Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Tim's dad and step-mom came to visit for a few days before Christmas. We had a great time with them. When we went down to visit them over the summer Will was enthralled with the wind chimes they had in their yard so they bought him some of his own to hang in his room. Such a sweet idea! He loves them. They left the day before Christmas Eve and we spent Christmas Eve hanging out at home. Will and I made cookies for Santa. Then we went to my Grandma Rita's house that evening. Will had a great time running around and playing with my cousins and my cousins' kids.

We woke up Christmas morning and Will was so excited about the train table that Santa brought him he didn't hardly want to open any other presents. He LOVES it! Mommy and Daddy have no idea where it's going to live in the house at this point, though. Right now it's taking up the entirety of the open space in the family room. I think it's time for a play room...

We went to my parents' house to open presents and visit with them for awhile. Will and Charlie both got lots of fun toys there. Munew and PawPaw gave Will and Uncle Mike a joint present of a little guitar (actual a bass ukalele) so that they can play together.

Then we went to pick up GG from the airport, and Will has been playing with her non-stop ever since.

Will and Charlie were completely spoiled with presents through it all, and it was very nice to spend some time with family.

The day after Christmas we went to brunch with my running girl buddies at one of their new houses. What a fun weekend!

Also, it's a Christmas miracle: I was able to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans this weekend. Yipee!!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Opening presents from Buddy and E



















Will dressed up on Christmas Eve



















Playing with his train table Christmas morning




















Charlie Christmas morning (you can tell he has a cold, poor little guy)



















Will got a tractor from PawPaw
















Will and Mike playing the guitar
















Charlie in the "Mukaluks" from Munew (inside joke)















Playing choo-choo's with GG

Charlie Talking

He has the sweetest little voice.

The poor little thing only made it 9 weeks without his first cold. He started with a stuffy/runny nose this morning. I guess that's what happens with your 2 year old big brother is in preschool :-( It's manageable now. I'm hoping it doesn't get worse, especially in time for Christmas.

Charlie's 2 Month Appointment

11 pounds 5 1/2 oz (50th percentile)

23 3/4 inches (85th percentile)

Long and skinny!

Lots of shots today (3) as well as a toe prick to check his iron levels (which were good). He was REALLY fussy this afternoon after the shots. Poor little thing had a rough day.

Because of the holidays coming the doctor wanted to see him before he was actually 2 months. He's only 7 weeks (versus Will went when he was 9 weeks). Anyway, at this checkup Will was 1 pound heavier and 3/4 of an inch shorter. I definitely get the feeling Charlie's going to be the taller of the two of them.

Here's a sweet smile pic from this morning before all of the icky shots.

Christmas Fun

We had a fun day today! We went to see the Christmas display at Krohn Conservatory, which was trains this year so Will was in heaven. Then we went to the Macy's downtown to see Santa. This was Will's first visit to see Santa, and he did really well. He didn't cry at all, but wasn't too sure about the whole thing. He sat on Santa's lap OK, but wouldn't get any closer than absolutely necessary. He told Santa that he wanted a tractor and Thomas boots. As usual, Will absolutely refused to smile in any of the pictures... even when I tried to bribe him with a penny to throw in the fountain.

Here's some pics at Krohn:

What Liz is thinking: "I'm so happy to be here with my cute little guy!"
What Will is thinking: "I'm so over this, Mom. Just let me go see the damn trains already."

Watching the trains

Here comes Thomas!



Sidenote: These people who have the licensing rights to Thomas the Tank Engine must have more money than God.

Visiting Santa:

Charlie cried the whole time and Will focused on putting as much distance between himself and Santa as possible without technically leaving his lap.

Eventful Week

1. Will had his first day of preschool. I found a local church that has a 2 year old program in their preschool. It also happens, incidentally, to be the same place that I went to kindergarten, which is fun. It's also less than a mile up the road. He's been pretty bored and starving for other kid interaction the past month when he's been home with me, so I thought this would be good for him. It will also afford me some alone time with Charlie, time to get work done, time to work out, etc. And it's relatively inexpensive. Win for everyone.
I wasn't overly worried about him going since he was used to being away from me for much longer periods at daycare. This is a new place, though, and he hasn't been away from me for over a month. He did cry a lot when I left, but the teacher said he only cried for about 5 minutes and then went to play cars with the other kids like he'd been there for weeks. When I asked him later in the day if he wanted to go back to that school he told me yes.

