week ending nov 12, 3006

Week ending November 12, 2006: Another big week for the Phelps family. We decided that in order to encourage Alex to try to poop in the potty we’d offer him a bribe (especially since we’d offered Chloe the fairy wings for 24 hours with dry diapers). He has a favorite train that is getting old and doesn’t work very well, so I offered to get him a new one if he pooped in the potty. I think it only took him a day or 2 to figure it out, and he’s pooped on the potty every day since. I don’t think I have every seen Alex so excited and talkative as he was after we got that new train! After 2 days of pooping in the potty we let Alex wear underpants, and he’s been wearing underpants for 4 days now with only one accident. After he had the accident he cried and said “I had an accident! It makes me sad!”. This Alex also agreed to let us take his crib out his room. He’s been sleeping in his big boy bed for several weeks, and every few days I’d ask if he wants us to take his crib apart, or if he wants it to stay in his room and he’d say “stay in my room”. Then one day I asked if he wanted us to take his crib apart soon and he said “yes”, and the next time I asked him if he wanted us to take his crib apart he said “yes” and was very excited to do it right away. On Friday we took the kids to the Baltimore Zoo and they had a wonderful time. We stayed there almost 5 hours and walked the whole park. It was 75F and there were no bus loads of school kids and hardly any other crowds either. It was really and idyllic day. Alex liked the tram and the polar bear. Chloe liked all of the animals except for the bats. On Saturday we all 4 stayed the night at a friends’ house. It was the first time we’d stayed away from home since the kids moved out of their cribs, so it was their 1st time sleeping in sleeping bags. I’m so excited that we made it through a whole night with them in sleeping bags. I have visions of them sleeping over at their grandparents’ houses and Casey and I getting an evening to ourselves now and again! I just can’t believe that this month we’ve got them both out of diapers, out of their cribs, and sleeping in sleeping bags. They are growing up fast.