Aurelia Ann: 18 months

Welcome new readers! If you're new to Breaking New Ground, as many of you are, be sure to head over to the "about" page to get to know a little bit about my family. This post is an update on my youngest child as I like to keep record of their ages and stages here to share with family and friends, connect with others in our similarities + differences, and to look back on over the years. 

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In my book, little ones are still "babies" until they turn 2. However, I think with Aurelia being our last baby she might stay that way for good. Growing up we were neighbors with a family that called their youngest "Baby" almost exclusively and as she grew well beyond the title, now I can see why it would stick. All my kids will always be "my babies" but knowing this is our last little one makes all the stages she passes through so bittersweet. I keep clinging to the fact that we will hopefully have plenty more neices + nephews to satisfy the baby fix in the future. I'm also really enjoying this thing called sleep. I'm sure there will be sleepless nights for plenty of other reasons in our future, but coming out of the sleepless nights stage of having a baby is rather nice.

Previously, Raeli has been all over the map in terms of sleep. I have an entire post dedicated to our journey to get our babies and kids to sleep coming soon. Aurelia struggled with sleeping at night when she should have been able to, which was the same for our sons, but getting each of them to the point they could sleep was very different. Now she sleeps well and wakes happy, so we do too!

Aurelia is going through so many new things right now, it's been difficult to keep track. She just had 3 out of 4 of her "two year molars" come through, it was not a happy experience for anyone. We are really dreading the time when the 4th one decides to make it's way out.

Lately she has been our kiddo in the "spotlight" because her brothers refuse to have their photos taken. I want to respect that, and also, they run away if I try...so there's really no fighting it most of the time. Sometimes I can ask Malakai really nicely to comply and he will, but usually with a very cheesy posed grin. Desmond usually needs bribed, with snapchat. Yes, my 4 year old asks if he can snapchat. Thanks to my twenty-something brother who introduced him to all the crazy options it has for photos and videos. The only people I'm connected to on snapchat are my mom and brother, so it's not as weird as it sounds. For those of you who have noticed that Raeli appears 3x as much as the boys do on social media, now you know why!

Her most recent accomplishment has been verbally. She has been pretty quiet for a long time, she signs when she's "all done", wants "more", and to say "please". She blows kisses and waves her good-byes and dances every time there is even a hint of music (like running over to dance to theme songs whenever her brothers are watching a tv show). She nods and shakes her head to answer questions. She has had a few words here and there but she's finally starting to use them more and try out new ones. She hollars "HI!" most mornings when she sees our favorite neighbor, Amy. She has recently started saying "yeah" and nodding her head, she grunts "uh-uh" while shaking her head no. For the longest time she's been saying "dah-dah" for dog, and subsequently any other animal. When you ask her what sound they make, she makes a sound like a cat hissing. It's pretty hysterical. She is trying to say more animals names and sounds, but when she gets excited she still points and yells "dah!"

{looking at the flamingos at Wildlife Safari}

One of the sweetest things she's been able to do, is follow directions. When she is asked to go get something or do something she usually complies correctly. We moved her changing pad to underneath the dresser and I started asking her to put it away, now she does it on her own after nearly every change. She likes to "clean up" and "put away". She also likes to go get books or toys and is so proud when she gets what you've asked for. She helps me unload the dishwasher by handing me all the plastic utensils out of the basket. It takes much longer, but it much more fun than doing it on my own. 

{mama's sweater + some sassy red shoes}

Aurelia loves shoes and has to have them on when she gets a hold of a pair. Last week Mima (my mom) gave the kids an early Easter gift of slippers and she adores wearing hers. Her newest obsession is coloring. Desmond has a table set up for our homeschooling time, which we usually do when Raeli is napping. There is a small bucket of crayons and paper set out, she will sit and color for 20-30 minutes, sometimes longer! She loves to look through books and babble her own little story as she turns the pages. 

As the youngest, and the only girl, she's predictibly grown into quite the little sass. Since she doesn't use a lot of words (so very different from her brothers at this age!) she tends to scream and protest when she's misunderstood or wronged in some way. We are definitely working on getting her to speak in effort to stop this behavior! She can totally hold her own with her brothers, and her scream does serve her well when they are not being gentle or kind towards her. 

It is so fun to watch Aurelia grown, to see how she's similar to her brothers and embrace how she's different. She'll be a baby for at least 6 more months, but she'll be my baby for always.

