progress / no progress

Progress:  A little over three months ago, we moved in with Ryan's parents. Dexter was 12 (ish) months old so I figured it was time to wean him off of his bottle.  Oh, how he loved his bottle. During the transition of moving, I decided it was too much change and I didn't want to push it. I kept putting it off and putting it off until about three weeks ago. We had a couple of rough and inconsistent days, then he got sick, really sick, and I just wanted him to drink to stay hydrated.  I didn't care what he was drinking out of.  As soon as he was better, it was full steam ahead.  A rough few nights later, he totally adapted to the soft spout sippy cups and has not had a bottle for over two weeks now.  Success!

Nuk 10 oz learning cup

No progress:  Theo peed in the potty 3-4 months ago, too.  He has days and weeks of doing well, and then nothing.  Just a couple of weeks ago he declared that he wanted to wear underwears in the car.  I let him.  He did awesome. He did this a few days in a row and had no accidents.  Then he flipped the switch and turned it off.  That's what he does.  Days of underwears then weeks of refusal to wear them.  I don't know about this kid. Obviously he has the control to hold it and the ability to tell me when he has to go.  I think he's just lazy.

Progress / No Progress:  Theo has been throwing the world's worst tantrums all day every day (only a slight exaggeration) for the last couple of weeks, and they have been especially horrific the past 3 days.  So bad that I have cried the last two days.  I could go on for hours but let's just say I feel pretty worthless and ineffective as a mother.  I have felt like his behavior is somehow a reflection of my parenting.  Without making myself cry again, let me just say that the point of this paragraph is the "progress" part, which happened tonight, sometime between tantrums.  He let me look inside his mouth (I've been trying for a month but he wouldn't let me) and I found what I was looking for.  A two year molar that is all the way through, 2 that are about 3/4 of the way through, and 1 that is about 1/4 of the way through.  That makes me feel like maybe the teeth have SOMETHING to do with his terrible-ness, and it's not just his age that is making him so terrible.  I feel terrible saying that he has been terrible.  But he has been... terrible. 

post S'mores bath - he's cute when you give him chocolate

Progress: Dexter is talking more and more. He says short sentences.  They are very simple, usually beginning with "I want" and ending with "bottle," "food," "that," "ball," or whatever other object he sees.  But it's a start!  He even knows some of his colors.  He's fairly consistent pointing out blue, pink, and green already!  Theo picked up on colors really early too, so this must be something that we/our babysitter incorporate into casual conversation without even realizing it.  Exciting! I love it when they surprise me with their learning. 

Friday night, we visited the park near our new house!

Saturday night, post S'mores bath

Progress / No Progress:  I'm two weeks into my new job and I still love the company and the people but I'm in a weird spot with my actual position/work.  I'm still training.  But I've watched people do the same things over and over and over.  I'm kind of to the point where I cannot watch another person do the same thing again. I'm not going to learn anything else that way. I have to do it on my own.  I talked to my supervisor about it.  She agreed that I should try some things on my own; I did.  I couldn't remember how to do stuff, so I had to ask for help fifty times.  I felt dumb.  It's hard, going from being one of the smartest people at work to being, indisputably, the absolute dumbest.  

Progress, sorta:  Last weekend we emptied one of our storage units.  The smaller of the two.  We had hoped to be in our house by the end of August but that didn't happen.  We still have to finalize our flooring plans and get it done before we move in.  The new goal is by the end of September.  I do think it is realistic. I hope I'm not wrong.  The boys' bathroom is coming along really nicely.  I can't wait to post some pictures.  The bathroom is going to be black, white, and gray.  I am torn between choosing a really colorful shower curtain to pull color from, like this: 

{pottery barn kids}

Or going straight up b&w, with something like this (which I really, really love, but wonder if it's too blah for little kids):

{urban outfitters}

What do you think?  Opinions, people!

xo,

~C~