2. Charlie turned 6 weeks. Not sure why this is a milestone, but it's just another step in him

growing up. There's definitely some drawbacks to being a 2nd child. Poor Charlie definitely does not get the amount of attention that Will did, but I think it probably is nicer for him that the second time around I'm less high-strung, more confident, and can just enjoy him more since I'm not so worried about what I'm doing wrong. Also, now that I've experienced how quickly they grow up, I feel like I'm savoring him being little more than I did when Will was. I always wanted Will to get onto the next thing. (When is he going to roll over? I wish he would hurry up and crawl. Etc.) This time I'm just enjoying each stage for what it is.

3. Charlie turning 6 weeks means that I'm not allowed to start running again. Yay!!! I do have to confess that I did some run-walking with the boys in their stroller a few days this week before the official 6 week mark. (I also did an arms & shoulders P90X video and am now feeling like I'm finally on the right track for getting myself back into shape.) I went for my first official run with my running girls yesterday morning. It was AWESOME! It felt like I had been let out of prison. Don't get me wrong, I love being home with the boys, but getting out and getting back to my normal me-time activities is a huge thing for me. It was a beautiful morning. A bit chilly, but nice for running. We determined that it was the first time all 5 of us had run together since when we were training for the Pig back in April. That's a long time! It was also the first time I've run since July or August. I did keep in decent shape at the end of the pregnancy (elliptical, walking, spinning, yoga, etc.) but haven't done much at all the last 6 weeks except for a few walks simply because it's been hard to get out (boys not cooperating, weather, etc.) I did better than I had expected, though. We did about 2.5 miles. I have no idea how long it took because I forgot to start my watch at one of the lights. I did have to walk for a few minutes in the middle, but ran the beginning and the end and managed to go over a mile without having to walk at all. Now I have about 6 weeks to get myself to a point where I can comfortably run 3 or 4 miles so I'm ready for Pig training.

Next up: the Jingle Bell Run 5k next weekend. I'm toying with the idea of taking Will and pushing him in the stroller. It might be a horrid idea because: 1) doing my first 5k back to running while PUSHING 40+ pounds might just kill me and 2) Will doesn't always do well with staying in his stroller for a long time. I don't want him to freak out and start throwing a fit amongst hundreds of other people while I'm 2 miles from the finish. On the other hand, it may be a great idea because 1) he might really enjoy it. There's always lots of people dressed up with bells on that he might get a kick out of. 2) It would give Tim a break from having BOTH kids while I'm running and 3) if I get really tired and ask nicely I might be able to get some of more able-body running buddies to take over pushing him for awhile.

Finally, we put up our Christmas tree today. It was a lot of fun because Will was really into it. He's in awe of it, really enjoyed seeing all the ornaments, and wanted to help. Of course, he tried to put all ornaments in one spot of the tree and spent more time taking them off than putting them on. It was still fun, though.

Here are some pics of Will helping to decorate the tree:

5 Weeks & The Un-Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was kind of a bust this year. I didn't run the Thanksgiving Day race, which I've done for the past there years (I'm not allowed to run for another week - I can't wait! - and even if I was able to I wouldn't be up for 6 miles quite yet) and our immediate family didn't get together for lunch like we've always done. So Tim and I and the boys went for a nice long walk in the morning and then went to brunch at IHOP. It was a nice day, just not very Thanksgiving-y. We did go to my grandma's for dinner, which was nice, but it just wasn't the same.

Charlie is 5 weeks now. I'm still having a really hard time getting him to nap during the day unless I hold him (or unless we're out driving or walking in the stroller). Whenever I put him down he cries. It's really hard to get anything done around the house. He's sleeping really well at night, though. Most nights I don't have to get up with him until 4 or 5, which is great for how old he is. It definitely helps because sleeping during the day just isn't an option. When he gets up at 5, though, I usually don't get to go back to sleep because by the time I feed him and fall back asleep Will is awake. Also, if I have any chance of showering before noon I have to do it before they both get up so I usually just hop in the shower after I feed Charlie. So I've been going to bed at 9 or 9:30 so that I can still get 8 or so hours of sleep in, which means no real time for myself or time to spend with Tim at night. The whole thing's fairly exhausting, but I know from experience it does get much easier.

