Website that encouraged me to take the leap: http://www.yourmodernfamily.com/potty-training-in-three-days-2/
BabyCenter's main explanation of 3 day potty training: http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-in-three-days-or-less_10310078.bc?page=2
toysonthefloor, toys on the floor, Mary Cutler, blog, mommy
The pictures above don't really go well with potty training, but I found them on my phone from our last trip to the playground. I just had to add them! I suppose potty training is a family event, and that daddy and George will be excited that she'll be potty training, so these picture could go with the topic. Well, this evening Emilie went pee in the potty twice! She's also dragged me to the potty countless times to sit by her as she goes to sit on it. She's also said the word "potty" for the first time too! I have no idea if a three day kick off will work with her, or if she is truly ready, but we'll get an accurate idea tomorrow on day one (it's pretty obvious on day one wither they're ready or not). If it goes well, then we'll continue and she'll be well on her way! If not, well, we'll try again in the future! I really worry she's too young (though Fellom's 3 day method works for as young as 15 months old), however she's showing all the signs that she's ready! If she's truly ready and I don't take advantage of this time, who knows when the next window of opportunity will be. She's actually interested in the potty! She brings mommy and daddy a diaper if she has a pooper! She mimics George going on the potty! She's totally ready... Am I ready for this though? I don't know. Well see about that too. :)
Website that encouraged me to take the leap: http://www.yourmodernfamily.com/potty-training-in-three-days-2/ BabyCenter's main explanation of 3 day potty training: http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-in-three-days-or-less_10310078.bc?page=2
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Our first heat wave in the high 80's and the AC kicks on. No longer is our house set up with four heaters on, going at once, but now they're all put away and replaced with cranked up cool air! Despite how hot out it's been,Scott decided to go ahead with the weed wiping on Saturday. The kids loved watching him fill the weed wiper up with gas and then tare the weeds to shreds! On the back porch though, watching daddy wasn't enough and the kids thought it was time to turn on the spigot. George kept loving to turn it on full blast, and ended up soaking his shirt, forcing us to leave it outside to dry. Emilie loved drinking from the spigot and was so happy with her dreams coming true. She wasn't too happy when George decided it was his turn (as you can see from the lip in the photo above). After George was drenched and had managed to get Emilie and I with some sprays (by putting his hand right up against the spigot), we decided headed inside for a bubble bath and wound down the evening.
On another note, all may be surprised that Emilie is now ready to be potty trained at 18 months old! After a bath time, she refused to get on her diaper and kept pointing at the potty. I set her on the potty seat, and whamo, she peed! I couldn't believe my eyes. George and I did a potty victory dance song and she giggled and clapped along. Before all this however, she had been copying her role model, George, by putting up the seats and lifting her shirt, standing by the potty. It was so cute, but I'm afraid her copying boy style isn't going to get her very far in success. George being potty trained though, makes her want to go potty too. She will copy him doing whatever! Wither it's banging her head, screaming (oh gosh, that hurts!), running in circles, pulling pots and pans out from under the sink, plumbing and/or cleaning the potty and drenching the floor, or well, I guess anything. Anyway, thank you George, Emilie is now ready to potty train, even though she can't even say "potty"... well, at least she can say "pee pee". We'll work with that ;) We love reading! Not only does it let me sit down and relax, but the kids have a blast. Emilie is still warming up to story time and comes and goes, but George just soaks it up. It's really good that George soaks it up, because we will be doing a heavily literature based homeschool program called Wayfarers by barefoot ragamuffin. I'm preparing George for homeschool by nurturing and growing his love of books, which isn't proving a problem at all. Just yesterday, we read for a whole hour together! We're aiming at having three story times, with the morning story time after lunch, being the longest. The second story time is soon before dinner prep, and the last one is at bed time. Wayfarers does have a preschool program, which is basically a reading list, but we really don't want to force ourselves to read books we don't have to yet. Right now we're just having fun and growing our vocabulary. Our favorite books are classic fairy tales and fairy tale renditions, books that encourage a love of nature, and Madeleine (because she's just funny, you know!). I'm also ordering tons of books from across the San Diego county libraries, and then just picking them up at our branch. We're gradually filling our list of favorite books, which is exciting, and also finding a whole bunch of books which we don't like. So many sites have their lists of "best books" but some of them are very unimpressive, disagreeable, or even teach inappropriate actions like arguing or unkind speech (why the heck am I having to sensor kid shows and now even children's books? This is ridiculous people!). Not a single list on the internet has a list of books that I agree with for even half of the books (wither it's because it's mildly innopropriate or just not beautifully narrated or illustrated). Okay, so I'm picky. So... we're making our own list! ;)
