Catch up

I know.

It's been a while.

Everything has been on repeat... laundry, dishes, etc. I straighten up the house all day long and it's never done. Skywalker's room is fine because he's in school all day and he has to clean it up himself. The girls room is always a mess... The Princess is capable of cleaning up but most of the messes are made by Chewie. The large majority of messes are made by her. Vader's solution is to tell Skywalker and the Princess that they have to clean up her messes, but as the oldest child I just don't think that's fair. So I wind up doing a large part of it. She's napping less and less and in her room... making messes. The other day she put aveeno lotion in her hair and I had to give her a bath when Skywalker came home from school.

We're potty training now... and it sucks. This is the first time I've done it during the school year when we have to leave the house and it's setting us back because I put pullups over her underwear to try to help protect her clothes. She's fine when she's naked. She's getting better about staying dry when she's wearing underwear. But she just does not poop in the potty. When she does it's a fluke. She'll sit and try, but for the most part she's either pooping in her nighttime diaper or in her underwear. In some ways I wish I hadn't waited until I could stay home for an entire week or 2, but I didn't. We did stay home the first couple of days because I was sick. I was just so tired of wrestling with her to change her diaper.

I had Skywalker's Parent/Teacher conference yesterday and he finally has a teacher who understands his strengths and is positive and encouraging. He's doing so well, finally reaching his potential. He's doing his work well, but also finishing it, something he couldn't do last year. She said he takes his time, but she's okay with that because he's doing quality work. He's her strongest reader, she has a range of kids who read 22-108 words per minute and he's the 108. We already knew he was good at math, but he's also good at writing, which shocked me because he doesn't like it. But he says he doesn't like to handwrite because his hand gets hurt, he'd rather type. Apples. Trees. I have an online blog because I don't like to write in journals.... She's going to try to incorporate the computer more since he's so good with it.

The Princess is doing well in preschool and if I could send her to kindergarten now I would. She's driving me a bit crazy. I call her Sibyl... she'll be fine one minute, cleaning the floor for me, and then screaming the next because she doesn't want to pick up a lego. She's been hitting me A LOT. She's been in time out every day for a week now. I'm not quite sure what's going on... she talks like a baby a lot too so it could just be that she thinks she needs to act like Chewie to get attention.

Naptime is all screwy and I haven't been able to run a lot. This week has been the exception because Vader was home yesterday and he'll be home Friday so I'll have 3 outside runs. Last Sunday I ran 7.2 miles. It took me forever, but it was less time that it took me to run 6 the week before. I would like to run a half marathon someday, but I don't see it happening soon.

Haze is still on the leash and taking pain medication for her leg. It's a giant pain in the neck. I don't know how much longer we have to do it.

I have dishes that need to be done and messes that need to be cleaned up and books that need to be reviewed. And a throbbing headache. But I'm getting cuddles from Chewie so it's all good.

Blathering

School started a few weeks ago and we have yet to fall into a good routine. The girls were sick last week and that screwed things up. Chewie has been taking later naps, leaving me with very little time. She finally fell asleep at 2 (after taking her diaper off. Again. I don't even care if she wets the bed, I just need her to sleep.), I got the Princess up there shortly after and that leaves me with a grand total of 40 minutes. Yesterday we had gymnastics so she was tired enough to fall asleep at 12:30ish and slept a good 2 hours. I was able to run my intervals and shower, and they woke up just as I got SkyWalker off the bus. I'm not sure what's better--to have more time to myself or to have them sleeping when he gets home. I think it's the former. And I think we're going to have to get up a wee bit earlier in the morning so naptime is earlier.

The Princess is ready for kindergarten. She's ready to go and I'm ready to send her. I'm going to have to request a teacher who is very patient with little girls who don't know how to stop talking. Because she can NOT STOP TALKING. My head is going to explode.

Chewie is talking much more and repeats everything and likes to tell me to be quiet and shhh and "top it." She's very rude. She's peeing on the potty again but not doing anything else. She likes to take her diaper off. And her clothes. Big surprise. I don't know why my children always like being naked. I would like to go cold turkey and potty train her, but I don't want to have to stay home. And I can't stay home because of preschool. I need a school break, but I don't want to do that over Thanksgiving or Christmas, so that leaves February. But that seems so far away and I am so very tired of wrestling her to get a diaper on her.

SkyWalker is doing well in school. He has a nice positive teacher so I think things will be good this year. He is getting tired of living in a house with so many girls and gives me guilt trips on a daily basis. He is definitely growing up. He used to be so grateful for anything and this birthday he complained about the books I got him, the legos I got him, everything. I intended on saying "I'm sorry your birthday has been so disappointing." but instead I said "I'm soSOBrry, your SOB birthday SOB has been so disappointing SOB!" (No, I cannot blame this on pregnancy hormones. I am still not pregnant.) He left the room. Vader followed him and I wasn't sure at the time whether or not he told him to be more grateful or not to worry because Mommy does that crap to him all the time too... but he did eventually thank me for everything and seemed to be genuinely happy with it all.

