So, Samie's first use of her potty chair was at about 18 months. We tried to run with it then but she backed WAY off. So like any "good" mom, I followed her lead, and then Evie arrived a few months later, and then life just settled in. I work for my dad's HVAC company, so when Summer hit I thought "I will focus more time on this in the Fall." Except that year we didn't have much of a Fall. Here in California we went from Summer to Winter without much in between. "Alright," I told myself "Spring it is." Nope. Didn't even start the following Fall.
So we were coming up on Samie's fourth birthday and she had been primarily in diapers the whole time!
Yes, we tried giving a treat when she would use the potty. We tried stickers, candies, gold stars to "earn" bigger prizes, disposable potty training underwear, "special" underwear that we bought at Disneyland and paid WAY more than what we would have paid anywhere else!!! NOTHING was getting that kid on the toilet. Well, we could get her on the toilet, she just wasn't doing much there...
For Thanksgiving last year we went away for a week. We spent about five days at Disneyland (cause when are we not there) and then drove to my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. One of the last few days of the trip I had the kids in the bathtub and Samie says she needs to poop! I quickly get her onto the toilet (no potty trainer seat) and she does her business! Yes, I'm aware I am putting this on the internet and that someday my poor kid is going to be incredibly embarrassed by this, but I fully intend to embarrass her in public for the entire time she lives with me so she will be over it once she figures out the internet!
When we got home from our trip we started in again with little success, she's a busy girl and I'm a busy mom and we just were not on the same page when it came to potty training. I let it go through the rest of the holidays because we were just too busy.
Work has been slow this Winter, and since I am able to work from home quite a bit, I finally bit the bullet and made the decision that I was ready for potty training. You see, that is really what it boils down to. Yes, you do have to watch for signs that your child is ready, but as a parent, I had to be ready too. Who knows why I wasn't ready before, it's not as though changing a diaper is easy or cheap! But I did know that I can't be cleaning up accidents all day, and I just don't have the resources to devote all my time into watching for signs to go to the bathroom, it's hard enough for me to get to the bathroom sometimes! I had started making cloth diapers last year (still working on that project) and found a pattern for potty training underwear. These are similar to cloth diapers as they are made of the moisture-catching fabrics but they fit like true underwear and they have a cotton knit lining instead of a fabric that wicks away moisture, so the child knows when they are wet, and they don't like it! I whipped up about four pairs in a day and mine have snap sides so that if we have an accident (especially of the poop variety) I can still take them off like a diaper and clean them like a cloth diaper. Ahhh, the sweet smell of success... Finally!
Yes, we still had some "accidents". Mostly they happen later in the afternoon and when she is "busy" playing or visiting, but with the potty pants we don't have a big mess to clean up. So far the potty pants have caught two or three wet accidents and even one small load, but as there is not much room between her and the underwear, she wants out of them quick! After the first two or three days we had some great success! We even tried them overnight instead of switching back to a disposable option and we had a dry morning! I did notice at some point there was some wetness in the trainers, which I believe was probably from the night before and they just dried enough to not bother her, so we made sure to talk about that, and that we need to put on new undies each day.
So, that's my story! I have read the 3-day potty training method and I think if you have the time to devote to it, it seems like a terrific program. I can't exactly recommend it's usefulness in my situation but the person that referred me to it swears by it!
Have a tip or suggestion? Feel free to post a comment, we can all use a little helpful advise!
Want to know more about the potty training pants I made? Hop on over to Stuff N Junk by Heidi for more information, and how to purchase!
Sunday, May 4, 2014
WHY WOULD YOU HOME SCHOOL?
I have thought long and hard about this. I have had many discussion about it and I think I have finally come to a place in my mind and in my heart that I am ready to discuss it openly, because I think there are more people out there that are like me.
