Wow, has it been a very long time since I updated. This summer we moved from Tennessee to Florida and our son started kindergarten today. Such a big boy now!!
Half a decade and some months since the last update.
Nope, it hasn’t been over 5 years since my last update.
Aidan turned 5 last month! We celebrated his last birthday in Tennessee at Chuck E Cheese’s with Aidan’s Pappaw Ben, Granma Janet and Mammaw. We had fun as usual and we ate lots of yummy cheese pizza. It was SUPER busy there as it was a Friday, so I felt uncomfortable and didn’t play as much.
We also celebrated his birthday with his friends at school. I figured we’d celebrate with cake there so that I wouldn’t have any to take home. 😉 Like I need cake lying around my house….pfft. Here is a photo of all of his classmates singing happy birthday to him. ❤
Aidan is 42″ tall and 41.5 lbs. I know this because he is sick again and we had to go to the doctor last Monday. He has been sick 5 times since September, having ear infections and some kind of respiratory and sinus crud. Poor fellow just can’t get a break. His doctor will be checking him on Monday to see if the antibiotics are getting rid of the infection or if it’s just getting better then coming back. I guess that will determine if he needs tubes or not.
Also, I discovered several weeks ago that Aidan has a leak down there (from his previous surgeries). When he would pee, a drop would come out of where his other hole was. We visited his urologist in Knoxville and scheduled a surgery. I even showed him the videos I had recorded of it (which they wanted for educational purposes).
Last week, I was watching him pee and noticed there was no drip. So I made sure to watch over the next few days when he would let me and there was no more dripping. I called his doctor to see if it was possible to heal on it’s own. He said that there is a 5% chance, but after seeing the videos, he says he is sure that that would be highly unlikely for Aidan.
I am stuck in a pickle because I want to get that over with before he gets any older- and especially before we move – but at the same time, if he has to have tubes, I don’t want him having multiple surgeries so close together, nor will I think they would allow that. His surgery is rescheduled for the 23rd and I am still keeping a watch on his urination and so far he has no leakage. Hopefully on Monday his doctor will give us good news about his ear infection so that I have one less thing to worry about.
It has definitely been a while…
A lot has happened since our update.
Back in April of this year we had a tornado hit our house and we’ve moved 3 times since. I quit my job at the Village at the end of June and have picked back up with photography.
For Aidan, life has been stressful as well, but he has done rather well. He has been going to bed for a few weeks now wearing underwear and has had only one accident and that was when he woke up in the morning.
Before that he had been wearing pull-ups and had only tinkled in them once or twice this whole year.
He started school Friday, August 12th. At first he had a hard time keeping his hands to himself, but ever since I talked to him about it, he has done well.
Today a little girl came up and kissed him. Apparently he was a little confused about it. How funny! I’m sure he will get a kick out of this when he reads it one day.
His teachers are Ms. Lyndee and Ms. Amanda and he likes them. This morning was his first morning where he did not want to let go of me. When I picked him up, he told me, “I missed you,” in the most pitiful voice…even his teacher was touched by it.
We are still on track to move to Florida in 9 months after the kids graduate. And Aidan can start kindergarten down there. He is excited about it because he loves the beach and the ocean.
We are hopeful that everything will work out for us the way it’s supposed to. As long as we have each other, that is what really matters.
October 2010 doctor visit
I took Aidan to get his flu shot – and to check to make sure he has all of his vaccines – since I was trying to prepare for getting him into school.
They did a regular check-up on him and told me he is in the 75th percentile for height and weight. My boy is getting to be less like most: he’s so tall! He is 3 feet and 4 inches tall and he weighs 39lbs. I was always such a skinny child and it seems as though he’s following in my footsteps. I remember when I had one of those IDs made by the KPD when I was 7 and I only weighed 47lbs. I was 96lbs up until I was about 16 years old.
Skinny Wendy.
Anyways. So we did not get our application in in time for Aidan to start school this year. It will be next fall at the earliest. 😦 I’m really disappointed, but that just means I have more time to spend with him and educate him myself. I like to take credit for what he has learned already and not somebody else. (Well, hubs and I)
I have toyed with the thought of homeschooling, but I want him to be able to have long hours of spending time with his peers. That’s important to me. And I want to be able to have time for myself to work from home.
