Ta da! He has done it! After weeks of 'forced' sittings on the potty with nothing to show for it, today it has finally occurred. Zach has finally produced something while sitting on the potty! It was very exciting for everyone! Zach got FIVE candycorns and got to eat them IN HIS BED. Why that was a big treat I don't know.
Then, to celebrate the big day, Art and I decided to take the boys to Burger King for dinner for Zach's "I pooped in the potty" party. We kept stressing why we were out and what all the hoopla was about.
Fingers crossed that this is the start of successful potty training!
Here are some pictures of the big event: Wyatt playing with Zach's car Wyatt just being cute Zach reading the nutrition info on the milk (he sees Mom do this a lot I guess) Zach holding up the toy he got from his kids meal Our trash
Poor Zachary rarely is allowed to watch any television or videos. We had been letting him watch 7min Thomas the Train videos on YouTube once or twice a day. Now that he's getting older, he's being allowed to watch stuff a bit more frequently - not every day, but as a treat for things. We have also instituted movie night on Fridays where he gets to watch 20 or 30 minutes of a movie before bed. This is very exciting b/c Wyatt goes to bed before he does. It can take a few weeks to watch a whole movie this way, but it's nice.
Here is a picture of Zach watching a video on our portable dvd player that we keep in the play room. He got a treat for something and is watching it before bed. I took the picture b/c he looks so old and serious. Yet this is something he really enjoys and asks for all the time.
Art has made forts with Zach before, and he has enjoyed them, but never really asked for them or loved them. No more. Zachary is a fort building machine. He asks for one nearly every night now. Zachary generally prefers for "baby" to be in the fort too, but only briefly. One night Wyatt got his only little room, just for him. Mostly they are contained to the couch in the front room. However, one night I took off after dinner for a little break, and when I returned shortly before 8pm to put the boys in bed, I witnessed a fort that took over the whole living room. Wow. Here are some pics of various stages of forts and fort building. Even Dexter occasionally gets in on the action.
Every night before bed I, or Art, check on the boys to make sure everything is ok - they are breathing, have their blankets, etc. Because of this, we have been able to witness Zach in some very crazy sleeping positions. Tonight was different. Tonight was the first night we had ever seen Zach sleeping normal, like a "big boy": under the covers with his head on the pillow, at the head of the bed...all at the same time. We had to have proof.
Art somehow convinced his boss (that word always makes me think of bad prison movies) that he should get to take 2 weeks off for Christmas. Well, not totally off, since he was planning on working some every day. Art's boss was tentative about it and they left it as ok for now, pending the amt of work Art gets done. If not enough, then Art would post-date some vacation time. In the end, the boss was pleased, so we still have 2 weeks.
An abbreviated summary, since most of the people reading it were there.
Friday, Dec. 18 MUCH packing. I had been packing and organizing and such since Monday. What a disaster zone. Finished it though, and in bed b/f 11pm.
Friday, Dec. 19 Art comes home from work early afternoon so we can leave around the boys' nap time. Not only does Art have to lug all the bags out to the car, he has to shovel the car out from the curb. We had messed up by not moving the car on a snow emergency day and got snow plowed in worse.
We were able to drive for a few hours (great napping Wy-baby!) before stopping for a break at McDonalds for Wy to nurse and Z to play. We stopped later at Waffle House for dinner, that happened to be adjacent to a Super8, so we stopped for the night. I think we were about 4-5 hrs from home, leaving a 5-6 hour drive the next day to Knoxville, where we were going to stay with our friends the DeJongs.
Saturday-Sunday, Dec 20 - 21 After a long day on the road we arrive in Knoxville around 5pm. Mellow Mushroom for dinner! Yum! Zach had a really good time playing with JD. Z couldn't say Johnathan (which is what he is called - only our family calls him JD) I guess, or couldn't remember it, so he took to calling him "Payer" (for Player, I guess b/c he played w/ him?). So funny to hear Zach saying "Payer, where go?" They played and we were able to catch up with our friends, as well as Liz's parents.
Then off to GA, for a quick stop at Leisure Dr. to pick up supplies (baby bed, diapers, etc), then off to Athens where we will be for Christmas. We arrive in Athens just in time for a yummy pasta dinner. Boys in bed, and now we can relax - by watching The Holiday. Such a good movie - maybe not for Art though.
Sun 21 - Fri 26: Athens, Ga - Janneke's house Sunday was spent playing in the morning, then going to Chick-fil-a for lunch (they have a play place! So jealous!), then more playing in the afternoon. Monday was more playing, waiting for Art's parents to arrive. After the boys naps, Oma, Opa, and Oma Sweet drove up in the camper. Zach was intrigued with the camper and wanted to go in it all the time. Opa took him on a trip in it where Zach sat in the passenger seat and they pretended to drive somewhere.
