Poopy in the Potty!!

Good morning, Bloggers!
My adventues this week involves potty training! The dreaded adventures!
When my oldest was a baby-- I could not wait until he was pooping on the potty. Peeing on the potty. Until, he was- then the spur of the moment shopping was put on poopy hold! Everywhere we went he had to pee in that store. We started only shopping at stores with clean potty's. Everytime we got in the car-- he had to go. It was like the favorite scences in a movie, where the child goes to the bathroom, gets completly bundled for snow play, and just as they were ready to send the child out to play-- they had to go to the bathroom. Now that is reality!
With my second child, he wanted nothing to do with being potty trained! He was almost going on 4 before he would successfully go to the bathroom. It was awful! And to make matters worse we had an infant-- I would never recommend two kids in diapers! That makes an expensive trip to the store. When Charlie was born I had already started working full time at the hospital. I would work 32 hours over the weekend, get up on MOnday, teach at a local homeschool co-op and then go back to work and work for another 8 hours. This made for Tuesday, to pray the boys would sleep in and try to catch up on putting everything back together from the weekend!
One particular day, I traveled to the Eastern side of Harrisburg, to goto Target! I love Target- and I love their deals! So we made the 30 minute trip. Just as I was getting the boys out of the Minivan-- I smelled Poop! Not just any poop, but poop from a 4 year old and poop from an infant! Yuck!! I grabbed the diaper bag from the back-- No diapers, No wipes! The worst thing ever is that I had just spent $50 the day before on diapers and wipes at BJ's. So that last thing I wanted to do was spend more money on diapers,but I had no choice. We rushed back to the diaper isle, looked over our choices. For Charlie, I grabbed Target brand-- the cheapies, cheap wipes, the kind your fingers go right through with the first wipe! Now, for Henry-- the one you would think would be potty trained by now! Ah-- a deal-- at the end of the row was pull-ups on clearance-- $5.00 for a box with a $3.00 coupon-- Now I do not feel awful buying these diapers. The only thing wrong with the pull-ups was that they were Hot PINK with princesses on them. Now one thing you don't know is that Henry-- loved Princesses when he was little. He was totally into them. He wanted to dress like them, act like them... oh- it just goes on from there! So when I had to deal with buying diapers and buying girl diapers-- I went with the price and who is going to see them,but me!
Well, this $2 deal would be the best deal ever! When I got them on Henry-- I told him--- "Now, Henry. Look at these Princesses! Now-- you don't want to pee on the princesses do you?" The look on his face was priceless! "Now-- if you really like princesses, you can't poop in the castle!" (which was the scence on the back!) He was so tramatized!
Later, that night we were at a baseball game for my oldest-- when Henry had to poop and pee. We were sitting on the bleechers-- when he told my husband he had to poop-- "Just go in your diaper!" Yeah--those are always words of husbandry wisdom! "I can't! I can't poop in the castle!" My husband just looked at me with confussion! He pulled down Henry's pants to see what the child might be talking about-- to see the Hot Pink Princess Pull-Ups! Well, anyone who has sons-- will know the look on his face to see his SON-- in pink!

Well-- to make the story shorter-- that is all it took to potty train Henry! I found that parenting will make you do things you never thought you would ever think of, do and or say! And our child's accomplishments are OUR accomplishments-- even down to pooping in the potty! You know--you where one of those Mom's who heard other Mom's jumping up and down calling poopy all kinds of weird names, telling everyone about the little poopy in the potty! And looking at the Mom and thinking "I will never do that!" Until, the day where out of days,weeks,and maybe months that precious little boy looked at you and said in your frustration, "I love the way you wipe my butt, I love it when you clean up my poopy," and the day they refused to poop in the diaper-- the excitment you get! You must tell the world!

That's No Baby!!

