Water and potty (not together)

Hello friends and family! Just a quick update, as I have to get to bed soon. We have to get up at 4:30 to get to the airport, so good sleep is necessary tonight!

This past weekend we were able to spend some cherished time with one of my best friends in the world, Heather, and her two beautiful children. Elijah was beyond excited to spend time at a nearby waterpark (one of his favorite places in the world)! He explored, but not if water was going to splash in his face. Major anxiety occurs when water splashes his face! We will have to get past this issue next week when he starts swim lessons.

A year ago, he never would have gone down a slide like this. I am proud of my brave boy for conquering his fears.

Sammy has had an aversion to water since the day he was born. He hates baths and pools. When we entered the waterpark, he clung tightly around my neck and said, "GET OUT! GET OUT!" :( He stuck by Dan on the chair the ENTIRE time we were in there. He would not allow us to remove a single shoe from his foot.

At least his chocolate-toothed brother had a blast! We had fun riding down the Lazy River together. That was our special time. He didn't want to get out, and I secretly didn't either.

As I have written before, Sammy is FIERCELY independent. I will give you an example:

Getting him out of bed in the morning and (knowing he wants his blanket and bear with him when he exits his bed) I asked him, "Should I grab Bear and Bebe?!" Simultaneously I grabbed his bear. He saw this, grabbed Bear from my hands and threw him back down to his bed and stood back up. Then he bent back down and grabbed Bear himself.

These sorts of things happen all the time. He will not allow us to carry him upstairs anymore. He wants to walk to his bed by himself and turn his own fan on. He wants to get dressed by himself and buckle himself into his car seat (along with opening his own door and crawling into the car by himself). This is good in many ways, but it can be frustrating, too, as he is not capable of doing all of these things yet.

Elijah and Sammy are TOTALLY opposite in this way. Elijah has no problem whatsoever asking us to do everything for him. Sammy wants NO help. Ever.

(Happy waterpark boy!)

So tonight, Dan and I tricked Sammy a bit. We have learned that if we give him choices and make him feel like he is making decisions completely on his own that he is much more cooperative. He has fought taking baths like crazy his whole life. Tonight Dan said (after Sammy kicked and screamed about having to take a bath for 10+ minutes), "Sammy, you can either let Mama take your clothes off or Daddy will do it." Sam sucked his thumb for 30 seconds and then said, "MOMMY!" So he allowed me to remove his clothes. Step one! Then he said, "Sammy to bath!" Dan and I looked at each other like, WHAAAA?!?!?!?!?

I brought him to the bath and put him in and he was fine! Totally fine. No tears, no resistance. He played with Elijah for a few minutes and then by himself for 10 more. He loved it!

After bath, he was sitting on the couch wrapped in a towel like a cute little monkey and Dan said, "Sammy, if you have to go potty you can do that all by yourself!" So Sammy hopped off the couch and said, "OK! I go potty!" ?!?!?!? Again, we threw one another confused glances. Sammy went into the bathroom and shut the door. "I do it all by 'self!" So we gave him his privacy for a few minutes. Dan went to check on him and he said, "No! Sammy do it!" Ok ok!

He did it! He went potty on his own! At two and a half years old! This is foreign to us. Neither of us knew what to do or think. When he was finished, we danced and sang and gave high-fives and gave him a chocolate treat. Elijah said, "WAIT. What about me?" "Well Sammy went potty on his own!" So guess who else ran to go potty on his own.. :)

Then before bed (20 minutes later), Sammy asked to go potty again. YAYYY!

The little boys and I leave for North Carolina early in the morning. Please pray for good behavior and sanity in the airport and on the airplane! Also for continued potty success for BOTH boys.

Side note.. Elijah was borderline croupy through the night last night and through the day today. We held it off with steroids, and he even stayed home from school today. We are praying for an uneventful night and a vacation filled with total health!

Thanks for checking in! (so much for my quick post..)