Potty Training.

Ok, who’s left here? I’m blogging about potty training Warren.  Feel free to let me know what you do/did, ok?

We’ve been toying with the concept of the potty for months and months and months now. Ages ago, we showed Warren the potty and had him sit on it and whatnot.  I called it “Potty Awareness” since I didn’t see any connection for him between sitting on the potty and actually putting something in it.

I read a lot of websites and whatnot that talked about kids’ “signs of readiness” for potty training — knowing that they’ve done something, asking to be changed, hiding to do their business..stuff like that. So as Warren got readier and readier, I started to get a little bit more serious.

Lately, we’ve been letting him run pants-free at home.  It’s always an adventure when we have people over, but for the most part, I think people are friendly with a mostly-naked toddler.  At first, Warren would hold it all in until he got a diaper, but last week we had the breakthrough.  Four hours with no diaper and a ton of toots — something’s got to give! (NOTE:  I didn’t want to puch this too much, acutally, after mom’s horror stories of our friend’s kid who became truly anal retentive…and not just in a personality sort of way). ANYWAYS a couple of weeks ago, I had him on the potty for a whole morning.  He setlled in on the potty and started to watch Cars.  I thought the grandparents were coming soon, but they took another 1 1/2 hours so Warren stayed put.  By the end, sure, he had filled the potty but I didn’t sense any awareness of what he had done.  Is there any victory in tricking your kid to put something in there? Nah.

Last week, we put him on the potty every time we heard a toot or saw the “look” in his eyes.  Eventually, I moved the potty into the living room and he went to it ON HIS OWN, sat down, and really filled it.  Yahoo! And Andre was home too! Thank GOD!  Because in the TMI category, he actually stood up before he was done and we had to clean him, the potty AND the carpet. Yes.

Oh. TMI means “Too Much Information!” tee hee

Since then, we’ve had the potty out in the living room more than in the bathroom. Warren goes pants-free any time we’re home for more than an hour and it’s hit and miss, emphasis on the miss. Ready for more TMI?  Sunday, after a few hours pants-free, he cozied up on the couch beside Andre and Chris and a let-’er rip.  Thank goodness we put the protector stuff on the couch.  So yes, our couch has been peed on. I will never tell you which cushion. MWA hahahahahaha.

Today, in classic toddle form, he voluntarily walked over to potty, sat down, and peed. Straight out.  Excellence in intent, suckiness in the execution.  Sure, you say, “Just put the little guard thingy on!”  except on my model of potty, the little guard is hard plastic and causes … uh… scrapes.  Yeah.  So more cleanup for me for now.

Yes, now there’s a towel under the potty when it’s in the living room.

OH and yes, we give rewards. When he actually puts something in there, I make a huge big deal and after the cleanup, I give him one M and M.  If I remember.

Ideas?

OH HAHAHA I’m totally pathetic.  I was calling our trip up to the interior this weekend our Big Trip for the year.  Because I guess France in February (or whenever it was) didn’t count?  Yeah. Pathetic.

ANYWAYS we just got home from a trip to Andre’ Grandparents’ 60th Wedding Anniversary party, and it was great weekend.  We took our time driving on the way up and on the way back, and it was totally worth it.  The kids got REALLY hot in the back seat of our non-air-conditioned car, so they needed to get out and cool off pretty frequently.

We drove up in caravan with Andre’s uncle from Africa. This uncle came for the party – his first visit with the family in 10 years, from what I can tell. He and his wife and 2 little kids stayed at Lara’s house for a couple of days.  Isn’t Lara amazing?  Yes. Yes, she is.  Now this uncle and family are loaded into a rented RV for a while to tour around BC and do some visiting.

On our way to Sicamous (where we were staying the night) we stopped in Vernon to see some more uncles.  One of them was staying at a B&B right on Okanagan Lake.  When we got there, we just kind of waved hello and walked straight into the water.  Clothes and all.  We were THAT hot.

We spend two nights at the Bueckert’s place — family friends of Andre’s parents from wayy back. We’ve stayed there before. They’re like extra family for Andre, that’s how close they are.  And awesome hosts, that’s for sure.

