Da Goon

This year John and Paige decided to get Lagoon season passes for the family. Eliza LOVES Lagoon. Although, she can't pronounce it properly. She pronounces it da-goon. After our first trip Eliza bawled her eyes all the way to the car. On our way out John said, "Say goodbye to Lagoon." "By goon," she cried.

Eliza's favorite ride is the Lady Bug. It is a ride that adults can go on with their kids which goes up in the air, then slightly drops down and bounces while spinning in a circle. She is so funny while she rides. She is absolutely emotionless while on the rides. But once the ride is over she is very excited and can't wait to go on another ride. In fact, she is so excited she exhibits very little patience between rides. We are trying very hard to teach her that she needs to wait her turn. We try to put her on rides that have very short lines.

On our first day at Lagoon Eliza's attention was immediately drawn to the Tidal Wave - an adult ride that is a pirate boat that goes back and forth with the ends going vertical. She insisted that she go on it. Because she met the minimum height requirement John took her on it. To minimize the swing they sat in the middle but that didn't seem to help much. Eliza was so scared. She held on tight with both hands and shook from fear. She cried the whole time despite John holding on tight to her to keep her safely secure on the bench. A lady on the other side of the boat was laughing the whole time. She was greatly amused with Eliza's demonstration of her fear. After the ride she said the ride was too big for her. She was excited to go find another ride.

Before leaving the park we usually let Eliza run through the fountain at the park's entrance. The fountain has fountains that randomly shoot up. Eliza runs after them and kicks them. She is really cute running through the water.

Julia has been a good sport the whole time. She just goes along for the ride and for the most part is in high spirits and cute as ever!





The only downfall to Lagoon is trying to get Eliza to leave when it is time to go hom e. She just has so much fun and would love to stay all day long. So far we have been able to go most weeks, sometimes a couple of times a week.

Potty Training

Eliza started potty training last week. We have been asking her if she wanted to start trying. She has declined all invitations and requests. She was thrown into the training last week, however, after she took off her poopy diaper and rolled around on the floor with her dirty bum. Paige stuffed her in the kitchen and locked her in there with the potty training toilet and many drinks candy.

Paige kept Eliza very hydrated and every 30 minutes threw her on the toilet for 5 minutes. In between potty time she wore little girl underwear and sat on a plastic covered chair and watched movies on the kitchen pc. We all celebrated big successes and were patient over little accidents. The hardest challenge was being cooped in the kitchen for 3 strait days! The tension was noticeably high and tempers flared from time to time from both camps!

After the 3 days Eliza had the pee-pee down but refused to do anything else. She would go several days without a bowel movement and we were forced to put a diaper on her and let her go in that. A few days later of holding it she releaved herself in the bath tub! This was a greater challenge than John and Paige (primarily Paige as the primary trainer) thought possible.

Fast forward to last night. We are all up in Island Park at the Hahne's cabin. Eliza was crying every 5 minutes that her bum hurt and needed to be changed. We couldn't quite get her to understand that changing her wouldn't help - she needed to go to the bathroom! After many failed attempts we were determined to make it happen. The next hour or so would not be pretty. Everyone seemed to have a suggestion on what would be best. MDL wanted to watch a movie but the commotion was too great. At one point Dad complained that he couldn't hear the movie over the baby's crying at the closed bathroom door. He wanted my mom to put Julia in the bathroom with us. I heard her tell him a firm "No!" John then opened the bathroom door and yelled, "You'll just have to pause the movie!" The movie had to wait, we were getting this poo out! Poor Eliza cried on the toilet as we would not let her off until she finished the deed. The howling got louder and longer. Beads of sweet were rolling off our heads in the hot, unventilated bathroom. John and Paige were bribing Eliza with all kinds of treats - candy bar, twinky, movie in bed etc. Finally, the moment came and Eliza had her first bowel movement on the toilet! Everyone was cheering, including Eliza. She was so happy, but probably happiest that the pain was gone! High fives and hugs were exchanged. Apologies among adults were offered due to minor verbal exchanges in frustration.

The moment of truth quickly arrived. Eliza had done her deed and now she was going to claim all those prizes that were promised. She sat at the kitchen table at 10pm eating a candy bar and twinky! After brushing her teeth she went to bed in the back bedroom with a portable movie player watching Cinderella! What a night. It wasn't fun but it is over and it is a huge step in the right direction.

This morning Eliza was really excited and told John that she now "pee-pee and po0-poo in the toilet!"