Day 298 | Two Babies, Two Years Apart

Overall, I think having two babies, two years apart is great. I love watching them grow up together. It's nice that our older child still has the same interests (bigger toys, same songs, etc) as our little guy. And I hadn't completely forgot what it was like to have a newborn and all the challenges associated with that.

It's taken me almost an entire year (358 days to be exact) to feel completely at a loss for how to manage both babies at the same time. That's not too bad, right? You might be wondering, is it because Robbe is getting into EVERYTHING? No, but that's true. Or is it because Chase has finally started having his terrible twos/threes meltdowns on occasion? No, but that's true, too.

Did you guess potty training? Ding, ding, ding. Chase has transitioned half of his bathroom duties to the potty, no problem. The other half (you know what I'm getting at, right?), is another story. Until yesterday, he just held it until we put a diaper on for nap or bedtime. I had the great idea to get mini trains to encourage using the potty so we picked some out yesterday. Now, he really really wants to use the potty and spent 15 minutes on the potty five times today in an attempt to go. No success. Have you figured out the problem yet? Yep: how can I be supporting one baby on the potty for 15 minutes at a time while entertaining a very active crawler at the same time. The bathroom is not exactly baby-friendly, nor does a baby roaming around encourage any focused potty-time.

The epitome of this conflict occurred tonight before dinner. I needed 15 minutes of cooking time and that's when Chase decided he needed to, once again, use the potty. I decided to try a tip from another mom: put Robbe in the bathtub with toys (confined=genius!). So Chase on the potty (who needed a book read to him, obviously), Robbe in the tub (throwing toys down at Chase's feet), and dinner borderline burning on the stove as I ran back and forth to the kitchen. Ahhh!

I'm going to win this war. I know it. But today's battle was definitely lost. Think happy thoughts for tomorrow. Chase really wants to play with those trains.