I subscribe to the "less is more" theory of housecleaning - the less you clean, the more exciting it is when you actually do! Those of you that know my mother will be quite surprised at this I am sure, since she cleans her house every Saturday morning, and you would think that observing that (and even taking part in it when I was younger) would have rubbed off on me. Not so. I won't even tell you how many Saturday mornings have gone by around here without a dustcloth or toilet brush in sight.
My biggest downfall is my bedroom - I have a tendency to lay things on the floor instead of putting them away (though I can always find what I need). I could tell things had gotten a little out of hand lately when one morning (after having had a major clean-up session the night before after the kids had gone to bed) Sam looked around my bedroom, paused for a moment, and then said, "Wow. There's a lot of carpet in here!"
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
I need to improve my computer skills
Since I do not know how to compress pictures from my camera to email-able sizes, all you blog readers will have to put up with seeing pictures of random things I want to show people. We had the blanket for Ellison back in November, now the nursery items for Jen. Someday I will figure it out......
Friday, January 9, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Observations of a toddler
This morning Sam noticed that I had a lot of freckles on my shoulder and asked me "Why are you covered with all that stuff?" I told him that that was just how I had been born. He pondered that for a moment while looking at his feet and replied, "Just like I was born with little toes?" Then he took a look at Sadie (with her impressive bedhead) and said "And like Sadie was born with sticky-up hair?" Then came another moment of reflection followed by my favorite comment: "And like Daddy was just born with a big head?"
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Sam and Sadie in the snow
Never mind that we only got about a half an inch......my munchkins had to go out and play in it in full snow-gear. They had the greatest time - I think you could have heard them laughing a block away!
How to potty train your child in 15 months or less!
That's the name of a book I could write. We started down this potty road last November. We had just been to my parents' for a week, where he had seen my dad go to the bathroom (He wasn't really invited to witness that event, but somehow made it in the bathroom and I wasn't going in to retrieve him! Anyway - I hadn't gone to the bathroom alone for months...why should my dad have that luxury?). The day after we got home I heard him say "Pa" and then sit down on the potty chair that doubled as a stool for him to stand on to brush his teeth. I took off his diaper and he did his business - Number 2, no less! This is going to be a piece of cake, I thought. My child is not even 2 and is already asking to go to the bathroom. Why do people make this into such a big deal?
Over the next 6 months I would put Sam on the potty chair from time to time (and whenever he said anything resembling "pa") and he would usually go. I was happy with how he was doing and not wanting to push him into underwear. He knew how to make himself go, but was nowhere near being able to hold it. He was constantly drinking, and thus constantly peeing.
By June he was able to stay dry for more than 5 minutes at a time, and could actually keep a pull-up dry all day if I remembered to make him go to the bathroom every hour or so. And so we had our first attempt at "Underwear Day." It went poorly. All it did was make him go more, since he was excited to see what kind of underwear he would get to put on next after he had wet the pair he had on. We went through dump truck undies, fire truck undies, Thomas ones, and a pair with Cars on it before I declared "Underwear Day" over and not to be attempted again anytime soon.
I rationalized not trying again with the fact that we had a very busy summer. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day we either had company or were out of town at least part of every single week. I was not switching to underwear while we were entertaining or on the road. But then the vacations came to an end, and Sam was staying dry fairly well, and my mom convinced me I should try it again. Her theory was that he would not like being wet and would, therefore, begin telling me he needed to go. I let her test this theory one morning while they were here and babysitting so I could run a few errands. I think I was gone 2 hours. He had wet himself twice and not cared one bit. So much for that theory. We did try again a few weeks after that, but I just got tired of cleaning up puddles. And then we were going to go to China.....and then Sadie would have surgery not soon after........and the rationalizing continued.
So - the past month or so Sam has finally started telling me he needs to go, and sometimes even just goes into the bathroom himself and does what he needs to do. He has even started telling me he needs to go when we are out and about - yet I still hadn't made the switch from pull-ups. I'd asked him a couple times if he wanted to wear underwear and his response was always a nice, respectful "no."
