Nolan's 2nd Birthday Recap

I have a 2 year old! Ohmygosh!

I took a long weekend to be with him - I figured his bday was on Tuesday, I wasn't going to take him to daycare on his BIRTHDAY. And why in the world would I go to work on Monday then? Pfft. So yeah, I took a LONG weekend which made it perfect for... *drumroll please*

POTTY TRAINING!

Holy baloney. It was overall VERY successful. I followed my own version of an accelerated potty training method I saw online. Basically you take a long weekend (3 days) and just let the kid go pantless the entire time. Show him the potty, sit with him etc, and make a huge deal when they go! Brian and I clapped and danced and sang and cheered "you did it!" every time he went. Then we made a little ritual of pouring the stuff down the potty and Nolan got to help flush. Then we'd give him a sticker as a reward which after having a handful of stickers Nolan was kind of like "whatever" about the reward. To encourage him, then I started giving him 5 mini M&Ms. I don't like the idea of food as a reward, but I wanted to make a big deal of it. Especially when he went ON HIS OWN to *TMI ALERT* go #2.

So the next 3 months (yes, even with travel and friends/family coming over) the goal is to keep him pantless at home to make the potty more accessible. He wears shorts or pants at daycare but no diapers/undies underneath.

We basically spent the entire weekend in the kitchen for easier cleanup of accidents. I'd like to tell you that meant that we cleaned the kitchen and made yummy food, but it was rather exhausting constantly trying to get Nolan to sit on the potty when he wasn't feeling up to it because he got cranky/tired of being in the kitchen...

But by Monday/Tuesday he really had a hang of it. Yes, accidents still happen but we're powering through it. Accidents are just part of the deal.

This picture was taken the night before his birthday. As I got him ready for bed, he carefully gathered up his bears and toys (arms FULL mind you) and carefully placed them on the side of his crib so they'd watch over him

Tuesday was his birthday, so we really wanted to make the day special for him. Amy, Brandon, and Eben came to help celebrate. In the morning (before it got too hot) we went to the playground where Nolan ran up and down a small hill. I think he enjoyed the feeling of going faster on the way down because he got so excited. "I Nonan, I comiiiiiing!!!" he'd shriek. So cute.

We grilled for lunch and then it was naptime for "Nonan" and we played Settlers of Catan. Afterwards we went to Reiman Gardens.

Probably my favorite memory of the day was him blowing out the candle for his cake which I captured...

He blew out the candle himself. We told him "blow on it like you're blowing on food that's too hot" and he understood. I can't believe he was able to do it so easily! He loved the frosting!

CUTE STORY ALERT:
Brian taught Nolan that when they do high fives he should pump his fist inwards and go "AWESOME" I need to film the way he says this but he kind of says "Awesome" like he's growling. It's consistently in a deep voice even though none of us are trying to change our voices when saying it.

In other news, I'm tired. Check out Brian's blog for more pictures: Salty's Note-o-the-Day