kowalski cafe

Potty Time Update

2012-08-05T22:37:00.000-05:00

After 1 week of potty training, I'm happy to report a completely accident free weekend!

Even with our outings (planned to get used to other potties): children's museum, meals out at restaurants, zoo and swimming.

These boys even manage to keep their night time and nap time pull-ups dry 90% of the time.
The kids still require lots of reminders and I will still carry extra undies and shorts with me but I'm so proud of them!

Now.....they'll still have some work to do at daycare. They didn't make much progress during their two days there last week. I really hope they do better this week but I feel like we've done all we can do from our end!

Here's a funny one I have to share.

Carter had to go pee at the children's museum. But he was having too much fun and kept holding and holding it. Finally he agreed to go to the potty. I sat him down and he proceeded to pee. But it didn't go in the potty. It went straight in front of him, straight at - you guessed it - me! All over my shorts and legs. I figured he had a lot of pee coming so I quickly picked him up, turned him around and practically held him over the potty while he finished. During the adjustment, he was still peeing, like in a circle as I spun him around - boy had been holding it so long! It was quite a mess. I tried hard not to let my shock come out of my mouth because someone was in the stall next to us and I didn't want to embarrass Carter. I told him, "good job," cleaned up as best I could. Stall neighbor was gone by now. We washed hands and more and I had an awesome silent conversation with myself in the mirror. It went something like this: "Oh my gosh are you kdding me! Did that really just happen? That was freaking crazy!"

Somehow only one side of my shorts was wet and my purse happened to fall right in front of the worst of it. Carter was clean as s wistle. So we continued our fun at the museum! Crazy! Does this mean I should bring a change of clothes for myself now when we go out?

Potty Time

2012-07-31T14:34:00.002-05:00

I completely stopped blogging. I don't know what happened! I thought I'd be all over it this summer. Maybe it is a combination of my kids being so very non-stop and me getting larger and more and more tired as my pregnancy progresses.

But I'm back for a moment because I need to document our potty training work. After the kids turned one I stopped recording in their baby books and I don't write a lot of things down except on my blog so I need to get all of this down so we can remember for baby #3!

Day 1:

We randomly decided to start bootcamp Saturday morning. We showed the kids their diapers and said they are going bye bye. No more diapers. Grandmomma just left so they decided that she took the diapers. hehe! We had them sit on the potty (which we've been having them do off and on for almost a year now). We put on their awesome car and train undies and some pants and told them they could not pee or poo on the cool undies, they must go on the potty. Both boys peed themselves within the first 30 minutes of the morning. I think Carter also pooped. They didn't like it. I thought the undies might be giving them a sense of security that a diaper does, so we decided no more cool undies until they start using the potty regularly. Instead we did pants or shorts only but later just went bottomless all together.

So we just kept reminding to go and occasionally did "force" them to sit on the potty. Brad had the bright idea to use a timer. First we had them go every 15 mintues and by the end of the day, we set it to 30 minutes. Not once did either boy tell us he needed to go on his own. But they did get used to the timer idea and bolted to the potty with each ding.

We did not leave the house all day except for a short, hot walk outside, during which Carter peed himself. We watched too much TV but were glad the olympics were on! Carter pooped maybe twice on the potty and Nolan got a tiny nugget in the pot. One M&M has been the potty reward since we first put them on the toilet and still was the reward today.

Nap time and night time, we are using "night time undies" which are just pullups. We'll tackle that another time.

We felt defeated and thought about quitting but figured since we had already started and the boys are both very ready, we should push on. By ready I mean: They tell us as they are peeing in their diapers. They hide for privacy when pooping in their diapers. Once in a while, one will surprisingly rush to the potty and go.

Day 2:

Right when they woke up, we took the pullups off and ushered them to the potty. They are still reluctant the first time but loved seeing their new potty sticker charts! I just whipped them up on the computer the night before and already had lots of stickers around the house. They really liked the charts with their smiling faces on them and they liked picking out their stickers when they successfully used the potty. We made the charts a very big deal and tried to distract them from asking for candy after using the potty. We decided to maintain the timer deal....about 25-30 minutes. No longer very reluctant after the morning, I believe because they realize we can pause the tv show! They also mostly wore pants today, still no undies.

We had a successful walk with no accidents but were still desperate to get out of our house for a while! We headed over to their cousins' house for a couple of hours in the evening and were anxious to see how they handled using other potties besides their own and to see how they would do when very distracted by other toys and kids. Nolan had a small pee (I call it a drip, when they start to pee and remember not to so stop themselves) so we rushed him to the potty to finish the job. Thankfully there was no mess in their house! Both boys peed in the potty a couple of times but still only with the sound of the timer ding. At least no big accidents.

But now we worried if the boys would bother telling us they need to go or if they are completely reliant on the ding.

The good news is that Brad and I are starting to feel like we might get some success out of this rather than complete defeat. And neither boy pooped in his pants, only pee accidents. Nolan really showed some progress today. Carter still fought it a little.

Day 3:

Monday I had the boys by myself. We kept up the sticker chart like it was the greatest thing in the world but dropped the timer completely. We might as well have had the timer because I remind them so often to go potty! But if they told me no, we didn't go. I really wanted them to do this on their own or experience that discomfort of wetting themselves. I also decided to let them wear the undies, reminding them never to pee or poo on their awesomely cool undies.

We just had one pee accident in the morning, in his pj pants, from Mr. Nolan and I think Carter just did a tiny drip thing once or twice. We went grocery shopping and made it back home accident free. They wore the same undies and shorts all day.

I noticed that Carter will tell me he doesn't need to go for quite a while then he starts holding his penis while he tries to keep playing. Then I ask him again and he rushes to the potty. Also, both boys yell "Go away!" at us when they are sitting down to poop. hehe!

After work, Brad took the boys out for a walk and a little park time. Again, they were accident free. Yay! We are getting there!

