Sunday, January 23, 2011

More about potty learning

I'm so tired.
I have work to do and I'd like to just get it over with so I can have a clear mind tomorrow.
I also have a daughter I haven't seen all day and I miss terribly.
But if I don't do the work, it nags in my head.
If I do the work, I miss time with her.
I really hate this feeling. Do men feel this way too?

Let's see what happened this week…

My husband lost his 4th canteen in 3 years.  He finished his winter semester and is starting his spring semester as we speak.  I think he's feeling burnt but he's trudging along.
TG has grown a size in clothing.  The heel part of her socks is closer to her arch then her heel at this point.  One minute she was fitting into her clothes and now, I'm scrambling to find clothes that fit.  She's also at that point where her tops are 4T but her bottoms are just barely 3T.  Welcome to the world of long torso, short legs, my little girl.  Sadly your parents both have to deal with this. 
TG is also refusing to wear a coat outside.  It's 19 degrees with wind chill making it feel like 9.  Jacket?  "No, jacket.  No hat.  No mittens."  I'm standing next to her looking like an eskimo and she's happily walking around with her fleece lined jeans, henley shirt and tunic sweater.  Oh, and she has a favorite sweater and lord help me if it's dirty and she doesn't have it available to wear.  I think my neighbors think she's wearing the same outfit every day.  Sadly, I bought it two years ago and it is no longer available at the stores.  Not sure what's going to happen when she doesn't fit into it.  The day is approaching fastly too.
Her bedtime schedule is somewhat brutal.  If DH is not around, she's in bed by 8 and asleep by 9:30.  If DH is around, bedtime starts at 8pm but doesn't conclude until the wee hours of the night.  I think Daddy = funtime.  It doesn't help that my husband is a night owl.  The living room is ablaze with 'super fun stuff' at night.  The lights are bright, the xbox is on or the tv is on.  DH is eating cool snacks.  DH tries to help by coming into the bedroom but Daddy still = funtime and it becomes a half hour round of climb the couch, balance on back, step onto nightstand and jump onto bed.  Joy.
TG is starting to understand the concept now of green = go and red = stop for cars but green = stop and red = go for people walking.  Two weeks ago, as we were driving home, she kept telling me the light was red and we needed to go.  Of course, being the worry wart that I am I immediately question if she's color blind.  Then as I was driving through Central Park, it dawned on me that that is a weird concept to grasp for a toddler.  So we stopped and talked about the different signs on the road and what they mean for a car and what they mean for people walking.  Now she points out stop signs and can confidently tell you when the light has turned green.  Oh, and she's a freaking speed demon.  On the highway, she asks us occasionally to go faster.  Lord help me when she's old enough to drive.
On the potty front, she seems to not want to poop in her diaper.  She seems to desire to go without a diaper at home but she still wets her underpants.  She'll wear them but forget they aren't diapers and go.  If she's flying free, she runs to the bathroom and makes it without a spill.  With poops, she has pooped consistently in the potty.  She only pooped once in her diaper when we were outdoors.
She's now asking to not wear her diaper when she goes to bed.  I'm a bit apprehensive as she still has not gone without an accident when she has her underpants on all day.  I will admit when DH is not around, I will allow her to nap without a diaper.  I put a long shirt on her and let her sleep without underpants for fear that the underpants makes her feel like she is wearing a diaper.  She has done very well with 2-3 hour naps without accidents.  A full 10-11 hour bedtime though is just too long in my opinion.  Do I bit the bullet or do I wait until she goes a full day without an accident with underpants?
My life by the way has just gone to the potty.  The night before a workday, we were preparing for bedtime.  DH was on the computer in the dining room with our pup.  TG was in the bathroom getting her bath.  I came out to dim the lights in the house.  As I was heading back to the bathroom, I hear my husband exclaim, "No, Tasha, we do not pee in the dining room."  Just as that sentence hit my ears, I walk into the bathroom to find my daughter half way out of the bathtub with poop hanging from her bottom and a large turd in the bath water.  "I have to poop in the potty not the bath tub" she exclaimed.  I dashed in and picked her up just as the dangling feces dropped onto my knee.  I plopped her on her potty while shouting, "Yes, we poop in the potty not in the bathtub."
I cleaned the bathtub, my knee and my daughter after she finished in the potty and started a fresh water bath to clean my daughter up for the second time in the night.
Such is the glamourous life a Mom to a toddler and puppy. 
Oh and I just got a summons for jury duty.

Monday, January 17, 2011

The year of savoring & not perfecting

Time keeps moving so quickly and I feel like it's a losing battle trying to do what I need to do and find time to do the things I want to do.
I've decided part of the year of me is savoring the times I have.  You can never have everything you want and still do everything you need to do.  If I take a step back from having to do everything and enjoy the little moments that I do, I wouldn't always feel like I'm chasing the unattainable.
So here is a recap of some the memories I've amassed this week.
TG is not at a point where she freely goes to pee and poop in the potty by herself.  As she finishes, she shouts for me and awaits bowlegged so I can wipe and clean her up.  I've asked her if she wants the portable potty but she looks at me with the look of confusion and responds, "No. Potty in bathroom."
Today she asked to wear underpants.  DH isn't ready just yet to venture out or nap without a diaper so we slapped one on her (she protested) for her nap.  I'm not sweating the potty learning.  When she is ready she'll tell us.  Heck, look she told us she wanted underpants now.
TG is keen on showing her friends how to be an engineer and conductor with DH's electric train.  It's quite adorable.  Her friends now say 'engineer' and 'conductor' readily.
At some point in a toddler's life, chairs become a tool not just an object.  TG has hit this stage.  Both DH and I have found her toddling into her play area and dragging one of her chairs back to the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, hallway, etc. 
Oh and all those 'stunt baby' games DH played with my then infant daughter has now produced 'stunt toddler'.  She's able to climb onto the bedroom couch, balance across the back, step onto the nightstand and dismount but leaping onto the bed.  She bounces up and says with hands up in the air, "Ta Da" and demands you applause her achievement.  Joy.
Back to diapers, pee and poop, TG now wakes up in the middle of the night and loudly proclaims, "Would you like to change my diaper?"  Yes, it would be an honor, young offspring.  Remember this when you may have to change mine.
I'm way behind on my daughter's journal.  In December, life got the better of me but then in January technology got the better of us.  DH surprised me with a purchase of a new hard drive and we are in the midst of now transferring data, creating new backups and resetting our time machine.
I know we'll get it done soon.  This will not be like her year 2 book which is still in development (it's in my brain).  Currently, I've been trying to work on it while TG is napping.  I think I've loaded everything up to 2010.  Slowly but surely I will get there.

Saturday, January 08, 2011

The year of me

DH: You are making this harder on me.   Also instead of a nice warm car to go into, you are making your daughter go into a cold freezing car……..  Come on TG, I'm leaving you in the car while I run into Starbucks.

If you didn't know it, you'd think my husband was a chick.  #guilttrip

Postscript:  DH still got his way.  He left without TG and informed me that I was required to bring our daughter downstairs when he summons me.  This of course makes it easier for me as I just need to somehow convince our puppy to go into her home, put on some snow friendly pants, socks, shoes and coat on myself.  Attempt to put snow friendly outerwear on our daughter and coax her to go outside when all she wants to do is nap and nurse as it's over 30 minutes since she expressed she needed a nap.  Easy for me, you see.