Potty Training Pause

Okay, so if you're friends with me on Facebook then you already know that we have paused potty training with Cole.

I'm not generally one to give up on things.  I really wanted him to be potty trained this week.  I tried everything I could think of and got lots of good opinions.

And in the end, that didn't really matter because Cole was not ready to be potty trained.  Physically, the boy was ready: he could hold it in for hours.  In fact, when we picked Dane up from the airport he stayed dry the entire trip.  He would happily sit on the potty for a long time.  But just Would Not pee on the potty.  No matter what.

So I think that emotionally he just isn't ready quite yet.

I took the approach of letting him be in charge.  As in, I talked wit him about how he was in charge of going on the potty.  He could tell when he needed to go, and when he did he could tell me and I would help him, or he could just go.  (He can pull down his pants and get up on the potty.)  If he had accidents he had to clean them up. And he had to take off his dirty clothes and put on new ones, which he hated.  He understood what was going on.

But he still wouldn't go on the potty.

The second my back was turned he would hide somewhere and have an accident.  I tried to keep him in my sight, but of course I couldn't do that all day.  And after a few days of this, he became more brazen and had accidents right in front of me. 

Cole had decided to show who the alpha male was around the house. 

The straw that broke the camel's back was when he peed on my laptop's power supply and my pillow on Friday afternoon.  I couldn't take it anymore.  I literally Could Not Take It Anymore. Five straight, intense days of cleaning accidents and doing mountains of laundry and keeping my patience had taken their toll.  Add that to Tess being sick and having Dane in town (NOT that Dane gave us any trouble!), and it was just too much.

Lance really didn't want to stop the training and thinks that this will just make him more stubborn about it when we try again.  Quite frankly, I didn't give a @#(!! at that point.  Plus, could it get worse?  Okay, I know it could and can, but I'm willing to take that risk. 

A friend of mine let me borrow her book "How To Potty Train In One Day".  I've been reading it and a lot of it makes a lot of sense.  For one thing, it talks about how kids don't really have that big of an incentive to become potty trained.  Diapers are convenient and you get lots of one-on-one time with a parent when they change you.  So you have to find that golden incentive that your child just can't pass up.  I'm on the search for that right now, but it's hard because Cole really doesn't care about stuff like that.  (I tried all sorts of bribes rewards with him all week and nothing worked!)

Anywho, a third of you are probably bored out of your skulls because you've never potty trained a child.  Another third are probably saying "been there, done that, sister".  And the last third are probably judging me because I gave up.  (Hey, I'm not too proud to admit that until this last week, I would have fit in that last group.)

But in all honesty, this was the best choice for our family.  Do I regret having basically lost a full week to potty training?  Yes.  But would it have been worth all the stress and sheer frustration - felt by the entire family - to continue potty training another week?  No way.

Best Birthday Surprise Ever!

Lance's 34th birthday was on Saturday.  I had been planning his surprise present for months: a visit from his little brother, Dane.

Because I am awesome like that.

But, more importantly, Lance is awesome like that, and I thought this would be a great present.  (I was right.)

I had been waiting and waiting and waiting for this weekend to come.  The secret-keeping was killing me!  Only a very select few knew, and most of those didn't know until the last minute.  So very excited.

And also, so very stressed.  By Thursday, when Dane was flying in, potty training was not going well.  At All. (More on that later.)  Tess had developed a rather nasty case of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease and was understandably grouchy. All The Time.  The house was a disaster, mainly because of the previous two reasons, but also because I knew if I cleaned to "guests are coming to stay" standards then Lance would get suspicious. (Sad, but oh so true.) And I was completely exhausted.

But, all that exhaustion left once we picked Dane up at the airport.  So very excited!


Right before I picked Dane up I emailed Lance a little white lie about being stuck at the doctor's office with Tess. Would he mind so very much picking up a couple of Papa Murphy's pizzas for dinner? (We had been at the doctor's with Tess that morning, so not a complete lie...)  We got home and Lance, being the good husband that he is, was in our bedroom folding the clean laundry that I had left on the bed.  I sat Dane down on the couch and called for Lance to come out.

As you can see from the video, Lance was COMPLETELY SHOCKED AND AMAZED that Dane was sitting on our couch!

Okay, no, not really.  In true Lance form he hid all emotion.  Instead of showing his surprise he acted as if it was perfectly normal to have Dane sitting on our couch.  Harrumph.  Fortunately, in our nearly 12 years of marriage I was pretty much expecting this.  (Lance later informed me that he truly was surprised and that he had had no idea this was coming.  Success!)

