Working toward goals

Sammy, please oh please forgive me someday when you see this photo and realize that I have shared it with the world. How can I not share this?! It is the cutest!

Sammy does not yet sit on the potty very much. It is quite the ordeal talking him into willingly getting his bottom into the bathroom, so we have not made a huge deal of it yet. The other day (during the snapping of the above photo) he actually went potty while sitting on the toilet for the first time! A step in the right direction!

Elijah continues to make progress in this area. I am hesitant to get too hopeful because in the past I have gone to that hopeful place and then been really let down. As with everything with our oldest boy, lots of extra time is needed and I am learning to respect the whole process which may end up making me the world's most patient person. :) Our boys are both such amazing little people, and Dan and I do our best to focus on our love for them over anything else.

Dan and I had a lightbulb moment this week in regards to Elijah's behavior and seemingly constant and never-ending tiredness. We "removed" his naps about a year ago, but since then we have occasionally had him lay down for naps on days when he has seemed extra tired. In recent months, we have had him take naps three to four times a week. The days when Elijah has seemed extra tired to me are the days that we typically received concerned notes from his teachers or when we have had extra battles with every little thing. In the past few months I have said many many times to Dan, "WHY is he constantly so TIRED?!"

So this week I had the thought that his naps were disrupting his night-time sleep enough to make him constantly tired. We stopped giving him naps cold turkey and ever since he has been a completely different kid. We still fight the occasional battle, but overall he is so much more easy-going. If he starts to talk back or say something that isn't kind, he is able to turn it around (which is nearly impossible when he is tired). We are putting him to bed basically immediately after dinner and bath every night, but if that is what it takes then we will keep doing it.

Thanks for checking in, friends! More later! Other duties call, which I can reveal soon! :)