The poop on Kindergarten

On Monday, I took the little guy to a lemonade party/Kindergarten orientation. They had all sorts of fun activities happening on the playground, the teachers were friendly and nice, the kids welcomed the little guy with open arms. When we left, both of us had dreams of junior kindergarten dancing through our heads. It was until I opened up the orientation folder that night that my bubble burst.

One of the sheets included suggestions to help your child prepare for kindergarten. There were a bunch of handy little tidbits and then in big, bold writing it said:

Practice personal habits such as:
- going to the bathroom unassisted (wiping, flushing, turning on and off faucets and washing hands)
- blowing nose
- sneezing or coughing into sleeves


Guess which one I'm worried about? Granted we have made some progress in the last few weeks. He's been pooping in the potty at home but won't go near the toilet to save his life. And if memory serves me correctly, they don't have potties in kindergarten.

And wiping? We aren't even close to wiping lessons yet.

Today he pooped in his underwear at daycare and was absolutely mortified. I think he really, truly wanted to use the potty but was too scared. He waited too long to ask for help and, well....poop happens. Can you imagine the humiliation he would experience if that happened to him in Kindergarten?

The clock is ticking so it's time to step up our toilet training efforts. Otherwise he might be sitting JK out this year and heading back to nursery school.

Happy Father's Day!

A little late...but better late than never right?

It's hard to know where to begin paying tribute to hubby. He is the best dad in the world to our son and has been since the very moment that the doctor lifted him from my womb. I was on the operating table with a curtain shielding my view of the operation. The only thing I was able to see were hubby's eyes as he watched the surgery. It was by looking into his eyes that I knew our son has been born. His eyes suddenly became very wide as he witnessed the most incredible miracle he'd ever seen. But as I watched his eyes I saw more than that -- I saw him experience love at first sight.

We got separated for an hour (which felt like an eternity) while I got stitched up after the c-section. It was the loneliest hour of my life. Thankfully baby boy was safe and sound in his daddy's arms. They snuggled skin to skin and got to know each other while I lay on the operating table yearning to hold our baby. What they shared in that first hour was truly magical. It was the start of a close bond that has continued to grow stronger and stronger each day.

Our son lived in a sling for the first three months of his life (when he wasn't nursing, that is). He demanded to be carried around constantly. Hubby would wear him for hours, inside the house and out. He often comments about how he misses those early days when he was a little "pouch-a-rino".

Obviously a lot has happened in the last three or so years. And in that time, the nature of their relationship has changed. They are now the best of friends. I've never seen two people have so much fun together! They are constantly playing, reading, building, cooking, surfing the web, crafting etc...together. Either that, or they are off on wild father-son adventures. Whenever he can, hubby takes days off work so they can do cool stuff together. They go to museums, explore the wilderness, stop at toy stores, eat sushi....Hubby is all about making sure that the little guy has the most enriching life possible.

I loved hubby with all of my heart before our son came along. Now he's given me reason to love him even more.

Happy Father's Day sweetheart!

Our first Youtube post

Check out what the little guy caught in our own backyard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgiWI7OyzjQ

Fun in the sun

It has been the most amazing weekend. Sunny and hot, but not too hot. Perfect weather for hanging out at the beach. On Saturday we explored a small town about 45 minutes out of the city which just happened to have the nicest little beach for wading and throwing rocks. The town was also home to a cozy cafe that specialized in freshly baked scones. Yummy!

In the afternoon we took a stroll down to the market to celebrate the little guy's toilet training accomplishments with some ice cream. At the same time we picked him up a butterfly net so he could catch fish in his kiddie pool. That evening he hauled in quite the catch. Dolphins, sharks, whales, fish and some assorted cars and trucks.

This morning, butterfly net in hand, we decided to bike down and check out one of the beaches inside the city. We met up with our friends there and had a great time splashing around in the water.

I can just feel that Vitamin D kicking in. Bring on the summer!

