We drove down to Grand Island, because Kohl's was having a great sale and I had some "Kohl's cash" and percent off coupons that needed to be used by this weekend. We got a BUNCH of fall clothes for Alex, because Wal-Mart and Target don't seem to make 2T clothes......they advertise that they do, but between the three stores we were at today, not a stitch of 2T was to be found. We also got him some new tennis shoes, because we are certain that he has outgrown the ones he wore last April. (Just a hunch....)
We had also been looking for a workbench for Alex - ever since Grandpa Dave and Great-Grandpa Frank were here, Alex has been fascinated with tools. We finally found a workbench - and it even has a "working" drill and flashlight!! Some of the pieces are still too small for Alex, so we have those stored in the drawer until he's a bit bigger. Here are a few cute pictures from him playing with his new toys tonight. There's also a video at the end. (Excuse the "no pants" on Alex - LONG story - if you want to hear it, just give us a call.) :)
We also got a couple more things......
A NEW POTTY CHAIR!!
Alex has shown a little interest in going to the bathroom, so we thought that we would get one, and see how interested he is in it. When we pulled it out of the box, "Cool" was the first thing that came out of his mouth. He instantly knew what to do with it, as he sat down in his diaper and all. We took his diaper off and asked him if he had to go potty, and he sat down on the chair again, this time with a very weird look on his face. He sat for about 5 seconds, and then he was off again. We put his diaper back on him, and not more than 2 minutes later we had a poopy diaper. He hasn't sat on it since. Hmmmm......
We did buy a couple of books about going potty on the toilet, and he has chose to read those a couple of times tonight. We know he'll be ready on his own time - we just wanted to be ready when he decides that he's ready.
And one last thing that we'd like a little input from you, our blog readers, on. We (Andy and I) have talked quite a bit about the "right way" to wean Alex off of his cork (pacifier). Right now he only has it for sleeping - naps and bedtime - and if he is really upset, like if he falls down. The past couple of days he has poked through his last two molars, so he has had it more often, but today he was fine without it. I've read quite a few recommendations - everything from cutting off the end of the cork and gradually cutting more and more off of the tip, therefore taking the suction away gradually, and then he decides he doesn't want it anymore. Another suggestion was to put some of the "nail biter" polish on the end of the cork, or else something else non-toxic that is bitter tasting. And of course, there's cold turkey. With school starting up, and baby on the way, I don't want to have too many changes for him all at once, which is why I think that something gradual is fine.....or we could wait until September or so, once we're in a routine for school and 2 months (or so) before Acta gets here. (Then I also wonder - if Alex sees Acta with a cork, is he going to want the baby's? So should we really wait until after the baby sometime to do all of this?) We just don't know - so we'd like the advice of our readers and your years of experience (or your knowledge of Alex, for those of you who don't have "parenting" experience). Feel free to leave a comment on here, or send us an e-mail directly - thebowins@gmail.com
Thanks so much for your help!! :) Andy and I will look forward to hearing from you!
1 comment:
Okay, I'm not sure if I should have the audacity to give a suggestion since my boy still his his bink, but here is a very good suggestion I've heard from my "birth boards" on babycenter.com
Build up to Alex that the "Cork Fairy" is going to come sometime soon and take all of his binks away for babies that don't have any. When Alex seems ready, he (with your help) gathers all of his corks and puts them in an envelope or a basket and sets it ina place the "Cork Fairy" can get them. Overnight the Cork Fairy will leave a "big" gift for Alex for his thoughtfulness and all his binks are gone. You must reiterate at night that they are gone and that he can't have them, but I've heard that moms that do this have a really high success rate.
I will warn you though... Steven regressed with his bink usage after Natalie came. It used to be only at night and nap and ouchies (just like Alex), but now it seems that it is a battle to get him to put it down anytime we are at home. And this is so, even though Natalie isn't a big bink baby (THANK GOODNESS!!!)
One last piece of advice... I learned this after I had our (not-so-useful) Lutheran blog. When I had my email address on that blog, I started to get a lot of spam. After you've had this one up for awhile, I would suggest deleting your email address. Or you could put thebowins at gmail dot com. (with little <> around the "at" and the "dot"-- That is actual HTML, so the comment didn't like that I had originally. See Ryan Davidsons comments to get an example of what I'm talking about.) That way it won't be read as an email address. There are programs out there that troll websites specifically for email addresses just so they can spam them. Sucks, huh?
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