I haven’t blogged in a while and figured I might as well since I have a chance.

I just thought I’d share about all the wonderful fun I’ve been having running my daycare.
Solomon is potty training. Okay, rewind. Running a dayhome I knew at some point I’d have to come to grips with the fact that I’d be helping someone else’s child learn to use the potty. I don’t like accidents (potty accidents). When Joy was potty training we started with keeping her diaper on and just putting her on when she said she needed to go, or every few hours (she can hold her bladder for longer than I can when not pregnant). Once she got used to actually using the potty we removed the diaper. Sure she had a couple times when she was playing and realized a little too late she had to go, but most the accidents were in the bathroom. If she did have an accident she’d come tell me (or cry).

Solomon has been doing great potty training at home (so I’m told). Day 1 here potty training. He asked to go on the potty but didn’t do anything. After 3 attempts I decided he needed to go just wasn’t able to so I put him in a diaper. Come nap time. I decided to let Sol stay up a bit later, while I put Olivia down (maybe 10 minutes). I heard him go into his diaper bag and figured he was looking for his teddy. I was wrong. After I had Olivia tucked in all nice I received a surprise I just never expected.

I walked into the living room. Sol sat in the middle of the carpet wearing his underwear sitting on a clean diaper (I think he was trying to figure out how to put it on). Next to him sat a poop filled diaper with about half a package of wipes inside. Poop smears encircling him and the diaper. He changed himself. Thank goodness we’d just done a toy cleanup or else it could have been worse. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it’s worse than anything I expected. I stopped and counted in my head so I wouldn’t explode. I picked him up and set him down in the bathroom, I told him not to move a muscle (he didn’t). I told Joy to stay away from the living room and picked up the diaper (tossed it). I then went into the bathroom and cleaned Sol up (poop on shirt, unders and bum). I didn’t exactly know what I should do… I know what I’d do with my own kids, but he’s not mine. So I grabbed out the spot remover and told him he had to sit there and watch me scrub the carpet. He did, and Thank goodness it was ‘fresh’ enough the spot remover worked great!

Day 2 (4days later), again he comes not in a diaper. He has a small pee on the living room carpet. Again I put him in a diaper. He did end up peeing again later on the potty even though he was in a diaper.

I’ve decided he can wear a diaper here. I’ll ask him if he needs to use the potty, and he seems okay at telling me when he needs to. I just don’t enjoy potty training. I think I’ll keep him in a diaper until Christmas (I watch him 2-3 times a week), then after the Christmas break (if I get one) he’ll probably be ready to not need a diaper. He’s my first experience in potty training a child that’s not mine. When  I watched Grace they took 2 weeks off on holidays and she came back potty trained (1 accidental pee when playing), Gabe came already potty trained (although I did have to get used to the ‘standing to pee’ thing ~ eww!). I’m also not used to little boys peeing. I know 100% my son will sit to pee at home, because that’s just gross (especially when I have to sit and clean). I hope I can train Sol to always sit while here….

Well that’s my fun Thinking about running a day home? I could talk you out of it, or into it

Well it’s 10:32pm… I usually feel so sick at 10:30pm that I crawl gagging into bed and lay there feeling ill until I finally drift into a deep sleep. But I just ate a big bowl of itchy ban noodles so I’m feeling okay (for the moment). The rest of today was wonderful. After I finished blogging Orlund and I visited while the girls played about. Then we went for a walk over to Mac Park to the BG Urban Grill to try their smoothies ~ got a 2 for 1 coupon in the newspaper. YUMMY! And I checked out the rest of the menu as well, very reasonable prices.
After our smoothies and walk we had a quick lunch and then it was nap time. After naps we jumped in the car and headed to the fabric store. Unfortunately they wouldn’t let me return some things I’d purchased, however I got the threads I needed. Olivia stayed with me. Joy went with her Daddy to Princess Auto. Orlund was shocked when Olivia and I came to find him, he thought we’d be in the fabric store all day… nope I just put my head down, ignored the adorable materials screaming my name, and got just what I needed. *Yay Me*. We then decided since we were already in that part of town to go check out the Dodge Grand Caravan’s again. We had gone once before, but the sales guy seemed a bit ‘slimy’. I know, I know, a lot of them are, but this guy we didn’t care for. Luckily when we pulled up another guy came out. We liked him. He gave us some more options and pricing, the other guy we saw as we entered the new guys office. Gave a little smile and pretended we didn’t recognize him. We know who we will be dealing with now at least….now just to meet with our financial adviser. Then we will start the actual wheeling and dealing.. LOL.
Well Orlund is shutting down and it’s now 10:41pm, I’d better hit the sack before I hit the ill…..
Good night all

Oh and I also learned today (the hard way) that just because your first child never took their diaper off during nap time, doesn’t mean your second child wont….yuck!

