Sorry, most of my posts lately have involved bathroom talk. Unfortunately, it's sort of the focus of my life right now. When and where Ben will use the bathroom is pretty much constantly on my mind. When I'm not thinking about that I'm usually sleeping.
Though this second pregnancy is very similar to my first in physical symptoms, the mental and emotional aspects are completely different. Last time I was totally focused on the pregnancy. That was constantly on my mind. With this one I just don't have the time to think about it all that much. I'm almost 19 weeks along, so it's getting harder and harder to "ignore" it. I'm starting to feel the pains of pregnancy such as swollen feet, achy hips and even less pleasant things which I will save for Heath's lucky ears.
The other thing I realized is that with a first pregnancy there are all these milestones: Registering for baby stuff. Going to a childbirth class. Having a baby shower. With a second pregnancy it's like old news. It's just 40 long weeks of waiting. We'll need a couple things for the baby's room, but I think we're either going to borrow them or get them at garage sales. Rather anti-climactic.
However, I've been feeling little pokes and kicks for a few weeks now and they're getting stronger. Even the second time around that's really exciting. It makes me feel much more connected to the baby.
You only have one week left to place your bets on the sex! You're either on Team Heath (boy) or Team Everyone Else (girl). I honestly would be happy with either one, but I do keep having girl thoughts and dreams. Whether that's wishful thinking, influence from everyone else or an actual connection to my child we'll find out on July 1.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Oh, the irony
Considering how creative and prolific a cusser Heath is, I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner... But this morning as I was cutting up an apple for a snack, Ben, out of nowhere started saying, "Oh, damn it. Oh, damn it. Oh, damn it."
The stupid thing is, I think he might have actually gotten that one from me. I know I've said it at least once in his presence in the recent past. How is it that Heath spouts off stuff like, "Fuckers from Hell" and yet somehow Ben's first cuss words come from me?!
The stupid thing is, I think he might have actually gotten that one from me. I know I've said it at least once in his presence in the recent past. How is it that Heath spouts off stuff like, "Fuckers from Hell" and yet somehow Ben's first cuss words come from me?!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Conversations with a Toddler - Part 9
Scene: Ben and I were walking down the stairs and he started hopping.
Me: Please don't hop on the stairs. You need to walk.
Ben: (Continues hopping)
Me: (More sternly) Stop hopping on the stairs. You need to walk down.
Ben: (Screams) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: (Walks away, because often that's a very effective way to make Ben behave. He does not like to be alone. Ever.)
Ben: (Walks down the rest of the stairs, comes to me and gives me a hug) I'm sorry I yelled at you, Mom.
Me: (Heart melts)
Me: Please don't hop on the stairs. You need to walk.
Ben: (Continues hopping)
Me: (More sternly) Stop hopping on the stairs. You need to walk down.
Ben: (Screams) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: (Walks away, because often that's a very effective way to make Ben behave. He does not like to be alone. Ever.)
Ben: (Walks down the rest of the stairs, comes to me and gives me a hug) I'm sorry I yelled at you, Mom.
Me: (Heart melts)
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Poop Dance
One of my very first blog posts was about how Ben always pooped while I was in the shower. Well, it's over two years later and yet somehow I find myself once again in that same position. The very act of me turning on the water seems to get his bowels moving. But it can't be easy. No, it has to be a drawn-out back and forth with several fake outs (intentional or not I'm unsure), that may or may not result in him actually pooping. Multiple times in the past several weeks I've had to jump out mid-shower and assist him. Let me tell you, it's an absolute treat to wipe someone's butt while you're naked and dripping wet.
Ben's still not totally comfortable pooping on the potty. We haven't had an actual accident in a week, but it's always this exhausting dance. And if he doesn't poop in the morning then all day I feel like he's a time bomb waiting to go off. Where will the explosion happen? The playground? Target? It's like a disgusting game of Russian Roulette.
Luckily he seems to have mastered pulling down his shorts and underwear. Pulling them back up is a different story, but getting onto the potty by himself is all I care about right now. At least then I can finish my shower.
Ben's still not totally comfortable pooping on the potty. We haven't had an actual accident in a week, but it's always this exhausting dance. And if he doesn't poop in the morning then all day I feel like he's a time bomb waiting to go off. Where will the explosion happen? The playground? Target? It's like a disgusting game of Russian Roulette.
Luckily he seems to have mastered pulling down his shorts and underwear. Pulling them back up is a different story, but getting onto the potty by himself is all I care about right now. At least then I can finish my shower.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
That cooler will never be the same again
Some terrible storms have been crossing Missouri lately. On Wednesday we had the worst one so far to hit St. Louis. Not too long after Ben woke up from his nap the tornado sirens started blaring. So we grabbed some snacks, the cats and my laptop (for radar monitoring and possible show watching if Ben got bored) and headed downstairs.