I've done very little. Dishes/laundry/sweep. That's pretty much it. And run. I stopped writing articles because the payback was so little compared to the stress of trying to write multiple articles a week. I generally just read the books I have to review for VOYA now.

Vader and I went to see Primus last night. I didn't recognize many of the songs, but it was a good show nonetheless.

Haze hurt her leg, the same way Isaac did years ago. Vader took her to the vet yesterday who confirmed that she should have surgery. He also said, however, that we could medicate her and keep her on the leash and make her comfortable. At first we both thought there's no point in that if she did completely tear her ACL. But then I came on here and looked up Isaac's SECOND injury and all we did was medicate him and keep him on the leash for months and then he was fine. It was when I was pregnant with Chewie and we really didn't want a second surgery. I would like Haze to be healed... but I don't really want to do another surgery. Besides the fact that it's another $3000 that won't go towards redoing our attic (if we ever redo our attic), I just don't want her to have to go through that. If she has to be in the crate for 2 months and won't be able to lay right next to me...  When Isaac hurt his first leg he couldn't even get up the deck stairs. I had to put a ramp out so he could get up. When Vader touched it, he didn't howl in pain, but he definitely yelped a bit. Haze has shown none of that. She'll still run if we let her (we've had her on the leash for over a week), she doesn't yelp or cry or seem in pain. She's just limping and walking funny. I'm kind of leaning towards giving her the medication, keeping her on the leash, and waiting it out. If she gets the surgery she has to be crated for months and then confined to a leash for more months. So we might as well wait and see.

A little crap... followed by a little pee

I had kind of a sucky day.

Lots of money snafus, whiny cranky baby, whiny cranky constipated school-boy, my sinuses-allergies combined to kick me when I was down. I got the van stuck in the snow while backing it up the driveway after getting SkyWalker off the bus. It stayed there until Vader dug it out at bedtime. I spilled hot tea on myself. I didn't run. It was just a crapilicious morning.

But then, my little monkey, the one who can't sit still did something amazing. She's been sitting long enough for me to read her books (multiple books!) and that in itself is noteworthy. But today, at bath time, she sat on the potty long enough to actually PEE in it! She's been sitting on the potty... for a second here or there before she tries to jump off. Today she sat and I said "Are you going to pee?" and by golly she nodded her little head and she peed!! Real PEE! In the potty!

Sometimes all it takes is a little pee to brighten your day.

Good days

I have 20 minutes before the bus drops off SkyWalker. Both girls are napping and it is lovely. We had a pumpkin painting playdate this morning and because we were home/Chewie was fed enough/active enough/the planets were aligned enough/ she actually took a decent morning nap. Which will hopefully also mean a decent afternoon nap and then a decent night. We were thrown off when we had to postpone lunch so we could bring new pants to SkyWalker at school. And they were barely wet! He could have made it. They don't even smell like pee! 

The Princess was social and talking and having a great time this morning. She has been very clingy lately so that was really nice to see. And she must have actually gotten tired because she is sleeping! Yay! I decided to start getting her up at night and having her pee like we do with SkyWalker. Yes, I am deliberately interrupting her night time sleep so she will nap. Sounds funny, huh? Actually, she should get used to getting up to pee at night. I barely woke her up, just put her on the potty, she peed, and then she was right back to sleep. And her diaper this morning was not very wet at all. So there are multiple reasons.

SkyWalker was having a problem with a classmate but now they seem to be friends. It's so hard relying on a 5 year old for information. I wish I could bug him when he goes to school so I can hear/see things firsthand. 

Chewie woke me up at 5 this morning, which was annoying, but it forced me to get out of bed. I am SO glad I did. It is beyond funny that I, who used to sleep until noon, am now a morning person. Or at least really want to be. Instead of going back to bed, I stayed up, ate my first breakfast, had a cup of tea, used the computer, wiped down the toilet, swept, got dressed, and enjoyed the silence of no children. I woke the girls up at 7:30 feeling prepared for the day. And despite the school trip, it's been a good day. I will probably be falling asleep during Flash Forward tonight, but it is worth it. I hope it's easier for me to get up so early when we change the clocks. It's hard when it's so damn dark out. Hopefully the girls will adjust okay since I generally wake up them in the morning anyway. 

And now, I run to the bus stop/mailbox.

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let me sum up

I *would* have finished the second week of Couch to 5k but my ankles are starting to hurt and I think I need new sneakers. It turned out good that I did not since I forgot to eat lunch and probably would have passed out.

I think I'm going to call it an early night. Here's my quick updates:

1) SkyWalker and Vader rode the bus together for bus safety day yesterday. The Princess and I watched them get on the bus. One of us cried and one of us comforted the other. I'm not telling who did what. SkyWalker was fine and seems to be okay with the fact that Vader will not be on the bus next week. He and his friend sat together on the bus coming back home. That is good. 

2) The Princess speaks and speaks and speaks. And yet still she whines. You'd think being able to communicate would cut down on the whining, but alas, it does not. I do think her molars are coming in though. She's doing okay with the potty training, but I need to find a way to get her to pee on a regular basis without it turning into a fight. She is a stubborn one. 