Day 4:

The boys were supposed to go to daycare today but I wanted one more day with them to be sure they were really getting it. I also decided to not emphasize the sticker chart as much today. I just wanted to really take them out of the house and see how they'd do. My new diaper bag is my purse with some bag wipes, 2 undies and 2 shorts. After getting the morning pee and sometimes poo out, a quick episode of Little Einsteins so I could get everything ready to go, and one more potty trip, we were out the door and headed to the Children's Aquarium downtown.

Upon arrival, I told them they couldn't look at anything until we used the potty. They both peed on the potty and washed their hands. We toured the aquarium for maybe an hour. Before leaving I had them sit on the potty again. Nolan peed, Carter sat but said he didn't need to go. That's fine. We were off, accident free!

Then we met Brad for lunch. Still no accidents and both boys went to the potty with Brad at the restaurant. Carter still didn't do much on it though.

I'm so proud and almost ready to post the good news on facebook. You know, the kind of post that people really don't want to hear about! Don't worry, I didn't and won't post about it...that's what my blog is for, right? =)

Back home, as I am putting the leftovers in the fridge, I start asking my usual, "Who needs to go potty?" Carter says, "I pee pee." Oh you need to go? No. "I went pee pee in my pants." Bummer. Not too, too much but enough to need fresh undies and shorts. I rush him to the potty where he pees more and poops. That's okay, I'll take it.

I come back out and see Nolan hiding on the couch underneath 4 pillows. He did that this morning so I thought he was just playing around again. Nope, he was sitting there, peeing and pooping in his pants, in the privacy of his hide-out. Nooooooo! I still rushed him to the potty where he did a little more business.

Ugh... pullups on and straight to naps. Did this happen because I didn't make the sticker chart as big of a deal today? So bummed!!! Later this afternoon, we'll have to take them out and about again to see how they do. But I feel like we totally missed the poop opportunity from Nolan. He only goes once a day. Bummer.

I still feel like they need constant reminders to go. I'm nervous for daycare tomorrow. Especially when they will be so distracted by toys and friends. I feel like they might completely quit. Nana will just have to constantly remind them if she can remember to! I'll also have to bring plenty of extra shorts and undies!

I'll try to remember this is a work in progress and there will still be accidents but I just hope for some true confidence in them before baby #3 arrives! 2.5 more months! We can do it!

Big Changes

2012-04-11T21:35:00.001-05:00

Kowalski Cafe is growing.

Nope, not the blog, but the family the blog is about.

Brad and I have officially jumped on the

crazy train and are expecting baby #3!

I'm 13 weeks along and this little babe is

expected to arrive October 18th.

I've only been sick a few times, a little nauseated in

the mornings, a little tired all day.

But it is so significantly better than how sick

I was the last round, I feel guilty complaining.

We are pretty excited over here and not scared of

being out-numbered at all! Ha. Ha.

Got out the baby Sanuk shoes. Everyone in this Kowalski family has a pair!

The scoop on the Two-Year-Olds

2012-03-28T23:12:00.003-05:00

The boys turned two early February. We had to push their 2 year Doctor visit back almost 2 months because they were that far behind with their last vaccine. When they were supposed to get their last vaccine, they were sick so we had to push that back, hence the late appointment, now.

Most importantly, I'm happy to have two healthy boys! Here's an update probably mostly for family members who want the scoop:

- Carter is in the 90th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. He is 36 inches tall and 29 pounds.

- Nolan is in the 40th percentile for height and 20th percentile for weight. He is 34 inches tall and 25 pounds.

IS THAT NOT CRAZY HOW DIFFERENT THEY ARE?

The visit went great, no one has any illnesses and my boys have managed to only have a few colds during the winter season. I sure hope we can keep the colds to a minimum still!

Carter was showing off how well he kept his cool while doc listened to his breath, checked ears, nose, eyes, etc. But once he had to lay down for a belly check, he lost his cool completely! Boy was MAD!

Nolan practically did the same thing. He kept saying "dada wook" while doc did the checks. Another show off turned angry-don't-touch-me boy.

We did have a couple concerns for the doc:

Nolan's eyes. I always worried about his eyes as an infant and have somewhat continued to do so. Lazy eye maybe? Doc said she sees NOTHING of concern. Okay I'll drop it!

Nolan's speech. While Carter can have full on conversations with us, Nolan continues to be very difficult to understand and often doesn't make a big effort to use words or when he tries, he gets frustrated that we don't understand. Perhaps Nolan isn't that far behind but with Carter being so far ahead, the difference makes it stand out more to us.

Nolan truly understands EVERYTHING we say so I don't believe hearing is the issue. Maybe he just got used to Carter asking for stuff and naturally we gave the stuff to Nolan, too. He is much more quiet than Carter, too so maybe we just don't always hear him. That makes my heart sad. But we are also concerned that he never uses the "H, S, or F" sounds. "L" and "R" are not there either but I understand those can take a while to be learned.

For example, "Hot, hot, hot!" is a common phrase which Nolan states as "Ot, ot, ot!"

Brad thinks he has less than 50 understandable words. That was enough for doc to suggest we have him evaluated by a speech therapist. They will evaluate him in some way to see if they think it is necessary to have therapy at all. I figure we must do it! Perhaps he is completely fine and they won't suggest therapy. Some kids just talk later and that's fine. But just in case there is an issue, I can't imagine having stood by and done nothing when I could have helped. So we've got to go for it!

Back to the appointment. Can you believe I left Brad with the boys right before their shots?!? Am I a terrible mother? I had to go to make it to first period class on time (I was 2 minutes late). Sometimes we get through the appointment in time. Sometimes we don't. I snuck out to try and avoid a meltdown and heard Carter saying, "Where momma go?" as I walked down the hall. Brad later told me Nolan cried when he realized I was gone. I should have said goodbye. Blahh!! They received their shots in the leg simultaneously. Brad picked up a kid and the nurse handed him the other and he sat there while they cried on his shoulders for a bit. Eventually he took them out of the room to check out and get a lolly pop. Yes, I made Brad describe every detail of the ordeal. I could hardly stand it.

