Momentous Sunday and Surprising Monday

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Happy random ramblings from the previous two days...

Momentous Sunday
Yesterday was surprisingly momentous. It started out rather lazily as we didn't have any place to be until 11 (a bowling birthday party) which is very late for us. Our only distraction was lots of pee-soaked underwear. And I mean a lot...like 4 pairs in an hour. For several hours.

See back in January, maybe even February, I was planning on doing a post about being diaperfree in 2009. Logan started preschool on January 5th and he was supposed to be potty trained. But things didn't go as planned. Logan had other ideas. He is what I would call a stubborn potty trainee.

After a couple of weeks I gave up. Since the boys' school is a co-op, there is a daily turnover on the parent handling bathroom duty (pun not intended). Plus I'm there two days a week to take care of his needs. So we've been sliding by.

But I decided that the boys' spring break isn't torture enough for me...I'll try potty training Logan again. The first couple of hours were bad...I already said "I quit" several times. Then Scott (in a brief shining moment of brilliant parenting) decided to let him go au natural in the backyard. He happily played in the buff for quite sometime...and with no clothes to soil, there were no accidents!


I, too, had a brief shining moment of brilliant parenting. I decided to get out Jack's kid-friendly scissors and talk about "the hair." I let him cut some of my hair (oh, what a mama won't do for her kids) and he...let...me...cut...some...of...his! Then I promised him the sun, the moon and the stars if he agreed to get a haircut after his friend's birthday party. (In actuality, I told him it would be a secret mission and we would surprise Papa.)

Instead of the sun, the moon and the stars I promised, he shrewdly negotiated no nap, dinner at the restaurant of his choice and a toy to be purchased immediately after the haircut. I also had to agree to call it a hair trim (not a cut which apparently is a bad word to Jack) and to remove, by force if necessary, the stylist's clippers. Only scissors were to be used.

After the party, Jack and I dropped Scott and a sleeping Logan at home and got our secret mission underway. {Insert Mission Impossible theme song - Dun nun naaaaaaaaaa, dun nun naaaaaaaaaa, dunt dunt, dunt dunt...} Jack was so brave and did so well. I can't tell you how proud I was of him. It took quite awhile because he had so much hair. I don't love the cut...um, I mean trim...but I can see his face and he seems to have conquered his phobia. I could have kissed Esther, the stylist, but I don't think she would have been down with that.

We headed to Target for a toy and then picked the rest of the family up for a Makes-Mama-Happy Meal at Wahoo's...Jack's pick, of course.


Surprising Monday
Today was the first day of spring break. And I can not lie...when I woke up this morning I was filled with terror. How would I fill 5 full days with two hellions crazed little boys?

Well, I'm delighted to report that I survived day 1 unscathed. (You do know this means that tomorrow will be a disaster, right?) We spent a lot of time at home this morning, something we never do, so that Logan could be pantless. They played outside. They played inside. But best of all, they played nicely. Then we made a quick stop at a playground and off to the grocery store. (And yes, luckily, I remembered to put some pants on Logan!)

The boys were remarkable well-behaved in the grocery store thanks to a car (with 2 steering wheels, thank goodness!) attached to the cart. We bought sandwiches from the deli and had a car picnic. (Yes, I am the weird mama tailgating in the grocery store parking lot. Got a problem with it? Didn't think so!) And then, nap time! Hallelujah!


Anyone taking bets on how horrible tomorrow will be?

"Not me!" Monday

So, I've been out shopping for my gown to wear to the MOTYs. You know...the MOTYs are the annual Mama of the Year Awards. I heard through the grapevine that I'm a shoo in. It's a good thing I didn't do any of the following or I could be out of the running for this completely fictional prestigious award:

I did NOT do a "happy dance" on the first day back to school.

I have NOT resorted to bribery everytime Logan barely glances at the potty.

I have NOT forgotten to have the boys brush their teeth in...well, I'm not sure how long. I would never have NOT done that..."dats 'gusting!" as Logan would say and especially in light of Logan's potty bribery being sugar-based.

I did NOT seriously consider giving Logan a mohawk haircut just to try and offset Jack's insane hair.

