Potty Tales

I care way too much what people think of me.  Even people I don't know, have never met.  It's almost like a self-centred thing; I could swear that people look at me and instantly are thinking of everything that is wrong with me.  When really, they might glance over me and move on with their day.

But this is not a deep, thoughtful post about worrying about people.  Nope, this is to share what a trip to the potty looks like in our household.  Because of course you all want to know that.  (Don't worry it's not MY trip to the potty!)

The reason I mentioned how I care about people's opinions is because Leigh is still potty training and she is going to be four in two months.  I believe that she should have grasped the mechanics of peeing and pooping in the toilet by now.  And I believe that people will think the same thing.  I know, not to compare children, but Abby was trained by 2 1/2.  And before we moved, I thought that I saw the light at the end of the potty-training tunnel.  But since we moved she has seemingly regressed to a small toddler.

The thing is, I know she knows everything to be done.  I think that she even knows when she has to go.  She just doesn't.  She can be in the bathroom and if I'm not there to help her, she will pee on the floor in front of the dryer, rather than hop on the toilet two feet away.  Okay, that's not totally fair.  She did go by herself once this morning.  It is improving.  See, it helps me to write it out and see the progress.

So usually my dear Leigh does the dance.  Crossing her legs, squirming, and eventually dropping to the ground because she has so much trouble holding it.  Even with all this, if I ask her if she has to go, she usually says no.  I hustle her to the bathroom and even though she is capable of doing it all herself, I have to bring the stool over and help her take her pants off.

She does her business, after which she always asks, "Now I get a candy?" Which I assure her that she does. And then I remind her to flush because she would just run out of the room if she could.  After I ask her to flush she will always (and I mean always!) say "Don't leave!"  About 4 months ago I left the washroom once before she was done.  Apparently it left her with separation issues.

Then we go to the kitchen and get the current potty candy available.  Right now it is Swedish Berries for pee and a Chupa-Chup (is that how it's spelled?  I'm too lazy to go check) for a poop. And of course Abby gets a candy just for being the sister of the trainee.

So that is the potty training ritual here.  Probably more than anyone ever wants to know, but hey, at least I didn't describe all the poop I've had to clean up.  Seriously, I have some stories.

Let me know if you have any tips or tricks that will get your child to use the toilet.  I could use all the help I can get.

Let Me Tell You Where My Children's Tongues Have Been

The husband has flown the coop.  Mark is in Edmonton right now with his family.  They went to a hockey game last night and he is spending the day there today and will be back home tomorrow.  If I'm honest I could sit here and right a post ranting about how left out and lonely I feel, but it's really not so bad.  And I hate being a downer, so no rant today!

Instead I will ramble on about nonsense so I can avoid the productive tasks that I should be doing, like cleaning out our pets' cages and cleaning out the deep freezer so that my fridge freezer doesn't pop open at the least provocation.

Or I could even unpack more boxes in the hopes that my printer power cord will be found because as of this minute, it is still missing.  I never realized before I lost it how important it is to my life.  I'm starting to feel a little panicky about it.  Because, I mean, it's been three weeks I think since we've been here and it still hasn't surfaced.  That can't be a good sign.

Yesterday was a beautiful day.  In the sun it was just plain hot!  I love spring.  It's such a happy feeling when things warm up.  Yes, it is supposed to snow again (so I've heard) but I console myself with the fact that the snow usually melts by afternoon.  And my kids love to eat snow, so that makes them happy.

Actually, let me tell you about my snow-eating kids.  They love snow so much that they will eat it from anywhere: the ground, from the bottoms of their boots, from cars.  They eat clean snow and muddy snow, they don't discriminate.  I cannot get them to stop licking cars that have snow on them.  Or even cars that are just wet.  Lick, lick, lick.

Maybe I should ask my Mom-in-law if Mark had a penchant for licking cars when he was younger because I sure don't remember doing that.

School Time and Moving

So we had our first week back at school last week.  We took a 3 week Christmas vacation, mostly because we spent 2 weeks up north, so I wanted the week at home to let the girls get adjusted back to being home and also so I could do some more decluttering.