Ben almost never gets to go in the basement, so he's always excited when he does. He was having a good time exploring and stalking the cats in a closed environment. After checking the radar and assuring myself we still had a little time before we were all blown away, my mind wandered to other things, mainly what was I going to do if Ben needed the bathroom. My eyes darted around the basement and first landed on the kitty litter box. It would be an appropriate place, but then I imagined him falling in and decided against it. Then I saw the coolers. Specifically the little cooler without wheels that would be a little taller than he's used to, but still an acceptable height. And it was decided.
Eventually he did have to pee, so I explained that we couldn't go upstairs and he had to use the cooler. It worked out great and thanks to our Sam's membership, we had a plethora of Kleenex and toilet paper downstairs. Perfect. We were in the basement for 1.5 hours, so he peed a few times.
Eventually the storm started picking up, so I was paying more attention to the radar than to Ben. And just when it was getting really bad outside (rain, wind, hail), Ben pooped in his pants. The boy has timing, I'll give him that. So I sprinted upstairs to the diaper bag and grabbed an extra pair of underwear. And as the storm raged outside, I was in the basement hoping I wouldn't die with a pair of poopy underwear in my hands.
To make matters worse, when I finally finished that unpleasant task I went to check the radar again and knocked my laptop off its perch. The battery popped out and a piece broke off, so we were left in the dark. Except for my smartphone and my iPod Touch. It was like the 1800's down there!
In the end everything was fine. None of our tree branches even fell down and usually they fall at the slightest breeze. Since I couldn't face the trauma again, Heath cleaned out the cooler. He said it was one of the worst things he'd ever smelled. Yeah, just imagine being there, buddy.
Ben almost never gets to go in the basement, so he's always excited when he does. He was having a good time exploring and stalking the cats in a closed environment. After checking the radar and assuring myself we still had a little time before we were all blown away, my mind wandered to other things, mainly what was I going to do if Ben needed the bathroom. My eyes darted around the basement and first landed on the kitty litter box. It would be an appropriate place, but then I imagined him falling in and decided against it. Then I saw the coolers. Specifically the little cooler without wheels that would be a little taller than he's used to, but still an acceptable height. And it was decided.
Eventually he did have to pee, so I explained that we couldn't go upstairs and he had to use the cooler. It worked out great and thanks to our Sam's membership, we had a plethora of Kleenex and toilet paper downstairs. Perfect. We were in the basement for 1.5 hours, so he peed a few times.
Eventually the storm started picking up, so I was paying more attention to the radar than to Ben. And just when it was getting really bad outside (rain, wind, hail), Ben pooped in his pants. The boy has timing, I'll give him that. So I sprinted upstairs to the diaper bag and grabbed an extra pair of underwear. And as the storm raged outside, I was in the basement hoping I wouldn't die with a pair of poopy underwear in my hands.
To make matters worse, when I finally finished that unpleasant task I went to check the radar again and knocked my laptop off its perch. The battery popped out and a piece broke off, so we were left in the dark. Except for my smartphone and my iPod Touch. It was like the 1800's down there!
In the end everything was fine. None of our tree branches even fell down and usually they fall at the slightest breeze. Since I couldn't face the trauma again, Heath cleaned out the cooler. He said it was one of the worst things he'd ever smelled. Yeah, just imagine being there, buddy.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Conversations with a Toddler - Part 8
Scene: Ben was having a rough morning and he was rolling around on the floor whining.
Me: Are you angry?
Ben: Yeah.
Me: What made you angry?
Ben: A squirrel.
Me: Are you angry?
Ben: Yeah.
Me: What made you angry?
Ben: A squirrel.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Potty Training
I've been struggling to write about this topic in a way that is both not gross and not boring. It's hard because our progress is very exciting to me and I could talk about Ben's bathroom habits for an extended period of time... But I'm guessing Heath is about the only other person on Earth who's as interested as I am.
So basically what we did is holed up in the house for three days straight. We took our nice Persian rug out of the living room and steeled ourselves to clean up a lot of bodily waste. The method we used to potty train Ben focuses on having the child learn his body's signals as to when he needs to use the bathroom. Basically that entails giving him a lot to drink and feeding him high fiber foods, so he has plenty of "learning opportunities." :)
The first day was pretty much what I expected. Ben was super excited to put on his new underwear because we'd been talking it up for weeks. Not two minutes after he did, he had his first accident. The morning was pretty much a waterfall of pee. Luckily we have hardwood and linoleum on the first floor, so there wasn't too much carpet damage. We spent a lot of time playing in the kitchen, right next to the bathroom.
Day 1 - 15 accidents
Day 2 - 3 accidents
Day 3 - 2 accidents (and we take the blame for one of those)
I'm so proud of how well he's doing. It really started to click for him by the end of the first day and today, five days later, we haven't had a single accident. Yesterday we went to the grocery store without incident and today we were at the playground for almost two hours.