What an amazing dad. Carter and Nolan are so lucky. I'm so lucky.

So there's the scoop...Oh but there is so much more outside of the little doctor visit. I have so many fun things to share about these boys' personalities. This is one of many reasons I love the blog....with lots of family and friends so far from us I'm desperate for them to know my kids better so I'll just have to describe them.....and get more videos.

Thanks for reading!

and a photo, just because...

time to buy a bow tie!

2012-03-07T22:41:00.001-06:00

Okay you guys. I seriously have some kind of obsession with making these toddler bow ties. I really enjoy making them and forcing my poor little boys to wear them. So I bought some new material and created several more. A couple people have asked to buy a bow tie from me for their child for Easter. So I figured why not put them out there to see if anyone else wants to buy!

Anyway, every little boy needs a bow tie for Easter, right?

Here's the scoop.

Each bow tie is unique. Materials are all different because I select the fabric based on the pattern. Bow ties will come with a safety pin, no neck tie. If your kids are any bit as "I'll do it myself" as mine are, I would recommend attaching the bow tie to the shirt before dressing your boy! For $15, including shipping in the U.S., you can choose any of my fabrics and mix and match the tie and bow! Or you can purchase your own fabric and send it to me to me. You will pay through my paypal account and I'll ship very quickly!

Here are several pictures but if you email me for more info, I'll send you a powerpoint of all my finished bow ties (I have 20!) and fabrics (I have 24). rachael.kowalski@gmail.com.

And this is how cute they look on!

Party Time

2012-02-23T22:26:00.000-06:00

Here's to sharing the big #2 party with family and friends who live too far away and couldn't be there to celebrate! Watch out for massive details below. You know how wordy I can be!

Read my previous post, A Different Kind of Birthday Party, about how we used Echoage for this party.

So for the second birthdays, we wanted to do something simple, at our house. Well, when I told Brad how many people were coming, he said, "um...in our house?" Our house is not tiny but not large at all and there really isn't a big open area or anything like that. It would have been cramped! He was right. We were having dinner out with the kids one night at Picasso's Pizza, on their enclosed patio, and he suggested we have the party there. Well, there was no fee for the room. Just buy food and meet the 2 hour time limit and you don't have to clean anything up- ANYTHING, except what we wanted to take home with us! We were all over it!

In my previous post, I mentioned that I wanted to do a party that was low stress and would like to try to go green.

Here's the only "go green" detail we managed and only by chance: Real plates and cloth napkins. Much better than if it had been at my house because we would have done paper all the way!

The party wasn't stressful to plan but I really felt like with kids mostly around age 2 but ranging from 1 to 8 years old all running around, they needed some directed activities or we'd all go crazy, especially knowing how wild my two can be. So to the internet I went. And yes, I got a little carried away from "simple party" but I enjoyed planning and implementing!

THEME:
The theme was circles and colors were green and yellow! I found only a couple sites online with ideas for the circle theme. Real Simple and Design Mom - Round and Round Party. For a few evenings, I used a circle punch to cut out circles and hot glued them on a string for circle garland. I hole punched the leftover paper to make circle confetti. I cut out all different sizes of circles just to lay around the tables and I made a few paper chains. Finally, I picked up some helium balloons just before the party. I was so thankful that my brother and his wife helped us decorate! The activities, cupcakes, gifts and favors all went along with the theme, too!

ACTIVITIES:
Upon arrival, the kids headed to a table to string fruit loops on a shoe lace to make a party necklace. My kids arrived with Brad a little early so they ate lots of them while we decorated and put maybe 3 on a shoe lace and then wouldn't wear the necklace. haha! Obviously parents needed to help and some kids still ate the goodness right off the necklace...wouldn't you? And some took it seriously and made some awesome necklaces!

Once everyone got there and had a chance to make a necklace, we headed to the middle of the room for story time. I read Duck on a Bike (to build some anticipation for the boys' gifts). I really wanted someone else to read but Aunt Jessie and Auntie Krissie, the perfect animated readers and the only ones who would probably be up for it, both live in other states so I was it. The kids all seemed pretty excited about it, all except for Nolan. I think he had spotted the markers on the next table and wanted to get to that activity immediately and he hardly napped. He kept coming up to me, trying to take the book and throw it on the ground. Brad kept trying to distract him. I ended up skipping a few pages (sorry kids)! But it is a really cute book!

looks sweet but he is totally trying to take the book away from me!

Next we headed to the hat table. My school sells color paper by the roll for super cheap so I bought lots and made a bunch of green and yellow hats. They were super easy to make! The kids got to put lots of circle stickers on their hats and color with crayons and markers. Markers are huge with my kids right now! Carter and Nolan's hats had some special little circle antennas. The kids really loved coloring their hats and could have done this for the whole party probably!

FOOD:
Chips and Salsa were out the whole time. Then pizza and fruit arrived and parents dished up a plate for their kids and everyone snacked.

We had all the kids come sit at the circle table and we sang happy birthday twice (I don't care, they have to share birthdays but at least can get their own song!) Carter and Nolan blew out the candle in their cupcake then everyone chowed!

Our friend, Kendra made our cupcakes. She makes some amazing things! Check them out at Cakes By Kendra. Ours were circle themed and delicious!

GIFTS:
Last, the boys got to open their gifts. They each received a bike! We knew they loved sitting in the bike seat on our bikes and they needed a ride-on toy so their group gifts were balance bikes! You sit on the seat and walk with the bike, no pedals or training wheels and the front wheel turns just like a real bike. The idea is that eventually they will run on it and start to let go and balance. Mine are right at the starting age for this so we'll see how it progresses!

They were super excited but really struggled on first try. Nolan now loves walking around on his. Carter prefers sitting on the bike with his feet propped up while we push! His is a little taller so I think he still needs another inch in height to feel comfortable.

FAVORS:
Guests began leaving and took with them a balloon, their necklace, hat and the party favor. We made a CD of songs the boys love and some we love for them to love...they aren't too bad for the adults to listen to (at least that's what we think)!

