RazNoggle

Okay, go to the previous post with the pictures in it and take a good long look at Qade’s beautiful locks. Granted they aren’t curls, but I still think he’s got cute hair!!

Well, HAD cute hair. Yes, mommy got her hands on some clippers, very cheap never to be used again clippers that just appeared in this house. I have NO clue where they are from. Anyway, it was apparent that Qade needed a trim, and I was just going to give him a scissor cut because they are more forgiving, but then the devil on my shoulder told me it would be “easier” to use the clippers. Dum-de-dum dum! No need to continue, right? You KNOW what happened, don’t you? Probably because it’s happened to YOU too, nanner nanner! Oh well, the poor boy has a buzz cut in September rather than June, but I’m confident that it’ll grow back fast. Perhaps I should swap his baby wash with some rogaine. Ha ha! In my defense, it is NOT as bad as it COULD be, but certainly not as good as I’d like it to be, and yes, it’s abominably short. Qade really doesn’t seem to care, and he did great for his shearing, only fussing because hair was getting on his dum-dum that I gave him. He doesn’t know that his mommy gave him a bad hair cut and for that I’m grateful!!! I’ll get to practice on the lads while they are too little to care, and by the time the DO care, I’ll be a pro! Although, Stuart has indicated that he’s interested in being the barber of the family, and that would work out just fine with me!

Today I had some nasty chores to do. I had to take the trash to the dump. We don’t have any pick up service out here in the sticks, so every so often we just haul it down. Most of the time Stuart is able to do it. Aside: I’m so thankful for a hubby who is willing to do the icky jobs!! I mean seriously gals, we get off the hook so easily just because we’re girls. Stu is willing to do the trash and kill the yucky bugs, and take care of maintaining stuff, all without the slightest complaint about it. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my man!!! I digress, the dump has weird hours and today we NEEDED to take the trash, but Stu couldn’t cause he was working. So to make the most of it, I emptied the cat litter, yucky, and gathered the trash around the house. I don’t do well with those smells, it’s sick. At last it was all packed and ready to go. Me and the boys had a great adventure, heading to town to dump the trash. I had the AC blowing full blast in my face, so I wouldn’t smell too much stuff, till my nose was frozen!! Wouldn’t it be great to be so young and full of life that a trip to the DUMP was an exciting part of your day?? I’m so happy to get to see life through the eyes of my kids, because it’s way more fun that way!

While we’re on the topic of gross things, I have to confess that I was thrilled beyond belief today when Qade pooped in the potty!!! I know, totally disgusting, right? I’ve come to the conclusion though, that very strange things make us mommies ecstatic. Just had to share that with you. Potty training has nearly been my waterloo several times already, so I celebrate every victory that comes along! Fun, fun, fun!

Okay, so I’ve wasted much more time on here than I should have because while the dirty, icky chores are done for the day, I still have laundry to fold, toys to pick up and a kitchen to clean. So ta for now my friends, and keep on finding adventures in the every day!
P.S. I’ll try to post a pic of Qade’s new do tomorrow.