We went to his 3-year-old checkup yesterday and the doctor asked about potty training.
Dr: So, is he potty-trained?
Me: Oh....about 98% or so.
Dr: (After noticing what he had on underneath his pants) And he is in a pullup because...... you are out? Just to be safe?
What was I supposed to say? Uh no.....not just to be safe. Because that 2% that he's not potty-trained is the underwear part? That I'm just too lazy to take a chance on cleaning up an accident? Or that I had asked him if he wanted to wear underwear and he said no and I am letting this 3-year-old make all his own decisions? That I am too much of a wimp to make him? That I don't want to deal with the fuss he'll put up?
But instead I mumbled something about having tried this summer and it didn't go well, and then we got Sadie, and then she had surgery, and I just haven't gotten around to it.
And then this morning I informed Sam he was wearing underwear - the doctor said he had to. How's that for taking charge?
(And we made it all day without Mom giving up! No accidents....though he did insist I address him as Spiderman all day, since that was his underwear of choice this morning. I can't wait until he puts the fire truck pair on - will I have to make siren noises?)
Over the next 6 months I would put Sam on the potty chair from time to time (and whenever he said anything resembling "pa") and he would usually go. I was happy with how he was doing and not wanting to push him into underwear. He knew how to make himself go, but was nowhere near being able to hold it. He was constantly drinking, and thus constantly peeing.
By June he was able to stay dry for more than 5 minutes at a time, and could actually keep a pull-up dry all day if I remembered to make him go to the bathroom every hour or so. And so we had our first attempt at "Underwear Day." It went poorly. All it did was make him go more, since he was excited to see what kind of underwear he would get to put on next after he had wet the pair he had on. We went through dump truck undies, fire truck undies, Thomas ones, and a pair with Cars on it before I declared "Underwear Day" over and not to be attempted again anytime soon.
I rationalized not trying again with the fact that we had a very busy summer. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day we either had company or were out of town at least part of every single week. I was not switching to underwear while we were entertaining or on the road. But then the vacations came to an end, and Sam was staying dry fairly well, and my mom convinced me I should try it again. Her theory was that he would not like being wet and would, therefore, begin telling me he needed to go. I let her test this theory one morning while they were here and babysitting so I could run a few errands. I think I was gone 2 hours. He had wet himself twice and not cared one bit. So much for that theory. We did try again a few weeks after that, but I just got tired of cleaning up puddles. And then we were going to go to China.....and then Sadie would have surgery not soon after........and the rationalizing continued.
So - the past month or so Sam has finally started telling me he needs to go, and sometimes even just goes into the bathroom himself and does what he needs to do. He has even started telling me he needs to go when we are out and about - yet I still hadn't made the switch from pull-ups. I'd asked him a couple times if he wanted to wear underwear and his response was always a nice, respectful "no."
We went to his 3-year-old checkup yesterday and the doctor asked about potty training.
Dr: So, is he potty-trained?
Me: Oh....about 98% or so.
Dr: (After noticing what he had on underneath his pants) And he is in a pullup because...... you are out? Just to be safe?
What was I supposed to say? Uh no.....not just to be safe. Because that 2% that he's not potty-trained is the underwear part? That I'm just too lazy to take a chance on cleaning up an accident? Or that I had asked him if he wanted to wear underwear and he said no and I am letting this 3-year-old make all his own decisions? That I am too much of a wimp to make him? That I don't want to deal with the fuss he'll put up?
But instead I mumbled something about having tried this summer and it didn't go well, and then we got Sadie, and then she had surgery, and I just haven't gotten around to it.
And then this morning I informed Sam he was wearing underwear - the doctor said he had to. How's that for taking charge?
(And we made it all day without Mom giving up! No accidents....though he did insist I address him as Spiderman all day, since that was his underwear of choice this morning. I can't wait until he puts the fire truck pair on - will I have to make siren noises?)
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