Oh Crap! Potty Training: a review

It's been a long time since I reviewed a parenting book, but I really liked this one. I have read (or at least skimmed) one or two other potty training books that I found at my library, but was really disappointed. They had about 5 pages dedicated to how to handle potty training and the rest was... I don't really remember what it was about, but probably amping you up and answering questions.

This one was different. (Yay!)

Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki

Cons:

I felt really bad about my muddled potty training with Levi. I'm sorry, dude, I had no idea I was doing it wrong. The author really lays it on thick about potty training at the right time, especially before the kid's 3rd birthday and is completely unapologetic. I guess this is a pro just disguised as a con because I felt so bad. However, I really love how adamant the author is about needing to get potty training done within a certain window and what the consequences are for your child if you don't.

Language. It's occasional, but if you're offended by that kind of thing, be forewarned.

I've read better how-to non-fiction books, even parenting books. I would have liked it if this one were a little more scientific, but I'm not sure if there's very much scientific research out there that has been done on potty training besides whatever the diaper companies do, and they're biased.

Pros:

Simple and direct instructions on how to teach your child to use the potty. I felt like the author spelled it out well enough that I could follow her method confidently.

Dedication to the parent's judgment and making sure the parent is committed to potty training once and for all.

Relates potty training to learning any other skill, and reminds us of this throughout the book. 

Emphasizes that learning to use the potty correctly is a life skill and it's more important than getting a head start on other things that people are teaching toddlers these days (eg ABCs, colors, shapes, basic math, etc).

Conveys confidence in any 2-year-old's ability to master potty training. The point is made that if they're smart enough to learn to count, the ABCs, or anything else like that, then they're smart enough to learn to use the potty correctly.

Humor. Again, it can get a little on the potty humor side, but what do you expect from a book called "OH CRAP! POTTY TRAINING"?

Helps you look at potty training from the child's point of view, which helps with any problems that may come up

Encouragement to keep going even through accidents and discouragement. I feel like there is a realistic time schedule set, not the 3 days that I'd like but suspect won't happen (even though she says that's possible, but not every kid will get that). My biggest difficulty the first time through was expecting that if I did it right and at my child's pace, there would be few, if any, accidents.

Overall, as I'm sure you can tell, I liked this book. I have a lot more confidence going into my 2nd potty training having read it.

____________________________________________________

Post potty-training thoughts:

This book helped me understand a LOT more about the way a toddler thinks about potty training, diapers, and bodily functions, haha. I thought the process would take a lot longer than it actually did, because the author prepares you for the longest-case scenario. Also, I think sometimes underwear can be a positive motivator. You want to wear underwear like Mommy, Daddy, and your older sibling(s)? Okay. But you have to keep it clean and dry!

One thing that the book either didn't talk about at all or only very little was siblings and how they'd be affected by potty training. Levi was ultimately EXTREMELY helpful (I can't emphasize it enough. He was amazing), but at the beginning, he didn't know how to help and actually made it harder for Cecil to learn. Some ideas or examples of how potty training with siblings goes down would have been helpful.

My two-year-old was so excited to do his business in the potty (and all the associated stuff with that) that he would only pee or poop a little bit, flush it down, then repeat. Seriously. For at least half an hour at a time, if not more. Thankfully, when we had a discussion about where poop and pee go and gave him some underwear to put on, he is much more efficient with his potty use. Yay!

Cecil did better as soon as we had a talk about where pee and poop goes (in the potty, of course). Before that, most of his accidents were when he was wearing pants, and sometimes he'd ask for pants or a diaper when it was time for him to use the potty. The book was spot on about how pants/underwear feel more like a diaper than otherwise. His other accidents were at night in bed.

Last night was our first all dry night, and he's been wearing underwear today. We've had a couple of outings--our longest yesterday--and he's done well in the van and in public areas. I think I'm safe to say that the hardest part of potty training is over--and amazingly, it took less than a week!

Two year old pretending

Today, Cecil has been doing a lot of new things, specifically pretending more than usual. He pretended to make dough in the bread maker (long story as to why it was in his reach and why I let him play with it...), pretended to give candy to a toy, and pretended to clean with a mop. 

He also has been putting words and concepts together. I love how he uses "no" to tell me something is the opposite of the other word he uses. For example, he and Levi like to squish balloons from Levi's birthday party so they are pear-shaped. He would squish one to look like a pear, say "Pear!" get a reaction from me, and then squish the pear-shaped part down to make it shaped like a normal balloon again and say, "Pear. No." It was soooooo cute!

