St. Columba Bay

Last week at camp the campers "visited" St. Columba Bay. I learned that St. Columba does not have sand on it's shore, but rocks and pebbles.

 The kids made stepping stones for the children's garden at the church and then spent some time in reflection.  This is a pretty heavy concept for 4 year olds.  My friend A. ran this marketplace. She had each of the kids pick up two small stones. She played music and asked the kids to close their eyes and listen to the world around them. To see the water, to feel the wind and water on their face (she even spritzed them with one of those water bottles that have a fan attached), to listen to the music, to breathe in and out slowly.  Then she told the kids that when people come to St. Columba Bay that they would pick up two stones. One was to throw back in the water and it was the bad stuff...hurt feelings, a bad morning, mean things people may have said, or even something mean they may have done to someone else. The other stone was to keep and it was all the good things.  As an adult I found this really cool. Especially it happened on the same morning that I was really, really late to camp. So I threw my bad morning back into the "bay."  My group of 4 year olds all participated, but no one spoke up, nor were they expected to. But I still wonder how much they got out of it. Did they get the concept?

The next morning, Boogie went to St. Columba Bay with his group.  That night Hubby asked him what he did at camp. Boogs was all excited about St. Columba Bay. He excitedly told Hubby about the bay and throwing away the bad stuff and keeping the good stuff. Hubby asked what Boogie threw away.

Boogie's reply:  I threw away all my nights that I couldn't stay dry. I kept all my dry nights.

Wow! He really got the concept. A part of me was super proud that understood the concept and that he took it to heart. As teachers, that's what we want from our little students. That they walk away with new knowledge or new insight.  Another part of me was a little sad. I knew that his inability to stay dry at night was frustrating to me (especially when he leaked out of his pull-up and I was changing sheets in the dark in the middle of the night, though I always said, "It's okay, Sweetheart, we'll just take care of it."), but I had no idea that it was this frustrating to him, too!

The following day, I told A. about it and she told me that no one else shared in his group, but Boogie had volunteered information about his bad and good stones. She was fortunately able to give him some good counsel and tell him that his body will be ready when it will be ready and not to worry about it.

Well, I think between her good counsel and his ability to physically let go of his frustration was all Boogie needed. He's been dry most nights since then! I think we are dry 5 out of 7 nights! That's the most that he's had ever!  I'm trying not to get too excited or to pressure him. I'm trying to give him props and congratulate him when he's dry (without pressure) and to say, "Hey, no big deal on the mornings that he's not.  But to see that he's let go of his frustration is pretty wonderful!

Thanks, A. for all of your help!

Potty Training Regression

We have taken 4 trips (long and short) in the in last 8 weeks. Every two weeks for the last two months we have gone somewhere.  The first was to Maui, the second just for a night to our 10 year college reunion, the third for just a night to a wedding out of state, and we just returned from a week long trip to Maine.  What do these all have in common besides lots of packing, unpacking, laundry, and time away from home? The inability for my son to stay dry. ARGHHHH!

My son has been potty trained for 16 months now.  When we're home he's been dry and has not had an accident. Quite honestly, I don't think he's had a potty accident in almost a year...if we're not traveling that is! I blame myself.  This is all my fault. Really.

My son decided at 3 that he wanted to stop using diapers. Awesome.  A little later than some of his peers, but the fact that he decided this on his own, means that he was more willing to do this himself.  Within in the first 3 months of potty training he was nap time dry and stopped using pull-ups at nap time and was well on his way to being nighttime dry.

Then in my infinite mothering wisdom I changed the game on him.  That's right, I did.  With my husband's work, he has the opportunity to do a rotation in another state for a short amount of time, anywhere from a month to a little longer. Being a newly stay-at-home mom and wanting to support my husband's career endeavors, I encouraged him to apply for a rotation in Chicago.  Two years ago, it was denied because he was working on a big case and his boss really wanted him stay local so that they could finish it and suggested that they postpone it until the Fall. He couldn't do that because our daughter was due at the time and neither of us thought that was a good idea.  So he ended up going last Summer for 6 weeks. 

