Potty-Training 102

We're at it again, this time with kid #2: potty-training!  There are so many highs and lows, so many victories and failures, so many pull-out-your hair moments that it's amazing I still have hair after this week.  A friend once told me that all of her worst parenting moments happened during potty-training, and I can resonate with her!  When our son gets off the potty and instantly starts peeing on the floor, when I'm cleaning out poopy underwear again, and when he's crying in the bathroom because I had to leave him alone for a few minutes while tending to another kid, I wish I could run away and hire someone else to do this job for me.  It's been a long week in the bathroom, but by golly this precious boy is going to learn how to use the potty!

We were hoping that this kid would be easier, not only because potty-training Caleb was so awful that anything in comparison would have to be easier, but also because Kai has shown interest in using the potty (whereas Caleb had no interest at all - I'd say he even had negative interest).  We debated potty-training Kai before we moved to Africa just to have it behind us, but we decided against it because there were so many other transitions happening that adding potty-training on top of it all probably would've been too much.  So we waited and weren't sure when it would happen.  Kai has continued to show interest in using the potty, but we didn't force the issue because, let's be honest, there's never a really good time to potty-train a kid!  But we finally decided it was time, not only because now is just as good as any other time, but also because I will be starting language study next week and we didn't want to ask our househelper to change Kai's diapers for the next three months while I'm gone everyday.  So here we are, in the thick of it!

All in all, this time has been a bit easier than the last time.  Kai is willing to sit on the potty whenever I ask him to and he loves being rewarded with a Skittle afterward.  He had some successes right away and I was thrilled.  He was thrilled too!  But every success was countered with accidents, and he usually wouldn't tell me that he'd peed his pants because he apparently doesn't mind walking around in wet underwear (unlike Caleb who wailed mightily and froze on the spot every time he wet himself).  So there have been a lot of messes to clean up this week, which is annoying enough except that it's compounded by the fact that we only have 7 pairs of underwear in total for this boy, so I can't afford to just throw away the disastrously poopy underwear messes, and getting them cleaned/dryed in time for the next day is hard since it's currently rainy season and there's limited time to dry underwear on the line before the rain comes each day.  I only brought one package of underwear for him because I didn't know when we'd need it or what size he'd need when the time came, and I didn't want to waste precious space in our luggage for an extra package of toddler underwear.  (I know it sounds crazy, but unless you've packed for your entire family for two years, you can't understand how difficult it is to make decisions like whether or not to bring extra underwear for your not-yet-potty-trained kid.)  The other major difficulty is that I've been alone in working on this potty-training project.  Eli hasn't been around to help much at all, whereas last time he took a long weekend off with the purpose of helping out with potty-training.  It was so much easier to have Eli's help!  Now it's harder to keep my frustrations in check and I don't get any chances to pass the baton when I need a break.  All that to say, kid #2 has been easier than kid #1, but the circumstances are a lot harder.

It's been a long week, but there's hope on the horizon.  After a full week, including a major regression on Day 6, I think he's getting there and I'll be okay to leave him during language study.  At least that's my prayer!  And when I'm insanely frustrated with this entire process, I'll try to remember this picture of our son in his new underwear and thank God for this precious and adorable child who sits on the potty and whispers, "I'm a big boy!"

One Year Old!

We have a Birthday Boy today!  Asa is one year old and still completely scrumptious!  We took these photos last weekend and my heart squeezes every time I look at them.  What a delightfully handsome little boy he is!

Today we simply enjoyed our Bubba and gave him some extra attention.  Eli was home a bit more than usual, which was an unlooked for blessing, so Asa got some extra Daddy snuggles in today.

I made strawberry muffins for breakfast and he was quite the help :)

Then he opened some presents with the eager help of his brothers and was quite satisfied with his gifts.

And just because he loves baths so much, I gave Asa a Birthday Bath - all by himself!  He usually shares the tub with two older brothers who take up a lot of space, so this was a special treat.

On a different note, Asa now has a crib!  He's been in a pack 'n play since he was born, but the one we've been using here started falling apart and was literally being held together with duct tape, so we had a carpenter build a crib for Asa.  Isn't it beautiful?  It's also rather sturdy, which is just what this strong boy needs.  We're very excited to have a real bed for him!

