Wow, Awesome Mommy!

Lately one of  Little Man's favorite words is "awesome".  I know he gets it from me, as I say it all the time, but when he says it it's so much cuter!  And funnier!

Here are a few conversations we had involving the word just this morning, he was clearly in a great mood!: Little Man is playing the part of LM, and I am playing the part of M (for "me" or "mom"... you pick)

LM after I hung up the phone: Who's that?
M: Food Program people
LM: Wow, Awesome Mommy!

LM pointing to my coffee cup: Mommy's coffee?
M: Yep, that's my coffee!
LM: Wow, Awesome Mommy!

I rubbed my eyes
LM: Tired Mommy?
M: Yes, I'm tired.
LM: Wow, Awesome Mommy!

Potty Training Little Man

Two months ago Little Man pooped on the potty chair.  Exciting, it was.  Repetitive, it was not.  About a month ago we were at Target and I let him pick out a pack of underwear, he picked Thomas the Train, and the next day we gave them a shot.

It went pretty horribly, but I wanted to give it a try so he would maybe get an idea of what it was we've been asking him to do.  Over the course of a few hours he burned through all 6 pairs of underwear, and though he sat several times on the potty chair, he never actually peed or pooped in it.  He wasn't very interested in the whole deal so I declared he wasn't quite ready.

Earlier this week we were all in the living room and he looked at me and Spencer and said, "Poop!"  We asked, "Do you have to go poop?" and he told us, "Potty chair!"

There's one thing about potty training... nothing makes you jump up off the ground quite as fast as a toddler telling you he or she wants to use the potty!

I snatched him up, rushed him to the potty chair and pulled off his diaper.  There was a little bitty poop in the diaper so I sat him down and told him to push the poopies out.  I rubbed his lower back and helped him gently push on his lower abdomen to help him find the right muscles to use to help it come out.

And he pooped!

Yesterday we did lots of sitting on the potty, and had lots of successful pees, got lots of pieces of cookies, and lots of little stickers for him to put on a piece of construction paper with his name printed in the middle (not quite a sticker "chart" but a sticker sheet).

Today he sat on the potty first thing, and even though his diaper was soaked, he still had some left and went in the potty.  After that I put him in underwear and told him not to pee in them, pee goes in the potty chair.  After a couple minutes he had a little accident.  After I cleaned him up and changed his underwear I set a timer that I found online (called "cool timer") and every time he hears the fun bugle alarm he gets excited and runs for the potty chair to sit.  We've had Thomas and Friends on all morning as a potty helper, and if he doesn't want to sit I just pause the show until he sits and then start it up again.

This morning I've been setting the timer for 10 minutes starting when he gets off the potty chair from a try.  If he actually pees I set it for 15 minutes.  The time will get longer as he gets better at it, but will max out at 30 minutes for quite a while.  Even at that point I'll be asking him after 15 minutes if he needs to go potty, and then making him try after 30.

He's gone potty several times today and has had no accidents since that first one right away this morning! Quite a difference since the last time we put him in underwear!  We'll keep this up unless he completely loses interest and refuses to go, then we'll wait a month or so and try again.  Though it takes a lot of vigilance in these early stages, I'll be happy when he doesn't need diapers during the waking part of the day anymore!

Parent of the Year?

I've been gone a while, and I apologize.  I guess there's only so much "extra-curricular" fun I can handle, and my evenings have been full of reading, watching tv and netflix streaming, spending time with spence, and spending time with friends.  Blogging time has suffered!

So because my blogging has suffered, I thought I'd share something that may be a tad controversial?  Now, since I am a daycare provider/preschool teacher, you may think my free time playing with my kids would be full of songs, board games, reading, skipping, bike rides, and the like.  While my work hours are most definitely spent like that, this is what we played after daycare was over one day last week - and keep in mind it was initiated by my daughter... not me!

Hey! At least it was the shady side of the tree!


