Branko begins potty training, Conrad starts solids, and Branko graduates from speech!

June 27, 2023

Cake pop for our boy!

We spent the Saturday before mother's day at Whitnall Park Beer Garden. Branko enjoyed playing in the sand, but was initallay apprehensive of entering the park and just wanted to keep strolling around.

I was served breakfast in bed on mother's day!

I feel bad that I don't have many pictures of Branko, but he's impossible to get photos of! I do have lots of videos though!

Conrad rocking his Giants gear!

You'll notice lots of naked photos of Branko in this post. We recently started potty training him. I had a 4 day weekend and had Conrad go to my parents so I could give all my attention to Branko. We read a book called, "Oh Crap" which the technique she recommended is to keep them naked for a day or 2 and it worked! I rearranged the living room and rolled up the rug and thank god I did. He would just pee a few drops every now and then- I nearly gave up after the morning. I put a diaper on him for his nap and when he woke up we sat on the potty and it "clicked" for him. He did great the next day and then by Sunday- I think he was annoyed that we kept asking hi if he needed to go potty and had some accidents. We still have a lot of work to do-but overall he is doing great! We just need to work on daycare. He just moved into the older 2 year old room and they really work on potty training-so I'm hoping this will help! He's finally starting to tell us when he needs to go potty and loves his privacy when he's going poop. He'll say "byeeeeee"

We went to a nearby park with Iris. Don't let these photos fool you, Branko ran away shortly after these photos. Let's just say, having a baby on your hip and chasing your toddler who doesn't listen is no easy task.

Conrad has really turned a corner with solids. He hated everything I made for him. I gave him and just bought store bought pouches and he loves them! Win-win for both of us. At least I tried to make my own food for him!

Their bond is becoming so cute! It's crazy that this photo is only from a month and a half ago and Conrad has SO much more hair!

There was a truck even in downtown Milwaukee in May and we went to Fuel Cafe to kick off a fun Saturday morning. It was such a beautiful day.

I thought Branko would really like the construction vehicles, but he was in awe of the new electric city bus. He sat in here for like 30 min.

Conrad enjoyed spending some time outside while we waited for Branko.

Afterwards, the neighbors came over to play. They sure were in awe of Conrad.

This must have been a mama/Conrad day while Branko was at school. We don't get much floor time when you have a toddler running around!

Branko says he likes hockey more than soccer, interested to see what he decides to do in the future!

We celebrated Ava's 14th birthday at my sisters. It was a cooler day in the morning and warmed up later on so I wasn't expecting to be outside and didn't come prepared. Luckily, Jodi is a hoarder and still had a coat from when Nora was a baby! Conrad does look good in pink!

Branko wanted to pose in front of the bear at the zoo. Funny story about this day at the zoo. So the potty training method we used tells you to keep your kid commando because underwear can feel like a diaper to them and cause more accidents. I knew Branko had to go #2 based when we got to the zoo, we went to 2 different bathrooms to try and go-nothing. Shortly after this photo was taken, he pooped his pants. Since he didn't have underwear on, you could see the log going down his pant leg. THEN he hid behind a tree and peed his pants. I've never been more comfortable with myself or Branko touching anything in a public restroom before-that was the least of my worries!

Branko graduated from speech! Here is his teacher Ms Rachel. She cried during his last visit and was so proud (as am I) of his progress in the last year. He didn't have a single (consistent) word when he started where he actually knew what it meant. In her card, I wrote about how we've been through a lot of life events during the last year. She bought a house, got engaged, and married. Branko became a big brother. All we were missing was a pregnancy and she told us she was 12 weeks this day! It was a very sweet ending of this journey.

I don't have pictures of Branko with his teachers from daycare, but we had a conference at his daycare and one of his teachers has been teaching 2 year olds for as long as I've been alive. She teared up at the conference because of how proud she was of Branko and seeing his progress. She said that's why she does was she's been doing for so long-because of kids like Branko. He went from crying all day long to enjoying school and blossoming his speech and behavior. She has worked really hard with Branko and thinking of different ways to get Branko acclimated. She turned on "Wheels on the bus" every morning that Branko is there and has really helped him learn the structure of the classroom.

My friend Mary Bryn was in town from Maryland and stopped by for a visit. Her son is Flip (all the way to the right). Flip was born about 3 weeks after Conrad, so Mary Bryn and I did a lot of texting in the beginning. Then, my friend Taylor, had her second son Otto (he's in the stripes). It was a beautiful day and we spent the afternoon outside. My boys napped for most of it, but I got to spend time with the girls and get to hold Flip.