Grayson's New Tool Bench

Well, he did it! Grayson filled his "potty chart" with stars when he successfully made it for five days without any accidents. As a result, we took him to Toys R US to pick out a new toy. We gave him the choice between a tool bench or a drum set and he immediately wanted the tool bench. Unfortunately, they were sold out of the one we wanted. So we checked the store in Hagerstown - and they were sold out as well. We finally found some in Gaithersburg. We called in advance to make sure we didn't drive all the way down there to find they were sold out. They assured us that they had four on the floor and three in the back. When we got there (about 20 minutes later), they had one left on the floor and we grabbed it. Grayson hasn't stopped playing with it since!

A Trip to Chuck E. Cheese's

Grayson has only been to Chuck E. Cheese's once and that was when he was about 11 months old for one of his friend's birthday parties. I don't have any problem with the place, we've just never gone.

Well, this week we held our playgroup there and Grayson really enjoyed himself. I had hoped he would have played in the "jungle gym" a little more, but he had fun playing with the rides and the games. He even ended up with enough tickets to get two lollipops, a sticker, and a plastic ant. Pure gold to him!

In other news, he's doing very, very well with the potty. We ditched pull-ups and diapers completely (except when he's sleeping) two weeks ago, and he's handling real underwear like a champ. He still has accidents, but usually only when we're home and I finally am not too nervous about taking him out and about (but I always have backups!). Each day that he goes accident-free he gets a star on his chart and when he reaches a certain number, he'll get a new tool bench. I don't know if he really grasps the concept yet, but I'm hoping it will help a little.

Also, we're making some progress with the house remodel. We finally have some brick on the outside, although thanks to the extremely cold weather during the previous two weeks and then tons of rain on other days, we aren't as far along as I would like. The drywall was hung this week and is supposed to be sanded by Monday so the painting can start on Tuesday. Our contractor is still shooting for April, so let's hope that still works out. It hasn't been too bad living in the basement, but I'm starting to get a little tired of not having any sunlight in the house.

Keeping Busy in the Basement