Potty Trained!!!!

You know, I have always had doubts about our ability to potty-train Matt. I knew all the "right" things to do, the "right" signs and everything; but couldn't shake the reoccurring thought of "how can I potty train Matt if I couldn't even potty train my dog?"
Doubts no more! Thanks to preschool, I can finally announce that Matt is potty trained! And it happened the instant he decided it was going to happen. Monday he went to preschool in a diaper and for the first time, kept it dry all day and went exclusively in the potty. We got him underwear and he went pee in the potty all the way until bedtime. He wore underwear all day tuesday, no accidents. And today, no accidents! He will go on a suggestion, but most importantly, he will get up and go whenever he wants to, without telling us/asking us! Yup. He just stops playing/eating, goes to the potty, wipes and flushes and comes back and resumes the activity.
I know he will have accidents, of course! And that's ok. But the most important thing is:

NO MORE DIAPERS!!!! EVER!!!!! (at least for Matt).

There's no looking back, no more going back to diapers. Yay!!!!

Preschool!

Today was Matt's first day of preschool! He absolutely LOVED it! He didn't even give Sean and I a backwards glance as he ran in. And he cried when it was time to leave. He was in a very good mood but didn't want to be photographed so the shots are not as "perfect" as they could be.

Here's him on the way. He was chattering nonstop about how much he wants to go to preschool and how happy he is.

Walking with speed toward the door...

"Come on, come on! Hurry hurry! We're here!"

Right before we left. As you can see he is just racked with separation anxiety.

His preschool!
When we went to pick him up they were still eating so we were able to get this candid shot of him through a viewing window. He didn't eat much of his casserole so I am guessing they put meat in it. It's ok, we gave him his normal honey and peanut butter sandwich at home.

Afterward he took a nap. It was later than his normal nap, but this will always be his normal naptime now. It went from 10:30-12:30ish to 12:30-2:30. We played with his dump truck outside

And had a lazy dinner. This is him striking a dinner pose:

They do potty training at the center, so tonight we officially started a more structured potty training regimen. We always ask if he'd like to go, but we did a few things to make it easier and with more sense of accomplishment for him. First off I removed the baby gate blocking the bathroom and got another Clevercat litter box so the dogs couldn't "go to the beach" as we call it. We are starting to use pull-ups, so now he can walk into the bathroom anytime he wants, undress himself and use the potty. We are also now using the ubiquitous potty chart.

He is extremely excited about the chart. Much more than I expected, actually. He went potty immediately after I put it up to get a gold star, then tried about 5 more times in a row and couldn't go. On the left are bad drawings of his prizes for every week. 1st week if he gets 5 stars a day he gets ice cream, the second is Starbucks, the third is chuck-e-cheeses, then a picnic and lastly the zoo!
So we will see how this all works out. I know in the end no matter what he will be a smart and potty-trained little boy, but the journey is still exciting. Look for a blog soon with all the cool pictures I found on my memory card of the trip to Idywilld with Joey, Matt and I!

Santa!

This will be quick--but I think Matt finally gets the concept of Santa! (3 Christmas movies later). He is excited to meet him and tell him what he wants. We will be going to the mall later.
Sean is at drill today, and he is going to finally check out! His time is up--6 years have passed! Not much more to say on that front really. I think he is pretty happy he is going to be out, and no more possibility of deployment!
Meanwhile, Matt and I are enjoying a day to ourselves. We were going to go hiking in the Santa Rosa Plateau and see the vernal pools, but I woke up with a sore throat and runny nose, and Matt woke up coughing. It will be cold up in the plateau so probably not the best idea (I am very disappointed--thanks badly-timed cold!)
So, that's where Santa comes in. Might as well get it out of the way, and maybe do a little non-Matt gift shopping while there.
We have also decided to do a small celebration on Matt's birthday, but do a real party around January 10th. We don't have any $ for a good party this month thanks to the giving season, and the only day we'd have it on is currently taken by another (surprise) bday party for another person. The date/time/place will be set after Sean gets back and we find out if he has to go back to drill next month to finish checking out.
Speaking of checking out...we will probably relax at the library a bit today too.
Gotta go! Time to start the big day!

Happy Halloween and Extra Hour!