So I don't think I took really any of those pictures. A lot of family and friends were snapping away and I seriously appreciate that!

The whole party was wild and crazy but I think the kids all had a good time. I still can't believe my babies are two! The older I get, the faster time seems to go and having kids seems to have tripled the rate!

A Different Kind of Birthday Party

2012-02-22T21:44:00.002-06:00

Carter and Nolan turned 2 on February 3rd! I'm a little behind but want to share our celebration!

I have written a separate post all about the party details, here, but first I have to tell you about the type of party we had.

I didn't really even think about plans for their party until mid January. I started google searching ideas for inexpensive, low stress, go green types of parties. I'm just not cut out for some of these over the top parties for two year olds! We also just had Christmas and the idea of more toys taking over our house didn't sound appealing to me (although I'm sure it would sound great to the boys!)

So I came across www.echoage.com. I loved it at first read! Though I ended up reading lots about it to be sure it was credible.

It works like an evite. When guests get the invitation, they rsvp and are encouraged to contribute any amount of money. They don't have to contribute anything. Half goes to the charity you choose and half comes as a check to you to buy a single gift for the child. The idea behind it is to teach children about giving while still celebrating the special day. The gift is from everyone at the party and can be something big rather than lots of small gifts.

Our kids are a little too young to get the whole giving thing, in this scenario anyway. But I loved a lot of things about having an echoage party:

Keep gifts to a minimum and truly just celebrate the day. Especially just following Christmas.
Avoid so much wrapping paper waste by only having two gifts, one for each. Again, especially just following Christmas! I would have loved to really go green with the party but that is REALLY tough if want to decorate at all! More about that in another post, though.
Avoid getting many, many gifts that the boys may play with for a week and never again (not to say that the gifts are bad but that my kids are age two and that's how they play with toys...for a week then never again! unless I hide them and we pretend like they are new a while later). There are always things we want for the boys or things they need but we'll typically just go buy them unless someone specifically asks what to get them as a gift.
Save guests time and possibly money by not having to shop for a gift. (Although I felt like people contributed a lot)
Make people feel good for the donation. Giving feels good.

Things I did not love:

Echoage charges a percentage to use their site, to fund it. That's fine. I get it...just don't love it.
The invitation doesn't give enough information to people who are unfamiliar with the process and there is not free space in the invite for you to add your own two cents. We didn't like the idea of requesting money from people and so to make up for all of that we sent an email along with the invite to explain our purpose to the guests.
The site gives info indicating that you will not buy your child's gift until after the party, when the check comes in the mail. We, and I would assume lots of families, want their kids to open some present for their birthdays so we bought ours ahead of time and presented them at the party so everyone could see what they contributed to!
Echoage needs more charity choices. You can request that they add a specific charity but that takes time.

We tried this out with an open mind. We wanted to see how it went. Overall, I was pretty happy with it and would do it again or continue to search for something similar. I did come across a couple other neat ideas for ways to give or minimize gifts at birthday parties.

Ask everyone to bring a book and donate them all.
Ask everyone to bring one toy they no longer play with and do an exchange so everyone leaves with something "new."

I'm sure there are more ideas out there!

Potty Training Update

2012-02-12T21:20:00.001-06:00

In my last post, Potty Training Failures and Successes, I talked about our one weekend of many poo poos in the potty.

It was great but it seems to be over.

They had a week of no effort at daycare and the next weekend was so busy we could hardly think about training. Then another week at daycare.

This weekend we tried again a little. I still kinda want to do some boot camp style but Brad doesn't and a lot of people say to just let the kid do what he wants.

They still get rewards when they go pee or poo in the potty. They get to wear car diapers (pull ups with cars on them). We tell them not to pee or poo on the cars! And they were getting a sucker but those are just too messy and take too long to eat. So now they get one M&M candy.

We also still put them on the potty often. Right when they wake, again after breakfast, before and after naps, before bath, before bed.

Carter will seriously sit there and read his Elmo potty book FOREVER. Just go, dude! But I guess these things can take time to work out! He also seems to have mastered getting just a little tiny bit out, just enough for reward, only to finish in the diaper later. Not cool.

Nolan will sit for just half a second, do nothing, then say "done!" and beg to get off the potty. So today we got out the little potties again. He seems to like those better and will sit a bit longer.

Both boys still seem to mention something to us when they need to go, they just don't like doing the business on the potty anymore.

BUMMER! We'll see where all this goes. I don't want to be so forceful that they freak out and totally quit but I also want to get this show on the road! The road just seems a little longer now!

my new love

2012-02-11T14:29:00.000-06:00

Today is a very good day.

This...

Canon EOS Rebel T2i with 18-55 lens and 55-250 lens

is about to be in my possession.

Extra lens and all.

It has been a VERY long time coming and FINALLY, after hours reading consumer reports and comparing prices (and after getting our tax return!), this is the camera in our price range that seems to be the best option.

I have honestly, desperately been wanting a nice camera for probably 3 years now so I can't even put into words how excited I am right now!

Move over flowers and yummy perfume I got for my birthday. This is my real birthday present! And Christmas present (since I returned the kindle B got me) and probably Brad's March birthday present, too.

But now I'm kinda wanting the new kindle and an ipad and new iphones and a macbook...geez! But priorities win and this, my friends, is high on my list! All else can wait.

Interesting Article on Parenting

2012-02-06T20:56:00.004-06:00

Just in time:

My daily battles with two toddlers are becoming more and more common, as anticipated, but I can't help but believe there has to be a way to train them to behave! Now they are not terrible little boys by any means. Also I know there is no right way to "educate" them, but I'll take all the tips I can get. I just want them to know that I'm the boss (ha ha) and I want them to have some patience, even with themselves. They get so bent out of shape if they can't get the toy back in the case right or something like that. Any they have no sense of the meaning of "wait one minute please."

Anyway. I like this article. Someone posted it on facebook and I found it interesting. Maybe you will, too.