And it definitely helped, I have around 10 boxes and a garbage bag waiting to be trucked away to the second hand store in town.  And that isn't even including the toys I have planned on getting rid of.  It's spring cleaning in January.

Actually, it's more like pre-moving cleaning out.  Because we are moving.  Again.  We haven't even been in this house 6 months.  But I'm not complaining.  I complain in jest, and I mock ourselves for moving again so fast, but it is definitely a good thing for us.  One of the biggest factors, the rent will be cheaper.  $300 cheaper.  That is a significant amount of money for us.  The house is older, same as the one we are currently in, but it is in better condition.  We are also good friends with the owners there.  And it's on 7 acres.  That is sweet!!  A down side would be that the house is smaller, but it is a better layout, and the bathroom is bigger. Tit for tat.

Anyways, I was planning on talking about our school week.  The first day back went really well.  Abby was very willing to sit down and do all our work.  She was almost excited to use our schedule and get going.  But then Tuesday came, and that one wasn't as good.  Hahaha.  Second day blues?  Wednesday went well, and Friday was alright.  Neither easy or hard.  Just ordinary.  The book we were reading last week for Come Sit By Me was The White Stone in the Castle Wall by Sheldon Oberman.  And one of the activities was making a castle.  That was loads of fun.

Sometimes it's hard for me not to be perfectionist about projects like this.  Like, no, don't paint it that!!  Paint it like this!  But I just learn to relax and let them do it however they want to, since it's not for me.

Decisions I've had to Make Since Becoming a Mother

• Cloth vs. Disposable - well, I put this here since it is a tough decision for some folks, but let's be honest: for me, it wasn't a decision at all.  I have never felt the urge to use cloth.  I give a big thumbs up to those who do, but that's about all I do for it.
• Formula vs. Breastfeeding - I am very pro-breastfeeding but with Abby she had formula as well, so I don't really care what others do.  I like the breast because it is free!  Well, yes it is time, and time is money, but if you had to give them a bottle it is still time so it is money on top of money.  I'm thankful that I've been able to breastfeed my girls.  
• Diaper bag vs diaper bag - There are so many out there!  I had my first diaper bag given as a gift, so there was no decision there, but then when Leigh was born, my first one was falling apart so I bought another one.  Which I promptly lost, maybe a few months into it's use.  I haven't boughten another one since.  Oh wait, I did buy a cheap $1 one at the secondhand store, but I think that I got rid of it because 1) I don't need it yet and 2) I don't LOVE it and I have decided that I want to LOVE my next diaper bag since I use it all the time.
• Colour coordinated vs sloppy rainbow - For the first 1-3 (ish) years of their lives, I got to dress my children.  I see pictures of cute children wearing cute, nicely coordinated clothing, and go, "Meh."  I am not a big fashion-type person.  My kids usually ended up wearing whatever came closest to hand and was cleanest.  Now I just let them pick whatever they want to wear and half the time we look a bit like hobos.  (Ok, well dressed hobos.)
• Independent 3 year old vs emotionally sensitive 5 year old - This is today's dilemma.  We made some mailboxes in school the other day and Abby loves, or maybe is obsessed with is the better term, sending and receiving mail.  But she figures that we all need to sit down at the same time and make cards for each other.  We can't wait for them to be deposited in our mailboxes randomly throughout the day.  But Leigh plays by her own rules and just wants to make a card for herself to put in her own mailbox.  This breaks Abby's heart.  It's like a preschool/kindergarten soap opera.
• Clothing vs skin - Not so much a battle anymore, but they both went through phases where they didn't want to wear clothes.  We would start the day nicely dressed and end it buck naked.  I finally just gave up figuring that we were home all day anyways, why not let them run free.  Thankfully they reamain clothed most of the time now, though Abby did tell me the other night that she wanted to "sleep in her skin."

These are just a few of the many decisions a mother has to make.  It's a tough life.  Now I've got to go make some cards to mail to some hopefully-clothed children.