I have considered home schooling my kids for quite some time. I have always been a bit obsessed with the future education of my children, I started looking at private school tuition before my first child was even born! I'm pretty sure it has to do with my own crazy education. We moved a lot, so I don't think we were ever able to accurately assess my education. In lower grades I was above average, not in any "super smart" classes but smart enough to keep going. In Junior High I took advantage of a bad family situation and my grades plummeted. I was smart enough to know when to change that around and did not fail the 8th grade as anticipated. (evil laugh)
When I started High School my guidance counselor was on his way out, retirement... I don't think it was a complete lack of caring for my education, but the schools were so over populated, my Junior High transcripts showed a student that barely passed courses, so I was put in some pretty basic classes. I coasted and it showed. Within the first few weeks of class I had an English teacher observant enough to know that I didn't belong in his class, I needed to be challenged, and that is exactly what he did. He worked with me and my counselor and got me in an English class that challenged me. I tried to explain that I also needed to change my math class as everything I was doing was review from seventh grade, but that was not a battle I won that year. The following year we knew better, I was in an advance English class, I couldn't skip to geometry so I muddled through Algebra 2 by barely doing homework and still ace-ing tests, and I found a new love for science. I still wasn't truly trying though. I was still able to be the "dumb blond" in the "smart kid" classes. I kept that going all through my Junior year of High School. I think that up until my Senior year my only electives were still regular course credit classes, and I even convinced my counselor to let me take geometry and Algebra 2 simultaneously my Junior year, completing all of my math credits before I was a Senior. I barely tried all through school and still remained a B average. In retrospect it is easy to wonder what I would have done had I actually tried.
So here I am, with two little girls of my own and the ability to teach them while I work. At first I didn't think I would want to do it. Then my oldest started reading words just before she turned three. Sure, she knew the names of restaurants we went to regularly, stores that we frequented, but she started asking me what certain words meant as she read things over my shoulder! I was floored. And I thought, "I could really do this."
I talked to people, read articles and blogs, researched curriculum. The first question anyone ever wants to ask is "WHY?" I would back off of the question. My first response always popped in my head "Because it sounds fun!" I could never actually say that though. Was I really going to risk my child's future on the idea that Mommy thinks it's going to be fun? So I kept thinking about that one. I'm not really worried about my kids getting bullied, they do that to each other. Bad language? HA! Between me and their father they have a pretty spicy vocabulary, we're working on that. I have great faith that our public school teachers are wonderful people that try very hard to do their jobs, and I feel they get little support from the parents, making the job even more difficult. I'm not super religious, so it really has nothing to do with a strong desire to teach them a faith-based curriculum. Plus I had so much angst about the socialization issue. So I simply put it out there that we are "only doing Pre-School" as I don't have the extra cash to throw out there, and things went really well. Samie LOVED doing school, she asks to do "school" every day, even weekends, even though we only work on things for thirty minutes to an hour. She is reading at about a first grade level, is practicing writing letters, loves to color, plays matching games and puzzles, counting, even a little addition and subtraction when we can. I still respond to the question with a "We're just testing it out" answer. Until recently.
I am looking at a Catholic program as it is my husband's religion, it is a pre-packaged curriculum and it is incredibly affordable, plus they have lots of support for the parents and students. I started reading a book written by the woman that runs the school and I thought "None of these reasons for home schooling are any that I am concerned about," and I realized, I am doing this because it is fun. Every day is not fun. We have some days that are down-right awful and even others that I don't "do school" at all because the day is just not working for me in that direction. With home schooling though, that's okay. I love the idea of teaching my kids the things I know and learning new things along with them. I am looking forward to re-learning all the things in science and history that I took for granted the first time around. I scope out new places to visit as possible future field trips. The idea excites me and terrifies me and it challenges me, and I love that. I don't want my two girls to grow up learning to fit into a stereotype, I certainly don't want them to do like I did and be the dumb girl in a smart kid class. I want them to learn to challenge themselves and to learn to do things that would never have been typically accepted in a traditional school system. I would never have thought I would want to do this and it makes me feel more alive than so many things in my life.
When I was eighteen or nineteen I was going to go into the Army. Some recruiters came to my house and gave me a "practice" test to see what types of jobs I could qualify for. I scored an average score. When I took the actual test I scored in the high ninetieth percentile and was told I should take an additional linguistics test. Only two of us took the test that day out of hundreds of people getting processed. I passed, the other guy didn't. I did not end up going into the Army but the door they opened for me was something no one else could have, I learned that I was smart enough to do anything. Well, actually they said I was not qualified to build bombs, to which I told them it was only because I never tried before. I don't want my kids, my girls, to grow up and not think they are smart enough, that they have to be tested and told how smart they are by someone else. I want to be the one to challenge them, to teach them to challenge themselves and to never underestimate their own potential.
