Whatever!

What to muse about today?

September 18, 2014 ~ Fuzz!

Morning Joy

Waiting for Teagan’s bus this morning was lovely.  I had a full cup of coffee, Ashlin was in sandals and her jamamas.  Teagan was happy, going like a pinball from one thing to another – a bug, a leaf, a dandelion puff. The sun was smiling down, warming the day.

A friend said that Teagan looked like she was walking on sunshine, filled with joy.  This morning she was.  There wasn’t any apprehension about going to school, or what may happen there.  There was only joy with being able to run around, to watch the grasshopper jump and startle her sister, to make snow angels on the driveway, though she told me yesterdays were better.

Kindergarten has been rough for Teagan.  But we’re getting there, getting it all figured out, trying to get her the help she needs to help herself.

Today was a good day – she stayed green for the entire day.  No yellow or red behavior.  Green.  The teacher had sent me a mail letting me know.  Teagan basically flew off the bus and up the driveway to tell me herself.  The look on her face was one of the best things I’ve ever seen.  She was so proud that she didn’t have any troubles today.  She had to immediately let Stu know, and promptly got a huge bear hug from him.

Fuzz!

We went inside and gave her her reward – the promised “fuzz.” She’s been waiting for a green/no issue day so she can load the Jessie dispenser full of Pez.  Today, she earned it.  And then promptly shared with her sister.

I really love this kid.

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February 24, 2014 ~ So Big!

So Big!

This silly girl is getting so big.  So fast.

She’s finally decided that toilet training isn’t the inconvenience she’s previously thought it was.  It’s been five days now, with no accidents, not even during naps.  We haven’t tried for night time yet.

Yesterday I took her to buy underwear.  They were one of the few incentives that worked.  That and the thought that she may have to stay in the “baby” room if she didn’t train.  That day care wouldn’t let her go up to the three’s if she wasn’t trained.

So, underwear.  She wanted Ariel underwear.  We went to Target to buy some.  As she’s looking at all the styles, she said she wanted Thomas underwear, then Spider-man, Sophia, Tinkerbell, Wonder Woman.  She wouldn’t make up her mind.  The boy underwear wasn’t in her size, the Wonder Woman was, and she said those.  But then she saw the Dora ones.  Those are the ones she said she wanted.  Those were her special underwear.  Ok, you sure you don’t want the princess ones you’ve been talking about for days?  No?  That’s fine.  They are her undies.  Whatever.

We ended up with both the Dora and the Wonder Woman – lady super heroes – underwear.

But five days.  Five dry days.  Five days with no accidents at all.

She’s so proud of herself.

We’re so proud of her too.

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February 21, 2014 ~ Pooping in McDonald’s

Pooping in the potty? Four times? Sure kid, you can have ice cream too.

Yeah.

It was a fun evening.  It started out really well though, if you forget about the car repair estimate.  A lovely Parent/Teacher conference with Ashlin’s teacher, who said that Ashlin’s doing a great job, is everyone’s friend, and the only girl the boys will invite to play with them. Her concern was Ashlin’s pottying.  Or, I should say, was until two days ago.

And then today.  Today was a good day.  Ashlin pooped on the potty there.  Three times.  That’s a lot of poop.  A lot of trips to the potty.  We probably should have invited the teacher to come to dinner for having to deal with that all day.

Ashlin told her that the reward was Ariel underwear.  Not just flower underwear, which was the big draw a few months ago, when Ashlin proved she could potty, she just didn’t want to.  Now, it needs to be Ariel.  Ok, fine.  I’ll buy her new underwear, but she’s going to need to wear the flowers too.

So, off to dinner at the store, chicken donut store.  Eat inside store?  Sure kid, you did great today.  We can eat in the store.  There was a bit of debate on if we wanted orange chicken donuts, hamburger with cheese or pancakes.  Teagan was rooting for the pancakes.  Ashlin decided on the burger.    With ice cream?  Sure, kid.  You can have ice cream too.  You did a great job today.