Of Robots and Toddlers

So I personally believe that my kids are super cute and say the cutest things every uttered on this Earth. I may be wrong, but I doubt it.  Hahaha.

Anyways, my girls are quite diverse in their interests from the typical girly interests.  They definitely enjoy tea parties and being princesses and dancing ballet, but they also like to pretend to be pirates, and do Kung Fu and they absolutely LOVE Transformers.

Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime, my all-time favourite.  Abby's too.  Leigh prefers Bumblebee

No, I don't let them watch the new, "real-life" Transformer movies.  But we do watch the original Transformers movie, as well as the TV series from the same time.  Much better in my opinion than these new ones which were a huge disappointment to me. (I could write a whole post on that.  Why did they focus so much on humans?  Why wasn't Hot Rod in the movies?  Why why why wasn't the theme song used?!)

We have a few mini Transformer toys, Mirage and Jazz I believe, and one large Sky Fire.  Leigh goes crazy for them, especially for Sky Fire.  And it's super cute to watch her play with them.  Here is a really short but funny conversation she had between two toys the other day. 

Note: I do not let my children be violent to others in real life.  Just to clarify, hahaha!

Penguin Toy: See my family?

Mirage: No!  I shoot your family!

Ok, so it had to be heard to be as cute as it was.  But I laughed.  

Motherhood Award, Maybe Not Here

Last night my kids didn't make it to bed until 8:30.  Well, maybe that's when we walked up the stairs so it really was later than that.  Oops.  I should maybe get a bad mama point for that.  If I was into keeping track of that kind of thing, which I'm not.  Really.  I may sometimes think that I'm not the greatest mother to ever live, but if I'm really honest, I know that I do alright.  Definitely not all the time, but sometimes.  I could do a lot worse.

Like today wasn't the greatest of days.  I got up sort of early (before 7) and even showered (Hallelujah!) but then my early alone time was not-so-alone time because Leigh was up when I came out.  So that's ok.  She ate some cereal, and sat with me some.  I ate my breakfast and then sat in my chair, and read a little of the Word.  But then I sort of dozed in the chair a little.  And I have determined that that doze is what killed my day.  I should have forced myself out of the chair and gotten my blood flowing and my day started.  But instead it sort of made me feel a little lazy and off.

So my day was therefore lazy and off as well.  Abby slept in until 9:15 which is another point that I'm tossed on, whether I should have woken her up or not.  Since we homeschool, I let her sleep.  I had some arguments in my head going, saying that we need to maintain a routine and keep with it and yada yada yada.  But my girls rarely sleep in anymore (they used to sleep in all the time) so I figured that letting her have the one day wouldn't kill either of us.  Besides, we didn't take yesterday off school, and all the public school kids did.  :-)

So today the kids just played and watched tv and played and did whatever else we felt like.  A bit of a lazy day.  Which is fine, I know.  I don't have to be go go go all the time.  But the only reason I feel guilty is that I know I could have done even a little bit better.  I could have done more, like maybe the laundry, especially since I don't want to get caught with 4 large loads of laundry and a broken washer like I had this last Saturday.  That wasn't fun.

Oh well, today is over and I am really trying to learn to just accept the fact that maybe I didn't do something perfect, maybe I was even a little wrong, but it is done now and I can only try again tomorrow.

I started writing this to contemplate whether I should go make my children be quiet and get back in bed since they are currently playing upstairs.  This has been a parenting question for me ever since Abby started sleeping in a big girl bed and was able to get out on her own.  What are everyone's thoughts on this?  Typically I just let them play, as long as it isn't for hours and hours and hours.  Ideally I think that I would like them not to, but well, I'm kind of lazyish so I tend to take the path that involves less conflict.  Tell me your thoughts.

School in September

I just put Leigh down for a time-out/nap and she is crying at the top of the stairs.  I am too lazy to go put her back in her bedroom.  I probably should though.  She is being sooooo incredibly cranky today.  I'm wondering if I am letting her play too many "video games."  Lately while I do school work with Abby, I let Leigh play on my iPhone.  Ideally I don't want to do this every day, but I feel like it's just so much easier.