We had a very fun Halloween! Matt was so good trick or treating! He went up to the houses by himself and said "Trick or treat!" and "Thank you!". Everyone thought he was so cute in his garden gnome costume and he got lots of candy and compliments. He absolutely refused to go anywhere near the "scary" houses, which is a change from last year when he didn't care. One time he reached into a candy bowl and it was one of those trick ones that makes the figurine inside attack your hand. He was pretty upset and that was the end of trick-or-treating. It kind of reminds me of the time a man dressed as a lifeless scarecrow jumped out at Andy and scared him so badly he didn't go trick or treating for a long time.
Anyway, now the real battle is the candy at home. Being the age he is he will do a hunger strike for candy if he thinks there's any way he'll get it in lieu of a meal.
We also went to Disneyland on Thursday which was fun. It was all Halloween themed--and the haunted mansion and the fireworks were the best. Matt had a lot of fun meeting Tigger and Pooh. Pictures will come later; I don't feel like digging out my camera right now.
Nothing much has changed around here. I'm still grooming dogs and Sean is still delivering pizzas! At least we have a well groomed and well fed household!
Well, it's time to go get ready for work. Just a little update--sorry it's not more frequent! Check out my twitter for more current happenings.
Oh yes, and Daylight Savings rocks in the fall!

Sweet!

So I have been on a cooking binge lately. Just a combo of being bored, pretty much broke and too hot to go do anything outside. Plus it makes Matt sooo happy to "help" me, and it is very cute.
Still the same old stuff going on here, nothing to update. Oh, I made turnips last night (sliced them and lightly fried them in olive oil and rosemary), and they were really yummy! So that's one new thing--I like turnips. Oh, the fast-paced life!


Here's Mr. Perfect decorating some sugar cookies with an icing writer his Grammy sent him :-)

Learning from the master..

See Mom? See my cookie??

SEE MOM??!

I made these 2 nights ago. Know what they are? Sean didn't.

They're cupcakes!!! Yellow cake on top and deviled food cake in the middle. Topped with only the finest icing mustard, ketchup and lettuce! They were fun to make, although now I have all these middle parts of cupcake I don't know what to do with.

Matt was sick on Wednesday. He laid around for most of the day on the couch. He is all better now though!

In fact he was so much better he went bowling for the 1st time yesterday :-)


He had so much fun! He had to use the ramp though because he was unceremoniously dropping it on the ground hard instead of placing it and rolling it.

And he insisted on carrying his ball by himself!

Look at it go! Wheee!!

Gotta go now--Sean just fixed the kia brakes and I am taking it for a test drive :-)

Boredom leads to wonderful things

There hasn't been much to report lately. Just been working a lot, and stuck indoors because of the heat wave. Matt is becoming a good swimmer due to all the time at the pool. Even though there's nothing big to report, I figured it was time for some audio/visual updates!

Here's Matt fingerpainting. Here he is trying to make an imprint of his hand-you can see it where the papers meet.

Here he is trying out his new skates! He loves them! Been too hot for them lately, but for a few days there he was getting really good.

Yesterday it was a particularly dreary day. It was really humid with flash flood warnings and thunder and lightning. It didn't actually rain exactly where we were, but it rained in other parts of the town. We were so bored, so we gathered up some boxes and set up a bowling alley. Matt loved it--but I'll let you see for yourself.

Today is looking like it will be a better day. Sean left for a job fair in San Diego, so it's just Matt and I all day! While I was cleaning he kept telling me he was drawing a car, and I finally went to look. Usually it's scribbles with not much form, but to my surprise he was deliberately drawing! Not sure when that switch flipped on, but here he is drawing a car!

Yes, I know it's abstract, but he is off to a good start! He can also build cars, tanks and airplanes out of legos. He seems to have a very good idea of how things fit together in 3d modeling. We have a toy I got as a gift from my friend's daughter a few years back. It is a bunch of hexagonal nuts on a magnetic base. You can model them into whatever, but of course their magnetic attraction disappears when they are off the base. Matt thinks that's awesome. He surprised me by building a dinosaur, without help. He very carefully made the body, the head, the arms and the legs-all in the correct places. It's one thing to stack a few rectangular blocks and call it a car (or cross two for an airplane), and another thing to model a creature. He definitely has a natural aptitude for that type of stuff so I am eager to see if it develops into anything significant!
Right now, however, it is time for his nap. I hope you enjoy the pictures and video!

Same old stuff

Sean came home on monday, but besides that nothing much new is happening. We went to the beach and really made out with seashells. Matt wants to give one to his friend Kaelyn, who we're seeing today. How cute! No more pictures right now, but just figured I'd update. No luck on the house search yet!