Beth and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

This was my Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I wrote this last Thursday, but never posted it (guess I was in denial, or my brain forgot to click the "publish" button). Thought it should be documented though...

Thus far, my prayer for the day has been strength & patience. I can't remember the last time I had a day like today. Cecilia was up and naked in her crib at 6:30- WAY to early! By the time 8:00 got here we had already had 2 poop accidents, the gate broke, the clock fell off the wall and shattered glass everywhere, and the hall light died. I had cried and called Jon twice by this point. Thinking that we were at the bottom, and the day could only get better, it got worse. We had countless pee accidents, and too few successes. Oh, and the toilet in the basement broke after I used it. It just started running water and I had to figure out how to fix it- with a tantrum toddler at my ankles.

Once nap time finally arrived, a sigh of relief came upon me, until the iPod in Cecilia's room started blaring "Walking on Broken Glass" instead of her white noise ocean waves. JOY! I sprinted up the stairs to see what the heck happened, C was wide awake now (I think she had just dozed off). Earlier when I was cleaning up the glass from the clock, she was contained behind the other gate in the hall and got a hold of her iPod. She removed the repeat from her ocean song, removed the music menu from the main menu and set the rest of the music to shuffle. It seriously took me over five minutes to figure out how to get the music menu back to the main menu so I could reset the darn thing. Now C was REALLY awake, and she didn't go back to sleep for 45 minutes.

Jon was home promptly at 3:30 :) Of course, C was a perfect angel for him, and the house didn't act up any more.

Poop Camp Boot Camp

Friday was potty training day one. It was exhausting! Cecilia and I made it through. It was very intense, but worth it. The method we followed is "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day". Ya- the book is highly optimistic, but the theory works. We had the benefit of using this method after my aunt and uncle used it on all of their boys with success. They were able to give us valuable advice and recommendations. According to them, this method is a long 3 day weekend process. We started Friday, and by Sunday she was practically a pro!

On Friday the theory was lots of fluids = lots of opportunity. I let her double fist it with milk and juice all day long. She had 12 accidents by the end of the day. I know this because I had bought a 6 pack of panties, and she went through them twice. Even with all these accidents, she successfully went on the potty at least 12 times, if not more. The day was so stressful (I can't stress that enough) for both Cecilia and I. There were lots of tantrums, lots of head banging, and lots of longing for wine. With our 50/50 success rate, I wasn't convinced that we had made any progress by the end of the day. I was VERY glad to see Jon at the end of the day and let him take over dinner and bath time while I escaped and picked up Red Robin for our dinner (the next best thing to a bottle of wine when you are pregnant).


Day 2: Saturday. It went SO much better! I took a much needed break and Jon and I tag teamed it for the majority of the day. She did SO much better! We had 13 successes and only 5 accidents- WOOOOWHOOO! Notice all of the lady bug stickers on her shirt- they were a critical part of the training, and it let us keep track of her progress. She was so proud of herself by the end of the day, and we were so proud of her too.

By Sunday, she was a big girl now. Sunday was amazing. She made it all the way through church without going in her "travel pants". She only had two accidents the entire day. We even went to Ma & Pa's house for the Steeler game (GO STEELERS!) and she did so good going to the potty when we asked if she needed to go, and she even initiated the process a few times. We were so impressed! I think she was just showing off for all of her cousins, aunts, and uncles.

We have yet to have a perfect day, but we are getting there. It is definitely a process, but for the most part she gets it. We have the complication of limited communication, height, and coordination, but she will get there- and it beats the heck out of changing diapers! AND the $$ we will save on diapers over the next few months means more date nights ;)

New Seats

She is growing up WAY too fast. I feel like over the past week we have graduated from baby/toddler to toddler/5 year old. Still, she is so cute, she warms my heart every day, and she enriches my life beyond imaginable.

Last week I came to terms with the fact that she has outgrown and outsmarted her sassy-seat. We have LOVED this chair for her. She has been able to sit in it since she was about 6 months old. At that time, she still needed a phone book to be an appropriate height. Now she has figured out how to climb into it by any means necessary and lounge in the seat however she deemed comfortable. This was getting a little out of control, so we had to up grade her to a big girl seat at the table.

