New Month, New Idea - June 1, 2011

In attempt to get back on track with blogging more regularly, I'm planning to post something every.day. in June about what's going on with us. We'll see how it goes! Not promising photos every day necessarily, but hopefully a little tidbit.

We'll start with a fun, good thing. Last night a friend said that she'd started reading chapter books to her 3.5-ish year old and it was going swimmingly! I've been giving this a lot of thought and have been dying to start with Natalie but wasn't sure how she'd like it. She's still incredibly involved in the pictures in her books. Not to say that she doesn't listen to the stories, but she's VERY interested in the people's (or pigeon's or dog's or whatever-you-have-it's may be) expressions and actions. We have to dissect the pictures many times over. So I wasn't sure if she'd enjoy the experience as much without that. I happened to have Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (free!) on my kindle (LOVE!), so I decided to start there, since she loves the movie (Disney, NOT Tim Burton, we haven't gone THERE!). Well it was wonderful! She listened attentively, didn't complain about the lack of pictures, and even giggled at appropriate places! Win win win! :) Can't wait to really get further into the book with her! :)

And the not-so-great . . .

So today (and ever since this past Saturday - meaning this is day FIVE) my mind is preoccupied with potty training Mollie. We've been trying the famed "3 Day Potty Training Method" (now remember, today is DAY FIVE), and it's going - well, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh! How about we relate it to a book of Natalie's? Horrible, Terrible, No-Good, Very Bad. Yup. She's supposed to be completely and totally trained in 3 days with no accidents, even at naptime and bedtime. HA. HA HA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. YEAHRIGHT. She had two huge successes on the morning of Day 3, and over the course of 4+ days, she's had roughly 30 accidents. Yes, 30. I'm not kidding. You read that right. 30 puddles on the tile or wood floor - or sometimes even on the carpet! Oh, and 3 pairs of panties full of poo. I'm not even going to lie, I threw away yesterday's poopy pair. It was too horrible to explain. So yeah, Woo hoo! Potty training! Thankfully, I'm actually not knee deep in it today, I'm at work and Brad's at home. The girls' daycare is closed this week for teacher training, and we're taking turns staying home with them, so we thought it was the PERFECT time to potty train Mollie! We had 9 days with no daycare (including weekends before and after) and she's 22.5 months. The book says 22 months exactly is ideal. Ideal, she says! Baloney, I say!

So I'm ready to throw in the towel. Try again in a couple months. Brad hasn't given up hope. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Today, I'm just thankful that no one in my office is likely to stand in the middle of the breakroom floor, begin to pee, spread their legs into a wiiiiide "V" and then flip their head down to WATCH -and then expect me to mop it up and find them dry panties. Yes. THAT HAPPENED. Last night. Good times!

Just to clarify - I am NOT alone in this. Brad has been an equal partner in crime when he's home, and does more running a peeing child to the potty than I do when he's there. I couldn't have made it this far without him!

OK OK OK I have to end on a high note about Mollie since she's totally awesome and wonderful and this potty thing has nothing to do with her being ornery - it's just a lack of understanding. I'll keep it quick - my new favorite thing that she's been doing is calling everyone "Honey." As in, gently telling Natalie, "No no, Honey." when she's doing something MG doesn't think she should. As in, handing Brad her sippy cup and saying, "Here go, Honey." Cracks me up!! She's just too cute! :)