ScrumpyDaddy

It is so wonderful when a person decides to do something and sticks to it.  I believe it is this way with potty training.  From the beginning, we hardly had any trouble getting Abby to pee on the potty.  We had waited until she really started to show interest in the potty.  We began potty training when Abby was over 2 1/2 years old.  She loved being a big girl and peeing on the potty.  Every time she did, she received two stickers.  One to put on her chart, and one to put on her shirt.  It worked great.  She eventually just went potty and didn’t need to receive the stickers anymore.  Pooping, on the other hand, was a different story.

Abby would sit and sit on the potty and never go nor try to poop.  It always seemed liked 5 minutes after she got off the potty she would poop in her pants.  We could not figure out how to get her to do it on the potty.  We had prizes for her, which she saw and knew about, that she would get if she pooped on the potty, but this also didn’t seem to work.  Nothing we did as parents could get it through to her that she needed to poop on the potty and not in her pants, especially since she wore big girl underwear and not pull ups (we only do pull ups at night.)

Then, it seemed like one day after we got back from the beach, Abby just decided “now is the time.”  She was the one who decided.  True, she still wanted to receive her prizes for pooping on the potty, but that isn’t what got her to do it.  Since we got back, Abby has been great about telling us when she needs to go poop, and she does it on the potty now.  She hasn’t had a pooping accident since we got back from the beach.  She now has quite the collection of matchbox cars for all her effort.

Way to go Abby!  We are so proud of you!

We decided to take a picnic to South Park to let Abby play at the park. We stopped at KFC and got fried chicken to go to eat at the park. We found a great spot that wasn’t being used. The playground with pavilion we usually go to was being used by a party. We didn’t really think about the fact it was Saturday in the summer and there would be parties at most of the pavilions. We were able to find a pavilion with a playground surrounded by trees. It was great because it was wonderfully shaded so both kids to be out and enjoy the weather without getting over heated. We had so much fun and Zach enjoyed looking at the trees and being outside. There were three memorable things that happened while at the park that I want to go into more detail about.

First, Abby rode the swings. We have been trying to encourage her to pump the swing on her own. We pushed her to start her off and then told her the pump her legs up and down. We kept saying up, down,up, down. She started doing it and was able to keep the swing going for a little while without being pushed by either of us. She only did it for a little bit before she got tired of trying and just wanted pushed. We are so proud of her.

Secondly, while we were at the park Abby used the porta-potty for the first time. I was amazed how easily she used it. I would have thought she would not have wanted to use it since the potty part is so open and you can see what other people have left. She did comment on how someone had pooped in there. I was so proud of her. She went on the potty instead of having an accident.

Lastly, when we were leaving the park she picked up a small rock from the ground to keep. She loves rocks.  We started to drive home and all of a sudden she said, “Stuck in my nose.” Immediately Dave pulled over and I went back to see if the rock was in her nose. Sure enough she had stuck this small rock up one side of her nose. Why oh why would she do that? Luckily it wasn’t too far up that I was able to work it out by pushing it from the outside and once it was starting to show I pulled it out. No doctor’s visit needed. Needless to say we will not be allowing Abby to pick up anymore little rocks and taking them with her due to this.

It is a tradition in the Outer Banks to go mini-golfing. There is a place on just about every corner that are elaborate and busy (as well as a “Wings” on just about every corner). “Hey kids look, Big Ben and Parliament.” We decided to take the plunge and try mini-golfing with our 3 year old daughter and our 1 month old son. What an adventure!

The place was great. We rode a train to the top of the hill where we started our mini-golf adventure. It was a treasure hunt adventure kind of place (seeking gold). Abby loved the train and wanted to go on it again at the end, which of course caused a problem since you can only ride it once (needless to say a full blown tantrum erupted when she couldn’t ride it again). But back to the actual golfing. The place had small plastic clubs for the little ones. Great idea! Abby loved hitting the ball.