Now, this little story is a couple of years old-- however-- I felt it was worth the write!It came up at work the other day, as we were discussing the mere fact of how boys are so curious of their bodies and what their bodies do, how they make noise, how funny and how stinky they can be. And If i may say it-- once a boy has found his private area-- do they ever let it alone?
My Charlie, is the one with the most questions-- one day he asked me if I had a penis? I want to be honest, but... (long pause) I don't want them to know about everything! So I told him, "No, Mommy's have Pee-Pee's". And that was that! Until the day we were in BJ's. (and ever notice how loud a bathroom can be when someone say's something that you don't want others to hear?) I pulled him inside the stall with me, and all of a sudden, "Ah-HA-- you do have a penis--- I hear you peeing!" Yeah-- there we go! You know as we shopped that morning in BJ's-- I knew just by looking at the woman's face who was in the bathroom that morning!
Now, a couple of years ago--about 4-- I took my 2 boys and new baby to the Washington DC Zoo-- if you ever want to see a beautiful zoo-- this is the place to be!! I love Zoo's-- we are members of the Pittsburgh Zoo-- this way we can go to all the participating Zoo's in the USA for FREE!! You can't beat that! So-- off we trucked that morning to Washington DC to the Zoo. It is about 3 hour ride from PA! So, we get to the Zoo. There was hardly anyone else there-- the animals were out. The day was beautiful. Baby monkey's, baby elephants, panda bears, baby ducks,-- nothing beats watching Mommy's with their babies! It just shows how nurturing a parent can be and how we can all relate to each other. Some more than others, like I think the boys are a good combination of the Tazmanian Devil and Gorilla's! And their father is more like Big Black Bear-- stuck in the honey tree. Why move-- you got the goods all right in front of you!
So, back to the babies! Every baby we saw- I made a big ordeal about! The elephant nursing, the mommy monkey picking bugs off the baby's back and eating them, the baby ducks swimming all within reach of the mommy! Then we came to the Kangaroo's. The boys wandered around the side of the fence and I had the stroller on the other side. And right in front of me hopped a mommy kangaroo with her baby in its pouch! This was so exciting-- when eles do you see this. Only on TV. This is something the boys just had to see! I was so excited calling them back to me like the Mommy Duck-- "Hurry, Hurry, you have got to see the baby!" With all the commotion, a school group was passing by, and they too came running over to see the baby kangaroo inside the Mommy's pouch! I started teaching the children, oh- how small that baby was and how it had to crawl into the pouch and nurse for so long until it pokes it's head out of the pouch! What a miracle!
Now, a couple of these "City" kids started asking-- "Where's the baby"-- and I pointed-- look there it is-- and because we were all tring to see it the Kangaroo kept turning it's back!
Then it hopped right up to us! Now this is exciting.......... Until the Mr. Teacher of the group leaned up to me and said, "Mam, That's no BABY!" I just looked at him and looked closer at the "baby"-- Nope that was no baby.
Then my oldest son looked at me and said, "Momma, is that a penis or a baby?"
Now, how was I to know-- I have only seen baby kangaroo's on TV!
So, with that-- I gathered my children and drove home the 3 hours in the car as the boys' slept-- hopefully not dreaming of babies!

Hamster is Loose-- Again!!