That evening Dane and Lance went to see The Avengers, leaving me home to do whatever it is that moms who are freaking out over potty training do.  (Stress, worry, clean the floors, stew over what to do with that child, and eat chocolate.)

Friday night was Lance's birthday LAN party.  In honor of the occasion I made him a Team Fortress 2 logo birthday cake.  I know, you're totally impressed, right?

Per the birthday man's wishes the inside was orange cake and the outside was chocolate frosting.  It tasted like one of those yummy chocolate oranges you get at Christmas. 

Then I was even nicer and cooked hamburgers and steak for the men that night. (Well, steak for the birthday man and his brother - everyone else brought hamburgers.)  I also made them homemade chocolate ice cream, which pretty much made me the best wife ever right there.  Then I went to bed, because those guys stay up crazy late.  Because they are crazy.

On Saturday Lance and Dane went golfing on Purdue's course.  Apparently it was one of the most difficult courses either had ever played.  I'm thinking that maybe it was just because neither of them had played in over a year or so, but that's just my opinion...

On Sunday I FINALLY remembered to start taking pictures!  Here's Dane with Tess, who was so tired after church that she passed out in his arms while I was chasing Cole down the church halls for biting Spencer. (You read that right.)  She was still pretty out of it when we got home.  Tess took a long time in warming up to Dane, but that's pretty much the way she is with everyone.

The Madsen boys when I asked them to pose for the picture.  Hilarious, guys.

Lance and Dane!

Dane and Cole, who only wanted his sippy cup.

Spencer giving Uncle Dane bunny ears.  Classic.

Today we decided to go show Dane a bit of Lafayette.  It was actually pretty hot and very humid, so we started with the county library, where we signed the kiddos up for the summer reading program.  (Is it me, or are the prizes kinda lame this year?  Just sayin'...)

Then we decided to take a stroll down to the train station and the pedestrian bridge over the Wabash.  On the way we had to stop to let the boys play in the fountain.

Spencer acted like he didn't want to get in.  At first.

Cole showed no fear whatsoever.

Tess wanted to get in but couldn't because I was a mean mom and didn't want to get wet.  I told her if she wanted to play in the water she would just have to crawl over there herself.  Considering she still doesn't crawl (Scoots, rolls, and portals, yes, but crawl?  No.) this was not really an option.

Cole, the Soggy Bottom Boy.  (Quick!  Name the movie!)

Spencer and Josh playing in the sun to try to dry off a little.

Tess, Dane, and Spencer posing in front of the Wabash.

Lookin' at the fountain on the West Lafayette side.  There was much conversation about what fountains you could play in and which ones you couldn't.

Josh and Spencer at the fairly inaccurate sundial.

 After tromping around we decided to stop in at McCord's Candies for some malts.  Only the boys all decided to get cookies and candy.  They are crazy.

Cole got a cookie the size of his head.  And he ate it all.

Spencer got Nerds on a Rope or something like that.  And Sour Patch Straws.

Josh got chocolate rocks and wouldn't pose for a picture because he's a punk.

Tess shared my chocolate strawberry malt and what few pieces of Cole's cookie we could steal.

What a cutie-patootie!

I never got a good-bye picture of Dane.  He and Lance left for the airport a couple of hours ago.  We had so much fun with him and are sure glad he could come to visit!

Kebob Is A Fun Word To Say

Boy, there's nothing quite so demoralizing for a parent than failing at potty training.

Okay, so I'm not really failing.  It took an hour-long combined effort between Lance and I to get that dang kid to pee in the toilet, but he finally did it.

And then he peed on the kitchen chair 2 minutes later.

*sigh*

Don't tell me he's not ready.  Oh boy, is that boy ready.  He just doesn't want to pee on the toilet. He'll hold it in for hours, and then the minute my back is turned (like while changing Tess's diaper) he'll hide somewhere and do his business.  He knows perfectly well what he's doing.

I'm not gonna lie.  I kinda just want to strangle the boy.

Not really.  But it sure is frustrating.

And Tess?  Yeah, she's not throwing up on me anymore.  But now she's developed this really funky rash on the backs of her thighs and elbows. Enough that I'm getting concerned about it. I foresee a trip to the doctor tomorrow, although I have no idea how I'm going to do that with Cole.  (And still be allowed back at the pediatrician's, that is.)

