Deep Thoughts

Why do sock sizes 6 - 7.5 fit shoe sizes 7 - 10? Shouldn't the sock sizes correlate with the shoe sizes? This baffles me.

"My pee-pee is gone!"

After a long afternoon at a friend's baptism, Ry made the mistake of flushing the toilet for T. He was very distressed.

Our first outing after PT went really well. He was a bit of a wild man after being at home for 3 days, but we had no accidents. We stopped at the outlet mall on the way home to get T's fall shoes. At an 8.5 W, he is officially out of baby shoes at Striderite. *Sniffle* We were all pretty wiped out by the time we got home. I hoped he would sleep in this morning, since he only had a 20 minute nap yesterday. Alas, no luck. He was awake at 6:30, complaining that he was "stuck" in his bed. It looked to me like he was just under the covers, but what do I know?

Time flies when you're peeing on the potty

I'm shocked by our potty training progress over the past 3 days (knocking on wood). Yesterday morning was a bit frustrating with probably 6 accidents. It seemed like yesterday evening it finally started clicking, and so far today we haven't had any pee accidents. We're still working on BMs in the potty, but he's at least telling us when he has started going. The last one finished in the potty, even if it didn't start there. All of this has led me to the conclusion that there really is something to waiting until kids are "ready" to use the potty. I sort of thought it was crap sold by the diaper companies.

In some ways, it is. According to this article, in the 1950s 95% of kids were potty trained by 18 months. Today, the average age is 37 months (just over 3). The author posits that the primary reason it's so late today is that diaper companies started to convince parents to wait until kids were "ready" to potty train. My experience was very frustrating when we first started trying to train T at around 18 months. This experience has been frustrating, but progress has been measurable and steady. I'm sure T would have been potty trained before now if I stuck with it when he was younger, but I also might not have any hair left.

It's certainly a lot more convenient to keep kids in diapers. For us, it finally boiled down to not wanting two in diapers. Diapers are crazy expensive and I didn't want to deal with potty training with a newborn (and all the other issues that is sure to create). I'm hopeful that within a week or two we'll be mostly accident-free. Plus, I've gotten to watch T's adorable little bum in his big boy underwear for 3 days. Seriously, seriously adorable.

See?

See, everybody loves bacon!

Foodies love bacon.

Day 1: Not so bad

Yesterday afternoon was not as tragic as I feared. T only had 2 accidents out of probably a dozen good potty trips. He only asked to put a diaper on once. He gets a really funny, wide-eyed look on his face when he's about to pee, so it's been fairly easy to get to the potty before let down. After his afternoon drink and snack we were on the toilet about every 10 minutes. I have to assume at some point he'll learn to hold it so he doesn't go so often? So far, no BM in the toilet, but we'll work on that one today. I'm just grateful that it's warm enought to let him run around in underwear and a T-shirt.

Strangely, the hand-washing seems to be the sticking point. He's a huge fan of the peeing and the flushing, but not so much washing his hands when he's done. I sort of get it. When you've peed 8 times in one hour, that's a lot of time spent washing hands that could be spent playing.

He also has the cutest little bum. Yesterday he turned around and looked at me and I couldn't remember what he looked like as a baby. Sad.

From Indexed

http://thisisindexed.com/2009/08/much-crying-all-around/

Let the games begin

After months of kicking the potty training can down the road, we're finally starting today. Tucker has been using the toilet sporadically for the past few months and is crazy psyched about wearing big boy underwear (we have a lovely selection of Elmo, Diego and plain white). I even got some of those cloth-inside, plastic-outside oldschool training pants for naps (and overnights?). Today after he gets home from school, we're rolling up the living room rug and going straight to the underwear. Pray for patience over the next couple of days. It should provide some interesting blog fodder, at a minimum.

Pregnant on campus: A case study

Today I went to campus to buy the DVDs for my telecourse this semester. The looks I got from the folks around campus were an interesting mix of pity and horrified fascination. You'd think they had never seen a pregnant woman on campus. It was certainly a different reaction than I'm used to getting. It should be interesting to waddle in there in November to take my exams.