I had a girls' night out last weekend to go to dinner and to see Wicked. It was great to get out! Tim definitely had his hands full, but overall things went fairly well. I really miss my friends since I haven't been seeing them much since I haven't been running. And I've hardly seen them at all since Charlie was born. Hopefully life will get more back to normal soon. I'll be able to run again in about a week. I won't be up for running with them quite yet as I'm sure I'll be slow and doing short distances for awhile, but I'll be on track at least. I can't wait! It's going to be hard to get runs in I think, though, because of the weather. I'm hesitant to take Charlie out when it's too cold.

Tim's next babysitting gig is tomorrow while I host a shower for my sister. Hope it goes well because he's going to be having quite a few coming up :-) I'm due, believe me.

Here's a pic of Will on our walk the other day and one of Charlie at 4 weeks.

Baby Smiles are the Best

Will Counts En Francais

Halloween

Despite Charlie only being 10 days old, Halloween was a lot of fun. We carved Bert and Ernie pumpkins, which Will loved. He kept wanting to make them "spooky", which meant lighting them in the dark.

He was a sock monkey, a costume my mom found for him at Cracker Barrel, of all places. It was really cute.

He loved trick-or-treating, although he got pretty mad we wouldn't let him eat each piece of candy as he got it. We did go to a house with a lot of scary decorations and a candy bowl with a skeleton hand that came out and grabbed your hand when you try to get candy. That was a bit much for him and may have traumatized him for life. We've been talking about how the "hand came out" for days now. It was a good time, though, and, more importantly, the promise of Halloween candy if he eats all of his dinner every night has been pretty powerful.

Week Two

I took Charlie in for a weight check this week and at 11 days he was 7lbs9oz: 1 oz over his birth weight. Yippee! My super-duper breast milk has done it again! Just kidding. There's nothing particularly super-duper about my milk, I'm just always amazed at how something that I naturally produce can sustain a baby like that. It's just a really cool thing to watch them grow and develop and be so healthy and know that it's all your doing.

The first week or so with him was rough, but he has since morphed into a very good baby. He still wants to nurse a lot in the evenings, but he goes 1 1/2 - 2 hours between feedings during the day, and he doesn't take nearly as long to eat as Will did so I'm able to be out and about much earlier than I was with Will. Although people seem to think I'm crazy for doing so. I'm tired of sitting at home, though, and (more importantly) so is Will. He turns into a pretty big brat when he's bored. We'll both go insane if we don't get out and do stuff during the day. I took both of them to Skyline for lunch the other day. I had three people ask me how old the baby was. When I replied, "two weeks" they all (separately) told me I was 'brave'. I don't call it brave. I call it survival. Taking the baby out is cake anyway. He just sleeps in his car seat. It's the two year old that's a challenge. No one tells me I'm brave to take a two-year old out in public, but I find that much more panic-inducing, myself.

Charlie's also been sleeping pretty well at night. We definitely have some bad nights, but most of the time he only gets up twice, the first one being 4-5 hours after we go to sleep. I don't think I got that much sleep in a row until Will was 4 months. One night he actually only woke up once. It was heaven. I'm still getting up, though, and the sleep deprivation is finally starting to catch up with me. And sleeping during the day hasn't really been an option. On the off chance that both of their naps actually overlap, by the time I get settled down and doze off to sleep Charlie wakes up. Its like he has some weird sixth sense that allows him to know exactly the moment I've started to drift off and he starts to scream. I'm just not a good day sleeper anyway. It takes me a long time to actually fall asleep because I have to work so hard to fight off the urge to use the time that they're both asleep "productively". Anyway, tired Liz = cranky Liz so now me (and everyone else in the house) are having to battle my irritability. I don't remember this so much with Will. I guess I was floating on the cloud of new mother bliss still. My, how things are different the second time around...

Charlie is Here!

Charles Graeme Adair
October 21, 2011
3:15pm
7lbs 8oz
20 inches

Part I: Epidurals are man's greatest invention

When Will was born everything went very quickly so I wasn't able to get an epidural. The combination of those two things led to some complications on my end that were difficult to heal from. So this time, in order to control things better, they induced me about a week early. What a completely different birth experience! I do have to say, though, that I think there's a reason that the natural order of things does not include you knowing exactly when your baby is coming: it creates a lot of anxiety. The whole day before I was running around like a crazy person trying to prepare and do as much last-minute stuff as I could. I tried to spend as much time with Will as I could. I was kind of a wreck, in general. Then I woke up to pee at 3am and never got back to sleep because I was worrying, etc. I think being taken by surprise was much better. Planning ahead did enable everything hospital and labor wise to be much more relaxed, though.

