Julia Sekina: A snapshot at 18 months

Julia,

I can't believe you've only been here for 18 months. None of us can recall life without you- nor would we want to. 

You are an amazing young lady: a burst of sunshine, love, wit, strength, creativity, determination, smarts and- of course- beauty.

It is amazing being part of your life: watching you make connections, helping you grow, being so surprised when you've grown and learned without our help. 

You are funny- and have a wicked sense of humor. You know when you are about to do something mischievous and get this incredible look in your eye. 

You are fearless and brave, but smartly so. You hate to fall down, so you are very careful in your bravery. 

You are independent: If you're hungry, you just go to the pantry, and get what you want. Luckily, it's usually raisins...or pirates booty (aka "boobee") or cereal (aka "seeral").

You talk all the time. Last night you were playing with a toy cat, just saying "meow meow meow meow." Sometimes you even pretend to be a cat. You also have adopted one of Aidan's stuffed cats, which is your beloved "kikitty."

You love your family, including your dear old dad ("Daddy"), your "Mommy", your "Aideen"/"Bruder", and your cousins, whose names you're still learning. But you definitely have words for Addison and Autumn. And you LOVE to just go through the list of all the people you know.

You're very interested in kids younger than you, including your good friend Asher. Everyone is "baby." In fact, sometimes you are "Baby." The baby next door? She's "baby" too. You spent the better part of 20 minutes one day trying to climb the fence saying "Hi Baby! Hi Baby! Bye Baby!"

You are silly:

But, you're also silly smart. When Aidan's not guiding you to color all over your face for no reason, you are usually just applying marker to your face. You started doing this after watching Mommy get ready in the morning. The foundation makeup looks awfully close to the flesh-colored marker. So, why not be like Mama?

You're super advanced too: 18 months old and already you've already started to "go" on the potty. You tell us when you need to go! About a week ago you had gone pee pee on the potty 3 times and poo poo once. Now those numbers are so high that we've lost count. There was, of course, a bit of confusion. At the beginning, you went pee pee on our deck outside and raised your hands in the air triumphantly and said "HOORAY!" But now, when you get chocolate (aka "I-doh") for going on the potty, you really are starting to get it!

Your favorite foods include Jelly Beans, which we discovered on Easter morning as you devoured all the eggs left for you!

Cereal is always in style.

Watermelon ("wamelon") is a perennial favorite.

You are focused. When you want something, you do NOT let it go: "Nemo. Nemo. nemo. Nemo. Shreh. shreh. Shreh? Shreh? Go goo gleep?"

Oh, did I mention that you speak in full sentences? Too? "Hi, Mommy!" "Aidan cry." "Daddy work." "Aidan school." 

And, you're finally learning to say your own name. Right now it sounds like "ooolia", although, sometimes you still call yourself "baby," which is no longer the case.

You love to run, and swing, and go on wagon rides. You love to clean up (so much so that you'll make a mess just to immediately clean it up again). You love your best friend, your brother. 

You are tall at 32.5 inches (75%) and skinny at 23.2 pounds (25.5%). But these are just numbers.

You are 18 months old and you are just plain amazing.

You're Number One!

Aidan,

Last week, you kinda seemed like you wanted to be naked. So, you were naked. And something clicked. You were playing, playing and had a little accident. But, you told your Mommy "pee pee," and the two of you cleaned it up.

Then, your Mommy was making lunch and she saw a naked blur run quickly past her. It was you! You said "pee pee potty!" and you ran into the bathroom, climbed up on the potty, sat down and peed all by yourself!

We are both so proud of you!

And this trend of nakedness and potty time success continued! When you were outside, you (mostly) peed on the same bush that we asked you to 'water' and when you were inside, you said 'pee pee potty' and (quickly) ran to the bathroom to do your thing!

You pretty much finished off a whole sticker chart in one day!

One morning you woke up and got naked and then you were just playing. You didn't have to go immediately. But then, out of the blue, you said "PEE PEE POTTY POO POO!" And ran from what you were doing to go sit on the potty and knock out a major deuce.

Your Mommy and Daddy were (and are) so proud of you!

Like I said...something clicked. The light went on and you now know what you need to do...when you need to do it...and where it should go.

Now, accidents happen, because that's what they do. And they're no big deal. But, for the most part, you've been right on target over the past few days...and you've been naked or bottomless for the better part of a week. You're aiming straight, and getting where you need to go.

Another potty chart filled- and this one was a biggie! We took you to see "Wreck-it Ralph" at the BIG movies again. And you loved it.

Not just because of your recent successes on the porcelain throne, but for a laundry list of amazing accomplishments and milestones achieved, we're- again- so proud of you. You're such a good boy! You're Number One!

Episode IV. Charting a Course: Potty Training, a New Hope

Aidan,

It might seem like it's been a while since I've talked about our potty training efforts and successes. Well, it has been a while, but that doesn't mean the successes aren't flowing. But, they're not exactly a royal flush either.

