Trying New Things

This week we tried a few new things out around here.

1a. Potty training! We started on Monday. The plunge wasn’t tooooo terribly painful, even though I have no idea what I’m doing. I think Jay is doing relatively well. He’s only had 2-4 accidents each day. So far Jay has only run to the potty on his own once. I have to take him into the bathroom at regular intervals through the day to avoid accidents. So I don’t think he counts as potty trained yet. Hopefully soon he’ll start telling ME when he has to go, instead of the other way around.

1b. I got a 2-pack of those Gerber plastic pants for Jay to wear when we go places, as a safety net for his pants. We call them his “crinkleys” because they are quite…crinkley. Even though they’re HUGE on Jay’s little waist, they are effective.

1c. Jay’s gets to choose a little sticker for every potty success. He gets a BIG sticker for every stinky success (those are still few and far between). We keep his sticker success poster in the kitchen. It took a few days for him to really get the idea of a reward, but now he loves rushing out to claim his sticker and place it on the poster. For fun, (and to sort of track progress) I put a dot on the poster for every wet accident and an x for every stinky accident. The plan is to eventually cover all the accident spots with success stickers. I know, I know, that’s a bit much. But tracking the messes lets me know that there really aren’t as many as it feels like there are, too.

2a. And now for the next new thing…cloth diapers! I never thought I’d want to use cloth diapers because I thought they were the leaky, flat, pin-onto-baby diapers of yore. After reading a friend’s “cloth conversion story” though, I realized that cloth diapers are pretty much the same level of grossness as  disposables (and only a little more work). I have only used them for 5 days so far, and I still don’t have a full supply to ease the laundry burden, but…so far so good! Once I’ve finally gotten all the cloth diapers we need, I will have only spent $100! I wish I had started this sooner. Also: I’m a recycler (milk jugs, cans, etc.), so it makes me feel good to be able to re-use diapers too. We do still have at least 100 Huggies disposables that we’ll be using intermittently until they’re gone, so we aren’t 100% cloth folks yet. But we’re getting there.

2b. The cloth diaper brand I chose after allll my hours of research is called Flip. The cover has snaps on it so you can adjust the size to fit any baby. All you do is lay a cloth insert into the cover, and snap it onto a soft little booty. No pins, no confusing folding. Easy-peasy! [It will be even easier-peasier when we have our own washer/dryer again.]

2c. One more note: Cleaning out accident-filled undies makes changing/washing cloth diapers feel even easier.

3. Since it’s gotten so much colder, I’ve been worried about Rose’s little toesies freezing off while I’m out running with her in the stroller. I’m not big on putting soft little baby feet into hard shoes. I found these CUTE sweater-slipper-booties at Target this week. They go part way up her leg and fold down at the top. I love them, and I kind of want some for myself.

4. Jay tried out a new seat.

5a. I don’t want to scare you or anything—I was not feeling very spunky when I took this picture, so I went with expression-free face. The purpose of this mug shot is to show off my new glasses! Wait, what glasses? She’s wearing glasses? Yes, I am. They are rimless! I adore them. I always hated having a frame around my world. Rim-free glasses kind of give you the best of both worlds—the eyeball comfort of glasses, and the eye-freedom of contacts. Huzzah for insurance too—I paid a mere $22 for these beauties.

 

5b. The side view. Part of that design is purple of all colors, but I can live with that. My prescription changed with these glasses, so I feel like I have a new superpower or something—everything is so clear.

6a. It snowed for most of the day today! We went to the park for some serious snowman-building. In all my years of snowmanning, I have never thought to roll the snowball in a circle. Jeff is a genius. Now of course I have to add a few snowy pictures…

6b. We propped Rose up in a horseshoe pit. She didn’t really like it much.

6c. It was SNOWING HARD for hours today! Jeff and I each went on an invigorating snowy run this morning. Jay also loved it.

We conquered the leaf-riddled snow and made a missionary snowman! He’s Elder White, of course. I tied the ribbon-tie all by myself. With gloves on. [I credit my brother Brad for that skill. He taught me how to do a simple tie knot 6 years ago when I worked at a catering company and had to wear a black tie as part of my uniform]

We left our missionary companion-less (and hatless) in the park because Rose was tired of the snow.

When we got home, Jay and I couldn’t resist making one more little snow person to replace our melted one. This is our snowgirl. She has a grass necklace and a white snowy shirt with snow-sleeves. I hope nobody steals Rose’s cute skirt or hat.

I almost put #7—hot chocolate—on this list of new things, but…hot chocolate is definitely not a new thing to us.