Christmas on my mind

I've got Christmas on my mind. Not the good 'Christian' in me type of Christmas, but the 'what do I want to give my child for Christmas' type of Christmas. J is way into copying me and everything I do. A typical conversation with us:

Me: Should we put our coats on?
J: No.
Me: Ohhh, I can't wait to put my coat on
J: Me too, Mom!

Don't let this scenario fool you, we still have plenty of running away when I want her to do something, but we do get our fair share of her wanting to be just like me. (She knows what's good for her, keeping her inheritance in check ;)

Anyways, I think her big "Santa Gift" this year will be one of those play kitchens with food and dishes to go along with it. We live in a small apartment and I wasn't sure if I wanted one, especially because we would most likely keep it in our kitchen so her room isn't too cramped. I don't know about you, but I feel myself hovering over a blurry line between wanting my house to look nice and wanting my kid to have fun. Those play kitchens are sooooooo ugly! I saw one similar to this one on sale at Costco the other day:

While it's definitely not as bad as the giant honkin' plastic ones I've seen, I'm still not crazy about the multicolored look. Also, on big items like this, we've always tried to not buy things that are too girly. Odds are that at some point we would have a little boy. Do boys care? Probably not, but K does :) That being said, I couldn't help but find myself getting excited over all of the sweet accessories!

I've also had my eye on Ikea's play kitchen for quite some time:

Definitely a nicer look, but again, I'm hovering that line between what I want my house to look like and what J would like more. I know I probably should just give up the dream, but it's so hard! In all reality, she would be happy with either, especially because she wouldn't know what she'd be missing out on with whichever one I choose. This definitely falls under the category of "First World Problems!"

What is everyone thinking for their little ones for Christmas?

Anyone have any opinions on these kitchens?

Anyone else still holding on to the dream of a nice looking house? When does that die? :)

Potty Training Part 3

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

God answers prayers! I got up that morning, and as soon as J woke up, I took her straight to the potty! Everyone has to pee first thing in the morning, and her diaper was fairly dry, so I knew she had to go. She went and I went crazy! We called people, we danced, we ate candy before 9 am! We had NO accidents that day. None. At. All. She even eventually pooped, but if I'm being honest, she started to go in her undies, but I ran and got the potty so everything made it in the potty. To me that's still no accidents! For pooping we went crazy and did all that, but she also got bubbles. Call me a lame mom, but I hate playing with bubbles! They're so messy! I've learned to love them since they have become the ultimate reward for going poop in the potty. In the morning on this day, I set the timer for every 30-40 minutes. After her nap (she goes down at 11:30 AM), I decided she really did have the hang of it, so I let her just tell me when she needed to go. 

It took us a week more to feel more confident about leaving the house with just undies on. We had a few times where we'd put her in her undies with a diaper over top. That was great for us! She actually never even had an accident when we did that, but it was some nice assurance for us not having to clean up an accident in public. Now, two weeks later, she will go anywhere! We've never pooped outside of the home, but most adults don't even do that, so I'm not worried or even encouraging her to do that. I give her yogurt everyday to make sure she goes at least once a day. The first week I didn't do that and it made bowel movements harder because then she would be constipated and had to sit on the toilet longer. Yogurt has been the key to bowel movements for us! That, and I stand outside of the bathroom where she can see me with my back turned. This allows her the privacy she wants, while still being able to see me so she doesn't just get off the potty. I found she doesn't like feeling as if she is missing out on any fun. So whether it's going to the bathroom or eating, she likes to see where I am. 

Night Time

We still put her in a diaper during naps and at night. However, this past week we've run into a new dilema. Her diaper is ALWAYS dry when she wakes up (yay!), but now she'll wake up in the night SCREAMING because she needs to go potty. Obviously, that's a good thing that she'll wake up to go and not go in her diaper, but I'm exhausted! Last night she woke up twice, and each time she legitimately needed to go and went back to sleep, but I'm so sick of getting up in the night. 

We do still put her down with milk--I think she may be addicted to it--whoops! K and I thought we could just start giving her less and less to ween her off, but every time I don't give her a full bottle, she wakes up in the middle of the night asking for more. 

Does anyone have any advice on that? Will it just take time for her bladder to be able to hold it? Do your kids still go down with a sippy cup? When did you stop that?