Tuesday morning the Chicago Counts took the boys to Target, mainly to get them out of the house so the others could work on their Sinterklaas items. We were planning on celebrating that evening. Janneke spent the morning putting together the full-size keyboard she had so that we could sing Sinterklaas songs. Zachary had a blast playing on it. Karl E. arrived during dinner, and once the kids were in bed, we all started our celebration. Art and I were assigned Janneke, which was funny b/c she had us. It was a fun fun evening for us all. Wednesday, Christmas Eve. We hung around the house in the morning and then in the afternoon, we all (minus Oma Sweet) headed to a nature park to walk around for a bit. We had to leave after a minor altercation involving a slippery creek and a gentleman with no-tread shoes. A young lady came over to help the gentlemen up and met the same fate in the wet, muddy creek. This occurred sometime after Zach fell in the creek and hurt his knee. He went on for a few weeks about how he needed medicine (baby Tylenol) b/c his knee hurt. He milked it to the utmost. Wed. night after everyone recovered from their outing we had an early dinner of soup and went to a candlelight Christmas Eve service. Zach freaked out at first b/c there was no "baby church" and he wanted to leave the sanctuary. He calmed down after we explained that this church had no baby church. Wyatt slept on Art's chest the entire service. After the boys went to bed, we all sat around to listen to a Christmas story then head to bed.
Thursday - Merry Christmas! We all opened presents in the morning, after breakfast, while wearing our pjs, just like the Sklar family has always done. Zach was thrilled with both his presents and Wyatt's presents from Tante Jaja. It was a very nice morning. We spent a lot of time playing outside with Zach's new soccer ball. Once the boys were in bed, we all played cards. I won - yea! Friday - After breakfast I started getting us all packed up...which always takes forever of course. Due to some issues in ATL, we ended up having a bit more time in Athens, so all the grandkids went out to lunch with Oma Sweet. The boys stayed with Oma and Opa which Zach was happy about b/c he got to play in the camper. All week he could be found either riding his rocket (which had a specific parking place to keep it out of the way of Oma Sweet), or asking if he could go in the "campa". Zach also spent a good amount of time bouncing on the bed in Oma Sweet's room and having Oma Sweet read him stories. It was a wonderful visit and we were sad to leave. As we were leaving, we realized that we stupidly left the power cord to the Mac. Lucky for us, Karl E. had not yet left and was able to bring it back to ATL with him. It worked out great b/c Art went up to his apartment, after dinner, to spend a bit of time with him and took Creed with him (Creed and Staci were still in Dunwoody from Christmas).
Friday night was our Christmas celebration with Mom/Nana. Due to some cleaning product issues at her house, Dad and Faye let us use the Leisure Dr. house for our get-together. We opened presents and had dinner with us, Mom, and Staci and Creed. After dinner, Art and Creed went to Karl's and Staci, Mom, and I looked at Staci's wedding album.
Saturday started early. We went to have breakfast with Mom at Gwinnett mall. We met Dad, Faye, Joy, and Joanna at Olen Mills to get our family portraits taken. Long long morning. Both boys got pretty tired of the whole thing after about an hour. But we got some good shots. Sunday Dad/Faye went to the early service so that we could go to the late service w/out the boys. Joanna was supposed to leave, but stayed overnight to work from the ATL office on Monday. Monday - Very cool. Mom's present to Staci/Creed, Art and I was a trip to the Egyptian exhibit about King Tut. It was very interesting. So much to see though..perhaps too much. We were there a few hours then headed to Cheesecake Factory for coffee and cake. the wait was about 20min so we just got some cheesecake to go. It was so very good! Nap time. Staci and Creed left a little before dinner, after a "quick" game of Settlers.