Why French Parents Are Superior

major makeover

2012-02-05T14:05:00.000-06:00

Look at my blog!

Just look at it!

After a few months hiatus, I finally picked up blogging again and my very good friend, Stephanie from This Casita, kindly encouraged me to give it a much needed makeover! As a result of her honesty, talent and skill, we now have the new and improved kowalski cafe!

I absolutely love it and hope you find it more pleasing to the eye!

Stephanie has an amazing talent with designing. I also love reading her blog where she tells fun stories, gives honest reviews, and gives us peaks at her adorable and busy little boy!

Potty Training Failures and Successes

2012-02-01T23:43:00.001-06:00

Someone has to post about the grueling potty training stories, right? If it totally grosses you out, don't read any further.

First, let me fill you in on my potty training feelings:

1. I HATE diapers for many reasons. Waste, diaper rash, odor, etc.

2. I believe you can train them young but understand it could be VERY hard work!

3. I kind of want to potty train mine young just for the challenge of it....and because I hate diapers.

4. I also believe you should wait for them to be ready.

5. I'm a little afraid of the potty training phase because the diaper bag becomes the change-of-clothes bag and you must know where a bathroom is at all times.

So.

Over Thanksgiving break (they were almost 22 months old), I had the bright idea to go ahead and try to train my boys. Boot camp style. Brad was totally not on board but he did a decent job faking it. We bought a potty and borrowed a potty and set them up right in front of the TV, with plenty of salty foods and drinks. We got a tiny pee from Carter but eventually we felt bad for their toilet-ring bums so let them get up and wear pants sans diaper. Keeping a close eye on them, we had a couple of pee accidents, tried to get them to the potty to finish but failed. Then one of them pooped in his pants. Ooohh, no. Gross. Way worse than diapers. Brad had to do the clothing clean up while I gave the bath. WAAAYYY too much work. We looked at each other and decided to enjoy our T-day break and so, called it quits on the potty training.

Total Fail.

For the next week or so, we kept the potties out in case anyone had a sudden desire to participate! But there is something about the little potties I don't like. I think it was the thought of having to clean them out in addition to the bums. More work.

I bought a little insert to go under the seat on the real toilet. I was hoping the boys would like getting on the real potty, too, like mom and dad. =)

Since that purchase, mid December, the boys would sit on the potty here and there and do NOTHING AT ALL. So annoying but I'll support it. I don't want them to fear the potty! Once in a while, if we saw one of the boys "working on it," we'd rush them to the potty in hopes that they'd finish there but no such luck.

(poor kids are really going to hate me for these pictures some day!)

So then last Saturday happened...

We were about to put the boys down for their nap after lunch and often, they go number two around this time so I urged Nolan to leave the bedroom and go walk around the house to get his business done (he likes to be alone for it). The conversation went a little like this:

Momma: "Nolan go walk around and go poo poo. Hurry up so we can go night night."

Nolan: He walks to the bathroom and says, "poo poo."

Momma: "Oh you want to poo poo in the potty?" Thinking, okay, I really need you to hurry and get to the nap and don't want to wait for you to sit on the potty and do your usual nothing, but whatever.

So I insert the kiddie potty and start to pull his pants down but he resists and starts to leave. Make up your mind kiddo. But then he comes back. He lets me put him on the potty. He grunts, there's a plop followed by a few more plops.

Oh. My. Gosh. Did that really just happen? CELEBRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep. We celebrated like it was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened.

Oh. Carter was jealous. He wanted in on the action. What did he do? Well, he sat on the potty and pooped, too!

More CELEBRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We called their grandmomma so they could share their good news. They told their poppy all about it when he came over that evening, too. They were very proud.
They were rewarded by getting to flush the toilet (something they used to do all the time for fun and we had to make them stop!) They also got to wear big boy diapers, pull ups. We happened to have some that were given to us when an older cousin stopped using them.

Okay so we just went through the day normally, figuring if they wanted to do this, they could. We wouldn't push it. Well, almost every poop after that one for rest of the weekend made it into the potty. The only downside was that often they'd start in the diaper, finish in the potty or start in the potty and finish in the diaper. And no one ever peed in the potty, at least not that we saw! Isn't that weird?

I have no idea what has been happening at daycare. I keep telling the boys to tell Nana when they need to go potty. So definitely still in diapers but they've been going on the potty at home every evening. Next weekend is their big birthday party so we won't be doing any serious training then either. So I have no idea how this is going to go down.

But this is it, I think. We cannot let the opportunity pass, right? They are ready, right?

See an update from two weeks later, here.

I LOVE this kiddie art!

2012-01-26T16:00:00.034-06:00

My mom asked that the boys color something for her for a Christmas present. Um. No. Don't pretend like all the scribbles don't start to look the same!

I did some searches and landed on my usual go to activity sites:

Chasing Cheerios
Play at Home Mom

Colorful glass rocks in a frame to hang in the window.
Here We Go.

Materials:
washable clear glue (white glue is fine but doesn't dry quite as clear)
foam paint brushes
small clear suction cups with metal hooks (came in packs of 4 at walmart)
fishing wire
small metal screw-in loops (not sure how to describe them. they come in picture hanging kits)
5X7 and/or 8X10 glass frames from Dollar Tree
glass beads/rocks from Dollar Tree

Before hand: Take out the backing on the picture frames so they only contain glass. You may also want to secure the glass to the frame with hot glue or more clear glue. I did not secure it except for the metal tabs already there. Also, split up or count out the rocks you'll offer the kids. I set out way too many and they were upset when the project ended with so many rocks left!

Pour glue on the front of the glass. I had my kids use their foam paintbrushes to spread the glue, after a little demonstration. I ended up spreading most of the glue for them, though! Be sure you have a place ready to put the glue brushes aside. And plan on using a lot of glue.

I set out little cups of the rocks, separated by color and placed one on the glass frame for them. Then they got right to it!