For my younger son's 7th birthday-- he begged and pleaded for a pet hamster. I have issues with my children wanting things and myself remembering my childhood and giving in to their wants and needs! Now, I do have a limit-- but it is so overpushed when they look at you with those big eyes, and tell you how they will take care of it, clean up after it, love it, and never have to be reminded of it! This can get one in alot of trouble, I mind you!
So, when I talked to my husband about Henry's need for a pet- He did not even think twice, "Is it alive?" "NO!"-- "Are you out of your mind?". (He grew up with NO pets!) So, I took it upon myself to buy the cage for his 7th birthday.
The day of his party, we allowed that gift to be last, oh he was so excited about getting the cage, that it almost did not matter that there was no animal in it! We took him to the pet store and he picked out his pet hamster. She is a beautiful light tan color with beady red/pink eyes! We bought him a book on how to take care of her, what to feed her, what not to do with her! He named her "Angel".
Now let me explain to you about Henry-- Henry's name means "Ruler of the household, his kingdom! And he lives up to that without a doubt! He even has the favorite color purple--because purple is royalty! So that puts you in mind of where this is heading! My dear sweet, Henry!
Henry-- is the middle child. And everything you have ever read or heard about the middle child-- is SOOOOO-- true! At least, it is with Henry. Henry is super sensitive, smart (he is so smart), caring, and so wishes everyday that he was an only child. Especially, from his younger brother Charlie! Boy-- do the two of them go at it almost everyday! Charlie calls Henry "Dramatic"-- and that really sums up Henry!
So, we bring Angel home, place her in her cage! It was really fun to watch her, go round and round in the wheel. Sit up and listen to her at night, chew and chew through the cage and go round and round in the wheel. Did I mention-- chew all night on the metal cage!
Then a friend gave us some tubes for the cage-- now this was fun. I tried to turn it into an engineering lesson-- how can we make her cage more fun! And as if, 6 different tubes weren't enough-- we ran out to the store and bought--$50.00 more of tubes, an outhouse, look out stations, tube fasteners, a ball... And 3 more girl hamsters. The other boys realizing that I was in a daze, a bad place, looked at me with those eyes, and showed me 3 baby hamsters. So we left the place with over $100 worth of hamster stuff and 3 more baby hamsters. We did not tell my husband! No way-- I would let him in this surprise gently! I would let the children tell him as he came in the door. They would yell out in excitement has he would be tring to get in, pushing the dog out of the way, tripping on the toys in his path, and falling over the kids all at the same time! That to me seemed the best way to approach the situation!
So, now we have 4 hamsters. Angel in her cage, and Ruby (Teddy's hamster), Mary Jesus (Henry's),and Charlie (you guessed it-- Charlie's hamster). Now, the funny part is that Mary Jesus-- kept jumping on the other hamsters-- so by the end of the week I talked him into just Mary. There just seemed something wrong with having a sacred name on a "dirty" hamster who rode the others and she too was a female!
Now-- this story comes to a quick end-- within 3 weeks the stinky 3 hamsters all got ill and died with in 24 hours of each other. Those boys were cleaning their cages everyday-- and they bit them, and were wild little things-- they peed on everything-- yuck! And those tubes, they were off and out the door with in days-- once I realized how stinky they get, and how they drag the food up through them and pee in them (there are holes in them and everything falls through)-- they were off and out!
And so they died of some disease! And to make matters worse-- the dog dug them up and ate them right in front of the kids-- so we walked around after the dog for a couple of days, picked the poor soles out of her poop and reburied them outside the fenced in yard-- we got all of them back, but Charlie! So- for about a week-- they buried all her poop,, just in case!
So, now Angel escapes her safe little domain! She is gone. It was little over 2 weeks. We were putting little treats out for her. Putting her cage on the floor. Nothing seemed to work! Finally, we put her cage back down in the basement! And poor Henry, sobbed everytime he thought of her! It is all that one Mommy could stand! So, last Friday-- I brought home Koda. Koda is a little black bear hamster. I bought him at PetSmart. I went in looking for the $9 girl hamster and came home with the $20+ boy hamster. They know how to work the Momma! The sales girl showed me how you can do anything to this little guy, and how he would nuzzle the chin, and he never-- ever bites! (Angel bit everyone-- except Henry) She even bit Sammy on the nose when he got to close!-- So home came Koda!
Henry was so excited-- he ran to the basement-- set up the cage- the boys were so excited-- they were bonding with this little guy-- even Sammy was holding him (squishing him-- he is not gentle)-- and he never even opened his mouth to bite! We finally put the kids down to bed. They were so excited! And by this point--my husband is not even saying a word-- it was like he thought that I could not hear his head shake and see his eyes roll everytime he passed the cage!
Then we noticed something--- why, yes, there she was--- Angel-- she came up to see or smell what the new "hot" item was in the house! I believe "crap" was the word out of my husbands mouth. It was not the idea of having two-- it was the idea of the Two we had--- Angel-- a girl and Koda-- a boy! And with that Henry remarking of how we needed to get a preacher or priest to the house to get them married-- after all it is around Valentine's Day!
Angel-- now has a brand new chew-through (at least for the time) cage-- and Koda who is on the other side of room is in his!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Comparing Boo-Boo's with Giving Birth-- Wrong Answer!