So, I am approaching the education of my kids one day at a time. At some point we may decide, together, that they will want to mainstream into the traditional school system, that will be okay with me as long as it's what we decide together, and as long as my kids understand I will always push them. For now though, the reason that I am choosing to home school my kids, well that's because I think it's fun.
I have considered home schooling my kids for quite some time. I have always been a bit obsessed with the future education of my children, I started looking at private school tuition before my first child was even born! I'm pretty sure it has to do with my own crazy education. We moved a lot, so I don't think we were ever able to accurately assess my education. In lower grades I was above average, not in any "super smart" classes but smart enough to keep going. In Junior High I took advantage of a bad family situation and my grades plummeted. I was smart enough to know when to change that around and did not fail the 8th grade as anticipated. (evil laugh)
When I started High School my guidance counselor was on his way out, retirement... I don't think it was a complete lack of caring for my education, but the schools were so over populated, my Junior High transcripts showed a student that barely passed courses, so I was put in some pretty basic classes. I coasted and it showed. Within the first few weeks of class I had an English teacher observant enough to know that I didn't belong in his class, I needed to be challenged, and that is exactly what he did. He worked with me and my counselor and got me in an English class that challenged me. I tried to explain that I also needed to change my math class as everything I was doing was review from seventh grade, but that was not a battle I won that year. The following year we knew better, I was in an advance English class, I couldn't skip to geometry so I muddled through Algebra 2 by barely doing homework and still ace-ing tests, and I found a new love for science. I still wasn't truly trying though. I was still able to be the "dumb blond" in the "smart kid" classes. I kept that going all through my Junior year of High School. I think that up until my Senior year my only electives were still regular course credit classes, and I even convinced my counselor to let me take geometry and Algebra 2 simultaneously my Junior year, completing all of my math credits before I was a Senior. I barely tried all through school and still remained a B average. In retrospect it is easy to wonder what I would have done had I actually tried.
So here I am, with two little girls of my own and the ability to teach them while I work. At first I didn't think I would want to do it. Then my oldest started reading words just before she turned three. Sure, she knew the names of restaurants we went to regularly, stores that we frequented, but she started asking me what certain words meant as she read things over my shoulder! I was floored. And I thought, "I could really do this."
I talked to people, read articles and blogs, researched curriculum. The first question anyone ever wants to ask is "WHY?" I would back off of the question. My first response always popped in my head "Because it sounds fun!" I could never actually say that though. Was I really going to risk my child's future on the idea that Mommy thinks it's going to be fun? So I kept thinking about that one. I'm not really worried about my kids getting bullied, they do that to each other. Bad language? HA! Between me and their father they have a pretty spicy vocabulary, we're working on that. I have great faith that our public school teachers are wonderful people that try very hard to do their jobs, and I feel they get little support from the parents, making the job even more difficult. I'm not super religious, so it really has nothing to do with a strong desire to teach them a faith-based curriculum. Plus I had so much angst about the socialization issue. So I simply put it out there that we are "only doing Pre-School" as I don't have the extra cash to throw out there, and things went really well. Samie LOVED doing school, she asks to do "school" every day, even weekends, even though we only work on things for thirty minutes to an hour. She is reading at about a first grade level, is practicing writing letters, loves to color, plays matching games and puzzles, counting, even a little addition and subtraction when we can. I still respond to the question with a "We're just testing it out" answer. Until recently.
I am looking at a Catholic program as it is my husband's religion, it is a pre-packaged curriculum and it is incredibly affordable, plus they have lots of support for the parents and students. I started reading a book written by the woman that runs the school and I thought "None of these reasons for home schooling are any that I am concerned about," and I realized, I am doing this because it is fun. Every day is not fun. We have some days that are down-right awful and even others that I don't "do school" at all because the day is just not working for me in that direction. With home schooling though, that's okay. I love the idea of teaching my kids the things I know and learning new things along with them. I am looking forward to re-learning all the things in science and history that I took for granted the first time around. I scope out new places to visit as possible future field trips. The idea excites me and terrifies me and it challenges me, and I love that. I don't want my two girls to grow up learning to fit into a stereotype, I certainly don't want them to do like I did and be the dumb girl in a smart kid class. I want them to learn to challenge themselves and to learn to do things that would never have been typically accepted in a traditional school system. I would never have thought I would want to do this and it makes me feel more alive than so many things in my life.
