We had quite an exciting day today! Emmett was scheduled for his 12 month checkup today. I considered canceling it because of potty training, but Jackson has been doing really well with the potty the past few days so I decided to chance things and just go. I figured after being cooped up for more than a week we could all use a trip out of the house!
I put Jackson in a pull-up (for those who aren't familiar, a pull-up is kind of a cross between a diaper and underwear... it is absorbent like a diaper, but is shaped like underwear so kids can "pull it up" and it still sort of seems like they're wearing underwear) because I wasn't sure how he would do holding "it" away from home, and I just didn't want to deal with a mess. I'm chicken, I know. I made sure to tell him not to "go" in his underwear (I call the pull-up underwear, too) and to tell me if he needed to go potty.
Anyway, he stayed dry through the whole doctor visit! I asked him a few times if he needed to go and he said no, and when I checked his pull-up when we got out to the car it was still dry! As a reward, I told him that we would stop at McDonald's for some french fries (one of his favorite things). As I drove there, Phil called and asked if we could meet him at the squadron for lunch. I wasn't sure if we should go or just head home to be near our toilet, but I really didn't want to go back home just yet! Jackson had been going potty for Phil really well this past weekend, so I figured if he had to go at the squadron it was pretty likely that he would go in a strange toilet with Phil there.
So, we get to the squadron, eat some lunch, and hang out with Daddy a little bit. Emmett was loving toddling around all over the place and Jackson made a bee-line for the pool table in the bar. As soon as he heard the jet engines start up for the afternoon take-offs, though, he was glued to the window watching the jets. Our friend "Klepto" was supervisor of flying today, so he offered to take us all out to the flight line in his supervisor truck to watch the jets take off. Jackson was so excited. I knew he wasn't about to sit on the toilet with all of this going on, and we really didn't have much time before the jets took off, so I just crossed my fingers and hoped that one time of wetting the pull-up wouldn't set us back to square one.
We drove out to just a few feet from the runway and got to watch eight jets take off right in front of us! It was really neat, even for me... I hadn't done that in a while and I love to watch the jets. I also like hearing our friends (and Phil) on the radio talking in their serious pilot-lingo and getting to see and hear what they do every day. As we were getting ready to head back to the squadron, one of the pilots radioed back that (and this is where things got foggy for me... there was a lot of technical talk going on between Phil and Klepto and the radio and I couldn't tell what was going on most of the time, but I tried to have them translate to laymen's terms for me) a light came on in the jet that some hydraulic-thingy-majingy malfunctioned, so basically the brakes on the jet weren't working. That jet had to turn around and come home, so we had to stay out on the flight line until he landed. This was extra exciting for Jackson, because, since this was technically an emergency, four fire trucks raced out to the runway with their lights flashing and parked right next to us to wait for the jet to land. The jet was going to have to catch a cable across the runway to slow down after landing, since the brakes didn't work. I was a little nervous because a student was flying the jet and one of our good friends was in his backseat, but Phil said that everything was most likely going to be fine. He was right, of course... the jet landed safely and everything was fine. It was really neat to see the cable landing, though. There were big sparks when the jet first landed from the hook dragging on the ground, and it was amazing how fast the cable brought the jet to a stop.
After all that excitement the boys were definitely ready for naps, so we headed home. Right before getting into bed, I took Jackson's pull-up off and sat him on the toilet. The pull-up was completely dry!!! He had stayed dry for over three hours, and then he went potty right after I set him on the toilet! I was ecstatic, but he was overtired and extremely grumpy and was not in the mood for my happy song and dancing, so I kept the excitement pretty short. I know that we aren't at the potty finish line just yet, but this has rejuvenated me a little and I feel like I can see some light at the end of the tunnel! Or maybe I just needed to get out of the house. Whatever - I'm happy! :)
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures... the squadron trip was unexpected and I didn't have my camera.