Once we get inside the fun began.  Ashlin had to go potty, but you can’t flush it with her in there, it’s too loud.  Then Teagan needed to go.  Halfway through her burger, Ashlin had to go again.  Poop.  Great.  that’s always fun in a restaurant.  But she pooped.  Yay her!  Then just after we finished our ice cream, Teagan needed to poop.  And she still takes a really. long. time. to poop.

I think dinner took almost an hour and a half.  It’s amazing how slowly littles can eat ice cream and french fries.

Ashlin gets to wear underwear tomorrow.  I’m so proud of her!

Peek-a-boo!

Brain Freeze!

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February 12, 2014 ~ Chicken Donuts From the Orange Store

This one

This one.

She isn’t always an easy one, but she’s pretty good.  Right on the edge of the terrible three’s, she still loves snugging, and rocking – usually! – before bed.  Last night we had an awesome chat.  It went something like this:

Me:  Did you have a good day at day care?
Ashlin:  Yes!  We did imagination story.  And puppets!
Me:  Puppets?
A:  Yeah.  And cupcakes!  We had cupcakes for H*’s birthday today.
Me:  Oh, that’s nice.  Were they good cupcakes?
A:  Yeah.
Me:  Do you miss H*? (H* has moved up to the three’s)
A:  Yeah.  I poop on potty at day care.
Me:  Tomorrow?
A:  Yeah.  I poop on potty.  At day care.  Tomorrow.
Me:  That’s awesome!  Will you pee too?
A:  Yeah.  I do pee-pees on potty.  Wear flower underwear.
Me:  You pee and poop on the potty, you can wear whatever underwear you want.
A:  Me go chicken doughnut store?  Eat in store?
Me:  Yes.  You go pee and poop on the potty, no accidents, we can go in and eat there.
A:  Me have no accidents, we eat chicken doughnuts, stay at store to eat.  We go orange store?
Me:  Orange store?  Sure, we can go get Popeye’s
 

And wouldn’t you know it?  She did poop on the potty.  No pee accidents either.  One small poop accident, that she was very upset about.  Her teacher (who I told about the orange chicken doughnut store) said that as soon as she realized she had had the accident, she broke out in tears, wailing about not getting chicken doughnuts from the orange store.

Stu ended up picking them up late – he misunderstood my message about my not being out on time, that he should go – so they came home.  She was crying, she told me through wails and tears that she had pooped in the potty.  I told her that we owed her chicken doughnuts, she had earned them fair and square.  But since I had to work late we’d go tomorrow.  We couldn’t do chicken doughnuts without me!  This seemed to calm her down enough for us to lavish praise on her.

She was so proud of herself.  I was so proud of her.

She said she’d poop on the potty again, tomorrow.

I love this one.

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August 17, 2012

Chicken Donut Joy

Chicken Donut Joy

Look who was excited to get chicken donuts! She made it through the entire week without a bubble! Such a big girl. She could barely contain herself with joy and excitement at KFC tonight. She was running around in circles, jumping on the bench, going up to a worker and asking his name, touching all the sauce packets, singing her Chicken Donut Happy song. The lady who took our order was laughing at her antics. I’m glad she appreciated them!

Teagan, was obviously tired by the time we got home, so we ate dinner quickly. Ashlin had no problem eating quickly, she always seems to be ravenous by the time we get her in her chair, and wolfs down whatever we put in front of her. She did surprise us at the end of dinner, by trying to say “thank you” while she signed it. It wasn’t very clear, but it was obvious what she was trying to say. Yay!

All in all, a pretty good end to a pretty good week.

I can lick my elbow

I can lick my elbow

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July 12, 2012

Thunder! And Flowers!

We ended up losing the fish today. Sigh.  It’s an empty pond.  With frogs, and one crayfish.  I’ll finish treatment and give the pond place a call.  See what they suggest us doing – emptying the pond and refilling, doing more than two weeks treatment.  Maybe we’ll wait a bit before getting more, but I would like to get more.  I really like the fish.

In other happy news, Teagan came home with a bunch of art.  This is her drawing a thunderstorm, raining on her flower.  I didn’t get to ask if they were her sunflowers or not.  She sent me out to water them tonight while she finished eating dinner.

