Monday Adventures

Monday I had a few errands to run and was extremely nervous about doing them with Jaxen (especially since Monday morning we had 2 potty accidents!).

About 10am I decided I had to go at some point. So off we went. After going potty, of course. We met Nik at the gas station (that is a funny sentence for some reason!). He was running church errands and he knew both cars needed gas. Hence, why we met at the gas station. While Nik was pumping gas, I asked Jaxen if he had to go potty. Yes. So we trekked into the gas station and he went! I was so proud of him for going in a new place, and without a potty seat!!!!

So we went on to Wal-Mart and did all our shopping - before we left, I asked again, if he had to go potty. Yes. Success again!!!!  

And I have to share this sweet story with you....

I have decided to really work on Jaxen becoming a big helper, especially when we are out and about. Whether that may be helping him learn to push the cart, put things in the cart or help in other ways. Now, with helping comes listening and obeying and those two things right there are so hard to teach! Monday, Jaxen decided to push the cart. I was trying to patiently guide him but let him do it. He was being pretty good and actually listening semi-well. As we were walking down an aisle this sweet older couple commented on how helpful and nice Jaxen was being! We said thank you and Jaxen gave them high fives and they wished me a happy Mother's Day. We were about to move on when the gentleman stopped me and asked if it was ok to reward Jaxen for his helpfulness and good behavior! I agreed and so he gave Jaxen a quarter and Jaxen was so thrilled! He held tight to that quarter and I told him we could get a treat with it on the way out. So he picked out some candy from a little dispenser as we were leaving. That couple made my day. They were so sweet to Jaxen and myself! 

Here is Jaxen, with his skittles that he bought with his quarter.

We continued on to Sam’s and Jaxen helped by carrying the lettuce...until he spotted the free sample spot. Nik always gets him whatever the free sample was. It was fruit snacks, so I let Jaxen have them. Then our day went a little downhill. He would not stopping touching a button at the checkout and so I had to take the fruit snacks away. Cue big tantrum! I carried him out screaming. That has not happened in a long time! And in the process, I think we lost his blue sunglasses. Sad. But on a good note, no more potty accidents!

Jaxen, being a big helper, carrying the lettuce through Sams!

That afternoon, I decided to have a little quiet time outside while Jaxen was napping.

This is my new favorite view. Out back, looking at all the pretty trees!

That afternoon we were waiting on Lindsey, Jaxen’s Speech Therapist, 

when Jaxen decided to read the mail!

(we are classy like that, reading mail, outside, in undies!)

To finish the night off, Nik and Jaxen had a great adventure on the bike!

Potty Training - Day 3

Day 3 of potty training started out with one happy, cute boy - in his big boy undies!

He just loves checking himself out in the mirror!

Before he went downstairs, he had to get his 3 favorite animals.

I decided to take it a bit easier on Day 3 and just see where Jaxen was with all this potty-training business. So I did not set a timer. I just asked if he need to go potty. And he told me “no” over and over again. About an hour into the morning, he finally said “yes" - and he actually went potty!

I had some work to do that morning so I left Nik in charge of the potty training and the report when I got home that afternoon was 2 accidents and Jaxen never said he needed to go on his own. Bummer.

After nap (which was 3 hours long!) he did great! He was telling us he needed to go, and going with no accidents. Same all evening. And even when he went to bed, he hollered for me about 30 minutes later, telling me he needed to potty! So I got him out of bed, took off his diaper and he went potty!!!

We still have a bit to go with potty training but I think he is doing really well with it all, and off to a great start. We still have poo-poo accidents everyday…but we are hanging in there! I’ll stop the day-by-day recaps…it’s just nice to have all this for memories and/or recaps when someone asks me specific potty-training questions!

Now on to some fun pictures from day 3!

Mother, Mom, Mommy, Mama…or Omm-ma!

Jaxen Houston Davis - 1 day old

 July 4th, 2012

I don’t know if you know this or not…but because of Jaxen’s problem with his speech (as in - there was no speech happening for a very long time) he never said “mommy”. It never really hit home that he didn’t call me mommy (probably because he said so little for so long) until I heard another little boy (younger than Jaxen) call for his mommy one day. 

And then I will never forget the feeling I had during his first speech evaluation, when they asked me if he said “mommy”. I answered no, and the lady was shocked. She then got sad for me. And then I got sad! Maybe I was hormonal that day…but it made me really sad that he did not call me mommy.

