August at a Glance

August At A Glance

If you missed anything, I'm here to fill you in!

August was my first full, busy and oh so very exciting month of blogging! A lot happened behind the scenes and I enjoyed recapping the month of craziness, hope you do to!

1. The Stay at Home Mommy Syndrome

I learned this summer what it's like to let yourself go being preoccupied with little people, I even included my hideous no make up face.

2.  Sale Shopping Secrets 

This is just one of my secrets to finding great deals, be sure to check out my other posts to learn more!

3. Weekend Recap

Every weekend I recap all the fun, crazy, exciting, not so crazy... Pretty lame things we do as a family and this month was an interesting one!! Be sure to check out all my weekends ;-)

4. Fall Home Decor Giveaway

My first giveaway! It was a success! Here's what you missed, be jealous ;-)

5. Potty Training Shenanigans

Potty training is more than a headache with this crazy kid! Here are my trials and tribulations of the toilet problems!

6. Mini Mommy Wednesday

My daughter declared every Wednesday to be a special pampering day for mommy, be sure to read the weekly sweetness my daughter fills MY day with!

7. Apparently I can't count and skipped the number seven but here's a post to fill the gap! One of my favorites!! Let Them Be Little

What would we do without our children! A must read!

The REAL #7 (I'm tired!) Back to School Blues

This post was featured at Mommy Mentionables it's all about the kids returning to school and the thoughts that fill my head during the silence of an empty house! Definitely a must read!!

8. Craft Room Organization on a Budget

The start to a great project! Cheap, crafty, fun organization!

9. Crazies of Craigslist

Find a dog and post a listing on Craigslist only to become distracted by craziness and interesting things people post on this site!

Potty Training Shenanigans Part 2

Part 2:

Over the weekend Dylan and I took some time off from our toilet adventures to allow him and I a chance to regroup and start fresh Monday morning. 

Soo....

Monday comes and the porcelain throne starts calling Dyl's name again! During our break, I was able to get a potty chair for the little man.... Thinking that would be the solution to all our problems and Dylan would magically start peeing in "his" toilet. 

WRONG!!

I bring it home, make a huge production about having a "surprise" for Dylan. All three kids gather around eager to see the surprise.... I pull  it out and the look on the kids faces, especially Dylan's, was priceless!

Apparently Dylan had seen a ghost on his potty chair because he immediately took off running the opposite direction and refused to even LOOK in the bathroom to see HIS new potty chair. He looked like he was going to cry... I had to go back to the drawing board AGAIN because this kid wouldn't budge! 

I search my craft room for inspiration and came up with a brilliant idea! I decided to allow Dylan free rein over his chair! I bring out a book of stickers... Get him all excited and we head to the bathroom...

Dylan goes to town, sticker after sticker.... Strategically placing them all over his throne! He even sat on it in his diaper WITHOUT tears!! I let the sticker extravaganza continue awhile then I take the extras away. 

I tell him he can have more when he uses the toilet like a big boy..... His reply, "No v'way"  

Back to the drawing board I went.....

I call for back up! I summoned the "daddy" powers of persuasion.... By now the entire family including the dogs are in the bathroom attempting to coax Dyl to the potty! (We entertain easily I suppose). Even Matthew, who is 5, offered to show him how it's done!     

Guess what?!?!

STILL NO LUCK :-/

I gave up for the day... First thing Wednesday morning I picked up some "Spy-mEEan" underwear and started in again. 

Come home, make a big production, get Dylan ALL excited for a surprise (apparently he forgot how ridiculous the last surprise was!) pull out the package of underwear... Dyl sees the superheroes all over and goes NUTS! Jerks the package from my hands and goes straight into pretend mode, making action packed noises and using his package as a prop while fighting off imaginary bad guys.... Then I open the package...

Dyl snaps back to reality and the fun is over :-/

He carried his new underwear around the house for hours before I could convince him to try them on... I think he knew what was to follow...

He chose The Avengers to cover his cute little booty and pranced all around the house showing off his new undies..... I wait a bit and start in again... "Dyl, do you need to potty?!" 

