Small Successes

So we got Connor on the potty again. He was being his insane indecisive two year old self, going back and forth between wanting to sit on the potty and being traumatized by it. So finally we just put him on it against his will and the moment his booty touched the plastic he was fine. Larry sat in the bathroom reading to him and I went into the living room. After about 20 minutes they both come running in all excited. Connor peed! Well, no actual pee came out but it almost did. Larry said he was just sitting there and all of a sudden he got a big surprised look on his face. We are pretty sure something happened down there. Either way we made a big deal about it. I’ve seriously never seen Connor so proud. Larry called him a “big potty boy” and his face just lit up and he said “yeah!”. It was adorable. I think once Connor decides that he wants to be potty trained it will happen really fast. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.

I don’t know what my problem is with not posting the new recipe. Last week's recipe was Apple Streusel Muffins. They were very easy and yummy. I’ve made them again already. They are the perfect use for that last apple that no one is going to eat. Which is really my goal for learning how to cook. I want to be digging through the pantry and find a can creamed corn that everyone forgot about and say "Oh, I'll just make blahbbity blah with it". I will consider myself a good cook when I can just whip something together from pantry remnants.

Down with diapers!

We had a big day around here yesterday. Connor sat on the potty!! He didn't do anything but he sat there with a naked booty. This is a big deal because until today he would get mad if I even asked him about it. Until about two weeks ago he would yell "NO!" and run out of the room if I even said the word "potty".

Yesterday he was farting a lot (nice I know!) so I thought maybe he was going to poop. I asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty and he actually said yes! So I put him up there and he didn't like it at all. So I took him back down and got a diaper out. He didn't want to put a diaper on either. I made it clear that it was either a diaper or sitting on the potty. He couldn't walk around half naked. He picked the potty. I was so surprised. He was very nervous and I held him until he got comfortable. Then we sat there and read books for like 30 minutes. Finally I got bored and figured this wasn't going to happen, so we got down.

But still... such progress!

You might live with a two year old

You might live with a two year old...

If you have ever screamed at the sight of something being flushed down the toilet… you might live with a two year old.

If you consider graham crackers a healthy lunch… you might live with a two year old.

If you know the full morning line up on PBS, Nick Jr., Disney, and Noggin… you might live with a two year old.

If you have ever wiped someone’s nose against their will… you might live with a two year old.

If you have ever found your keys in the bottom of the toy box… you might live with a two year old.

If you have ever had your wallet drenched in milk… you might live with a two year old.

If you have ever said “It’s ok, it’s only pee”… you might live with a two year old.

If you are a master of reverse psychology… you might live with a two year old.

If the nicest restaurant you eat in has a play area… you might live with a two year old.

If you use the word ‘potty’… you might have a two year old.

If you have ever asked your husband if he wants to go ‘night night’… you might live with a two year old.

If you start putting your shoes on 20 minutes before you actually have to leave the house… you might live with a two year old.

If you have ever found a cup of milk by following the smell… you might live with a two year old.

If you have ever sniffed someone’s butt… you might live with a two year old.

If you have ever found cheerios in the couch cushions… you might live with a two year old.

I could go on and on. Please add your own!

Draining

What is it about school that drains your desire to learn? I start out every semester with such enthusiasm. I do all the reading, pay attention during class, I take good notes, I care. But then by mid-terms I’m calculating the minimum amount of work that is required for me to get my desired grade. By finals I've even redetermined what my desired grade is. It’s sad. I’ve heard “education is not the filling of a bucket, but he the lighting of a fire.” However, I come pre-lit, and they throw a bucket of cold water on my flames. Not all at once, but drip by drip. Assignment by boring assignment, they put out each and every flame until all that is left are cold wet ashes.

I took Connor to get his pictures taken today. I had quite the internal debate about whether or not I was going to take him. But in the end guilt won over and we went. He did such a good job. He was very excited to get his pictures taken. Slow to warm up as always, but once he got comfortable with the photographer he did really well. He even let her pose him and stuff. I took his bear, C.B., with us so he could get some pictures taken too. They came out cute.

Picture by scui3asteveo.

100 posts!

This is my 100th post! I'm so excited. Our Easter was pretty boring. Connor was excruciatingly cute while looking for Easter Eggs. He really got into it. But in honor of my 100th post I give to you...