{ain't no party like a toddler tea party...}

Aurelia Ann: 6 months

Aurelia crossed the half year mark earlier this month and I'm being a total sap about it. She's our last baby and I am soaking in every single minute of her babyness. I'm mourning that fact that the little baby days are gone. However, I'm thoroughly enjoying each new stage as it comes.

Right now Aurelia is an expert roller. She loves tummy time except when she's tired- she'll plant her face down into her hands and fuss until she's picked up. Since she started rolling we haven't been sleeping that well as she wakes frequently and is struggling to get back to sleep because she just wants to roll around or if it's in the middle of the night she thinks she needs to nurse. 

She is the smiliest baby I've ever met. She smiles almost immediately when anyone looks her way. My favorite smiles are when she's so happy that her little body can hardly contain the joy and she stiffens up and wiggles all over with excitement. She does this a lot for her daddy and her brothers. She loves to watch Malakai and Desmond play and they love to perform for her. I hope that lasts forever, it's so sweet to witness.

She recently went through a phase where she wouldn't let me put her down without a fuss. It lasted about 2 weeks and I'm so thankful for the Ergo carrier we were gifted a few years ago, total life saver...or at least arm saver. My big girl is growing fast!

We had her well check last week and she is weighing 17 lbs, 8 ounces and is 26 1/4 inches tall and believe it or not, that makes her our smallest baby at this stage. Malakai was 20lbs 28 inches and Desmond was 22lbs, 22 inches tall by 6 months. Sometimes I feel like she outgrows clothing faster than they did, but now I'm just realizing it's probably because she has more clothing than they did at this stage so we end up with outfits that I set aside or forgot about that she'll wear once or not at all. I've since gotten better at breaking out the next size so it's ready and waiting by the time she's grown into it.

Aurelia has been loving her jumper that we just broke out a month ago and she also sits in a high chair at the table with us now. She tasted her first food last week at dinner, mashed up avocado. She made a few questionable faces, but ate it up pretty easily! We gave her pureed carrots this week and she always makes a funny face at first but then eats it up like a pro!

I can hardly believe how quickly she's grown. I miss the tiny baby stage but am loving this interactive stage of watching her learn as well. She's developing such a sweet personality. 

I love being 4!

A few days ago we started counting how many more "sleeps" until Malakai's 4th Birthday. It was an easy way to put it in to terms he could understand and he enjoyed talking about how his birthday was getting closer each time we went to bed and woke up.

Last night Ben + I put streamers over his doorway to surprise him when he woke this morning. For my own amusement I made this little sign.

{4-year-old in progress. Do not disturb until 7.16 @7:20am}

 I also put a happy birthday sign across the hall that he'd see when he came out. When he woke up I stood in the hallway to watch his reaction. He poked his head around the corner, looked at me with a smile and said "what is this?". Once I explained it was a surprise for his birthday, he kept saying "I love my surprise!" He also said "I love being 4" and my personal favorite "Can I be 4 all the time?"

We headed out as soon as we could for our traditional birthday breakfast at the Original Pancake House. We started going for each of the boy's birthdays on Kai's 2nd birthday. It was a fun way to commemorate the day, start a tradition, and include daddy in the fun when it was a workday. 

The best part is having pictures of the same scenes but just a year later. Like Malakai and his straw. Last year it was a bit of a new thing to get a cup with a straw at a restaurant. This year he was a pro. 

It was apparent this year how engrained our tradition has become. Malakai sat down, looked at the menu and then promptly addressed our waitress "excuse me, I would like pancakes with a candle in a strawberry please." We are not restaurant goers, the boys get to get out to eat maybe 5 times a year, maximum. 

The boys enjoy coloring while we wait. They are pretty good at waiting on their food. 

{Malakai wrote out the alphabet twice on the back of his sheet after eating}

The best part is watching him get the birthday stack and blow out the candle after we sing...

The excitement I captured when he was 2 will probably always be my favorite. That picture is still my desktop background on my laptop. Pure joy. 

I'm also quite surprised at how little he has seemed to change from 3 years old to 4 years old. I think he did most of his growing in his legs this past year. He and Des are both quite "leggy" these days. 