3) Chewie is doing really well. She really doesn't cry all that much anymore. No more screaming. She smiles a lot and seems so much happier. I moved her to the girls' room at bedtime now. I started on Monday and she has slept longer each night. Last night I gave her a bottle at 11 and she slept until 5:30. I've been giving her bottles to try to get her used to them. But she only takes 2 ounces, whether it's at 10 or 11. Tonight I'm going to skip it and see how she does. The girls do just fine in the same room and both SkyWalker and the Princess seem to be excited to have Chewie up there with them. I'm glad that I had the girls nap together from the first week. I think that helped a lot. I stopped swaddling Chewie since it didn't seem to be the miracle cure it was for the Princess. I just have her in a sleep sack and she's doing great. I kind of miss her at night, but she was in my room longer than the other two so it was really time. She turned 3 months yesterday. 

4) This is not as quick as I thought it would be. 

5) I ran two of the three couch to 5k days this week and I've already improved. I don't see myself ever running a race. I don't like to run in front of people. But I am enjoying the experience. It gives me the energy boost I need in the middle of the day and I am So proud of myself for sticking with it. I might have some scheduling problems once SkyWalker starts school--since the time I normally do it is nap time for the girls and that will be when he gets off the bus. And after being in school all day I don't think I can tell him to just wait for me to run... The Princess is better at entertaining herself so maybe I can actually attempt to do it while she is awake. Or try to get them down for early naps. I'll have to play around with our routines.

6) I need to hook my brain up to the internets so I can blog directly from it. I blog a lot in the shower. And then forget it when I see the screen...

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The Princess and the pee, part 2

The Princess had her ultrasound yesterday and her ureter looks a lot less swollen than it did, her kidney looks fine, and everything is working. We're on the right "track" but we'll be continuing the meds for at least another 6 months. I'm disappointed about that but the last thing we need right now is another UTI. And potty training girls tend to get UTIs. While it's a nuisance for them, it's really bad for the Princess. Because she is potty training she was able to pee in the "hat" in the toilet and give them a sample. The doc was happy about that. Her urine is clear and that's great.   

Speaking of potty training, we almost had an accident free day yesterday. Her only accident was when we were coming in from outside. She had wanted to pee in the grass since Daddy had her do that but it just wasn't working with Mommy. By the time we got inside and negotiated sitting on the potty she told me she was going in her underwear. 

The exterminator came yesterday for our yellow jacket problem. They're coming back on Friday and will take out some sheet rock to get rid of the HUGE nest in the wall and then patch it up. It is not cheap. But it is cheaper than what they quoted us because my husband refused to do it otherwise. I just want them out of my house. 

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday, just like Monday. They went outside a little bit with Daddy. I'm sure the days that we do not have doc visits will rain. We've used the pool twice? Three times maybe? It's rained so much or we're out when it's nice. The sun really needs to coordinate with our schedule.

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Nutshell

I know. It's been a while. Been very busy. Have 3 kids ya know. Potty training is time consuming. Behavior training. Sleep training. Lots of training going on. And I can't blog on my iPod touch which is what I'm usually on in the middle of the night when I'm feeding Chewie. Much easier to facebook and twitter with that... 

Been doing really well getting up early. Chewie's sleeping a bit better and now I'm just trying to adjust her big stretch to be when I want it to be. The good behavior jar seems to be working. SkyWalker has filled his once so far and was so proud. The Princess is not as easy to potty train as I thought she would be. Even though she can hold it in for hours and is dry after her nap every day, she will just as easily pee her underwear. If I bring her to the potty all day and she cooperates we're okay, but if she doesn't want to sit we're in trouble. Yesterday was the first day she stopped herself and told me she had to pee and we made it there. So that's progress. 

And that's pretty much it in a nutshell.

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Monday Monday

It is 8 pm and all of my children are sleeping. This would not have been shocking 7 weeks ago, but today it is. Perhaps it was because Chewie got all of her screaming out between the hours of 5-7 that she was able to fall asleep nicely tonight. The other two were upstairs in their beds at 7. Yeah. 7. It's Monday.

