First Potty Trained Road Trip

For Memorial Day weekend, we took a road trip up to the mountains to visit Nate's aunt (trying to get a post up soon). It was Grant's first potty trained road trip and I'm happy to report he did great! No accidents! It was, I think, a little over 4 hours to her house and we only had to stop once and the same on the way back. We were pretty jazzed about how it went.

On the way home when we stopped at a rest stop, Grant wasn't asking to pee. We asked him and he had to go. All was well. We figured we'd have to stop at least once more before getting home. But that didn't seem to be the case...until we were about 15-20 minutes from home. We hear "I gotta go pee-pee..." from the back seat. I told him we were almost home and asked if he could hold it. "Yeah, I gonna hold it" he told me. We got to our exit (which means only 5 more minutes) when Grant started crying that he had to pee. I was trying to distract him with funny stuff and songs but nothing was working. Then Husband asked if Grant wanted him to pull over so he could go in the woods. Grant said yes - but we didn't. So we get home and I quick jump out of the truck and I'm getting Grant out telling him we're heading to the potty.

Grant: "I wanna go in the woods"

Me: "We're going to go inside and sit on the potty"

Grant: "I wanna go in the woods!"

Me - pointing him toward the backyard: "Fine. Go back there and pee in the woods."

He walked about 10 steps past the front of the truck, dropped trou, and peed right there in the yard.

I couldn't miss the photo op, it was too hysterical. But lets hope he doesn't demonstrate this new found skill on the playground at school. *fingers crossed*

Potty Trained

If you read my last post about potty training then you know that a few weeks ago Grant was in the neighborhood of being potty trained. Well now, I am officially declaring him potty trained. I'm sure that putting this in writing is some sort of bad omen, but there it is. Potty trained. 

The peeing has been good for quite a while but now he's got the hang of number 2 too. He's almost always wearing real underpants unless it's bed time (or a weekend morning and we haven't taken him out of the pull-up yet). Day care sent home all his pull-ups so he's napping in underpants and going to the bathroom well there too. We're even brave enough to put him in undies when we go places.

So...hooray! Potty training, well, sucks. But potty trained is pretty freaking awesome.

The above picture is one of my favorite recent pictures. I took it right after Grant woke up from a nap. He had gotten up, gone to the bathroom, then came to find me. His pants were so crooked and his shirt was not only tucked into his pants but his undies too. He doesn't want to ask for help, he likes to find us and show us that he did it himself. That's usually how mornings go too. He still needs some help with number 2 so we're trying to get him to call to us when he's done. We're working on it (because it's no fun chasing a toddler with poopy butt around the house!).

So that's that. I can't believe it. Accident-free for weeks now. I probably could have made the delcaration sooner but whatever. Potty trained - woohoo!

Potty Training

This is not, by any means, going to be a how-to post on potty training. No ma'am. Or sir. This is merely a Mama's rambling about our potty training experience. 

We decided around Christmas/first of the year to really give potty training a go. We'd been toying with it for months. We both knew from signs that Grant was ready...but Grant didn't know he was ready. And as our pediatrician said, when it comes to potty training...he was in charge. But he was pretty ready.

Potty training is maybe the most frustrating thing we've done to date. At least in my opinion. And this coming from a woman who hated breastfeeding with every fiber of my being. I'm not sure if I've said this before, but I stay away from parenting books, magazine, articles, etc. It's not that I'm above them, it's that I think they're boring and opinionated and I want to be my own kind of parent and not one that a book tells me to be. But I read about potty training and you know what I learned? No one has any idea what they're doing but everyone has an opinion.

Noisy training pottys are distracting; regular training pottys aren't enticing enough; do a potty training "boot camp" weekend; don't put pressure on them; use the regular toilet from the start; the regular toilet is too intimidating; don't use pull-ups they're just a diaper; use normal undies and just let them pee all over

We heard it all. Some stuff was helpful. One thing I read that I paid attention to said that if you're frustrated - or your child is frustrated - just back off. Throw a diaper back on or a pull-up. Give it a day or two and take a break. We had to do that once because I was frustrated beyond frustrated. I was ready to just buy depends and let him go in his pants for the rest of his life. 