I still can't believe this boy is one year old!

What a year it's been for this Bubba.  Asa was born on his due date, weighing an incredible 11 pounds, 1.6 ounces, and was 23 inches long.  He's still on the heavy/tall end of the growth curve.  Less than two weeks after he was born we left our home in Duluth and became a bit nomadic for a couple months as we spent time with family and started saying goodbyes and went to missions training, and finally ended up in Michigan for about four months before moving here to Kenya.  Asa was 6 months old when we came here, and it was here that he learned to sit up and then crawl, and it will be here that he learns to walk and talk.  He's a curious explorer, destructive player, sweet snuggler, and intense babbler.  He loves to be tickled and play peek-a-boo and shove his snuggle blanket in his face.  He's content with anybody but his favorite person in the world is Mama.  He's a beautiful moose baby and we're so thankful for the joy he brings to this world!

We love you Asa Everett Horn!

Naivasha and Nairobi

Last weekend we traveled to Naivasha for a retreat with the Family Medicine residency to welcome the incoming class of residents.  We stayed at a fabulous place outside of town, and while all the faculty and new residents were occupied with official retreat stuff, I was on kid-duty at our cottage.  But what a cottage!  It was quaint and had an amazing patio and lawn with a great view of the forest around us - complete with colobus monkeys swinging through the trees!  It was incredible!

On our way out of town we stopped at Crescent Island on Lake Naivasha.  It's a place with safari animals like giraffe and zebra and wildebeest, but instead of driving around in a safari jeep you can park the car and walk around with the animals!  There are no predators on the island, which is why it's possible to do that.  By the time we got there, however, it was nap time and two of the three boys were beginning to melt.  We did see animals as we drove onto the island, but by the time we parked it was evident that we wouldn't be walking very far and we certainly weren't going to discover any animals in the short distance we could cover with exhausted children.  But we saw some water fowl and a flock of sheep, which made the boys happy enough.  Oh well!  Such is life with young children.

We then headed to Nairobi for a few days of vacation.  It was the first official time off we've had since moving here, and it was much needed.  Some people teased us for only going to Nairobi (as opposed to any number of other touristy places you can enjoy here in Kenya), but it doesn't take much to please us at this phase of life.  We enjoyed our stay at a guest house where we took turns watching the kids play on the playground while the other ventured out to watch a movie or go to the coffee house or go shopping without kids in tow.  Seeing a movie has become a luxury and we didn't take it for granted that we had the chance to see Star Trek!

We also explored Karura Forest while in Nairobi, which is a large forest with walking trails right in the city.  It was quiet and beautiful, and we literally had to carry all three kids back to the car by the end of our hike, but it was worth it!  Being in the woods and admiring a marvelous waterfall did our souls much good.

We love exploring new places and trying new things, so the past week was fun for us.  It was exhausting, as traveling with young kids will always be, but it was fun and refreshing to have a change of pace from our normal life at the hospital.

On the Homefront

Life for me and the boys is virtually the same here as it was in the States, except that we stay home significantly more than ever before.  I used to get out of the house almost every day.  Going to the zoo, aquarium, library, Target, Canal Park, etc, were regular highlights for us.  Getting out of the house was necessary for my mental health, even though the effort required to get little boys in/out of the house and in/out of the car was at times monumental.  Here, however, there's nowhere to go.  We're pretty isolated here at Tenwek and it's been a huge adjustment for me.  Thankfully, the boys don't seem to know the difference.  We still read books, still do puzzles, still sing silly songs, still play outside, still make messes at every meal, still need time-outs, and still need naps when exhaustion leads to meltdowns.  Life with little kids is virtually the same no matter where in the world we are!

All that to say, these pictures and videos are glimpses into my everyday life at home with the boys while Eli is up the hill at the hospital.

Bible stories at bedtime

helping Mama in the kitchen

apple thief

rocking the pack 'n play into the middle of the room

say cheese!

Melt.my.heart.

naked mummy

smoothies with silly straws that a friend sent in a package

helping Mama fold the laundry