Potty Trained!

It's now been almost 2 WEEKS since Ruark had an accident. He is doing AWESOME! We love it! I'm so happy to not being doing diapers for the next 8 months! Let alone all the money we're going to be saving!

On Ruark's first day without accidents he was feeling pretty cool and decided he wanted to wear his leather jacket around the house all day...with no pants. He looked pretty cute and stylish :)

We celebrated with HOT FUDGE SUNDAES, and man were they good! This is my FAVORITE recipe for hot fudge and I thought I would share my family secret :)

Boil:

1 cup cream

1 cube butter

1 cup white corn syrup

Add:

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

(Whisk all these ingredients together before you add to the boiled liquid or else the cocoa powder will leave clumps)

Boil together until you get to a "soft ball stage" and then remove from heat and add

1 tsp vanilla

BEST HOT FUDGE RECIPE EVER. It hardens when it touches the ice cream but then goes chewy when it gets in your mouth, I hope you all enjoy!

***On a side note. This is also my no bake cookie recipe so if I have a bunch of hot fudge left over I throw in oatmeal, coconut, walnuts and marshmallows and I have cookies too!

Potty Training Update!

Potty training can be a little overwhelming! Yesterday I THOUGHT we were doing really well. No major accidents, so I thought to myself 3 days must be some kind of a record...then I was going to bed and we smelled something awful. Uh-oh.

Ruark has been getting really embarrassed when he has an accident. Plus he gets really upset because he doesn't get any candy if he doesn't make it in the potty. So apparently he pooped somewhere in my house and then stashed it under my bed because he didn't want us to know. GROSS! Yes, I WILL be sterilizing my carpets thoroughly this weekend!

My sweet friend Amy sent me a message with so many GREAT ideas for potty training, I thought I would share for all you moms out there who are embarking on this same journey with me!

First idea was to figure out what motivates your child. Ruark was easy CANDY! This kid LOVES LOVES LOVES sugar, I don't know where he get it. :) So for me it was an easy thought to use that for his treat when he goes potty. When he goes potty, you hear a big shout "YAY....CANDY!!" He knows every time he goes potty he gets some candy. Amy gave her kids 2 pieces or candy if they "tried" to go and 5 pieces of candy if they went potty.

One of her friends went to the dollar store and picked up a bunch of random toys like cars, stickers and candy and then wrapped them all and put them in a basket. The first time they went potty they got a prize then it was every two and so on. I LOVE this idea.

She said jump, cheer and praise them when they go. Call grandma, anything to get them excited to want to do it again. Another thing that helped her was to have another child who is about the same age and is potty trained to come over and show them how to do it. It helped her kids to see other little people being potty trained.

Another thing she did was go to the store and pick out a prize, for her daughter it was a doll. The doll had to stay in the bathroom but she could hold her in the package if she was sitting on the potty. She only got the doll after she went poop and pee on the same day. I'm going to the toy store tonight!

Also give them A LOT of liquid to encourage them to go, and don't get too stressed. Potty training is like a roller coaster. Some days I am so happy and other days I am so frustrated I want to cry and give up. But I'm looking forward to a few months without doing diapers! Even if it does mean I'll be doing more laundry!

Potty Training!

This is an OLD photo, that Binky was taken away MONTHS ago. But we bribe him with the Ipod so he will sit there :)

I have been so excited to start potty training Ruark! We started back when he was 14 months and he did really well. He went 3 days without any accidents and then I realized that he was still too young to really understand the concept. So the diapers went back on. I told myself as soon as he turned two we were going to start again.

Last week he got his MMR shot and was feeling really yucky. There was no fever but he just whined and cried and wanted his diaper on. So we postponed for a week. Yesterday went AMAZING! He even went all by himself when I was doing laundry! Everything was going great until this morning, which I think was mainly my fault. The nausea settled back in and I asked him if he needed to pee and he said yes. So I took him in and gave him about a minute and took him off so I could run go get some yogurt. I set him on my bed and when I came back about 30 seconds later he had peeed everywhere. He kept saying "uh-oh" and when I pulled him off the bed he ran and sat down on his potty. I'm hoping day two picks up and does better! I am already ready for this part to be over, and I kinda wish I could postpone it again until the first trimester is done. One thing is for sure, he MUST be potty trained before I have out second baby. I don't want two in diapers!

So wish me luck, because I sure could use it!

Potty Training

So the other day I put Ruark on his potty. I was running around collecting laundry when I walked by the bathroom, Ruark was looking down so I knew he was peeing. I thought I would put the clothes in the wash and run back to give him his reward. While I was starting the washer I heard the toilet flush. "Oh great", last time he threw my IPod in the toilet (which is ruined), I tore through my front room afraid what I would find.

Ruark had peed, gotten off of his potty, opened the big toilet, disassembled his toilet, poured the contents in the toilet and flushed it without spilling a drop! I was amazed! Surely my son must be brilliant, I am still convinced that he is. He's only 16 months old, potty training is going great, hopefully by 18 months he'll be done!