Duct Tape and Diapers

Katie is trying to get this whole potty thing down.  So far, it's not working...for me. 

When we get her up in the morning and go to change her clothes, she tries to sit on the potty and get the morning pee-pee's out.  Sometimes it works and she gets really excited.  Other times she just sits there and tries, but nothing happens.  She still gets excited at the imaginary pee-pee.

We put her pull-ups on and her clothes for the day.  I think that our potty time is over for a little while and I can go about other business, but Katie has other plans.

Last week I got all the kids dressed and was working on trying to get Jordan to get dressed and ready for school.  He is 12 after all and should be able to do this on his own by now.  (Ha! What makes me think that?)  I take 5 seconds to focus on Jordan and making sure that he is in his proper school clothing, his hair is brushed, his backpack packed, lunch packed, etc.  I turn to wrangle Nick and Katie in to the car and Katie has stripped every single bit of clothing off and is in the bathroom jumping up and down.

I start to wonder if maybe I am going crazy.  I swear she already went potty and then I dressed her and we were all ready to go.  Jordan is still "piddle-farting around" (a phrase I got from my mother) so I dress Katie again and don't let her out of my sight as I load her in to the car to wait for Jordan to finish getting dressed.  He has only been awake for an hour and is mad at me for running out of time.

It never seems to fail that as soon as I start to do the dishes or cook dinner that Katie decides this is when she is going to sneak off to the bathroom and strip down to her birthday suit and try to go potty.  I would normally have no problem with this, but when she does it and I'm not aware, it is usually because she has pooped in her pull-up.  She pulls it off, throws it in the bathroom sink and then runs around the house with poop stuck to her butt.  I have to then follow her trail picking up the poop that she has dropped behind her. 

Last night I went in to the kitchen to get her and Nick a snack.  She came running in to the kitchen, naked and holding her pull-up.  She screams, "I POOP!!  I POOP!!"  I look in to the pull-up, and it is empty.  I think maybe she is just confused. So I go to the bathroom and half way there I find a giant turd on the carpet.  It is still warm when I pick it up.  Oh the joys of parenthood!!  I talk to her about how the poop needs to go in the potty.  So she sits down on her potty for a half second, stands up and screams, "I POOP!" 

I am over potty training.  I am no good at it.  I really want to go back to diapers and just wrap duct tape around them so she can't get them off until I want them to come off. 

She still has to wear her pajamas backwards at bed and nap time.  I have tried a few times to see if she over the phase of stripping down in her bed, but no, she's not over it yet.  She may wear backwards footie jammies up until her wedding night.  Fine by me!!

You take Katie!!

What is it with this girl?  Aren't girls supposed to be easier at this age than boys?  What is wrong with my daughter?  She can be such a MONSTER sometimes!!!

Every time we are in the car with Katie lately, she is screaming at the top of her lungs.  This what we have to resort to in order to get anywhere with out a problem.  She can not start out a car ride with any food, drink, shoes, toys, dolls or blankets.  If we let her start with any of these items, she throws them on the floor and then screams until she gets them back, just to throw them all over again.

We have tried giving her a portable DVD player, but she just pushes the buttons on it until the movie stops playing and then she starts screaming, again.

It has gotten to the point where I don't want to be in the car with her and dad can't handle drives at all with her.  He might have an aneurism next time she screams.

We recently went camping and had to drive 5 hours each way.  The boys went with my sister in her car so Katie wouldn't fight with any of them and I could focus on keeping her happy.  She still managed to scream 2 hours straight each way.

I have also tried completely ignoring her when she starts to get this way, but she just screams louder and louder.  Last night she started a new game.  She takes her arms out of the car seat straps, which then makes her uncomfortable and unsafe, so I have to pull the car over and strap her back in.

I am tempted to never leave the house with her again until she is out of the "terrible-two" phase, but she has only been 2 for 6 weeks and the "terrible-twos" usually last until they turn 4.  Or at least it did with the boys who really didn't have a bad "terrible-two" phase.

Anyone want a completely adorable little girl for 98 weeks?  She does have some sweet times, like when I come home from work and she runs up to me screaming "MOMMY" and gives me a hug, but her sweetest time is when she is asleep.
 