Before each reading, we are reviewing the letter phonograms as well, using Barefoot ragamuffins reading curricula, Reading Lessons Through Literature, which teaches reading with the Orton phonogram method. The curricula basically teaches reading with 75 phonograms and about 30 spelling rules and makes up most of the english language! English actually makes since, though they don't teach us this in school. We've learned all the basic phonograms of the alphabet A-Z (holding off on the letter combinations until a little later) and are reviewing them several times a week. While we do this, I have George pretend to be the "letter monster" which gobbles up the correct phonogram after I lay out three or more letters, asking him to match the phonogram sound I gave to a letter. Anyway, it's a nice review. Another plus of story time for George, to get him excited, is having milk (and in a bottle). Only at story time is he aloud to have milk in a bottle, and it's a big draw of getting him running to story time! As he's older, he'll probably outgrow this want of a bottle, but in the meantime he's associating story time with security and love. What better association can you have with sitting down and reading a good book?! George will be four in September and you know what that means! George will be old enough to join the local baseball team! To kick off Memorial Day after some gun shooting practice with his friends, Scott started teaching George how to hit a baseball! I was so surprised at how quickly George picked it up with keeping his right arm up and having such a beautiful swing! He even hit a ball during his first instruction with daddy! Scott kept the lesson short, about 5-10 minutes, but we all had fun and smiled the whole time. Emilie also loved helping get the stray balls and bringing them back to daddy! After practicing some baseball, we went on a short walk over to the horse corral and scooped out where the playground will be in the future. We’re in the planning stages now at the moment. We’ll have to weed whip the corral, cut up dead trees to make mulch, and then figure out the playground itself (where to get it, etc). We may build part of it to make it more special for the kids. It'll be awhile till we even officially start the hard part of making the dream a reality, and then some more time till it's actually completed... In the meantime though, I think the kids will have just as much fun playing on the rocks.
WARNING: This is political! Most political opinions are expressed in the last paragraph. To avoid going into cardiac arrest, please do not read last paragraph (unless you want to know why I’m voting for Trump). We did it, we went! In one of the biggest adventures of our lives; we went and saw the future President of America! I was a little hesitant to go at first you know, with the crowds and such, but we played it safe and got in and out in one piece! Hubby lead the way, and we went around the longer scenic rout for safety and entered in through the back. Going there through Sea Port village was so beautiful and made the long walk from parking more enjoyable for the kids. Not only did we see the beautiful sea, sea gulls and quaint shops, but we also saw many police officers on motorcycles whirling past who waved to George with a smile. We even saw a security robot (probably still in testing) who came right up to George to say hi! Cool, right? Once we made it to the edge of the Conference Center, we showed our tickets to Police who allowed us to get to the next check point of entry. Oh my gosh, there were so many police. It was fun to see them all very chill, standing around with relaxed smiles and happy demeanors. They were actually having a good time hours before the official rally began and the protestors started throwing stuff at them. The protesters were our main hesitation about going, but Scott and I were cautious, and Scott always lead us using the back way to avoid them. There were thousands of people that came to the rally and we all had to leave our water at the door (so not cool, we didn’t have water for the entire event) as we proceeded to go into a massive room full of lines for the metal detectors. There were about 12 lines, but we went on the last one at the edge (I couldn’t let myself be in the middle of a crowd that big) and the line proceeded pretty fast. After going through the metal detectors, we were all given Trump signs and went as fast as we could to the front. We actually got pretty close to the front being early, but once we got there we couldn’t just leave because we’d loose our spot… and not find each other again (the conference center filled all the way to the back of the room once the event officially began, which was at least 5 basketball courts long). We were positioned about 10 feet away from the camera stage on the left and I found some comfort in being close to the edge (though I wish we had been closer). We got there around noon and there were many speakers till about 1:30pm and then we waited about 45 minutes before Trump came out. My totally favorite speaker in the pre-event was Sarah Palin. I had no idea how hilarious she was. If there is any woman who could be “girly” and a “strong woman figure,” it’s her! We all were grinning the entire time! I’ve honestly never really thought much of her, but seeing her in person I really do like her now and she’s totally my favorite! During our 45 minute wait, there were several people in need of medical attention from heat exhaustion. We all were pretty hot and thirsty too, but had nothing to drink. George suffered less since he was preoccupied on the phone, but Emilie just looked plain miserable. I was happy that I could actually breastfeed her to get some liquid in her, but it sort of went all to waste once she projectile vomited onto the woman behind us (as well as a little on the woman next to her)… luckily it was only on their feet… and a little of their pants (she was sitting down on the floor too)… she