The only thing that's a little annoying is that he's not verbally telling us he needs to go. We've caught onto his signals (grabbing his butt or his crotch), but that means I need to keep a pretty close eye on him at all times. I'll be glad when he starts using words to tell me, but it's a start. At least he's noticing when his bladder is full.
I'm surprised at how fast I'm starting to trust him and how after only two outings sans diapers I'm not really nervous about it. It's not as big of a deal as I thought. I'm very pleased with how this has turned out.
So basically what we did is holed up in the house for three days straight. We took our nice Persian rug out of the living room and steeled ourselves to clean up a lot of bodily waste. The method we used to potty train Ben focuses on having the child learn his body's signals as to when he needs to use the bathroom. Basically that entails giving him a lot to drink and feeding him high fiber foods, so he has plenty of "learning opportunities." :)
The first day was pretty much what I expected. Ben was super excited to put on his new underwear because we'd been talking it up for weeks. Not two minutes after he did, he had his first accident. The morning was pretty much a waterfall of pee. Luckily we have hardwood and linoleum on the first floor, so there wasn't too much carpet damage. We spent a lot of time playing in the kitchen, right next to the bathroom.
Day 1 - 15 accidents
Day 2 - 3 accidents
Day 3 - 2 accidents (and we take the blame for one of those)
I'm so proud of how well he's doing. It really started to click for him by the end of the first day and today, five days later, we haven't had a single accident. Yesterday we went to the grocery store without incident and today we were at the playground for almost two hours.
The only thing that's a little annoying is that he's not verbally telling us he needs to go. We've caught onto his signals (grabbing his butt or his crotch), but that means I need to keep a pretty close eye on him at all times. I'll be glad when he starts using words to tell me, but it's a start. At least he's noticing when his bladder is full.
I'm surprised at how fast I'm starting to trust him and how after only two outings sans diapers I'm not really nervous about it. It's not as big of a deal as I thought. I'm very pleased with how this has turned out.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wish us luck (and clean floors)
One of the requirements for Ben to start preschool is that he be potty trained. Eek! Potty training is something I've been dreading since he was born. But, it coincides nicely with him outgrowing the LARGEST DIAPERS ON THE MARKET*, so this weekend we're biting the bullet. Heath took today off and we're implementing a Three Day Potty Training Method. Supposedly by Sunday Ben will be fully potty trained day and night. One of my friends from playgroup just recently used this method and it worked great for them, so I have high hopes. Ben's ready for this and I've really been pushing the peer pressure angle (which I know will bite me in the ass later): "Isaac doesn't wear diapers. Lily doesn't wear diapers. Amelia doesn't wear diapers."
Last night we took a trip to Target and bought supplies: lots of underwear, several new sets of sheets, M&M's for rewards.We're ready. Bring on the pee!
*If this doesn't work soon we'll have to put him in adult diapers.
Last night we took a trip to Target and bought supplies: lots of underwear, several new sets of sheets, M&M's for rewards.We're ready. Bring on the pee!
*If this doesn't work soon we'll have to put him in adult diapers.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Such a polite boy
I honestly think that manners are one of the hallmarks of good parenting. If a kid says "please" and "thank you" and shares pretty well, you can probably assume that the parents are getting other things right, too. Which is why it pleases me so much that after millions of repetitions, Ben's manners are starting to kick in. He still has a problem remembering to say "please" when asking for something. Usually it's more like, "I want some juice," or the more desperate, "I need some juice." Obviously juice is crucial to the continuation of his life. "My juice levels are critically low, Mommy. I don't have time for social niceties!" However, when I tell him to ask politely he always quickly supplies the "please."
He is rockin' the "thank you," though. He thanks me when I get him food, when I help him get dressed, when I agree to take him to the playground. This morning he even thanked me after I cut his fingernails. "Thank you for cutting my fingernails, Mommy." Oh my god, how cute is that?!
He's even started saying, "no, thank you," when I offer him something he doesn't want. He has no idea yet, but the sting of him not eating broccoli is definitely lessened when he refuses it politely. It gives me a little jolt of "I'm a good mom!" even if all he's eaten that day is bagels, mac & cheese and Popsicles.
He is rockin' the "thank you," though. He thanks me when I get him food, when I help him get dressed, when I agree to take him to the playground. This morning he even thanked me after I cut his fingernails. "Thank you for cutting my fingernails, Mommy." Oh my god, how cute is that?!
He's even started saying, "no, thank you," when I offer him something he doesn't want. He has no idea yet, but the sting of him not eating broccoli is definitely lessened when he refuses it politely. It gives me a little jolt of "I'm a good mom!" even if all he's eaten that day is bagels, mac & cheese and Popsicles.
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