At the time of his application it didn't occur to me that I could have a new baby and a potty training preschooler.  My husband left for 3 weeks and we joined him 3 weeks later. In my infinite wisdom as a mother I thought this would be the ideal time to break my son of his pacifier. Yes,  I know, brilliant.  All that I ended up doing was take away his comfort while Daddy was away and then blow all of our hard work so that Boogie was no longer nap time or night time dry and instead just induced night terrors for the next 6 months. Yup, brilliant.

So here we are a year later. Boogs is day-time dry. At times nap-time dry and rarely night-time dry. Every time we take steps to being completely dry, we have gone on vacation and it has throw us off two weeks. Then we get back into it and once again, it throws his schedule. *sigh* 

While we are on vacation, we are doing so much that Boogie will take a nap, but he's so tired that he sleeps through the opportunity to get up to go to the bathroom and we are left with wet sheets. The thought was that since he was getting a good nap, then he would be able to wake up in at night and use the bathroom (which he had done successfully several times), but no go. The pull-ups don't contain all the liquid and he wakes up wet. Sometimes with wet sheets, sometimes, not.  We've done everything from limiting his night-time liquid intake, to making sure he goes potty before bed, to even waking him up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (which by the way just makes everyone unhappy as he screams and cries in his sleep and sometimes pees and sometimes doesn't) and all to no avail. He still wakes up wet.

I've looked at our calendar and it looks like we are done with our vacationing for at least a year.  I hope that with us going back to our regular routine my poor little Boogie will go back to being completely dry. Wish us luck!

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Note to Self

Note to self:  Lift up the toilet lid before going to bed to make it easier for the very sleepy 4-yr. old who is trying to stay dry at night to go to the potty. Otherwise this sight might greet you!

He was so proud of himself that he "listened to his body" and used the potty. He wiped an everything...he just forgot to raise the lid!

I'd Like Another, But....

My husband and I are talking about trying for kid number three.  This isn't new news since before we were married my husband said he wanted enough for a football team. Since then, he's fortunately brought down his expectations to a reasonable number...at least two, with always the possibility of growing our family.

Here's the thing. I love my life. My two kids are the greatest. They are fun and loving. They make me laugh and remind me on a daily basis that choosing to be home with them is and will always have been the right choice for us in this time of our lives.

Boogie is 99% potty trained. We're still working on night-time dryness, but overall he's potty-trained. He will also be in preschool 4 half days a week next school year. Sweet. I can enjoy my mornings with him and get things done in the afternoons. Buggy is growing so fast and is my little helper.  She's learning new words by the day and forming more sentences by the minute.  She is already attempting potty training. Nothing yet, but at least interested. Not bad, considering she's 17 1/2 months old.  However we will have to teach her to sit down for going potty. She's watched her brother one too many times and when she tries to go, she stands at the toilet and thrusts her little pelvis towards the bowl. Too funny. But I digress....

We are in a really, really good place right now.  I feel like I'm finally got this two-kid thing down. We've had more good days versus challenging days. Boogie is being more helpful and I think we are finally sliding out of the trying 3's.  Buggy is fun and we're finally able to find time to do things just the two of us...hence enrolling her in parent-assisted soccer classes while her brother is in school and parent-assisted swim classes on Saturdays while Daddy and Boogie hang out together. Having two kids is great. I got this!

However, there are days when I am ready to pull out my hair. When all I want to do is barricade us in the house and watch hours and hours of PBS while we all snuggle together on the couch. There are days when I just can't take the fussing and the whining or having just one more thing to do, no matter how self-imposed I made it (like the soccer, the t-ball, the swimming...).  So the thought of adding one more to the mix is very daunting.

But, I don't think I'm done. I feel like our family is missing at least one more family member. Our family is complete in the sense that it's complete for right now, but there's definite room for growth.  I can already imagine our family expanding and can't imagine it without a 3rd little one to compliment it.  (I'm willing to have at least five, but I don't know if my sanity can take it. Being so type A, chaos overwhelms me. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there.)  So I guess we've made our decision. We're ready for another. But I won't be disappointed if we don't get pregnant right away. We'll just have fun trying :)