why today is awesome...

Parenthood has a lot of ups and downs, not even just within each month or week but literally within a 5 minute span you can have some of the most amazing moments with your children quickly followed by some insanely challenging ones. Can I get an amen mama's + daddy's?

Anyway, today has had just as many joys as challenges, just like any other day. However, there have been enough significant happy moments to make today a pretty good one so far.

Early this morning I threw some beef stew together in the crock pot and cleaned the kitchen, dining room and living room.

Later in the morning one of my best friends, Jamie, came over with her son Justice (who is almost one!) and we had breakfast. We hadn't seen each other in way too long because of sickness bouncing back and forth between our families over the last few months. Malakai had a few challenging moments, but really enjoyed seeing Justice.

After they left Kai needed a diaper change and on a whim I asked if he wanted to use the toilet (I know, here I go blogging about potty training). He asked to use the "white one", as opposed to his Elmo potty chair. He sat, but nothing. So we washed hands, but instead of a diaper I put underpants on. I decided to see if he'd sit on the Elmo chair in the living room for a bit. I got him some snacks, a cup of water and turned on the tv. He was content to sit and I just waited.

{yes, even Batman needs to learn to use the potty}

I walked in the other room to put the camera away and when I came back he had gone in the potty chair for the first time ever. I had not anticipated just how proud and excited I'd feel. I pulled a progress chart out of a Elmo training book Aunt Kristi got him forever ago and we put a sticker on. He got lots of hugs and high fives and was so excited! He even wanted to sit on it some more and try again, but that didn't last long.

Later he ended up wetting in his underwear and not telling me, but I just cleaned him up and went back to diapers for the rest of the morning. I didn't even care because I was so excited for his first success.

Then we peeled paper off broken crayons and he sorted the colors so we could melt them and make big flat crayons in a muffin tin. He colored a bit and we just had some quiet playtime.

Just after 1pm He ate a late lunch and started to get sleepy. For the past month I have been dreading nap time every afternoon. Kai hasn't been napping and for the past two weeks he'll fall asleep just before dinner in random places or doing random things.

I usually try nap right after lunch which ends up being between noon and 1pm. Today we started a bit later even though he woke up just before 7am, so he was pretty tired. At 2pm I picked him up, sang a silly song and laid him down while continuing to sing and he was fast asleep in less than a minute. Our second success of the day! I am so thrilled!

Both boys are sleeping, my house is clean, dinner is cooking itself and I've got a smile on my face. Today is a great day!