Mondays are always so hard for us. Vader goes back to work. He goes food shopping after work. The jedi and I are left alone all day long and by the end of the day we are not very nice. Today was better than most--we had a playdate this morning with a mom & toddler we had never met and both of my children were nice and sociable and well, normal, and that started the day out well. I managed to use the treadmill during nap/quiet time and did a whole mile. It took me a whole 17 minutes to do that mile, but hey, that's more than I've done before. And I ran some of it again. Just to see if I could. Not a lot and not fast because I'm really *not* a runner. I am lucky I can put my feet in front of one another just to walk. Anyway, I got a total of 20 minutes on the treadmill and that was good. After that it all kind of went downhill. Chewie started screaming, woke up the Princess, SkyWalker left quiet time after less than an hour. They all bugged me. Chewie needed another nap as I was making dinner but cried off and on through most of it. SkyWalker mashed up his hot dog and vegetables instead of eating them and the Princess quickly followed suit. When I was feeding Chewie right after dinner the other two were messing around in my bedroom and ran out with Chewie's pacifier--the Princess has been stealing them for weeks now--but what really annoyed me was that they went under the bed with it and probably got it all dirty so I now have to sanitize it. Again. And once again SkyWalker just went NUTS and refused to listen. At all. I put Chewie down when she was done and dragged SkyWalker up the stairs (yes literally) and threw him on his bed (once again more for his attitude and behavior towards me than for anything else) and told him he was going to bed. He laughed and then realized I was serious and started crying. Chewie was screaming by that point so I got her and the Princess, gave them a bath together while SkyWalker asked "Am I going to get a bath?" I completely ignored him. Completely. He didn't listen to me, I didn't listen to him. The Princess answered him "No, you're not" (yes that is a direct quote). It seemed to finally sink in and he started to speak in a more calm and respectful manner and we all read books together before bed at 7. 

I think he is getting bored to a certain extent--while Chewie is doing a basic routine, it's not quite as predictable as it will eventually be. Sometimes she wakes up early and that throws things off. Particularly if she wakes up because of sibling noise and then gets overtired. I've been giving her the first nap in her swing in the kitchen but I think I need to move her to the crib so she starts the day out with an uninterrupted nap. If she gets overtired from the get-go, we're in for a crappy day. Anyway, so because I am often tied to Chewie's needs, I can't just drop everything and do whatever SkyWalker wants me to do. And even though we had a playdate and spent time outside this morning I guess it just wasn't enough. I'm actually thinking of scheduling some after-nap playdates since that seems to be the worst time for us. 

We have a busy week ahead of us and I'm hoping to tire them all out into behaving! The Princess is so ready to be potty trained but we're going to LI soon and she has her next ultrasound the first week in August so I think I should wait before I take the diapers away. But she is so ready. Potty training with pull-ups is just not the same. SkyWalker continues to stay dry--we continue to have dinner before 6--and have Daddy help him pee at 10. It would be so nice to just have one baby in diapers. Although the Princess will be in them at night for a while. Actually, who knows with her? She's always surprising me.

I should really go to bed now but I'm kind of waiting for Vader to get home. I have a hankering for an ice cream sandwich. I have to replenish the calories I burned running/walking on the treadmill.

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Graduation

Yesterday was SkyWalker's preschool graduation. I fully expected that at some point during the ceremony he would have to come sit with us because of stage fright. I fully expected no participation at all. Which would have been fine because, quite frankly, I wouldn't want to sing This Land is Your Land in front of a bunch of grownups taking pictures either. It started out with the kids walking in two-by-two and his teacher was smart enough to pair him with his lovely Juliet (this girl has him on a short leash). I'm pretty sure the only reason he made it down the aisle to the front was because lovely Juliet (yes that's what he calls her) was pulling him there. When they got to the front they had to go their separate ways and the teacher had to physically separate their hands because lovely Juliet was determined to just pull him along her way. Luckily he went where he was supposed to and sat where he was supposed to and stayed there. He didn't sing all the words to all the songs or do all the silly hand movements but he did *some* of them and that is a major improvement for him! I really wasn't expecting him to do anything and would have been happy with him just sitting up there the entire time. When it was time to get his diploma I thought he wouldn't come but he did and he waved to the grownups just like he was supposed to. I was really really surprised. I was also really surprised that I had to repeatedly bite my lip to keep from crying. I am seriously sleep deprived and there were lots of moms crying and Grama was crying (Vader also graduated from this preschool a million years ago) but I don't cry at these things. But seeing him actually participate and not being so shy... it was very nice to see.

DSCN0787

It wouldn't be a blog post from me without some mention of poop. Really, look at my tags. I bet poop is the largest one. Anyway, I am happy to report that SkyWalker has been pooping normally for months now without the aid of daily miralax. I thought the new baby might set him back but it hasn't! It's such a relief. We still have the September kindergarten hurdle to get through and I still have the bottle of miralax just in case, but I remain cautiously optimistic that we won't need it. 

The Princess is doing fantastic on the potty. I'm not going all out with the underwear yet. She still happily pees in her diaper/pull-up but she's told us a few times now that she needed to poop on the potty and did it. Every morning when she gets up we put her on the potty and she does her morning poop. If she had a cup of coffee too I'd think she was my father. She almost always produces something when she sits there. I'm not sure if she can physically hold it in yet, but I'm happy enough to have her in pull-ups and have MOST of the dirty work wind up in the potty.

Speaking of diapers, I discovered something amazing the other day. The newborn diapers, the Pampers Swaddlers that actually say newborn with the umbilical cut out part, have a yellow stripe down them. Do you know how long it took me to realize that the yellow stripe turned blue? Far too long! Apparently when there is urine it turns blue! An easy way to count wet diapers. I wish I had realized this last week when I was trying to guess whether there was just too little urine or none at all. Seriously, that's frickin' cool.