She did a bit of art for everyone!  Mama, dada.  Even Ashlin and the cat.  Not sure where she got the name “Gagoo,” maybe the teacher misunderstood Teagan’s pronunciation of “Clio”.

She’s asked for watercolors.  I think she may be mature enough to be able to paint a nice picture and not get paint everywhere.  They may just be one of her rewards for being good, and quiet, and not falling in the toilet.

For Dada

For Mama

For Ashlin and the cat

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April 26, 2012

So, how long does this blatant disregard and hearing loss last?  Till they’re 23?  I’m not sure how long I can handle it without going insane.  Tonight was another super-fun awesome night.  Sigh.

She was pretty good at day care.  They said she was quiet and well behaved at nap time, not disruptive like she has been.  Then a huge accident this afternoon, that she just didn’t care about.  How can pee-soaked pants be fun?

Getting home and dinner was another story.  She seemed to have left her working ears at day care.  It’s like she stopped speaking english, moved to a world of her own.  She ran off, didn’t eat, cried when we prodded her along, threw food at her sister.  The food throwing actually got her sent to bed.  Without books.

We had been going to celebrate her good behavior at day care.  With light box time and a candy cane and dancing.  But instead, we had impertinence, crying and just a little bit of screaming.  I know she’s learning about consequences, but really?  I know when she’s tired, she’s not always in control, but that’s not an excuse.

Sigh.  I wish my baby girl could learn this lesson quickly.  She can be so fun when we’re not yelling at her.

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April 13, 2012

Sliding Sisters

Teagan did well today.  Fantastic, actually.  No accidents.  Yay!  Unlike yesterday, where she was great all day, but then she felt the need to go behind the sofa and pee her pants after dinner.  After we rewarded her for being such a big girl.

Yesterday was so frustrating, as have these past few weeks.  She’s perfectly capable of using the bathroom when she needs to, she knows to ask, but she’s decided that it’s just easier to not go, and she’ll then wet herself.  We’ve been trying different tactics – encouragement, happiness and reward being the preferred, although voicing our disappointment started happening more and more often.  I once let her stay in her wet pants because she just refused to believe they were wet, and it was a bit easier to ignore it than actually deal with it at the time.  Leaving her in the soiled pants made me feel like I was a horrible parent, I’ve never done it again.

It would be ok, these serial accidents, if it wasn’t so deliberate.  She will go and hide – like she did when she was young before starting training.  You could ask her if she needs to go, she’ll say no, but two minutes later will stand in front of you with wet pants.  We got the plastic lined training pants – crackle pants – but although they did help contain issues, they weren’t any sort of punishment.  She liked them.  We thought about putting her back in diapers – or pull-ups – but that seemed to be more of a backtrack than we needed to do.

I think that although she knows if she has to go to the bathroom, she doesn’t quite understand how urgent her need is.  Eventually, she will get it.  I know she will.

Anyway, today was a good day.  We went to the park.  She went down the slide with her sister.  They loved it.

Ashlin asked for more :)

Ashlin also stood for a bit on her own, unsupported, then bent down and stood back up again.  I fear she may have eaten a wood chip.

Up Down, Touch the Ground!

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March 28, 2012

Grumpy Teagan

Teagan has been grumpy the past few days.  It’s not that she’s not sleeping, she is.  She gets at least 12 hours a night.  It could be that she’s not napping, which she just refuses to do at day care.

Anyway, today, she didn’t have an accident.  She asked to go to the playground as we were driving home.  I had gone to pick her up as Stu was working late, so it was just me and the two girls.  We had promised her a trip to the playground as a reward for not having an accident. So I took her to the smaller playground, the one with slides.  She promised to listen and be good.

We get there and I get Ashlin into the stroller, then get Teagan out.  And she was pretty good.  She didn’t run too far ahead while I pushed Ashlin, she dropped the garbage that she picked up and wanted to throw out.

She was so excited to be able to go down the slide!  The bottom had a bit of leftover rain or melted hail, which she asked me to wipe off.  Then we had to check the other two slides.  Yup, they both had water at the bottom too.  Ok, not a big deal to swish the water off.  Back to the big blue slide she runs, climbs up the ladder and down.  Laughing.