Public

I think I was more paranoid about her going in public than I needed to be. I would bring the potty seat that clips into the toilet in a plastic bag and I was always so worried she wouldn't tell me until it was too late. (She did do that once, but it was the one time we tried to use a pull ups. My opinion is that pull ups feel the same as diapers! She was so much more cautious when we put her in undies and kept her in them!) The best thing for going in public was peer pressure! We were at an outdoor mall and there was a mom and her 5 year old daughter that walked into the bathroom before us. J is at the perfect age where she is loving older kids. I told her, "Look at that little girl! She's going to go potty on the big potty! Don't you want to go on the big potty just like her?" Girlfriend walks into the stall, I hold her on the toilet, and she goes like she's been doing it everyday of her life! We haven't looked back since!

Potty Training Part 2

Day 1

Day 2

I got up the next morning, feeling slightly better and started right in (although, J woke up unusually early, which is never fun). I kept the timer at every 20 minutes. She was less enthused about it that day, so I let her put her undies on. I just opened up the washing machine and every time she got her undies wet, I'd throw them in there and do one normal sized wash that night. Putting her undies on really helped because then I could say, "Oh no! You got Elmo wet! Now you can't wear Elmo because he's wet!" It really helped her make a cause and effect connection between her peeing and getting the undies wet. This day lasted forever! These are the text between K and I that day.

I began to notice that she just wasn't having to go pee that much. We had some left over Pedialite in the fridge from when she was sick, so I began giving her that whenever she wanted. This helped increase the frequency of her going, which helped speed up the learning process. This was the night of my break down. It's so emotionally exhausting because you can't get mad at them, they're just learning and it's not their fault they don't know how yet. Plus, I wanted to keep everything very positive, truthfully, because I wanted her to be able to go poop on the potty. I've heard a lot of stories about kids going full weeks between bowel movements because they were terrified to go poop on the potty. In my head, I thought if I could keep it all very positive then that would help. Being overly positive and enthusiastic is VERY taxing! Maybe that says something about my personality, oh well!

That night, as I laid in bed starring at the ceiling, I thought, "There's no way I can get up and do this again tomorrow. I want to die! [so dramatic, but that's what mental/emotional exhaustion does to you] There's no way I can have another kid ever again if I have to do this with them every time! But I can't stop, if I stop I'll have to go through this first day all over again! I can only have 1 first day per child!" And then I prayed. So stupid. But I honestly prayed. I can't help but laugh hysterically just thinking about it! However, what I've learned several times in my life, if it's important to me, it's important to God.

Day 3 (+ night time and going in public)

Potty Training Part I

Hi friends, it's been awhile. We were sick, sick, potty training, sick/maybe J has allergies? Totally random and weird, but such is life! Incase you missed our big news, I did say P.O.T.T.Y. T.R.A.I.N.I.N.G! Now before you all throw your shoes at me for being some overachieving first time mom, let me tell you, this chick was ready! This is a typical mommy-blogger-post, so if you have no interest in that, go read another post. I want to write down everything we did because I want to provide some encouragement for myself for the next time I have to potty train.

Potty training (PT) is awful!! I would be lying to you if I didn't tell you that at one point, I cried. Full on-emotional break down-I will never get pregnant again if it means I have to PT another human being-crying! But, obviously we have gotten passed that and I am so happy I stuck with it!

So I don't forget, here and here (AHH! I just searched through my Pinterest to find the other blog and I can't find it. Basically, she's the one that encouraged giving a lot of juice the first day. So sorry I can't find the link to give her credit.) are the sources for the PT method we used.

How I knew she was ready
For several months she would come and tell us right after she had gone poop in her diaper. The wheels started turning in my head, but I figured I'd wait awhile. A few weeks ago she started telling us before she would go poop, wheels turning again, but still not quite sure if recognizing bowel movements is the same as recognizing needing to pee. One day, we didn't have much to do and so we just sort of hung out at home all day. EVERY TIME she would go pee she would say, "change! change!" She hated her wet diaper! She didn't mind the diaper when we were out and about doing stuff, but she really noticed it while we were at home. I probably changed her diaper that day close to 15 times! It was like she was a newborn again! Not only was I over changing her diaper so much, I can't afford to go through 15 diapers in one day! (Note: 15 is probably an exaggeration, just know it was more than the 3-5 tops it usually was.)

Day 1
J and I finally had time to go get some undies in the late morning--I didn't plan on starting until the following morning. However, she was adamant that she wanted to wear her undies, so after her nap that afternoon we began. I put her training potty in the living room on a plastic mat that our landlord had left for right by our sliding glass window. (Obviously, I've sanitized the dickens out of that thing, but lets just say, this apartment will always have a little piece of us with it:). We later learned that towels work much better. I set a timer for 20 minutes and had J run around the same way she came into this world, butt-friggin-naked! She loved it, and to this day still asks to be, "Nakey baby!" Every 20 minutes we would sit on the potty and try to go pee. However, I soon found that she kept going a minute or two before the timer would go off. So frustrating! I decided to change the timer to every 18 minutes. This day was exhausting and I was starting to think maybe she was too young and wasn't ready to try PT. I even had K pick up a pizza on his way home because she would just start going at the most random moments, there was no way I could try to cook and PT at the same time! She did have 2 successes that day. When she would go, I would go crazy! Telling her good job, give her candy, bless my sister's heart, we called her and her kids probably 30 times in the span of 2.5 days! We put her in a diaper for the night time.

