Why The Age Gap?

Well, a lot of people may question why we timed it to have our kids almost 3 years apart. Around the time that Squishy will be born, Braden will be just under 3 months away from turning 3. I think this age gap will be perfect, especially considering the fact that we don't know or not if we will add another one to the mix. And honestly, I'll be turning 30 next April, so I think I might want to wait the 3 years again to have another, if we do...I'll still be plenty young! Some people need to have their kids bing-bang-boom they just want to get all the diapers and little kid stuff done all at once and I think that's great. I know, myself, that I would not cope well with that! I'm not made to be a "2 under 2" or "3 under 3" kind of mom! I know I could do it if I had to...but I don't, so I'm not!

My two big goals before having Squishy were to get Braden in a toddler bed, so as to not have to buy another crib, and to have him potty trained so I could have (hopefully) 6 months of being a diaper-free home! Now, I can say with authority that Braden is 100% potty trained. I was nervous about our upcoming 8+ hour road trip to BC next week, and how we'd do with car seat naps and potty training...but in the last few weeks he has eased my anxiety (as he always does) and he tells us all the time "I need to go potty" when he has to pee when we're in the vehicle. He's only ever had 2 pee accidents in his car seat, and even the odd time when he naps, he wakes up dry. He can pee on the side of the road if we need, but he's also proven in the last week that he can hold his bladder for almost 1/2 hour until we can get home or to a place with an actual potty! Which comforts me more knowing that we have to drive Rogers Pass, down a mountain, where you pretty much can't pull over next week!

He's got the nap thing down, the odd time he takes a nap, that is! He had a 4 hour nap when we were camping and woke up dry! He often wakes up dry in the morning but we still put a diaper on as a back-up, just in case! I think if I was really strict with fluid restriction intake after supper he would probably wake up dry all the time, but I'll wait until he's a bit older...or, knowing him, he'll just do it with his ready.

The scoop on poop. I had been avoiding posting about this, so not to drive my readers crazy, though I did send out a few tweets of frustration the last few weeks. He has had poops in his potty since day 1. I kinda figured it was a fluke, but was also very happy that he did it so he would "know" that he could and that he should. BUT, over the last month and a half or so, he just could NOT get the poop on the potty thing down. I didn't know what to do. I tried increasing the fibre in his diet so he would have to go more regularly (he's been an every 2-3 day pooper for well over a year now) but that wasn't working. He would keep having tiny accidents in his underwear, but wouldn't "really" go. The morning we went to Hertiage Park, I knew he had to go, so I tried bribing him with the train ride - and it worked! He went all by himself in his little potty and I thought we hit a huge milestone. But even the next week after that, he would.not.do.it in the potty. Kept having small accidents in his underwear. So finally...I broke out the laxative. I'm not talking like "Ex-Lax" bowel-prep laxative, I'm talking a powder laxative that's meant to increase regularity. Again, the morning we were to go camping, I knew it was a poop day. We begged and pleaded and bribed that he could go camping and ride on the boat, but he had to poop in the potty. Poor kid, we all felt horrible...but eventually as Jay and I were packing up the trailer, he went to mom and told her he pooped on the potty - and he did! We tried making him sit for 20 minutes, watching Netflix on the iPad...nothing was working and eventually he just did it on his own. He was SO thrilled with the reward of going camping...that when we were camping he had 2 small poops in the trailer potty and he hasn't looked back since.

It was a very frustrating thing for all of us, but as with everything in his life, he just did it when he was ready. I wish I had magic cure I could tell you for getting your toddlers to poop on the potty, but as my friend with triplets a few months older than Braden said - it just takes a bit longer for some to be pooped trained and it will happen when it happens! It's one of the few things in their life they can control!

Another thing that I really like about this age gap, is that I don't have to run around the world getting Braden to school or sports. Braden won't be in play school until fall 2013 and he's not in any classes or lessons so we can just chill, commitment-free at home getting used to being a family of 4!

And here's a couple Flashback Friday pictures...because no post should go without a few pictures!