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Halfway

I am 19 weeks pregnant now. That means I am halfway there. Those of you wondering if I failed math in school, rest assured, I am right. See, 19 times 2 is 38. And that's as far as this baby is going to go. I don't want another preemie, I don't want another induction, but I think 38 weeks is a nice respectable amount of time. I don't consider it early. So 38, here we go. 

That plague that descended on us last week is lifting. The Princess's fever has broken. They both just have coughs and snotty noses. My sinus infection is getting a little better now that I have antibiotics. 

The Princess has been doing okay in her toddler bed. Nap time is the hardest and sometimes she winds up sleeping on the floor. But she's doing good at night and she always goes into her bed herself and falls asleep there first. The first night I put her in her bed and stayed with her a little but then I started making her get up in it herself and that works out better. It always works out better when she thinks something is her idea. It's amazing how different the toddler bed looks in her room. Instead of Thomas sheets there are flower sheets. It looks so girlie. 

SkyWalker has been sleeping in the monkey bed--the twin-sized bed in his room. He's been doing well, as I expected he would. There's not much transition from a toddler bed to a twin bed. The newfound freedom of the toddler bed from the crib is the hardest to handle. Anyway, he's doing well and and has started getting up on his own to pee at night. Unfortunately his pull up is still soaked each morning. Vader has stopped going up there and helping him pee. I don't know why. And I'm too tired to do it myself consistently. I think I'll wait until the summer to really start pushing it. Our pediatric urologist surgeon said he wouldn't look at him before the age of 5, which kind of makes me think that he should be dry all night by the time he's 5. At least most nights of the week anyway. 

I spent the whole day yesterday sleeping on the couch. Sounds lovely... but it wasn't. I was all foggy and confused at dinner time and I got nothing done. I hate starting the week and feeling behind. I still have two loads of laundry to fold but they are upstairs and the Princess is napping. I managed to get some things done today. 

While it's been so cold and snowy my mom's group has been meeting at Panera in the morning. SkyWalker is at preschool so it's just me and the Princess. It's been working out really well . Nobody kicks us out after we finish our coffee/tea/hot chocolate. Nobody stares at the kids (well, not this time. The last time there was a freaky woman who was staring and touching and about 3 seconds from me putting the smack-down on her). It's nice and roomy. I would still prefer to be chatting at the beach, but it's nice to have somewhere to go right now. What would really be nice is someplace with a big playroom for kids to run around. Someplace on this side of the river that is...

Random updates: Vader's job is as safe and secure as it's ever going to be. Whew. One less thing to worry about. Isaac's leg is still limping but is getting slightly better. I think we're going to wait and see a little longer and keep him on the leash. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. He doesn't like the cold so there are some days that I don't even have to wake him out. He just waits until Vader gets home at dinner time. The Princess's surgery is scheduled for March 2. Our level 2 ultrasound to see if #3 has any plumbing issues is Feb. 12. 

I leave you with this little gem:

SkyWalker: staring into space at dinner.

Mommy: C'mon buddy, get eating.

SkyWalker: I'm thinking.

Mommy: Well, think about eating.

SkyWalker: I can't think and eat at the same time! I'll choke!

Mommy: BWAHAHAHAHAHA

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Insane in the membrane

Insane in the brain. 

Sigh.

In a fit of insanity I decided to take the jedi to Denny's for lunch. I've been wanting to go to Denny's but I didn't feel right going without SkyWalker when he's in preschool. So after his preschool Thanksgiving "feast" which consisted of popcorn and some fruit, we went to Denny's. We didn't leave preschool until 12 so I knew I was pushing it, but the Princess is always so good when we go out... as long as there is food, she is happy. SkyWalker was excited to go and told me how to get there in case I forget. "remember Mommy, it's on the same road as Wal-Mart and Target and the orange Home Depot. Daddy goes there. I do too. But not you, or [the Princess]." 

We got inside and sat down and much like the Anchorman in the bear pit I said  "I immediately regret this decision!". The Princess did not want to get into her booster seat because she wanted to clip the belt straps. Why? I don't know. I distracted her with something, I don't remember what, probably dangerous, and I finally got her in the seat and strapped in. We ordered. The Princess ate crayons and mocked me. Shaking her head and saying "No" very softly much like I do to her. After 3 years or so the food came. SkyWalker got mac and cheese and grapes and the Princess got the little dipper sampler--chicken nuggets, mozz sticks, and fries. (I had a club sandwich if you really need to know). SkyWalker gave his grapes to his sister. And proving that he is the best brother ever he gave her half of his mac and cheese because that is ALL she wanted. Usually she wants a little bit of what everyone is having but she will eat everything on her plate. Not this time. She nibbled her food, but she very loudly asked for the mac and cheese. I thought that they would share so it would all work out, but SkyWalker didn't want any nuggets or fries (!) so he just gave up spoonfuls of his mac and cheese (on his own, no less). 

They were actually both well-behaved, but it's just a pain in the neck when you have two. Going potty, getting all of our stuff together, keeping an eye on both of them. It's just a pain. Which is why I don't do it often and will probably not do it again for a long long time. 

