Why? Why? Why? Sounds so much like wah, wah wah !

Why is it so hard? Why do some days seem so much more difficult than other days? Tuesday seemed like a day of answers, every time I confronted an issue on Tuesday I had an answer. Example: Issue -gaining weight=answer-go to the gym;join weight watchers;go on a diet. Then Wednesday about 12 issues came up and I was helpless...or hopeless..or both? Today was a mix of answers and impossibilities! Very frustrating! It seemed as if today Will was in a bad mood and Luke was in a good mood. The first half of the day I did well on my diet, the second half..well...can you guess? Britt was solving problems and Ben was making problems? Just a weird day altogether. I used to think it was my mood that navigates the direction of my day. However i am not so sure. Wednesday I was ready to seize the day, I had the right attitude I just couldn't make anything happen. Same thing for today...I was ready and approaching my day with a positive attitude ..yet something was/is missing and I cannot figure it out.

On to a more positive note...please.... I am depressing myself! Will (6) has really turned into a reader. This morning as I sat with my coffee he came into the living room sat down and picked up the newspaper and began reading it!!! Okay, Ben and I have read to Will since we knew we were pregnant. We do not have a TV in our living room, nor do we have any cable access. Ben and I are also both avid readers. Okay ..maybe not avid...we both have almost always have a book that we are reading. Will has been reading for almost a year now. In the beginning he read words he recognized. Like the STOP sign and words here and there in story books. Then he began reading sight word stories. (these are sold as kits at Borders-highly recommended). By May of last year he was reading most of his bed time books with our help. By December he was reading small books all by himself and now, March he is reading just about everything. This amazes me. I understand the process of memorizing words at a young age, what I don't understand is his grasp for sounding out words that are NOT phonetic. Like the word aphids, he already seems to know a lot of the major rules of reading. Even the rules that do not make sense. He has figured out how to use the pictures if there are any, and the structure of the sentence to determine what a word is when he is unsure. And ..this is the kicker.. he remembers! and is consistent! Yeah Will!!!! Did I also mention he is doing Math, no? well, that's
another whole story.........................

MISSION:Potty Training STATUS: Complete

I think we did it! Like(2) has gone 10 days without any accidents. I have made this announcement before and on the same day Luke peed his pants. However, it is with utmost confidence that I make this claim. How you ask? Well, it began a year ago in March 2006 Luke was 18 months old. I had just read an amazing article in Parents Magazine about potty training infants! I thought it seemed a bit extreme , but I like crazy and Luke wasn't quite an infant . Luke could walk and talk and he would follow us all into the bathroom to inquire on our doings. So, I took off his diaper introduced him to the potty chair.We (yes, my husband had a role in this-you MUST work as a team to be successful) didn't push Luke we let him take control of sitting and standing and peeing and pooing -many times it landed next to the potty. He wore underwear during the day and pull-ups for nap and overnight. There were lots of accidents. We told Luke "we don't pee or poo in our Big Boy underwear," and said no more. When he used the potty (with undies down), just as a chair or to go poo or pee, we gave him a reward. That enticed him to sit on the potty more. We had to be really patient...I mean really, really patient. No matter how frustrated we got WE DID NOT PUT HIM IN A DIAPER! IT HAS TAKEN A YEAR, BUT WE HAVE NOT PURCHASED DIAPERS FOR 12 MONTHS! A package of pull-ups would typically last a month. We figured we saved well over$400.00!! And seriously -there were a lot of accidents. When Luke used the potty successfully all day long we started to take the pull-ups away. This was the longest part of potty training. For months he only had occasional accidents in his pull-ups. We took nap time pull-ups way first. When Luke could make it through nap time dry then we gave him a week or so before we took his bedtime pull-ups away. Some days he would be totally dry in the morning other days he would be soaking wet. Then we did it, we used the last pull-up and vowed to buy no more -no matter what happened. So, sometimes Luke peed in his underwear at bedtime. We changed his bedding, sanitized his crib mattress, and told him he could get a big boy bed when he did not pee in his underwear. Gradually over about 3 months he had less in less accidents in bed and he has been dry for 10 consecutive days, YEAH!!!!
It can be done.. but YOU need to be committed. Happy Training:)