Category Archives: potty training

December 14, 2011 · 3:24 pm

Beep

I set the timer on my microwave a lot. Sometimes it has to do with cooking, but most of the time it has to do with parenting.  For instance:

  • Using the toaster oven (cooking and parenting).  I have a habit of putting food in the toaster oven and then forgetting about it.  Frozen chicken nuggets don’t taste very good after baking for an hour.  
  • Chilling a bottle of wine in the freezer.  (Despite what you might be thinking, this has a lot to do with parenting.)  I have a habit of forgetting about this, too, and then the bottle freezes, the cork pops, and there’s a big mess.
  • Potty training.  I set the timer a lot when Dylan was potty trained.  I would put him on the toilet for five minutes in 30-minute intervals (or something like that) to keep the house from smelling like a sewer (or the public bathroom at the park).  Riley’s next! (Ugh.)
  • Family dinner.  This is a new phenomenon in my house.  We rarely eat as a family during the week, so I’ve started insisting that the boys and I sit at the kitchen table together for dinner for ten minutes (instead of eating on the couch in front of the television, computer and toys).  We eat and talk about our day, and when the timer goes off everyone is free to leave the table.  I’m happy to report we often stay at the table long after the timer goes off.
  • General warnings and threats.  “When the timer goes off in ten minutes, we are taking a bath!”  “When the timer goes off in five minutes, you have to let your brother play on the computer!” “When the timer goes off, you have to take your medicine!”  “When the timer goes off, it’s bedtime!”  You get the idea.
At this point, the boys are like trained soldiers.  They don’t always know what’s going to happen when they hear the beep, but they know time has run out on something.  I set it so often that Dylan sometimes yells, “No, don’t set the timer!” 
Yesterday, Riley and I went to Target while Dylan was at his afternoon basketball class.  While in the store, a woman on a motorized cart shifted into reverse and her cart beeped as she backed up.  Upon hearing the “beep, beep, beep,” Riley yelled, “Mommy, time’s up!”

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Filed under family dinner, parenting, potty training

May 29, 2011 · 11:59 am

Week In Review

Shopaholic Mama hasn’t bought anything but groceries, gas and diapers in nine days.  And it hasn’t even been hard.  Bring on week two…

Guilty Mamas!  Wow, my “Spectrum” post was my most viewed post since I began my blog almost a year ago.  I definitely struck a nerve with Guilty Mamas, and I can’t wait to explore it further.  The Guilty Mama Project is born!

The Chores Chart.  Both boys did great the first week.  They did their chores, got stickers and earned a reward last Sunday.  I gave them Cars II beach towels and sunglasses (all purchased before shopaholic rehab began).

Dylan is still doing great.  Riley, on the other hand, lost interest completely.  When I ask him to do something, he looks at me with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and says flat out, “no.”  I think he’d flip me the bird if he knew how.  I’m trying not to take it personally, especially after making him such a beautiful sticker chart, but he’s probably a little too young for chores.  I’m going to keep the focus on Dylan and let him reap the rewards of doing “big boy” stuff.  This week’s surprise is a baseball (Mike bought it, not me).

One more thing…

Riley, at two years and two months, peed on the potty this week.  Once.  He sat there until he was purple in the face and had a little tinkle.  This is great news, but now he wants to “pee potty” everywhere we go and repeatedly, especially in restaurants.  As a result, Mike and I have blacklisted him from restaurant outings until further notice.

Dylan didn’t potty train until he was almost three and a half, an even then he did it with great resistance, so Riley’s early (in comparison) interest is unexpected to say the least.  I don’t mean to discourage him, but his incessant and fruitless public restroom “pee potty” attempts are making me want to flush him down the toilet.  And, yes, I feel guilty for saying that.  I may have to go shopping this week for teeny, tiny pairs of underwear.  It’s a legitimate purchase, right?

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Filed under chores, guilt, potty training, shopaholism