We went on a handful of adventures after breakfast (see photos on Instagram!). We stopped at Skinner's Butte Park, then Eugene Public Library- after which Kai claimed to be very tired, so we headed home and after lunch let Kai veg out in front of a show while Des napped, then we took him outside to finger paint and he played with the neighbor boys. Once Desmond was up we walked over to the park near our house, after some play time we came home and read library books for over an hour. Everyone was really worn out so we let Kai pick a movie to watch, he picked Mary Poppins and we watched half before and half after dinner. Then we sang happy birthday and ate green cake in the shape of a 4. Baths, stories, bedtime and the day quickly came to a close. 

While Malakai finger painted outside I did ask him a few questions as sort of a "yearly interview". Lately he's not really into answering questions. His favorite reply is "nothing"...which I don't find all that amusing. I'll ask him what he did in Sunday school, what he wants to eat, etc and if he's not in the mood that's the answer I get. That, or he'll answer with whatever is around him...which is how this interview turned out...

Malakai, on your 4th birthday {interviewed by mama, while sitting under a tree + finger-painting}

What is your name? Malakai 

How old are you? 4

What is your favorite thing to do? (several "nothings") paint. 

What do you want to be when you grow up? painter. (he's such a stinker. later he said "I don't want to grow up."

What is your favorite food? pancakes.

Who do you like to spend time with? Charlie + Jacob (the neighbor boys, he was facing their house at the time...see what I mean?)

What do you do really well? (he had moved on from painting and was hitting the ground with a stick) bamming bees and spiders. 

What makes you laugh? When someone tickles me, like you or daddy. 

What is the best time of day? rest time, when I get to play.

What are you afraid of? stinky breath trees (I have no idea)

Who is your best friend? Charlie and Jacob. (these kids are 6 and 8 years old and he rarely plays with them, haha.)

What do you like to do with your family? play chalk.

What do you love to learn about? Trees and stuff. 

Where do you like to go? The restaurant to eat pancakes. 

What is your favorite book? Jake and The Pirates (a book from Grandma Debbie)

If you had one wish, what would it be? a tree to be big and giant. 

So, in retrospect, I should have asked these over breakfast when he wasn't so tired. Still, his answers are a funny snapshot and for me that's the point. Now here are a couple more things about Malakai according to mama...

Favorite colors: green and brown, in that order. 

He loves to play at the park, with puzzles, and listen to music. His favorites are the Jake and the Neverland Pirates soundtrack and Owl City. 

He picked his birthday party theme this year- "Rockin' Birthday! with guitars."

He likes to watch a handful of different shows: Special Agent Oso and Fireman Sam top the list lately. If we had more seasons of Jake, he'd be all over that. 

He loves to eat cheese pizza and hamburgers. 

He enjoys a lot of books. We checked out "Blue hat, Green hat" by Sandra Boynton today and he laughed hysterically, even after a dozen or so readings in a row. 

He loves to help with dishes, laundry, washing the car, watering plants. Anything that he gets to work on with daddy. 

He loves to wear shorts and T-shirts. He isn't very fond of pants and refuses to wear any shirts with a collar or buttons, even polos. He can dress himself well, but sometimes gets too grumpy and asks for help. 

He has a list of morning routines that he loves to follow, but he'll often ask if it's okay that his bed is a little messy. It's a twin size and quite tall so he has a hard time making it totally straight, I don't mind it at all. 

He adores Nate from down the street and is more gentle with his baby brother Luke than he ever has been with is own brother. He also loves playing with Justice, Titus, Liam, Kylan, and Jacob. He is also quite sweet with Jacob's sister Kacie, who is the same age as Desmond...brothers. Most of his playmates are within a year of his age but he also really loves to play with the big kids (under our supervision of course). He has a great memory and often talks about his friends Henry and cousin Caleb who he has only played with a handful of times recently (Henry he grew up with until about 2 years old). 

Malakai knows all about letters, reads handful of sight words and is getting better at sounding out new words all the time. He is pretty eager to read, but also gets frustrated easily. He hates to be in the sun for very long and always has to wear his sunglasses or he squints like crazy. He used to be shy about playing in water but can now swim with the help of a life jacket, but he does tread water and can swim the entire length of my parents in ground pool repeatedly. 

I can't believe our boy is already 4 and I have one short year until he's off to Kindergarten. He's growing up all too fast, but I couldn't be more proud of the boy he's becoming.

oh yeah, potty training...