We had to be there at 6:30 am. They started the pitocin at 7:30. We had the same nurse we did with Will, a girl I went to high school with, and she was AWESOME. By lunchtime I was dilated 4cm. They broke

my water and gave me my epidural. The next hour was a bit tense, though, because Charlie's heart rate started

dropping with the contractions and not coming back up like it should have. They tried changing my positions, giving me oxygen, and lowering the pitocin, but it wasn't really helping. I was starting to worry that it was going to drag on forever with no pitocin. All of the sudden, though, I went from about 5cm to fully dilated in less than an hour and it was time to push. I only pushed for maybe 20 minutes and he was here. No pain. It was great! And I was up and walking around within an hour of him being born. It was seriously magical. And I actually got to enjoy and take in the whole experience

He's precious, of course, and Will is great with him. He wants

to hold him and kiss him. When he says his name it sounds less like Charlie and more like Choagie (like hoagie with a CH). It's pretty funny.
Charlie's 5 days old already, and I feel like I'm just now coming up for air. He was born on Friday and we came home on Sunday. My parents have been a huge help. They kept Will while we were in the hospital, my mom brought dinner last night, and tonight they took Will out to Bob Evans for dinner.

Part II: Sleep deprivation + crazy hormones + mommy guilt = temporary insanity

This first few days home have been ROUGH. Charlie wants to nurse constantly, and when he falls asleep he wakes right back up if I put him down. So I've been having to hold him all of the time. Even going to the bathroom to pee is a mad dash accompanied by him screaming. I can't really hold Will or do anything with him. I feel horrible that he's not getting the attention he needs. I'm not getting any time for myself (including being able to actually sleep horizontally). I'm kind of a mess. He won't sleep if I put him down unless he's laying right next to me. I'm scared to sleep in bed with him so I spent several nights sleeping on the floor with him. (Even a hard floor is better than trying to sleep sitting up, though.)

Tim took off work this whole week, but there's only so much he can do with the baby and, let's face it, he's not the best at getting stuff done around the house. He's trying, but I'm just frustrated that I can't do it myself and that it's not getting done to my standards. He's trying to occupy Will, but he's still craving some time with Mommy sometimes that he can't have and it makes me feel horrible. I know from previous experience that this will pass, but it's still hard when you're in the midst of it.

38 Weeks

I have to admit I'm getting impatient. Today I'm 38 weeks 1 day. Will was born at 38 weeks 5 days. So basically I've never seen the other side of 38 weeks pregnant, and as much as I've been trying to prepare myself that this baby could just as likely be late, I'm having trouble dealing with that idea. This is especially because I have started to feel like crap the last few days. I went from feeling great with lots of energy to being tired, achy, and ridiculously irritable practically overnight. I also kind of used this weekend as the deadline in terms of planning things. I didn't make any real plans beyond now in case the baby did come. So there's just not a whole lot on the horizon for the next two weeks other than just waiting. And feeling like crap.

I definitely am of the opinion that the baby will come when he's ready and I don't want to rush him, but it's really hard to put a smile on your face and be in love with that idea when everything you do (eating, sleeping, sitting, standing, driving....) is uncomfortable, you're running out of maternity shirts that actually fit over your belly, and all you want to do is sleep. A lot.

End rant.

More Music - Twinkle Twinkle

The Musical Stylings of Will - ABCs

Petting Zoo

We're starting our fall festivities off early this year since we don't know when they'll be cut short by the new arrival. So today we went to a petting zoo I found out about through a friend of a friend. They had lots of animals to feed and touch. Will's favorites were the miniature goats that were running all around. They had some wooden play areas for him to play on (a train, a bus, a tractor, and a ship). They also had a pumpkin patch that we took a hayride to. We're going to go to another pumpkin patch in a few weekends to pick out some big pumpkins to carve, but he was really excited about the pumpkins so we let him pick out a little one. It was a little chilly this morning and the leaves are starting to change on the trees. Fall is definitely here!

feeding cows & goats

playing on the train and the tractor

first hayride

A Trip to the "Choo Choo Park"

Cleaning up "Uckies"

Here's my very OCD, but irresistibly adorable little man sweeping up what he calls the "uckies" off of the porch. This occupied him for the better part of 20 minutes.

