pre-xmas lancaster trip

Two weekends before xmas, we headed out to lancaster to visit gmom J and Aunt B.  We had a weekend of fun planned  though we got off to a rocky start on friday.  We left later than we wanted to and got stuck in a ton of traffic. plus big guy was sick and not pleased with being stuck in the car.  We all pretty much had a meltdown during the drive.

We finally made it to our hotel, a new place that looks like a steamboat from the outside.  Our normal place closed down.  Check-in was very easy and we went to the fabulous gift shop.  the hotel has a cool thing that a goldfish can stay in your room with you.  They give you a little goldfish bowl and some food.  And if you want they will let you take it home.  We named ours "baby fish."  big guy liked feeding it, but other than that, he wasn't overly excited about it, hence we didn't take it home.

Our night was pretty quiet, eating some dinner, snacks, nebulizer, bath, and bed.  But oh boy, we had an awesome day on saturday planned!  big guy was kind of a wild one upon waking up and our trip to the starbucks was the beginning of the next round of meltdowns.  Luckily grandma J and Aunt B arrived and brightened up all of our moods.  We headed out to the strasburg train station to catch the santa train.  And big guy was the angel child for the next two hours.  The train ride was awesome.  We were in first class and got the best seats on the train.  right up front for the return journey when the engine couples right in front of us.

We ate cookies and hot chocolate, listened to carolers, horn players, and saw santa himself.  big guy really loves santa, but only from a distance.  he loves talking about him, his hat, saying ho, ho, ho.  But when santa came too close, big guy hid under a chair.  He peeked a hand out to get his trinket, but otherwise was not interested in getting any closer!  hilarious! We did the hand crank train and visited the gift shop before heading back to the hotel to nap.  After naptime, we ate dinner in the bar area (this is where we had eaten on a previous visit) and went to Elizabeth farms to drive slowly through the thousand lights.  big guy loved it so much!  the tunnel of lights was super cool!  we went to santa's workshop to say hi to santa (again, big guy was not interested in actually saying hi.  And next to santa was a model train set up.  Heaven!

Sunday morning we packed up and headed to gmom J's house.  We had a pre-xmas- including big guy's big present, a new big wheels type bike!  he loved it and tore through the house leaning on the handle bars and not bothering with the pedals.  Hubs and I opened our gifts, as well.  but big guy was loving life!  we spent a few hours and ate breakfast before hitting the road.  A great lancaster trip yet again!

good manners

big guy has really good manners.  He says please and thank you so well and even to strangers, which of course they think is totally fabulous.  who am I kidding, everyone thinks it's fabulous.  Including me, since I am a real stickler for manners.  Big guy says thank you without prompting and sometimes at times taht you wouldn't think he would say it.  Like if you fix a train on his tracks or fast forward through the scene that he thinks is scary during a movie.  So precious.  Please he will say when prompted.  But he also says hi and bye so nicely to everyone.  Almost like he's a politician.  We are still working on you're welcome.  which is kind of a mouthful, but we'll get there!

the potty train

One of the gifts that big guy got from gmom dino was a book called The Potty Train.  Combing big guy's love of trains with my desire to keep this whole potty thing rolling!  Today big guy really had to go, but was being his difficult self.  So, I busted out the new book and we read it several times.  Big guy was very serious during the reading.  After we would finish we would discuss.  He knew everything that was going on.  He would pat his diaper and say "push on potty."  So, I thought we were doing good.  I asked if he just wanted to go sit, not push.  NO.

Ok, I went off to make dinner.  Hubs was in charge momentarily and big guy wanted to read the potty train again.  this time hubs asked me to grab the tickets to get on the potty train!  I gave a quizzical look and he stage whispered to me- toilet paper.  Ah-ha!  Genius hubs!  I grabbed two squares of toilet paper and gave them each their tickets.  big guy loved it, he kept yelling, "potty ticket!"  big guy still couldn't be convinced to just sit on the potty, but his spirits seemed better in regards to the potty.  especially after he and hubs put their tickets into the potty so that they could get onto the toilet.

At dinner, big guy was pulling a major crank fest!  he refused to eat, was whining, and didn't want to sit up straight.  All signs that a poop is brewing.  WE went to get our ticket and headed upstairs.  big guy prefers the upstairs potty.  He fought me for about 40 seconds, but then was able to go.  Whew!!!  He was pretty upset and didn't want to flush or put in his ticket, but we eventually calmed down.  And the night was a thousand times better since big guy was in a way better mood!!

breakfast of champions?

Hubs took this pic the other day of big guy deciding what he wanted for breakfast- it's a little blurry because he was running with joy- but that is a bag of marshmallows and a bag of m&m's in his hands! Needless to say, big guy did not eat this for breakfast, but he gets an A+ for trying!

pants!

This evening big guy (with my supervision) took off his pants and properly put on a pair of pajama bottoms.  that's right.  my baby put on a pair of pants.  it was really adorable to watch him pulling and figuring out how to do it.  next putting on a shirt.

quirks

It's funny what bothers kids.  I've read and been told by several people that some of the things that bother other kids don't bother big guy.  For example, big guy really enjoyed having his nose aspirated before he learned how to blow his nose.  I think he realized that it made him feel better.  And that it felt really cool when I would do it- I was an expert!  Another funny thing is getting nails cut.  Big guy loves when I cut his finger and toe nails.  he actually will request that I do it every week.  He'll point to his finger nail and say, "cut."  and he likes to have the index fingernails cut first. And after I do fingernails, we move onto toenails.  I mean there are still plenty of things that he freaks out about, but at least he has learned to blow his nose and enjoy getting his nails cut!

on the first night of Hannukah

big guy used the potty again and went poop!  lots of happy screaming, clapping, jumping ensued.  we flushed.  we yelled for daddy.  daddy did all of the above.  we flushed.  we talked about poop and pushing.  then we got fish stickers, which is the reward.  I'm thinking about making a chart....hmmm, I'll have to see how motivated I feel!