All For A Boy

Today is day 5 of no accidents for Eleanor. The whole potty training ordeal hasn't been the worst thing ever, but there were times when it felt that it was. Just a couple weeks ago, I was ready to throw in the towel, or throw on the diaper in this case. I know my whole strategy was to switch to panties and not look back, but Eleanor was being a stinker. She was having accidents purposely - how's that for an oxymoron. I just know she was. So after four 'accidents' one evening, I talked to Matt about what to do.

The next morning, I asked Eleanor if she wanted to wear a diaper. This wasn't a threat - this was mom trying to take the easy way out for now. To my surprise, without hesitation, she said 'no, I wear panties.' And a short while later, she told me she had to go potty. So we were back on.

Things were getting better. She still had accidents - real accidents. Then last week a boy started coming to daycare. He's been there once or twice before and I was told that Eleanor has a crush on him. She's 2 and he's 10 or 11. But when you ask Eleanor about Zach, she gets this shy school girl crush look on her face. It's really cute (dad's not impressed).

So now Zach's at daycare and Sandy and I both make comments early in the week about how Zach may or may not like playing with girls who pee their pants. I know, that's not the way the potty training experts tell you to handle things. But we're getting desperate...

Low and behold, it worked. At least she hasn't had an accident since then. So basically Eleanor is peeing like a big girl and doing it all for a boy. I have to say, I'm excited about the no accidents - but for a boy?

1st Beach Day

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I took Eleanor to the beach. We left Carolyn at daycare to try it out before she starts going regularly in about a week (12 weeks of maternity leave absolutely flew by). So Eleanor and I had a 'big girl' day at the beach! She's been wanting to go since January so she was super excited.

We went to Warren Dunes and had a blast. Eleanor immediately was in the 68 degree waters of Lake Michigan. It didn't faze her in the least. She'd get soaked to her neck and come out shivering but never admit that she or the water was cold.

We played games like 'get a handful of sand, put it here, then run to the water and wash your hands' over and over again. Then Eleanor tried catching seagulls. She also got me in the water and I held her while she would 'swim'. She has no fear of the water so I had to patrol the coast to keep her from walking out too far.

After 3 hours I was exhausted and all I really did was sit and watch her run nonstop. I have no doubt she could have gone 3 more. But I grabbed her skinny little sandy body, threw her on my shoulders and trudged up the sand hill to the car. Five minutes down the road she was out. It was a great day and I hope to do it at least once more before going back to work.

Ouch!

Carolyn had her 2 month well-baby visit yesterday. She's perfectly healthy and still growing great.

Weight: 9 lbs. 13 3/4 ounces
Length: 23 1/2 inches

After the doctor examed her, I asked what shots she'd be getting. He wrote down the names of SIX vaccinations!!! The poor girl had to get 5 shots (1 was oral). I always feel so bad for babies getting shots because they're so unprepared - just smiling and looking around when all of a sudden... Wham! Someone's poking needles into their legs. But she did fine and calmed down somewhat easily.

Dramatization of actual event

Afternoon Off

Matt called this morning to say he was thinking about dogging off work early. For one it was raining and there wasn't a crane there today, plus he wanted to go to the hospital with us to see my grandpa who has a bad infection in his hand.


Since he was home, I took the opportunity to run an errand all by myself. Not something I'm able to do often. I just needed to pick up some pictures from Walgreens in Niles. When I came home, this is what I found...


I think all the ironworker work plus all the house-building work has him exhausted. And Carolyn is just happy to have someone to nap with (babies can sleep in the most awkward positions).

Sunburst

I ran the 5K in the Sunburst Saturday. It was a great day for a race!

My company sponsored a corporate team this year. It was nice having so many friendly faces (and florescent green shirts) in the crowd. I hadn't planned on running since it would be less than 2 months after having Carolyn, but 4 weeks after her birth, I felt great and signed-up.

I'm glad I did. It motivated me to get running and into shape. I ran the race with my friend Pam and I especially enjoyed that. It was her first race and we had the same pace. She's a competitive booger so we pushed each other to the end. It wasn't my best time (worst actually) at 29:16, but hey, I have the excuse of having a baby less than 2 months prior to the race! I doubt many runners can say that :)