It's totally not my thing to talk about my kids and their potty training (learning, etc...whatever you want to call it). I don't particularly enjoy facebook status updates about other peoples' kids and what they've done in the toilet...so I don't share about mine.

However, I do want to talk about the process a bit for sake of keeping record (as that is the primary reason I blog) and for those wondering what it's like for others. Especially in difficult situations like ours.

A tiny bit of back story- Malakai showed interest in going potty at 18 months. (Desmond is doing the same). Unfortunately he had a hernia and we had to quit until after his surgery to correct it 5 months later. We tried again after he turned 2 but he just wasn't interested, and our pediatrician advised us that if he wasn't able to stay dry through nap time, that he wasn't physically ready anyhow. She also said that if he didn't care about being clean, we'd also be wasting our time. 2 strikes against us, so we waited.

Once Kai turned 3 we tried several times but backed off once it became a power struggle, and it always did. We did charts with stickers and treats for using the toilet. None of it lasted for more than a week. He filled up a chart with stickers for using the toilet while still in pull-ups but it went nowhere after that.

Then we went straight to underwear a few times and he did better, but the power struggle would still come into play. Another big issue is that he wouldn't want to stop playing to go potty. We tried reminders and songs and setting timers and none of it helped for long enough to matter.

I listened to an MP3 audio at the height of my frustration a couple months ago, by Love and Logic. It was only $5 and I highly recommend it. Way quicker than reading a whole book and more realistic and helpful than any blogger who promises you can train your kiddo in a weekend.

I learned to back off, use empathy when he had accidents, and let him be in control of the process. I took deep breaths through some really frustrating accidents and setbacks and loved him no matter how badly I wanted to stop spending money on pull-ups... and he did it. He owned it and is doing so great. When he did have accidents during that time we'd just simply say "what a bummer, you can help me clean that up and we can try again." or "that's too bad, maybe you aren't quite ready for underwear yet, and that's okay." Those phrases seemed to motivate him more, especially when the alternative was having to wear pull-ups during the day (he didn't always care about wearing pull-ups but finally grew to prefer underwear).

He still needs an occasional reminder or incentive, but 90% of the time he manages it himself with no problems. For incentives, I don't mean a treat or a sticker, but just simple things like "I'll get out the markers after you take a potty break!" or let's pause your show and you can finish after you go potty." Works way better than chocolate chips for us.

Next is tackling staying dry overnight. He's in pull-ups at night, even though he wants to be in underwear, because I know he's not physically ready. I let him know that he can get up to go potty any time after bed and that once he wakes up with a dry pull-up in the morning he can wear underwear the next night.

So, if you find yourself in a rut with potty training, back off...let go of control and let your kiddo show you what he/she is capable of!

Dear Desmond Lee

Dear Sweet "Little" Desmond,
This past year has been a wild ride. It has gone by faster than any time in my entire life and it shows no signs of slowing down, neither do you. It's hard to imagine that 12 months have already passed since I went into labor. Daddy still teases me for all the chores I did before I would go to the hospital. I know that all that work helped you get here faster and we got to spend more time with you once you were home because there were no chores to bug us, not that we would have let them.

You started out very colicky and it was rough for all of us those 1st three weeks, but nothing compared to your recent virus that kept us up all night worrying about you and trying to help you sleep. Thankfully you are strong and healthy again, just in time for your birthday. As a newborn you had an ear infection at just a couple weeks old and it broke our hearts, we also struggled through other illnesses together those first few months but we've made  it out stronger.

You progressed through life so quickly, doing everything early. You even gained weight by your 2-day appointment (when most babies are still working to get back to birth weight by 2 weeks). You sat up, crawled, and walked earlier than most. I think you were trying to catch up to your big brother.

You and your brother Malakai have grown into such special friends. Before you were born he was jealous of any other baby or child that I held. The day you were born and he met you, all that changed and then he wouldn't let anyone hold you but me. You were "mama's baby". He was protective of you until you learned to crawl, then he realized you were a playmate and the wrestling began. It has only recently become a two-sided affair. Still, the two of you love to chase each other and dance together, although you can be found dancing at even the hint of music, it takes a bit more to get your brother to join in these days.

Your look has changed quite a bit since you were born and it seems you've slowly morphed into looking like your daddy and brother. Mama finds you all to be so handsome that she's perfectly fine with losing her "look alike".