Go ahead and just guess what his reply was!!!

He blew through his new undies, one accident at a time, and still resisted the potty chair questions and the sticker/candy bribes.

These "Potty Training Shenanigans" have now consumed my thoughts! Don't worry dear child, mommy doesn't give up that easy!! I haven't pulled out all the stops just yet! I accept your challenge and will conquer! 

Fortunately, for him, mommy is scheduled at the job the next few days so he will have a little extra R&R.... You're welcome :-)

Be watching for Part 3 of these shenanigans!! 

Third times a charm, right?!?!

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Potty Training Shenanigans Part 1

This past week I decided it was a good time to take the potty training plunge, with our youngest. He's two, very vocal and catches on pretty quickly to new things... Maybe here is also a good time to note: he is very stubborn, strong-willed, mischievous, off the wall active and the baby of three (get my point here). He's a typical child!

I start the week looking through PottyTraining 101 blogs, mommy advice columns, and searching the Internet for something useful to get the ball rolling... I have already done this two other times, so I am not sure WHY I thought I needed to seek advice or tips. Frankly, I was stalling. I already KNEW what to do and how to do it but the headache of potty training is real and was lurking in the near future.

Now, it doesn't have to be a headache... according to all the "advice" I read but let's be real here! Not EVERY child jumps on the toilet, does his business, hops off, gets his treat and goes back to playing. Yes in a perfect world you slap some underwear on the kid, one or two accidents later a lightbulb goes off and they just "get it" and start peeing in the toilet. But what about ALL the "atypical" children who are scared of the toilet; or the ones who only pee in the toilet during the day and have accidents at night; or what about the kids who think their only cool if they pee their pants?! Not all kids potty train effortlessly (in just "one week") and that's all I found when I searched for help. I don't consider my child or any other child "atypical" when it comes to potty training, every child is unique in this subject but that advice is probably many, many more clicks into the search engine. As Sweet Brown once said, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

Dylan is by far "ready" to do his business on the toilet but convincing him of that is the struggle. He brings me a diaper when he's dirty and says "chain" (change). He grabs the wipes with his diaper when he knows there is a serious disaster in there that requires extra clean up! He stays dry during nap-time and he can even say "poop" and "pee."

Piece of cake, right?! WRONG!!

I start the week breaking the news to him. Me: "Dylan your gonna start going potty on the toilet, okay?!" Dylan: "No way."

Me: "You can have a piece of candy if you do!" Dylan: "I'n canny!" Me: "Well then you need to potty on the toilet." Dylan: "NO NO NO NO NO, ssstoooop."

SIGH!!

I tried this a few times then slowly started easing him into the bathroom with me. "Dyl you wanna sit on the potty??"

He looks at me with a little curiosity, so I walk over to help him get undressed and sit on the toilet........ You would have thought I was coming at him with a chainsaw, "NOOOOOOOOOO," he screams and begins to cry. 

I give up for a bit, he brings me a diaper to be changed.....

This time, though, he had taken his dirty diaper off by himself and is waiving the clean diaper in my face butt naked!! So I start in again, "You wanna sit on the potty?!"....... Didn't go well again and again and again. 

This went on for the few days..NO LUCK!

I try again the following day. This time Dylan gets a little closer to the toilet and allows me to take his diaper off. I think he's going to try it!!!!

WRONG!!!!

I pick him up and get ready to sit him down and he goes NUTS!! Screaming and crying like I am about to give him a swirly or something!!! He grabbed ahold of my arms and dug his tiny fingernails in. He wasn't havin' it!!! 

I came to the conclusion: He's scared of the toilet!! 

We made a few baby steps in progress over the week though!! Dylan now takes his diaper off EVERY time he dirties it.. UGH! He has also figured out the "stance" next to the tree out back and practices it often.... with no results! And underwear have sparked curiosity in his cute little head but only to be worn as a necklace :-/

I gave it a break over the weekend...... We both needed it!! I have mapped out our course of action for next week and (fingers crossed) it should go better!!

So stay tuned for next weeks "Potty Training Shenanigans" because not EVERY child trains in a week!!

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