Potty training and teething....piece of cake!

In the last two weeks since I have posted, there have been lots of happenings going on in the Ersler house!

To start, about two weeks before I went back to school, Max decided he was ready to start potty training and wearing big boy underwear!  I had wanted to do this all summer, but he never seemed interested.  So of course, I got nervous and was worried that this was such bad timing with him going back to Mimi's house (our sitter) and how me going back to work was going to affect any progress we would make in the next two weeks.  Well little did I know he was going to surprise us all!

We started on a Friday and by Monday Max was telling me every time he had to go pee on the potty!  Going #2 was still a work in progress, but I never expected it to be as easy as it was.  The first three days were a little brutal.  Accidents and just struggling to get him to sit and try to go after naps was not fun.  Day four you could tell it had just "clicked" with him.  I was so relieved!  We made a big deal out of every time he went and his reward for going was mini M&M's.  We tried a sticker chart and he didn't really care much for the stickers.  M&M's work like a charm!

After finally seeing that there was no turning back, I went ahead and ordered him some new big boy underwear with all of his favorite characters: Mickey, Jake, and Toy Story.  He already had Thomas ones from Nana that he got for his second birthday.  We surprised Max with the underwear one night after Daddy got home from work.  Here are some pictures during our potty training adventure.

Typical boy...mowing the grass in his underwear and fireman boots!

This day we told Max if he did #2 on the potty he would get a sucker!

So upon my return to work, Max has continued to do well with the potty, even at Mimi's house!  He is, I think, 4 for 4 going #2 at her house and is getting better at doing it at home.  We are still working on getting him to pull down/up his own shorts and underwear but I can imagine that is a work in progress with most kids this age.  Max even told Daddy at Target the other night that he had to go pee!  Daddy had to pick Max up and run all the way across the store to get to the potty in time!  Don't worry, they made it and Max did what he was suppose to do!  

The next exciting milestone that has hit our house is that Finley has her first tooth!  I had no idea, other than some drooling and that she is always putting things in her mouth, but what baby doesn't do that!?!?  So I picked her up from Mimi's house last week and she told me how Finley was really fussy and that she felt her gums and low and behold felt a tooth!  I had literally just felt her gums the night before because I knew that any day now she would be getting some teeth, and I felt nothing!  I have only been able to get a very quick glimpse of it, so I don't have any pictures of her tooth.  

Next week Finley turns the big six months old and we will start some new foods!  I just made up a batch of sweet potatoes tonight.  Those will be her first taste of "real" food.  I can't wait to see her reaction!

Here are some recent pictures of my "pretty girl" as we call her!

She is going to be crawling before we know it!  She is already rolling from front to back and back to front with no problems!  She can push her arms straight up while on her belly and will move all around the floor already.  Max isn't going to know what to do once sister is crawling and getting into all of his things!

Until next time.....