Potty Training, Pedals, Hormones & Naps

It's been a while since I've been on the blog - sorry ladies. Here's some updates from my life:

1) Potty Training - to me this was the thing I always dreaded most about parenting, which is part of the reason that we waited until Lucas turned 3 before even attempting anything. So for his birthday we bought him some 'Cars' underwear and 2 days later, the madness began. He started by peeing his pants and then right afterwards saying, "Mom, I need to go pee!" So the first 3 days we went through many pairs of underwear and shorts. He would humor us by sitting on the toilet every so often and after every time he would say, "I want a jellybean now!" (side note: we were bribing him with a jellybean and sticker for him to go pee). He would ask for the jellybean even though he hadn't done anything in the toilet, so we started explaining to him that he needed to 'get some water out of his penis.' Well, that quickly became his new favorite phrase. So by day 4, he finally peed in the toiled and was so excited and exclaimed "I got some water out of my penis!" That apparently was all it took though, because he hasn't had a wet accident since and is very good at going pee in the potty. And on a related side story, last Sunday during nursery I took him to go pee and when he returned to his friends, he also exclaimed loudly, "I got some water out of my penis!" That can only sound cute coming from a 3-year old. As far as pooping in the toilet, that has been a whole new battlefield. Poor kid fights the sensation and then becomes constipated and basically, we're still working on that one. But for how much I dreaded this whole experience, it has actually been amazingly pleasant and we're so proud of how quickly Lucas decided to pee in the potty.

2) Pedals - I think I told most of you that Lucas has been asking for a pink and green tricycle for months. Well for his birthday, he did get a tricycle from his abuelos and even though it's a Radio Flyer and hence red, he absolutely loves it! The first 2 weeks, he was an amazing Fred Flinstone and could 'ride' the tricycle all over the place just by running with his feet and avoiding the pedals. Zeke and I knew that until Lucas realized the benefit of using the pedals and how it would actually help him go faster, he would not even think about using the pedals. Well finally last Wednesday night, he got on his bike and finally decided to start using the pedals and is now a pro on his tricycle. It's so cute to watch him ride it. So basically, this was one more experience of Lucas' need to think things through before he decides to do them. In other words, he inherited the 'Wohlgemuth stubbornness' as Zeke likes to call it. Until he decides to do something on his own, no matter what we try to say or do, he won't do it. I'll be interested to see how this personality trait manifests itself in the years to come.

3) Hormones - My reference to this one is basically the fact that when I'm pregnant, I can cry hysterically over seemingly little things. To make a long story short, I didn't know that I had to go to a certain group of pharmacies to fill a prescription that I need, and now I'm probably going to end up paying an extra $25 on the prescription. Yes, it's a huge disappointment to have to spend extra money, but $25 isn't really that much So after I called my insurance company, I literally started crying hysterically because I was so frustrated and upset and it took me a good 15 minutes to calm down. Of course I called Zeke during this hysterical crying outburst and poor guy -- I don't think he will ever understand the pregnancy hormones and understandably so. He was of course very nice to me on the phone and everything, but I could tell that he was quite confused at the intensity of my crying. But apparently, this outburst had one benefit so read on.

4) Naps - As a preface to the continuation of my previous story: Lucas still takes an afternoon nap, but lately, it has been really hard to get him to bed at night and some evenings he doesn't fall asleep until 10pm, so Zeke and I talked about getting rid of his afternoon nap. Well the last few days, he did great. He didn't take a nap, and he did great all day, and went to bed at 8pm no problem. But then yesterday, things went a little bit awry. Our church is from 1-4pm, the time of when Lucas used to take his afternoon nap. Well, he seemed okay when church was done but on the way home he fell asleep in the car. And when we got home and I picked him up out of the car, he stayed asleep, and then when I put him on the couch to sort of try and wake him up, he stayed asleep. So I gave up and let him sleep, but then I wanted to wake him up to ensure that he would go to bed at a normal time, and he was Mr. Grumpy the rest of the night. I suppose this should have been a signal to me that maybe he still needs a nap, but nevertheless, I still decided not to give him a nap today. He was pretty whiny in the afternoon, but I figured that's mostly because he's constipated (see #1). So now back to my story from #3. While I was on the phone with my insurance company, Lucas was still kind of bugging me, but once I got off the phone and started my hysterics, he basically retreated and to the living room to play with his cars. I was caught up enough in my own emotions that it took me a while to realize that it was very quiet in the living room and when I went to look, I saw Lucas cuddled up on the floor with his blanket, asleep. Poor kid.

Asleep on the couch, after church.

Asleep on the floor today after my hysterics.

Anyway, thanks for reading. This turned out longer than I expected.