Tuesday - A BIG DAY. Janneke came over in the late morning to see us for a bit and play with the boys. She had lunch with us then went back home. It was good to get a bit of one-on-one time with her.We spent most of the day preparing for, prepare yourself for this, Dad's harmonica club party. Yes, Dad was hosting the harmonica club at his house. So kids had to go to bed early and all their toys had to be carted away. I'm sure that it seemed odd that Dad's adult children were hanging around for this meeting, but there is no way I would miss it! Joanna and Art were there too. The big draw was that XXX, a famous Dutch harmonica player was going to come and give a little talk/seminar thing. Dad was very excited for he and Art to talk a bit...in Dutch of course. Wednesday - New Year's Eve! Art and I left to go spend the night in Chattanooga w/ Staci and Creed for NYE. First night away from Wyatt! I nursed Wy for his 4pm feeding and we took off. Faye nicely loaned us her new Civic (purchased the same time as our Fit) so they could keep our car w/ the 2 car seats...just in case. We got to their apartment shortly before Karl E. and Laura arrived. It was a small party with just the 6 of us - more pizza for me! We barely made our way through a game of Life - so much silliness - while waiting for the ball to drop. Staci insisted we watch Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve, so we suffered through that. :) Laura was enjoying reading a BSC book she borrowed from Staci, and Staci and I were fooling around with the BSC trivia questions when we were SUPPOSE TO be playing life. Around 1am, I was VERY ready for bed, but got sidetracked when Creed started dancing. It is totally worth staying up until 2am to witness that. Then Staci and Art decided to mimic the dancers on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve (though over at this point, Staci made us watch the first half that we had missed earlier in the evening b/c we were watching the Ga Tech football game). So off to bed at 2am. Sadly, I woke up at 9am to pump, but then was able to go back to sleep until 11am. We all awoke around the same time and our lovely hosts had a smorgasbord of yummy food. After breakfast, we all played a game of cribbage. I forgot who won, but there was very nearly a skunking! After that it was time for Art and I to get back to our parental duties, so we headed back to Dunwoody. Plus, Art had to pack. He was leaving the next day to go back to Chicago. Friday, Jan 2. - Art leaves us to go back to the real world. Boo. I went with him to the airport. Art was worried b/c he still does not have a US driver's license. His German one never expires, but he was worried about flying with that as his only form of id. It was no problem since it is a "government issued id", but we were still nervous. After leaving the airport via MARTA, I met Dad/Faye at Perimeter mall where they had taken the boys to play on the ride-on toys and such. UNBELIEVABLY, I was a terrible mom and did not pack a dinner for Wyatt. I ordered a veggie dinner for Zach, mashed potatoes, corn, and carrots, hoping I could smash some of that up and give it to Wyatt. Big no. He wanted nothing to do with it. I ended up having to nurse him. It was still a fun outing. Saturday, Jan 3. Mom came over at breakfast and played w/ the boys until Wy went down for a nap. Then Mom and I went out to lunch then off to do some shopping for the boys. It was a successful trip b/c we found 2 baby buntings for Wyatt and a bib overall snow pants for Zach, among other things. I got a cute skirt that I was hoping would be too big, and I'd give it to Staci, but after all the Christmas eating, it, sadly, fit. Maybe she'll get it after I get back to CHI. Sunday, Jan 4. Church with mom. Off to her SS class to show off the boys. The class was meeting at IHOP for lunch after church. However, church ran very very long, and by the time I had nursed Wyatt and we got to IHOP, no one was there. So we had lunch w/ just the 4 of us. Wyatt fell asleep and Zach nearly melted down, but was able to keep it together. Always risky to have them out so close to nap time. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were reserved for hanging out with friends. I got together with Tiffany Pettepher - now Ivie for the first time since my wedding I think. Several years at least. We had lunch at Mellow Mushroom and I found out about her husband and her upcoming son. I also caught up with Christy at her new house in Marietta. A yummy lunch (thank's for buying!!) and a yummy yummy Caribou (no Caribous in the last three cities we've lived in. Depressing!) and a few hours later and we were all caught up. I had to leave when Staci arrived in town for the evening. Wednesday found us catching up with Stephanie and her two boys, Drew and Jack, at Leisure Dr. It is always fun to watch the boys playing together. After lunch, Zach started getting real tired and just said "I'm going to bed" and headed upstairs. I had no choice but to put him to bed. :) Steph and the boys left soon after. Staci and I both were worn out by all the kids. She took a nap and I went for a walk w/ Faye. Then Staci and I went to see a movie using some free movie passes I had (Marley & Me), then back to Leisure Dr. to eat and pack. Boo. Thursday was leaving day. We were actually able to leave the house a bit before 10am. Staci rode w/ me from Dunwoody to Chattanooga then switched w/ Dad who had been driving her car. Then driving and driving and driving and driving (all by Dad) later and we finally made it to Chicago by lunchtime on Friday. Whew! Now I need a vacation from my vacation. :) Dad stayed in town for the weekend and left on Sunday evening (he had to get back for jury duty). Since he was really available only the one day, Saturday, to take Zach shopping for his Christmas presents (Dad spared us presents in ATL since they would all have to fit into the car coming back), we had to go that day, even though it was snowing - big time! I MIGHT have been a bit dramatic in my announcing every now and then "It's a White Out!". But I was pretty nervous after trying to break for a yellow light and sliding my way through the intersection on a red. Yikes! But it was a good trip and we got toys toys toys. We found some great buys at a high end consignment store near us and Dad got a jumpy chair for Wyatt. Jumping is his passion in life and this was a huge Godsend. Funny story: I was talking to the lady in the store about how long they might use it and if it was a good idea for us. The price tag said $18, and I, thinking that is a great buy, started to say "Well for $18", I was about to finish with "it's surely worth it", when she jumped in with "how about for $10?". We were like DEAL!. It's been great. Wyatt has used it every single day with much pleasure.
Here he is trying it out on the first day - the pricetag is still on it!