The first hole we successfully showed her how to play mini-golf. She hit her ball from the starting point and then waited for mommy to go. She even left her ball where it landed and then when it was her turn she tried to hit it in the hole. She was successful after about 3 or 4 tries. After this point, it was hard to keep her from not only picking up her own ball and moving it around, but ours as well. We had to pay very good attention to where our ball landed because we have to place it back there after Abby moved it. Every time we told her to hit her ball in the hole she would pick up her ball and move it to right next to the hole and hit it in. We were very forgiving of this since she is only just about 3 (the end of this month she will turn 3). We were able to make it through 14 holes with everyone in a great mood and playing well. Dave and I were doing about even the entire 14 holes. It was going to be a close ending.

Then, the inevitable happened. Abby tripped and fell on one of the holes, hit her head and the mini-golfing was all over. Crying and eruptions of all kinds proceeded to happen. She wanted to ride the train again, she wanted to keep playing (but not really), and she wanted to keep her pink golf ball that she had already thrown down the 18th hole to return the ball. It was a mess getting back to the car, but once we finally got in the car and left things began to return to normal.

I would definitely do it again. Oh yeah, Zach slept in his sling the entire time we played. Slings are the most wonderful thing on a trip like this. Much less of a hassle than a stroller. He is doing so well on this trip thus far. Let’s keep it up.

The four of us are here at Kill Devil Hills, NC which, if you don’t know, is part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We arrived yesterday later in the day. It is so beautiful here and the weather thus far has cooperated with our short trip. Let’s hope that continues tomorrow for our last day here. After our arrival at the hotel, we set out to get dinner at Mako Mikes. I had crab legs that were excellent. The only thing I would complain about the place was the amount of noise. It is a large place with many tables which in itself would make it loud, but then add a gift shop in the middle of the restaurant and very loud music and you have overload. After dinner, we came back and said we are not missing time at the beach even though the sun was setting already and we could see a honey moon rising. We put our swim stuff on and headed down to the water. We didn’t do much other than enjoy the warmth of the air and beautiful view. We tried to go in the water, but without the sun out it was too cold. After a while we went back to our room, which by the way is right next to the beach and we can see the ocean from our room window (true the hotels pool section is between our room and the ocean, but you can still see it).

Today we started our day off great. Got all the kids fed and in the car to go to the Wright brothers memorial at a reasonable hour. We headed over there and it was wonderful. They had a museum (did not go in) and a pavilion which had replicas of their plane inside (went in). It was pretty exciting to see what people have tried in their time. We then made the trek to the top of Kill Devil Hill where the monument is. This was quite the task. It was a very steep walk and long, which made it very tiresome. Did I mention that I was also carrying Zach in the sling?

Now onto the exciting part of the day. Dave lost his glasses in the ocean. It was the end of our time at the beach today after we had tried for hours to Abby to at least put her feet in the water. She would not cooperate. Dave had wanted to go into the water one last time to get wet again. Up until the end of the day Abby had refused to go near the water or go in the water. Abby was finally ready and wanted to go in. Dave came and got her and they went through the waves together. Dave and Abby were on their way into the shore when the unthinkable happened. A large wave (apparently larger then Dave thought) was coming towards them. They could not outrun it so they had to jump it. It of course, being the ocean, crested before they expected, so when Dave had jumped he miscalculated. The wave hit them both in the face. I was just walking out with Zach to meet them in the water and hang out. I started to get in when I looked at Dave panicking and feeling the ocean with one hand. I then look at his face and yelled to him, “Did you just lose your glasses in the ocean?” YES! Can you believe it? The wave had knocked Dave’s glasses off his face and they were gone. Never to be found again. Of course we don’t have an extra pair here and neither Dave nor I had brought our contacts with us (lesson learned). We now had to hurry up and try to find somewhere on the island where Dave could get new glasses today. We rushed back to the room and began to call around. Why does everyone have to close by 5pm?

So as of tonight Dave is blind with no glasses (oh yeah and by the way today is Dave’s 30 birthday). Tomorrow morning we are heading over to a place that opens at 8am and the guy said he could get Dave a pair in an hour. Hopefully it will all work out tomorrow. Night, night!

Mommy, Abby, and Zach at the Wright Brother's Memorial

Daddy and Abby at the Wright Brothers' Memorial

Mommy, Abby, and Zach at the beach

Daddy and Abby in the water!

Pooped from a long day!