Potty Time

Well were finally here. The age of the potty. It was a date I was afraid would never come, but it appears that eventually persistence pays off (or in my case, patience) A couple of days ago, I realized I should be putting forth a bit more effort when it came to potty training at home. He is confronted with it at school as they make him try every hour or so, but we hadn't really been 'making' him try here at home. We did put him in underwear a month or so ago to see what would happen and he enjoyed sitting in the 'wetness' so I was hesitant to try again. I decided to try again, but this time it was much more successful. I kept taking him to the potty every 30 minutes with no results. Finally I gave him some milk to get the 'juices' flowing. 30 Minutes after this I sat him on the potty again with still no success. Right when I wanted to give up, he asked me to put a diaper on so he could pee pee. I told him it wasn't necessary he could just do it in the potty. I told him to push his 'pee-pee' down and a little squirted out and he got a little scared. I told him it was okay that is what is supposed to happen and the rest is history. He came to me about 20 minutes later and told me he had to potty again and we were successful again!! If he is at home he is wearing his underwear and has asked every time to potty. Two times he wet a little before he told me, but he still told me. Today was another breakthrough as he pooped in the potty as well. He still won't ask to go to the potty if he has a pull-up on (which is required at school) but at least were making good strides. Who knew I would be writing a blog entry like this one day?

General Tidbits

We just celebrated the fact our lives were irrevocably changed three years ago. I think back and it all seems like a blur and I know that these memories I hold right now will be gone before I know it, so I want to write down a couple of favorite 'right now' memories

Woody and Jesse - While we were in Germany in the spring, Dawson starting watching Toy Story and then when we got home Toy Story 2. Just like the Cars movie he began asking to watch it every day. During a yard sale Saturday, I was able to pick up 'blue' buzz for .50 cents. It wasn't long before he wanted to add Woody and Jesse to his collection. I told my family that if they saw a Woody he would really like it for his birthday, and my sis-in-law, Jill found one and stored it away. After a tragic trip to Kmart where he was denied his beloved Woody doll he began to daily ask for his 'prize' So when his birthday finally rolled around he was more than overjoyed that Woody was one of his presents. Woody quickly joined the ranks of 'moosie aka poo-poo' as a MUST have toy. Little did he know that my sister, Karina had gone online and found a Jesse doll for his collection. The box arrived at her house and her daughter, Alisha, quickly began jumping up and down with excitement until she realized that it was for Dawson and not for her in which case she had a meltdown and had to go to her room. Upon composing herself she counted her money and realized that she had enough for her own Jesse. Until then her and Dawson went camping with Woody and Jesse. They played all day and have really had a great time!

The Horrific Threes - I have heard that in the threes they start to show their independence and mine sure is. When I tell him Mama said no he now replies with 'Dawson says yes' arggg. He also has to disagree with EVERYTHING I say regardless of what it is. You can have that piece of candy. No - me no wan't candy. Followed by a scream when he doesn't get it. But the fun times make up for it!!

Favorite Phrases/ Words:
How dat work?
No, me do it
thaat right mommy?
Dawson James Nodine (pronounced awson ames odine)
To infinity and beyond (pronounced o inne and yon)
didi (daddy)
tripping over his n's, m's, and d's when he gets excited to talk
anel - Daniel
rain - Rayanne
ndrew - Andrew
me ave boy (brave boy)
I deed it ( I did it)
on a hot day at the pool - Me want cold beer.

DBB3

We just enjoyed celebrating our third annual Dawson's birthday bash. This was the first year we invited people other than family and very close friends. It was cute to see how excited he got when he found out that his friends were coming. He is totally a people person and the more people the merrier. Amy, my sis-in-law, took amazing photos for the third straight year and I have a couple here out of the 181 she took. Dawson's guests (excluding the adults) included Reid his friend from his first pre-school, Ben, Izzy, Garrett, Suzannah, Brendan, Caden, Haley and Adam all neighborhood friends. Vivian and Owen our godchildren, and Daniel, Rayanne, Andrew, Alexander, Alisha, Brittney and Kelsea our nieces and nephews. This year's theme was car wash--which is Dawson's favorite activity of all times.

My personal favorite - Dawson jumping into the pool with his cousin, Alisha

Our car wash brushes aka spaghetti noodles with blue food coloring

My three nieces--Alisha (6), Brittney (11), and Rayanne (13)

Dawson blowing out his candles with help from Re-Re (my sis) on his bubble cake

Dawson's favorite toy of the day. His beloved Woody doll. Only to be later joined by Jesse who was ordered from Amazon by my sister. Story to follow in a later blog.
Last one... The final walk through of his 'car wash' thankfully his friend Reid bought him the plastic version which is now hanging in his closet.

Impromptu Photo Tag

My friend sent me a post that said you had to take a picture right then not primping or fussing and post it to your blog. So here I am. Enjoy :)

Random Post

Here is an update of random events and life items that are happening in the Nodine life right now. Jason left for his last 4 week stint in Germany and although we are very thankful for his job and what it allows we are really missing him right now. As I sit here we are watching Toy Story 2 again... and my son asking me for Woody. Little does he know his Auntie Jill has one for his birthday but everyday he asks me for him. At least we got one of his 'must have' toys (like there really is such a thing!). He has been wanting a 'wrecked' King from the cars movie. He saw the advertisement in one of his books and they are no where to be seen. Thanks to the joys of Ebay I was able to scope one out. I sold his swingset and told him this was the replacement. He was TOTALLY okay with that. It works for me a $8 car for a $250 playset. I am also attaching some random pictures from the last couple of months that I like. Some from Germany and one of his first succesful potty experience (re-enacted for the camera!)