We've also had to come to terms with the fact that she is ready for this:
I was really not anticipating this at all. I was fully expecting to be on double diaper duty for a few months over the summer, before going here. Cecilia had different plans. I never thought that the child would be the one to initiate this potty process, but when she clearly does NOT like a dirty diaper on, and shows you this by stripping down every time she senses this, it means she is ready. We have had several incidences over the last few weeks where we've found her totally naked in her bed with a dirty diaper in one corner and her in the other. Last week, we picked up the book from my aunt and uncle. On Sunday, I bought the potty seat for the toilet. Today she is 17 months and 3 weeks old. Today, she went potty by herself on the toilet. (SERIOUSLY SLOW DOWN!!) She was giving me a look after lunch and I asked her if she needed to go potty. She immediately started dropping her drawers, and headed to the bathroom. She pulled the potty insert up to the toilet, climbed up, and went pee on the potty! Friday is going to be our official potty training day. I'm a little nervous. I've heard that it can be really intense, but I think she is ready for it.

We've been cleaning out the guest room upstairs and moving it to a downstairs bedroom to get it ready to be Cecilia's big girl room. One of the last things to come out of the room before Jon started painting was this cupboard. Her and I got home from church last Sunday and she discovered her new favorite toy. I'm telling ya, kids toys are overrated- boxes (and the like) are all they need. It was a fun new seat for her, and still is. Peek-a-boo!

Chocolate Angel

The other morning I overslept. This meant that my normal routine of getting showered and dressed before Cecilia woke up didn't happen. So, I took my shower after we had breakfast and got Cecilia dressed for the day. Up until very recently, the kitchen and living rooms have been child proofed. Within the last few weeks, Cecilia has mastered the art of chair climbing, which means that nothing is safe any more. So, I went to take a quick shower, in hopes that the house would still be standing and my child unharmed when I returned. When I peeked out of the bathroom after my shower, this is what I found:
She had climbed up to the middle of the table, got a hot chocolate tin down, opened the tin, chewed through (yes, chewed- because tearing is so adult) a hot chocolate packet, and proceeded to make hot chocolate angels on the floor with the powder. Face down of course, so she could eat up all that sugary chocolaty goodness. I had to laugh at her. I just sighed, laughed, thanked God she hadn't found anything life threatening, and then plopped her in the tub.

New Year, New Job

Jon started work at Ball on Monday. It was like the first day of school. The opportunity and the possibilities that awaited him were so exciting! Yes, I took a picture. He was a good sport.


Monday was all HR stuff and today was his first day at his new desk. When I asked Jon how his day was when he got home tonight, he responded "Great!". I can't tell you how happy that made me! He got assigned to his project today and got all situated. He is so excited about what he will be working on! Of course, it can't all be roses: we found out yesterday that he would be working at the Boulder campus which is further than we thought, but it is a much prettier and nicer drive than what he is used to. He also learned that the possibility to go back to working 4-10's is most likely not an option. Oh well. We were spoiled with that for the last year and a half. It will take some getting used to, but I have already started enjoying my mornings with Jon. Its nice to get some time together before C gets up.

2011

We hosted New Years Eve 2010 and rang in 2011 at our home. We started the evening at Sarah's grandparents home for dinner and finished the party here. It was an honor to have the Glenn family with us. We played a very difficult game: TriBond. I would not recommend this game unless everyone playing is serious about trivia. We also played a modified version of Things. It was hard to find games that were suitable for such a large group, but it was fun none the less. We watched the Ball Drop at midnight and everyone cleared out at a reasonable time this year.
I was wiped out on New Years Day though. Something about missing a few hours of sleep and being pregnant. Fortunately, Cecilia was fairly mellow and even snuggled with me on the couch for about a half hour while we watched a Word World.
I am trying not to make any resolutions for this year. I have some modest, achievable goals set for my business, and Jon and I are focused on getting into a better financial position. Overall, I am looking forward to just enjoying this year and all the changes that it is bound to bring. We feel so blessed looking into the future, and I really just want to be able to savor those blessings without any extra pressure of a New Years resolution.

Happy 2011! I hope all of you have a blessed and wonderful year.