I honestly can't tell you how we got from that point to where we are today. Where we are today is basically potty trained with peeing and even the pooping is getting better (see THIS post about the poo problems). Grant goes pee when he as to, usually announcing it to us if we're at home but tells us he doesn't want help. We know he's done because he waddles all over the house with his undies around his ankles yelling "I pee! I pee!" He goes in the potty when we're out somewhere, even if he's wearing pull-ups and not undies. Pooping is still an issue but after some success in that department in the last week, I think he's slowly realizing it's not so bad.

What I have learned through this process:

• Grant really was in charge. Nothing was going to happen in that potty until he wanted it to. 
• Pull-ups are just glorified diapers...but they were a necessary item.
• One tip we were given was to reward Grant with an M&M for going in the potty. At first, I despised the idea of rewarding with food and I judged myself for doing it. But I have since found out that a lot of people have done it, it worked for us and now Grant doesn't always need one after he goes. So I'm hoping it'll be an easy habit to break *fingers crossed*.
• Not everyone wants to talk to you like they're the superior parent. Some people do want to give you helpful advice.
• After reading that noisy pottys seem more like a toy and are distracting, we bought a "regular" training potty (this one). But, for Grant anyway, I'm not sure the type of potty we got really made a difference. I don't know that one with music and lights would have made a difference. I am, however, glad that we decided on a potty that doesn't require us to change batteries.
• Playing up the "big boy" aspect of going in the potty was key for us. Grant can be very independent and loves to feel like a big guy. So telling him he was such a big boy or telling him that big boys wear real underwear I think motivated him.
• DAYCARE. Bless them. They were ready when we jumped on the potty training band wagon and super helpful. At a certain point they told us to bring underwear and multiple changes of clothes. That way Grant would be wearing underwear, pee on himself, and realize that he had to go potty and how yucky it feels to wear pee soaked clothes. It involved a lot of patience from them and a lot of laundry at our house, but it really helped.
• We had to let go of the "It's ok buddy, accidents happen". If it was truly an accident, it was ok. But if he peed all over and then said "I need to change" without remorse, we punished him (like the time he peed in his car seat after I asked him 100 times to go before we left daycare). Through this whole process we've always been ready to rush to the potty when needed, so sometimes it was just laziness.
• This takes time. I was always under them impression that potty training happened quickly. And I'm sure for some it does. But this for us has been quite a process.
• My least favorite thing learned: someone out there will have done this better than you, had a better idea or system, their kid did it sooner than yours, or they did it in a matter of days or WHATEVER. You have to let it go. POTTY TRAINING is hard enough! Raising a child is hard enough with the pressure you put on yourself. Who cares who did it first?

So there we are. Another milestone...my little guy growing up. I'm so proud of him :) There is talk at school of Grant moving up to the three-year-old's room. That news threw me a little. He's just getting so big.

Conversations With My Toddler: Husband Edition

I overheard this conversation between Grant and Husband last night while Grant was getting cleaned up...and Husband was cleaning out Grant's "undiewear". 

Grant: I have to have a bath tonight?

Husband: Yes. Because you pooped on yourself. You pooped in your pants.

Grant: I poop in my pants? (Like he was not aware this happened less than 5 minutes ago)

Husband: Yes. 

Grant: That's disgusting.

Admittedly, it took me a while to compose myself. I found Grant's end of that conversation absolutely hysterical. Husband, being the one to clean out the poopy underpants, did not seem quite as amused as I was.

Side note: Grant is basically potty trained as far as peeing goes. He even goes in the potty when we're out and about. Accidents are few and far between. We've even made some improvements in the "#2" department and are not quite so frustrated with it - despite this post :)

Weekend Review

It was just a good weekend. It was the kind of weekend that when someone asks how my weekend was, I don't feel compelled to say it was too short. Because it was good and enjoyable and sunny and happy.

Cheesy, huh? I don't care. It was a good weekend and we've needed one of those lately.

I'm not a person to hate winter. Actually, I'm usually a summer-hater. But I didn't realize until this sunny, great weekend just how tired I was of cold weather. 

Saturday morning we had plans to meet Husband's family for breakfast. The promise of Gramma, Grandpa, Aunt Debbie, and pancakes on Saturday morning is the perfect start for Grant. We had to make a quick stop for some cake supplies I needed and Grant found some treasures of his own there:

Grave Digger and Lightning McQueen rings.

Then on to breakfast and some unsuccessful but not unenjoyable shopping (I did score some cheap ties for a sewing project I need to make time for).