Target practice

Cheerios. All this time they were the key to getting the little guy to pee in the toilet. You just throw a few in the bowl and let the fun begin. What 3-year old could resist the opportunity to aim and shoot? Standing up pees are now so popular that I don't have to drag the portable toilet seat with us anymore. Nice! And he's even doing standing up pees at daycare.

And newsflash! He pooped on the potty twice this weekend! Finally he's decided on his own that he wants to be a big boy. Let's hope that he keeps up the good work.

Hooray for progress!

An 11th toe?

The little guy and his female friend SW were playing in the kiddie pool yesterday. At one point he decided to strip out of his bathing suit and streak around naked (he's a bit of an exhibitionist). SW, who had never seen a little boy in the nude before, started giggling and staring. She turned to her dad and said, "Look, he has a toe!"

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If the 2s were terrible, the 3s are even worse in some ways. The little guy has developed a terrible temper and just flies off the handle at the smallest thing. Sometimes in his attempt to hurl angry words at me, he ends up saying something hilarious. Like last night, when he yelled, "You better stop that you little guy or you can't come to my birthday party!"

Or earlier tonight when I wouldn't let him have a piece of pie before dinner. "You smack that pie right here, Okay?

Parental advice

Even if you don't ask for it, you sometimes get it. Like last night, when I was talking to my mother on the phone about toilet training. I told my mom that we had tried almost everything to get the little guy to poop on the toilet but nothing seems to be working.

Her advice: baby suppositories.

My reaction: I think not!

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There is a little cheese thief in the house. Every morning when I'm packing the lunches the cheese mysteriously disappears from the room.

When I ask the little guy if he's seen the cheese, he starts giggling.

"I smooched it!" he says.

He's also into "smooching" oranges and apricots.

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You can lead a horse to water

I think they should change this saying to, "You can lead a toddler to the toilet, but you can't force him to poop." The drama around the BMs never seems to end.

Whenever I talk to people about it, they don't understand why he's winning and we're losing. I'll tell you why -- his #1 dominant personality trait is stubbornness. I can't even begin to tell you how stubborn he is. If he doesn't want to eat something, do something, try something etc... there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to change his mind. He has to come around to the idea on his own terms. Eventually he does, but it's an extremely frustrating process.

That's my weekly bitch on the topic...

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I've been trying to get rid of toys. Lots and lots of toys. The nursery school is having a kids yard sale and fair next weekend I've being putting together boxes full of donations.

There's just one problem....Every time I set aside some toys, you-know-who finds them and starts playing with them again. Toys he hasn't looked sideways at for months have suddenly taken on a new life. I swear he can sense when I'm about to chuck something! Has anyone else experience this? I'm not going to let this phase me though. All of his babyish toys have got to go. Same goes for the old Playmobile toys that have millions and millions of little pieces. I have a love-hate relationship with Playmobile. The toys are very cool and spark a lot of imaginative play, but good lord are they messy! I'm constantly tripping over little parts and pieces. They drive me nuts! When he's older and better at keeping track of the pieces we'll get him more Playmobile but, right now, they have got to go.

I'm going to load up the car tonight so he doesn't see them leave the house. My guess is that he's never miss any of those toys. He probably won't even notice they are gone.

Negotiating

We've figured out a way to get the little guy to pee on the toilet on command. Just offer him one dollar.

"One dollar?" he asks in disbelief, as if he's just won the jackpot. "Can I have one dollar if I do a pee?"

When he asks for payment we just tell him we owe him and will pay him next Tuesday. He seems okay with that.

I wonder if this strategy will work for poops?


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Speaking of money....On Saturday we hit a giant neighbourhood garage sale. I gave the little guy five dollars in quarters to spend. After a great deal of house hopping looking for the perfect toy he stumbled across a large sack of emergency vehicles. It was packed full of some really nice fire engines, ambulances and police cars. They were bundled together with the price tag of $5. When I told him that he had just enough money to buy them he was overjoyed.

I helped him count the money and give it to the vendor. He was so please with himself and his big purchase!

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So we've gone back to diapers at bedtime after FOUR nights in a row of bed wetting. Maybe we'll try again in a few weeks.