The best $8 I spent this summer

We had a morning playdate at Bounce U today. This place is kiddo heaven. For $8, your child gets to play in two huge rooms of bounce equipment for 90 minutes. Then, they give them a snack! T was in his happy place. He also fell in love with one of the employees. He dragged her through all of the bounce mazes and made her play basketball with him. The look in his eyes as he grabbed her hand and took her to the next activity was pure infatuation. Towards the end of the session, his little arms and legs were shaking while he climbed the ladder. Hopefully this will translate into a great nap. At snack time, I sidled up to his paramour and asked if she babysat. She does. Score for me! I have a feeling we'll be at Bounce U every week once the weather starts turning cool.

Precious Moments

I am often struck these days by what a little man T is becoming. All of a sudden he's this tall, sturdy boy with his own opinions. He talks almost non stop and has a way of making observations ("Mommy, your head is too big." "Baby's not ready yet. He needs a jacket.") that crack me up.

Tonight he was an especially sweet little person. He mostly wanted to read books and snuggle on the couch. When I laid him in his crib, I looked over and saw that he had gathered his menagerie of bedtime animals around his head. I couldn't see him at all, only a slightly moving iguana tail. When I went to tell him goodnight for the last time, I saw that he was intensely studying a mouse. First he checked out the ears, then the whiskers and nose. "Good night baby," I said. "Good night mommy." "I love you," I crooned. "I love you," he whispered sleepily. Then, as I went to shut the door he yelled "Sweet dreams mommy!" Sweet dreams my little man. These moments are fleeting and precious and I don't take the time to appreciate them often enough.

New adventures in preschool

We've decided to pull T out of the preschool he attended for the past year. There were a lot of reasons, but the straw that broke the camel's back was a 20% tuition increase slated to start on Sept 1. We got notification of the increase Thursday. Add that to T's rotating teachers (he's had 3 sets in 9 months) and general poor administration, and we decided it was time to find another solution. I went in to give our 30 day notice and felt like my decision was confirmed. The new director (another recent change), didn't know that I had to give a 30 day notice to get my deposit back. She didn't know how I was going to get the deposit back or whether my last month of school would be applied against it. As the director, I had assumed these were issues she would be familiar with. My bad.

Since I'm not in school for the next year, we started looking for a more traditional "preschool". We found a cooperative preschool sponsored by a church nearby and went to visit yesterday. It's definitely a different thing. The school is only offered for the 2-year-olds on Tuesday and Thursday from 9 - 11, so it won't be a daycare solution for when I go back to work. It is, however, still a break for me a couple times a week and continuing socialization for T. It's also less than a third of the price we were paying for two half days at his old school. The other thing I like about it is that since it's a co-op, I will be the "helping parent" about once a month. We also have to serve on a committee. It should be a good way to meet more people in the area and get to know the other parents and kids in the school (something I never did at the other school). Overall, I'm pleased with the way things have turned out.

The week of mom

My mom spent this week with us. It was really nice to have her here, especially since Ry has been with his dad all week. We took her to Sesame Place on Tuesday afternoon. T had a great time, and discovered some new attractions.

T loves his Neena. This works out well for both of us, since it means that he's all about having her put him to bed at night. She has him in hysterics at least once a day. I'm really glad to have the company this week. Ry should be home Sunday for the week, but then gone for the week again.

Life is crazy

We've had quite a crazy few months. Ry's job has been extremely intense. I am pregnant, and until the end of June, was finishing prerequisite courses for a nursing degree. My father was diagnosed with metastatic renal cell cancer in May. My mom just found out she has osteoporosis. On Monday, we found out that my father-in-law was going to have an open heart bypass surgery on Wednesday. We're trying to stay focused on the positive, and keep ploughing through. If the blog has been untended for large stretches of time, it's because we were coming to grips with another unwanted surprise. I try to keep the blog light and focused on the joys in our lives. I'll continue to do that. In keeping with that vein, my dad's treatment is going well and my father-in-law came through the surgery well. He's going to have a long recovery, but all signs are good. Here's to hoping life is calmer for a while.

Around 27 weeks

The latest belly picture. I'm about 27 weeks and getting ready to go to a friend's wedding. More about that later, because I stayed up way past my bedtime last night.

This won't hurt a bit

T has been abnormally, shall we say, curious, lately. We were cleaning the downstairs bedroom to find that T had gotten into my latex gloves and was proudly wearing them. He also got a kick out of trying on women's shoes at DSW the other day. Today he was particularly contrary and decided to get into anything and everything he wasn't supposed to.

