up his diaper. Oh well, at least it was the diaper and not his car seat! Got the kids home and feed lunch and Corley went down for her nap and JP did not, I think he had too much energy still! Finally I decided that his "nap time" was over and we got back into our big boy underwear and the potty training started up again, that was at 2:30. Let me tell you, I gave him water, milk, and a Capri Sun at dinner, and he went to the potty every 30 minutes with attempts only. We finally moved the potty to the living room so that he could watch other shows (and I was tired of the bathroom floor- I even took an old pillow in there as my bottom was tired of the cold floor). My folks brought dinner over and we eat his favorite, PIZZA!!!!! Towards 6:45pm he started getting tired, remember no nap! The tears came and he would only sit for about 10 seconds on the potty. He started to cry and wanted to go to Grammy's. Grammy told him that he could spend the night but that he had to bring his potty. So I packed him a bag and off to Grammy's we went. Grammy set the timer for 10 minutes, I told her that we probably should do 5, well about 4 minutes or so left, JP had his second accident of the day! That was the first time he went to the potty since 2:30 when I changed him back into his big boy underwear. Grammy and I decided that we would end potty training for this day!



So all in all not a bad day, just long and lots of patience's and bribing going on! He never went potty in his potty, but we at least accomplished the fact that he will sit on the potty and try. Early that day he would sit there for 45 minutes and watch his shows. I know that he has to learn that sensation of needing to go and with 2 accidents I feel that we have at least started that part!



I am very proud of JP today and it was a long day for him I can imagine and it will probably be a long weekend, but we are committed and with the Lord's help I know we can get through it!



I may need a Margarita when its all said and done with!!!



I know most probably won't read this blogs, but I am doing them for me and my memory so when its Corley's time, I can recall what I did with JP! And maybe just maybe for one of yall that do read it that it may give yall some help too. Trust me I have watched a ton of his shows and read books to JP!

Family

I can't say how blessed I feel to have such a beautiful family! I was thinking about what was it that made us finally decide its time to have kids, and it was the passing of my grandpa in March of 2007. As we gathered around his bedside in his final days that came to quickly, I was amazed to see how each of us loved him but in our own ways! A few days after the funeral I looked at John and told him how much I loved him and that I was ready to start having kids and he agreed with him! I was in a way shocked that he was ready as well, but so blessed to begin that new chapter in our lives. Well since 2007, we have been blessed with a son, John Paul Reyes IV and a daughter Corley Madyson Reyes. I could not have asked for better children and they are the light of my life now! I love to watch them grow and do new task each day. JP amazes me with what he comes up with and I sometimes just have to laugh inside. Corley, I just love watching her walk with a huge smile on her face! So reminds me so much of me it is scary. (I know my mom and my sister would agree).

The following photos were taken by Regina Penney, she is a friend from high school that I was able to catch up with at a Tech football game and learned what she was now doing and I am so happy that she has found a great talent that the Lord blessed her with! Check out her site, www.penneyphotography.net! These pictures were taken at an old church off Fairgrounds Road in Midland and I just love them! I hope you enjoy them as much as we have!

As I was driving to ensure that I knew where this location was, I noticed that there was a dirt road and that if the timing worked that it would be a great spot to take a family shot, because we could get the Tall City in the background! You can't see it as well, but I know its back there. I have always liked the view of the Tall City as I was returning from trips for Lubbock and Dallas, it always meant home was so much closer!

This is my favorite shot because you see the Tall City in the background and its just so us!

Potty!

This morning, Feb 1, 2011 we woke up to snow!!!! Last night my office already decided that we would not start until 10am, which I was shocked once I woke up and found out that MISD did not even do a delayed start, but I took advantage to have a fun morning with my kids. As I was eating breakfast I could hear JP say no poopie, (yes we are in the attempts to potty train), so I thought I better go check! I found him on his big boy potty with his diaper on the floor and pants off!!!! I was such a happy and proud mommy!!!! I ran to grab my camera and this is what I found when I returned!!!!! Are you ready........

Yep you got it Corley is copying everything big brother does now days!!!! Do you think I could get a 2 for 1 in a few weekends when I lock myself to the house to potty train JP????

So what did JP do once sister got onto his potty, he pulled the drain in her bath water!!!! Oh well!!!! I just had to laugh and smile and give them both big hugs and praises, (for JP being on the potty that is not pull the plug on her water)! What a great day to start my February!!!