So I'm a terrible potty trainer, but I am a decent cook.  Does cooking well make up for my lack in other aspects of mothering?

Tonight's dinner was especially yummy.  We had Indian-Spiced Pork Skewers, Pasta with Cilantro Pesto, grilled pineapple, and other assorted fruits.  It was dang good.  (How good?  Dang.)

I had made a whole batch of the skewers before and only used about a quarter because my kids are dinner-time vegetarians by their own choice.  So all I had to do was pull those out of the freezer, thaw, and grill.  I think they were even better the second time around.  And the cilantro pesto was super easy.  The hardest part was keeping Cole within my line of sight.

Can you tell I really love ourbestbites.com?  It was a happy, happy day when I discovered it.  (And I believe my friend Heidi Fry sent me there.  Bless you, Heidi, bless you.)

So.  What have we learned from today?  Basically, that I'm terrible at potty training but I can make a  mean kebob. 

Good heavens.  That's a haiku.

I'm terrible at

potty training but I can

make a mean kebob

I should have that printed on an apron and make it my new philosophy for mothering.  (Old philosophy: "Fake it 'til you make it.")

Or perhaps I should just go to bed early, as I am now finding inadvertent haikus in my blog posts.

Cole Potty Update

If you're friends with me on Facebook then you know we are in the throes of potty training Cole.  I won't go into all the gory details (mainly because I would like nothing more than to forget them), but I will say that we are now in the battle of wills phase.  He has shown us that he can hold it for as long as he would like - even while sitting on the stinkin' potty - and then hide the minute my back is turned and he'll have an accident on the floor.

Growl.

I want nothing more than to give up now.  I almost did this evening after Tess threw up on me.  Oh yeah - Tess is also sick.  On me. Awesome.

But I can't give up.  Because if I do I have no doubt Cole will be in diapers until he's at least 17 years old.  That's how stubborn he is.

Gross.

Heaven help us all.

No, really.  I could use some help.

Guns-n-Grub

Friday night Lance treated me to a night on the town.  We saw a Broadway musical, ate at a very high-end restaurant, and ended the evening with a leisurely stroll along the lake, never worrying about the time or how much this all cost.

Wait - that's the pretend life I live in Chicago.  You know, the one that includes a very large top floor apartment downtown, a live-in nanny, and more money than we know what to do with. It's a good life, although a little dull sometimes.

In reality, Lance treated to me a night on the town that started with a trip to the firing range.  Lance is awesome like that.  I had mentioned recently that I had never fired a handgun before and that I would like to give it a try.  So we went to the range, met a very colorful local who led us through the orientation and helped us choose a gun, and got shootin'. 

It was great.

I wasn't very good at first, but that's because I didn't know how to aim.  Once Lance taught me I got a lot better.  See?

Ignore all the shots above his left shoulder.  I was aiming for the zombies in the back ground.  Yeah, that's it.  Zombies...

This is how I did once I figured out the whole aiming thing.  Not too shabby for my first time!

Lance decided to be a bit more practical and shoot at a zombie.  (If the media is any indication, a zombie apocalypse is only a matter of time, people.)

 

It's hard to see on the pictures, but trust me, he was a pretty good shot. 

I give credit to all of those shooting video games he plays.

After the range we went to Five Guys Burgers.  I had never been there before, mainly because it's up on campus and I hate going on campus when all the students are there.  Parking is a nightmare and they all seem to think it's okay to walk in front of rushing traffic.  And don't even get me started on the clothing (or lack of it) that the co-eds like to wear... dang, I'm an old lady.  Whatever, most of the students are gone for the summer, making campus a rather pleasant place to be!

Verdict on Five Guys?  It was pretty tasty.  I was surprised at how giant the burgers were.  I loved that they have malted vinegar for the fries - yummers.  I don't know that these were the best burgers I've ever had, but I wouldn't turn another trip there down!

After burgers we decided to share a chocolate malt from McCord's, a local candy and malt shop.  It was the perfect ending after all those salty fries.

We weren't sure what to do at this point.  We would have liked to see The Avengers, but Lafayette is LAME in that it doesn't seem to have any showtimes between 7:00-9:00pm for movies we want to see.  Seriously, the last few times we've wanted to see a movie the only showtimes they have are at 6:45 and then 9:15. This is stupid.  Very, very stupid.  I'm pretty sure this wouldn't happen in Chicago.  But such is life in Lafayette.

