Another try...

So Baz woke up happy (yay!) and is watching Cars (and by watching, I mean reciting it with the movie and then pointing out each and every car), so I'm going to try again.

Baz is now 1 month shy of 3 years old and amazes us every day. He's still the lovable, adorable kid, but he's throwing in a few new characteristics. He's learning how to manipulate his environment (and us) with whining. Anya definitely went through a phase like this and eventually toned down the whining, but it's painful for us now. The newest thing for him is lying. If he wants something and one parents tells him no, he's say that the other said yes. So far, he hasn't caught on that we usually compare notes (if we even have to) and that he then gets a time out for lying, but it's only been a coule of days. On the way to work the other day, he didn't have daddy to "help him", so when I didn't turn to go past the construction trucks that he wanted to see, he told me "man said we have to go that way". That one had me laughing for a while!

He's stll fixating on trucks and trains. He's noticed a lot of telephone repair trucks as well as diggers, excavators, and bulldozers in our travels. It's always cute hearing him point out a "telephone parrot truck"! I have a feeling this spring/summer will be spent parking near construction sites so we can watch the trucks work!

Sebastian is now completely potty-trained, thanks to Daddy's motivation. About 3 weeks ago, George was home with the kids on a Sat and decided to start the timer method. Baz wore only underwear and we made sure the little potty chair was easily accessible to him and set the kitchen timer for 20 minutes. Every time it went off, he had to try to pee in the potty. Rarely did he not have any, but he also only had a couple of accidents. It took about a week of using the timer before he didn't need it anymore, but I'd say it was effective. After the first day, he was like a trained puppy.... the timer would go off and he'd jump up, exclaim "potty time" and run to the potty. Poop was a bit harder to do- the kid did not want to sit on the potty. Once he finally showed interest at the right time, I coerced him into sitting for a few minutes by looking at the box of the truck that would be his reward for pooping in the potty. Lo and behold, it worked! After that, there were no more accidents and he has not needed any prompting at all- yay! I put a pullup on him for nap and bedtime, but he often wakes up dry from his nap, so he could be done with pullups altogether soon!

Baz is also showing an interest in school lately. He points out where we would turn to go to the preschool that Anya went to (and he will too). We'll probably start him in a 3 year-old program in the fall....I think he'll thrive in that environment.

He's a great napper still, too. I'm pretty sure Anya made it to about 3-1/2 taking an afternoon nap, but I can't remember exactly when she gave it up. I do know that when she stopped napping, she HAD to go to sleep by 7 and slept all night long. Baz isn't so bad with the nightwakings....he does get up, but he just comes into our room and either camps out on the floor next to our bed or climbs in with us. Last night, our bed was completely taken...we usually put Anya down in our bed until both kids are asleep and then transfer her to her own bed. When I went to move her last night, Baz had already come into our bed, so their room was empty and both big kids were in our bed! Oh, and Baz is now in a full-fledged twin bed now. He's been on the mattress/boxspring on the floor, but over the weekend we decided to pull out the frame and set it up. I was a little nervous about him falling out while sleeping or climbing out, but so far so good!