Lucky for us, we're leaving him with Neena tomorrow for 24 hours to go act like real adults. Some friends of ours are getting married, as as the wedding is nearly 2 hours away, we're spending the night. If I wasn't pregnant, I might even have a glass of wine or four. Regardless, it'll be nice to have an evening of adult conversation unpunctuated by pleas to take one more bite or quit drawing on the table with the butter knife. We'll also get to sleep in (which I guarantee will mean something very different to those of you without small children). Ahh, the joy of grandparents.

Space bags to the rescue?

Yesterday I went through my and Ry's wardrobe to attempt to make some space in our already overcrowded dressers. Our basement is rapidly starting to look like a consignment shop. I have boxes and boxes of baby clothes, boxes of off-season adult clothes and now, boxes of off-season maternity clothes. Where do people put all this stuff? I don't want to get rid of any of it, because, you know, there's another baby coming and I have no idea what might or might not fit him. I'm afraid that since he's going be born in the opposite season as T, none of the clothes are going to be the right sizes and I'll have twice as many boxes of baby clothes. We're considering purchasing the infomercial Space Bags to see if we can condense and free at least part of our basement from the onslaught of clothing. Do you know anyone who has actually used these things? In general, I'm skeptical of infomercially products, but I'm drowning!

And you're not even anemic!

Today I had my 27 week midwife appointment. As per normal, everything is going well. My glucose test came back A-OK, and as my midwife said "And you're not even anemic!" Apparently, most pregnant women start getting anemic around this point in their pregnancies (bacon, bacon, bacon). She cheered the 6 pounds I gained over the past month (thank you Dos Reales and Monicals), and listened to the little man's heartbeat. I am now entering the every-2-week-appointment phase, since I'm into the last trimester! Life is good here on the ranch.

T and I spent the day with our friends yesterday. We hit the beach for the first time (!) this season and hung in their pool in the afternoon. Of course, I forgot to bring my camera to the beach, but got some pretty funny pictures of the 3 boys later in the day. Will try to get them posted soon. I also got a taste of life with two boys. My friend has an 18 month old and a 2 month. While I'm glad mine won't be so close together, life with two is really not as crazy as I feared. Plus, I got to hold the baby a lot. Ry and my friend's husband had dinner with us, and we got T home only 30 minutes past bedtime. It was a great day, and no one is burned.

St Francis de la Sissies

I know a lot of you have seen this already, but it was too cute not to share. I also know my posts have been pretty boring lately. Frankly, life has been pretty quiet lately too. I'm enjoying the last few week of summer before my online course starts at the end of the month. My mom is coming to visit at the end of the week. We also have a wedding, a visit to Colonial Williamsburg and potty training to do before the baby comes. I'm sure potty training will provide lots of blog fodder (and T's adolescent embarrassment). Posts will probably continue to be light on content for a while, but I'll try to keep pictures of the boy flowing (Tantie).

The first minute or two is a bit tedius, but stick with it. Please to enjoy.

Invitro meat, seriously?

Is anyone else as horrified by this as I am?

And we're back

We had a lovely trip back home. It's strange because several years ago when we went back, it was a mad dash around to see everyone before our time was out. This trip was considerably more relaxed. I think it's because our friends have mostly moved away from the area. We also have this little boy that makes a nightlife considerably more difficult. We spent a lot of time at this park, where they had a water play area. T thought it was the best thing in the world.
We also visited a local apple orchard/Oz. They have the world's best apple donuts. I truly believe they've filled them with crack.
My Dad spent a good portion of the week recovering from his latest treatments, and so his birthday ended up something of a week-long celebration. We generally ate ourselves stupid the whole week though, so we can't really blame the birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!
T invented a new game. Instead of throwing the basketball through the hoop, he wanted to hold onto the net and toss the ball as far as he could. It appeared to be a lot of fun, and he had a far greater success rate that with the traditional game.
Alas, we still had to return home. Our trip went well again. T took a good car nap, which is rare these days. Overall, the 14 hours in the car weren't nearly as bad as I feared they would be.

I'm slowly getting the house back in order. We have a two-week break before my mom comes to visit.

Doofy Indeed

Sara Haskin's latest. I have often commented about what morons husbands are in modern advertising. The ad world seems to offer equal opportunity sexism. When I was home last week I saw a billboard advertising a car wash with the tagline "Get out that old girlfriend smell."

On Home Birth

Another interesting article about home birth and midwifery in our country. Please to enjoy.