~Halloween~

We love Halloween, and this year was so fun! ( I have been meaning to do this post for a week or so now but just got pictures... Thanks Natasha!! :) We all got dressed up. I went as a flower, Nick was a bee keeper, Sophie was a butterfly and Cru was a bumblebee! It was fun dressing up!

 Sophie really got into it this year and absolutely loved wearing her costume. She is usually pretty shy about talking to people that she doesn't know but apparently her awesome home-made butterfly costume gave her this new found confidence. In fact even now if someone asks her what she was for Halloween she decides to not be shy and will tell them all about it. Its great!

This year we went to Burley for Halloween and went with Nicks parents and Jono and Natasha's and their kids to their parents trunk or treat. They had a little dinner and a costume parade for the kids. (Sophie was adorable in this and was waving to everyone as she passed by them) Then we did the Trunk or Treat. Sophie and Kyler went together and it was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. They held hands for most of it and would go together to each car and say trick or treat. SO CUTE!!

After the trunk or treat Nick and Jono and Grandma Sue took Sophie and Kyler to a couple houses in the neighborhood. I don't think Sophie ever wanted to stop. She thought it was the best thing ever! We had a lot of fun!
We also went to a pumpkin patch a little before Halloween. It was a really cool little place and it was really fun! Here are some pictures from that. Thanks again Natasha!

My Non-method Method of Potty Training!

Yep that's right! Sophie is officially potty trained!! And let me tell you, it is SO much nicer than having to deal with diapers for her. I went about a whole month having 2 kids in diapers before I decided that it was definitely time to do something about that. I mean, I LOVE changing diapers and everything (riiight), but it gets a little old. So I have actually had a few people now ask me what "method" I used to potty train her, and  so that is why I have decided to blog about. Its just easier.

 Anyways... let me say this first, I checked out all sorts of ways to potty train. I mean pinterest is full of them. You know, like "potty train your kid in a day" or "The best way to potty train is using this..." that kind of stuff. Anyways.. believe me I researched them all, and all I can say is that I'm sure those ways worked for some people but actually for Sophie and me, it wasn't all that hard.

So I call my method "the non-method method" catchy right? :)
This is how it worked... originally I made a little chart that said "Sophie's Potty training Chart" and I wrote the days on it. Then I put some "big girl panties" on her. These were actually training panties. They are nice because they are thicker than normal panties so if they happen to pee in them then it doesn't get all over the floor. (We also got Sophie her own potty chair like 5 months ago that she really thinks is cool.) I then proceeded to tell her how awesome it is to go pee on the potty chair and how if she does then she gets to put a really cool sticker on the really cool chart on the wall. She was very excited about this and totally into it.

So the first day of this went as follows: I gave her lots of stuff to drink that day and then about every 15 to 20 minutes I would ask her if she wanted to try and go potty. She usually would want to try but the first day she didn't really ever go in the potty chair. We had about 2 accidents where she would tell me she had to go, right after she went in the training pants. Two accidents was really all I wanted to clean up that day so I put her back in diapers thinking that maybe she wasn't ready yet. But even though the diaper was on I would still ask if she wanted to try. I think it was the next day that I asked her and she said she wanted to go and this time she actually went! I got so excited that she did it that I think I kinda scared her but then she saw how happy I was and how "fun" it was to put a sticker on the chart that she wanted to do it again. Basically the rest is history as far as peeing in the potty goes. I, of course, would still ask if she had to go and she would tell me yes or no, and If she went then she would get to put a sticker on the "chart". Sometimes I would make her try and go anyways even if she said no. I only had to do that for a couple days though until she could tell when she had to go or not and then she would tell me even if I didn't ask her. (which is the ultimate goal, right?) I was always really proud of her and that made her like to go a lot.

Now this chart that I made basically went to crap. It turns out that 2 year-olds don't really care what day it is that they get to put the sticker on, but just the fact that they get to put a sticker on something. So the "chart" is basically a piece of poster board that she puts stickers on wherever she wants.

Now for pooping or Number 2 as we like to call it. :) This was a little bit harder. She did have a few accidents with this because I could never catch her when she had to go. She would go hide every time she had to go number 2. So after I would find her it would be too late. I kept telling her I had a very special present for her if she went poop in the potty, and she was really excited about that idea but it didn't really seem to help her actually go in the potty. So I would just try and find her before she would go. I did this for a couple days. (She was pretty much totally good with going pee in the potty chair by this time. That really only took like 3 days) and I think this only took about 1 time of catching her right before she pooped and getting her to do it in the potty chair and she was hooked. I was SOOO happy when she did it. I think it almost brought tears to my eyes! She again saw how happy it made me and of course she remembered that she was supposed to get a "special present". The special present can really be anything that they like. I got her a puzzle... from D.I. ... for .50 cents. Best. Idea. Ever! She loved it!

After that first time she was pretty much hooked. She did have a couple more number 2 accidents in the next couple days but after that she did really good. I wouldn't get mad at her for having the accident I would just remind her that we really need to try and do it in the potty chair and to remember how happy it made us when she did. I guess that was enough motivation because it worked, and I can proudly say that she hasn't had an accident in about 3 weeks, And we started this about 4 or 4 and half weeks ago.

So, like I said, this is not really a "method" but it worked for us. She has done so great! All in all it took about 1 and a half weeks for her to get it totally down. It really wasn't bad though. I think the real key is to just do it when they are ready, and I know that it's hard to know when they are, but I think the motherly instincts kind of kick in here and you will probably know.

I did however forget to mention that at night we put pull-ups on her as a precautionary thing but mostly she doesn't ever pee in those. She just  goes to the potty as soon as she wakes up and right before she goes to bed. I don't know how long I will keep using the pull ups for, but it may be a little while longer. I really don't want to clean up her mess from peeing the bed. Maybe i'm lazy... oh well!. ;)
I hope this is helpful to all of you who have asked me about this and also anyone else who needs it. Don't be scared either, I will admit I was a little nervous but it was much much easier than I thought it would be. I am so happy that we did it now and not waited because she picked it up really quickly and is doing great! I'm so proud of her!

See how happy she is!! :) That is the chart behind her. As you can see there is no organization what-so-ever to it!