Every day I’m thoroughly amazed at my kids and the things they can understand and do. Qade is especially at that stage where language is really kicking in for him, so to hear the things he comes up with to say keeps me in stitches. On Sunday on our way to church he asked about every family member he could think of and it sounded something like this “Where’s Oma?” and then with barely a pause he’d follow up with “Ah-know” which is his version of “I don’t know.” He did this over and over for each person and he went through Grandma’s and Grandpa’s Uncle (which is what he calls Uncle David), and Uncle “Dame” (Uncle James) and Tiffany which he says absolutely perfectly. I didn’t bother trying to answer him because he didn’t really pause long enough for me too, but I think he was just going through people in his mind anyway. Pretty funny!
When we’re sitting in the bathroom he frequently asks “what’s that?” about everything he can see. Sometimes I’ll ask him back, because I know he knows what it is. It leads to some pretty funny conversations. “What’s that?” I don’t know, Qade. “That fan?” Oh, yes it’s a fan. “That fan!”
Last night was the cream though. Stuart was in the easy-chair reading and asked Qade to bring him a blanket. Qade has become a very good little fetcher boy. So Qade fetched the blanket and dragged it over toward his dad but before he got there he said, “Say Please, Qade, Daddy.” We both just stopped what we were doing and looked at him like he was from another planet! I couldn’t believe my ears!! Then I started laughing as he said it again. He had such an intense look on his face too, and wasn’t about to budge one more inch without hearing the “magic” word. Ha! Through his chuckles Stuart said “Please Qade” and then Qade turned over the blanket with a follow up, “Say thank you, Qade.” Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Okay, so it’s funny now. I know we’ll most likely be working on his “first child grown up tendencies” for the rest of his growing up years, but it totally cracked us up last night!! Nice to know too, that his “manners training” is sinking in. To me the amazing part was him inserting his name like that. I will often say things like “Say please, Mommy” so he hears that often, but for him to switch it to “Say please, Qade” just makes me laugh! Such a funny lad!
Myles is doing great these days too, and is very patient with us through the potty training process. He’ll come in to the bathroom and enjoy the bubbles too. Bubbles seem to be the thing that keeps Qade occupied in there the best. Myles just squeals and swats at them, it’s hilarious!! Poor boy today is in a romper. I left him in his jammies because it’s kinda chilly here this morning. He doesn’t care for it though. Myles has what I call a “gimp” crawl. He uses one knee and one foot. Qade used to crawl like that sometimes, but Myles always crawls like that. So he’s having a rough time with this “feety” outfit today. I’ll put him back into his comfy shorts outfit after nap, poor lad. He’s been mimicking lots of words too. He says, No, of course, perfectly clear. He’ll also say Uh-oh, and Mmm-mmm, at meal times. He says something that sounds like “Nigh-night” and is working on his “by-by.” Even though he doesn’t have many words, he’s not shy about “talking.” The other day he was upset about something, and was telling us all about it too. It was humorous to me.
Okay, so those are some of my fun kido stories for now. Hope you’re all enjoying your week! Toodles!

That’s what our Sunday was! We really had a great time, and after this past week I totally needed it! We went to church in town and brought our lunch with us in a cooler. Qade had a great time in Sunday School!! He’s so much better about going there now. Hardly gave us a backward glance as he got involved with all the awesome toys in there! The church doesn’t have a baby nursery so I ended up sitting in the lobby with Myles during the preaching, and heard the S.S. kids learning a song to the tune of that really annoying Barny song, ugh! Ha ha ha!! Oh well, guess they’ll remember it!

After church we went to a really great park and ate. I only got slightly slimed by Myles in my lap. I hadn’t thought to bring the umbrella stroller, but next time I will! He had too many hands for me to manage while I try to eat and keep him out of my plate! After our yummy chicken pasta salad and Dorito lunch we went to the actual fun part of the park. The equipment was all wood and looked like a huge fort or castle. It was a blast for Qade! Especially once he decided that he’d “risk” sliding down the slide. They had those plastic “tube” slides in various locations and he picked one that he just loved! He got stuck going up and sliding down over and over again! It was so fun to watch him! We also spent some time on the swings, of course, and Myles had a marvelous time munching the mulch. Yuck!!! He even kept a piece stowed away in his cheek like a wad of chew or something. I had to dig it out later, and that was work because his jaws are like a serious clamp when he doesn’t want to open.

Anyway, that was very relaxing and fun for all of us. We then got some of our shopping done before we headed home. That was less than relaxing because I hate to shop, and hate it even more when it’s busy, but at least it’s out of the way! Qade, of course, took a break from potty training yesterday since we were out. Not that he’s really been going on the pot anyway. We did put him on a couple times just to keep it in his head, but no successes. I’m hoping the arrival of the plastic pants this week will make a difference. Time will tell.

This morning I was NOT ready for it to be Monday, but no help for that. Ha! I made some of my favorite coffee in the whole world. Santa’s White Christmas!! Nummmmmmm!!! That helped my mood immensely. The boys have also helped me because they played so nicely all morning till Myles’ nap. It was great! I thought I might have woke up in the wrong house. Ha ha ha! For those who don’t know, we’re working through a bullying phase with Qade and it causes lots of little crisis moments each day. Thankfully today we haven’t had those, Yay!!!!! So I’m about to break out the juice box and attempt to get Qade back into the potty training mind set. Hope you all are having a stellar Monday!

