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Parenting: From pregnancy to baby names and toddler tantrums – instructions not included, batteries sold separately.

STOP!! It’s Potty Time!

February 16, 2012
by modernmama

It began Saturday!   Elijah was set loose,  bare bottom.

For the previous couple weeks Elijah and I have been talking about him learning to use the potty.  Well, actually I did most of the talking, and he gave “yeshes”. He’s been very excited about learning to use the potty and has frequently taken notes while joining Dad or Mom about how to do it.

So this weekend launched the next big milestone.  I brought home a simple potty with a removable bucket, a.k.a pee-can, Friday night. After his bath he happily got acquainted with it, ready for Saturday.  To our surprise, his first attempt was a complete success with all pee in the potty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, after a round of shopping and another potty purchased from Ikea, we had two pots, for different rooms.

When he was set free he didn’t want to sit on either of the two potties we had.  Normally fearless and already having sat on them, this was unexpected.  I took him into the bedroom, freeballing it, and closed the door with both potties with us and asked him if he was ready to sit on one, now that he had some privacy.  Almost instantly he was on the pot! Then, jumped up and sat on the other one. He went back and forth, trying both and turned out, he seemed to favor the Ikea model, though smaller.

“Dad, come take a peek at your son!” I shouted down the hall.  Elijah smiled behind his binky as Dad opened the door.  High Fives all around for sittin’ on the potty!

Elijah carried a potty out to the kitchen where we intended to hang out most of the day, since pee and stinky* are easiest to clean off tile, rather than carpet.  Minutes later he peed again, but this time, under the dining room table.  This is his hiding spot for everything, including taking care of business. It was almost the only accident he had all weekend.  He then finished up on the potty.

We built a fort in the kitchen for him to barricade himself in. He spent the rest of the day naked running around and peeing in the potty.  Sunday went the same way! It’s amazing how exciting stinky and pee are now!

Now all week he’s been without a diaper most of the time at home.  The only problem so far was last night. Elijah did a stinky all on his own and no one knew.  And he didn’t have wipes or TP around so tried his hand….  Buahahahahaaaa… DAD got to deal with that one!

It’s a good idea to have a stash of TP in life, less you wind up with stinky.

 

*we call poop as stinky ;-)

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No No No No No No No No

February 9, 2012
by modernmama

My son Elijah, who’s 20 months now, has in the last week perfected his “no.” For the last few months he’d been making the “mm, mm” noise and shaking his head side to side to say no.  Now….it’s all “no!”.

And there are a variety of ways in which to say no.

Tonight I was taking away a plate of food he was holding on to, but didn’t care too much about.  SO he just held a tight grip as I pulled it away, but extended his arms with it slowly saying, “Nnnnoooooooo…” It sounded like a slow motion replay. It was a family LOL moment.

“Elijah it’s time to say g’night to Grandma,” my husband says.

“NO!” replies Elijahs in a little boy squeal.

Then there’s the frantic, “No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!” as he chases me to come back and open the door to the fridge.

The calm, “no,” in reply to a simple yes or question that he’s willing to answer when he’s not tired or hungry.

And the no that comes as he’s flinging his body to the floor in protest that starts with a “no” and combines “ugh” at the end, “Noooough!”

And the bouncy, “No-o-o-o-o,” that comes from toddling away from the proposition of a diaper change.

When my husband and I are also not tired or hungry, it’s actually ridiculously funny.  Sometimes we ask him questions, just to hear the spoken word in different forms. This is not his first word, just the one, of course, that most children will find the most valuable to use at their age to establish their will, independence and desires.

“Yes” is thrown into the mix too, but less frequently and usually in response to definite yes answers to questions like, “Do you want to go to the park?” and “Do you want some juice?”

So you get to this point and ask yourself, “Will they ever grow out of this stage?”  And the obvious answer, “NO!” You’ll experience this for another 18+ years. Yikes!

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That Ain’t No Etch-A-Sketch

February 1, 2012
by modernmama

Hubby’s favorite movie (at the time we got together) was JUNO.  Ironically appropriate.