All-in-all, his checkup went well. He had to get 3 shots and blood drawn. He cried for a few minutes then we had McDonald’s for lunch.
Potty Training is complete.
So, as of the month of September 2010, I officialy declared that Aidan is fully potty trained! He always wears underwear throughout the day and even in stores. Usually while we are out, he holds it, but if he needs to go he will tell us.
(One reason I am thankful to have a boy: sitting on public toilets is very rare.)
We are still working on night-time training, but that is something that will take longer to master. He usually wakes up with a dry pull-up, I would say 5 or 6 days of the week, at least. He has gone for over 2 weeks with a dry pull-up before. I’m just nervous about putting him in undies overnight. Why? I don’t know.
But I am thrilled! It only took about 5 months of rewards. Chuck E’ Cheese did it! They have sticker charts, too, and your child can earn extra coins if you bring it in.
We are working on our chart for brushing our teeth everyday now.
I am thrilled and relieved and proud.
My boy is a big boy!
One year later…
So I just went through my posts and noticed that exactly a year ago today I posted how much Aidan weighs and how tall he is. Well, he is 8lbs heavier and 9inches taller:
38lbs and 39 1/4 inches!!!
We have touchdown!
Finally.
Success. Not full-blown success, but a turd has hit the water in the Chastain house….and not just from the adults around here. We had a little nugget join in on the fun.
On July 7th (last Wednesday) Aidan finally took a dump in the toilet.
Yay…..maybe I didn’t terminally scar him when he first attempted this a year and a half ago. We decided to make it easier on him and let him go without shorts or a pull-up on. He can go in there and just pee…no hassle.
Well, last Wednesday he came to me and said he had to poop so we went running in there. He farted twice so I knew it was there. He got down in the floor and played with one of his toys. I reminded him that if he had to poop to get back on the potty. Well, he did. He was calling for me, but I was busy at the moment. He came out and went to Mike and told him he pooped then showed him a streak on his leg.
Mike feared that he had done it in the floor.
Well…..he had. But the good thing is is that it came as he was squatting and he ran and got on the potty mid-dump. He manage to pinch off a little one in there so that was certainly worth celebrating. Not just the dook, but the effort. We went to Chuck E’ Cheese the next day and he had a blast. He knew his celebration was for that.
We ran into Hollie Stockman and her little girl, Zella. Hollie commended Aidan on his success and encouraged him to keep doing it. It’s nice to have someone else join us on that so he doesn’t think it’s something spectacular to just us.
He has pooped two more times since then, but because we were out and about when he took his other dumps. Whenever he has a pull-up on, he takes advantage of the convenience.
We are having him do without so he gets used to not having pee or poop stuck to him ever.
I put him in underwear the other day while he helped Mike mow and he actually told Mike he needed to pee so they stopped and he did it. He has done tremendously well with letting us know when he has to pee. Sometimes he even makes us leave so he can do it himself.
Such a big boy!
Night time dryness
I’m getting lame on my post titles.
I just wanted to quickly post that, even though we are still using pull-ups on Aidan, he has made vast improvements. He has been dry for the past 3 days in a row when waking up. And the day before the first he was dry. He has had spells here and there.
Also, he actually sat on the toilet and attempted to squeeze one out.
Oh my god, we’re getting there!
***UPDATE: Day 4 of dry mornings!***
Week 1: Potty Forcing
So we survived week one of potty forcing.
Aidan did quite well and improved over time. By the end of the week, he was accruing 6-7 stickers a day! The only bad thing is that he never pooped in the toilet. And he still hasn’t.
This week his reward if he continues to go pee and poops in the potty we are taking him to the bouncy house and pizzaria. Yesterday he only peed in the toilet once and I was getting really upset, but was careful not to show it. I reminded him that he still needs to use the toilet, but he only did once. We still took him to Chuck E Cheese and just wrote it off as a slow day. I’m sure he is getting tired of getting up and going to the potty since he isn’t really used to it.
Anyways. Mike also bought him a bike with training wheels, but he has to poop before he can ride it outside. So he basically has 2 rewards for pooping. I think the bike was too soon.
There's No Place Like Mommy! 