After all that, we stopped off at Lake Wheeler Park to see some ducks, play on the playground and just walk around on a sunny day. 

Family picture!

Grant and I shared a snow cone! A yummy treat!

Checking out the boats and the ducks

We hadn't been out to Lake Wheeler in a while and I had no idea how nice it is out there. We're definitely doing a picnic there soon.

Since we had a late breakfast/early lunch we ate an early dinner and then had family movie night! Redbox was out of the good stuff so we watched Finding Nemo (which we already had but Grant hasn't watched). I made a big batch of popcorn on the stove and we lounged on the floor with just about every blanket and pillow we own. It was great :)

Sunday was kind of lazy. I cooked breakfast and we hung around the house so Grant could take a good nap (Saturday's nap was brief and in the car). Then Grant and I went shopping for some spring clothes and Husband ran some other errands. He surprised me with some new chairs for the deck and a little one for Grant too...so we ate our dinner outside last night - something we've never done in all our years of having a deck. I really don't think we could have ended the weekend any better. 

I hope everyone's weekend was as good as ours!

Everyone Poops...Except Grant

Last year while browsing books with a friend, we came across the book Everyone Poops. She went a little crazy when she found out that I'd never seen the book before. Honestly, I thought it was made-up. Turns out...not so much.

There's a whole lot of pooping going on in that book and I thought "No way I'd buy this". Now I'm thinking I might need it. Or maybe it won't help at all. I don't know. All I know is that potty training for peeing is going great. We've even had outings when Grant wears real underpants (or undiewears as he calls them). But does he poop in the potty? No. So he poops in his, right? No. He just doesn't poop. And that's creating a whole slew of issues that I won't get into (but they involve me shopping in an aisle of the pharmacy I didn't think I'd need until I was eligible for a senior discount). 

Just to get him to poop we've put on pull-ups (which are pretty much only used at night now) and told him to just go. He won't. I've bribed him (you can have two M&M's - our potty treat of choice, you can have a [temporary] tattoo, you can have a popsicle, you can eat a lollipop while you're on the potty, you can have my phone and watch a movie on the potty...ANYTHING) but nothings working. And, yes, he has even seen us go because we heard that helps. Again, nothing.

So that's how that is going. I've heard plenty of people say that #1 happens faster than #2 and I get that. It's all a new thing. But I didn't think he'd just hold it for days! 

FYI to anyone who feels compelled to tell me that they potty trained their kid in a few days, that they potty trained their kid young, that they just let day care (or care provider) do it, or that girls are just sooooooooooo much easier to train than boys...SHUT UP. Seriously, your condescending comments are not the least bit helpful. I am, however, entertaining helpful suggestions. Thanks in advance :)

2 1/2 Years Old

• Height: 36 3/4" (he's grown 2 inches since his 2 year check up)
• Weight: 29.5 lbs (gained 4 pounds since his 2 year check up)
• Wearing: 2T & 3T. Almost all his 2T pants are too short. It seems like he's really shot up since his two year check-up but all 3T pants have to be adjustable because he's still a string bean! Most of his 2T shirts still fit but we're buying 3T in any new stuff.
• Grant's got a favorite movie now! It's been weeks since we've watched Monster Jam because Grant can't get enough of the Cars movies. He's always telling us "I need to watch Cars" or "I need to see Mater on the TV". 
• Potty training...is actually going pretty well at home. We're still not pushing it too awfully hard (not like potty training boot camp or anything) but he is wearing pull-ups instead of diapers and he's getting much better at telling us when he's got to go. He's not good at telling the day care teachers and he doesn't want to go yet when we're out and about...but I know we'll get there. I'm really happy with how it's going. It's certainly not easy but its getting better. As soon as we have time, we're going to take a weekend and do the "no pants weekend" and I'm thinking that should help things.

• Still doing well in the big boy bed! He has his nights where he doesn't want to lay down but so far *knock on wood* he stays put even when he doesn't go right to sleep.
• Grant loves to sing the ABC song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Also loves to hear all the jingles my mom used to sing but that's a post for another day.
• Doing really well with colors. The only two he won't really name are black and red.
• Also doing really well with counting. A few months ago he would just yell out numbers - sometimes in order, sometimes not. But now he's slowing down and actually pointing and counting things out and he can tell you "how many" when you ask as long as it's small numbers. I think the Poke-A-Dot book we got him for Easter last year helps.