Day 2
Day 3 (+ night time and going in public)

Miscellany Monday...

Who are we kidding, many of my posts have a "Miscellany Monday" vibe to them. At least now I have an excuse! 

1. We have traded the Naked drinks for real vegetable/fruit smoothies. We realized once we bought the Naked drinks, they were heavy on the fruit and not so much with the vegetables. K is trying to talk me into getting a Blendtec. He went so far as to show me several YouTube videos demonstrating the greatness that is the Blendtec. Men have a way of taking the simplest kitchen appliance and turning it into a 3 million horse power machine...it's actually pretty impressive.

Bonus: J LOVES the smoothies. Where did this child come from? I'm not sure, but I like her.

2a. J's toddler-isms are increasing in number at a remarkable rate. She's a pretty funny and quirky kid...I like it! Sometimes when we say it's time for bed, she starts grabbing random objects and running for her bed. This particular night, the objects of choice were every. single. couch pillow. She throws them in there and asks to be put into bed.

2b. Sometimes I go to put on my shoes and find little surprises.

Anyone know a good remedy for cleaning those suede-like shoes? I tried the Nuskin shoe cleaner on a different pair and it made it look bad. These are my favorite shoes ever, so I'm afraid to ruin them.

2c. Even little lambs need to be buckled in when they eat. Side note: My late Grandma Cora collected stuffed animal lambs because she grew up on a sheep ranch. When she died, each grandchild received one of her lambs. She died when I was pregnant with J and I've always felt they had some sort of connection with each other, like they met before J came to earth...or J sort of took her place? That sounds a bit hippie-ish, but I think you catch my drift. J has always taken a special interest in her lamb "Lola" and it has slept in her crib every nights since we brought her home from the hospital.

2d. This kid can get down like no one else I've ever known. Sorry for my mom-singing-voice. She likes to combine these two songs--a little remix, if you will. Also, at the end she comes to blow raspberries (they're called Philburts (Filburts?) in our house. Just realizing I've never actually typed that word out!) on my face--as is custom at the end of any song..?

3. I can usually stay pretty strong at Costco. I eat the samples and move along. Today, they got me! Not only did they get me, they got J too. We were loving these things. Not healthy in anyway, but a wonderful blend of sweet and spicy.

 Of course, if you're anything like me, you'll eat them like this. 

I'm such a wimp with spicy food. These were too spicy for me!

Pretty much all my link-ups I find from my friend, Whitney's blog. Go check her out, she's the bomb dot com. <---I felt a need to use this saying since we've been friends since high school...throwing it way back!

Toddler-isms

The peace offering was accepted and all is right in the world :). As I was leaving for the gym at about 9:00 pm, I heard our neighbors across the hall from us. The guy was yelling at his girlfriend and dropping F-bombs towards her. I thought to myself, "maybe I should clarify to people what my definition of 'loco' is!" haha, but, since most of you that read this blog are related to me or have spent a significant amount of time with me, I'm just going to assume you know--my loco = getting offended too easily. No f-bombs needed :). 

Yesterday was such a weird day. J went to bed a baby and woke up a real toddler. I've been calling her a toddler for months now, but she really truly became a toddler yesterday. 

We started the day with a little bed head. Whaaaaaaaat?! Yep, we have enough hair for bed head!

What's that mom, you want to tame that bed head, yeah, well I have enough hair for real pig-tails. Or as K called them last night, double pony-tails. (Poor guy grew up with only one sister, and she was way beyond pig-tails by the time he came along.)

You want me to eat my lunch, well I'm just going to negotiate this PB&J right into a little 'oo-oo-ah-ah' (translation: Curious George) and Elmo. 

I started making dinner when I heard, "Mom, watch this!"(A full sentence..? Why not?) Just chillin' out in a box. Not seen in the picture are all of her 'little people' action figures that she had piled into the box before she climbed in.

Just incase you thought I was cute, I'm going to throw a little random weirdo into the mix. I was giving K a hug when he got home from work, J decided to just camp out in between us..?

Aaaand, for a direct shot to the ovaries, big kid swing. What the what?

And yes, if you're thinking it, I'm just fine with playing into the terrible creation of a narcissistic generation all because their parents took a million photos of them each day.