A few things

I will be posting info about Germany later, but wanted to jot down a few quick notes about what Dawson is up to these days. He is definitely two and finding his independence. He wants to do everything himself until I need him to do something then of course he can't even walk! Our favorite phrases of the moment (or not favorite in some cases)

Huh? - Drives me crazy and I realized he gets it from his father. Kind of like - Go put your toys away - huh?
That's right - This is from Papa and is quickly going away now that it has lost its edge
Kika - His pet name for our niece Alisha
Kaka - His pet name for his Uncle Kyle

Favorite activities -
Collecting cars from the Cars movie. Looking at books to see which ones he has and which ones he wants and which ones his friends have
Driving his new F150 play truck. Jason realized that we could stop chasing him if we just put a walkie talkie in the 'cup' holder and gave him verbal directions from that. The first time was funny because he heard us but didn't see us and flipped his head around to see where we were.
Annoying his mother - Oops did I really say that? Again, maybe picked it up from his daddy ;)

Testing this new service

Ok, so you apparently can do blog posts from word which seems much easier for me than typing through blogspot. The problem is that the pictures don't load or I can't figure it out. Anyway Going to test it here to see how it works.

Ok, so I'm WAY behind in blogging and have way too much to catch up. Gotta to get back on the 'horse' so to speak, so I thought I would blog about our weekend. Jason has been in Germany for business and Dawson has been missing him. I took a video of Dawson waiting for him to get off the airplane. Precious! Also, when Jason got home he realized that Dawson thinks the airvent is how he calls to mommy (I guess I really hid his reciever well...) We are enjoying having Daddy home for 2 weeks and can't wait until we get to join him!

First Birth Story

Ok, this totally happened by accident, I so wish Jason could have been home to share this moment with us. It started with Dawson wanting me to read him the book by Jamie Curtis called ' Tell me again about the night I was born.' He said something and I said do you weren't born at night you were born during the day, and then it took off from there. I totally thought he wouldn't care or when I started would move on to something else, but he did care and he listened and interacted. I told him about how he was born during the day and that he would not come out on his own. I explained how they took Miss Andrea and cut her tummy and popped his head out. He then demonstrated how that would look (imagine him holding his head and going yea, me head) and how he cried for 2 hours straight and how daddy said that maybe he was hungry and he drank his bottle. Which we demonstrated on his milk cup. Then we talked about how daddy walked the floor with him that first night because he was crying and mommy just kept repeating to herself, I have a son, I have a son, I have a son. He then reached over and gave me a hug. I have no idea why but it was the sweetest moment that I won't ever forget (in fact I'm crying as I type it). I wonder if he'll remember in the morning, but I won't repeat it again until daddy can be with us and tell his version.

Car Wash

Dawson asks at least every day about going to the car wash. He is obsessed with them. He has two play carwashes he plays with at home and he calls the 'real' carwash the ones with windows (took us forever to figure out what he was saying, it sounded like Carwash inno.) and he calls the gas station variety ride-thru carwash. Today I HAD to get the carwashed because of Asheville's snow and I happened to have the video camera with me to capture the moment. The first video is of the carwash experience, and the second one is VERY short but captures what I had to deal with after the carwash (It's short because I took it at a stoplight. Safety first :) )

Miss Match

Ok, so I am trying to get my stuff together and I am way behind on a myriad of items. One being updating blogs. Jason is out of town in Germany for 4 months off/on. He misses us and he I want to make sure to do more updates and pictures so he can keep up with us.... For the rest of you enjoy this randomness.

This is of Dawson, just chillin out in our front yard. I cropped Jason out of the picture but they were laying in the grass together pulling clover.

Pulling Clover makes you SO tired

These are pictures from Halloween.

Life Update

I have tons of pictures and videos I should probably be putting on here, but it takes so long and I just have a minute. I wanted to write a few notes about what Dawson is up to these days. Time goes by so fast and you really think you will remember and you don't. My Grandma died on December 31st and she left quite a legacy in her 94 years. At her service we all talked about what we remembered the most about her and it was all the little things. God willing, when I look back at my life (Dawson too) I want him to be able to remember the little things.... So here are a few of my favorite Dawson things right now...

The way he says 'Thank you Mama' when I do anything he really loves which right now is fixing his train track and giving him breakfast, but sometimes he says it just out of the blue for nothing more exciting than handing him his milk.

The way he asks for our phone 'My Mone' and can really work it, and the fact he knows which one of our phones he wants since we both have different apps and videos (IPhones) In fact he has taught us a few tricks. Right now his favorite apps are the bowling app and the drinking app that burps after the drink is gone (on Jason's phone of course!)

How he always asks us to watch whatever he's doing. Like ' Me train - Mama Watch', ' Wii, me, Mama Watch', Sit (patting where he wants us to sit), watch, me.

How he puts together his sentences. He gets all the words out with little to no pronouns, and in 95% of the cases I understand what he's saying like when he told his dad why he got in trouble during bathtime. Jason - Why did you get in trouble? Dawson - Me throw car mama. Daddy - You threw a car at mamma? Why did you do that? Dawson - Mama water off (mama made him turn off the water) Jason - Did you deserve it? Dawson - Yep. which leads me to my last one...

The way he says YEP and NOPE. It used to be YES (emphasis on the s) now it is emphasis on the p.