I'm hoping that once the house gets more organized, I'll have more stuff for her to do.  I have lots of ideas, just none really implemented.  And maybe I should be taking more time with her.  Even while she was playing games on the phone today she wanted to stay cuddled with me.  I think that I don't take more time because I'm selfish and just want to get through the "work" as soon as possible, so that I can sit on the computer wasting my time and mind away.

Last week was a really difficult school week.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, oh my, it was just rough.  Leigh was fussy and Abby wanted nothing to do with school.  I was stressed out.  I have ladies' Biblestudy on Thursdays, and I asked for prayer for help with school.  We didn't do any school on Friday because, well because I just didn't want to.  But we did some on Saturday, and it was seriously way better.  And so far this week it has gone much better as well.  I am so very excited.

I think that it's not that Abby is any different, well, maybe a little, but I have just more patience.  An that makes a huge difference.

How Playing Outside Affects Me

Is it just me or is it almost more disruptive when your kids are playing outside?  Ok, maybe not, but it comes close.  I like to think that I'm getting them out of my hair when they want to play outside, but my goodness, this morning it was like they couldn't leave me alone.  They were constantly coming to the door and ringing the doorbell, or else they were screaming at each other for any number of reasons, or they were absolutely silent, sending me into panic mode thinking they had been kidnapped.  Because I am nothing, if not rational.

Seriously, I think I answered the door about 20 times while they were outside.  It's very disruptive to have to stop what I'm doing to walk to the door and open it to find either a dandelion, or some other weed/flower, that I must proclaim beautiful, or the girls calling me Teacher and asking questions, like when are we going to the park?  

The time they were silent today, they were actually playing in the truck.  Which is kind of nice because it occupies them and I don't have to worry about them running onto the road and getting hit by the maniac speeding cars that go by.  But I always have to check to see what buttons they pressed in the truck, because the other day they turned on the lights in the car (unbeknownst to me) and when I went to leave the next morning my car wouldn't start.  Fun times.  But hey, at least they're happy, right?

Summer So Far, In Point Form

• Camping - We've gone out twice and it's been great.  We're hoping to go again later this month, but this time during the week.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Even though camping is still a lot of work for me, when I'm there it's like I can relax.  I don't have an ongoing list in my head of the million things I should be doing.  
• VBS - Abby is starting her third VBS this week.  We actually haven't completed a whole week of VBS yet though.  The first two she seemed to really like, but today I was told that she was fine at first but then she didn't want to be there and she hid under a pew for a long time.  One of the leaders basically hung out with her.  The big difference for this one is that her best friend isn't there, so I think she feels alone and left out and shy and all that stuff.  I'm hoping that she will still go the rest of the days though, we'll see.
• Waterpark - We're a block from the park, so I try to take the girls there at least once a week.  It's a nice way to keep cool.  I enjoy it because I can just relax on a blanket while they run around.  Well, as much relaxing as you can do while a soaking wet child wants to sit on your lap and eat grapes.  
• Canoeing - We had a canoe given to us, and I bless the couple that gave it to us everytime we go out.  It is the perfect way to spend time together on the weekends.  We went out on Sunday and the girls and Daddy even jumped into the lake from the canoe.  Fun times.
• Moving - We're moving!  Not until the end of August, but I included it in the list because now my life is filled with packing.  And I'm excited.  There is no basement suite in the house we're moving to.  It will just be us.  Yay!  

A Glimpse In the Mind of a Three-Year-Old

What is it with 3-year-olds?  I actually try to avoid saying this because it seems that you could say it for every age.  (What is it with 30-year-olds?)  But seriously, it can be so frustrating.  And funny.  Funstrating.  That just sounds weird.

Being a parent seems to require more patience than I have in me.  I guess that's why I have God, right?  Leigh is only freshly turned three, but it takes a bit of almost manipulating to get her to do what you want.  Here is a typical conversation.

Mama: Here's your stickers, Leigh.  Go play with them at the table.

Leigh: No table!  I want big table.

Mama: Ok, go to the big table.

Leigh: No big table!  Little table!

