The Swimstress

Eleri had her first swim class this morning. It's a "Parent & Toddler" class, so I'm in the pool with her. Thus far, Tom's been the designated swim parent, accompanying Soren to his classes, but now it's my turn. The class is taught by a kid with the same name as my dad, which is kind of amusing.

Anyway, El has long yearned for access to the rec center pool, so she was giddy about starting swim lessons. She was a little clingy and intimidated by the swarms of people at the pool, while we were waiting for our class to begin, but as soon as we got in the water she was happy and relaxed. I'm fairly certain she didn't stop beaming until it was time to leave. She gleefully splashed and kicked her legs when instructed (and sometimes when not instructed). It took just a little bit of coaxing to get her to relax into a (supported) back float. And when it came time to practice jumping into the pool, she was quite possibly the most gung-ho of the group. Shivery though she got at times (the pool is a great temperature for lap swimming, but a little chilly for wee ones not exerting themselves too much), the class did seem to live up to her expectations. Which is great! I'm glad it looks like she'll enjoy this.

On the drive home, I gave Tom a quick call to see if I should pick up lunch. Eleri immediately started begging to talk on the phone, call grandma/grandpa, but it was too early to call the west coast (especially given the start of DST). So I told Tom to put Soren on the phone, and Eleri chatted with him for most of the rest of the drive. El's voice goes higher and higher in pitch when she's really excited about something, and she was downright squeaking as she told Soren about having a swim lesson and jumping in the water. It was hilariously adorable. I could hear bits of Soren's side of the conversation, and it actually was, for the most part, a real conversation. I think it was maybe the third time they've talked to each other over the phone, but it was definitely the first time they had real back-and-forth, asking questions and telling stories. Pretty freaking great.

Of course, the time change and the early exertion and excitement took a fair bit out of the lass, so she was fragile and brittle until we got some lunch in her and had her take a bit of a rest, but overall I'd say it was a very successful morning.

Kids' Conversation

S: Do you want to go potty?
E: No! I want to pick my nose!

Dispatches from the Potty Train: Next Stop - Backslide Junction

We were doing so well.

I was really optimistic that things were going to be easier with Eleri than they had been with Soren. She's both a girl and a younger sibling...aren't those both supposed to be easier? Alas, we've hit a bit of a wall and seem to have regressed back to square one. Maybe a bit further. Friday was fraught with accidents, both out and at home. Saturday we didn't really take her anywhere, so at least the puddles were confined to the home front. Today she did great while she was running errands with Tom, but it was hit & miss (mostly miss) at home.

We're now at two full weeks since we started potty training in earnest. When I say it that way, my concerns and frustrations seem baseless. Two weeks? Come on, that's nothing! So she's regressing a bit. That's normal. Tough it out, and it'll probably get better again in another week or two. (This is exactly what I'd say if it were a friend of mine griping about his or her kid's problematic potty endeavors.) A couple of times this weekend, though...man, I was ready to just throw in the towel. Try again in another week, or another month, or maybe three months. She is barely two, after all. But I know she's GOT to be close to getting it. Even if it doesn't seem like it today. Maybe I'll look back three or four days from now and heave a sigh of relief, so glad we didn't quit. Maybe it will take another couple of weeks. Either way, it helps to remember that they do all get it eventually. Barring major developmental delays, everyone ultimately figures out that soiling oneself is neither socially acceptable nor particularly pleasant. We will get there.

To make matters trickier, the poor lass woke up with a sniffly nose this morning. Stress-induced cold? I'm not ruling it out, which of course makes me feel guilty. I suspect she'll sleep like crap tonight, which will make her even more fragile tomorrow. Whee.

IN THE MEANTIME.

I'm going to see about writing a book review and maybe resuming the 30 Days of Blogging posts. Going to try - once again - to get back in the habit of posting things here more regularly. Here's hoping.

As we enter March

Hmph. I'm pretty annoyed with myself that I neither managed to write a blog post nor to take a daily photo for the kids on Leap Day. Ah well. Maybe next time.

(Or maybe not. Seems I didn't manage it four years ago either.)

Potty training is going pretty well. Not horribly, anyway. Aside from the "NO I REFUSE TO PEE BEFORE WE LEAVE THE HOUSE WAAAAAAAH" arguments we've been having, the whole process has been much less frustrating than I anticipated. So yay for that!

I did a bunch of extra riding this past week. I'm starting to make some progress with Vanya. When I was out at the barn last night, N said it was the best she'd seen me ride him yet. That made me feel pretty darned good.

I am drawing a blank as far as other stuff to write about right now. We certainly get up to a lot, but most of it is pretty mundane. Today's big excitement, for example, was 90 minutes of playing with Play-Doh this morning, followed up by me nearly giving Soren a black eye (I was exercising, with weights, and he ran up to me just in time to get clocked by one of them; fortunately, they're only 3-pounders), followed by an hour & change riding trikes with A at the playground. In between all the fun, there was a bunch of whining and not listening and refusing to use the potty. And today was pretty typical of how things have been going around here. Some outings, some whining, a little vegging out in front of Fireman Sam late in the afternoon while I make dinner. Adorable cooperative playing, punctuated by fighting and stealing of toys and meltdowns.