Fast forward almost one year….Jaxen’s speech therapist works with him on saying “mommy” every session. Whether they are working on “m’s” or not…she always make him acknowledge that I am indeed “mommy”. There are now incidences here and there that Jaxen calls me mommy all on his own. Not often, but it sure does make my mommy-heart swell up when I hear that name. Especially because it is coming from his cute little voice - and it’s more like “omm-ma”….which is pretty sweet!

I sure do love that boy. And the last few days as we have been potty-training it seems as if our bond has grown even more. It could be that I’m just super proud of him; or it could be that we had been literally attached to the hip for a few solid days…me watching his every move! Either way - I love him more and more as he grows more and more.

Just the other day I was on the phone talking with a preschool in town that specializes with special needs kids and therapy kids. I’m not really sure where we are at with sending him there in the fall…it was just a phone call to get more information. But when I thought of him not being home during the day with me, it made me a bit sad. Not that I don’t need my breaks from him - but I’m not sure that I’m okay sending him out the door to pre-pre-school at 3. He will be out the door and away from me enough of his life. So - no news there…just thoughts on how even though he is getting older, acting older, learning to potty, almost transitioning to a big-boy room…all just reminders of how blessed I am to be a mom. And how blessed I am that God entrusted me with this sweet little boy!

Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there…. 

It is a special privilege that we get to be one.

And thank you, to our moms…for loving us the way only a mother can love. 

We miss you and love you!

Me with my mom, mamaw and Jaxen - 2012

Me with Nik’s mom and Jaxen - 2015

Potty Training - Day 2

So Day 2 started out well! Jaxen was really excited to pick out his undies when he woke up and even went potty the first few times with no accidents!

I was experimenting with different sitting positions on the potty…forward and backward.

(I heard from a friend that she taught her kids to sit backwards, because it was easier).

As the morning wore on, we had 2 accidents...but overall it went very well! 

He spent a lot of time on his iPad, in the kitchen, during the first half of the morning….which is what was keeping him in the kitchen. Haha! Thankfully, it was a georgeous day so we headed outside to enjoy some sunshine!

While we were outside he had a poo-poo accident. And just because I'm in the sharing mood… Once we made it inside, the poo-poo fell out of his undies (while taking his undies off) - and then he stepped in it!!! Seriously. This potty training thing is not for wimps!

Did I mention yet how nice the weather is here this week?

Because it is totally gorgeous! Trees are blooming, grass is growing and the sun is shining!

After that little incident, he told me 3 times in a row that he had to potty before our timer went off (yea!!!). So I think it’s starting to click for him.

And one more proud momma moment - as we were laying down for afternoon nap, he looked at me and said "potty" and went potty!!!! I'm a little bit excited. Can you tell?!?

To keep myself busy today (while hanging out in the kitchen again) I did some laundry and played lots of Words with Friends on my phone. 

Then while Jaxen napped I got busy and primed the trim of our empty bedroom.

This will eventually become Jaxen’s room. There are just a few things to do in there first: prime, paint (hopefully just one coat), buy a dresser, purchase new 'big boy' bedding, decide whether or not to paint his furniture, have blinds hung, and then decorate. It will take some time as we put it all together. We are in no rush… but now that I’m getting started, I’m excited for it to be done and get Jaxen in it!

After nap time we had Speech Therapy and someone here working on our house (fixing our back door) - so Jaxen was very distracted while potty-ing. But…no accidents! And then I left. After being on “potty timer duty” for 2 solid days, I left! It was a very nice, needed break. Nik was in charge of potty training and it went well. There was one accident, but Jaxen was still telling him when he needed to go (for the most part).

Next up…Day 3! Are you tired of potty talk yet? Come back in a few days if you are and hopefully I will be done with so many details!

Potty Training - Day 1

I mentioned last week that I was about ready to potty train Jaxen. And then he got sick. So my plans changed a bit. I still had not gone to the store to purchase "goodies for bribing" but I was ready to potty train regardless....goodies or not!

So yesterday, when Jaxen was still sleeping (past 8am...like normal finally) I decided it was a good day to start! We both had a good night’s rest and I was ready to tackle this milestone. 

Jaxen woke up at 8:40 and I did not put him on his changing table to change his diaper. I just let him stand on the floor and we pulled his diaper off - I showed him all of his undies and let him pick one. We put his undies on with a shirt and walked down stairs. I immediately started him on juice and showed him the new potty seat I had on our toilet. 

Ten minutes later I put him on the potty. He did not want to be there. So I gave him my phone to play with while we sat there for 5 minutes, trying to get him to potty. Then we set up shop in the kitchen - I decided we would hang out there for the day (it was the best place for cleaning up messes). And good thing...because after 6 sits on the potty (not going) he had 4 accidents in a row, on the kitchen floor! And I thought about quitting. Honestly. I thought he just might not be ready. I was a bit discouraged.