 

• LOVES hockey! When we took Grant to his first (and only) game, Husband bought him a little hockey stick & puck set and he can't stop playing with it. Phrases that Grant has been known to yell while playing hockey: "I'm a hockey man!", "Lets go Hurricanes!", "I'm Jordan Staal! You not Jordan Staal! I'm Jordan Staal!", "I'm Cam Ward! You not Cam Ward! I"m Cam Ward!", "Put the puck in the net...I scored! YAAAAA!"
• Working on learning to spell his name. He'll tell you his name is Grant but if you ask him to spell it he's a little shy about it. And he usually misses the N. He'll tell you it's G-R-A-T but if we slow him down and say it with him he knows where the N goes.
• Energy to spare! Sometimes after dinner when we're in the living room he'll just look at me, say "I gonna run, ok?" and then take off through the house.
• Talking, talking, talking...all the time! He seems to be saying more every day. Bigger words and bigger sentences...it's crazy. He's not just repeating anymore, he's saying all the stuff that pops into his little head and we're having actual conversations. It's so fun! (And funny!)

I told him to pose. He did what you see 
above and yelled "Muscles!"

"I see you!"

Two Year Stats

Yesterday was Grant's two year check-up. Here's what's up:

• Weighing 25 1/2 pounds. I think this is wrong. He doesn't like their scale and was moving way too much to get an accurate weight. On more than one occasion he's weighed 26 pounds and he's been eating like a champ. Just sayin'.
• Height 34 3/4 inches (a.k.a. a couple inches shy of 3 feet tall)
• Under average in weight (30%) and average in height (50%). I asked if he was too skinny and the doc said no. She said there's nothing wrong with having a skinny kid (and that it's actually good) so I'm satisfied with that :)
• Advanced talker! I kind of knew that. She was very impressed with the sentences he speaks and how well he is doing with his talking.
• Apparently Time Out should only be two minutes. I was told my five minute Time Outs are a bit excessive (what would she think of the times that Husband says "Time out...uh...forever!")...she advised us to go down to two minutes next time it's needed and work with that. Humph!

• His regression in potty interest is not an issue. She said he'll get used to it again. To maybe let him sit on it with his clothes on and read if that's what he wants to do. So I'm not worried. He'll get there.
• In the next couple of months, she suggested the switch to a toddler bed. Grant loves his crib, which is great because it's safe, but lately has been using it like a trampoline while holding onto the side. When I told her that I was worried about him catapulting himself out of there she suggested transitioning soon.
• No shots this time! Not until he is four (which I have no doubt will come before I know it). Just a flu shot to be scheduled in a few weeks.

We were surprised at how well Grant did with this appointment. He's been such a grown up little guy lately. First no tears during his last hair cut, even walked back to the chair with the guy instead of with his Daddy. Then yesterday at the doctor the only time he got upset was with being weighed. He even giggled some with the doctor and high fived and hugged her when he left! Note, she did give him an awesome monster truck sticker. She gave us a checklist of sorts of what we should be expecting at this age and I can tell from the list that he's doing great. She did mention that he's got some molars coming in so I'm expecting an ear infection anytime (keep your fingers crossed that doesn't happen!). But overall we got a great report for our little man!

Pee Pee Problems

Mornings are not exactly the time of day when I should be making impulse decisions. Monday mornings especially. But when I woke Grant up this morning and noticed that he had a dry diaper (seriously dry, the little guy held it all night) I made the immediate decision to put him on the potty. I ran into the bathroom where Husband was showering, grabbed the potty and brought it to Grant's room thinking that the shower sound might distract him. That was a no go, bad idea. Potty in the bedroom threw him off completely. I can't say that I blame him.

At that point Husband was out of the shower so we moved the potty and our half naked toddler to the bathroom. Husband gave him a magazine (he asks for them now) and he sat for a minute. Then he got up and kind of squatted on the floor reading the magazine.

Husband says "Do you want to sit on the potty? Do you have to go?" Grant says no.

Then there is pee on the magazine. Not a lot, but pee just the same. That is when we notice some pee in the potty too. So while Grant is pointing at the peed on magazine saying "Oh messy" we're trying to praise him for going in the potty. We ask if he has to go more, he says no and then disappears for minute. So I clean out the potty.

