Category Archives: potty training

February 17, 2012 · 1:27 am

Day One

I did something both crazy and brave today.  Riley woke up with pinkeye.  That wasn’t the crazy or brave thing.  That was the gross thing that ruined my plans for the day.

Since he had to stay home from school, that meant there were five school-free days ahead of us (pinkeye day + teacher work day tomorrow + the weekend + President’s Day on Monday).  Somehow, I decided to potty train him.  Today.  As we speak write.  That’s the crazy and brave thing.

Crazy because potty training is just that – crazy.  And brave because, well, the same thing.  Doing something crazy is brave.  Plus it’s hard to know if he’s ready.  I think he is, but I’m not sure, and false starts suck.  I swear, if people knew what potty training was really like, and if they knew that it’s actually a long, exhausting process that takes months if not years, they’d never have kids.

I’m too exhausted to give you all of the gory details of theday (and there were some), but I think it’s fair to deem Day One a success.  Riley went through about ten pairs of underwear, and I’ll definitely be calling Stanley Steemer next week to get the family room carpet cleaned, but HE POOPED IN THE POTTY!  Poop.  In the toilet. On day one!  I’m one Proud (and sort of Gloating) Mama right now.  And kind of tipsy, too, because a little bit lot of wine was necessary to temper the emotional and physical exhaustion of the day.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures during the day, mostly because that would’ve been kind of weird, but this one, taken after Riley was asleep in a bedtime Pullup (thank god for bedtime and bedtime Pullups!) pretty much sums up the day.

I better sign off now and get some much needed rest before Day Two begins (today’s parenting started at about 4:00 a.m.).  You know that app that let’s you tell friends on Facebook that you’re running three or twelve miles and that they can leave you comments that you’ll hear through your iPod?  Well, I don’t have an iPod anymore because I accidentally washed and dried it (oops), but I sure could use a cheering section right about now.  Consider the comments section on the blog my app and drop me a line.  I’d love to hear from you.

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Filed under Gloating Mama, potty training, Proud Mama

January 28, 2012 · 5:57 pm

Most Bestest

Grandma Irene stayed with us for ten amazing days.  Here are some of the reasons her visit was so special:

There was never a sink full of dirty dishes.  Grandma loaded and unloaded the dishwasher. Every. Single. Day.  Sometimes more than once.

I never ran over the newspaper with my car when I backed out of the driveway to bring the kids to school because Grandma actually put on her shoes and fetched the newspaper every morning.  (She read it, too.)

Since Grandma was there to entertain the boys, I went to the bathroom by myself…with the door closed…several times.

As long as we’re talking about the bathroom… Grandma Irene inspired Riley to pee in the potty!  Unfortunately, she gave him an entire bag of Skittles from our Halloween stash as a reward.  The next morning, when he tinkled in the potty again, I cheered, clapped and gave him three Skittles in a bowl.  Do you know what he did?  He threw the bowl of Skittles at me because my attempt at portion control was an insult.  He wanted the whole bag of candy or nothing at all.  (FYI: He got nothing.)

Grandma chilled wine on a daily basis.  On one particularly stressful afternoon, I returned home at about 4:45pm after a long series of errands and activities with the kids and two wine glasses were lined up on the kitchen counter ready to be filled with cold and refreshing Pinot Grigio.  Ahh…

We went shopping!  (The shopaholic apple didn’t fall far from the tree.  Where my weakness is Anthropologie, Grandma’s is bags. Expensive ones.)  One day, we shopped at Nordstrom and had lunch at Café Bistro @ Nordstrom, and on another day, we shopped at Bloomies and had lunch at their 59th& Lex Café.  We were ladies who lunch!

We saw “The Descendants,” an award winning, Oscar nominated film. (Regrettably, the last movie I saw in the theater was “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” and the only award that movie has a chance of winning is a Razzie.) Our matinee adventure was awesome.  There was no animation and no child sitting in my lap in the theater.  In fact, there were no children insight!  It was the ultimate daytime Mama-escape, and it included popcorn! 

Of course, the most bestest part about Grandma Irene’s visit was the time she spent with Dylan and Riley.  The day before she left, Dylan came home from school and said, “Grandma, I’m going to miss you so much,” and the morning she left, he asked me what day of the week she was coming back.  Riley had few words, but his (adorable) lower lip pout told the story of a little boy who would miss his Grandma with all his heart. 

Speaking of hearts, I often tell the boys that even if I’m not with them, I’m always in their hearts.  Right now, Grandma Irene is in all of our hearts (and the Skittles incident has been forgiven).

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Filed under grandparents, Mama-escape, movie, potty training, shopaholism, wine