What is Potty Trained?

"Are we going to find me a park today Daddy?"- Brooky

Poor girl, she just wants to find a park with a slide! Actually, Mommy was able to take her to one this past weekend, but in the past we have been limited due to the fact that we were a one car family....until tonight. No, its not the GTO ir the GSXR that I miss so much, but, it's in great shape, its a diesel and Brooky likes it and so does Daddy :)
2003 VW Golf GT TDI

So what is Potty Training? Is it training a child to use the potty all of the time or does most of the time count? She has actually done pretty good, and still improving, but of course we have our slip ups. I've also learned that although everyone says boys are tougher to potty train because you have to worry about their aim, that girls can have bad aim too! I bet if I set up her Hokey Pokey Elmo 10 feet from her potty, that she could knock the thing over. Well no, that would require good aim, but she would easily have the distance...*high five* Thats my girl! So needless to say, this process has required a mop and bucket, countless rolls of paper towels and a "hard to keep" straight face :)

I wanted her to be able to see how she was doing each day, and all kids love stickers, so we made a Potty Chart. I originally made a nice one with a graph and all, but soon learned that it wasn't worth the time because it found its way to the floor in many pieces. So instead we just made a crude chart where we use different colored stickers to represent:

Potty in toilet- Green sticker
Accident- Red Sticker
Dry Nap- Pink Sticker
Dry Night- A bunch of Pink Stickers
Start to Accident but finish in the potty- Blue Sticker





Its hard to see in the picture, but the bottom one is Thursday, next is Friday...and so on. She is doing pretty good, and is really trying hard. The issues is being easily distrated. I think by the time Mommy gets home from Ireland, we should have this issue resolved. Mandy keeps telling me to remember she's not even two, so to be patient... but I'm pretty sure I kicked this habit in the first few months of my life.

"Daddy, Mommy is going to be so upset! I peepeed on the floor." -Brooklyn


Day Number 2 of Potty training was a little rougher than yesterday. Started out 0/3 but by the end of the day came out about 50%. She does worse when she is tired or wrapped up into something, but I think she grasps the concept. For instance, she was in my lap watching the Chronicles of Narnia and next thing I know, I feel this rush of warmth in my lap...she got me good. But as soon as it happened she stood up saying oh oh and looking at the potty. Its starting to connect, and I am starting to dry :) Here's a little clip of the little one today. Teh great thing about Potty Training, is you don't go anywhere. If you don't go anywhere, you really have no need toget dressed. SO forgive the outfit and hair and the clutter near her potty chair :)

Potty Time!!!

"Daddy Daddy I poopood in the toilet!" -Brooklyn

AS the quote of the day suggests, this post has to do with potty. Brooklyn was introduced to "big girl panties" for the first time this morning, meaning we are now diaper free...yay!!! She is very proud of her new panties, and will tell you that she doesn't go potty in her new panties...which is almost true. I started off this morning making her breakfast and plugging her full of liquids figuring the more times I can get her to go potty, the better it is for potty training. So every few minutes I would ask her if she needed to go, and about 50% of the time she said she did. That being said, we missed the potty the first two times. She knew right when it happened where she needed to be. She would look down and say oh oh, and then wait for me to grab her to take her to the potty. So we had a little talk about the importance of letting Daddy know before going. So the third time, I still count it as a success, Brooklyn ran over to the potty all by herself, sat down, and started peeing! I jumped for joy and told her how proud I was, and then explained how equally important it is to make sure you remove your panties before going potty. After that, she went 3 for 3 and was dry after her nap. We'll see what the night brings, but we have already practiced what to do if she finds she needs to go potty in the middle of the night..."Daddy Daddy I need to go potty!" I just wanted to share our success today, and we hope to continue her streak tomorrow, knowing that there will be bumps in our path :)

A Weekend of Bliss

Hmmmmm, how do you start a post? "Hello bloggers!" or "Bonjour peeps!" or even "What it is?!" I don't know...not fond of any of the above, so I think what I will do is start all of my posts with the quote of the day. The quote of the day may come from anyone in the family, or just something I heard while out and about. Without further ado...

Daddy explains to Brooklyn that he is throwing away the candy container because it is all gone. Her response: "Don't say that Daddy!!"

This past weekend our family attended an End of the Year Cookout put on by a few of the American ISE families. To prepare for this, Pat Tuttle and I put our heads together to figure out what it was that we could bring that would bring some fun and competition to the cookout. It didn't take long to decide that the party needed Cornhole. For all of you nontailgaters, Cornhole is a game of stradegy, strength, empowerment...ok, it's a game of beanbag toss...but a competitive game of beanbag toss! First up, the boards: Without boring you with all of the detail and hardwork we put into these, not to mention the number of beers consumed while developing these, it took us two days to build a 2 sets of boards. Basically it is a 2ft by 4ft slanted board with a 6 in hole approximately 9 inches down from the top center of the board. Front part sits 4inches off the ground, the rear sits 12 inches from the ground, and the boards face each other approximately 27 feet apart from front end to front end. To make a long story short, two teams of two go against each other trying to be the first to 21 points. 3 points for making it in the hole, 1 point for getting the beanbag to stay on the board. Heres a picture of the unfinished product.

We painted one set white, although there is much more to do on it. It will eventually have blue pinstripes and a big Cubs logo in the middle, so I'll have to post more when that is finished. Needless to say I found that I am amazing at this game...probably the best in the world at this point.

Saturday we took a day trip with the Tuttles to Antwerp Belgium, which is about 45 minutes north of Brussels. Great time! I'm sure most of you have seen Mandys Blog so have seen some of the pictures, really an amazing city. Pat Tuttle and I walked around with Mandy, Tina and kids for a bit and ate at a nice little Pizzaria with everyone. From there, the fun began :) The reason for choosing Antwerp was because of this:

Beerfest! 150 beers on tap :)

Pat and I had a great time sampling different beers, which are much much different than the American beers. Full of flavor and calories, and very high in alcohol content in comparison (ranging anywhere from 6.5%-16.5%). Belgians are very passionate about their beer, and it was just odd to see Dad and his 14 year old kid drinking and discussing different beers and wine.

All in all, great weekend. As you may have seen on Mandy's blog, we have more travel plans to come in October. We're taking a Western Mediterranean Cruise to see Spain, France, Italy and Sicily. So Mandy bought a map of Europe, and one of the US as well to hang in the kitchen to mark our travels. We hope to visit as much as we can while we are here the short three years, but look forward to sharing it with all.

A Fresh Start

SO this is what its like to have a blog. I have to admit, I thought there would be more to this, but with a little help from Mrs. Bass, I was able to complete the registation process...a step in the right direction anyways.

As most know, I'm Matt, husband of Amanda, father of Brooklyn, master of all that goes on in the Belgian household. To clarify, we are recent transplants from Indiana to Ohain Belgium, compliment of Caterpiller and my wife Amanda. SO far so good, the adjustment really has not been as bad as we thought, although I am quickly finding that my french is not only rusty, but has completely rusted through. As far as the master of the household....far from it! There is only one person who runs this house, and its neither my wife or me. The soon to be 2 year old, otherwise known as Brooklyn Marie, is by far the dictator of the TV, the creator of the macaroni banana yogurt snack, and of course the owner of Amanda and my hearts.

I'll be writing my thoughts, recording things that happen throughout the day, and of course posting pictures and videos of my daughter and our experiences here in Belgium. Wish me luck, and please bear with my typos and and forgive me for being completely blog illiterate. :)