So for day three I was determined that the little sprout WOULD pee in the potty!! I mean, seriously, how is he going to know he’s supposed to go in there, if he never goes in there?? So I bribed him with a new Lightning McQueen car. I set it on the sink where he could see and admire it as he sat on the toilet. The first couple of attempts failed and he was plenty unhappy to have to leave the car in the bathroom. But I insisted that he could have it once he peed in the pot. So he kept asking to go, and sure enough on one of our many trips he scored!!! Yay! He was so happy with himself, I was happy with him, and we had m&m’s and a new car to celebrate. However the rest of the day he wouldn’t go in the pot again. *sigh* So on the advice of some friends I decided we’d stay in the bathroom till it happened. Oh what fun! We sang songs, played piggies, read books over and OVER again, got bored, wanted to quit (both of us), blew bubbles, me with soap, him with spit. Arg!! I tried every trick I could think of…. he had a juice box, I’d run water at intervals, and it worked on me, man I had to go!! I’d even poor warm water over Qade, and he’d help, thinks it’s funny! Finally after OVER AN HOUR I quit! On went the pull-up and out of the bathroom we went. Ugh! My back does NOT like sitting on the tub for that long. I went to fix supper, Qade went to play with his car, and I presume, to pee in his pull-up. I couldn’t imagine him not needed to go after all of that. Well, I was setting the table, while Qade was already ready in his seat when he indicated that he wanted to go potty. *SIGH* I didn’t feel like taking him because he always tells me after the fact and it seems pointless to try it. BUT I tried to act all excited about this opportunity to sit in the bathroom, once again, while dinner waited. :-/ This time however, when we got there, his pull-up was still dry! (gasp) and sure enough, he got on the pot and WENT!!!!! WOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!!! We had many high-fives, fist bumps, and m&m’s let me tell ya! I was so excited! That was just what I needed on this never ending day 3! Qade repeated his success once more before bed that night! Oh what a happy mama I was to see something was clicking. This journey can’t be over fast enough though. I’ve come to the solid and complete conclusion that I hate potty training. Not one bit of it is fun for me. It’s not about me, however, and I can put some of that aside to help my lad conquer this next step in his development. BUT I’m still not going to strip him naked and let him piddle all over the house to get it done. We’ve ordered some ‘plastic pants’ and as soon as they come I’ll put away the pull-ups and put him back in “unders” with the added mess protection for my sanity. I’m sure he will NOT cherish the feeling of being wet, so hopefully now that he’s at least succeeded a few times, it’ll all come together quickly. PLEASE!!!!
Today we’ve had no successes. Still sitting on the pot for exorbitantly long periods of time, but oh well. One day…. some day….. I hope.

It’s NOT going to be 3 days, I can tell you that! But I’m okay with that. I’m not okay with it being months and years though. So hopefully the small fry will catch on quickly. Today went something like this.
7am On the pot for the first time, remove soggy pull-up from night. No success
7:20 Timer goes off, back on pot, DRY pull-up, M&M for being dry. Nothing on pot.
Repeat multiple times, only not with the dry pull-up (except a couple) and add a meltdown when he didn’t “earn” an M&M.

That was basically it. The “success” that I’m pulling from today is that he would at least tell me when he was in the process of going. So this really IS progress. Even though he was in a pull-up, he still clued in to his body cues, a little late but that’s okay. We didn’t have a single pee in the potty though, not one drop! Tomorrow I might try the “warm water trick” and put some in a bowl with toys to play with, see if it “triggers” anything while he’s perched there. He likes to sit on the potty, and he has been consistently telling me when he goes. I’ll take that as a good positive sign. Behavior wise we are having some issues. Qade is getting a bit defiant when he is corrected for things. Today he told me “Don tell me no.” He had just heard those words shortly before coming from Mommy. Now he has to learn what kind of speech is appropriate going TO Mommy.
I’ll admit it, my patience is at a low ebb right now. Some days I feel like I just don’t have what it takes to truly teach my kids how to behave, and have a loving, sweet attitude towards each other. There are times when repeating the SAME instructions/corrections one more time seems like the heaviest thing in the world to do. I love my babies, and have so many precious moments with them!! So don’t get me wrong. Just plodding through these terrible two’s and adding potty training and constant character training on it all wears me down sometimes.
But today was my birthday, and Stuart made me an awesome card, got me a nice gift, and HE made dinner AND cleaned the kitchen. Life’s good!