In good news--SkyWalker pooped before preschool this morning and when I told him that it was great that he got that out of the way so early he said "yes, I didn't want to hold it in. I like pooping now. It's not hard anymore." Yay laxative. I actually didn't even give it to him yesterday. I've been tapering off and trying to do every other day. With the holidays coming up he could easily have a relapse though so I'm not cutting him off until I know for sure he's done with that holding crap. 

The Princess pooped on the potty THREE times on Saturday. Her sticker chart is almost full. She peed at the library today. When I say "Do you want to sit on the potty?" she usually runs for it. It would be SO nice to have her trained early. And easy. After all the nonsense with her brother... 

I need to fold laundry and wash dishes and straighten up the kitchen and I have no desire to do anything. Oh and pay bills too. Crap on a stick. I need an assistant. And a shower, but that's another post.

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Finding my voice

I have been remiss in posting. I know. I've kind of lost my voice. But I think I found it again today. 

I am sitting on the couch in the office, using the laptop, with most of the lights off. Why are the lights off? I don't know. Ask my son. Why am I using the laptop? Because he was using the desktop to listen to Balls to the Wall and take funny pictures of himself. 

It is the end of November, we have been doing the preschool thing for a couple of months now. While he doesn't necessarily run in the door, he has stopped clinging to me when I drop him off. He enjoys his time there and I think he has started to play with other children. Last week the Princess and I witnessed him on the playground--in the sandbox with a couple of girls. They said something and he gave them his trademark tilted head big dimple smile and said "That's yucky. But some dogs eat poop." Later I asked him why he said that and he said the girls told him they were making "poop pie." 

He is still wearing pull-ups at night but seems to be dry in the morning. He's getting up by himself to pee but seems resistant to wearing underwear. I'm not pushing it. 

The Princess is still doing well on the potty. She pees and poops. She doesn't tell me when she has to go and if given the chance she will just as readily drop a deuce on her brother's carpet. But if I ask her if she pooped she puts her hand on her heiney and says "poo". I've started bringing the potty seat into the library when we're there Monday and Wednesday and she is just as eager to sit there as at home, so that's good. 

She's been participating more in storytime. It was getting so disheartening... she's always very well-behaved and sits nicely in my lap but knowing how she loves to dance and sing at home and then seeing her do nothing at storytime... well, it made me sad. But she's started to warm up and follow the directions. Of course this was the last week. 

She's saying A LOT of words. More than SkyWalker ever did. She not only points to her nose and face and mouth and head she tries to say them too. She says face really well, which is hilarious because her brother will say "pace" until you make fun of him and then he'll finally make the f-sound. At the library today we went over the alphabet and she tried to say almost each letter. And did pretty damn good too. She's so amazing. I know part of it is being a younger sibling and the fact that there hasn't been a moment of silence since she was born, but I think a lot of it is just her. She's just so different from her brother. 

While in some ways I regret not joining the Y when I had the chance, my friends are going to the classes together and that would have been great for me, I have loved every single minute I've had to spend with the Princess. I am completely and totally smitten with her. We go out for a bagel and cup of tea before storytime and it's just so relaxing and fun and not at all like it is with 2 children! If SkyWalker was in preschool all day long or every day then maybe I could share some of my time, but it's only 2 1/2 hours 3 days a week. And we've had a playgroup at the library on Mondays and storytime on Wednesdays and we usually shop/run errands on Fridays. 

 

Hopefully I will start getting my exercise soon. Vader told me he thought I deserved something special for Christmas this year, even though we had decided not to get each other anything. I finally asked for what I've always wanted--a treadmill. He has a stepper thing but I'm just not coordinated enough for that. I like walking. Simple, straightforward walking. Mind-numbing walking. And the kids can play in the office while I do it. They've been doing that anyway--every day they disappear and I hear them downstairs. SkyWalker plays music or movies on iTunes. The Princess laughs. Right now SkyWalker is playing a video from the summer before last, before he turned 3. It is AMAZING how much better he speaks. I can barely understand what he's saying on the video. I wouldn't be sure it was him, except that he's ... well... naked. 

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Defeat

I accept it. 

SkyWalker is just not ready to stay dry at night. Despite the fact that he has done it numerous times, I don't think he really *wants* to do it and that's the key... Last night he peed in his bed BEFORE he fell asleep. He was awake. He said he "forgot." Maybe he's just trying to get our attention? He peed AGAIN less than 2 hours later. And then again this morning. I told him that if he couldn't stay dry he would have to wear a pull-up. I thought maybe he would be motivated. Nope. His response? "I want to wear a diaper like the Princess." I am not putting him in a diaper. I still want him to pee on his own and a pull up is easier for that. So tonight he will wear a pull-up and perhaps we will all get some sleep. He slept until 8:30 this morning. He has dark circles under his eyes. He's refusing to nap during the day but he's clearly so tired. Maybe pull-ups will help.

He also hasn't pooped since Tuesday. He told me yesterday that he was going to poop but then thought it was going to be a bad one so he decided not to. WTH? I am ignoring it and just putting the laxative in his drinks. It hasn't worked yet but he hasn't accepted a full dose yet! I am definitely going to give him the laxative every day now to try to prevent this from happening again. Hopefully he will grow out of this nonsense!