wasn’t too happy about it, but at least it was just breast milk, right? Oh my gosh, was that was so embarrassing. Well, after emptying her stomach out, and Scott convincing me to stay, Emilie had a nice nap on my shoulder for the rest of the waiting and most of Trumps speech. We gradually inched our way forward about 5 feet away from the women who Emilie puked on… When Trump finally came out, the volume cranked up and the excitement soared! I was mostly excited to see his hair in person more than him himself, but hearing him was exciting too! And just think, we’ll probably never be able to see him again in person. The whole time, there was a common energy of emotion from the crowd of finally getting justice and vengeance against the political system. The government that has betrayed us all and won’t listen, and the strings, games and ties within are too strong. No one will listen to us! He will! That’s why we don’t care what the media think/says/feels. If they’ll rant against him, all the more to like him. The media lies and filters to show the negative and what their corporates want them too. Politicians have their own game, and the Republicans we’ve elected have betrayed us over and over again, doing exactly the opposite of what they said they’d do. I actually had unaffiliated myself Republican party because of how they would turn around and not do what they said they’d do once elected in office. I think many democrats feel the same way about their own party, at least some of them. Anyway, if you mess with the American people long enough, prepared to get screwed. We’re sick of the status quo! They’ve lied and they’ve lied and they’ve lied to us. We’ve finally found a way to have our Revolution legally and without bloodshed and Trump is our ticket people! Our Constitution has been ripped to shreds and cannot function anymore in a system full of so many corrupt people. I think Trump will lead us on a path of healing, shake things up, and hopefully get us on our way back to healing by really giving them a run for their money. They all hate him, and that’s exactly why we love him! The government has NO say in who we vote for anymore. True, Trump probably will not do all that he says he’ll do (no one ever has, it’s impossible). Part of why he’s probably putting his positions so hard right is so he can bargain and stay somewhere in the middle… at the very least he’ll stir things up. And at the very least, I’d like that to happen!
Today I was so disheartened to realize that I let George have 2 hours of screen time, so to recompense, we all played outside for three whole hours! I actually let him play in the dirt, and Emilie actually ate the dirt… Yeah it was pretty grows! Her teeth looked all rotted from the dirt-turned-mud in her saliva, and I couldn’t see a spot of mouth color in there! I'm not sure if that whole situation makes me a good mother or a bad one! I hear from many people that babies eat dirt because of minerals. Well, I doubt that, but it probably helps them get germs and build up immunity. Well, I at least can feel good about that… unless she gets ring worm or the bubonic plague…
It was so beautiful outside with the sun reflecting off the branches and casting mystical shadows. Even the grass glinted with the sun. The breeze was cool and oh so perfect along with the light heat of the sun, and I couldn’t help but feel so at ease. There must have been at least 15 minutes of silence as the children played in the dirt, completely entranced. At the moment I’m giving them both a bath, because I refuse to breastfeed Emilie while her mouth still is caked with dirt, and both of the kids scalps have a layer of dirt along with their hands, arms and legs. I think they ate enough of the dirt to keep enough of the germs in their system to build up their germ immunity.6 Before we came inside for good, we stopped by the chicken to collect eggs. Emilie’s and George’s favorite activity is to feed them scratch. It’s so cute to see Emilie try to say, “hi chickens!” while George and Emilie grab fistfuls of scratch and attempt to get at least half of it in. George loves having the chickens peck his fingers as he sticks them through the chicken fence, and Emilie loves to try to attempt it too, though I’m glad she’s never succeeded to get pecked yet. Well, it was indeed a very fun outdoor day, and the kids had a lot of fun, as well as me while I watched them go crazy. :) Now time for bubble bath. Go bubbles, go! Aw, it's been too long! Well, anyway, what's happened? Well, we've had a terrific visit from Aunt Karla and Aunt Adele a few days ago and the kids were so thrilled (and us too) to have them! True, Emilie looks like she's being tortured, but she's actually did quite well despite what it looks like in the picture! It was so awesome to have them here for Easter too, and they got to partake of our new Easter traditions (Resurrection Rolls with a picnic in the breeze, and the rocks in a easter basket replaced by toys and chocolate bunnies in the morning). It truly was awesome to have them over and it's sad that the visit was cut so short! Scott, George and Karla really enjoyed a massive hike after our Sunday picnic while Adele and I enjoyed ourselves sitting on the blanketed grass and chatting. This Easter truly was beautiful, and we can't wait until the next one. It's such a beautiful holiday and I think I'll call it my favorite since it was so happy and hardly stressful at all. We did have an Easter dinner on Saturday, but it really wasn't that hard at all (Scallops cooked in butter, Sweet Potatoes, and a butter & salted vegetable dish. Of course, we also had sparkling cider!). Yes, we had a very happy Easter, and it truly is among the most special holidays because it celebrates our Savior Jesus Christ's resurrection and the beautiful gift of the atonement! We can live again after we die, isn't that an amazing gift? I think so!