Cecil knows so many words now, I don't even count them. He is constantly using new ones. This morning, he put some blocks together and said, "Build!" -- one more new word.

He and Levi are also playing together really well lately. Cecil knows the drill that if he accepts something that Levi offers him, it means that he needs to give up whatever toy he has in trade. He also has learned (mostly from observation!) that he doesn't want me to get to 3 if he's doing something that I've told him not to do.

My baby is turning into a little boy, and oh! it's exhilarating to watch these little people learn, grow, and discover.

Pregnancy

Last time I was pregnant, I compared my two pregnancies. I realized I haven't done that yet for this one, so I thought I'd do so.

This pregnancy has been kind of a combination of the other two. I experienced morning sickness (with throwing up) for the first two trimesters, but not constantly. Now in the 3rd trimester, I still feel nauseous in the mornings but not to the extreme that I felt previously. I've had heartburn, but it's not constant. Austin doesn't have to make breakfast for me.

This kid kicks about as much as Cecil did.

I don't have as much energy to walk and exercise, but I have much more stamina than I did the first time around. I can walk at least 2 miles without getting too tired as long as the pace isn't too fast :). I still need extra sleep.


UPDATE: More new things, 3rd trimester:
Braxton Hicks contractions. I get them daily now, and they are kind of annoying.
Baby kicking and actually causing pain (mild pain, but still...) instead of discomfort.
Sporadic itching on palms and feet. Evidently this is because of all the extra estrogen in my system.

Swiss Ham Casserole

I feel like all I ever post these days are recipes, but ...


Swiss Ham Casserole

12 oz bowtie pasta
12 oz chopped ham
1/2 C Swiss cheese, chopped
1/4 C Colby Jack cheese, chopped
1 can cream of something soup
1 C sour cream
1/4 C milk
1/2 T flour
pepper to taste

1 C Parmesan cheese, divided
12 oz frozen broccoli

Cook pasta & drain.

Preheat oven to 400 deg F.

Combine Swiss and Colby Jack cheeses with milk, sour cream, flour, pepper and cream of soup. Heat through, until cheese is mostly melted. Add ham; heat through then turn off heat. Add 1/2 C Parmesan cheese, stir.

Meanwhile, cook broccoli in microwave until only a few cold spots remain.

In a large casserole dish, combine pasta, ham mixture, and broccoli. Top with remaining Parmesan cheese. Cook in 400 deg oven for 15 minutes.

Do you live in a bubble?

What does it mean to you when you say someone lives "in a bubble?" Is it good to live in a bubble? Do children who grow up in a bubble have a better chance at retaining the values taught within the bubble? Or does it have negative connotations for you?

Many people say that Utah Mormons live in a bubble--many of the experiences that other people in the US have are not as prevalent there, and there isn't much racial diversity.

To me, being in a bubble means that you have restricted experiences, whether it's with friends, work, leisure, entertainment, or whatever.

However, I feel that children have a better chance at succeeding in society if they have many experiences while they are still living at home with loving parents. This way, if they run into a challenging experience, they can ask for their parents' help and advice.

"Many experiences" does not necessarily mean being exposed to drugs, illegal activity, or other unsavory things. To me, it means being exposed to many occupations, people from different cultures and nations, different skills, and different places.

In this sense, maybe most children grow up in a bubble, since they don't experience much outside of their own family's culture and are not able to participate in most occupations until graduation from high school and/or college.

However, I believe that children who are able to experience many parts of life before moving away from their parents will be better able to cope with new situations that come up and be better equipped to succeed in relationships, work, and self-care.

Summer work for teenagers

As a teenager, I understood the value of work and getting some working experience before going out into the world on my own. However, when I was finally old enough to have a summer job, I had a lot of difficulty finding one. I applied to many different places, but no one wanted to hire me. Actually, one fast food restaurant did hire me, but after giving me the baptism of fire working the drive thru (where I was terrible, of course), they never put me on the work schedule again.

Ultimately, I had four different summer jobs through six summers while going to school: babysitting, working as a secretary at the computer repair shop my brother worked at, an internship, and as a painter. The work as a painter and as a babysitter was erratic and unreliable. There were only two summers where I had meaningful employment.

I wanted better employment, but I didn't know how to find it. I've talked to a lot of people my age who've had a difficult time finding a job or figuring out what they want to do for a living.

Obviously, I want  my children to have a better experience than I had. I've pondered on what I can do for them to help them get the exposure they need to find a job, get experience working, and to find a job that they'll enjoy. This is with the knowledge that summer jobs for teenagers are limited, it can be discouraging to keep looking and looking without finding something, and parents shouldn't take the responsibility to find a job for their children.

