2.22.2009

Tulips


These make me happy. The only thing better would be if I could get lilacs in Texas but I know that isn't going to happen. I am being selfish as I put these in my office instead of out in the living room.

Oswego, NY

It is official, Pete and Judes are both in Oswego. Finally. It hasn't been without hiccups but at least they are both together in New York. Of course, upon arrival they were met with a blizzard.

From the NYT:
For the sixth straight day, powerful squalls of snow pounded a string of towns and villages along eastern Lake Ontario yesterday, burying parts of upstate New York, shutting down highways, schools and government offices, and blanketing homes in layers of snow that at times came down as fast as five inches an hour.

The area east of Lake Ontario hardest hit by six days of snow.

By last night, strong gusts of wind that had been blowing since Saturday had deposited more than six feet of snow in towns and villages throughout Oswego County, and weather forecasters were predicting that many of those areas would be hit by at least two more feet of snow by the end of this weekend.
As emergency crews struggled yesterday to clear roads and dig out stranded motorists, Gov.
Eliot Spitzer declared a state of emergency in and around Oswego County.
One of the hardest-hit areas was the city of Oswego, a community of 17,800 people about 40 miles northwest of Syracuse that as of last night had been buried in more than 72 inches of snow. Schools were closed all week, the streets were lined with snowbanks 12 feet high, and whiteouts forced the state police to temporarily close a 15-mile stretch of Interstate 81.


I am not sure we will be heading up anytime soon but we are hoping for a summertime visit!


2.15.2009

The Potty Chronicles Part 4

Today was our first tball practice. Yes, we did start already. The season officially starts 3/7 because it is Texas and way too hot to play when the rest of the world is just starting to think of baseball.

Anywho, Zachy got to see his favorite tball sibling, Griffin. Upon seeing Griffin, Zach announced to G, his mom, and sister that he was wearing underwear. Zachy pretty much announces it to everyone that he hasn't seen in the past two weeks that may not have heard the news.

Later today, while I was working Zach came in to the room and very seriously said:
"Mom, Dada is going to poop his pants?"
me: "What? Why is dad going to poop his pants?"
Zach: "Because he farts all the time, he will poop his pants."

Two weeks of underwear and Zach is as happy as a lark. He has slept three nights without a diaper. He has also taken to standing instead of sitting on the potty. I am not too sure about this latest development but he is smart enough to point out that he likes his toilet better because mom's/dada's toilet is too high. He is right about that one.

2.13.2009

a break from poop

The blog world fascinates me most likely because it feeds my voyeuristic tendencies. If I was in grad school, I would study blogs, write long papers on blogs, or become a blog expert. But I am not longer in grad school so instead I take breaks from work to check out blogs. Some blogs are of close friends that aren't close, some are of friends that I see daily but still like to be inspired by their pages, others are blogs of friends of friends, and some blogs are from random people that I would never in a million years get to meet but for some reason can't pull myself away from their worlds.

So all this long winded blog talk because I stumbled (and don't ask me how because it will require at least 5 more rambling paragraphs) across the following blog. It is an interesting story, or rather it is a heartbreaking story and as I read through there were times where I felt I shouldn't be reading this because I don't know these people but they want to share or they wouldn't have a blog. I have spent way too much time sucking it all in and when I was done my odd grad student self couldn't help but think how fascinating it is that I can learn about some one's life without even knowing them and how a community formed in support of one family all because they have a blog.

So here you go, waste some precious time, and meet a woman and her family that you'd never in a million years have the chance to meet if it wasn't for her blog.

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

Note: I admit I cry easily, commercials, TV shows, etc. so it should come as no surprise that I did cry while reading this blog. Just be warned, most of you probably won't cry but I did.

2.11.2009

Potty Chronicles Part 3

Things that Zach has recently told me during out potty training adventures:


"I don't like diapers"

"My pee is this color" He was holding a yellow M&M up close to my face.

"I just farted on Obi-Wan" This comment was to me and also to Obi as several times Zach also said "Sorry Obi I farted on you." Obi-Wan's face is on Zach's butt on a pair of his unders. Yes it is a bit disturbing to see his face there but hey, it makes my kid want to use the bathroom so I am getting over it quickly.

"I can feel the poop!" Rick caught Zach with that glazed, far away look and asked him if he had to use the potty. Of course Zach said no but a few minutes later he came running up to me with the afore-mentioned statement.

"My poop is going to the party!" I can't remember who or where I heard the story about kids or a kid that was afraid to poop on the potty because they didn't know where the poop went. Neither of the boys ever seem to care or mention it but I also tried a preemptive strike by wishing the poop good luck as we flushed it away and with Zachy I told the first poop to have fun at the party. I am now suddenly disturbed by how I have personified fecal matter.

"Come look at my big poop!" One of the many strange changes that occurs when you are a parent, you go and look at your child's poop. Like I would ever walk up to Rick and ask him to come look at my poop or vice versa but none-the-less, checking out what Zachy has deposited has become a family event.

We are slowly but surely making progress. Zachy is adamant about keeping his diaper dry at night, which he has successfully done. Rick is willing to take a chance tonight and let Zach go without a diaper. Yikes! Keep your fingers crossed!

After this adventure with Zach is over, I am moving on to Sam the cat who in old age (he is coming up on 12 this year) has decided that it takes too much effort for him to step in the litter box when he has a poop and instead creates his own poop party right next to his box. I guess I should be thankful that he doesn't pee outside the box. I wonder if I can put all of Zach's leftover diapers on Sam?

Ok - tired of poop talk? Fingers-crossed, we may soon have two boys in unders, which means Grandpa Pete and Nana Juju have to follow through on that promise to watch the boys while we take a trip.

The Potty Chronicles Part 2

The first phase of my potty training bribery is to offer the very cool Clone Wars underwear to Zachy after he made it a few days in potty training unders. Here he is showing them off.







2.03.2009

The Potty Chronicles

After our Saturday discussion at Target I decided on Sunday we should dive in and try the potty thing. I reminded Zachy about the cool Star Wars toy that he could get and he seemed game to give the underwear thing a whirl.

Sunday - first day of unders. Zachy managed to pee through two pair but put all the poop in the potty.
Monday - Rick and Zach fake illness to avoid potty training. Okay not really, they have horrible allergies and were out for the day.
Tuesday - Zachy is back in unders, per his request. He made the entire day at school until we arrived to pick him up and then he peed. He did manage to poop in the potty not only at home but also at Target. His reward were some stellar Clone Wars unders, which he gets to wear tomorrow.

A few fun things I forgot about potty training:
  1. The need to get completely naked no matter how dirty the public bathroom is.
  2. The joys of teaching someone just how much toilet paper you can put in a toilet and not flood the house.
  3. The joys of teaching a kid how to wipe his butt with the toilet paper.
  4. Wondering how many other people in the public restroom are listening to you cheer and praise your child for using the potty.
  5. Having to constantly remind your child to not touch all the parts of the public toilet and then wondering if it really matters because you already took off his shoes, pants, and underwear to get him on the toilet.

Fingers crossed that we are on the road to a diaper free house.