On Monday, we drove to Salmon Arm for the party.  That basically took the whole day. We ate a fantastic lunch, and then hung about the place for the rest of the day, visitng and doing little scheduled things, like a song from some grandkids, or the fabled slideshow. Stuff like that.

Today, Andre and I left our hosts’ place at 9:30 in the morning.  We stopped in Vernon to visit everyone who was eating breakfast at Grandma’s and then we kind of got on our way.  I say “kind of” because we stretched a 5-hour drive out over the rest of the day and didn’t get home until after 8:30 pm.  But it was a lovely drive and my husband is a seriously lovely man.

Now, that lovely man is gearing up to leave the house again! Sometime after 11:00 tonight, he’s going to go out with a buddy to photograph the Northern Lights.  Apparently they’re visible all the way down to Portland this week?

Hey folks! Carole, for the record, I appreciate your blogs. Keep going with it.

Really, I’m doing this datebook primarily for the picture I want to put at the end. But I think I’ll like the structure of it. Here goes!

Today…

Outside my window: An amazing mauve sky right above the mountains. The sound of the fireworks. In the darkness, my lovely green garden which produces practically nothing, but makes me happy nonetheless.  On the topic of that garden: my strawberries matured. I picked five.  Warren went out the next morning and ate all of the red ones he could find.

I am hearing: Oh. The fireworks. And a narrated TV show about the Queen Mary (maybe?).

I am thinking: We need to replace our dining room light fixture. We have a replacement in the closet but I’m praying for a volunteer who actually knows what they are doing. I can’t turn on the light anymore with this one.

I am hoping: That Andre’s uncle from Aftrica has a great visit.  That Lara knows how much I appreciate her. That Xavier keeps going with this 8 hours of sleep in a row thing.

I am wondering: Just how much sleep that neighbour lady of mine has lost as a result of Xavier’s screaming. She had a spooked look about her when we met in the hallway today.

I am reading: Nehemiah in the Bible. A few blogs. A huge book from my grandfather.  All this and I REALLY wish I was reading “Generation A”.  I don’t know why I’m putting it off.

I am improving:  Very little.  Not much wieght lost.  Still not a busy person – I have little to do for a person who doesn’t go out to work, and I still manage to not get things done.  Go me.

I am wearing: Tara’s hand-me-downs. Thanks, Tara! This skirt is a total WIN.

In the kitchen:  HM. We now have a deep freeze.  I’ve bought meat three times in the last four days.  But technically, the freezer is actually in the living room.

A few of my favourite things: Warren gets himself out of bed now.  He can open his door and he always makes sure to prop it open with the stuffed animal.  Last week, he got up at 1 am (GAH!) and I heard him banging his door. I made it out to the hallway in time to see him crouched down, carefully placing the pink elephant in front of the door. Then he stood up, toy in hand (edit: “toy” here means a little red sweter de-fuzzer that he has fallen in love with. Yeah) …anyways he stood up, toy in hand, and said “Hi!” all friendly-like. Yeah, right kid.  It’s 1am. SLEEP.

Xavier can commando crawl and is working on a full-on crawl.  He can also sit up by himself now and he feeds himself handfuls of cheerios like a pro.  8 months old.  Amazing. Nothing says “motivation” like a younger brother.  This week I’m completely charmed by this odd thing he keeps doing with his hand, over and over and over again.  I can’t explain it. A half-squeezing/pointing gesture.  He has also started sleeping like a champion (HALLELUJAH!) though he’s still a very light sleeper. I love him to bits no matter what.  And SO cuddly!

A picture thought:  This is what Andre saw on Warren’s pillow yesterday afternoon. It epitomizes Warren right now:

On the eve of my Big Shave, I’ll do one of those questionnaire things.

1.  Name something you use in the shower?  Well, I would have said shampoo, but I won’t need it after tomorrow

2.  Something people hate to find on their windshield? Strands of peoples’ hair. But after tomorrow, not mine!!

3.  Name something a man might buy before a date?  Hair Gel.  Getting a theme here?

4.  What is something you cook in the microwave?  Butter. When I really just mean to soften it a little bit. And then I get distracted by my hair in my eyes, and I go looking for a hairtie, and forget to pull out the butter…you know how it is.