They did a great job but eventually wanted to take the rocks off and put them back in the cups! To help them realize they were all done when the frame was full, I had them lift it up and show their dad their work and let them set it up on a taller table (with some assistance). We talked about the fact that we had to leave it alone for a while to dry.

Right after, we did a second round with different rocks. I didn't take the backing off of these frames until they dried later but some of the glue leaked and stuck to the paper!

They were so proud of their work.

After they dried (I let them sit for a few days), I drilled small holes in the top and screwed in the little metal loops. Then I tied doubled up fishing wire through the hooks. The suction cups stick to the window and you can hang it up with the fishing wire. So bummed I didn't photograph the hanging technique!

We gifted a set to my mom since she asked for some art and a set to Brad's sister, Krissi who is an abstract artist. She lives on a boat so won't have room to hang them there, but she has a small art studio with a large window to display them!

I really like these and really want a set for my own house! I bought WAY too many rocks and still have some extra frames so we'll definitely make another set for momma!

Suggestion: You may want to add more glue once the rocks are on the glass. We shipped all of ours and some of the rocks came off. At least they are easy to fix!

Let's Learn the Letter A

2012-01-24T16:00:00.007-06:00

More activities from these mom blogs:

Play At Home Mom
Chasing Cheerios

Letter Lessons:

A while back I got all pumped to do these week-long lessons for each letter of the alphabet. I figured I could do one little thing a day to represent that letter. Well, I have this personality where I want to get it all done right away. I like to get to the end result quickly. Well, we did a day of letter A for what was supposed to be A week. And that's all we've gotten to! I think I tried to do too much for one day then lost my enthusiasm for it. Maybe I'll get back on it soon. Anyway, here were our A activities:

A scavenger hunt: I taped little papers with As on them all around the house. The boys collected them. I kept these out for a few days and kept hiding the letters at night.

I put a large letter A hanging over the table, with an Angel ornament below. I also put away all the fridge letters, except for the As. We talked about them for a few nights at dinner.

I let the boys dress up in all my aprons. (I collect them and have been wondering what I'd ever do with so many. Who knew?!?) They particulary liked the aprons with pockets. They loaded the pockets with cars!

I did most of this with them one evening after work, Brad was working late but I told him all about it. That evening they were saying the letter and pointing to it and all that good stuff (I swear!). The next morning, when they boys were having breakfast, I said, "Boys, tell daddy what letter this is." They shouted with such confidence, "Peeee!"

Wow. A is for Awesome.

Fun in the Tub

2012-01-22T16:00:00.008-06:00

More ideas from these mom blogs:

Play At Home Mom
Chasing Cheerios

Bath time does not just have to be part of bedtime routine. It is the quick winter alternative to swimming afterall, right?

All of these are really simple fun things to do. And it may sound weird but I really did just have all of these things in my house already, except for the bath color tablets.

Bath Time Fun:

Water balloons in the tub were a hit! You should fill some with water and some with air so they see some sink and some float!

You can buy color tablets for bath time. My kids love them! I let them throw the colors in after they try to undress themselves without help. Here is a blue bubble bath with blue toys. (maybe that could count for a letter B activity!) We I sorted through all our bath toys to find only the blue ones. Not sure how well the color lesson worked because they think every color is blue now!

Glow sticks in the tub, with the lights out. Serious awesomeness! (The lights were out for this pic. That is all the camera flash!)

Water Bead Play

2012-01-20T16:00:00.003-06:00

More activities from these mom blogs:
Play At Home Mom
Chasing Cheerios

Fun with Water Beads:
I had no idea how these things worked. Play at Home Mom uses them all the time and LOVES them so I had to give them a try. My father-in-law also had recently, randomly just given me a light box he found at a thrift store, thinking I may find a use for it. (um, yes!). I bought a clear plastic bin and taped the light box to the bottom, knowing how my kids like to discover! I dumped all the water beads in the bin. They come as teeny tiny balls in little plastic packs in the fake flower section. So I poured water over them, thinking they would just start growing before my eyes, absorbing all the water. I dimmed the lights and turned on the light box then brought my kids in to play and explore. Oops! Should have read the instructions! It takes hours for the beads to fully expand. I think my kids were like, "Okay, this isn't all that cool, mom." So we bailed for an hour or so and played outside.

When we revisited, the beads were somewhat larger. Still not full size. They were pretty cool at this point though. You can see them almost full size in the last picture. They feel a little slimy and are so interesting. I gave the kids spoons and containers to fill and spill. I kept urging them to keep the beads in the bin but that began to exhaust me, so I let them splash some. I had previously spread an old blanket over the floor (not knowing what to expect). So whenever one of the boys dumped a bowl of the beads on the floor, we'd put them all back in the bin together. I tried to just let them play freely but I'm such a control freak and fear having a giant mess to clean when we finish! I guess I'm telling you this because I was tired after the water bead play!!! I guess the more they use them and I enforce a rule to keep them in the bin, the more they'll know what type of play is acceptable. I don't even know if they would stain the carpet. I don't think so. But then I kept thinking if a bead went flying and was never put back, one of the boys would later find it and think it was a fruit snack!

Anyway, we played with them again later that evening. When finished, I saved all the beads in a mason jar. Since this first day, we've played with them one other time and I hope to get a few more uses. I have no idea how long they last.

Ornaments

2012-01-18T16:00:00.004-06:00

Making Ornaments:

I first have to say that all of the supplies for this activity were given to us as a gift from a Parenting magazine rep. (My husband is in media planning). By the way, I thought that was an adorable gift idea! The ornaments and all the little supplies were in a cute little bag.

The pictures describe the project pretty well. I set all the supplies out like you see below, hoping to encourage the boys to know what to do without too much guidance from me. But....ya know....I definitely had to guide them so that "Let's throw the supplies" didn't become a good idea. I also took most of the fluffy balls out. When they were in there, the bells and other noise makers were too muffled. I do have to suggest that you glue the ornaments closed when you finish! We let our kids dance with their new ornaments and two of them popped open spilling the fake snow all over. Oh well!

