New Year, New Developments

Even with my recent epic posts about both Jake and Jadyn, I have breaking news on both of them.

1) Jake has his first ear infection of the season. Urgh! Poor guy. He woke up Tuesday in the middle of the night whining and complaining that his right ear hurt. It was pretty on par being that he had such a bad cold the week prior. So we woke bright and early the next day to make the ped's walk-in hours and as the doctor was looking in his ear he said something to the affect of "Ew, Ouch, He hasn't mentioned anything before last night?" Apparently, it was a pretty bad infection and his eardrum was bulging. In fact, for the first time we have been advised not to drive him out of the area because the pressure change could cause it to burst, which it might anyway. The doctor assured me that this would not be dangerous, just open him up to further infection and then of course since Jake is allergic to penicillin he has to take Azithromycin, which gives him tummy troubles. Double urgh! As we left the doctor's office, tears formed in my eyes and I asked Jake to please let me know sooner next time one of his ears start to hurt. I felt so bad. The funny thing was that his only concern was whether his friends were still coming over for the New Year's party, which thankfully they were able to to. It really seemed to lift his spirits and he is as of now, on the mend.

2) I *think* Jadyn is potty training. For the last couple of weeks she has been asking to go potty. Trying to be encouraging, we of course oblige but more often than not she does not actually go. We tried putting her in underwear, asking her every 20 minutes or so and thought maybe after a few accidents she might start to get the idea but it did not really seem to be working. However, over the last couple of days, she has been asking to go with a little more success. I broke down and bought the "feel and learn" pull-ups, which I wasn't going to bother with (per some expert mommys who swear they are useless) but my reasoning is this: She can pull them on and off when she asks to go but I don't have to clean up puddles of pee all over the house. For now we are taking it slow, continuing to encourage her and hoping for the best.

As part of her potty training, we are rewarding her with a few M&Ms. Well one day recently she REALLY wanted some M&Ms but she did not have to go to the bathroom. She was in her birthday suit waiting for bath time when I was suddenly called back into the bathroom. She had been successful after all. So after I clapped and praised her to no end and sent her off to retrieve some candy from Daddy I began the task of emptying her potty, only I noticed that the liquid was unusually clear. I bent over to smell it and found it to be odorless. After asking Joe for a second opinion and upon further questioning from Jadyn, it turns out she had found some left over water in the bath and poured it into her potty. Apparently, she REALLY wanted those M&Ms. What a little stinker! We will be watching her a little more closely from now on.

If anyone has any tips or advice about the potty training, I would be open to suggestions. Jake did not PT until after the age of 3 1/2 due a fear of the toilet and between Jadyn's younger age, being a girl AND it being necessary for us to leave the house more often, I feel like a first time mother trying to figure out logistics. It would be nice to have a diaper-less house soon however.

Hope everyone is enjoying the New Year and stay tuned: I have a few pics to share of the little gathering we had to celebrate the event.