Disclaimer: she wanted to be tied up ("captured") and I unwrapped her before I went inside... wouldn't want any police or neighbors driving by to get the wrong idea!

Comments

Confession:

I get mildly annoyed when bloggers don't reply or comment back to my comments.  Few bloggers whom I read actually do a great job at replying, at least a good chunk of the time.  I still read their blogs because I enjoy them, but I'm more likely to comment on someone's post if I get a reply once in a while.  It's like if someone gives a speech, you walk up to them and comment on their speech, and then they turn and walk away.  Make sense?

Here's where the confession part comes in.  I have not been a very good comment replier.  But I'm making a conscious effort these days to hit that reply button and show some appreciation for those comments!

As a blogger, it's exciting when someone comments on a post you write - like, someone actually read it and gave a crap about what you wrote! I love comments so much I have a little blinky button in my right column that expresses that!  So to say thank you for your comment, I will make a conscious effort to not turn and walk away, and hit that reply button!  I can't promise that I won't miss some, as sometimes I can't reply right away and then forget about them, but I'll try really hard!

This post was brought to you by Ragweed Allergies, making me generally annoyed at everything today.

Our Little Mary Lou Retton

Babydoll started gymnastics through community ed this week, and she loved it!  She's been pretty nervous about it ever since I signed her up for it, but that's just how she is.  She worries about the unknown, she's a little like me that way.  She likes to know exactly what is going to happen before she gets there.

Despite us telling her that she won't have to do any fancy gymnastics moves that she's not ready for, she kept stressing about the bar.  She thought she'd have to flip over it without help, turns out she rocked that bar like nobody's business!  They didn't flip on it yet, but practiced casts, pizza hangs, and swinging on it with legs (and pointed toes) pointing forward.

Her right before class started. Can you tell she's excited!?

 Skipping!

 More skipping!

 Standing up after a round of forward rolls.  She came home and did summersaults over and over in the living room for about 10 minutes.

TA-DAH!!

She did a really good job and can't wait to go back next week!

First Slumber Party!

One of the fun things about blogging is that it is a fun way to document milestones.  Some people scrapbook, some people do other things, I blog.  Once upon a time when I only had one little baby in my life, I was a scrapbooker, but it takes time and space and a special eye for the craft that I just don't have.

Sweet Pea hit 2 milestones at once last weekend.  She turned nine, and had her first slumber party!

 First we took the girls (Little Man stayed back with Nana and Papa for the movie part) to the movie theater to see the new Spy Kids movie.  They did pretty well at staying quiet for the movie, the 5 of them were quieter than the one boy in the row in front of them.

 Then we got home and the screaming and shrieking and giggling and screaming commensed!  Needless to say we immediately sent them all outside to burn off some hyper-activity while the oven heated up for pizzas!  Then it was present time, more outside time, and pizza/movie time! Later in the evening there was homemade cake and cookies and cream ice cream (Kemp's ice cream that is).  There was also a fair amount of candy consumed of course... it's a slumber party, must have candy!

Babydoll spent the night at Nana and Papa's house so her bottom bunk could be used, so although she was gone, there were still 4 screaming girls.

Did I mention they were loud?

We sent them to bed at midnight and told them we were going to bed and to be quiet. They crashed sometime after 1AM.

When they woke up at 8:00 they were all quite disheveled looking.  Messy hair, rubbing red eyes.  They looked like a group of mini hung-over college students!  I don't think most of them are used to such late nights.  I know SP isn't used to them!

They had a ton of fun!  And although Spencer, Connor, and I survived, her bedroom almost didn't!

New Baby

Starting today, there's a new baby in the house!  You know what that means?

Itty bitty feet.

Itty bitty fingers.

Tiny size 1 diapers.

Little tiny socks that are still too big.

Little 10lb cuddle bug.

3-ounce bottles.

Swaddling.

Fascinated on-lookers.

The sound of the baby swing.

Warm blankies.

My shirt smelling like newborn at the end of the day, and I love it!