Re-purpose old Christmas Cards

2012-01-16T21:48:00.002-06:00

Brad says, "Why do our kids always have to be entertained?"
I say, "They are toddlers! Did you expect something different?!"
Actually, they play pretty well on their own or with each other when well-rested and not hungry. But....since they are in daycare all week, and don't get enough sleep there, our evenings can be quite frantic.

I always say how great they do when they are directed in some way, whether it is an organized activity or not. The only problem is that it takes effort, whether organized or not.

I'm going to post a few blogs about some of our little activities. Some are big. Some are small. Some were awesome. Some failed. Some I could pull together on a weeknight after work. Others were done over weekends or Thanksgiving or Christmas Breaks from school.

Just about all of these activities or projects come from one of these blogs:
Chasing Cheerios
Play At Home Moms

Christmas Card Puzzles/Matching Game:
Great way to re-purpose.
We keep all of our photo cards but next year we'll start a new tradition of putting them out in a basket each year to flip through and watch the families grow and change. This year, I took the regular, non-photo cards and cut the back off of them, then cut a small rectangle piece out. Then I set all the cards out on the table and gave the boys pieces to try to match. My kids may be a little young for this but they did okay. After some guidance, Carter "got it" and could find the matching card but got very frustrated when he couldn't make it fit just right (but that's his personality!). Nolan was more focused on getting the piece into a card spot whether it was the matching one or not. We've played a few times and they get better each time. Fewer cards and pieces to choose from helps!

beep beep!

2011-11-13T22:41:00.000-06:00

A little Sunday night grocery shopping with the Ps.

Dude, hug me back. I'm sorry I pushed you earlier.

Forgiveness at its finest.

And......
forgotten.

Sullivan Sunday

2011-10-09T21:48:00.000-05:00

Last week, Sullivan completed his last round of chemo!

Brain surgery in January followed by weeks of radiation and over 6 months of chemo and his treatment is finished except for accutane that will continue a bit longer. We pray the intense treatment is truly finished and this sweet boy is cured!

Right now, he is experiencing the typical low blood count phase where he is very weak and his immune system is compromised. Tonight he had a low grade fever and that is enough to send him into the hospital for antibiotics, fluids and a possible blood transfusion. Ugh!!!!

Let this be it, please! So he can get home, get well, eat more, gain weight and start his journey back to becoming the silly, active little boy he truly is!

Please, please, please, please, please!

You can read more about his journey at his Caring Bridge site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sullivanjones

activity time

2011-08-31T21:10:00.001-05:00

I spent the whole summer trying to get the kids out of the house, on fun adventures, exploring. It didn't even cross my mind that there are some nifty little things they can do at home!

This post also comes after a weekend of feeling tired and hoping my kids would either play happily with their toys or take a nap.

And it comes while I'm recently back to work and don't get to see my kids nearly enough!

I was feeling guilty. I google searched something like, "things to do with 18-month-olds,"

Somehow I ended up on one of those sites where someone posts a question (similar to my search) and a bunch of people answer. I don't think I could find it again to link up to it right now. But someone responded with this suggestion among many others:

~Give them large beads with large holes. Have them thread the beads onto a chopstick, then onto a pipe cleaner, then onto a shoe string.~

That didn't seem too difficult and what a neat way of working on fine motor skills using different levels of difficulty.

Here are the supplies I used for my modified version:
- wooden skewers. Cut the sharp tip off and place/glue a very tight fitting bead on one end.
- wooden beads
- pipe cleaners
- shoe strings

Tuesday after picking up the boys late again. 5:30. We headed straight to walmart to get our supplies. We had wooden skewers at home so I spent about $6 for the rest.

I set up shop at the kiddie table in the playroom while the boys turned on the DVD player in the living room and were busy dancing to their second cousin's band video. They get a little irritated if you try to stop them from doing something they are enjoying so I energetically told the kids to, "Come on! Come help momma! Come look at this!"

They joined me in the playroom and enthusiastically climbed into their chairs to see what was in store.

I gave each boy his own bowl of beads and his own stick. They just started exploring the items so I demonstrated putting the bead on the stick. Then I helped each boy put a bead in one hand and the stick in the other and encouraged him to try.

They got the idea. They really concentrated! But I thought for sure, this would be easy for them so I wanted to have the pipe cleaner and shoe string ready for levels 2 and 3.

Yeah.

I think my kids have been too busy running and jumping to bother with any fine motor skills.

Don't be fooled by the number of beads on the stick below. They did some, but momma did some, too.

I loved seeing them so focused on something. I traded them the pipe cleaners for the sticks but by this point they were no longer interested in threading the beads. Of course their attention spans only last so long so after concentrating as long as they possibly could, they just had to start experimenting.

Take the beads off the stick.
Dump the beads on the table.
Put the beads back in the bowls.

Stir the bowl of beads with the stick.

Stand all the beads up on their sides.

Throw the beads.
Lick the beads.
(Please monitor this activity carefully so beads don't end up in their mouths!)

So I suddenly had a great idea! We moved to the floor and I dumped all the beads in a pile. I put a few beads of one color in one bowl and a few of the other color in the other bowl. I showed them how to pick up a bead and put it in the bowl with the matching beads. Totally thought I was so clever with my bead-matching idea. Yeah. No. They aren't quite ready for that one yet. They paid zero attention to colors! But they loved rushing to put all the beads back into the bowls!

My search also lead me to the Chasing Cheerios blog. This mom has so many awesome ideas for quick, easy, learning activities for a variety of ages. They are very montessori school inspired. She has a 1 year old and a 5 year old.

My personality type makes me want to get all these ideas down, buy all the supplies immediately, do several of them in one sitting with the kids, you know, crazy talk. And this would definitely lead to disappointment. So I'm going to try one a week. That's my plan anyway!

don't drink the water!

2011-08-30T22:09:00.002-05:00

In July, during our beach vacation, the strangest thing happened.....

and I totally forgot about it until right now.

We were letting the boys play around in the zero entry pool. The entrance is beach-like and there is a mushroom fountain for kids to splash around in.