At least, for the most part, for every moment like this:

we get a few like this:

It works.

Dispatches from the Potty Train to Underpantsville

So, Eleri has been out of diapers during the day since Saturday morning. Not bad! We wanted to take advantage of the Presidents' Day holiday weekend to give the whole "three day potty training boot camp" thing a try. I know, people do claim it works. Lots of people (supposedly) successfully potty train their kids - that's day and night training - in 72 hours or whatever, but I've got my doubts. Still, we have made impressive progress in the past five days. Accidents still do happen, but they are hardly a frequent occurrence. Granted, most of that comes from frequent reminders and cajoling; still, at least some of that is her figuring this whole thing out.

Yesterday, this would have been a very different blog post. We took our first diaper-free trip out of the house (for Eleri...Soren and I have been going without diapers for quite some time now). It was, perhaps, the most stressful, anxiety-inducing outing to the library and grocery store in recent memory.

We left the house at 2:00. I had packed something like 6 pairs of underpants, 3 pairs of pants, 2 absorbent pads, 1 bag for wet items, plus the froggy potty (as a backup). I set a "potty alarm" on my iPod, and we made it all the way through our time at the library before it beeped. I took the kids into the bathroom, where despite the fact that Soren peed first to show Eleri it was all good, she refused. Started getting upset over having to sit on the toilet, very adamantly insisted she did not have to go, etc. So, I spent a few more minutes trying to convince her before giving in and packing us all off for destination number two. (Not a euphemism.)

By this point it was nearly 3:00. She'd gone an hour between potty trips in the past, but not much more than that. We ducked into Buy Buy Baby (which is basically exactly what you'd get if you crossed Babies R Us with Bed, Bath & Beyond, right next to the grocery store, to try again. They had one of the little short toilets, which I thought maybe would be more comfortable for El. Nothing doing. Out of desperation, I lugged us all back out to the car, fetched the froggy potty, returned to Buy Buy Baby and plunked the potty and Eleri down in the big bathroom stall. STILL no luck. So far we'd wasted probably a good half hour in total trying to get her to pee; I'd likely have been better off just racing through our errands and hoping she would last til we got home. I was stressed and envisioning a catastrophic accident all over the shopping cart right in the middle of Trader Joe's.

BUT. Miracle of miracles. We made it. We got through the store (probably in record time) and got home, right at 4:00, accident-free. Whew. It was a bit of a gut-wrenching 2-hour excursion, but ultimately successful.

And today? Today was so much better I hardly have the words to express it.

I was a little smarter today. I packed the potty seat (the little insert one that goes on a regular toilet seat), and a bag of M&Ms (her reward for successful potty-related endeavors). She peed at the rec center, after we dropped Soren off for school. She peed twice at the mall, where we made it all the way through our weekly walk. The second time, we were down at the play area already, and she actually went and climbed into the stroller, asked for her shoes, and answered in the affirmative when I asked if she needed to go potty. Then she peed again at the rec center just before we picked up Soren. And again at the nature center, where we went to play with A after school. We were at the nature center for quite a while, and eventually she did have an accident. But here's the crazy part. It was a very tiny accident. She was able to stop herself, make it to the bathroom, and finish there. I'm unspeakably impressed by this. We headed back home; she took an accident-free nap in the car on the way, and then did a great job for the rest of the evening.

(Future Eleri, I'm really sorry about the whole play-by-play record of your urination habits. I'm just really, really proud of 2 year-old you right now.)

I'm happy to say that I can now envision a time, in the not so distant future, when we will experience life without diapers. And that? That is going to be awesome.

A Very Brief Guest Post

Found this in my saved drafts. Not sure who wrote it.

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AsssssssssssSSSSSSSSGHTTHYZzSOOOOOOOsO rEQM MGH.MH````````````MMMMMMMM,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Cute things the kids say/do (that I haven't already put on Twitter)

Soren calls pretzels "prentzels" (see the N in there?). He also says "reg-lee-yer" instead of "regular," which I find amusing because it's basically a mirror version of the nuclear/nukyular nonsense.

The kids play this game that basically involves them (pretend) cold-calling people to ask if they need any construction done. About half the time they're pretending to call 911, inquiring of the dispatchers, "Hello? Anybody need any construction? Please leave a message. Okay, thanks, bye!"

Sometimes in the mornings, if the kids have been particularly good about staying in their beds all night, we'll ask them, "Did you sleep and sleep and sleep?" Eleri has sort of mixed this up a bit, because lately she's been asking us in the morning, "Hey! Did you wake up and wake up?!"

On the "equally cute and irritating" list, we have Soren with his endless Fireman Sam games. There's a little theme that plays whenever the characters on the show are going to a rescue, and Soren hums this CONSTANTLY. Anytime you ask him to do anything, it becomes a dramatic rescue situation. "Hey buddy, can you go put those pajamas on your bed and get some socks out of the closet?" "Duh, duh-duuuuuuh! Na nanana-na, na nanana-na!" (42 seconds into the video) Eleri, by the way, usually calls the show "Fire-Sam" but sometimes says "Fireman Sammy" instead. (As in Grandpa Sammy.)

