The Chandler Family: Thanksgiving, Potty Training, and Everything in Between!

We had a very good Thanksgiving weekend. My parents arrived on Wednesday. I had already done some prepping of food for the feast the next day. Thanksgiving was pretty low key. The only excitement was that somehow we cooked our turkey upside down!! So as Jeff was trying to carve it, all that he was finding was dark meat. I was really upset by this, because for once I actually bought an actual Butterball brand turkey. We were getting ready to get out the camera to take pictures of it so that we could complain to Butterball when we decided to flip it over. We ended up having to cut off the breast and cook it a little longer, but it was still good. Friday morning Jeff and I went to go see New Moon. Loved it! Can't wait for Eclipse! Then we came home to decorate the house for Christmas. In the end, we didn't get up our tree because we spent to long trying to figure out how we were going to do the outside. In the end, we are very happy with it. I need to take pics. We basically outlined our flowerbed, and we have two lighted wreaths hanging in the front windows. It looks nice. This was the first year we actually decorated outside. We felt we had too. Our neighbors really get into it around here. Saturday we put up the tree to discover that somehow it was stored wrong and the bottom branches are broken. So, we have a deformed tree this year. I think my mom is going to give me hers. I'm still going to try and see if I can find one after Christmas. I really want to get a small one for Madison's room, and I want one for the gameroom. My parents left late on Saturday afternoon. We spent Sunday getting ready for Jeff to go out of town for work. All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving.

I only took one picture all weekend. Here it is...

It's a very rare pic of all three of us together. That normally never happens!

So, we decided that last week was a good week to start potty training. She's been ready since August, but she wasn't walking then. She had started to become a little more interested lately, and all my friends told me not to miss the opportunity if she was interested. They said if you missed it then it would be really hard. And, they all swore by this 3 day potty training method. So, that's what we did. Basically, you have to give up your life for 3 days and follow you child around to begin to pick up signs that they are going to potty. And when they do start to potty, you rush them off to the bathroom so they can finish in the potty...all the while telling them that we don't want wet undies, etc. And, you are supposed to be telling them the entire time to let you know when they have to go potty. But, once they use the potty (no matter how much), then you shower them with praise and possibly a reward. I would say we are like 80% to 90% trained. She really doesn't like to use it, but will...especially if she knows there will be a treat. We are down to one accident a day, and usually one at night. It's getting better...a LOT better. I've even taken her out, and we've had no accidents. She is just wearing panties and no pull ups. So, we are very proud of her.

So, on Friday when her Daddy got home, she was a little stir crazy and wanted to go outside. It was cold, and she had been running around in a long sleeved shirt, panties, and baby legs most of the week. Well, she went into her closet and got her boots (they are fake Uggs) and took them to her Daddy. She wanted them on, and she wanted to go outside. Well, he put them on her, but of course, they didn't go out. It was hilarious! We asked her if she liked her boots, and she said, "I like my boots!!" Again, hilarious!