Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Pooped

No, despite what the title might lead you to believe, this isn't a follow up post to Addie's potty training progress. Don't I wish.

Instead, this post will chronicle the one thing my kids have never done.

I've heard that other kids do it, but have never seen it with my own eyes.

I've been waiting for this day.

I'm writing it down in the baby book. (Which doesn't exist, but this is monumental enough to start one. Today. Right NOW.)

I even took a picture to record the event, because those who know my girls would never believe it otherwise.



Addie fell asleep playing. (Do you hear angels singing the Hallelujah chorus? I did when I saw her!)




Here's what happened: I was working in the kitchen while Emma and Addie were playing "Kitty-Cat." Addie put her kitty, Emma, down for a nap in the corner of the dining room while she went into the other room to make lunch for the kitty. Well, after about 10 minutes of quiet, I peeked in to see Emma still taking her pretend nap in the corner. (I was first amazed that she could be still - and quiet- for that long.) About then, she started calling Addie's name. We all get a little nervous when it's quiet and we don't know where Addie is (it usually means something is being destroyed), but for some reason, I thought I'd see how it played out instead of frantically searching for her. A few minutes later, Emma came to me and said, "Mommy, Addie's not moving."

PANIC. Those are not words you want to hear.

Since you've seen the picture, you know there was no need to worry. Emma ran to the other room to show me where Addie was, and by the time I got there, she was lifting Addie's limp arm up and letting it drop to show me how asleep she was. I laughed so hard! Emma said, "I even used her hand and made her hit herself, but she won't wake up!" (How tender.)

Well, Addie is an expert at faking sleep, so I gave her the true test. "Hey Emma," I said. "Let's go eat a bunch of Oreos!" Addie didn't flinch, so I knew she really was slumbering away.

I think Emma made it to the kitchen to scarf down Oreos in 2.1 seconds.



By the way...

I don't think I ever fell asleep playing when I was little. My sister did once, while we were playing Monopoly. I continued to play the game anyway, and took her turns for her. Can you believe she fell asleep and still beat me? I don't know if that makes me really honest or really dumb.

I'm going with honest. Honest and kind. And loving. Because after she won, I quietly put the game away and then gently and lovingly moved her to her bed where I kissed her sweetly on the cheek and wished her the happiest of dreams, as any caring big sister would. I tucked her in carefully, making sure that she was warm and cozy so that she'd get the proper sleep she needed. Then I tiptoed silently out of the room, taking care to shut her door with the softest of touches, so as not to disturb her as she dreamed away. I went to my own room, tired, but feeling fulfilled in my role as big sister.

I bet she never knew that part of the story. Wow, I can't believe I've held that in for so long.

The preschool buzz

Important stuff is happening in life and time just doesn't stop so I can blog it all. Ever since I re-prioritized and started feeding my kids and stuff, my blogging has taken a back burner. And if you follow my sweet cooking skillz, you know that it's a very dusty back burner, and there's nothing worse than a blog that collects dust. So here's my attempt at rescuing it from the dust bunnies and starting with a quick little story.

Disclaimer: There aren't actually dust bunnies on my back burners. Okay? That would be gross. And probably a fire hazard.

Emma started school last Friday. How cute is she with her ginormous backpack and missing tooth?



She is loving it. So far she's made two good friends, Sophie and Emma F. (she's Emma O... we knew we'd be throwing her into a world of Emmas when we named her), thinks it's really special that she has her own hook to hang her backpack and jacket on, barely says goodbye to us before running into her class, was excited to get "the kind of yogurt you squeeze" as a snack, and blushed when she told us she rode bikes with boys on the playground.





When I picked her up from class today, I asked her what she learned. She told me that if you get stung by a bee, you should wash it out with soap and water and bacon.

Bacon?

What are they teaching kids these days?

I think she meant baking soda. Or, make that, bakin' soda. Imagine substituting bacon for baking soda in your next batch of chocolate chip cookies. Eww.

From the sounds of it, Emma's destined to have the same culinary talents as her mama. I'm so proud.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Tinkle Trouble

I'm writing this post from the Land of Nod. Make that, the Land of Nodding Off. I'm so tired.

It seems that Brody isn't too fond of sleep. At least not during the wee hours of the morning. And actually, not a whole lot during the day either. In fact, at this very moment, the little man is crying his little heart out in his crib. So this might be a short post. (Was that a collective sigh of relief I just heard?)

I didn't come here to post about sleep, or the lack thereof, even if I am a little tired. Did I say that already?

No, I'm here to talk about potty training. Or the lack thereof.

I think I've asked Addie to use the potty about 328 times today.



I think Brody will be potty trained before Addie. There. It's in writing now, so I can gleefully say, "I told you so!" when Brody proudly moves on from his diapers before Addie. He's currently in size "N" for Newborn (not even in a size 1 yet), so don't hold your breath. It'll be a few years. Addie will be in kindergarten or 1st grade by then, and I'm not sure they make diapers that big. Or maybe it's size "D" for Depends.

Miss Addie has absolutely no desire to put diapers behind her and put her behind on the toilet.

I've bribed her. I've rewarded her. I've reasoned with her.

I've let her play all day in a soggy, smelly diaper to show her just how uncomfortable diapers are.

She doesn't care.

She's too busy to care. She has better things to do than take the time to go potty. (Okay, she comes by this naturally. That's a whole 'nother post.)



Potty training Emma was mostly a breeze. Sure, we had to explain that pull-ups are more special than diapers so she didn't go through them like crazy ("oh well, let's get another one!"), but once she put her Cinderella panties on, we were done. I think the icing on the cake was when she got to show Cinderella her Cinderella panties at Disneyland. That's when it was worth it to Emma.



And okay, we finally just perfected wiping, because Emma's logic was that "my panties wipe for me." (Was that a collective "EWWW!" I heard? I couldn't hear it clearly over my own "OH, GROSS!")

But Addie...

Today she was in tears because she has a horrid diaper rash. I tried explaining that it's because she doesn't want to use the big girl potty and won't tell me if she's wet. So, around noon today I took off her diaper once and for all and decided that cleaning up an accident here and there is better than paying for another box of diapers and sending her to her senior prom in Pampers.

So I've had a nudie cutie running around half the day.

(There was a photo here, but I took it down... I got paranoid!)

(A nudie cutie who thought it would be fun to pretend her markers were lipstick.)

I've only had to clean up one tiny accident so far. Maybe we should've given up diapers cold turkey months ago!

Like maybe when she started changing her own diapers.

I guess I don't pick up on cues too quickly.

Did I mention I'm sleep deprived?