So we headed over to the mall to test out some mattresses, since we are now in the market for a new one.  We stopped in Kohl's first since I had a $10 coupon burning in my pocket. (Actually, it was in an email on my phone, which they scanned.  Technology is awesome.) With their weekly sale pricing I bought three $12 pillows for $2.  Can't beat that! 

At this point the babysitter texted me to let me know that Josh was not behaving and refused to go to bed.  Talk about a damper to the evening.  I called home, but he still wouldn't behave.  So we came home and took care of that rotgut boy, got into jammies, and watched a movie at home.  Much comfier and cheaper than the theater!

Thanks for the great night, Lance!  You are the best!

Tess Flower Frame

As many of you know, I have a problem:

I like to make fabric flowers.  And lots of them.

Unfortunately, I had no where to put them.  They were all piled on my dresser and office desk and Tess's night stand and all over the place.

I decided to rectify this situation on Saturday.  (I had a very productive Saturday!)  I got a wonderfully hideous frame at Goodwill for around $3.  It was gold and had flowers and such on it. And the worst part?  It had a picture of birds in it.  I hate birds.  (Not real birds - just fake birds.  Or pictures of birds.  I know I've posted about this before, but I'm too lazy to go back and look for it.)  I didn't think to take a picture of it all before I got to work, but I did get a picture of the birds.

Oh man, that's the stuff of nightmares.  Look at 'em, with their wee beady eyes...

 

First, I took the frame apart and cleaned all of the... Goodwill out of it.  Then I spray painted the frame a light pink, which took approximately 398 coats, even with primer.  I was going to use the original backing, but it smelled like... old.  I don't know how to explain it other than that: old cardboard.  I didn't want that smell in Tess's room.  So I made a new backing out of a diaper box.  I covered the cardboard with batting and some fabric I had which I have always meant to use in a blanket for Tess but just haven't gotten around to yet because I'm too busy making family trees and kitchen art.  Then I attached some ribbon to the cardboard.  I used my trusty old glue gun for all of this.  Here's the finished product:

A close up of the flowers.  I'm not usually a frilly, flowery person, but I think these are cute.  What do you think of the fabric?  I know it's pretty modern compared to the frame, but I kinda like the contrast.

All told, the project only cost me around $7, since I already had the fabric and ribbon.  I really like it, and Tess keeps staring at it, which I'm sure means she likes it, too.

The only problem?  It's already pretty crowded.  Guess I'll have to start rotating flowers in and out.  Although this shouldn't really be a problem, since Tess will no longer keep flowers in her hair, but instead takes them out and destroys them by chewing on them.  So for now I guess we will enjoy the flowers up on her wall, instead of on her head.

Family Tree Project

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been working on a Family Tree project for Relief Society.  I finally finished it on Saturday, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out! 

I decided to hang it in our stairway landing.

The lighting isn't very conducive to pictures, so here's the best I got.  I got the pattern from the RS activity that we had.  (Thanks for doing all that work, Heather!)  You're supposed to write all of the names on the leaves, but I knew I would never be happy with the final product and/or never finish if I did that.  So I scanned the template for the leaves and through the magic of Photoshop I printed all the names.  It looks waaaay better than anything I could have written.  (Side note: I got an A in a calligraphy class I took in college.  Ah, irony.)

That super-expensive looking frame?  I got it at Goodwill for $2.99.  (It was 50% off Saturday, plus I had $2 in rewards that I used on this and another frame.)  It was black to begin with, but a little beat up.  So I sanded it and spray painted it and I think it turned out great!  (Side note the second: I have now bought 5 cans of spray paint within a week - this is more than I have bought in my entire life.  I luurve spray paint now!)

Spencer was sad that his name wasn't on there.  Okay, so the kids' names were supposed to go on the trunk, but I had to way to print those with the computer, and writing them would have looked funny.  I tried putting them on leaves, but it looked silly because leaves don't belong on trunks.  (Well, my name and Lance's name are on leaves at the top of the trunk, but it doesn't look that weird.)  Oh well.  My kids are just gonna have to live with it.

What I would like to do next is get some shadow boxes for the heirlooms that I have and hang them by the family tree.  I have things like old watches, riding gloves, and handmade lace. I think we might even have some old tools from Lance's side of the family, which would look cool.  It'll be like our own little Madsen museum on the landing.