The Princess is also wearing a pull-up right now. The other day I put her on the potty before her nap and she peed and we clapped and then I said "Try to squeeze out a poop so you don't wake up cranky" and lo and behold people she SQUEEZED out a poop. Immediately. It was amazing. 

My house is full of yin and yang.

The Princess is awake after just an hour of napping... SkyWalker didn't even let himself fall asleep. I probably should have taken a shower since I have that whole work thing tonight, but why should I start to care now? You know those moms who wear makeup and look nice? Screw you. I'm proud of my unwashed hair and my hairy toes.

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Balance

Lest you all think that things are going smashingly grand in the Jedi house... As the Princess continues to poop on the potty (6 times now), her brother is on day #3 of holding it in. He is sleeping now, didn't have lunch, and has been off and on screaming in pain for the last couple of hours. I'm going to fill the miralax prescription, despite my husband's disapproval, because I cannot go through this again. 

The end.

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Ahem

This morning the Princess woke up crying at 6:30. I was already up (!) and went up there to see what was the matter since it was most unusual. I took her diaper off, no bad poopies, and she pointed. To the potty. I put her on it as I do every morning now. I read her a book. Nothing. I said "Are you done? Do you want to get down?" She matter of factly said "No." and proceeded to poop and pee and then pointed to the toilet paper and wiped herself. 

I kid you not. 

She will be 17 months old next Wednesday.

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Wrinkles

Since the napping rule started the jedi and I have fallen into a routine. Please note, I did not say a nice routine. It goes something like this: SkyWalker refuses to go to sleep at 8 and instead we keep finding him on the stairs wanting to A) tell me he loves me all day or B) want to know what we're watching. He also wakes up in the middle of the night crying because various body parts hurt or whatever excuse he can come up with. My alarm goes off at 6, I turn it off, take my temp and wait for my second alarm--my children. But because my children are sleeping like crappity-crap, they are  either waking up at 8 or not at all and I'm waking up at 8. Leaving me with precious little time to get all 3 of us dressed and fed and out the door. Particularly when I have to wrestle both of them to get them dressed. I tried to put a bow in the Princess hair this morning and I should have just cut her ears off instead, since she was giving me the same struggle. SkyWalker has actually had 2 dry nights in a row (I'm not ready to say it's the napping), which means he's not getting himself dressed in the morning. And he fights me tooth and nail. I get them dressed and out the door and leave behind dishes in the sink, dirty cereal still in them dishes, milky towels and tableclothes and a general mess. When we get home we have lunch and then the naptime fight. I have no idea how long he actually falls asleep, but I do not think it's long. It's probably half an hour or so. So I have to repeatedly go up there and tell him to get back in bed and stop playing and have to listen to him tell me he's not tired and he wants me to stay because he just really loves me--all for a half hour nap? That screws up the night and is leaving us exhausted in the morning? If he continues having dry nights I suppose I'll have to just deal... and force myself to get out of bed earlier. I keep thinking about next year when he's in kindergarten. What the hell am I going to do then? It's going to be so early! Although maybe that will be good. Maybe Vader will have to actually help out and stand out at the bus stop with him. Because if I have to get both of them dressed, in addition to myself and stand outside at 7 something in the morning, I will begin screaming now and not stop for the next 17 years. 

I am tired and grouchy and irritated. The dishes are done and I'm washing towels and I swept the floor but I feel like I can't get a handle on my life right now and that really irritates me. I need something to drag my ass out of bed in the morning. And I need to stop playing Word Challenge damnit.

Oh--but the Princess has pooped on the potty 3 times now, peed countless times and will go and walk to it if you say "Do you want to use the potty?" When she is done she twists and points to the toilet paper. That's pretty good right?

-----

2:09 pm. I am going to scream. The Princess was sleeping. Because SkyWalker isn't tired and didn't want to nap, he went in her room and woke her up after just half an hour. They were giggling and playing in the crib. She NEEDS to sleep. We're going apple picking and leaving at 3. If he were not upstairs she would be sleeping and he would never have woken up. They are both screaming and crying right now. I think there will be WWIII when Vader gets home tonight.

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Poop! On the Potty!

SkyWalker seems to be back to "normal" and has pooped a few times without me forcing him to try. Yay. 

This post is not about him. 

After letting the Princess cry and cry, I finally went upstairs expecting to see a poopy diaper as the cause of her sudden wake-up and refusal to go back to napping. There was none. I put her on the potty just for the hell of it, read her a book, asked her if she was going to pee and then... and then.... I saw the face. She pooped (and peed) on the potty! SkyWalker and I clapped and screamed and the Princess clapped and seemed to be more interested in her brother's reaction than mine. If only she would tell me when she has to go, we'd be on our way to potty training!

