"Training"

Sorry it's been so long since I wrote anything. The summer has been busy and fun. We spent 2 weeks in Chicago with my parents and then the first 2 weeks of June "training" our kids in various ways. Isaac went through "sleep training" where I broke him of eating during the night and he gradually learned to sleep through the night. He has been great since then and usually sleeps from 7pm to 6am at which point he lets me know he is REALLY hungry and nurses and then goes back to sleep for another hour or so. He also started on solid foods which for Ethan, took quite a lot of training and he never really got good at it (he still isn't and would rather do just about anything else than eat- even sweets! Obviously he didn't get that from Taylor or I). Isaac on the other hand, LOVES solids! He is such a pleasure to feed. He opens his mouth wide and even starts whining if you're not fast enough. Definitely a new experience for us. Ethan used to refuse to open his mouth and we often spent a full hour trying to get 2 tablespoons of food into him. We even resorted to blowing bubbles so he'd look up at them and inadvertently open his mouth and we could shove the food in quickly. So Isaac is great. His favorite so far is carrots.

Ethan spent the first few weeks getting "trained" in several different ways. First, in learning to sleep with someone else in his room (Isaac previously was in our living room since he was getting up to nurse several times a night). So now Ethan has had to learn to sleep through crying. He also graduated to a big boy bed (which he rolled out of twice before we wised up and got a guard rail). He never figured out how to climb out of his crib, so we've been spoiled for the past 3 years. He's somewhat good about staying in his bed but often gets out to play with things. Tonight I heard him playing after I'd put him to bed and went in to find him playing with an empty laundry basket on his head (we've had to remove all the other toys from his room). So he's not fully trained there- but what child is? And the last bit of training was Ethan and the potty. Everyone in DC can tell you how much I procrastinated this one- and mostly because Ethan was so content to stay in his diapers. So I decided to wait until we were in Utah where I could spend most of our days in the backyard and have less cleanup. I have to admit I was really worried it wouldn't work but it was amazingly fast and easy. Ethan had 4 or 5 accidents the first day (all outside!!!) and then the second day he somehow figured it out. Over the past 6 weeks he's probably only had 2 or 3 more accidents so I'm very pleased with that. He also hasn't been afraid of pooing in the potty so that has been a big blessing. It's amazing how these boys are growing and learning so quickly. They make me laugh every day and we have a great time together!