Entertaining Jaxen in the kitchen.

But I pushed through and he finally went pee-pee in the potty and I gave him some candy to celebrate! He went again and I gave him chips. Then again, more chips. FYI: In my research, I read to give them salty foods while potty training because that makes them drink more and then they will need to go potty more!

Thank goodness for movies on the iPad...and chips and juice!

I even let him take his snack to the potty while we sat there, trying to go!

So I'm not winning any healthy-food-mom awards these few days... But all of “normal" is being thrown out the window as I try to train Jaxen to pee-pee on the potty! 

If you're wondering what I did all day... I was right there with Jaxen in the kitchen. We played with trucks and toys and watched movies and I also took the opportunity to clean behind my washer, dryer, stove, and fridge. (All on my spring to do list!) And then every 15 minutes my timer would go off. And we would head to the potty. If he didn't go, I would set my timer for every 10 minutes until he went. 

Playing with different things while sitting on the potty, to keep him entertained!

Eating a good lunch, in just his undies!

So the morning overall, went good! Then noon came…. All of a sudden I knew Jaxen had gone poo in his undies. I'll spare anymore details than that, but it was ok. And we flushed it and talked about how poo goes in the potty. Got cleaned up and kept going.

He liked just hanging out in his undies...still on the kitchen floor!

For nap time I put him in Pull-Ups. Then after nap we headed outside. We had one more poo incident, but also had success at pee-pee in the potty!

Having fun outside!

We stayed in undies all evening. Jaxen did pretty well. We still had an accident that evening... But when I told him it was time to potty - he would run to the bathroom, drop his undies, sit down and try to go. He was getting frustrated if he didnt' go right away and would sometimes cry and yell "stuck"! (Which I think is kind of funny!).

Golfing in his undies, outside!

After day 1 - I don't know if he recognized that his body was telling him he needed to go, but I knew we would keep trying! Although, he did tell me one time, before bed that he had to potty. I knew this would come with time and get better. Until then, I planned to keep setting a potty timer. 

My plans for day 2 were about the same…so stayed tuned!

One more thing. I was WIPED OUT. This is serious business! I kept hearing my timer go off (in my head) even though wasn't. Plus my back hurt from all the time spent sitting on the side of the tub, helping him to potty. 

Jaxen was getting a bit creative as we sat on the potty, and loved playing "in" his shirt.

I finally let him hang out in the sitting room (on a rug) and we did many puzzles!

Weekend in Review

Friday - I worked all day while Nik and Jaxen hung out. Last week, I worked so much…which is good, but also a little tiring and I miss being at the house, hanging out with my family. So Nik pretty much had Jaxen all to himself - but when I got home we all went on a little family walk. Or what I really mean is…I went on a walk. Nik was on his bike and Jaxen was on Mater…

Jaxen loves “driving” through our neighborhood!

We took him to the church parking lot so he could have a huge area to ride in!

Nik was standing on his bike, so Jaxen was standing on his Mater. Too funny!

I made Spaghetti for dinner - because that is one of Jaxen’s favorite food. He ate 3 helpings of it, some green beans and 7 meatballs. 7. Nik only ate 6. Ha ha!

This is his very messy face and 2 drinks from dinner.

We ended the night with a movie. I love movie nights!

Saturday - We were supposed to hang out with some friends that morning, but one of their kids was sick, and Jaxen was still not feeling up to par - so we cancelled. Instead, we went shopping! Actually, the way it happened was… I pulled out all of Jaxen's shorts and jeans (and then tried them on him) and made a list of clothes he would need to get through summer. And once that was done, I was on a roll and determined to check that off my to-do-list. So within 20 minutes we were all ready for the day, and out the door. We hit 3 stores and did some fast shopping.

We purchased 1 pair of jeans, 4 t-shirts, 2 polos, 2 pajamas, and 1 green pair of shoes.

We still need another pair of shoes (remember his cute navy slip-ons from last summer? I want those again) and some low cut socks.

After Jaxen’s (incredibly long nap) we went out for dinner at Chipotle. I love getting a salad from there. And I crave it all week long. Yummy!

Here is Jaxen before bed (in cute new pajamas). Insisting he wear his hat in the picture!

Sunday - We had a great morning at church!

Sunday Selfies

That afternoon Jaxen napped and I made desserts. I was requested to make Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies and a Peanut Butter Pie for a dessert auction / variety show that we attended that night. It was a long night, but we had a great time!