Hooray, Eliot!

This mommy wants to shout it from the rooftops -- "Eliot is officially, 100% potty trained!!" I know, this "little" achievement has been a while in the making ... one year to be exact. This time last year we were in the throws of sticker charts and prizes and confinement to the kitchen and potty chair. And the daytime dryness came pretty easily -- he was ready for that. It was the naps and nighttime that have been our obstacle. But now, one whole year and hundreds of wasted Pull-ups later (I swear we're not using those again, but watch me eat my words), I'm proud to say that we are Pull-up free! I knew the nighttime dryness was going to be our biggest challenge; Eliot has always been my "super soaker" at night. But we finally gave up the crutch of Pull-Ups, and voila!, much sooner than expected, Eliot stayed dry through the night! Hallelujah!

We offered lots of incentives for this accomplishment, but the one that most motivated Eliot was a trip to Chuck E. Cheese (why do kids love that so much?!). At first, I was leery of that option, because my memory of Chuck E. Cheese is ... expensive! And it is, if you eat there. But if you just go to let your kid run around and play the few games he actually has an attention span for, it's cheaper than any other bribe we could have offered. I think we spent like three bucks total. But let's be honest -- I would have paid $300 if it meant reaching this milestone!

Here's a recap of Eliot's night of celebration at Chuck E. Cheese:

Eliot got to hang with Chuck E. (and more than just this "cheesy" fake one ...),

drive a Hummer

and trolley car,

stomp on spiders, and whack hammer head sharks.

What more could a little boy want?!

Oh, a silly straw. Which is how he chose to spend his 43 tickets we earned.

Happiness all around.

Even though he was confined to his stroller for most of the night, even Zach seems to have had a good time. The lights and noise provided quite the stimulating environment!

Grant gloating ... just a little bit. Skee ball has long been touted as a "McEuen sport." My family and I have a history of avid skee ball playing. We're not the most coordinated/athletic family in the world, but we do take our skee ball seriously. Grant kicked my trash and landed more than one 100,000 point shot ... rats (no pun intended).

I think it's clear that I'm much more excited about this accomplishment than Eliot! About potty training I now know this: it is one of the most grueling tasks of parenthood. I fully understand why a wiser, more experienced mother once told me that potty training and teaching her children to drive are the top two things she's grateful she never has to do again.

Hip, Hip, HOO-RAY!!!