Last night Claudia came over to play and Will did really great with her. It was the first time I've really seen him excited about playing with someone else and engaging with another kid. He kept wanting to show her his toys. He did a decent job sharing too.

I miss running...

... and other completely miscellaneous thoughts.

First off, I miss running. This is my FAVORITE time of year to run. I love going out on a cool Saturday morning when there's just a little crispness in the air and running with the group. I miss the act of running. I miss the high you get after it. I miss being outside. And I really miss the camaraderie of it all. I was so used to seeing my running girls once or twice a week. Since I haven't been running I've hardly seen any of my friends. No runs for me this fall :-( And what sucks is that, depending on when the baby is born, by the time I'm cleared to run 6 weeks postpartum it should be just around the time when it gets freezing ass cold and no longer fun. (Although I will say that I'd take running in the freezing cold over running in hellfire-like heat any day of the week.) I'm also going to miss the Reggae Run and the Thanksgiving Day Race this year. Boo! This will be the first in 4 Thanksgivings I haven't run it. I have been keeping busy, though (at least I have been when Will doesn't have a fever, or I don't have a cold, or I don't have a stomach virus... yeah, it's been a fun few weeks). Since the weather has cooled down Will and I (and sometimes Tim) have been taking a lot more walks. I've been doing pre-natal yoga on Wednesday nights and spinning on Saturday mornings. I try to do the elliptical or one of my prenatal workout videos one or two other nights a week. I've at least gotten some of the social aspect of working out with the spinning and yoga classes, but it's just not the same as running with my friends. Also, I hate spinning. But that's a whole other topic...

Related to running, (also related to me potentially going crazy) we're getting ready to buy a double jogging stroller. So everybody has their "thing" that they spend money on. Tim happens to have several things, but I digress. I don't spend a lot of money on a lot of things. You might even call me cheap. I'm fine with that because I am. I don't like to go out to expensive dinners. I buy drug store makeup and beauty products (and very few of those at that). I very rarely buy myself new clothes. It goes on and on. The one area where I tend to splurge, though, is running. That's where all my spare cash goes: shoes, clothes, race entries, training group fees... So somehow the girl who has trouble spending more than $30 on a new shirt is about to drop over $600 on a double jogging stroller. Insane, right? Believe me, I'm questioning my own sanity here. And to make matters even worse, I just had to buy a used infant car seat on craigslist for another $50 because this year's dualie model isn't compatible with the car seat we bought for Will 2 years ago which was compatible on that year's stroller model. Very frustrating! The thing is that I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get out the door for runs without it. We have a single jogger sitting in the garage that I could probably sell on craigslist for $300+ to help foot the bill. But I want to keep that one around for the times that I don't need to take both kids. More craziness, right? Well I've been busting my butt working (both at the bank and on my side consulting gigs) for the last few months and this is going to be my little present to myself. Tim gets presents for himself all of the time (ski trip, anyone? Rolex, anyone?). I feel like I'm constantly sacrificing things I would like to have to make the $ balance out in our household while he runs around and spends whatever on whatever he wants. (No, I don't resent this or anything.) Anyway, this is something I really want and I'm going to do it. Price be damned. Don't get me wrong, Tim hasn't made a peep about it. But then Tim seems to thing that there's a magic money fairy that delivers bags of money to our door...

I finally feel like I'm making some progress getting ready for the baby. The nursery is almost completely ready to go. We still need to raise the crib mattress and make up the bed, but I'm waiting a bit on that because I've been using the crib for time-outs for my increasingly stubborn toddler who seems to really enjoy throwing things for no reason lately. I got out all of the newborn clothes, washed them, and put them in the nursery the other day. I'm a little bit concerned I'm not going to have enough warm clothes for the new guy. Other than sleepers (which I don't think I have enough of) all of my newborn and 0-3 month stuff is short-sleeved since Will was born mid-summer. I'm going to be really pissed if I have to buy more clothes. That seemed like one of the only positives of not getting a girl: not having to buy new clothes (cue cheap Liz). Ugh! Anyway, in terms of being ready to go we only have a few items:

put together bassinette
pack hospital bag
install car seat bases in cars

I still want to make some progress on cleaning out and organizing the basement, but I guess that's not completely necessary before the baby comes. I know that once this kid gets here there's no way in hell it's getting done for another several years, though (as evidenced by the fact that I was gung-ho on getting it done before Will was born and it didn't, and it's now sat in its horrible state for 2 more years). So my mom is coming over for part of the day this Sunday to watch Will so we can at least get started on it. Not sure how far we'll get, but at least it's something. Pregnancy has made me ruthless about throwing things out. Basement, beware!

