Posterity

Katherine is learning about family relationships.  I've been telling her about uncles and aunts, grandparents, etc.

Me:  When you have kids, you will be the mom, and I will be the grandma.

Katherine:  Just like Grandma is my grandma and you're my mom!

Me: yup!

Katherine:  I'm gonna have ten kids!  And you're gonna be the grandmother!

Me:  What are you going to name them?

Katherine:  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and Tinkerbell and Curious George and Sid!

Ch-Ch-Changes

Life is a mess for us here at my house.  So many things going on.  Katherine has this weird rash on the skin next to her lip that won't go away, Logan is protesting breastfeeding and I'm losing ground to the bottle.  But the thing that has shaken us up the most is Casey's new job.  Now, because this is a public blog and anyone can read it, I'm not going to say anything about it except that it involves a move across two time zones.

Casey left for this new job last week and I have been handling all rest of the stuff.  Our condo is on the market, so I have to keep this place spotlessly clean all the time, which is no small task when raising two tiny tornadoes.  I have no help at all with these tornadoes, so if they're both flipping out at the same time (and this happens pretty much everyday), I have to pick the one who is yelling the loudest and pray the other one doesn't hate me too much.  I feel like Bill Cosby's wife who was attractive and intelligent before the children, but started losing it after the kids were born.
I seriously have no idea how single parents do it.  By 6 o'clock each night, I start fantasizing about drugging my kids with Nyquil (I would NEVER actually do this of course).  Maybe that's the secret of single parenting, Nyquil and nannies.  But honestly, my children are beautiful and sweet and generally well-behaved.  It's just all the other stuff I have to take care of is wearing me down, so every tiny thing that usually doesn't bother me begins to bother me INTENSELY.

Oh and that other stuff!  The constant cleaning, the last minute errands that I can't put off because I won't be here to do them later, trying to figure out how to fly a cat across the country, the broken TV.  Yes, the broken TV.  When Casey left, I thought, "At least the TV will keep the kids out of my hair if I start to lose my cool."  But the day before Casey left, the converter box on our TV died.  Now, I am generally not a person who uses the TV as a babysitter, but when your husband doesn't come home at night anymore, Sesame Street can be a link to sanity.  AND, the kids are getting vaccinated the day after tomorrow...That'll be fun.

I just really hope the movers get here soon and I don't go completely loopy.  Oh, and Casey, if you are reading this, I want diamonds for Christmas....big ones.

A Bit of Advice For All You New Parents Out There

I wish I could claim credit on this, but I can't.

Fortune

We went out for Chinese last night with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a tasty meal and, as always is the case with Chinese food, I overate. Also always the case was the presentation of fortune cookies.

This was mine: "You'd rather be approached than do the approaching." Not really a fortune, but pretty accurate since I'm not a very outgoing person naturally.

This was Casey's: "You are only starting on your path to success." Interesting since Casey just got a job, so hopefully this one will turn out.

This was Katherine's: "A romantic mystery will soon add interest to your life." Yeah.......

I Want to Ride My Bicycle, I Want to Ride my Bike

Yeah, we broke down and bought Katherine a bike. We have a little extra money these days and her birthday is coming up, so we decided to get her a bike before it gets too cold to ride it.

We took her to Wal-Mart and had her try out a few bikes. And being Katherine, she chose the Disney Princess bike with the purse and the water bottle and the tassels and the pink sparkle paint. She wanted a bell, but we thought it was a bit much. You know, we don't want to spoil her.

She's pretty much a natural, except she can't pedal, she can't steer, she doesn't watch where she's going ("Oh look! A bug!"), she can't stop and she can't stay upright, even with the training wheels. She also does NOT appreciate it when you try to help her, until she tips over or wants to move. But as soon as she's upright and moving it's, "hands off!" until that pesky bush has the nerve to jump in front of her and make her crash. But still I can tell that there's an innate bicycling ability there.

Look out Lance Armstrong!

Pottygate Revisited

I have what you would call a potty-training resistant child. I have been trying off and on for about a year and a half to get Katherine to use the toilet and without much success. She has excellent bladder control, the ability to follow directions, and interest in the goings-on in the bathroom and all the other clues to make a mom think that her child is ready to be potty trained. She just didn't despise the wet bum feeling enough to switch to underwear.

I tried everything you can think of to get her potty trained. I tried using reward systems with stickers, sticker charts, m&ms, Cheetos and finally Easter candy. I had hoped that I would hit on something Katherine liked enough to try using the potty. No dice.

I read Toddlerwise and tried the suggestions there, which were feeding your kid lots of juice and salty snacks to encourage lots of "need to go to the bathroom" situations and just practicing to death. That didn't work either.

My final attempt was cold turkey potty training where I took away the diapers and said, "Sink or swim." She could soil herself or use the potty. Four days of soiling herself (and the carpet and me and...) and not even trying to make it to the potty told me that at 3 1/2, Katherine just wasn't ready.

After Logan was born I decided that I needed to take a break for a while. I just couldn't handle the new challenges of raising 2 kids and then potty training on top of it. So, I waited till the end of the summer.

At the beginning of September, Casey and I decided that we had had enough and that we were going to get Katherine potty trained or die in the attempt. Since none of the previous ideas had worked, I thought I would try blending all of them together. I went out and bought some beads and m&ms and made sure I had plenty of carpet cleaner.

We put Katherine in underwear and I followed her around all day, waiting for the pee-pee dance, then we'd run to the potty and sit and read stories and sing. If she went, she got a bead for a potty necklace. If she didn't go, she got a few m&ms just for sitting and not flipping out. After she had successfully used the potty enough to complete the necklace, she would receive a Cinderella doll which I bought a year ago when I tried the bribing thing. She would also have a lovely piece of fashion jewelry that she made herself.

Finally finally Katherine decided that getting the beads and m&ms was worth using the potty. We had some messy days and some floods in her bed. Some of her stuffed animals needed a bath and the bathroom smelled a little funny for a while. But I am proud to announce that today--six days before her 4th birthday--Katherine got her Cinderella doll. She nearly peed her pants from excitement, but she didn't because she is POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think Katherine is pretty pleased to be a "big girl" now too.