When I was eighteen or nineteen I was going to go into the Army. Some recruiters came to my house and gave me a "practice" test to see what types of jobs I could qualify for. I scored an average score. When I took the actual test I scored in the high ninetieth percentile and was told I should take an additional linguistics test. Only two of us took the test that day out of hundreds of people getting processed. I passed, the other guy didn't. I did not end up going into the Army but the door they opened for me was something no one else could have, I learned that I was smart enough to do anything. Well, actually they said I was not qualified to build bombs, to which I told them it was only because I never tried before. I don't want my kids, my girls, to grow up and not think they are smart enough, that they have to be tested and told how smart they are by someone else. I want to be the one to challenge them, to teach them to challenge themselves and to never underestimate their own potential.
So, I am approaching the education of my kids one day at a time. At some point we may decide, together, that they will want to mainstream into the traditional school system, that will be okay with me as long as it's what we decide together, and as long as my kids understand I will always push them. For now though, the reason that I am choosing to home school my kids, well that's because I think it's fun.
Friday, May 2, 2014
New Adventures!
Hi there! Did you give up on me? Let me tell you, I think I was about ready to give up on me! My last post was over a year ago for crying out loud! But I came to a point that I just had to step back from the computer (at least during my "off" hours) and focus on things around the home, on things with my kids. Did it do me any good you ask? Well, the dishes are never caught up, the laundry overwhelms me on a daily basis, the kids toys are constantly under foot... And while Samie is still an amazing sleeper, Evie is still not sleeping through the night. I have not found any more clarity or sanity being away from blogging that before. I'm not stressing out about blogging, that used to be a big stress for me but I did find that my stress did not get any better when I'm not blogging. In fact, this blog has been a nice place to remind myself of all the things that are fun and good during my day or week or month.
Funny enough, I have over a dozen posts started or written up, I just never got around to getting them posted. I'm going to ease myself back into this, baby steps you know!
So, here's what to look forward to!
Random posts. Although I love telling you all the ins-and-outs of every week and posting photos of my adventures with my little ones, I'm going to be honest, sometimes I am barely keeping my head above water! I plan to keep you all (as much as possible) in the loop of our happenings, although I am just not going to commit to a schedule for my posts at this time.
What do we have going on? Well, Samie has been officially potty trained (I've got a post started about THAT somewhere) and we are still working on getting Evie's eczema under control and hoping it will help with her sleeping through the night! We are working on landscaping our front yard and making it into a wonderful garden! I am still working for Dad but I have also formed a loose plan about starting my own business in the next few years! We'll just say I have a five-year-plan that I'm working on... We'll be starting potty training with Evie soon, though probably not until after our summertime rush, and the big news over here is our official start of homeschooling! I have quite a few posts in the works about that adventure!
So, feel free to check in, bring your favorite cup o'whatever, and sit down and hang out a bit!
Be sure to also check out my new website for Stuff N Junk and look forward to some new posts over there too!
Funny enough, I have over a dozen posts started or written up, I just never got around to getting them posted. I'm going to ease myself back into this, baby steps you know!
So, here's what to look forward to!
Random posts. Although I love telling you all the ins-and-outs of every week and posting photos of my adventures with my little ones, I'm going to be honest, sometimes I am barely keeping my head above water! I plan to keep you all (as much as possible) in the loop of our happenings, although I am just not going to commit to a schedule for my posts at this time.
What do we have going on? Well, Samie has been officially potty trained (I've got a post started about THAT somewhere) and we are still working on getting Evie's eczema under control and hoping it will help with her sleeping through the night! We are working on landscaping our front yard and making it into a wonderful garden! I am still working for Dad but I have also formed a loose plan about starting my own business in the next few years! We'll just say I have a five-year-plan that I'm working on... We'll be starting potty training with Evie soon, though probably not until after our summertime rush, and the big news over here is our official start of homeschooling! I have quite a few posts in the works about that adventure!
So, feel free to check in, bring your favorite cup o'whatever, and sit down and hang out a bit!
Be sure to also check out my new website for Stuff N Junk and look forward to some new posts over there too!
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