Lately you are repeating words and sounds and pointing at what or who you want. Pointing at noses and saying "nuh" or things you get excited about like dogs and saying "whoah!". You also seem to be experiencing a tad of separation anxiety as you always want me to be nearby. Thankfully it hasn't inhibited you enough to keep you from enjoying yourself in the church nursery where you play hard and have won the hearts of many volunteers.

You are very stubborn and grunt when you want something that is being taken or blocked. Like when you insist on climbing inside the lid drawer and someone tries to take you back out again. We've decided that you enjoy being "containerized". You love to "read" the Elmo Peek-a-Boo book that you got last Christmas and play with blocks or your shaker eggs.

Our little family is so much better because you are in it. We can't wait to see what the years ahead bring for you.

{traditional birthday breakfast at OPH}

Happy 1st Birthday Desmond Lee!
Love, Mama

Desmond's 1st haircut

I'm still behind on some things but I couldn't wait to skip over those for a moment and post some shots of Desmond's first haircut which just happened yesterday.

Here is our boy before his much needed haircut. I think he's precious, but admit that it was about time to get the hair out of his eyes.

 I must say, I do NOT recommend cutting a 10 month old's hair yourself. It was so difficult and in my opinion a bit of a disaster with all his wiggling around. He got pretty fussy and I had to call it quits...

I feel like he's nearly sporting a "Dumb and Dumber" style here...yikes. It was the best I could do with all the moving he insisted on doing. My heart stopped a couple time when he swung his face or a hand toward the scissors. 

Today after nap I let him play with some bath toys and did my best to correct some of the funky spots. It looks better and he is looking much too old!

Desmond: 9 months {8 days late}

July is one of the busiest months of the year for us. With the Independence day holiday (when we usually go camping but didn't this year), our wedding anniversary on the 7th (I'll try to post about how we celebrated), Malakai's birthday on the 16th, and it being one of the best months for weather where we live, we always have a full schedule. Needless to say, I am quite late on Desmond's 9 month post. I honestly couldn't even tell you if I did one for 8 months, but I think I'll save the next one for 12 months.

This child is doing everything entirely too fast. He took his first step last week and is constantly toying with standing on his own. He hasn't taken any more steps yet, but he loves to walk while holding someone's hands or pushing toys around the house.

{Malakai - April 2010. Desmond- July 2012}

A few days ago he decided to start climbing onto the bench of Malakai's little picnic table. Not cool with mama. It's now outside. His strength has earned him the nickname "Baby Hercules". When he gets grouchy or wants out of his seat he grunts and I like to call him "Baby Hulk".

He's also doing a lot of talking these days and a difference I noticed between he and Kai at this age is that he is already using the hard "g" and "k" sounds. He says "mama" and  "dada"very clearly and can mimic just about any other sound or word you throw at him, but doesn't have any other often used words.

He is an eating machine and recently graduated to cheerios in the finger-food category. He's teething like crazy with 4 big ones and more on the way. This has been an issue when it comes to sleep. He slept through the night twice in a row for a 7-8 hour stretch and it felt like heave. Before that he was doing some pretty nice 4-6 hour stretches, but then those teeth decided to interrupt our nights again and we haven't recouped yet.

Even still, Desmond is a very happy baby. He's quick to return a smile and laughs often. Nobody can make him laugh quite like his big brother Malakai. Seeing them play together and make each other laugh is one of the greatest joys I've experiences in life thus far. I love my boys and am so blessed to be their mama.

SHHH!

Malakai has this obnoxious habit of "shushing" people. I think it has a lot to do with testing boundaries and how his actions affect others. Of course he learned it from us when we ask him to be quiet when Des is asleep, but the way he does it is much more abrupt and comes across as rude. It's not our favorite...

That being said, if I hadn't captured him shushing me the other day, I wouldn't have had this striking comparison...

{click photo for larger version}

I just happened to be going through baby photos of Kai when he was 8 months (Desmond's current age) to compare him with his brother, but when I saw this funny picture I immediately thought of the one I took the other day. It's amazing to me that he used to be that baby...

comparing my boys...

I never got around to posting the comparison photos I did of Des + Kai at 6 months and suddenly Desmond is 7 months...so here are both 6 and 7 month comparisons.

Whenever I look at photos of Kai as a baby, it truly makes me wonder what people are talking about when they see Des and say "he looks just like his brother!"