Mama: Ok, sit at the little table.

Leigh: Yes! (said almost rebelliously, as if she thinks that she is getting one up on me.)

It seems like every decision of hers has to first start with a negative answer, and then she switches to the yes.  Must be some form of control, making it her idea instead of mine.  But I'm not a psychiatrist, I'm not going to analyze too much.

This is Mostly a Catch-Up Post

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm still here.  It has been a crazy month.  Or even if it wasn't super crazy, just abnormal.  I feel like I haven't really been home for so long, though really we were home most of May.  But we were sick for a good two weeks, so that kind of cuts into it I think.

We're better now, or mostly.  Leigh was finally over her cough, but it came back last weekend, so I'm taking her in to the doctor's tomorrow.  But the rest of us are fine.

My grandpa died last week, so we went down to the Island for his funeral.  That was hard for me, not hte going there, but just his death, because he is the first of my grandparents to die.  And even though it was a long drive for a short visit, I was still very glad that we were able to go.  Everyone thanked me for coming, but the truth was that it was just as much a selfish thing for me to go.  I needed to be around my family at a time like this.  All of my cousins except for one were able to make it, so we got to visit with people we really haven't seen in almost ten years.

An up side to that is that Mark was able to come, so he got to meet my family and see where I used to spend my summers.  We got to see my Great-Grandma, who turned 99 this year.  I was glad that she was able to meet him.

So now it is back to life, at least for a few months!  If this rain would stop, maybe the girls and I could do some gardening.

Just To Let You Know

I hate being sick.  I hate my kids being sick.  I hate my husband being sick.  Thankfully, he isn't sick.  But the rest of us are.  I even spent Friday night overnight at the hospital with Abby.  Leigh should have been there too.  Hopefully she won't have to go though.  So that is about all I have to talk about right now because my brain is kind of stuffy and foggy.  I'll resume more interesting posts when I'm not so tired. :-)

Cute and Sometimes Embarrassing Things Kids Say

Setting: Boston Pizza Bathroom, wheelchair accessible stall so Abby, Leigh and I can all fit in together.

Scene: Abby went pee, and Leigh went second (YAY).  Then it was my turn.  After I was done Leigh loudly says "Good Job Mama!!"

Someone Remind Me Why I Have Kids?

I usually try to write posts that are more on the cheerful, optimistic kind of side because I know that I could easily just sit here day after day and complain about anything and everything.  But unfortunately this is not a post like that.  It is a venting post.  Please excuse it.  It's been a bit of a trying week.

My kids are driving me nuts!  And right now it's mostly Leigh, dear that she is.  She has been sick the last few days with a fever, so I've given grace to her crankiness because I get cranky when I'm sick too.  But today, she threw the biggest fit I have ever seen her have.

She was inconsolable.  Seriously, nothing was making her happy.  Not food, not her monkey (blanket), not even a tv show.  She was hyperventilating a bit and just keep screaming and crying.  We began to worry that she had something wrong with her, like a sickness or who knows what.

I finally got her bundled to take to emerg and Mark took her outside to put in the car.  I came out shortly after and she was playing on our little ship/slide in the yard.  Not crying.  Hmmmmm, that's suspicious.  Maybe she isn't sick.

She was fine outside until I told her she couldn't ride her bike on the road.  That started the fit again.  So I figured that it was just an attitude thing, and she was not ill.  At least that worry is gone.  But how am I supposed to deal with the rest of it?

We got the painting easel set up for the girls, and Abby happily started painting a cow, of course.  Everytime she paints, she says she's painting a cow.

Leigh started to get ready but then started freaking out again.  But after she saw Abby painting for awhile she quietly got on her painting smock and wanted some paint.  And she was fine again.

She didn't throw another fit until right now when I put her to bed.  I am currently listening to her cry at her bedroom door.  Today is the first day in her "big girl bed."  It is just her crib, lowered and with the railing taken off.  But apparently it is not acceptable.  Or maybe it's just the whole bed time that is not acceptable.

