Time for School

William started school on November 2nd. Here are some pics of William in his uniform on his first day.

Potty Training

During my pre-school search it began to dawn on me that William would have a better chance of getting into a select few schools if he were potty trained. Not to mention, we would save some $$!!

So here we go...

Saturday, August 8th
Day 0:

• I do research online to find some methods of starting and determining if William is ready. William is ready!
• Shopping trip to Target... William picks out underwear, hand soap, and Dora the Explorer potty training chart. I pick up a timer as a way to remind William to try and go potty.
  
• Back at home, I print out a list of acceptable potty words, a day sheet to track time and progress, and a reward system. All this information is posted in the bathroom.
  
• I walk Daddy and William through the expectations.
  

Sunday, August 9th
Day 1:

• William wakes up and sits on the potty...Afterwards, he puts on his new Elmo underwear.
• Every 20 minutes when the timer goes off William goes and tries to pee-pee.
• Initially he resists the timer but the treats help so he hangs in there.
• Three accidents and we end the day with a diaper for bedtime.

Monday, August 10th (Countdown to Belize begins)
Day 2:

• Grandma is introduced to our potty training efforts.
• We adjust the timer to ring anywhere from 20-40 minutes depending on fluids and last time he went.
• Five accidents but we are hanging in there...

Days 3-8:

• Accidents are varying and mommy and daddy realize it is no fun cleaning up poopie underwear and wet carpet.
• Tempted to throw in the rag...

Monday, August 17th
Day 9:

• First week down. William is going when we put him on the potty but so far he will not tell us when he needs to go. If he is involved in a game or other activity he will just pee... aarrgh!!
• Pooping is down in a corner when no one is looking and in his underwear... more aarrgh!!
• Dad and I begin to re-evaluate. I do more research.
• Daddy decides it would be best if we bought a potty he can get to on his own. So far we had been using the Kiddyloo. This required us to help him up each time.
• I head back to Target for a potty for home and one for on the go.
  
• New potty is introduced to William. It praises him when he goes and has a toilet paper holder and a lever to flush!
• Also, the timer is gone now. We begin to observe William touching himself of dancing around when he needs to go. At that point we tell him to go try.
  

Days 10-16:

• We are making progress. Accidents have diminished and his signals are clearer.
  
• William can pull down his underwear and pull them up.
• The new potty is a hit. He prefers that over his treats.
• Treats are discontinued.
• Day sheets are discontinued.
  

Tuesday, August 25th
Day 17:

• Success??? Half-way!
• William now tells us when he has to go and even goes on his own.
• Carpet is staying dry.
• Poop is still happening in his underwear... aarrgh!

Days 18-25:

• Peeing in the potty is a great success. William will even use public restrooms. We got him some toilet seat covers that stick. They are very handy and makes us feel a lot better when he uses public toilets.

Wednesday, September 2nd
Day 26:

• William refuses to put his pull-up on at bedtime.

Thursday, September 3rd
Day 27:

• William wakes up dry and goes to potty on his own right after waking up.

Days 28-30:

• William is not wearing diapers at all.
  
• There were two nighttime accidents but we press on...

Days 31-39:

• I wake William up at 5AM to go potty. He pees and goes back to bed.

Wednesday, September 16th
Day 40:

• William goes poop in the potty!!!
• We are on vacation and he has started wetting the bed again. Back to pull-ups at night.

So we returned from vacation and it only took him two nights to get situation again. I think William is officially potty trained. Pee, poop, and nighttime!!!

I can't believe we did it. The first two weeks were very painful but after that things seemed to move along nicely. Pre-school, here we come!!

BTW: We decided on Montessori Children's World. He starts Nov. 2nd.

Pre-school Hunt

I have been busy going all over town trying to find the right pre-school for William. So I looked around and began to focus on the Montessori schools. I became very interested in the philosophy of sensory learning. Also, we were hoping to enroll him in a program that would provide an academic foundation.

Some may think he is still too young for focusing on academics but at the rate he soaks up information we can't resist. Besides, he loves learning and it would be great for him to be in a well structured environment. Structure has been one of the few things we have not really focused on at home and it's about time.

After visiting a few Montessori schools we decided to reorganize his bedroom. The schools we saw demonstrated well disciplined students with a propensity for self awareness. They cleaned up after themselves and behaved even when the teacher was not looking...

