Where does the time go?

I have neglected my budding little blog here. Hoping to get back here regularly to pour out my thoughts. My kids are crazy. Anyone else have this problem? I mean, they are just plain old crazy. My six-year old threw a fit tonight because I wouldn't let him pour vinegar into a spray bottle and spray it everywhere. It's not that I would mind if he would actually use it to clean, but he wants to play with it like a gun and squirt his little sister with it. I imagine that an eye-full of vinegar probably wouldn't feel too great. Hence, I put my foot down and he threw a fit... like, well, like a two-year old. He's six. Really he is. You'd never know it sometimes though. We are still trying to get him to sit still in his chair at the dinner table and eat with a fork. I mean, really, at six I just kind of expected that he'd be acting more like a human than he did when he was two. So much for that. And, speaking of two, the little one is acting her age. "No" is the favored word. And, that includes saying "no" to two things I'd really like her to do: eat and potty-train. The only time I can get her to eat anything remotely healthy is when we're at the grocery store. I don't know what it is about the grocery store, but she eats things there (and with gusto) that she otherwise refuses at home: grapes, peas, green beans, cheese, whole wheat bread, jerky. And, other stuff that I know she refuses at home, she yells at the top of her lungs "Yummy!" The produce guy thinks she's fabulous because as I push around the cart, she yells, "Broccoli, yummy! Sprouts, I like those! Spinach, mmmmm!" I don't get it. Potty-training is whole other can of worms. My son was so easy to train. He went from diapers to undies (day and night) in just 4 days when he was 2.5 yrs old. Everyone always tells me that girls are easier than boys, so I thought maybe she'd just train herself. OK, not really. But I at least thought it would be similar - that she'd take right to it and it would be a quick process. A couple of months before her second b-day, she started showing a lot of signs of readiness: telling me when she was going and asking to be changed, staying dry for long hours, bowels on regular schedule, starting to undress herself, bringing me potty books from her bookshelf and showing lots of interest in them, even asking for undies. So, we bought a potty chair. She won't sit on it. We bought a potty seat for the toilet. She won't sit on it. We even bought a new toilet seat with a built-in "little person" seat. She won't sit on it. Don't get me wrong, she's interested...in wearing the potty chair and potty seat as hats. Sigh. We've tried bribery, videos, stickers, playing naked, wearing undies, singing songs, reading books, playing games, potty-training dolls... I'm exhausted. She just refuses. We worked for almost six months before I just gave up. Maybe she's not ready. So much for sending all of the right cues. So, all of the potty stuff went away. Maybe spring will inspire her to graduate from crazed, potty-wearing toddler to big girl in dry undies. I suppose I should just quit worrying. Right? I mean, my son will not go away to college still eating with his hands like a caveman and my daughter won't go away to college still wearing her potty chair on her head (I hope).

Look what I made! 5x7 Folded Card at Shutterfly

We've been Shutterfly users for a long time. Love them! Here's just my latest creation. We always get lots of compliments for sending such thoughtful and personal birthday cards!

Birthday Pictures Teal Birthday 5x7 folded card

Shutterfly has unique and fun birthday party cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Let the potty rodeo begin!

My daughter is now 20 months old. She's been signalling for a few weeks that she's ready to embark on potty training. What do I mean by signalling? Well, she's been telling me when she's got a dirty diaper (both wet and poopie), she often tells me *before* she's going to poop that it's about to happen, and she's fighting me during diaper changes, saying "No more diaper!"

So, this morning, a big box arrived. We opened it together. I lifted out the contents and asked her what it was. "Potty chair! I try it, Mommy!"

That was a good start. She immediately sat on it (fully clothed). Then she requested that I take her diaper off. I did, and she sat again.

Over the course of the afternoon, she ran around naked, periodically sitting on the potty and then looking inside to see nothing had materialized. She had one accident on the floor while naked and two accidents in undies. The second undies accident was showing progress though - she squatted down to the floor and said, "I pee."

At one point in the afternoon, she sat on the potty, reading a book and then stood up and, giving a sniff, proclaimed, "Mmmmm! I smell good!" I really wished I'd had a video camera in hand for that magic moment.

By the end of the day, nothing had actually made it into the potty. But, she still likes it, which is a good sign. Tomorrow is another day... and I have another trick up my sleeve (bribery with M&Ms - hey, it worked for our son!)

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! This will be a collection of my musings on life, the universe, and motherhood (the answer to which is not 42, I'm afraid to report).

I have two kids. My son CC is 5; my daughter CI is 1. They are great kids but have a strong streak of hooliganism running through them both.

My life runs on coffee. So much so that my daughter pretends to serve coffee with her little tea set, and my son asks if I've had my coffee yet if I'm grumpy in the morning.

And, speaking of coffee.... it's too early in the morning to be blogging without another cuppa!