I did NOT sit each of my kids in the sink of a public restroom to wash the sand off them as though it were their private bathtub.

I did NOT bribe Jack with a popsicle if he could convince Logan to pee on a tree at the park.

For more "Not Me!" Monday posts visit MckMama's site.

Too fast!

My baby's all grown up. It seems like just yesterday I was giving birth to him and in the blink of the eye he has grown into such a mature young man.

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. But today was Logan's first day of nursery school.

I guess I should qualify a couple of things:
He's not really our baby in the sense that he is the much younger child in a long line of kids. In reality he's our second and he's only 15 months younger than Jack. In many ways we treat the boys as though they are the same age.
And it wasn't as though I just dropped him off at school and left. At his and Jack's co-op school, parents usually attend for the first two weeks. Because Logan is already very familiar with the school from having attended on my work-days there, I'll probably only stay with him for a week.

Logan hates having his picture taken by the Mamarazzi. This is him on the way to school this morning:

And Scott wanted a photo of him returning home his first day (as we did when Jack started) but when I bring him home he's always asleep. So I tried to get his photo as he left school.
Shoot! That's the wrong son! Let's try again:
Can you see that big grin as he runs away from me and straight for the playground?

And to top off an already pretty good day, today was my first diaperbag-free day. That's right folks...for the first time in nearly 4 years I went out with a purse! I have no need for a diaperbag since none of my babies wear diapers anymore. Hurray!

I should qualify though that I did have to carry two other bags containing: 3 lunches, 3 sweatshirts, 276 changes of clothes for Logan, 4 pounds of playdough (that I made for the school), 1 large Sigg bottle, a SLR camera and a heavy book.

I'm not sure anyone could tell I was carrying a purse underneath all that other stuff but I knew it. Hurray!

"Not me!" Monday

I did NOT mutter my stress/crisis mantra, "I will survive this day. I will survive this day. I will survive this day.", while my children acted like whirling dervishes in the crowded checkout area in T@rget. I did NOT receive alarmed stares from others as they heard me.

I did NOT eat a cookie while looking up info on a weight loss website. I am NOT eating another cookie right now.

I did NOT tell an irrational and sleepy 2 year old that if he didn't use his indoor voice he'd have to go outside. I definitely did NOT do this at 2:30 AM when it was frigid outside. I definitely did NOT go outside with him twice in in the middle of the night an effort to snap him out of his 2 hour long hysterics.

I did NOT sit on my butt and read in bed while Scott took the boys out one morning this week. I would NOT have done that when I had (and still have) 153,872 things I should have been doing.

I did NOT roll my eyes and hang my head in the grocery store while trying to explain to Jack for the 34 time what a demolition derby was (as he recently saw one in a Herbie movie). I did NOT get weird stares from others as I explained that some grownups think crashing their cars is fun but it's not a safe thing to do.

I did NOT let Logan eat yogurt while peeing in an effort to help along our potty training. That would have been disgusting!


For more "Not Me!" Monday posts visit MckMama's site.

Deja Vu

A mere 15 months ago I was potty training Jack. It was the worst month of my life. 2 and 1/2 years old is young for a boy to start potty training but because he was scheduled to start nursery school we had to do it then. To make things more complicated Logan was 15 months old and couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. He would frequently hang on me while I tried to peel Jack's wet clothes off of him or, worse yet, Logan would walk through Jack's pee puddles. Then I'd have 2 kids to clean up!
So you can imagine how excited I was when I realized that I would need to start potty training Logan after the holidays (as he is scheduled to start school in January). Logan is much less interested in potty training than Jack was. And he could care less if he's soaking wet. So far we are not doing well.

Here are all the essentials that a young boy needs while potty training:

Chart to show progress (or lack thereof):

Stickers for bribery:

M & M's for bribery:

Picture of the play kitchen he'll earn at the completion of his mission:
Small potty:

Family toilet seat and stool:

Fruit loops for target practice:

Bucket to act as a urinal:

Portable DVD player with Herbie Fully Loaded:

Books, pull-back toys and a flashlight to keep him entertained:

Extra underwear:





Here are all the essentials that a mama needs while potty training a young boy: