Happy Birthday to me...
I turned thirty today and what surprises me about being thirty is not that I feel different (I don't) but it sounds like I'm suddenly much more mature than I was yesterday. :) Like somehow 30-year-olds are supposed to have it together but people in their 20s are still figuring things out. I supposed I'm in trouble if that's the case since I most definitely do NOT have it together.
Take today, for instance. I lost my plan book and the teacher's manual that goes with the book I am using in my classes. If was an "A" day so I taught 5 of 6 classes but, my really well planned day yesterday that was going to give me LOTS of time to plan the rest of the week was spent at home caring for my sick daughter with my sub using my well-thought out lesson plan. Since I teach so many classes on "A" days (and I have morning duty this week) I had no time to plan for today's classes or tomorrow's. Plus, when my kids found out it was my birthday, they decorated my boards in birthday felicitations in 4 or 5 languages. So, in honor of my birthday, I took them to the library (as originally planned) and stayed there a lot longer than originally planned just letting them read. It worked out nicely.
Unfortunately, I had a meeting during lunch and then developed a migraine that just got worse and worse during the last two hours of school. It took me an hour after school to wrap things up with a semblance of order and meet with my mentor. Oh, and I realized, belatedly, that I need to do interim grades this week. Ha! I haven't even set up my classes in the computer so I have some work ahead of me...
I did get flowers (at home, not at work, one day...) from my husband and a nice card and birthday cake. Also, an IOU for a camera to replace the old slow one I use for most of my pictures. I also received a great home-made CD of German rock music and a promise to speak German with me for a time period of my choosing from our exchange student, Ricarda. Hurray! ( I need to practice ahead of time!)
My favorite birhday memory from this year, however, was from 6 weeks ago when two of my favorite people kidnapped me and another of our friends who is also turning thirty (in August) for a dinner out at a really nice restaurant sans children. It was awesome. Not having had a lot of girlfriends growing up makes these ladies (and the time and effort they expend on my behalf) all the more special. This is what friendship is all about, the fun stuff, the leaning on each other, the calling to explain why your husband/daughter/son/parent is an idiot/doll/amazing gift from God just so you can share it with someone. THANKS LADIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Birthday to me... ;-)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Potty Training, a better update
Ay yiyi. Okay, so potty training.
Our first weekend of potty training did not go especially well. I had to be gone on Saturday morning (MRI of my back) and could not be there to help Jim as we started this process. As a result, Jim was fairly frazzled when I got back from the procedure and needed to be relieved for most of the rest of the afternoon. This was not what I had in mind. Potty training requires, in my mind and my house, the attention of both parents on the child for the weekend so that we could avoid becoming overly stressed about the process and spell each other. Since my being gone was unavoidable, and Jim had a daddy meltdown, we both spent the much of the day alone with Katie and so did not have each other to help through the frustrations. The frustrations inevitably come when she sits on the potty and does nothing and then, minutes later, pees on the floor. It was all very accidental but stressful nonetheless.
Sunday went much better. We used pull-ups at church, just in case. I didn't feel comfortable taking her to church in underwear, given our success rate of the day before. We don't want her to get confused by the use of pull-ups so we are treating them like underwear. We took her to the bathroom before and after the service and she produced both times. Using the pull-up eased my mind and it stayed drier than her underwear the day before. :) The rest of the day was also fairly easy because she wore a diaper for her nap after lunch (I'm not even thinking about THAT yet). Then, after nap we went to the pool and she wore a swim diaper and I don't really know or care if she peed in the pool. All in all, Sunday was much more relaxing.
Monday she started daycare in her big girl underpants and it has gone generally well. I have to include this photo of her first potty day sticker sheet. She got a sticker for every successfull trip to the potty. Please count the stickers
Yes, there are 13 of them. They took Katie to the potty and she produced 13 times in one day at daycare. Bless them. That was worth my whole month's payment right there. I could never take her that many times.
Fortunately, she has not gone so often since and has gone down to more like 3-5 times in a day. She does have a couple accidents a week now but nothing really bad. She has also started pooping on the potty at daycare right after nap instead of pooping in her diaper as she sleeps, what has been happening. The one major step that we need to make is her asking when she needs to go to the potty.
So, onward and forward. We are using pull-ups on the weekend for our own sanity and letting daycare deal with underwear and accidents, which is making me very happy. We will eventually move to underwear all the time but, as long as we are treating the pull ups like underwear and continuing the potty trips on the weekend, I am comfortable with the way things stand for now.
We'll check in again in a month or so and I'll let you know how it's going.
Our first weekend of potty training did not go especially well. I had to be gone on Saturday morning (MRI of my back) and could not be there to help Jim as we started this process. As a result, Jim was fairly frazzled when I got back from the procedure and needed to be relieved for most of the rest of the afternoon. This was not what I had in mind. Potty training requires, in my mind and my house, the attention of both parents on the child for the weekend so that we could avoid becoming overly stressed about the process and spell each other. Since my being gone was unavoidable, and Jim had a daddy meltdown, we both spent the much of the day alone with Katie and so did not have each other to help through the frustrations. The frustrations inevitably come when she sits on the potty and does nothing and then, minutes later, pees on the floor. It was all very accidental but stressful nonetheless.
Sunday went much better. We used pull-ups at church, just in case. I didn't feel comfortable taking her to church in underwear, given our success rate of the day before. We don't want her to get confused by the use of pull-ups so we are treating them like underwear. We took her to the bathroom before and after the service and she produced both times. Using the pull-up eased my mind and it stayed drier than her underwear the day before. :) The rest of the day was also fairly easy because she wore a diaper for her nap after lunch (I'm not even thinking about THAT yet). Then, after nap we went to the pool and she wore a swim diaper and I don't really know or care if she peed in the pool. All in all, Sunday was much more relaxing.
Monday she started daycare in her big girl underpants and it has gone generally well. I have to include this photo of her first potty day sticker sheet. She got a sticker for every successfull trip to the potty. Please count the stickers
Yes, there are 13 of them. They took Katie to the potty and she produced 13 times in one day at daycare. Bless them. That was worth my whole month's payment right there. I could never take her that many times.
Fortunately, she has not gone so often since and has gone down to more like 3-5 times in a day. She does have a couple accidents a week now but nothing really bad. She has also started pooping on the potty at daycare right after nap instead of pooping in her diaper as she sleeps, what has been happening. The one major step that we need to make is her asking when she needs to go to the potty.
So, onward and forward. We are using pull-ups on the weekend for our own sanity and letting daycare deal with underwear and accidents, which is making me very happy. We will eventually move to underwear all the time but, as long as we are treating the pull ups like underwear and continuing the potty trips on the weekend, I am comfortable with the way things stand for now.
We'll check in again in a month or so and I'll let you know how it's going.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Potty Training Update to come
Okay, I know I owe you an update on potty training but I really need more time to tell the story thus far than I have right now. So the short version is, yes she's peed on the floor, yes, Jim pulled his hair out when I had to be gone for the beginning of it Saturday morning, and yes, she is peeing great at daycare (and I mean reeeeeeallly great, you have no idea). I should have just left it to them in the first place... :) Details tomorrow!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Why I'm a mom
Today Jim brought Katie to my school because he needed to drop something off that I had left at home. Escorted by our head secretary, they came down the hall to my room and Katie, with her usual ecstatic "Mommy!" First her voice is questioning, hopeful, "Mommy?!" Then, after sighting me in a room, her voice turns to a higher pitched surprised and gleeful "MOMMY!" Finally, running towards my open arms, assured of my presence and welcome, her voice calls out in a deeper delight with an infectious grin on her face, "mommy!" I have recognized this as one of the special delights of being Katie's mother and I have savored it, knowing this phase will last for but a blink of time. The secretary pointed it out to me particularly today, however and reminded me, again, to savor this time. It moved me to write it down, a record of this special time and how it makes me feel. It is everything I ever wanted in becoming a mother, made even more special by the struggles I had at the beginning of Katie's life feeling bonded to her. While our bond was not instantaneous as is often expounded about in books and magazines, it has grown and developed into one as strong as any. She is the daughter of my body and, most importantly, my heart.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Potty Training
I have been avoiding it like the plague. I did not want to potty train until I absolutely had too. It takes me mentally back to the breastfeeding days when I could only get out of the house for an hour at a time because we never figured out how to breastfeed outside the house. So, between naps and feedings, I got two 45-60 minute times to fly (relatively speaking) out the door to run AN errand. I fear this will be the same. While I know that we can potty in public restrooms that don't have potty seats, whether or not she will is another story entirely. To be honest, I gave it a try this last weekend and had some success pottying at Target and at church. Church doesn't necessarily count though because there are potty seat inserts in every bathroom.
But, her daycare teachers have been telling us they were ready to try underwear for a month and tonight, amazingly, shockingly, Katie pooped on the potty. Like a real honest to goodness diaper full, minus the diaper. She's been peeing fairly regularly for a few weeks now. This weekend, something will be added and hopefully, eliminated from my ever dynamic to-do list: switching to underwear.
Please pray...
But, her daycare teachers have been telling us they were ready to try underwear for a month and tonight, amazingly, shockingly, Katie pooped on the potty. Like a real honest to goodness diaper full, minus the diaper. She's been peeing fairly regularly for a few weeks now. This weekend, something will be added and hopefully, eliminated from my ever dynamic to-do list: switching to underwear.
Please pray...
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