Just stick it in the IV

The little guy has a new Playmobile toy - an ambulance complete with driver and medical supplies. One of the little pieces is a miniature IV. He's been asking us tons of questions about what it is and how it works. I was pretty sure he had it all figured out until he he told me today that the IV had soap in it, not medicine.

"Why does it have soap?" I asked.

"At CC's house she uses IV soap," he told me.

It took me a long time to convince him that she really used Ivory soap. :)

Toilet training update 1,543,209

Two days ago we took all of the diapers away (except for at daycare). He doesn't even get one at night anymore. For a few months now he's been wearing underwear full time when he's at home so it seemed like a natural thing to do.

When I told him there were no more diapers, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'll do my poohs at CC's house (his caregiver)." Pretty soon those diapers are going to disappear too. Once nursery school is out for the year I'm going to ask her to put away the diapers too. It's going to be underwear all the time this summer!

Other than the poohs, toilet training has been going really well. He's even made some progress using the potty at daycare. I'm feeling optimistic that the worst is over.

Stay tuned

Long weekend: the final chapter

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

Did I mention that the purpose of our visit was to celebrate my big brother's 40th birthday? I was impressed by how he embraced this milestone. He has had no less than five birthday parties to date, including a trip to New York with nine of his best buds. On Saturday night my family marked the occasion with a swanky dinner out for just the adults.


Three peas in a pod.


Going for a little spin.


So cute!


My nephew loves to play with these little pylons. He was kind enough to make a wheelchair zone for Grandpa :)

Long weekend part 2

We made history this weekend. It was the first time that all six of the cousins were all together in one place. As you can see, capturing the moment on film was a bit of a challenge :-)


Wait a minute....Where's JK?


Okay, Grandma's got him. Quick, take the picture!



We have an escapee. Let's try that again.



Lining up pre-schoolers is like herding cats. Believe it or not, this was the best shot I was able to get.

Too funny!

Long weekend fun!

This weekend the little guy had an awesome time hanging out with his cousins JK and AK. Here are a few pictures of them playing with the hose at the park on Saturday. They didn't let the fact that it was cold and miserable get in the way of their fun. They had a blast building a river in the sand, getting very wet in the process!

Soccer: Night 2

This weeks soccer practice started off on the wrong foot. The little guy was so nervous that he wouldn't let go of my leg. He just stood there yelling, "I want to go home!" Hubby and I calmed him down and then took turns escorting him onto the field until he felt comfortable. We weren't alone. There were at least three other kids who were just as nervous.

It wasn't until they played some really fun games started that the little guy forgot about us completely. They played hide and go seek soccer, which was a big hit. This was followed by a game called "kick the ball at the coach." Every time that a ball successfully hit one of the coaches they would pretend to be hurt. They would yelp and cry and roll around in the grass feigning pain. The kids thought it was hysterical. I've never seen my child so engaged in an organized game. He must have kicked the ball at his coach 50 times.

What a goof!

Mother's Day

I was one spoiled mom this year. On Friday, I was invited to a Mother's Day brunch at nursery school. Virtually everything on the menu had been prepared ahead of time by the kids. My little guy took all of the credit for the pancakes (which were, of course, delicious). Even the butter was homemade.

In honour of Mother's Day all of the kids were asked to create a portrait of their moms. Beside my portrait was a description of me that the teacher had transcribed. Here is what it said:

My mom is called J****.
She's not at school she is at work.
She is having lunch with me.
She has brown eyes a nose and a mouth.
She looks like my mom.
She has feet.
She has toes.
She has socks.
She has a belly button.

I'd say that was a pretty accurate description, don't you?

On Sunday, I had a full day of culinary delights. In the morning, hubby and the little guy made me french toast with strawberries. Later on they took me out for lunch. And for dinner, hubby made one of my favourite Thai dishes. My boys know that the way to this mom's heart is through her stomach :)

A real nail biter

Yesterday, the little guy and I had to drive hubby to the train station. While we waited in the car for him to grab his suitcase I started biting one of my nails (a terrible, lifelong habit).