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Two steps forward, one step back

Since his sister's surgery SkyWalker has pooped in his underwear 4-5 times. Today, however, he outdid himself. He pooped outside. In front of the swing. I was inside and he was entertaining himself and when I got out there he said "Don't step in any [SkyWalker] poopie!" and I said "Huh?" And then I saw. I asked if it came from his underwear and he said no, he peed and then decided to poop there too. 

What the dilly-o people?

On the one hand I'm glad that he's pooping again and not holding it in anymore, but what the hell?? 

Of course his sister's surgery coincided with the start of preschool. I don't think that it is preschool... 

His sister has officially become a big girl. It's not the walking, or drinking out of a big girl cup and sitting at the table with us, it's not the way she laughs when she does something naughty, it's not that she's not sleeping with the pacifier anymore*, it's not that she likes to bring me her shoes, it's going up the ladder on our playset and then down the slide. By herself. While poor Mama tries to quiet the voices in her head and not have a panic attack. How do I know this makes her a big girl? SkyWalker. He's been asking for a few weeks now why the little jobber is a big boy but the princess is still a baby. Apparently going down the slide without Mommy is the only criteria needed. 

Last week, the day after the Princess's surgery I took the pacifiers away. I put her down for a nap and told her no more pacifiers. She pointed to the top of her dresser. They were not there. She pointed to the floor but none had fallen under the crib. She pointed to the dresser drawer. They were in there, but I wasn't getting them. She cried and cried and I left. Less than 10 minutes later she was asleep. She has not had one since and has slept just fine. What was I waiting for??

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Pee

Yes, I know. I usually talk about poop. But sometimes pee is blog worthy too.

Twice this week I have put the Princess on the potty and she has peed. SkyWalker and I clap and dance and sing and she claps and it is funny.

Twice in the last week SkyWalker has NOT peed his bed. Yay for progress, however slow it is.

I stepped out of the shower and SkyWalker ran behind me, slapped my butt, sang a "hairy heiney" song and then asked where my balls were. I said I don't have them. He said rather dismissively, "Well, what DO you have?" and I told him what I have and what the mens have. He then chased me as I tried to get my underwear on and sang "Where are you heiney?"

This, however, is the kicker. It happened at least a week ago but it was too traumatic for me to blog or even tell anyone about it.

Brace yourselves.

I was sitting on the potty, peeing, when SkyWalker came in and announced he wanted to pee on my pee. Sure, fine, whatever. Before I had a chance to get up, he aimed his little wee-wee for the gap between my rear and the toilet and peed. He did have very good aim.

He peed on me.

An almost 4-year old peeing on you is much different than a newborn.

I don't think I'll ever be the same.

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Milestones

After two weeks of being busy busy busy, the jedi and I have no plans this week. We were supposed to go to the fair today but they have runny noses and SkyWalker declared this morning that he was coughing and is sick. I'm also anticipating not being able to walk very much today and if I take my medication possibly not being able to drive. And the Princess is down to one nap now, right when we would be there. But really, the real reason we are not going is because the Princess has her deflux procedure in exactly one week and I kept thinking about all the germs she could pick up from people and animals and I decided to just be paranoid and play it safe and stay home. I know it's not logical, and the next time your 15 month old kid is going under anesthesia, for a second time, you can tell me I'm crazy.

Instead we are watching Curious George, the movie, and chilling out today. I haven't even done the dishes yet. 

The Princess walks. Everywhere. She's been taking a lot more steps and doing well and most people would have claimed the official walking last week. But yesterday she just took off. I don't think she's stopped yet. Right now she is walking holding on to her Dora "mp3" player and dancing. I got her walking on video yesterday, at nearly 15 1/2 months, just like her brother. It was particularly nice since my sister was up for a visit so she got to see it first hand. She is unbelievable cute and so proud of herself. 

I've been trying to get SkyWalker to write his name, especially since he is going to preschool in 2 weeks. He claimed he couldn't and wouldn't even try. Each night that Vader puts him to bed they always go over the globe (he can tell you where an astounding number of countries are) and the "board" which is a dry erase board that Vader writes words on and SkyWalker reads them. I told Vader last week that I wanted him to work on writing his name, since he refused to try with me. Last night Vader was patching the driveway at bedtime, and SkyWalker asked to do the board with me. I wrote his name and he declared "I can write my name too". And sure enough the little poophead did it. For some reason he's more willing to learn from Daddy. 

He's also wearing underwear at night now. He's been getting himself dressed every morning, because he pees the bed every morning. Who knew that's what I had to do to get him dressed? Curiously he peed (the bed) in the middle of the night so he was dry in the morning. So he didn't get dressed. But he did get himself dressed as I got the Princess dressed. So we're making progress. We'll probably have wet beds for another week or two, but for the most part he's been doing it in the morning so he hasn't been waking us up in the middle of the night. I don't care so much about washing sheets constantly. I just don't want to hear the whining at 3 am! He's doing better though. 

I think I am ready to take a nap now but I doubt that's in the cards for me today. I have to work tonight so I'll have to get ready while the Princess is sleeping. After tonight I only have one more Wednesday night to work and then I'm done to just one night a week. I can't wait. 

Yawn.

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