Yesterday- we had a rainstorm mixed with freezing ice. It looked like rain, it felt like rain-- but it froze like clear ice. As, my husband rushed around getting ready. I too, rushed around getting ready before the little monsters got up- before I was totally ready. Now, in the mist of my husband rushing, he was sure to awaken 3 out of 4. And I am still getting ready! All of a sudden, my 4 year old rushes up the stairs, "Daddy fell, Daddy fell."
Now, allow me to back up, it is not that I am unsympathetic towards my husbands aches and pains, it is that he tries to compare them with my births! He also, goes on and on to who ever will listen-- and even if you don't want to hear it-- You will! And the incident will get bigger and bigger the more times you hear it, and all I can do, is roll my eyes! Unless, he is telling his Mom! Then I still have a hard time feeling sorry for him. And, if you had something awful happen to you-- his is bigger! And as a matter of fact, JUST before the birth of each child-- something happened to HIM! And this was MY time, not his Boo-Boo time. The first child-- he cut his finger-- and hurt his back! So as I walked in labor-- he slept on the delivery bed. Birth #2-- (now this is the day I came home from the hospital)-- he decides to get the vomiting/poopy flu--- It was not my fault he sat on an infected toliet-- "How is your wife and new baby?"-- "Good, man do I feel awful-- my wife is healing fine as she cleans up after me, and my crap!" Birth #3-- as I come home from work-- not feeling so well and overdue!! My husband lie on the couch "Don't go into labor tonight, dear (always polite), I have an inner ear infection, dizzy to stand, pass out feeling and terrible head pain when I stand"--- Birth #4-- he gets the biggest, infected tunneling pimple on his butt! This had to be the best one-- I had to take him to the doctor-- (Please remember-- I am due anyday) and watch them slice & squeeze--then they have to show me how to PACK his butt so that it would not tunnel anymore! I have to do this for 1 1/2 weeks --- Also-- he was in too much pain to drive-- so I drove and I made sure I hit every bump, hole, and ditch that I could take the truck over-- him moaning in the passanger seat and holding his ---, butt! AND, as if there could be more to the story-- "He would ask people if they would like to see his bullet wound", now I wanted and felt like shooting him in the rear!! And he would compare it to giving birth!
So, now back to the fall--- As I ran down the steps, to see him sitting very ackwardly at the bottom holding his back-- I felt bad for a moment-- I think I felt more bad for me in thinking how long this was going to pan out, or is he really hurt and what isn't he going to be able to do because of his back......... He tells me he hurried out the door and fell down 3 steps! I looked out the window and there on the sidewalk was truely the outline of his butt, with two hand prints on each side! The poor man walked it off and went off to work--realizing no sympathy was going to be given, other- than "Are you Okay?" "Tylenol?" He went to work that morning with a wet butt, yes, you read correctly-- I think the girls at work give him more sympathy than I at home-- He wobbled down the steps, carefully stepping over his butt print, making sure he took one last look at the print before stepping into the truck. And away he went!
He came home later that day and said nothing! Until, we went to get into bed! He held his back-- and moaned getting into bed. "Is there a bruise?" I replied "Nope!" However, there was one as big as my hand, purple bruise! "Great," he said," it is probably going to be the type of boo-boo that waits awhile and gets super big, bright purple and lasts for a long time- to remind me of this morning!"
That you could probably compare that to, braxton hicks!
I should probably take sympathy classes, I used to laugh, and still do when he gets hurt. I don't know why I laugh-- maybe it is a nervous thing-- I am not sure of--I sometimes even laugh if something almost happened and I could see the whole thing in my head! I hear other people say the same thing-- so at least I know it is not only me!
But, my kids laughed the rest of the morning as we watched Daddy's butt print fill up with ice and then slowly melt away as the morning got warmer! And I never did get totally dressed and ready for the day-- PJ Day-- as my kids call it!

Shopping Advise

Hello-- what a crazy day! Today, I dared to take my children shopping. Despite the cold weather we wondered out of the house. We had several places we needed to go before we could go home. I hope that one day I can look back on my words of wisdom and keep my thoughts to myself. Did you ever notice all the advise Moms get from other Moms, older (wiser?) people when you take your children out shopping?