After a bit, she wanted to go on the swings.  Not the big girl swings but the baby ones.  The one Ashlin was in last time we were there.  Fine. Ashlin is staying in the stroller.  I wasn’t allowed to push her though.  Weird kid.  Eventually she wanted to get out, so we did the wiggle, wiggle, wiggle dance to get her out of the too-small swing.  The slightly wet sand under the swings was the next source of gravity, and she crouched down to grab a handful.  And peed her pants.

Then denied she did it.

I probably should have taken her home right then, but she wasn’t too fussed, and I didn’t have anything to change her into, I was only on a quick day care pick up.  We stayed a bit longer, hoping her pants would dry a little more before having to get her into the car.

She slowly became more and more unruly and stopped listening to me.  So, I told her she could do two more slide runs and then we needed to go home.  She tried to bargain for more time.  Nope, well ok, one more slide down, there really wasn’t any rush to get home if she wasn’t unhappy about her wet pants.

And so we started out of the park.  And she ran into the road.  Thankfully it is a very quiet street, and a surprisingly seemingly unused park, so she was fine.  I was lucky.  She melted into tears and became a boneless mass, unhappy that at first I yelled at her, and then because I was putting her into the car.

While Teagan cried, I got Ashlin in, the stroller away, then went back to Teagan and sat in front of her, at her eye level.  I asked her to stop crying and to listen to me.  That she can’t go running into the road, that she needs to listen and be a good girl or she won’t get to go to playgrounds with just mommy and her sister.  She did say she was sorry, and said she’d listen.

She still refused to admit she peed her pants.  Fine.

I’m proud of myself that I didn’t loose it, that I was calm the entire time.  The only time I yelled was when she ran into the road.  Oh, and when she tried to put the straw she found in the dirt into her mouth. And when she was horsing around at the top of the slide and almost fell off.  Gah.  I guess I yelled a lot.  I need to figure out how to get her to listen better, so we can go and do things, like go to the park alone,  without difficulties.  Without meltdowns.

After the girls were asleep, Stu told me that Teagan has assigned the younger guests to Ashlin’s birthday party a balloon color.  G gets a blue one, E can have green, Ashlin gets red, and she gets pink.  Dada is allowed to have a purple one.  She thought through all the possible colors.  Impressive, that our little Miss Bossy-pants is thinking ahead.

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February 29, 2012

Happy Leap day!

Last night was garbage night.  A weekly chore.  As Stu went around collecting the garbage, Teagan kept asking “what doin’ daddy?”  So, after she went to bed, we talked about giving her a chore.  Her first chore will be cleaning up all the food that Ashlin throws on to the floor.  She can either pick it up and put it in the kitchen garbage can, or she can learn to use the whisk broom and dust pan.

Tonight, she was a total cranky pants.  It was not an easy dinner, nor an enjoyable bed time.  I lucked out, putting Ashlin to bed, so I missed most of Teagan’s antics.  Frustrating antics.  She does not listen, and will blatantly disregard what you say.  So frustrating.

After she was put to bed, Stu and I were talking while cleaning up the kitchen.  Teagan is a very visual kid.  Stu suggested a reward chart, a visual aid to help her behave.  Something to help her work towards a concrete reward.

Stu remembers being in the equavalent of grade school and there was a class reward chart.  A man climbing up a mountain.  For good things, they were able to move the man forward two spots, for bad, back one.  There was generally forward motion on the chart.  This process had an impact on him, he still remembers it.  Maybe this is the sort of thing we do need to do.

I remember personal reward charts back in elementary school with the SRA reading program.  The more lessons you completed, the more obscure the colors of the lessons, the more stars you received.  There was a battle between myself and four other students for best reader.  I remember one of the highest lessons in the box being the olive lesson, and the cards were always out.  I remember the reading battle, but not who won.  I guess it wasn’t me.

Anyway, I’ll start looking for reward charts like this one.  Maybe I’ll make one instead of buying one.

If the marshmallow reward for pooping is any indication, this should work.  Hopefully it will help her be a better little girl.  One accountable for her actions.  One who can see how she’s doing.

 

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