Not a minute later Grant comes  back to the bathroom holding himself and looks at me with the most innocent face and says "Pee pee?" It was the first time he's ever told me he had to go...and it was Monday morning so my response was "Huh?". Then he sprinkled on the floor. I realized what was going on and before I could stop myself said "Oh no!" because I felt bad that I didn't react the way I should.

Tears. Big ones. Streaming down Grant's little face. I almost broke down. I felt like the most horrible mom in the world. I always tell him to let me know if he has to go and I'll get him on the potty and he finally does and I don't realize it. THEN he thinks I'm yelling at him! We got him calmed down pretty quick and smiling again. I kept telling him how great it was that he let me know he had to go. I still feel pretty awful about the whole thing. I've ordered a potty book for us to read together and I need to learn to control my reactions. Perhaps I should just squash any impulse decisions that leap into my mind on Monday mornings. I hope I didn't scare him away from the potty!

23 Months

23 months old

With his second birthday literally around the corner, Grant is most certainly "a big guy". I put that in quotes because he will proudly tell you that he's a big guy when asked. It seems like that last month or two has brought about a lot of growing up that has left us confused as to how it happened so quickly.

What he's up to:

• Took his first real vacation - to see family in NY - and did remarkably well on a very long car ride.
• On that vacation he went to his first parade, which was a big hit with him.
• Went "swimming" for the first time (and many times after that) and loved it! My goal for next summer is to have a small pool for us.
• Not only has he used his first cuss word, but he uses it correctly. When he dropped something, he said "Damn it". When something was out of reach, he said "Damn it". You get the idea. We were advised to ignore it (first instinct being to tell him stop, of course) and he seems to have stopped saying it. For now.
• Uses some complete sentences now. "Mama, what's that?" "I get it!" "I find it!" "I find him!" (this one generally referring to the dog). You get the idea.
• Likes to try to say the ABC's by himself (but isn't very good at it yet) and he can count to 10 with prompting...but he obviously doesn't know what that means yet.
• Not much progress in the potty training. We haven't really been pushing it. When we think to put him on the potty it's always at the wrong time. But he still likes to sit there and read magazines.
• Still signs "more", "please", and "thank you". And he's using "please" and "thank you" often without having to be prompted. Now we're working on "yes, please" instead of the "Okay!" he's fond of using now.
• Only needs his pacifier at bed time now. He naps without it at school, so he naps without it at home. I like to think we're getting there (with getting rid of it entirely) but that seems like a bold statement.
• Wearing mostly 18 mo and 24 mo/2T but still has some 12 month shorts that fit him. His shoes are still size 7 but I'm thinking before too long he'll be needing a bigger size.
• Doesn't have much interest in cartoons. He'll watch them in the morning while I'm getting ready for work (used to be whatever was on Nick Jr. but now we've moved to Disney Jr. and I like their morning selection better!) but any other time of day he doesn't care about what's on TV unless it's Monster Jam. He has also started having some interest in sports stuff on TV too (hockey season will be really fun this year!).
• Insists on helping me when brushing his teeth. He grabs for his Spongebob toothbrush and says "Help? Help?"
• Loves music and looooves to dance to it. Very cute. We have little dance parties in his room after bath time and dance together (I have zero ability to dance but Grant doesn't seem to mind).
• He can never have too many stories at bed time.
• Loves anything with an engine but monster trucks are still his absolute favorite.

Growin' Up

I have mentioned in a previous post that at Grant's day care, when you turn two are immediately booted out of the comfort zone known as the Toddler Room to join...well, more toddlery toddlers. That next step is known at daycare as Little Two's. What I didn't mention is that on the rare occasions when Grant has had to be left in the Little Two's he acts like we've dropped him off at Gitmo. Crying, screaming, terrified...the works. Like it turns into a toddler sweatshop when we turn our back. So we've been prepping ourselves for the horrible reports to come in less than two months.

Yesterday was Grant's first day back at day care after vacation. And we got a shock. They moved him up to Little Two's almost two months early! Husband is in charge of day care duty 95% of the time, so I got the memo by text. I was totally unprepared. They had little ones moving up from the Waddler Room to the Toddler Room so moves had to be made and Grant was one of the ones they picked! I was simultaneously proud (that they pick my little guy to move early) but scared and sad too (because it means he's growing up AND because he was terrified of that room). I am not a worrier. I'm just not. But I sat at my desk all day thinking about my little man being put in that room that he's so scared of.

