Dynamite indeed.

Wow. It's been a long time. Welcome July! Welcome to enough consecutive 100 degree days to make a girl wonder whether the state of Texas has been placed in a crockpot. We're all baking "low and slow" as my Food Network friends like to say. Things have been busy around here. Weddings, national holidays, family visits, our first ever yard sale... lots and lots of blog-worthy stuff. Though, it ALL pales in comparison this week because well, our boy has proven to be a super star.

To say "potty training" has been a struggle in our house is quite possibly the greatest understatement of all time. Basically, we did all the wrong things at all the wrong times to set up a perfect storm of fears, failures, and bad habits. Mix that in with a bit of a sensitive, cautious personality and well... mommy's head has been banging against the wall for quite some time. This week, Nathan took off work to get some things done to make room for baby. "We've" cleaned closets, garages, an attic (remember that bit about the crock pot?... my husband is a rock star too.) In the meantime, one day, while all the organizing was going on, we came to the last Pull-Up in the closet.

It was a moment Trevor and I had been anticipating for quite some time. And to my very pleasant surprise, he was very excited. I'll spare the ugly details here... but let's just say the excitement didn't last long. The road to success has proven to be much more of a marathon than a sprint...but wow, our boy is making great strides. He is now wearing underwear 100 percent of the time, and has remained dry all night since day one. He is doing ALL of his business on the potty and his fears about doing so diminish daily.

We are SO proud of him, and he is SO proud of himself. He struts around, and has been tackling new challenges this week any chance he gets. As silly as it seems, it's as if he's found the freedom to trust his own strength... and watching a boy discover that about himself is a beautiful thing.

In the last four days, while conquering the potty, he has also managed to make major headway in the pool. He's managed to learn to push off of a step while holding his breath under water and clumsily "swim" into his daddy's arms. He's become comfortable floating in a lazy river, while wearing a life jacket, without holding on, bobbing his head in and out of the water pretending to "swim." Watch out world, our little "Dynamite" is on the move. He's known in this house as "the biggest brother of them all" and he's certainly rising to the challenge.