On Monday it started getting a bit chilly, and now it's even snowed! I do love the big puffy white puffs that float down from the sky! The more puffy the white snow flakes, the bigger I grin every time. Our wind gusts have been very hard though too, but we've been safe inside our cozy home. When getting the kids all bundled up to go outside, George was excited to try his new hand-me-down Windbreaker, but quickly wanted to go back inside after he felt the hard gusts of wind! I managed to keep them outside for 20 minutes, but now they both have a cold. Well, I can't win. High security inmates get more outdoor time than the average American kid, Child psychologists and grandparents insist how important it is for children to be exposed to the outside (no matter what the weather), and I'm sort of crying in-between. "Yeay! I got my kid outside!... Awww... they have a cold and now I can't expose them to another human soul... and awww, I still have to take them outside so now they're NEVER GOING TO HEAL!!!" Ok, that was me being exasperated. Seriously, if you listened to everyone... well, you'd be dead (because whether it's a terrorist or an environmentalist, they'd prefer you'd just die... both for different reasons). I guess we just have to use our best judgement and common sense (a cold really isn't that big of a deal I suppose). Anyway... we saw a bunny on the walk and it made the walk worth it, cold and all. I have accomplished my worst, dreaded nightmare... getting a splinter out of one of my children, George! No less than in a pad on his finger too. He did amazingly well, and I cant imagine how I got away with not having to pull such a big splinter in a vulnerable place before! All before I could get tiny minor splinters with my fingers... Except this one, and oh was it nasty. George partly handled it well because I acted so nonchalantly, but there was sheer panic inside!!!! A little bath and some tv helped with the process too, though there was plenty of struggling till I got it out. Phew. I'm glad that's over.
It was a miracle we could get to our appointment yesterday. Scott and I had made sure to get chains for the car after Emilie’s appointment, and it turns out that we don’t even need a 4-wheeler now! We got up steep, snowy and icy roads! What a miracle from Heavenly Father!
Once at the appointment, all went pretty well to start out with. Our doctor and assistant were amazing with George and George handled everything so well! They shot was the hardest part, but they hid that really well and tried to mask the pain with a numbing past that tasted like a lollypop and “Mister Tickler” which buzzed around the area the shot was taken. George really disliked it, and it took at least a whole minute to inject the entire shot, but George did a fabulous job and enjoyed the TV break as the shot’s medicine sank in. Well, it turned out that George was a little bit too wiggly and that our doctor wasn’t able to get anything done. She said she could do small cavities with him and routine checkups and that she’d love to still take care of him, but with the amount of damage, she really recommended a Specialist, and didn’t want to traumatize George. Luckily there was a Specialist she knew right down the street! The Specialist too, being no less than the previous Director of the Dental Care center at Rady Children’s Hospital (the main go-to children’s hospital around here)! We’re really blessed and excited that George will be getting his dental work done with her, and his appointment will be next week. We will have more options for calming and sedation too. After the appointment, George was given the surprise of opening the antique cash register for TWO prizes. I asked him after if he had a good appointment and he smiled and said yes! Very happy that so far, all his dentist experience has been very positive! I’m going to aim at keeping it that way, and we’ll see how the next appointment goes when she evaluates him. |
Ms. MaryJust one of those average amazing moms... Cause you know, mommy = amazing. Archives
January 2017
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