This morning I woke up hoping, but not really believing, that I’d have a potty prodigy living in my house. I’ll be totally honest when I tell you that this is the part of Mommying that I would gladly hire out. I have never “looked forward” to anything in this process except for it’s end. By the way, I have potty trained other children. I was a preschool teacher and a nanny, remember. So anyway, you’ll all read this post and probably smile, or maybe even guffaw, and that’s fine with me. If you get a kick out of all of this then maybe the day will be worth it after all. Here’s how it went…
7: 30am Introduced underwear and potty seat for the first time. Qade didn’t like the feel of “unders” at all at first, but actually warmed up pretty fast to his cool new clothing. He was a tiny bit nervous about the potty the first time, then he acted like he’d been sitting on it all of his life. Good start! Had a juice box, played with legos, sat on pot 2x with nothing.
8:05am Had first accident right after sitting on pot. Had another juice box, gotta keep that tank full, right?
8:30am Had second accident on floor. Thankfully it wasn’t carpet Put on Baby Einstein so I could put Myles down for nap. Qade sat on towel, just in case. Made more coffee. I’m going to need it!
8:45 Gave another juice box. He loves these things! Also gave M&M for being dry!!
8:50 Accident #3 Small amount of wet in unders. He doesn’t like the feel of “wet” so that’s good. Started using a timer for every 15 min to “tell” us when to sit on potty. Hopefully we’ll have at least one success this morning! Called Stu to pick up more underwear on his way home from work.
9:00 Second cup of coffee- Ahhhhhhhh!!!
9:05 Spent 5 min on pot reading book. No success yet. Gave water
9:15 Accident #4 on floor while we colored. This time he ‘noticed’ while he was going. Puddle!
9:20 Accident #5 While I was starting laundry so we could have underwear. Puddle on floor right after we’d been on pot. Reset timer for 10 min intervals!
9:30 Spent time on pot- nothing
9:45 Spent time on pot- nothing (repeat ever 10 min)
10:20 Accident #6 Caught him in the middle of peeing on floor, but he wouldn’t “finish” in the potty. If he would just go once I know it will make a big difference, but right now it just seems like the house will smell like urine for all eternity!
10:40 SUCCESS!!! Qade initiated going to the potty and had a REAL pee this time!
10:45 Small accident- nothing on pot. Fell off stool and scraped his back.
11:40 Officially out of clean and dry underwear. Some in the dryer.
11:45 Made it through lunch, no accidents!
12:15pm Wet unders.
12:30 NAP and pull-up, thank goodness!! I am loosing motivation.
1:00 Had some chocolate, refocused, did some ME stuff, phooy on the house! Laundry is going though.
1:10 Discovered a puddle o’ pee I hadn’t noticed before. Ugh!
2:00 Put dinner in crock pot. Already can’t wait for day to be over! Going to give Qade grapes for snack when he wakes up. He hasn’t had a “pooey” yet today.
3:00 Qade up from nap. Slightly wt pull-up.
3:10 Accident in unders while having snack. Finished snack on the pot. (I know, gross, but what do you do?)
3:20 Juice Box. Myles is having blow-out style diapers. So between changing those and sitting in the bathroom w/ Qade every 10-15 min, it’s busy!
4:15- 5:00ish Qade is having major melt downs. Not potty related, but probably exacerbated by the whole thing. I am about to pull my hair out, and it’s time to get dinner ready!
5:15 I finally call it quits and break out the pull-ups. I’ll still take him potty between now and bed, but this is ridiculous!! Feel like a colossal failure. Plus my teeth hurt because I actually flossed today. What was I thinking???
6:10 Qade did a “pooey” in his pull-up while hanging out with Daddy so Mommy couldn’t “catch” him. We put it in the potty where those things go, and he looks in and says, and I quote, “Rock in there.” Yes, please laugh!
6:30 Qade does another “pooey” in his pull up. *sigh*

And that brings us to now. One way confused kid, one totally spazed out mom, and a bunch of urine soaked, “cars” underwear. I really did do some reevaluating through all of this. I know that the purpose of these 3 days is to get him to recognize his body cues and then act on them, in the potty not the pants. But is all of this really necessary?? I mean, I know that he’s “getting it” when he goes, but having to be constantly dragging him to the potty only to have him wiz on the floor 30 seconds after he’s off seems absurd. I know that I should give this the full 3 days to work the “magic” of the potty queen or whatever she calls herself. However, I honestly don’t think it’s going to be the best thing for THIS family, and that’s what’s important. So call me a wus if you want, but tomorrow, we’re going to set the timer, go to the potty every 20 min, wear pull-ups in between, and celebrate like crazy should “something” make it’s way into the toilet! And really, it’s okay if you think this whole thing is funny. I kinda did too as I typed it out. I’ll keep ya posted…