Today is a gift,thats why its called the present: Reporting home, Potty training magic, and owners of a 4 year old

Ok- So I promised that I would be blogging more.. yea that kinda has been put on the back burner, till now anyhow! :) SO much has happened in such a short time, where to start... where to start... LOL

1- Adams back "home"- aka, Fort Drum, NY. His deployment is over, thank god above! That was a rough year. Not that this ones going to be any easier, as we are still in Michigan and he will be living in NY. He has a pretty nice place, but its a drive so... we applied for post housing. The wait is INSANELY long.... but the list is at least moving. I would love to have Adam live on post, we might be able to move/ stay for at least 6 months in the mean time, like the summer till school starts again for Landrick. And Adam would be able to sleep in for at least an extra hour each day and not drive but maybe 8 minutes over almost 30-40 depending on traffic on the roads and at the gates to get onto post... we shall see.

2- Speaking of school, most of you know, this was landricks first year of preschool, and O.M.G! How hes totally just BLOOMED into this chatty talking little man-child-character! He love his cars still, chats and talks to me, his "babies"/ stuffed animals, asks TONS of questions and recognizes a TON of stuff! We are working on writing his name and the alphabet. His teachers just love him. They say that hes a great kid, and have not had any issues with him, that's always a plus as a parent to hear, to know that your kids not the naughty one :)

3- One HUGE hurdle that every parent(s) want as their child grows, is to POTTY TRAIN, POTTY TRAIN, POTTY TRAIN!!!! We have struggled so much I feel with this... basically till dad got home from deployment and came back to Michigan ( and yes, it did snow while he was here LOL) Landrick was SO terrified of underwear... Yes UNDERWEAR! He did NOT want to put those on for whatever reason! My sister saw first hand how that went over... and she was like HOLY COW! LOL Yea, so when dad got here, there was some crying, some being defiant, but all of a sudden... BOOM! He like, woke up one day and it was like he was saying" haha- Ive known all along how to go potty, see...!" He went pee pee AND put big boy undies on within two days, but not only that... he went poop too! On the potty... can ya believe it?!?!? This is a kid that we have tried to do this on and off with zero success for almost two years! Peeing is one thing, but to pee AND learn how to poop on the potty just over night, totally unheard of right?! I am still in shock, and dad put his pull-up/diaper things in the closet JUST IN-CASE.. I mean yea, ya never know but POOP AND PEE! It was like a miracle! a- its going to save us so much money just not having to buy diapers or pull-ups but, b- so much better, less mess, less trash, and less hassle!

If I have learned ANYTHING with raising Landrick, its that every parent obviously has their own opinions, and its up to you if you listen to them. I'm here to tell you, when everyone puts their "two-cents" in and says things like " oh start them early, or they never will understand" or, my favorite " trust me, I've done this 5-6-7 times, the earlier the better." Its not about how early you start them... its about how YOU as a parent teach them and there is no right OR wrong way to potty train. You can try everything the books and you-tube videos tell you, but when it comes down to it, Do the 3-P's: be pepersistent, have patience, and practice! When they are ready, they will clearly let you know... cause I'm still in shock and its been two whole weeks, and NO ACCIDENTS! I know, insane right?!?!?! :) I will tell you, I have never been so proud of him! Now, a few things that we started while trying this potty thing while dad was home, and its very simple and pretty cheap, I went to Joann Fabrics and got the following items: 1- empty calendar block chart; 1- package of character stickers; one package of dumdum suckers ( Landrick loves suckers!) Sun-Sat should be already marked out on the chart, if not, mark it. Then, whatever day you start mark it with a 1 then next block, 2 etc... till all the blocks are marked out in order for about 30 days. Each time that Landrick went potty on the potty, he got one sticker ( Captain America, Transformer or Toy Story cause those are his favs.) and then he got to pick out ONE sucker... ALWAYS make sure you stick to your guns with ONE sucker/candy/treat. This was perfect for him, we hung it on the wall in the dinning room at his eye level. Our dinning room is kinda between the bathroom and living-room so it was the perfect spot. And that was all there was to that. SO glad this chapter is over and we can move onto other things :)

4- Roger and Kaycee the pug are doing great as always, still being lazy, still being crazy and still being... well, dogs. :)

There is more, I just can't think right now, and its after 2am... so I am going to call it a night, but in the mean time, enjoy these pics!

-Heather
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