The little guy yelled, "No mommy." At that moment I was totally unconscious of the fact that I had been biting my nails and had no idea why he was saying no. So I shrugged my shoulders and continued to gnaw on my nail.

"Mommy, you stop that!"

"Stop what?" I asked, still completely clued out.

"Stop doing that to your hands," he said. "If you don't stop doing that right now I'm not going with you to see daddy's train!"

Well I sure learned my lesson. Maybe he'll help me to kick my habit for good :-)

First night of soccer

There were 15 kids at soccer tonight. Most knew enough to chase and kick the ball in the general direction of the net. And then there was my son, forever beating to his own drum. If the coach said run, he would stand still. If the coach said kick the ball, he would pick it up and carry it.

He was the one who excitedly called one of the coaches over to show him a rock he found in the grass. The one who abandoned a fully charged game of What Time is it Mr. Wolf in favour of kicking up dust clouds along the chalk line. The one who switched teams intermittently and shot at the wrong net.

At one point he decided to just run off the field to come see us. The coaches called after him, "Where are you going? You're supposed to sit with the team." He casually replied, "I'm going to have a nap now."

He may have completely missed the point of soccer, but he sure had fun!

After 30....

It was my friend's 30th birthday last night (spring chicken!) and it really got me thinking about how different you become as you get older. For example, we went to a nightclub for drinks and to listen to a celtic band. All of us 30+ year olds got there early so that we could find a table. Because when you're over 30, who wants to stand in a cramped bar all night?

As the night drew on, I couldn't help but notice a huge serpentine line-up winding around the building. The wait to get in to the bar was at least 45 minutes. I'm pretty sure that all of the people in line were in their early 20s. After all, no one in their 30s (or even mid-to-late 20s for that matter) would ever wait in line to get into a nightclub unless, of course, they were total losers. When you are a 30 something you just shrug your shoulders and say, "oh well, let's go somewhere else." Another way I could tell that the people in line were much younger than me was by their choice of clothing. Many of the females were scantily clad (I've seen a handkerchief provide more coverage!) despite the frigid temperature. We live in Canada for crying out loud! In the very unlikely event that a 30+ year old did decide to wait in a long bar line-up they would at least be smart enough to wear a jacket.

When the bar closed at 2 a.m., I would hazard to guess that there were very few people in their 30s left in the establishment. Why? Because people in their 30s go home when they are tired (unless, of course, they are hanging out with a younger crowd and trying to keep up)! I got home at midnight which is pretty good for a 34-year old don't you think?

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Last night when the little guy asked where I had gone, hubby said, "Mommy went to a nightclub with SB."

"Oh," he said. "Why did SB want to go with mommy to her book club?"

My lack of a lively social life really shows through sometimes, doesn't it?

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Today, the little guy and I both learned something the hard way while on a wilderness hike.

He learned that there is a good reason why we tell him to not get to close to the edge of a stream. And I learned that I should never leave his change of clothes in the car.

Photos to follow..

The babysitter solution

It is so hard to find a babysitter these days. My caregiver's daughters are so busy with activities that I literally have to book them weeks in advanced. The other day I called one of her daughter's friends and was told "I only have time on Monday nights and sometimes on Friday. That's it."

Well.... soccer starts next Monday night, so that's out. I guess I'll have to try to book Friday's a week or two in advance.

On occasion I'll ask my friends to watch the little guy for a couple of hours, but I don't like to impose upon them too often.

It turns out that we are not alone in our struggles to find a babysitter. A group of us were chatting about this at the park today. Someone suggested that we form a babysitting circle with other parents in the neighbourhood and take turns looking after one another's children. I think this is a great idea. The kids would have a fantastic time hanging out together while the parents got a much needed break. And the best part of all is that it doesn't cost a cent.

The fact that I know all the parents that would be a art of this circle is also very reassuring. I would never have to worry about the care the little guy was receiving.

I think we'll give it a try and see how it goes.