Soren used to say munch instead of lunch. Eleri's never done that, but for some reason she does refer to the "Monkey Preschool Lunchbox" iPod app as Monkey Preschool Munchbox.

That's all I've got for now. More soon.

If our belly buttons fall off, what?

For several weeks now, Soren has been asking what feels like hundreds of hypothetical questions per day. These questions usually take the form of, "If [hypothetical situation x], what will happen?" For example, if we're driving somewhere in the car, he might ask, "If another car crashes into our car, what will happen?" About half the time he'll just drop the last two words, ending his question with "what?" Sometimes I really struggle to come up with an answer for him. And half the time, there's a follow-up "Why?" waiting in the wings. I love that he's curious, but some of his hypotheticals are completely random.

Tonight when we were snuggling after story time, he asked, "Mommy, if our belly buttons fall off, what?" Uhh, they won't. "Why?" They can't, they're attached to us quite firmly. "But if they did fall off, what?" Little goof.

Unrelated but also funny, he was helping me with dinner tonight. We were making pasta with garlic shrimp & veggies, and I was letting him help me season the shrimp & peas. He'd already added the minced garlic, and I had the salt, pepper & paprika out on the counter. Eleri chose this moment to need some attention, so I told Soren to hold on a sec while I tended to her. My back was turned to him just long enough for him to get the top off the paprika, and I turned back around just in time to see him finish emptying the entire (very small) jar into the bowl. It was startling, but I managed to remove a fair bit of the paprika mound and adjust the seasonings so it wasn't completely overwhelming. Still quite a tasty dinner in the end. Afterward, he told Tom "I did lots of 'prika!" Yes buddy, you sure did.

Emailing it in

I keep wanting to write about some fun stuff from the past few days, but I keep not getting around to it and then remembering after I'm done with the computer for the night. And previous attempts to post from my iPod have not been super successful, so I've given up on that. But. Tom reminded me about the capability to publish via email, which in theory shouldn't be victim to all the glitches I've encountered when trying to use Blogger in my iPod browser. So I'm going to try that. Which means I'll have to add photos later. And probably links too. But hey, better than nothing.

So, Friday was a pretty exciting day for Soren. After El and I picked him up from school, the three of us drove into the city and met Tom for lunch. After lunch, Soren got to go back to work with Tom for the rest of the afternoon. He'd been begging to go to work with Tom for weeks, possibly even months, so this was extremely thrilling for him. He insisted on wearing his "work clothes" (his suit and tie, though I did talk him into corduroys instead of slacks), which was pretty damned adorable.

So that was fun.

Saturday morning I went to a Zumba class. You wouldn't think this was such a clever idea for a self-confessed clod such as myself, but Zumba classes, it turns out, are surprisingly clod-rich environments. And the general lack of coordination and grace of most participants is a non-issue because everyone's having a good time. It's not like a real dance class wherein the clods stick out and are abashed into quitting. So yay! It was quite a good workout, and it beat the hell out of running on the treadmill.

This weekend Tom & I got to take our turn on the date night rotation schedule thingamajig we've got set up with A's parents. So they watched our kids, and we got to go out. I persuaded Tom to check out this TopGolf place with me. It's a driving range, but there are targets set up on the range for you to aim at. And the balls are all microchipped, so they can tell (most of the time) whether you've hit a target, and a little video screen keeps track of your points, etc. The claim, per the website, is that the driving bays, though outdoors, are heated, leading one to believe going to a driving range on a 36-degree evening in February wouldn't be a completely insane idea. This claim, we quickly discovered, was exaggerated, but we had fun anyway. Cold fun, but a nice diversion. And once we'd played a couple of games, we retired indoors for some beers and rather outstanding burgers.

Sunday morning, holy crap was it cold. In the 20s, I'm pretty sure. I went out to the barn to exercise Vanya, and despite wearing 4 layers above the waist, I never broke a sweat. Brr. Pretty good ride though. Not as much fun as a trail ride, of course, but N wasn't there and the ground was frozen anyway. Thank goodness for indoor arenas on days like that.

Sunday afternoon I helped Soren make Valentine's cards for his classmates. It's...not one of my greatest strengths, trying to keep him from goofing around so much that he doesn't actually accomplish anything, but without micromanaging all of the fun away. I do try. It's definitely not easy for me. But in the end he had valentines that he'd made almost entirely on his own - they were very simple, construction paper hearts, cut out & glued to unruled index cards, and then he wrote his name on the backs - and I had at least some of my sanity still intact. I'm willing to stick that one in the "win" column.

All right. I'm tired. Good night!

Morning Coversation with Soren

S: Mommy, I only like to play with C (at preschool). So I'm married to him!
M: I thought you were already married to A.
S: I am. I'm married to both of them.
M: Well you can't do that. It's not legal to be married to two people at the same time.
S: Well, I am, because...that's what my life tells me. I decided a long time ago that I would be married to two people.
M: Why?
S: Because it's fun!

From the mouths of (not quite) babes, my friends.