5.  Name a reason a younger man might like an older woman?   Her long, flowing locks.

6. Name an item found in a man’s pocket? Lint.  Some of which may be comprised of his lovely wife’s hair.

7.  Name something a dog does that embarrasses its owner?   Licks peoples’ ears. Unless those ears happen to be covered by hair.

8.  Name a kind of test you cannot study for?  One of those drug tests where they take a sample of your hair.

9.  Name a phrase with the word ‘home’ in it? Have a bit of the hair of the dog that bit you….at home.  That’s the full phrase, right? (It’s getting hard to work “hair” into every answer here!)

10. Name a sport where players lose teeth? Hockey. Hockey players sure are hairy guys, eh?

11. Name something a teacher can do to ruin a good day?  Tell you to brush your hair.

12. Name a fruit that isn’t round?   Peaches.  And they have hair! And really, have you ever seen a truly round peach?

13. Name a bird you wouldn’t want to eat?  Swallow. And did you know they use peoples’ hair to build their nests?

14. Name something a person wears even if it has a hole in it?  A hat.  Pretty much needs a hole, come to think of it. And you know what hats cover!

15. Name something that gets smaller the more you use it?  Tube of hair gel!

16. Name the person that is most likely to respond.  Carole. She has beautiful hair.

17. Name something that can brighten your day?  Not having to brush my hair.

18. Name something you’d do if you won the lottery? Donate money to cancer research.  You can do this too!  http://cancerevents.kintera.org/baron or http://cancerevents.kintera.org/baronnotbald

Number one on my blogging mind is this:  We’ve got less than a week to go and we’re still a few hundred dollars away from my cancer fundraising goal.  I’m pretty sure that head of mine will be bald by the end of Monday night!  I’m starting to get a little bit nervous!

I’m planning to do the Big Shave on Monday night, but I haven’t chosen a location for the Shave yet.  I need people to RSVP so I have an idea of numbers. I  just have no idea who cares to see the hair go and no one has said a thing about it yet.  The world in fact is oddly silent on the subject altogether.  Oh well! The Cancer Society is getting a big boon here no matter what.  And for those of you who threw a donation into the pot:  way to go! Awesome!

So what else has been going on?

Xavier slept 7 1/2 hours the other night. Since then, we’ve had late nights, so he hasn’t really had a chance to repeat the trick.  He’s up no matter what at 3:30 am – the question is reall whether his lovely parents here will have him in bed early enough for him to log those types of hours.

Last weekend, our church hosted a dunk tank at the Riley Park Community Festival.  Andre and I volunteered at the booth, which inlcuded being ready to take a turn in the dunk tank if needed.  I did indeed take a turn in the tank and I was surprised at how much fun I had. So many people were complaining about how cold it was, and whatnot – heck, most of last year’s volunteers declined it this year!  But I loved it. I sat on my perch and yelled “Come dunk a baptist!! Three throws for a dollar!” until Kevin replaced me with a much calmer gentleman.  My favourite part was then Ryan brought me a cup of tea. In the tank.  So there I perched, soaking wet, sipping tea from a cup and saucer while perched on the seat of the dunk tank.  It was a great moment.

Warren is acting VERY TWO these days.  He is full of major scrapes and bruises and a day really isn’t complete if he hasn’t thrown himself to the floor in complete and utter despair.  He has learned how to scream from the master: his brother, and he adds his own uniqueness to it to make the screaming even louder.  Good thing we adore every little bone in his body and every hair on his head.  He hasn’t made much progress on the “communicate in English” front lately, so he’s getting more and more frustrated. That can be good — much problem-solving and learning comes from a manageable level of frustration.  Today, he did point at every bus and say “bus!” to me while we were out. That was cool.

We’ve been thinking and praying for Bill and Carole a ton.  I can’t imagine how stressful it must be for them — to have “sold” a place, bought a new one, and THEN find out the first sale is a no-go.  it makes something within me stretch almost to the breaking point.  So to hear, tonight, that their sale did indeed complete is a wonderful thing. Hallelujah!

Good night, folks!  Don’t forget to tell your peeps that you love them! Oh. And tell me if you’re coming to The Shave. And consider donating. http://cancerevents.kintera.org/baron or http://cancerevents.kintera.org/baronnotbald