The Mommy Test Updates

First of all, thank you for all of the words of encouragement and advice on my The Mommy Test entry! I really don't know what stay at home moms did to keep their sanity before they could share their joys and frustrations with their friends via blogs and before it was cheap to vent to their moms via a long distance call! Thank you all for listening. :)

Secondly, updates on yesterdays issues...

Corgan and Belle's attitudes Things have been much better today. Corgan slept pretty well (although he did get up early), but then Belle woke up even more whiney than she was yesterday. Fortunately, that whine only lasted about half an hour (she's not much of a morning person anyway, but neither is her Mommy so I could kinda relate). I think Belle must have read my blog because she's been better overall... although this "good girl" thing might just be a part of the test. :)

Potty training I'm sure any time that you try potty training you question your decision of whether it's the right time. I was already doing that and my blog's comments made me think about it even more. I have always been of the mindset that I didn't want to try it until she was ready because I'm just setting myself for a LONG tough road otherwise. Plus, to me, diapers are SO much easier than the early stages of potty training and I wasn't looking forward to giving up that ease. As much as diapering 2 kids might get old, it doesn't really bother me that much so I'm not in a huge hurry to get Belle out of diapers because of the "two kids in diapers" thing. Oh yeah... plus I JUST bought a case of diapers in her size and it's not even opened yet! Annabelle's signs that she is ready are the pooping in the same spot at the same time everyday at school (I've read that pattern is a sign), her diapers seem to stay dry for longer and longer periods, she has been able to pee on the potty in the past, and she is showing an interest in panties and the potty (she had lost interest for a long time, but started to be interested in it again these past couple of weeks). Annabelle's insistence on wearing panties was really the final straw, so I went with it.

Yesterday was painful with a few touches of sunshine, but I've heard that it's usually hard in the beginning. After all of the comments last night (which I really appreciate if I hadn't mentioned it already ;)), I thought that this morning I would just ask Annabelle what she wants to do again and see if she wants to go back to diapers or stick with panties. So I did, and she chose panties (Dora ones to be specific). She wore the panties this morning for about 2 hours with no peeing in the panties, but also no peeing in the toilet. Then it was time to go shopping for more panties, which meant back to diapers... I'm not ready to take her out in public in panties yet. When I walked into Target I wasn't planning to buy "prizes" for Belle, but the 1-spot had adorable character socks that Annabelle really liked and bribery always worked for me (and Belle seems to really have my personality). So I stocked up on 9 pairs of socks for "pee pee prizes". Then as we were visiting the aisles, Belle noticed the Furr-real Parrot that I have been eyeing forever because I always thought she'd love it since she like birds so much, but I just couldn't justify spending $60 on a robot parrot (or "macaw" as she calls it). As luck would have it, the parrot is on clearance so I told her to tell the macaw that we would come back to get him when she's is done with her diapers. So she did. :) Right now there are like 15 of them on the shelf so they BETTER still be there when we're ready to go get it.

To make a long story longer... While we were gone shopping, she didn't wet in her diapers too much, so when we got home I asked her if she wanted to sit on her potty to get a "prize". She was all excited about it, so she ran into the potty and SHE PEED ON THE POTTY!!! It wasn't a ton of pee either so it wasn't just because her bladder was so full that she couldn't hold it in! She was so excited to go out and get a prize too, so she is now the proud owner of a new pair of My Little Pony socks. :) After this breakthrough, it was her naptime, of course, so I had to put her back into a diaper, but I explained that when she woke up she could put on her new panties and get more prizes. She happily went to bed, and if the past is any indication of the future, I'm sure that the first thing that she'll do when she wakes up will be to ask for her panties or the potty. If things don't go as well this afternoon as they're seeming like they might go, then we will probably wait another few weeks then try again.

Time out Haven't had to use it yet today, but Angelle... thank for the dining room chair idea. I think I will try that! Although, I think I'm also going to try to work "quiet time" or something into the day somehow since Annabelle seems to like having some quiet time to herself into her room. This wouldn't be a punishment, but just a part of our daily routine.

The fence situation Nothing is for sure here yet, but a guy from the city came out today and looked at everything. He says that the trees are all under the power lines so they would need to cut those down anyways (grrrr!), but that they also shouldn't be putting new trees in under it. So that means that they may need to shift their boundary line a bit which could work out good for us, but I don't know. I have a feeling that all of the natural vegetation will end up going so the thing will be trying to convince the builder to NOT put in a chain-link fence, but rather a wooden one (or even stucco... then we could grow vines up it or something). He said that they may actually be required to have an opaque fence which would be great for me, but I'm not holding my breath. So... the issue goes on.

Thanks again for the comments and for listening/reading! :) I love my circle of blogging and blog-reading friends! It really does make being a SAHM so much easier!