But you know what? He did GREAT! He had a great day with the "new" kids and the teacher said he didn't cry at all. I was so excited! We've known they're not big on paci's in this room so we haven't even brought one for him this week which means he's napping without one (now we just have to work on night time!) AND there is a potty in this room so it will help us with that too. I'm so proud of my big little guy!


Hooray Grant!



20 Months

Holy crap, what a week. Tuesday night Grant seemed sluggish and came home from day care the next day with a fever. The doctor said it was a virus. We went back to the doctor on Saturday because he seemed to go downhill right after we had seen a slight improvement. The virus had settled in his lungs AND his ear infection from the previous week had returned. New antibiotic and some breathing treatments. But I'm happy to report that after night after night of little to no sleep for all three of us, the little guy is on the road to recovery and we're seeing much improvement. So I finally got around to snapping a few current pictures for his 20 month post. Nothing spectacular...neither of us had the energy.


Watching Daddy clean the lawn mower

So here we are at 20 months old. It seems so weird that Grant will be two soon. The time really does seem to have flown by.

He doesn't look happy but, trust me, he is.

We started introducing the potty and his reaction to it has been very good, although we seem to sit him on it at the wrong times because he still hasn't gone in it. And the past week we haven't been into it because his fever has been so high that being without pants would have sent him into chills.

Grant is still talking up a storm, learning new words and doing even better with putting words together. I think I've heard him say "I don't know" and he's still pointing at things and asking "A's at?" (What's that). But the best thing he's said recently is...*drum roll please*...I love you! He said it! Hooray! He's also repeating things, so we're having to watch what we say. What I'm finding hysterical lately is how often he's telling Brodie "no" when he has food. Especially cheese or a graham cracker. He gets right in his face and says "no!" And Grant is still using some sign language. I'm not sure how much he uses at school but at home it's only "more" and "please" (mo' and pwease).


Brodie much more patient than we thought he'd be.

We're using time-out more often now because it does seem to be effective. Although, mean parent that I am, one minute seems to short so we've gone up to two. When I tell him that he's got time-out for two minutes he knows what to do (I'm still trying to figure out if that's good or bad) and tearfully sits through his punishment. It's pretty pitiful but it's working so I can take the tears.

That's really about it for now. We're working on the potty...and still trying to get rid of the pacifier. We're so weak. I'm thinking that my goal of having him off the paci by two years old may be a bit of a pipe dream at this point. But we'll see.

I leave you with a couple pictures of my cutie sitting in front of his favorite thing in Husband's "office". Some car posters that he's had for years that Grant absolutely loves.


Really with the camera? I just got over 4 day with a 102 fever
and you're getting out  the camera?

Trying the Potty

It seems like we've been saying for months that we wanted to try to get Grant on the potty. I can't say we're totally potty training yet, we just want to get him used to it and if he goes - good. If not - try again. So we finally quit being lazy yesterday and bought a potty. We did the little potty vs. little seat on the regular toilet debate and the little potty won. It makes more sense, he's just too little for anything else. We ended up with the Fisher Price Froggy Potty.

It might be the cutest poop collector ever.

We picked this one because, according to my Amazon app, it had a ton of really good reviews. But it was also one of the only ones that Target had that didn't play music and light up. I've heard negative things about those kinds of potties being distracting and what-not so we steered clear of those.

As soon as we got the stuff home Grant immediately took his new potty, put it on the floor, and parked himself there to play with his legos. Seriously, he loved it. I think he was a bit crushed when it was taken into the bathroom. We decided to wait until right before bath time to put him on the potty for real. He'll sometimes pee in the tub, so we thought he might go before bath time. But he pooped in his diaper right before that. Oh well. We figured since he was half naked we'd just try, see how he felt about it.

Taken with my phone (Husband said no to the
regular camera - not sure why!)

He seemed to be ok with it. I'd even venture to say he liked it. He sat right down and even giggled a little. Keeping him there was a bit of an issue, that's why he has the book. And we had to keep him from scooting it across the floor like a ride-on toy. Obviously, he didn't go since he had just gone right before. But since he didn't hate it, I consider it a good start.