My plan is that my teenagers will be required to spend 20-30 hours/week (or more, if they want) in the summertime working. If they can't find a job, I will help them find a place to volunteer. Right now I assume that it's pretty easy to find volunteer work. They can volunteer at a pet shelter, the hospital, at their school, at a food bank, at the library, or many other places. Not only will volunteer work keep them busy, it will also help them to learn more about the world and society around them. They will also get fulfillment from doing something valuable with their summer hours. However, I will also teach them to self-advocate, so that once they have more skills that they will not settle for volunteer work with no pay but receive some sort of compensation.

I am also hoping to encourage them to shadow people who work in the profession(s) that they are interested in pursuing, and maybe even some that they don't have interest in (yet) to broaden their horizons and help them understand what it may be like to work in that particular profession.

Is there anything that you would add to my plan or concerns that you have about it? Let me know!

My Bucket List

Travel outside of the country to see something interesting (Machu Picchu? Mexican pyramids?)

Bike 20 miles at a time (or more!)

Go on a cruise

Become a temple worker

Get another college degree, possibly teach college

Find new information on Callie Nolan (ancestor)

See Providence Canyon; hike and take pictures!

Hike with kids in at least 5 different parks

See the Aurora Borealis

Vacation in Hawaii

Go to Yellowstone National Park and see Old Faithful

Visit Mesa Verde and tour the cliff dwellings

Cleaning house

Lately, I've been trying to learn how to make it more natural for me to keep my house clean. I've read a few books. Here are some of the skills that help:

1. De-clutter! This is the most important thing. If you have too much stuff in your home (especially if it's stuff you don't use), then it is incredibly difficult to keep your home/living space clean. Throw away or donate the things that you don't use.

2. Put things away when you're done using them. This seems to be such a given that in one of the books that I read, it wasn't even stated directly! I am struggling as to how do I teach my kids to do this, especially with things like their toys since they often play while I'm busy doing something else. If you have something that's worked for you, please share!

3. Have a place for everything. If you don't know where to put something, it will end up making your living place look bad, because it will end up every which-where: on the floor, the counter, the table, your desk. Find a place for it!

4. Have routines for cleaning the stuff that can't be helped. You know what I mean: dirty counters and floors, bathrooms, etc. I'm not exactly sure how to implement this yet, so I'm not putting the tip in boldface font.

Cecil's first words

Cecil has had several "words" for a while, and recently he started trying out some new ones.

signs:
-more
-all done
-sleepy
-hungry
-diaper change
-thirsty
-milk
-water
-yes (nod)
-no (shakes head)

vocals:
-ma (mama)
-da (daddy)
-Kkk! or ka (kitty/cat)
-'ot! (hot)
-mo (more)
-meh (pacifier-don't ask. I don't know why he calls it this!)
-ar! (arf, barking like a dog)
-uh-huh (soooo cute!)
-ow

Yesterday, he repeated a lot of words after us. Here are a few:

-wall
-castle (didn't sound like castle; I don't remember what it was)
-sock
-shoe
-food
-bowl
-box
-ball

Joy

Recently, a friend said something that made me realize that she thinks that I am skilled at being joyful. I had never really thought about it like that before; I had just thought I was a naturally happy person. On further thought, though, I did realize that I do change my actions and thoughts to make my life happier and more joyful.

One thing that comes to mind is from when Levi was a baby. He was a very sad baby--I think he had reflux or something--and cried at the least provocation. He constantly was demanding my attention, and I had little time to do anything that wasn't with him. There was one point where when he napped, it was hardly ever more than 30 minutes at a time.

I was constantly frustrated with not being able to get things done. I was not experiencing very much joy; mostly I was experiencing a screaming child and not being able to do the things I wanted to do.

Finally, I took an honest look at my life. I knew I was frustrated, and I knew why. I finally said to myself, "Self, things are not going to change anytime soon. Self, what do you need to change about your expectations, and what do you need to change about your life to get the things done that you need to?"

My first change was my expectation about what I could get done during a 30-minute nap (not much). When I started expecting things that could realistically happen, I stopped being as frustrated about not being able to do the not-as-doable things that I expected to do before.

Another change was in my style of doing things. Previously, I did everything in big chunks. I set aside some time and "got 'er done!" After honestly looking at the time I had all at once, I knew that wasn't practical. I started teaching myself to do things piece by piece and to multitask. It has been a long process, let me tell you!