Some days I feel like God is gracious and gives me lots of strength to make it, and other days I feel so stretched that I don't think I will make it through the next ten minutes without doing something I regret.

She's a Winner!

Well, way back last summer I boldly stated that we were potty training Leigh.  And then I think I didn't mention it for about 6 months.  Mainly because I stopped because it seemed to take too long and was frustrating.  But in January we began potty training, again.   And this time I was determined to see it through to the end.  It was panties or die.  Or maybe something a little less drastic.  Like cleaning poop off the floor for the rest of my life.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaanyways.  I wanted to boast to  update you all on our progress.  And I am pleased to report that Leigh seems to have 'gotten it'.  She only wears diapers at night, though that seems sporadic now since she likes to rip them off in the middle of the night.  But all day she is diaper free.  And while she still has the occasional accident, most of the time the pee and poop end up where they are supposed to go.  

And the beauty of it now?  I don't even have to give her candy for going, or even ask her if she has to go.  She just goes on her own.  She can take her potty cup and dump it in the big toilet all by herself too.  Though I usually come because I like to rinse it.  

My Whole House is Now Covered in Glitter...Seriously

I am officially glittered out for today.  We just finished making some Valentine's cards.  Only 12, and I never want to see glitter again.  Or at least a day.  I was just going to make the cards for the girls' grandparents, but then Abby liked the glittering so much we just kept going so I figured these could be for her class too.  So now I need something like 20 cards.  We did 12 today.  So 8 more, plus family cards to do too.

Valentine's is a week away.  I didn't seriously realize this until a friend reminded me of this.  We're not very big holiday people around here anyways, so it's not like I have these huge Valentine's plans.  Hubs and I aren't planning on going out, mostly because it's the month with the cheque with Christmas break on it, so we don't really have the money for a babysitter plus a fancy dinner (or as fancy as you get in a small town!).

But it did remind me that I have some random thoughts floating through my head, not fully developed or anything.  I just kind of wanted to do a bit of a nice dinner at home maybe, and have a sort of "date night" or something.  But I'm not fully sure on any details or ideas of what exactly I want to do.  I'll have to check Pinterest, they have everything there! ;-)

The Currently On-Going Saga of the Potty

I wonder how many litres of pee I have cleaned off my floor in the past few months?  I guess when I think of it, it won't be many litre wise, but it might be lots cup wise.  What a delightful thought.

Potty training is not high on my list of thrills.  I think I'm just watching and waiting for Leigh to train herself.  I know in theory how we trained Abby, but I actually don't remember the specifics.  Though parts of it come back as this goes on.  Like the hours I spent sitting on the edge of the tub.  

Leigh is different though.  She likes to "use" the little kid's potty, not the big toilet.  Abby never used the little one, she always used the big one.  Maybe there's just more going on, Leigh doesn't want to miss it.

But Leigh still hates to use the potty.  I can get her on there for about 10 seconds and then she's jumping up and around and ready to go, and not 2 minutes later has peed on the floor.  

At home we are always wearing panties now, no diapers unless we are leaving the house.  I think that it is sort of cluing through her brain that when she pees, she gets wet.  

And the other day, I think it was Monday, I found half a poop in the potty!!!!!  (Insert celebratory trumpet band here)  Abby alerted me that Leigh smelled like poop and sure enough, she had some poop on her bum, but I couldn't find it anywhere!  Finally I looked in the potty and there it was.  

Though she proceeded to finish her business on the bedroom floor.  But it's a start!  It's the first we've got.  I gave her a Lindor chocolate.  Hopefully that encourages her to do it again.

Nothing Really Important to Say, Just Blabbering About My Offspring's Cuteness

I'm sitting here, wishing that I had a cup of tea but am feeling a little too lazy to go make one, listening to my girls play together and hearing them say things like, "More water!" "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, BOOM!" "The flowers" "Quuaaaaack, quuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaack"

One of my favourite things is to watch and listen to them play together.  The things that they imagine are sometimes so funny.  And a lot of the time, they don't even need toys to play.  One of their favourite things is to take all the condiments out of the fridge door.  Leigh likes to line them all in a row and count them over and over, while Abby likes to play with them.  The salad dressing might turn into a super hero, while the BBQ sauce is an animal in trouble.  Apparently all the toys in the play room are over rated.

