The Two Big Ones

Bryson has done a lot of things that have made me a very proud mama in his short two years of life, but I think these two reign at the top of the list so far.

(this picture was taken the other morning before we headed off to the gym)

Bryson now goes to the daycare at the gym!!! This may not sound like a big deal to you, but to me it's huge!!! I LOVE going to the gym, but I've stopped taking Bryson with me until now because each of the 6-7 times I tried before, the daycare workers have had to come and get me 15 minutes into my workout because Bryson wouldn't stop crying. He would cry hysterically--like harder than I've ever seen him cry. He'd cry so hard he'd have a hard time breathing!!! I'm not sure if something happened to him there or if it was just the thought of being without his mama in a big strange place, but he always acted so terrified of the place. So after having my workout interrupted more than enough times, I decided that I (and my workout) was better off if I just planned to go early in the morning before Mike headed off to work so that Mike could be home with Bryson while I hit the gym.

Last Monday I thought it was fine time I try again. So I packed Bryson into the car with me and off we went. Since Bryson can now understand things really well, on the drive over I tried to prep him the best I could for what was about to happen. When I dropped him off, he kind of acted the same way he did before. He started to whimper when he realized I was leaving and I thought for sure the workers would come and get me after 15 minutes, but the clock kept ticking and they never came! I was amazed and absolutely thrilled!!! When I went to pick him up he was playing and having a blast. He didn't want to leave and kept signing and saying "more, more, more!"

I've taken him every weekday since then and he LOVES it!!! In fact, on the drive over there now, instead of me having to prep him, he preps himself and always says over and over to me, "Gym, mommy go bye-bye. Play. Fun." Thankfully he totally gets it now, which means I can finally hit all of my favorite classes without interruption!!! Wahoo!!!

BTW: for my OCM (mission) friends out there, I ran into Joni Parkinson at my spin class yesterday. She is in town from Cincinnati (where she now lives) and we had a nice chat and a fun workout together. I love running into old friends. :)

Bryson went pee-pee in the potty!!! Just for clarification, we haven't even started potty training him yet, but today I guess he decided he wanted to give it a try. I've had his potty around so he can get use to it and this past week he's especially enjoyed playing with it. Mainly he's just been jumping off of it and putting the toilet bowl on his head, but today I noticed him trying to sit on it (with diaper on) and I could see him kind of tensing his body like he was trying to make himself "go." So I took his diaper off and before I could explain to him how to do it, he sat right down and pushed out a little tinkle. He immediately jumped off the potty and started running around with excitement. Then he sat back down, tinkled again and jumped off and ran around some more. He was so cute and so proud of himself. When he realized he had "run dry," he grabbed my water bottle, took a swig and then sat back down and tinkled again. He kept taking drinks and tinkling over and over again and was so excited about it. Yes, it was a very proud mommy moment. :)

So what do you think? Does this mean he's ready? I'm not sure I'm ready (yikes!). I've been planning to wait until he's a little closer to age 3, but I'm new to this and have no idea! Any suggestions? I'd love any potty training advice you might have for me. Thanks friends. :)