I saw immediate results. I didn't get as much done as I had before having a baby (surprise! haha), but I was able to get the things that needed to be done, done. The new way wasn't as efficient as the old way, but I was happier. Constant frustration was gone from my life (periodic frustration remained, of course), and nothing about my circumstances had changed.

Sugar and Spice Sweet Potatoes

I have tried several different sweet potato casserole recipes, but this is the only one I've returned to and made more than once. If you need one, you should try it!


Sugar and Spice Sweet Potatoes
Original recipe by Dellar Bass; some alterations by yours truly!

3 large sweet potatoes
1 stick butter
3/4 C sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
1/3 pkg mini marshmallows

Cook peeled sweet potatoes in microwave until soft; it should be easy to insert and remove a fork from the center.

Mash sweet potatoes with butter until at desired consistency; add remaining ingredients and beat with a fork. Bake 30-45 minutes at 350 deg F.

When done, top with desired amount of marshmallows.

Enjoy!

I ran a 5k!

So, waaaaaay back in October, Austin and I ran a 5k! When it was done, I kept bragging to myself that I'd done it. It's still kind of weird to think of myself as the kind of person who would run 5 kilometers without having a really urgent, possibly dangerous reason to do so.

Here I am with the fam before the race!

And this is right before the finish line:

It might not look like it, but it was really cold and even by the end of the race, I was eager to get back to a heated area.

I ran the 5k in 36 minutes, running the whole way, finishing 177th out of 392 :). Some people who had passed me at the beginning were walking closer to the end and I was able to pass them.

________________________________

It all started back in July or so, when Austin asked if I wanted to try a couch to 5k program with him. We had casually tried several other health programs, so I didn't think that it would go very far, but I agreed anyway. Amazingly, we took off!

It was very slow at the beginning, and I think that was the key to helping us stay with it; it wasn't too hard. The program we did had us alternate running with walking and slowly worked us up to running longer and longer, until we were running the whole 5k. It was actually incredibly easy at the beginning.

Other perks were getting to know the area around my house better and listening to General Conference and podcasts while running (with no interruptions from kids!!!). Also also! I didn't change my diet at all and lost 15 lbs, going from a size 10 to a size 6 (or smaller. Women's sizes are pretty inconsistent...) I had to get new clothes because my old ones were too big. I went from being borderline overweight to being comfortably in the normal range with some wiggle room. Yay! I weigh even less than I did when Austin and I got married!

Austin and I traded off with the kids--I usually went running soon after he got home from work while he stayed with the kids, and then he'd go running after I got back. It worked out really well until Daylight Savings Time ended... then it was too dark for me to feel comfortable running around outside, even though we live in a safe area.

Anyway, it was a really great experience and helped me to get into shape. I recommend couch to 5k to anyone who's wanting to get started with exercise but doesn't want to go overboard.

I'm a Hero!

I literally put out a fire the other day.

It was pretty exciting!

I had gone to a friend's house, and when I got there, I realized that I had forgotten an essential item for what we had planned to do while together. Thankfully, it wasn't a long trip to get back to my house to pick up the item. While on the way home, I saw what looked like a broken sprinkler head with a small stream of water spraying out of it.

I got home without incident, picked up the item, and started back to my friend's house. Halfway there, I saw that the water spraying out of the broken sprinkler head was actually smoke blowing in the wind, and it had spread 15 or 20 feet from the original area. There was a circle of flames about 15 feet in diameter in the grass. I quickly pulled over the car, ran up to the closest house, and knocked on the door. After a few minutes, a woman came out.

"There's a fire!" I said urgently, "In your grass!"

She was confused for a minute. "What?" she said.

"A fire! Do you have a hose?"

She then looked where I was pointing and saw the fire there. She gasped and said, "Yes, it's right there," indicating a hose hanging on her porch railing that I hadn't noticed before.

We took a couple of minutes to connect the hose to the tap and undo the kinks in the hose, then I started spraying. The hose wasn't long enough to reach the fire, so it was a good thing 10-year-old me had spent so much time practicing spraying my sisters with the hose! I was able to put out most of the fire with the hose, and they brought a bucket to get the area in their neighbor's yard where even the spray from the hose couldn't reach (where the fire had started).

For the most part, I think the fire wouldn't have done much damage where it was--the grass didn't give it much fuel--but it could have blown over to one of the houses nearby. It had already spread to the mulch under a dogwood tree in the yard I was spraying, and the tree would have been lost for sure if the fire hadn't been caught in time. The mulch needed to be sprayed a lot longer than everything else to completely put out the fire and stop the smoldering.

All in all, it was a pretty exciting experience!