So I'm on Carter duty. Brad's on Nolan duty. Ginger is on Ronan duty. Aaron is filling the gaps.

So this kid... I mean he had to be 7 years old... starts heading over to the entrance where our kids are playing and we are monitoring. He lifts his shirt and starts to pull his swim trunks down. I'm thinking in my head, "oh his mom must have told him to go get dressed and he must be showing her that he was following her request or something" Later, when talking to Ginger, she was thinking something similar.

Well, the trunks go to the ground, out comes the wee wee and this kid (yes I kind of want to use mean names here) starts pissing the most perfectly arched fountain right into the pool where our kids splash..AND get quite a few accidental gulps of the pool filth than I'd like to admit.

Are you f-ing kidding me?!?! Ginger and I totally crossed right into mom-squad mode and practically made the kid cut the stream off. "Excuse me. DO NOT pee in the pool. People are swimming in here! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Yes, I stood up and was leaning over and shaking my pointing finger at him. Got the visual? Oh I had my mom-voice, teacher-really-not-happy-with-student voice, angry-wife voice all out. Ginger was all over it, too. The poor kid was pretty shocked!

But his shock seemed it was as if he had never been told not to pee in a pool....not that two random women were yelling at him.

Someone came running over....grandma we think. She grabbed him and quietly told him not to do that. She was embarrassed. I would've been!

I will try not to discipline someone else's child but COME ON! I could care less for this instance. If his mom was there I would have let her have it, too!

All that said, I do realize swimming pools have a pretty high percentage of urine in them anyway. But I'd rather ignore that lovely fact and a child pissing in a pool for all to see does not help me do that very well!

GROSS!

daycare aka school

2011-08-23T22:06:00.000-05:00

Some call it school. I can't bring myself to call it school yet because it just isn't.

The other day I had a moment of clarity: When my kids first started going to Virginia's house, all the kids seemed sooooo big and mine were just tiny little babies! Well, those kids aren't so big! And mine aren't so small! A few months in age difference is so much when they are babies but so little now! Shocking to realize my babies are gettin' big.

diaper talk below: consider yourself warned

So, funny story:

Today, I picked the kids up from daycare. Virginia (who is completely awesome) said, "The rash Carter had on Monday may be from wearing the swim diapers too long or too much or maybe he pooped right when he got here Monday and we didn't catch it right away." My two have sensitive bums so rashes are inevitable if the dirty isn't caught quickly!

Anywoo...

I had no idea Carter had a diaper rash. It dawned on me that I haven't seen his booty since maybe Sunday night bath. Well, it was Tuesday evening when I had this realization. That means I hadn't changed a diaper in like 48 hours.

How on earth does that happen, you ask?

Brad usually does the bedtime diaper while I brush their teeth, read to them, dress them, etc.
Brad also changes them on weekday mornings because I leave before the kids get up!
Monday I stayed at work way too long so was only home an hour before their bedtime, where Brad changes the dipes.

Yeah, so Brad has been doing all the changes.

Oops. Feeling a little guilty. And lucky! And not sure how Brad's going to take this when he reads this post! I might be on diaper duty for a while.

You are awesome and I love you, honey!

this year.....

2011-08-21T22:10:00.001-05:00

I want to encourage and motivate my students.
I want them to see my love of learning and to want the same.
I hope to be "there" each and every day.
I hope to get my classes to feel like a team.
I hope to make our lessons applicable.
I will not lose hope in any child's success, even the quitters.
I will "sell" the awesomeness of math.

I hope to remember to read this post in March when I'm tired, so are the students, and we both need to be re-inspired! =)

This year I'm teaching two different levels of Honors Pre Calculus. Yes this is our school's first time offering two levels of honors plus a regular pre cal. This year will also be the start of my 8th year of teaching (minus half a year during our move to Dallas). Uh...whoa....where did the time go? I do not feel like I've been teaching that long!

Whatever. Time must pass I guess. Which reminds me: Brad always tells me about his Chemistry teacher in high school. He most remembers the sign above his clock.....which I totally copied for my new room this year.

Is that mean? These are Juniors and Seniors. They can handle it! I put my favorite poster next to it. It reads, "If you want to succeed, get on your "try" cycle." And has an awesome little tricycle in the picture. Cheeseball-ness at its best.

So as bedtime approaches, I must say that I'm super excited to meet my new students tomorrow and to rock some awesome math lessons. Let's do this!

hold on tight!

2011-08-16T21:39:00.001-05:00

Off to walmart for more packages of swim diapers. I should have kept track of my swim diaper purchases this summer to see how much it cost us! I'm so cheap I still buy size small because there are 4 more diapers in the package than mediums...for the same price. They should probably be in mediums but smalls do the job fine. I'm going to buy in bulk online to try to get the best deal!

So back to walmart.

We don't get very far before the boys start fussing. By fussing I mean screeching. You can really tell when people see the twins and they want to be like, "oh look how cute!" but instead just keep walking and give me the pity look. When they do this screeching (I know I've posted a lot about bad behavior lately but I swear they are good more often than not!) I usually just ignore them. Once....maybe this same trip, a lady came up and started dancing and singing for them. They were shocked into silence. I sincerely thanked her and made the boys say "thank you" and wave bye bye.

Well, this trip, I didn't bring anything in but my phone, wallet and keys....no entertainment props. Finally we make it to the baby section. I grab the swim diapers and hand them each a package. I said, "Please hold on tight to these swim diapers. Don't drop them!"

Um......can I just say this is the best idea I've ever had for an on-the-spot-toddler-tantrum-ender!

They carried those diapers through the store while I got everything else on the list.

It doesn't end there!

They handed them to me so the cashier could ring them up. I gave them back to the boys and they carried them all the way to the car. I loaded everything and everyone into the van, strapped the boys in and gave them the packages again. They held them all the way home. At home, they carried them into the house, to their room and handed them to me to put in the closet. WHAT?

Hello new activity!!!! - help mom carry things. yes!!!