A little this. A little that.

We've been back from England for sometime and were able to enjoy July and August in Iowa. Okay, okay, that sounds ridiculous. Who really enjoys the Midwest in the dead of summer? Despite the sticky heat we had a fabulous summer filled with parties, parades and da pool. We also managed to have another ER/hospital visit during our annual July trip to visit the grandparents. Yep, 2nd year in a row but this year was Lily's turn. Poor thing got a ton of mosquito bites on her ankle and somehow an infection set up shop and was only evicted following a 2 day hospital stay with serious antibiotics. She was AMAZING and through the IV, multiple lab draws, foot x-rays, removal of IV she did better than most adults. Lily also recounts her hospital stay as the time she got pretty spoiled. Our dear family visited and brought cuddly presents to make her smile and well...it worked.

Harrison turned 3 last week. Since he was 3 before school started we planned to enroll him in Lily's Montessori Preschool but this was contingent on him potty training since they don't accept diapers. We tried a few times over the past few months, nothing serious, and he amused us with peeing a few times and even pooping in the potty once. We reluctantly gave up his spot at Montessori. A week before he turned 3 he was home from daycare with pink eye (we've had our fair share of ear infections and tonsillitis, heck we've even had hand, foot and mouth so WHY NOT pink eye?) and was watching Elmo's Potty Time video when he DECLARED OUT LOUD that he didn't want to wear diapers anymore. What did I do? I RAN and got him big boy underpants and never looked back. He tried to look back once or twice and even requested a diaper when he needed to do some serious business. I rejected his request all the while questioning if I was a really horrible mom or really smart. Apparently, I'm really smart. :)

Potty training Lily was very easy since I knew exactly what steps to take and how to position oneself, etc. Potty training a boy, when I'm not a boy, well that is rather difficult. There are so many positions one could use but which is really the best? Stand up...but he's not tall enough. Sitting...can lead to pee all over. Sitting backwards...works pretty well but requires removal of big boy underpants and shorts. Stand on potty...not ideal. Clearly we've tried them all and he still likes to mix it up daily but whatever position he decides it's WORKING! And seamlessly I might add.

My blog goal is to produce some additional posts to wrap up our England trip and highlight my baby turning 3 so stay tuned (and if you've learned your lesson previously you'll check back in approximately 6 weeks). CIAO!