Potty Time

Recently I was inspired by an article about saving money (http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/article/parents-how-to-save-3000-a-year/492910/).  The money saving thing was nice, but it was the stats on potty training that got me.  Now I have gone through potty training with 2 of my 3 kids so far and both experiences have been very different.  Both times I said that I was going to take the slow route and just wait until they were ready.  However, my type A personality did not allow me to do that with my daughter & the whole experience was quite stressful for us both.  So, I really stuck to my guns with my son on just being patient and waiting.  See, here's the thing, the waiting until they are ready sounds so much more enjoyable to me that the pushing and fighting and forcing; and I am usually a person of force.  For the past month my son had been resisting, so I just continued to be patient until I read this article.  I don't know if I was looking for something to get me out of my slump or just ready to NOT have 2 in diapers, but I was going to get this potty thing moving come hell or high pee.

So last Monday morning I decided that my almost 3-year-old son will be potty trained and I must report that he has done wonderfully!  I am so proud of him.  All the mistakes that I made with my poor first child I made sure and didn't repeat.  For instance, I remember reading that you must let them empty the child potty into the big potty.  I never let poor J do that.  I was terrified that she would dump it all over the bathroom.  Anyway, it took him less than a day to master this task without ever spilling a drop.  I also never let poor J go by herself, I was always there to watch and make sure everything went alright.  It took 2 days before S could do it totally by himself (and he even washes his hands afterwards).  Here is my question then, was it all the little mistakes with J that made it so difficult or was it that I waited longer with S?  Guess I can truly make a determination when I potty train my 3rd.

January Slump

So, I am now officially going through my January slump.  Every year, without fail, I go through a period in the month of January where I am so completely unmotivated to do anything.  It's interesting, I identified this about myself quite a few years back; and, no matter what I do I can't seem to ward it off.  So, this year I have decided to embrace it!  I told my husband the other night that I was not motivated to do ANYTHING but eat, so that is what I have been doing.  Now I am thinking it should only last a few more days & I will be back to my normal self.  I guess it better or all that work I did last year to lose that last 10 lbs. will have been futile.

On another note, my 2 1/2 year old son tends to play with my hair while I am getting him dressed.  This morning he says "your hair is lovely & you are beautiful".  I am thinking he had to have seen that in a movie somewhere.  However, yesterday my Mom told me that when she was playing with that same little sweetie and exclaimed "darn it" he stopped and told her "it's damn it".  You know I guess he can't be perfect all the time, huh?  

Finally, the other night we were coming home from a rather chaotic family trip to Home Depot.  My 4 1/2 year daughter old hangs back with me and tells me, "Man, they (referring to her little brother & sister) just wear me out.  It's really hard being the oldest."  She takes her job as an older sibling so seriously.  

How safe are we, really?

So, I have many thoughts on the big buzz about the new carseat "rules" and it makes me ask "How safe can we really be?".  I feel rather dumb not knowing that I should not have been keeping my kids coats on them in their carseats all this time.  Guess I should have read that manual all the way through.  However, my hubby is the manual reader in this family, so I will simply blame it on him.  I guess some would call me a bad parent for not knowing about the rear-facing until 2 rule with my second child.  That wasn't even the rule, though, with my first.  I have noticed something about Moms, each of us has our own "thing" we choose to obsess over.  I remember having conversations with my sister-in-law about something I never let J do & she might say she never worried about that.  Then later she would talk about something she would never let her daughter do, and I would say I never worried about that.

We all have material things or activities we are willing to give up for the safety of our children.  On that same note, though, we all have ways in which we are not willing to bend.  If I could prove that a child would be 10 times less likely to ever use recreational drugs if said child's parents took them to church every Sunday, would all these parents obsessing about coats with carseats immediately start going to church?  I mean, that is a big life change that so many would not be willing to make.  How many of us would stop driving all together?  How many of us would start carrying our kids around in a bubble if someone proved it was safer for our lungs?  Now I am not passing judgement on anyone (that is God's job, not mine) or even suggesting that I won't take my coats off my kids in the car now.  It just seems to me that as soon as we prove one way is safe and we get everyone to start doing it, then someone else disproves that person.  I am simply posing the questions that come to my mind whenever I see and hear people becoming obsessed about some new research.

Reborn

So, yesterday I made homemade bread for a party we had last night.  I just have to say that I love making bread from scratch.  It is so easy and way yummier than store-bought.  Long ago, before I had kids I started making bread for Thanksgiving, but that was abandoned after my first, J, was born.  I must say though that I am newly inspired to start again.  My goal this year is to start making my own sandwich bread.

This new goal makes me think of something else "new" I am doing, clothes shopping for myself.  I haven't really shopped a lot for myself (except for maternity clothes) in almost 6 years.  I mean, I have flip flops (which are, by far my most favorite shoe) from Payless that are 10 years old.  I am basically back into the size of most of the clothes in my closet.  However, my body is shaped differently now & the fashions are all new.  Go figure!  So, I have gone a couple of times in the last couple of weeks, and I find myself at a complete & total loss.  6 years ago I could shop in the junior section, now . . . not so much.  So that leaves me with the "older" clothing section & I don't feel as if I quite fit in there either, hence the naming of this post.  I definitely am being reborn & rediscovering what it means to be a woman (albeit older now), not just a baby machine.  So, another goal for me is to rebuild my wardrobe with cute, trendy, age appropriate clothing . . . if that is possible.  Maybe the money I save on making my own bread will provide me with enough money to do this!  :-)

Scary Behavior

So I am a little scared of my kiddos right now.  I have a 4 1/2 year-old girl, a 2 1/2 year-old boy and a 17-month-old girl.  I am told constantly that they are so polite and well-behaved.  I am not sure who they are when I am not around because around me they argue, fight and generally reek havoc on the household.  However, yesterday & so far today they have been little angels.  I am in heaven, but a little afraid.  Is this just the calm before the storm?  Okay I was just called away from this post to clean up my son's room after his poopy diaper leaked right where they were all playing . . . havoc.  But still, they were very calm during the situation and did exactly what I told them to do.  Scary!  I put my son back into a diaper instead of a pull up because he is resisting the potty right now.  He tells me that he doesn't want to use the potty because "I want to be your sweet baby, Mommy".  How can I argue with that?  So, for now I am going to enjoy the pleasure of being with my well-behaved babies.  Stay tuned to see how long it lasts.

Beginning

So a friend of mine told me the other day that I should think about doing a blog.  I have been hesitant to do this because everyone is doing a blog these days and I am not usually one to jump on the bandwagon.  However, my life has been turned on its ear since I started having children 4 1/2 years ago & I thought that maybe this would be a way to record my daily thoughts (seeing as my memory seems to have taken a permanent hiatus).  Also, it's a new year full of great possibilities, right?  We all make crazy resolutions in the first few hours of every new year, right??  So, why not??  This will be my blog about my crazy life with my husband and 3 small children, under the age of 5.  My husband, of course, only fits mentally into that under 5 age category.