We've rewarded with Reece's Pieces, Whoppers, M&Ms, Marshmallows, Episodes. We've read countless books on the potty (your favorites for potty time are "Give a Mouse a Cookie," "I can read with my eyes shut," and "Everyone poops." We've sung countless songs ("Drip drip Drop it's an April shower"). And we've created memorable characters, like Little Bunny Poo Poo, The Flower that grows in the window, Thunder and Lightning Pee Pee Guy. And we'll keep on keeping on with all of that too.

But, we're still not ready for prime time.

You're such a busy boy, and a bit stubborn too, and with Julia's birth we've taken a few steps backward (just make sure you don't step in anything). You're a big boy, and we're super proud of you for all you do, and all you doo-doo.

So, there's been a disconnect between our desire for you to go potty and for your desire to go potty.

Things have been moving in the right direction recently though.

I developed a sticker chart system: one sticker for pee, one for poo, one for dry diaper and one for telling us you need to go. When you fill up a chart, you get to go see a BIG movie!

Here's the first chart! And you'll notice, I might have gotten a bit too excited about making the chart. Even before one sticker was put on the chart, it was very full already. But, you got the idea, and you filled it up (and filled the potty too!)

And we went to go see "Frankenweenie!" You, me, Julia and Mommy! The ticket taker was very pleased to see that you've been earning so many stickers! You loved the movie and even yelled "night night Sparky" when Sparky, the dog, died. Good stuff!

You were in awe of the movie. We were in Awe of you. 25 stickers

So, we started charting a second chart (and you can tell, I chose a simpler design this time). And guess what?

You pee-peed, you poo-pooed (this might be slightly embarrassing by the time you read this) and filled another chart to the brim! So don't wipe that smile off your face...you got to go see another movie! This one was "Hotel Transylvania!"

You, me, Mommy and Julia. The (same) ticket taker was not as amused to see us again telling him the storied success of your bowels and urinary tract. But we were impressed, and so glad to reward you for your fine work!

I think you were very proud too.

Your review of the film was pretty substantive:

So, we did another potty chart!

And guess what? Give me poo, give me pee, Aidan gets to see another BIG MOVIE!

Way to go! This time it was just you, Julia and Mommy and you went to see a good one: Monster's Inc!

note: Julia slept through all three films.

You love going to the movie theater, and request it: "Big Movie and Pop! Pop! Popcorn!" So, the reward system is working.

But, we still have a lot of resistance, and you tell us 'no' more often than not when it comes to potty. We don't want to force the issue, and give you anxiety about the porcelain throne, so we've decided to alter the tactic a bit, based on a book we read.

We're going to be getting a LOT MORE STICKERS! We're going to get stickers for all of the good big boy things we do, not just potty stuff. So, hopefully, by taking the spotlight off the potty it will feel like the pressure is off. The last thing you need on the potty is too much pressure...you just gotta relax and let it all go.

So, your Mommy drew and developed a whole new sticker system for you. Her drawings are so adorable and informative.

You really seemed to like them too. You already got 3 stickers before you went to school this morning!

Now we just have so much more to celebrate!

Before you know it, this chart will be loaded to the brim with stickers too and we'll be off to see a BIG MOVIE yet again.

I know it'll be a while until we can close the lid on this whole potty training business and I really don't believe Mimi when she says I was potty trained in one day. But, it doesn't matter how long it takes or how it all comes out, what does matter Aidan is that we love you and we are very proud of you.

Here's to stickers and big movies and songs and books. I hope that our new reward system really continues to click with you, but we know you'll figure it out eventually. And that day may be very sad, though. One day I won't get to spend 20 minutes reading to you and doing silly voices and songs to convince you to stay on the potty long enough to let nature happen.

So, just getting to spend an extra twenty minutes with you, sitting on the edge of a cold porcelain tub is reward enough for me.

But I may steal one of your M&Ms from time to time anyway.

We may be on the scenic route to getting there, but we still think that you're Number 1 when it comes to Number 1 (and 2) (on the potty).

Happy New Year!

My babies, It's 2013 and we have a lot to smile about.

Julia, you're 12 weeks old, and already so responsive. I can make you smile just by smiling at you!

Aidan, you continue to amaze and impress us. I love it when you say "Daddy, Let's play! Playtime!" It's almost heart breaking when you say that right before bed. But, there's a whole new year of play times ahead of us.

You're getting better at going pee pee and poo poo on the potty, and collected enough stickers on your sticker chart to get to see a BIG movie. You offered some insightful comments loudly through out the movie, explaining it to us ("Sparky, night night"...sparky was actually dead..but he came back. The movie was "Frankenweenie"). But, the look of amazement on your face when we sat down in the theater (now your 4th or 5th time at the big movies) was pure gold.

If only you knew that that's how your Mother and I look at you sometimes. Pure awe and amazement.

In fact, that's how we feel about both of you, Julia and Aidan. We are constantly amazed that we made you...that you are from us, but already so different from us. So new and awesome and unique in this world.

And that's what a New Year is all about, I guess.

But, with amazing kiddos like the both of you, every day is New Year's Day.

So smile, kids! It's 2013, and we have a whole new chapter in our adventure today. And I won't make you wear these hats again...until next year.