Private Time

Sunday I tried to explain to him that potty is private time.  At our church, the small childrens potty opens on either side of 2 rooms.  We were going potty when he decided to open the other door while he was standing with his pants down.  We had to go through "Its ok for Mama to see Alan when he's going potty or taking a bath, and it's ok for teachers at daycares to see Alan when he goes potty, but it's not ok for other kids or other adults to see Alan naked".  Pretty sure he didn't understand.

At the YMCA, Alan has to go through the girls locker room with me.  He is not allowed in the women's.  But lots of times  there are little girls in various stages of getting dressed.  I feel uncomfortable with him seeing this, and we usually go in the big bathroom to get dressed (I am a private dresser myself).  I'm sure I won't allow him in the boys locker room until he is 7  or so.

Wonderful words

Today he said "I love you" and gave me kisses.  That was so sweet.  Things like that feel like such a blessing to me.  "I am a big boy".  "Mama is a big boy".  Grandmommy is a big girl".  "I am Mama's Angel".  Awwww.  Stuff like that is sweet...

But then there's "Mama has a big butt".  "Mama, what's a butt?" 

Going is both smooth and bumpy

He pees if I suggest it.  That's great, and now the potty is on the toilet (so I don't have to clean the little potty bowl all the time).  Poop in the undies is uncomfortable for him, that's great, but it still happens for now. I have to put him in swim diapers for lessons--its kind of embarrassing.  None of the other kids are.

When my cousins were here he was very excited to see them.  I believe they had a beneficial effect on  him--both were around his age and in undies.  He wanted to use the potty too after that.  Yeah!!!  But it was embarrassing--we went to the Science Museum and he pooped, and I had to change him.  Stuff like that didn't happen to his cousins.  Oh well.  Pee in the potty is good.

It only took ME a WEEK!

Don't you have to just grin and bear it sometimes?

Breakthrough

We have had a breakthrough.  Five times in a row he has gone independently to the potty.  The first 3 I suggested he go and he wanted to go by himself, and the last 2 he told me he had to go and he went!   Ah, life smells sweet when there is no pee on the floor to clean up! 

Poop not included.  He told me he wanted to poop in the potty now, but...I'm grateful that today he was wearing a pull-up from nap.  I'm hoping that he stays dry tonight--my pull-up stash is low.

Humor

As I was looking through my old parenting magazines--you know, the ones that I haven't had time to read, and are now bathroom reading material--I found a few gems and had to put them in here.

"It's funny that no matter what your status is at work or in the outside world, when you come home, you are still the person who cleans up your kid's poops."

And this is a good one for the modern mom:

"My 3 year old daughter was playing tea party one afternoon, and her nana asked if there was pretend hot chocolate in her teapot.  She answered, "No, its a grande, nonfat chai".  Personally I don't know what that is, but I don't drink coffee either.

I read another story on playdate nightmares and the wild child from hell, alias other parents that have different parenting structures. (I've not experienced playdates yet). For instance, the other mom that keeps the tv on all the time, or lets the kids jump on the furniture, or surf unsupervised.  Rides bikes without a helmet.  Lets the kids pull heads off barbies and throw them across the room.  Has an unlocked gate to the pool (the kids won't go through it).  Is this what I have to look forward too?

On the Phone

Still have a horrendous bruise on my hiney--it was hurting all night every time I turned over.

On the Phone

Today was one of those harried, hurried days.  Where everything seems to be just one thing too much.  You know what I mean.  So at 11am I am on hold to my internet server--its taking 20 minutes to connect to the internet, I timed it--and am on hold for 40, count them, 40 minutes.  In this 40 minutes, I was frantically telling my son to shush, and one-handedly comforting him as he screamed his head off, while I hoped and hoped that NOW would not be the time the rep came on the phone.  Instead, my little darling went to play in his room eventually; played quietly, too!  However, as my time was up and the rep asked in his saltine-box voice how he could help me I heard a little voice in the background.  "Mama, I'm poopy."  Great.  Wow.  How do I handle this?  What I did was say to the rep it was an internet connection problem, and knowing I was supermom stood up to take care of little boy, stepped backward and tripped over his wooden child-sized chair.  My toes bent in two, my back  cracked, my butt hit the floor.  All this time, mind you, I am trying to communicate with the rep.  And again, "Mama, I'm poopy!"  So knowing I had to take the call, and knowing I am a multitasking supermom, I give him (the child) directions for what to do.  Empty undies in the potty.  Dirty undies and pants to the soiled clothes bucket. Bring wipes and clean clothes to mama.  And lo and behold he did!  Wow!  The rep, blast his soul, said that the internet connection was fine but my computer was bogged down.  So I went to Norton Utilities, did every scan and search they had, then went to add/delete hardware and sifted thru it.  I am proud to say it now only takes me 2 minutes to connect, versus 20.

