Potty Trained...?

Warning: This is a potty post. If you don't want to hear it, don't read it. You can scroll down to the bottom of the post and watch the fun video. Also, don't become a parent because well that's what parents have to deal with.

Potty training. I have no idea what I'm doing. I have never felt so hopeless as a Mother. I don't like using words like "tinkle" and "poopy." Even when I have to use them I grimace. Ian is even worse. He hates changing diapers (though he does it anyway without complaining) but he doesn't want to have to have the potty talk with the kids. I've been talking to both my kids about going potty for what seems like forever. I waited and waited and waited for them to give me a clue because I heard that they would let me know when they were ready.

While I waited I had a lot of funny days with Atley. Sometimes he would want a poopy diaper changed immediately. I would gladly change him and talk to him about how we should go on the potty and then we don't have to get diaper changes. One day I changed his diaper and when he was all cleaned up he said "Thanks, Mommy! Thanks for the diaper change." It was so sweet. He was perfectly happy keeping things as they were.

Last week, I got tired of waiting. Diapers in England are more expensive then at home. Atley's birthday is tomorrow (crazy, right?) and he'll be 3. He starts Primary and school in January. Do I want to send him in diapers? No.

So, what do I do? I take the bull by the horns and brace myself for a rough day. No diapers. Underwear only. We can do this. Shortly after my morning peptalk, Atley had an accident. It's okay, I tell myself, no big deal. When I thought he was ready to go again, I took him to the bathroom so he didn't pee on the carpet. He was playing in the bathtub when all of a sudden...he went! He looked at me slightly alarmed and I freaked out! I was so happy that he went potty someplace that was sort of normal. When he saw how happy I was he said "I do it again, Mommy!" Okay I think, we'll see. He went again! After high fives and treats, I thought we could really be on the path to potty trained.

The rest of the day didn't go so well. He had 4 accidents and only 2 successes before Ian gave me a look that I interpreted to mean "put a diaper on him already!" Fine. Diaper on. I felt like a failure and almost convinced myself that he wasn't ready.

The next morning when I went in to change his diaper, I expected to put another diaper on because the day before went so badly. He refused. All he wanted to wear were his big boy underwear. Wow. Okay, let's try this again. To my great surprise, Atley had a completely dry day. We even went out to the store and put a diaper on him which was dry when we got back.

What? Potty trained in a day? Way too good to be true right? Of course right! Well sort of. He knows when he has to go. But we still have some hurdles to jump over. He only wants to go in the bathtub and he won't go number 2 except in his pants. That is worse then diapers. But, the good news is, he's pee trained and I finally have hope for the future. I'm not a failure of a Mother and he won't be in diapers until he gets married. Our little Atley is growing up.

Here's the video I promised. Atley and Holly LOVE the Black Cauldron. I have no idea why. Atley always says "Mommy, I'm an Atley Taran. Holly's a princess Eilonwy." We even made him a sword. Holly is especially funny in this video because of how checked out she looks. Enjoy!

Riding the Stagecoach By: Ian

We have really started to feel like pros when we ride the bus or tram these days. We both have bus and tram passes; we just show our cards and can ride to our hearts content. We both are really starting to know where all the stops are, where we need to get on and off, and which buses and lines to take. It is a good feeling--its like we really live here, not just visiting. The kids like riding the bus, however, since there are no car seats, they feel an added measure of freedom, and always try to maximize it. Holly, for instance, always wants her own seat--far from Atley typically--and loves to just roam. This is a problem especially when we stop or the bus or tram jerks because she goes flying. We try to get her to sit down so she does not hurt herself, but she doesn't listen. No matter how many times we warn her, an "I told you so" is sure to follow.

Atley on the other hand, loves to press the stop button all the time--he is obsessed with it. The first thing he does when he gets on the bus is run to the stop button and try to push it. The worst is when he gets on the tram, and rushes to the "emergency help" button (which is right at kid level) and we have to explain to the driver that our son is just curious. Despite all this, they love the tram and bus, and we love to ride it with them because it reduces the walk with groceries and the toil of pushing a double stroller up a hill.


This is Holly and the family waiting at the bus stop on a sunday morning on our way to church. The stop is about .8 miles from our house, so its a brisk walk in the morning. Luckily there is hardly any traffic nor pedestrians, so we feel like we have the city to ourselves in the morning.



This is Atley in the front of a double decker bus (the iconic symbol of London and the UK of course, but ours is not red sadly). We are on the top looking out on the street. (Notice that we are driving on the wrong side of the road)



This is the tram. It is a very comfortable ride, and pretty easy to figure out the various lines of travel.



This is looking out from the Sheffield University tram stop. This is just down the hill from where we are living. It is only three stops from here to the Tesco grocery store, and about 12 stops from the mall.

Family Photos

This layout is only temporary. I'm trying my hand at some new things. We'll see how it turns out :)

So after dragging my feet for a long time on getting family pictures I finally found someone to do them that I could not resist. Geri (of photobygeri.com) is an awesome photographer. Very professional, while also being relaxed enough to put a family with two small children at ease. The result? Feast your eyes...

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I love these pictures. Besides Geri doing a fabulous job, we haven't had pictures since of all of us since Atley was like 4 months old. I told you I was dragging my feet. These pictures will go on our walls here in England and make this our true home. Also, how cool is it that we have pictures of our kids with their 100 year-old great great grandma? That's a treasure.

Sheffield Scenery

Okay, still no internet (yes we're counting down the days), but since I have a minute alone on campus (thank you, Ian!) I'm going to share with you some photos we've taken with you all in mind. It's mostly scenery of Sheffield, and we'll definitely be explaining more later about what all these cool European looking old buildings are. For now, sit back, relax, and pretend like you're in England with us. Goodness knows we'd love you have you here!

Still to come is our church building, Sheffield public transit, and a new park we found! Also, I have the chance to attend a French Language playgroup. It says the parent has to have a good understanding of French. What does that mean? I don't know. I guess I'm going to go there and if I don't understand them telling me to leave, I'll go right out the door. :-) Hopefully it'll be a chance for me to practice French and the kids to make some french speaking friends too.

Also coming up, English Halloween! What's it like? I guess we'll find out!