Katie's fit

Katie's Fit...again  (Click here)

Oh KayTay...She is the queen of throwing temper tantrums in our house.  My husband would tell you she learned it from me.  What ever.  Above is a link to her latest fit.  I can't help but record them sometimes.  In this one she was just ticked off.  I ask her if she wants french fries and she says, "No.  I want fre-frie"  I tell her I love her and she says back "Uff-oo mommy".  So even in the midst of a melt down, she still loves me.

I showed her this video last night and she stared at it like it was someone else.  Maybe she didn't remember having that fit.

Their own language

I wish I could remember more of these from when Jordan was little, but that was a VERY long time ago. 

As kids are learning to speak, they don't always say things correctly.  The way they do say certain words or phrases are usually unique to each child and only the parents know what they are actually saying. I wanted to make sure I document some of my own children's language.

Nick: (Nickinese)
Watch me:  "Watch at me"
I love you:  "Wall-oo"
Last night or Yesterday:  "Last day"
Katie:  "Kay-tay" (must be said in a Forest Gump voice)

Katie:  (Katese)
I love you:  "Uff-oo"
Blankie:  "Gankie"
Katie:  "Titi"
Grandpa:  "Gampy"

Jordan spoke very early and very clearly.  I don't remember any of this kind of language for him and I am really bummed about that.  I do remember him trying to sing the Bob the Builder song and it came out "Boss-a-boss-aa".  He would get so mad when we didn't know what he was singing.  Thanks to a trip to Chuck E Cheese we were finally able to solve that puzzle. 

Jordan was always one to get songs wrong and those are what I remember the most.  Another fine example would be, "Subway...Eat Fresh".  Jordan's version was, "Someone...Eat Fish". 

Such cuteness!

She'll make a good mom

I took Katie and Nick for a walk last night.  Katie pushed her baby in the stroller all the way to the babysitters house on the next street over.  We stopped and played at Jenn's for a little while and then headed home.  Half way home Katie stopped pushing her stroller, went around to the front of it and was tending to her baby.  She pulled her out and started rocking her and patting her back.  I asked her what was wrong and she said that baby was crying and baby was sad.  So she had to walk carrying her a little ways.  Then eventually baby must have gotten better so she went back in to the stroller for the rest of the walk home.

Totally out of the running

Saturday morning Nick woke up and somehow found his way to my bedroom.  He woke me up by saying, in a panicked voice, "I can't open my eyes!!"  His eyes were completely crusted shut.  He woke up the same way the next morning also. 

Then in the afternoon Sunday Nick took a nap on the couch and woke up screaming about his cheek hurting.  He put an ice pack on his cheek and cried/screamed for an hour.  We decided it might be something worth checking out, even though I have a general rule that I don't go to urgent care on the weekends.  When the kids are doing something dangerous, I don't go on weekdays or evenings either.   

Eddie rushed him to urgent care and he was diagnosed with a severe ear infection and an eye infection.  Poor thing.

I stayed home with Nick yesterday, which turned out perfect because my babysitter called in sick also and then at 9:30 I got a call from Jordan's school that he was throwing up. 

TODAY...Nick looks much better and feels better, so off to school with him.  Jordan threw up last night so I left him at home for the day.  But Katie woke up with the skin around her eyes looking rather pinkish.  She didn't have a crusty eye though.  I didn't know if she had hit her eye yesterday and it was a bruise or what.  So I took her to the babysitters and asked her opinion and let her make the decision to take Katie or not.  She, lovingly, let her stay. 

Now I just got a text from the babysitter that says that Katie's eye seems to be getting worse.  I should have just stayed home with her.  I am such a bad mom.

I'm totally out of the running now for mother of the year. Oh well...maybe next year, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Ghosts and strangers

While staying at my sisters house Jordan asked if he could take Nick to the park in the complex. It's not far from the apartment but this would still be a big responsibility for both of them.

I decided it would be a good opportunity to start to talk to Nick about strangers. I asked Nick if he knew what a stranger is. He said no, of couse, because mommy hasn't mentioned strangers to him before. Do I deserve mother of the year yet?

I explained to him that strangers are anyone he meets that he doesn't know and he should never talk to a stranger. He smartly responded with, "We shouldn't talk to ghosts either."

I'm not quite sure my message got across the way I wanted it to. So Jordan thought he would give it a try. Jordan said, "Nick, just think of all strangers as ghosts."  Then Nick did a little wiggle while saying "ooooooooh.  Oooooooooooooh"

I still don't think he understands anything about strangers, but if he ever meets a ghost he should be perfectly safe.