A letter to my body:

Dear Body,

First and foremost I want to say thank you. Your service over the past 30 years has been much appreciated. Thanks for everything you do to keep me alive and healthy. The digestion, blood flow, and breathing are all very helpful. I know there are thousands more functions you perform everyday of which I’m not even aware. Thank you for those. Mostly, thank you for keeping my babies safe while they grew from microscopic cells into chunky, kissable babies. I know it was wildly uncomfortable and lots of hard work. I understand that you were tired and overworked so I forgive you for the stretch marks. But the sagging boobs, was that really necessary? I think you did that just out of spite.

I’m sorry that I don’t always respect you like I should. I eat things I shouldn’t. I don’t wear sunscreen as much you would like. I don’t exercise nearly enough. I know… and I’m sorry. I am trying to do better.

I also have some requests. Could you please do something about the dark circles under the eyes? I’ve also noticed a few gray hairs, please make sure this doesn’t continue. Also I need you to let go of the extra fat that has been hanging around. I ate that food a long time ago. Get over it already. We will both be better off.

Love, Soul

Easter Eggs

We painted eggs yesterday. I love painting eggs. It's so fun. It's really the only part about Easter that I like. You know, other than the chocolate. I always leave one in a dark color long after we have cleaned up. Leave it in there for a few hours so it comes out really dark. That's cool. I did learn you can also use lemon juice if you don't have vinegar. The colors come out a little lighter, but it's good to know because I never have vinegar laying around.

I also bought a bag of kisses to eat while we painted the eggs. But I wasn't really looking and I accidentally got ones with almonds inside. No one in the house likes them, which is fine by me cause I love them. hehe. I promise I didn't do that on purpose.

I hope everyone has a great Easter.

I didn't know they had Angels at the zoo.

I was the recipient of a very generous act today. My neighbor, Sarah, has a season pass to the zoo. Since Maddy is on spring break this week she offered to take us all to the zoo for free. But this wasn’t the generous act, keep reading….

We get to the zoo and it is packed. I could tell as soon as we parked Sarah was having a bad mommy day of the worst kind. I felt bad. I’ve totally been there. We’ve all been there. It was just one of those frustrating days where every thing goes wrong.

We unload five kids, two strollers, and countless bags and walk about a half mile to the entrance of the zoo. We stand in line for about 20 minutes before we realize that we are in the wrong line. So we move over and stand in a different line. We finally get to the front and Sarah realizes she doesn’t have her wallet. So we move our caravan over out of the way and she runs back to the car to find it.

Sarah comes back from the car without her wallet. It’s lost. She is more upset that ever and starts digging through her bag on the verge of tears. She can’t find it. I feel terrible for her. We obviously can’t go into the zoo if she doesn’t have her wallet. Besides, she needs to get home and cancel her cards. So we tell the girls that we won’t be going inside. Maddy starts to cry her big dramatic attention getting cry. The hands over the face sobbing that she has been perfecting for the past six years. Which seeing Maddy all upset just makes Sarah more upset so she starts to cry, which makes me start to cry. So we are all standing there crying, but also laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

Just then a woman leans over my shoulder from behind and takes my hand. She says something like “Here, take your kids to the zoo.” I look down and she has handed me $100 bill. I’m not kidding. $100! I couldn’t believe it. I tried to give it back but she wouldn’t take it and I was so shocked that I didn’t really do anything. The whole thing just made me cry even more. I go back to the lady who is almost at the front of the line now and I insist that she take it back. I tell her we are not going to the zoo either way and we really are fine, we don’t need the money. I’m saying this all though tears mind you. I was laughing and crying and shaking. I was just totally blown away that someone would do this.

So we left the zoo. When we got back to the car Sarah did find her wallet, luckily. So that worked out. We ended up going to a park and having a picnic. The zoo just wasn’t meant to be.

BTW: We have the money set aside and will do something fun together.

And on the recipe front. I did make a new one this week but I never posted it. There was a delay because I set up a new site to keep all my recipes on and then I can just link to it, rather than post the whole recipe every week. So now I can just say....

I made Lemon-Thyme Chicken this week and it was awesome. I'm going to make it again asap!