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P
What does P stand for? Well in the Drennon house this week it stands for pacifier and pee pee.
We are delighted to announce that Lleyton is no longer using his pacifier! After meeting with the speech therapist last week she asked that we get rid of the paci even though Lleyton was only using it at rest times. Sunday night was night one without the paci and it went as expected... Lleyton crying and pointing to the dresser drawer where we usually kept the pacifiers and when no response was had crying louder. We had to stop the bedtime story because it was not being listened to and just tuck him in. He was upset, but got quiet after about 8 minutes. Night two was the hardest he was still pointing at the drawer and he cried the longest (about a total of 30 minutes), but it was hard to tell if this was because he wasn't as ready for sleep as the night before or if he was really that upset about the pacifier. By night three he had stopped pointing at the dresser drawer. He still cries/whines a bit when we tuck him in(less than 5 minutes), and shut the door but it is to protest bed time, not the absence of the pacifier. This was much stranger than when we took Kennedy's away. She was a bit older, and could communicate. We could explain to her what we were doing and felt confident she understood even though she was unhappy with it. With Lleyton it broke my heart because I didn't feel like there was a way to explain what was happening. I think at first he thought we had just forgotten to give it to him so he was trying to point and show us what he wanted. So sad... I am relieved he still had his blue blanket to find comfort in, and that this is over.
This is not Lleyton's bed... it is in fact Gramma Cheri's dogs' bed that Lleyton thought was an ideal spot to relax during our last visit. It grosses me out just a bit if I dwell on it, but Gramma Cheri does have very clean dogs.
Drum roll please....
Lleyton pee peed in the potty! Not once, but going on five times since last night!!! We are ecstatic. He has been interested in sitting on the potty before bath after sister does for awhile, but nothing ever happened. Then last night I mentioned to him again to "make it spray water" and I could see him flex his little belly and then ta da! He peed! (He was so proud of himself!) Then he stopped himself, and then purposely made himself go a bit more, and did this once more before getting down. He went again after bath, and twice today. Any time we ask him if he wants to go he gets excited and runs bare bottomed to the bathroom and points at the potty waiting for us to put him on. Tim and I were talking about how now we have this unusual predicament where we have a child who wants to be potty trained, but doesn't know how to say the words that would let us know he needs to go. We are not expecting him to be out of diapers anytime soon, but are so thrilled that he made the connection about what to do.
It was a blast! The kids didn't really understand the concept, or maybe were just smart enough to know better than to throw yourself to the ground from a standing position. Tim and I weren't so smart... 
I have been paying for it all week. I woke up Sunday morning and my abdominals were so sore I could hardly sit up. Then I noticed that my ribs were tender to the touch, not to mention my chest which is still sore. Here I thought I was being so smooth and cautious in my motion. Tim was crazy! He was going so fast that he would fly off the end and almost into the fence. He got several scrapes but none of the "deep tissue bruising" that I experienced. For him that means that his technique was superior. I am still not convinced. 
Kennedy and Lleyton loved running down the slide, splashing in the water, and holding on to the boogie board that came with it and having Tim launch them down the tarp. 
It was a wonderful morning of fun, family time and our yard got watered while we were at it!
Of course Kennedy always has to make sure he is doing it "correctly". If he doesn't he hears, "No son. That doesn't go there." or "son. SON! Put it here son...that's a sweet boy"