I bought some bins and added a bookshelf to his bedroom. Now everything has a place and all the areas are labeled. He has done a great job of keeping his room picked up. We encourage him to put his previous toys away before taking out additional toys. Also, when his room is messy and I ask him to clean-up it gets done with no fuss and in seconds.

Well, I am done with looking at schools and now we must decide. Here are links to our top three...

1. Montessori Children's World
2. Montessori Academy of Culver City
3. New World Montessori School

Camping again!

This year's camping adventures kicked off at Silverwood Lake in March. I think we were too early because that had to be the coldest weekend to go camping. The Friday night we had a touch time setting up camp since we spent 5.5 hrs in traffic and arrive after dark. Then, in the middle of setting up camp William accidentally locks my mom's car keys in the car. So we had to wait about an hour for AAA to find us and unlock the car.

Then we were able to sit around and roast marshmallows. We turned in around 11PM. Around 2AM I was freezing and found it extremely difficult to stay warm. We made it through and during the day it was either too cold or windy and it just wasn't going well. By dinnertime I decided another night in the cold would not work so I rally the troops and we packed it up and headed back to Los Angeles. We ended the trip camping out in my living room. I must say, it was much better than freezing all night.

William attempts to get wet in the lake but it proves too cold and that's as far as he went.











The women all bundled up on the beach. Now, if we had to be bundled on the beach you know it was cold.












William bundled up on a hill of sand.











Early morning pine cone collecting.

Happy Father's Day

William and I took daddy to Medieval Times to celebrate Father's Day. I was not sure how William would react but he surprised us with his enthusiasm. William was standing in his seat shouting, waving, and clapping. He called out various colors as they appeared and had a blast all around.
He has been learning new things at an incredible rate. His memory is surprisingly good. He cleans up his toys every night and knows to put his clothes in the laundry basket. He is getting very good at asking for what he wants. He has a couple favorite tv shows and he has learned so many words from the Your Baby Can Read program. When we read books together I point out words he knows and he can read along.

He is super active and enjoys running and jumping around. I cannot get enough of him. We are having tons of fun watching him develop. He has mastered opening applications on his pc as well as closing/quitting them. He knows what games he likes and can play them whenever he wants. He knows how to find his programs under the start menu and how to get online. I think it's time for those firewalls...

Road Trip

We took our first road trip to visit Mel and Tiki in Arizona. Ben and Mel were in the Marines together and had lost touch until the likes of Facebook. William was a real sport on the drive in. He slept part of the way and the rest of the time rocked out with Daddy. Once the music is playing William can just chill.

Last year before Christmas William, my mom, and I were shopping and out of a mountain of toys William picked this trash truck. Every since "Trash" goes everywhere with us. Since we spotted these life size trucks we had to get a picture.












William cannot resist the temptation of water. While at the hotel he had a blast playing in the pool. Now that we have a pool where we live he is constantly asking to go swimming. Since it has not been very warm lately the only swimming he is doing is in the bathtub. That seems to satisfy him just fine.












It was very hot in Arizona. You can see William here squinting from the brightness.











The Catrons and Stovalls!!











William is already enjoying the likes of the driver's seat and the front passenger seat since there are controls he can play with that do fun things.

Fun in the snow?

William's first adventure in the snow took place at Mt. Baldy. We loaded up the kids and headed out mid-morning on Valentine's Day. The older kids could hardly contain their excitement. The little ones, William and his cousin Malaya, were just giggling and laughing because it seemed like the thing to do.

Anyway, we get there and find a nice spot for the kids to play in. We bundle them up and send them on their way. Whoa and behold... it's COLD!!! It was freezing!! The kids began crying that they were cold and they didn't want to play because their little fingers were frozen.

Poor planning on the parents' part. I thought we had it all figured out. Even my mom who had been the year before was surprised by how cold it was.

So it took us about 1.5 hrs to get there and we stay for 20 minutes. I think we will stick to "fun in the sun."

Good Ole' Thacher

Alumni weekend at Thacher...











It was great to go to my old high school and share some of my adventures with family. William loved having open space to run around. It was great to see him exploring all areas of the campus.












However, he was not happy when I went trap shooting. He cried the whole time. It was my first time shooting and it was awesome!! I was sore the next day though.

Overall, it was a great time and wonderful to see all the changes.