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Adventures in Potty Training Photo#1

When you gotta-go, you gotta-go!

YOU SAY RAIN, I SAY POTTY TRAINING!!!!

I've been pondering back and forth now for a while about when to really get down to business with Potty Training Taylor. Around two he seemed pretty interested in going pee-pee in the potty, but as of late NO interest at all. Well, with the weather report calling for our first rainy weekend in MONTHS, I decided to seize the moment and bunker down inside armed with: new toddler underpants, the Potty, Clorox Wipes, more underwear, and paper towels!

I decided to go with a gut feeling of just sliding on real underwear (no pull-ups) and seeing what would happen. Of course, I was hoping for a few initial accidents, but once he figured out he didn't like being wet we would be on our way. Believe me, I was very skeptical because I've heard all the stories about boys being harder to train and that they usually don't take to it until closer to 3 years old. Also, I have our pediatrician voice in my head saying, "you'll know when he's ready...he'll tell you he doesn't want diapers anymore. Since that really didn't seem to be happening anytime soon, I decided to give something new a try.

We've had the new underpants in the house for a while now and Taylor has heard us talk about them and show them to him. On Saturday morning, I told Taylor that he was going to wear underpants today. He was excited and was anxiously trying to figure out which color he wanted to wear first. He eagerly put them on and started playing around the house. We made several early pit stops to the restroom to reinforce what we were doing... nothing at first but then he finally went just a little. I made a big deal out of it (anything is something) and he was super excited and proud of himself. Right after that trip to the restroom, Taylor was standing at the fridge and had his first accident. Taylor was a little shocked and not knowing exactly what just happened. I explained what happened and then we cleaned up the mess together (something I read you should do-have them clean up their own accidents). With pair #2 on we were ready to play some more and eat a snack (what was I getting myself into)! A few more trips to "try" in the potty and a lot of books read sitting there but nothing more than a "little bit". Same scenario, right after a pit-stop we were playing and whoops... another accident this time on the hardwood floors. After the clean up was finished I took him back to the potty to try again and get him all changed up. Before he even got pair #3 on he was out of the bathroom running to the front door to see the rain pouring down. And well wouldn't you know it... our 3rd accident of the morning. The thing that kept me going that this was going to work was the fact that he was trying and was super excited about all of it. After that 3rd accident, he told me the rest of the morning when he needed to go and he went every single time in the Potty!

Now my biggest fear was that he would be able to figure out the peeing in the potty pretty quickly but what about pooping?? I kept waiting for those signals and finally after lunch it happened. I saw the familiar face, I heard the familiar groans, I saw the familiar crouch. He said to me, "I need a diaper so that I can go potty". I scooped him up and ran to the bathroom, pulled his little underpants down, and plopped him on the potty. He made the funniest face I've ever seen and scrunched up his fists and told me to go in his room (he's a very private pooper). I stood just on the other side of the door and listened to him talk to himself, and proudly announce "I'm done Mommy"! I heard a flush before I was actually able to get a visual confirmation that he did go. But Taylor insisted that it was a "big one" and his little rear-end did need some cleaning up. This was so huge!! He has never gone poop in the potty and to actually do it all by himself, I was completely amazed!

After his nap came a new set of circumstances...playing outside. I figured we would probably have a least one accident outside because he was being distracted with other things. We tried to remind him to come in and "try" but with no luck he said he didn't have to go and threw a fit. Dinner came and went and still no "trying" so I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. About five minutes outside after dinner, Andrew and I heard crys. Taylor was just standing there with his golf club in one hand trying to figure out what to do next. I took him inside to try to finish and got him all cleaned up again.

Day #1 of potty training was a huge success and very rewarding for everyone. I prepared myself for Day #2, thinking that he would want nothing to do with it or something like that, but to my amazement that's the first thing he wanted to do when he woke up... "where are my underwear", "which ones am I going to wear today"? This morning we've had zero accidents and we even ventured out for a walk and played outside a lot. The same scenario unfolded after lunch, and Taylor successfully went poop in the potty again! For now it seems that we are on our way into full potty training mode and are only using diapers for naps and bedtime! Boy what a weekend:)

Taylor's Ultrasound Update...

Barley visible today (just a little swelling in the middle of the back of his knee).

The ultrasound today confirmed that Taylor does in fact have a Baker Cyst and nothing worse than that. Thank goodness!!! It clearly showed a "fluid" filled sac behind his right knee. Supposedly what is happening (more common in boys-the radiologist conducting the exam has one too!) is that the regular fluid sac in the knee is being forced between the knee muscle and the tendon, making the fluid pouch behind the knee. Obviously, with different physical activities it will swell and get larger and maybe more painful. It's our job now to figure out exactly which activities those are: running, jumping, hiking, walking long distances,...? It unfortunately wont go away (he has it for life) and until it causes him lots of pain there really isn't any treatment. If at some point in his life it gets to be too much, then it can be removed with surgery. Luckily, they also said that it does not predispose him to arthritis, which is good news too!

BUBBLES MAKE ME HAPPY VIDEO!

Baker Cyst

About a month ago Taylor woke up one morning and said his leg hurt around the back of his knee. I couldn't really see anything at the time but he was also limping a little. After about 45mins. of normal playing he seemed fine and the limp was gone. Well two weeks ago the symptoms reappeared. Taylor said his right leg hurt again, accompanied with the limp again, and this time a small roundish bump was clearly noticeable under the skin (about the size of a quarter). It looked like something was swollen but what-it seemed to come and go?? So later that week we took him to see his doctor to find out exactly what was going on. Well the doctor confirmed what we had researched on the internet... it's a Baker Cyst on the back of his right knee. A Baker cyst is swelling caused by fluid from the knee joint protruding to the back of the knee. When an excess of knee joint fluid is compressed by the body weight between the bones of the knee joint, it can become trapped and separate from the joint to form the fluid-filled sac of a Baker cyst. The doctor also checked Taylor's lymph nods and temperature to make sure that it wasn't a tumor or some other kind of infection (nothing there). The most likely causes of a Baker cyst are arthritis or some type of a knee injury. Well, anyone who knows Taylor knows how active of a boy he is and some form of a knee injury is quite possible but I have no idea when it could have occurred. He falls down at least 5-10 times a day with regular playing. Luckily, most Baker cysts heal and disappear with time but we will just have to wait and see.

To confirm that it is in fact a Baker cyst we are being sent to get an ultrasound of the back of his knee. We want to make sure that in fact it is a FLUID filled sac and not a SOLID filled sac which would be something else like a tumor. Our ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon so I'm sure we'll get many more answers to our curious questions.

The Culprit and the Remains (an update)...

Both of these pictures were taken the day after the first blog post! This bunny doesn't mess around! Sorry about the crazy "eye" is was almost dusk.

GONE... nothing but a few stems which have now all been eaten too!