I'm thankful that they like to play together, but am also constantly reminded that they definitely aren't perfect.  Just now they started a loud whining "Nooooo, No, No."  I think Leigh wanted the toy Abby had, or something.     

One cute thing that my girls do is switch places.  They seem to have their system worked out perfectly.  Like the other night they were both sitting in a laundry basket listening to Daddy play the guitar and sing songs to them.  And after each song, one of them would get up and say "OK" and move to switch spots.  And the other girl would get right up and move.  Then it would happen again.  They do this with colouring books, or playdough too.  It's pretty cute.

I Want a Pill for Myself

I have deep suspicions that today, my children swallowed a drive-Mama-crazy-any-way-we-can pill.  I can find no other idea for the outrageous behavior we have experienced today.  They went to bed on time (and slept soon after), they are fed, clothed, not sick...well a little snotty...and ok, Leigh is cutting her molars, but she wasn't the bad one.  That title goes to Abby.

The day started ok enough, but after a couple hours some screaming and fits started, I can't remember over what now.  So I put Abby into her time-out chair in the corner.  This is my latest attempt of correction.  She hates being there.  I usually give her just a minute, upping it if she gets off or is too rowdy.  I usually let her scream and fuss, I just go on with whatever I'm doing, ignoring her.  And boy, does she HATE that.

So today I put her there, and she did ok, just some screaming.  But later she got a second (and third and possibly fourth) time-out, and she spit on the ground.  SPIT!  And when I was dragging  walking her to the corner she bit me!

She has been biting a lot lately actually, when I am forced to restrain her to get something done, like get her jacket on so we can leave wherever we are.  So it's not too surprising, but still upsetting.  And I will admit to those that don't know, I have a bit of a temper, so when she chomps down it is so very hard for me to remain calm.

I just wish I knew that what I am doing is working.  Am I getting through to her?  I don't know!  I tell my hubs that she is a child, it just takes lots and lots of time and repetition.  But I think I need to have a wife myself to talk to me...ok, maybe not.

Oh, I just looked at the time and I need to go make some mashed potatoes for supper (again, we just had them last night but hubby wants them because he wants gravy again tonight.  Oh the things I do!).

Permanent Sister Sleepovers Beginning Soon

My project today has been to move Leigh over to Abby's room.  I haven't finished yet since Leigh needed her afternoon nap, so I just left her in the old room.  But after the nap, I'm thinking it's time. 

We've discussed moving the girls into the same room for a few months now.  It was never a question of IF we should, it was just WHEN we should.  As soon as we have another baby and that baby needed the crib, Leigh would be moved over to Abby's room to share with her.  But we decided to move her now, while still in the crib.  Really, just for fun?  I don't know if I have any huge, good reasons for moving earlier.

Maybe with all the toys in the one room, I will only have that one room to tidy? (HA fat chance!)  Maybe they will adapt to being in the same room, so that once Leigh moves out of the crib they will be fine to sleep together, since Abby has a double bed and we are planning on making them share it.  So mean, yes we are!  (I say that as I'm thinking of their arguments once they're older.)

Or the reason I'm doing this is that I am stuck at home all day, every day, and I need some variety in my life so I get my kicks by rearranging the furniture!  Yes, I think that's it! 

I am on a rearranging kick, actually.  We moved the TV back OUT of our room now and back into the living room, and I am so so so so so happy for it to be gone.  My room is again a safe haven for me and my hubs.  Yes, the kids still invade it (that probably won't change until they're grown) but there is no more Dora or Diego or Gerbert or any other animated/puppet-like characters in there.  I can sleep in peace.

So my room is being rearranged, we rearranged the living room to fit the TV in again, and now it's the kids' rooms.  And it is such a refreshing feeling.  But back to the girls.

So what are everyone's views on room sharing?  Is it cruel and unusual punishment to make your children share a room?  And even a bed, once it comes to that?