I am a Mom who-- yes, bribes her children to be good while out in public-- so as not to cause more attention than needed on a regular basis. Now, I did receive advise from a friend with whom I work with on how she takes out her 5 young children. And now I will pass that advise on to you the reader: I prep my children before we go out.... OK this is where we need to go (and I go the place of most importance first, even if it is the furthest away-- time is most precious to me and getting things done, then I explain what my expectations are when we are out. Charlie is in the shopping cart that I push, Henry walks directly behind me, Teddy pushes the cart with Sam in it. The children are not to ask for anything, touch anything, or knock any displays down. They are to use the smallest form of speaking voices, for I ignore yelling, screaming, or loud outdoor voices unless we are on a mountain trying to hear our echo. All forms of misbehavior will result in punishments to my own regard (this ultimately depends on how mad I get) and I can change the punishment at lib) Now some of you may say- well that does not seem fair! Well it is not-- punishments are not fair and is either is the negative attention-- so as to not face the criminal acts, don't act up! Now, onto the shopping--- if someone, anyone..... who sees us out shopping, eating, walking,,what ever says out loud, loud enough for ME to hear it "Wow, what well behaved children you have....." All the children will get to get treat. This treat could be a trip to the dollar store or a pick from the lines of candy at the register. Again-- this is for me to decide at lib! Now, the children are not allowed to say anything when someone comments on their behavior until we get back into the car. Now, I do like to play around with the children-- because you should see these boys stare someone down in the store, trying to get someone to make the remark. It is quite funny! Some people feel as if they have something wrong with them- -- but every once in a while someone does make the comment-- and I pretend not to hear it-- and that really gets them all going! But this sure has made shopping a lot less stressful!

So shop on good people!

Itchy Situation

January 27, 2008
Have you ever wondered why you can explain to your husband the best possible answers to having an easy day when they are home alone with the children. I always try to provide my husband with advise to help him solve every problem, like every so often check on what is exactly being watched on the Tv. If the room where the children are is quiet-- that is NOT good! If A + B happens follow through with C then D. And always follow through. Now my children have grown to understand that Daddy does things very different than Mommy. And Daddy's patience is much different than that of Daddy's. And Daddy handles stressful situations much different than that of Mommy.
Our 7 year old Henry has dry skin-- every day he absolutly loves to get rubbed down with baby lotion-- I love Johnson & Johnson's Baby Lotion-- I love the smell it leaves on the children and always wonder why adults cannot smell as fresh as child rubbed down in baby lotion! Yes, my husband would argue with me that Henry is old enough to rub his itchy spots down with lotion all by himself. (Brief little background info- I work away from the house on weekend-- and work 12 hour shifts-- so my husband is KING in his domain for the weekend -- at least I let him think so-- but anyone reading this knows it is better to let them think it- than act on it). After asking Daddy to rub all his itchy spots-- and being told that he was old enough to lotion himself-- Henry gave up hope for the day of getting rubbed down.
Later , this same night- my husband took the children to Church. We belong to a large Christian Church. And on the last Sat of each month we pass out pagers to all the parents of infants and toddlers who would like to have thier children placed in care during worship service. It isalways best to get to Church when passing out pagers at least 15 minutes early to put ones own children in care-- all 4 children. Or you are forsed to have them all behind the counter helping you in every way possible that is not helpful at all. (This would be another example of advice given to deaf ears)! So as Henry did not get the attention that he wished for all day with the rub down, he proceeded to really scratch his belly when anyone looked at him and acknowledged him in Church as the people picked up their pagers. Until, yes someone asked Henry "WOW, Henry you must have a really itchy belly!" And to everyone's surprise; Henry replied, "Yes, I have been asking for Daddy to put lotion on my itchy spots, but now I am going to really need Vagisil Wipes to help with the itching before the odor starts!"
To say the least, to everyone's surprise the look on my husband's face. Now, I must say-- when one does not watch closely to what the little ears may hear on TV, one never knows when thinkgs will be repeated. I am totally,not against TV-- but other than PBS it is hard to trust what commercials they will place on children's cartoon stations. And, to be a fly on the wall, just try to imagine my 'shock look on his face-- is totally priceless-- especially, as he tried to keep cool and collective at Church with the children. Nothing, gives me more pleasure to catch my husband off guard! So to all the husbands out there may your embarrassments happen in Church where you know that all the people are running around the corner and praying for you and your children that they may make it to the next week of Church! God Bless and Amen!