Will continues to be simultaneously cuter and more difficult by the day. On the cute side, he loves to sing. He is now able to sing all of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by himself. I love it! He's finally starting to eat a little bit better. We had a good solid month there where he just wouldn't try anything. WARNING: Here goes my food rant. If it bores the hell out of you skip ahead. Once I stopped the baby food and tried to enforce that he eats what we eat at dinner he mostly just never ate dinner. This created a whole mess of anxiety for me that I won't go into. He's now trying stuff at least. Most of it he doesn't request again or anything, but some of it he does (like salami). I've read that it takes 10-15 times of exposing a toddler to new food before they readily eat it, though, so I keep trying. The secret to all of this is that we've been bribing him with cookies. I have mixed feelings about this. For the month where he didn't eat we also tried to bribe him with cookies, and not even cookies could persuade him to try anything new. So, as ridiculous as it sounds, the fact that he's allowing me to successfully bribe him with cookies seems like a win to me. I really don't want to create a situation where he only eats good things for bad, though, and views healthy food as a necessary evil (although, to be honest, don't we all?) The plan is to wean him off of it. Plans with toddlers usually go to hell within a week of making them, though, as I've learned. Tonight he ate all of the sweet potato fry (He loved sweet potatoes in mashed form but has refused most of the various non-baby food forms I have attempted. I've had marginal success with baked sweet potato wedges with cinnamon on them.) and peaches we put on his plate and tried a bite of lasagna (his first try with this particular food) and was then allowed a cookie. I told him after that that if he ate three more bites of lasagna he would get another cookie and he did it. So he got what I feel is a fairly healthy, balanced dinner with some junk food. I don't really let him eat sweets during the day very much so if the kid eats two cookies with dinner it won't kill him, right??? I'm really having trouble with this food thing, can you tell?

Anyway, he continues to want to be more independent ("No, no, Mommy! Will do it!"). This is good and bad because sometimes you JUST. WANT. TO GO. UP. THE STAIRS. and don't want to meander on them for 10-15 minutes while your 2 year old insists on walking up them by himself and pointing at every stray bit of fuzz on the carpet. It's good that he wants to do things on his own, though, and I try to encourage it. It will be very handy in 6 weeks or so, I'm sure. I'm seeing more and more fits as well as lots of testing. I've had to take toys away or put him in time out a lot more in the last few weeks because he always wants to test the limit of how far he can go. It can be trying and exhausting sometimes, but he's still over all a really good boy.

One thing we've really been having issues with, though, is sleeping. He gets really wired at night when Tim comes home because he's so excited to see Daddy. That means that it's hard to get him calmed down for bed, though. Sometimes we take him up around 7, leave him in his room around 7:30 after the whole bedtime routine, and don't hear him go quiet until 9pm. Then he's been waking up lately at like 5:45 or 6:00. (Up until recently he consistently slept until 7 or 7:30). And for the last few weeks he hasn't been napping well at all. He'll not sleep at all or only sleep for 20-30 minutes. And I have no idea whether he's actually sleeping during naptime or not at the black hole called daycare. Again, another topic... Then he'll randomly sleep for 3 hours. Not sure what's going on. It's very frustrating, though, because he still needs the sleep and is then ridiculously grumpy by 6pm or so. Plus, it makes it REALLY hard for me to get anything done. This is what Will chose to do the other day instead of sleep during nap time: trash his room.
He also pulled some shorts out of his drawer and "put them on all my himself".



We've had a few minor potty breakthroughs. He peed on the potty after his bath yesterday. I think this happened to be a fluke, but I still made a big deal about it. Then today he requested that we take his pants and diaper off and he sit on his potty and try to pee again. He never did go, but we sat there for a good 15 minutes or so. This is progress because in the past the longest I've gotten him to sit has been approximately 30 second. I'm not pushing it, for sure, but I'm trying to be open about progress if he initiates it.