Potty Today

Today I decided that I am not being stern enough with the potty training anymore.  The new iron rule is that he is in undies all day every day except nap and night.  The old usually-happened is that he got pull-ups to go places, i.e. run to store, church, museum of natural history....Now that it is summer, I want to go places and do things all the time.  I guess we'll just go where there is a convenient bathroom.  Today he stayed dry all through church! But I don't think the guy took him anyway.

I've added a couple things

I've added a couple things, Tips and Humor. The Humor made me laugh out loud-it will change from time to time.  The Tips--they have been passed to me by various people and will also change every now and again.  These are good, realistic tips for everyday use--I swear, any problem in the world can be solved by WD-40, some duct tape, and prayer.

Baseball

"Play with me! Play with me!"  What mom can resist this?  So outside we go.  But if I stand to play baseball, the ball is to high when I throw it.  NOT getting on my knees in the wet grass, either.  So I sit on the patio chair and play.  Kinda sad.  NOT going to play in the wet sandbox, either.  It keeps running through my mind that Mom said, "Parenting is full of doing things you don't want to do."    Being a mom is different from being a parent, you know?

Cookbooks

I really recommend Desperation Dinners.  Remember, with pasta and biscuit mix you can do just about anything.

The Best Banana Bread in the World

I love this.  I changed it a little for myself-its kinda heavy. Bu it tastes great either way.  Even my mother likes it.

Ingredients                                                         Make-over
3 cups white sugar (no splenda)                            2 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened                                        3/4 cup butter, softened
3 eggs                                                                   1 egg

2 mashed bananas                                                 3 mashed banana
1/2 cup sour cream                                                1/2 cup sour cream
3 1/2 cups white flour                                             3 1/2 wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325. Grease 2 loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, crean together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition.  Stir in the banana and sour cream.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and pecans; stir into banana mixture UNTIL JUST COMBINED.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, I usually find 60 works well.  Toothpick should come out clean.

Kate's Famous Pumpkin Bread

This is my very favoritest ever pumpkin bread!  My son loves it, and it smells so great in the oven!  I use fresh pumpkin (a use for those Halloween pumpkins--cook 'em, can 'em, freeze 'em.)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour (white or wheat)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
4 eggs
1 15 oz. canned pumpkin or 1 3/4 fresh cooked
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients, then add the remaining ingredients. Spread in greased loaf pan. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until center is dry when poked with a toothpick.

Potty,Potty, Potty.

I met a mom of boys that swears the way to do potty-training is to take off their undies and let them run.  I care too much for my carpet and upholstery for that, so I bought the book on one-day potty training.  It worked to a great extent--all except the independent potty part.  The theory is that he teaches a doll that wets how to potty and gets alot of cookie rewards and drinks alot of juice.  Well, he pees and empties the potty bowl, and puts soiled undies in the plastic bucket, and helps me clean up, and gets new undies and shorts (shorts, denim especially, are the key to training underwear and saving the carpet!).  No independant potties yet and poops-well.  He calls them--dragon in my pants.  One day I said his pants were dragging, did he have something in there? He turned and twisted, looked in the back and the front, and said "There's no dragon in my pants, Mama!"

Giggle With Me

I have recipes, tips, links, and funny stories. I am a homebody person, I sew and I read, and of course take care of my little person.  Thinking of  what will keep him interested, books and crafts, can be overwhelming sometimes.  Whats for dinner is difficult too when your in a hurry.  (I've decided pasta and biscuits can do about anything).