So we have decided to try potty training…. The thing with Potty Training, once you start you can’t (shouldn’t) stop! And well I hadn’t really thought about that… I had purchased two ‘panties’ for Joy (the padded ones). Found out we needed more than that, thankfully a friend had given me some previously. Day one was great! I kept reminding her, and asking her, and she only had one oops (and one poop oops). But other than that she was good! We even made a “Joy’s Potty chart” for her to put stickers on every time she’s successful.
Day 2~ Not so good. I had the boys and she’s running a fever. We were only successful twice. sigh.
Day 3~ Today. Again not so good. Again I had the boys and she’s still running that fever. I think we were again only successful two or three times. But I’m sticking to it. She knows what’s what, it’s just a matter of her doing what she’s supposed to do. I kept asking her if she had to go, figured if I asked her then it would get her thinking about it. At one point when I was asking if she had to go, she came over to me, put her hands on my cheeks ~ holding my head so I had to look at her and said “No pee” then went on to explain in her own language that I’m bugging her and she’ll tell me when she needs to pee……..Okay dokay. She didn’t but it was cute that she held my head still to tell me what’s what.
Wish me/her luck for day 4!
Oh and one other thing I just want to share. When Olivia and I were in the hospital Joy started calling Orlund’s mom Didda. Then she called my mom Didda. So we figured that was her word for Grandma, she calls both our dad’s Poppa (although we call my dad Poppa and Orlund’s Grandpa). Then however one night Virden and Kerry were over and Joy called Kerry Didda….hmmm, perhaps it’s a way of talking to a lady…. Now however she calls Solomon Didda on a regular basis and occasionally calls Gabe Didda as well… I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean, someday perhaps she can tell us. Right now however whenever I ask her what Didda means she just starts laughing hysterically!

Well… Today was just one of those days…. You know, we all have them. Everything and anything gets under your skin. You’re (or rather I was) moody, grumpy, sluggish, and just want to be alone. That was my day. The problem? I have two kids. One toddler who is only 2.5 years old however by her sass as of late I’d say she’s going on 13. A baby who is not only teething (painfully I might add), crawling, but also just wanting snuggles. Oh, then of course I worked today on top of it all. And a longer day too! So The oldest Gabe, was, well….. Gabe. Talkative, energetic, rather rude (today anyway), Gabe. Sol, was back to his old self ~ pulling hair, hitting, and just generally being a pest (as of late he’s been real good, today however not so much).

I pulled myself through the day relying heavily on prayer. We made it. Don’t know how, but we did. THANK YOU JESUS! However, during this painstaking day a few cute stories developed ~

Olivia was having some major issues napping today. So after administering her ‘nap time’ dose of Tylenol I decided she could get up. Gabe and Sol were both napping in my room (one Victory!). The Tylenol took affect and after a poop Olivia was ready to go back down. I knew I’d find Joy still awake, however I assumed she’d be her usual self and be in bed playing with whatever toy she could reach without climbing out. Boy was I wrong! Upon entering their bedroom I noticed the rocking chair was pulled out away from the wall. The blanket was pulled off the back of it, piled high on the seat. I threw the blanket and seat pillow off the seat, pushed the rocker back to it’s place, took a seat and started nursing Olivia. Joy climbed out of bed and came over to me, she walked to the far side of the rocker and picked something up. She handed me a play cup and mumbled something. I took the cup and told her to go to bed. I figured she wanted me to play with her and pretend to drink from it. That’s when I noticed something strange….. The cup was sticky. It didn’t take but a split second for me to reach down to my ‘baby is teething’ stash. I keep a bucket on the floor next to the rocker, on the lid I have Olivia’s teething gel and baby Tylenol. Sure enough the brand new (just used this once) Tylenol bottle was tipped over, lid off and spilling out onto the bucket lid. I gasped. Please Lord don’t let her have drank any. I asked Joy if she’d taken any, she said no (don’t know how true or not that is). Joy then asked me to wipe her hands, they were sticky. The armrests on the rocking chair I noticed were sticky. YUCK!
After tucking Olivia in, I wiped up Joy’s hands with some baby wipes and told her to go to sleep. I left the room with the Tylenol, bucket and teething gel. Wont be making that mistake again! Later when I went into their bedroom I found all the girls stuffies in Joy’s bed with a baby wipe placed gently over each and everyone as if they were little blankets… Very cute, but very wasteful.

After the boys were picked up, dinner was eaten and the house was calm enough for me to relax the second cute thing happened. Joy and Orlund were playing Hide and seek. Joy would come to me to help her count “One, Two, One” or “Two, One, Two”. While she looked for him she’d call out “Daddy” and he’d answer “Joy”. Then he started counting and she started hiding. He always had a hard time finding her in the same place (what a good daddy!). However while he looked for her if he called out “Joy” she’d answer “hiding”. LOL. it was VERY cute!

Last story; Olivia has learned a new talent today. She did it for the first time today during her ‘nap’. She stood up all on her own in her crib! Wow, she’s just ready to go! Tonight I found her standing 2 times already. I think she’s excited that she can do it so keeps doing it then getting stuck! Kids always do that. She’s cute! Guess I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow, lowering the crib.. She’s just so tall! Olivia at (almost) 9months is the same height and one pound lighter than Joy was at 12months! (guess while I lower the crib might as well go through all those boxes that are under there and pull out the next size of clothing).

You know your baby was storing up her poop when after you not only need to strip her down to her birthday suit but yourself as well!!! Laundry going! To bad I can’t throw the couch in too!