Desmond: 5 months

Oy. It's almost painful when I realize how quickly babyhood is escaping us. I often say that with how fast Des grew after birth, we didn't get enough time in the teensy baby stage. You know...this one...

{photo by Davee Blu Photography}

That was just a week after he was born. 7 days old and oh so little. Why can't it last? I digress...

Desmond is now 5 months old as of the 10th. His favorite past time is to spit and blow raspberries. He loves it so much that he can be found doing this instead of going to sleep during many a nap or bedtime. 

He is a drooly mess most of the time as well. Partly from the spitting and raspberries, but mostly from the furious teething he has been experiencing for the past month. We NEVER had to deal with drool when Kai was a baby so this is new territory for us. Most days I'm not sure if I should put a bib on him or just change his clothes. 

I started a bit of a tradition (if you can call it that) during Kai's baby days. On the exact day he was a month older we would do a little photoshoot. It hasn't gone as well with Des but I always get a few pictures. This month I got more than usual and we let brother join in for the fun. 

Speaking of brother, Desmond LOVES his big brother Malakai. Kai has discovered what makes Des laugh and will do what he can over and over to get him giggling. 

We recently introduced Desmond to his activity jumper. He loves to play with the toys and jump up and down. Kai also likes to join him, connecting links to it for him. He's also been caught trying to climb into it...while Des was in it too. yikes.

Little guy enjoys tummy time and has been pushing his entire belly up off the floor. He can also scoot enough to move 90 degrees from where he had been originally facing. I have a feeling he'll be mobile early.

He is the happiest baby I have ever known. It is a breeze to get him to smile, showing off those great big dimples. He's super social, always looking for a face and lighting up when he finds one looking back at him. He's growing up too fast and I'm enjoying every minute of it. 

jumpin' jumpin'

This boy is getting too big, too fast.

He now loves, LOVES jumping in his activity jumper. He's also been "talking" a ton and screeching like crazy. He's so happy and active.

Kai loves having Des standing up in the jumper. He's closer to his eye level and he comes over and talks to him and shows him toys. Earlier today he said "noses!" and then tried rubbing noses with Desmond. If you've seen Toy Story 3, you'll get why this is truly hilarious. 

bath boys

Last night the boys took their first bath together, twice. Within the first 10 seconds Desmond decided to pee in the water. So we drained it and started all over. Malakai loved the entire thing and wanted to help wash his brother.

Desmond seemed to enjoy it too.

Malakai + Desmond: growing boys

It's been a while since I've done a comparison of my boys, and since I have to share Desmond's well-check stats from his 4 month in contrast to his 2 month appointment, I might as well see how he compares to Malakai at this age.

First, one small thing that I love about our pediatrician's office is that they take a photo at every well check. I take my own photos all the time, but for some reason it's just so great to have their photos to compare. Here are Desmond's photos so far...

Talk about a quick change! In 2 months his head grew an inch, he grew 3 inches in length, and gained 4lbs! Here are his 4 month stats: height 26 1/4 (85%), weight- 18lbs 15.5oz ( above 95%), head- 17 1/4 in. (85%). 

And Malakai's at this age: height- 24 3/4 inches (43%), weight- 17lbs 8oz (88%), head- 18 in. (99%).  

Kai was seeing a different doctor, so we don't have the well-check photos for him. When Kai was 4 months his pediatrician had us all worried about his growth and development. I'm glad to have switched doctors and to know that both my boys are healthy and well without jumping to conclusions and being given the worst case scenario at every visit. 

Ben + I were just realizing last night that it has been 9 months since Kai's surgery. It seems like a lifetime ago, and we are so glad to have that behind us!

Anyway here is Kai at 4 months in November of 2009 and Des at 4 months now.

We get a lot of comments about how Des looks "just like his brother!" but I really don't agree. They have some of the same features, but each has a look of their own. Well, except for the fact that Malakai is an exact replica of Ben.

This week Desmond has been teething like crazy and Malakai is learning to use the potty. It's been challenging and I surely wouldn't have planned to start potty-training with Kai while sleep deprived because of Desmond's teething and my having a cold...but he was ready so I went with it. The kid totally gets it, but doesn't really care to go unless I remind him that he gets a sticker, then he's all about it, but would rather put a diaper back on than a pull-up or underwear...I have a feeling it's going to take a while!