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Potty Training

I am preparing to potty train Mickey. So far he wants nothing to do with it. Thanks to the advice of my friend Ms.Potter, I have decided to get a Potty Doll. I decided on an anatomically correct one called Potty Scotty. It was between this one and a Corolle Doll. I chose this one because it comes wiht training pants and clothes easy to pull down and it can drink water and hold it until you push its tummy once on the potty. I just ordered it (cheaper on Ebay) and we will practice with the doll for a while. I found some websites with great tools, ideas, tips and message boards.

Potty Scotty

Potty Training Solutions

You do the Crime, You do the Time!

Mickey has been doing very well at his time-outs. I don’t have to hold him there anymore. Now I can say time out, walk him over and he will stay until released. (I guess he has had alot of practice lately.) The other day he wouldn’t come inside from the garage when I asked him to and was outright defiant. So I put him in a 3 minute time out and he stayed! That was his longest time out to date! The time outs really help not so much as a means of punishment, but more so it helps redirect him or get him to calm down if he is having a melt down. Afterwards we hug and I tell him what a good job he did taking his time out and we get to start all over with no frustation on his part or mine. The other night he wouldn’t eat his dinner and wanted us to turn on the TV. I gave him a choice, he could sit down and take one bite and then we would excuse him to watch his movie or he could take a time out. He marched right to the corner sat down on his timeout seat wiht his hands on the wall and started counting, “one, two, five, seven, ten.” (He knows how to count but he was taking shorcuts to get out earlier!

Taming the Greek-Fro

Mickey has always had good hair. It is a Greek-Fro by all means but at least I can keep it short and it styles well. Minnie however has more hair than most babies her age and I am always battling it. She rarely keeps bows or ties in so she usually walks around with crazy hair and I often hear, “Uh? Did you style it that way?” Unless you have a baby girl with alot of hair you have no idea how challenging it can be. I don’t want to cut it because I want it to grow out, but unless I style it, it will just hang in her face collecting food. Here are some of the styles we have been trying.

Mickey’s Soccer Day

So he is no David Beckham yet, but we gave it a fair shot. We will try soccer again in a bout 6 months when he has a little more patience than a mosquito!

No TV

I have been trying to limit the kids TV time (not very successfully might I add) but I have been trying new ways to keep them busy without asking for a movie. Here I set them up to “wash dishes” by filling the sink with warm soapy water and dumping in a variety of plastic dishes, toys and utensils. I was able to cook dinner and they had a blast. The mess was minimal. All I had to do was put a towel under them. 

Choo Choo

Kids never cease to amaze me. I have taken Mickey with me to Trader Joes maybe twice. Only because it is always crowded and chaotic inside. So when I took him the other day, we parked and were walking up to the front entrance he started shouting excitedly, “Choo Choo!” I looked around and didn’t see a train. Then I remembered there is a toy train inside of Trader Joes that circles above the aisles. He remembered the train even though it had been months since he had been in the store! Just goes to show watch what you say and do because they absorb everything!

The Grocery Game

I had an epiphany today. It is a NIGHTMARE taking my kids into a grocery store. I have heard of handing kids a list and having them “help” you. Well what about little kids who can’t read? Then it hit me! Flashcards! You can either buy first words cards and pull out all the food related ones, or make your own. Take pictures of your actual groceries, the staples you always buy like milk, cheese, snacks etc. Take close up shots and then print them. Cut and mount them on colored contruction paper (flash card size)  and write the name of each item in marker at the bottom. Take them to be laminated at your local office supply store. Next time you go grocery shopping you can ask your kids what you need and have them “help” you. It is great for practicing words too.

Mommy Idea

I was looking for a food clip to close a bag of coffee and couldn’t find one. Then I looked in our junk drawer and found a hair clip ( I bought a pack of like 12 of them at Sally’s Beauty Supply for around $1.) It worked perfectly and much cheaper then 2 for $1 for the actual potato chip bag clips.

Update

I haven’t written in a while not because I am so busy, (well being a mother of two toddlers I guess I am ALWAYS busy.) Rather lately I have just been exhausted! Mickey has been testing his independence lately and has been having alot of tantrums, biting his sister, wanting “his space” while he plays and challenging us. The Two’s have hit hard!

Minnie is saying more words now. She says, “Mom Mom”,  “Melmo”, “More More”, “yeah”, ”Um-hmm”- while nodding her head slowly but in an exaggerated way, ”Dad”, and when she says no she shakes her head and says ” uh, no.” She also has been more affecionate, well towards me at least. She gives great hugs and when she kisses she purses her lips and says “oommmm!” When daddy asks for a kiss she runs away and starts twirling and laughing.

We visited the Childrens Museum in downtown and when I say we I mean me and the kids. I put Minnie’s squeaky shoes on so I could hear her if she ran off in a different direction and that worked like a gem! Mickey had a great time but we did have to meltdowns when he didn’t want to stop playing to eat a snack and when he had to put his shoes back on after the bounce house. He did love the water table as well as the real life plane and ambulence he got to play inside of! 

We finished the day by heading over to the Greek market where they were ooood and awwwed over.

As for me, I don’t know why I am so exhausted other than the never ending list of chores and running toddlers around town. I also noticed with the help of my new found nutrionist and friend that I am not eating enough. It makes sense because I have been working out and still not losing any weight. I am going to try eating in the morning and lunch and carrying snacks during the day and see if that helps. I switched gyms and LOVE the new gym. Zeus and I alternate mornings to work out. This has really helped because we encourage the other to go on our day and we don’t get burnt out by going every day.

My bellydance class ended and it is time to sign up for new classes. My mommy friends are doing Kung Fu. I passed on that. I am taking Indian Cooking (a 1 day class), Yoga, Meditation and Greek Classes. We might also do a wine tasting class and I am thinking about doing an evening aerobic class once a week.

As far as the kids, Soccer didn’t work out for Mickey. He just wasn’t ready. I am looking into gym, language and dance classes. The problem is it is hard to do any class during the week because they don’t like you bringing a sibling, so unless it is on the weekend it is tough. We did find a neat place that offers gymboree type classes but in different languages. Although spanish would be the most useful, they offer an italian one I thought would be fun. Since I speak Italian it would be easy to keep the kids going in it. I plan on enrolling them in Greek Saturday school next year when they can both go together. That is why I am starting Greek now so we can speak it at home as a second language. Everyone I have talked to that has a parent who speaks another language regretted their parent not teaching them. I want to be able to give that to my kids.