Best line ever:

Rollo: So what’s the prognosis, Fertile Myrtle? Minus or plus?
Juno MacGuff: I don’t know. It’s not seasoned yet.
[grabs products]
Juno MacGuff: I’ll take some of these. Nope… There it is. The little pink plus sign is so unholy.
[shakes pregnancy tester]
Rollo: That ain’t no Etch-A-Sketch. This is one doodle that can’t be un-did, Homeskillet.

Of course, our son’s nickname until month 8 when we actually agreed on a name, was Doodle.

 

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Learning to Draw

January 26, 2012
by modernmama

I just sat down to write another post and I could hear Elijah dragging something along the wall in another room.  It’s not uncommon to hear and recently it’s been his wooden tools that he got for Christmas.  So I went about my business, opening up the page and logging in when I heard him babbling through a binky in his mouth and heading in my direction.  I turned around to see what he was asking for and his hands were outstretched in front of him as he came in to see me.

“Ish, ish,” is about what he sounded like. This particular “ish, ish” was asking to have his hands wiped off.  I took a look and realized what it was.  Lipstick, of course.

As I took a moment to think about how he could’ve gotten it, I remembered him carrying his stool around and figured he must have taken it back into the bedroom and used it to reach the top of my dresser. Oh well, let’s clean that up.

I wiped the largest chunks off his little fingers with a paper towel, took the lipstick cap and asked him to show me where he got it from.

*I’ve made a point of rarely getting upset when he comes to me having done something wrong, so he’s never afraid to tell me.  But don’t get me wrong, I definitely let him know if he did do something wrong and have him help correct it. He’s now become quite the little cleaning helper.

So he leads the way down the hall and points to the floor where he pointed to the lipstick base, now empty and then pointed to the wall.

All I could do was smile and chuckle as he proudly pointed and described his drawing.  Any other night, I would have grabbed one of the many cleaning cloths we have and had him help clean off the wall, but tonight I thought I’d share it with you, so I took a couple pictures.  (Including the artist)

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Am I Ready to be a Parent?

January 25, 2012
by modernmama

I think that most good parents at some point along the way ask themselves if they’re ready to have a baby.

My first instance of this came about a week after the shock of finding out I was pregnant for the first time wore off.  I was walking hurriedly down some stairs and my chest throbbed with each step – the constant reminder that my life was about to change.

That evening, my sore chest and I cozied up on the sofa for my routine bedtime read and I found that I hadn’t opened my book, but was lost in thought about the months and years to come.  In a few short minutes too much to type was thought. “I can’t believe I’m pregnant.  I’m not ready for a kid. I never planned to have kids. I’ve never even changed a diaper. I have no experience with children.  I don’t make enough money.  I’m so excited.  There’s no one else in the world I’d want to do this with other than my husband.”

And that was the first instance of this question, “Am I ready?”

There’s so many things to prepare for to make sure your little one has all the opportunity in life.  And suddenly it’s important to take care of yourself to make sure you can take care of your baby.  We were looking at college savings, health insurance, life insurance, organic food, vitamins, green cleaning products, going back to school ourselves and getting degrees, even a piggy bank!

Then there were all the baby essentials to get too!

Do I need a parenting class?  A birth class?  How do I breastfeed?  How do I hold a baby?  What if I drop it!?

I tell you, it REALLY sunk in when I was being wheelchaired out of the maternity ward nine months later with a 7lb 1oz swaddled boy in my arms. I felt the need to ask the nurse if they were really going to let me, of all people, just leave with another human being!

But I didn’t.  I just smiled.  And I realized that I probably wasn’t any more ready than I could be, but that I would do my best for that little guy, because that’s what parents do.

A friend of mine was recently thinking of starting the adoption process and said she wasn’t sure if she was ready yet.  I said, no one is ever really ready, you just prepare the best you can and throw yourself into it.  You learn along the way and love ‘em with all your heart.

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