Mom Remembers

December!  It's been a busy month and it's not over yet!  But we have put homeschool away to enjoy our Christmas vacation.  I will probably do a few read-alouds to catch up for the crazy days in October but other than that, we are off the hook!  So I thought I would update early, to record what we did with our fraction of a month of school. This month I started something new with Sven, in an effort to make special time for him, prepare him for school someday, and keep him from interrupting our homeschool time.  I have instituted Circle Time again.  Before he starts Room Time (and I start school), we take five or ten minutes to be together.  I sit on the rocking chair with Sven in my lap.  We start by singing "Happy Family".  Then I tell him a nursery rhyme (preferably one with actions).  After that, he gets a book, which I read to him.  Then we are done and he goes to get his toys for Room Time.  It is very short but sweet a...

Soren is seven!  Whoa! Because his birthday was the day before we left for our long car trip to Illinois, I thought that it was pretty stressful and probably not much fun for him.  But he seemed very pleased to have reached the austere age of seven.  Here is what we did to celebrate: 1.  I offered to take him out for donuts for breakfast but he informed me that he didn't want any sugar, that a normal breakfast would be just fine.  This has been a thing on and off with him for the past couple of months: he refuses the idea of sweets but is usually perfectly happy to eat them when they are actually there.  I took him at his word; we didn't go out for donuts but had leftover cake from Scott's birthday. 2.  Scott stayed back from work for about 1/2 an hour in the morning while we ate, which was more special than donuts anyways.  He gave Soren his birthday present: measuring tools!  There was a balance, a set of beakers, and a tape measure. ...

Sunday Number of accidents: 3 Number of successes: 2 Monday Number of accidents: 4 Number of successes: 4 Tuesday Number of accidents: 8 Number of successes: 7 Wednesday Number of accidents: 1 Number of successes: 7 Thursday Number of accidents: 2 Number of successes: 3 Friday Number of accidents: 2 Number of successes: 7 Saturday Number of accidents: 1 Number of successes: 5 I really couldn't be happier about the results of my two-week potty training experiment.  Sven really seems to be getting the hang of this.  Well, at least the peeing part.  Since Tuesday, he has had no pee accidents!   So I think I will keep him in underwear and call this a success.

This month was much  better than last month.  We got right back into the swing of things and I didn't feel behind at all, which is very encouraging.  There is a lot of flexibility to homeschooling and I am grateful that.  The amount of work we get done can ebb and flow according to the energy level in our home.  On high energy weeks for me, we can do extra readings and projects that require more preparation.  On high energy weeks for the boys, they can take charge of their own projects and bug me until I get the bare minimums done. I took on two day care kids (age 2 and 4) this month and the older one has been doing Kindergarten with Carl.  He has also joined us for Morning Exercises , which has made that time more fun.  It's surprisingly easy to incorporate the two extra kids into my routines and hasn't thrown us off at all.  And I'm always glad to get more "socialization" for my boys.  Sometimes the apartment does get noisy, though....

Statistics Number of accidents: 0 Times ended on the potty: 0 Times started on the potty: 8 Times self-initiated: 0 Times peed on Mom: 0 Ounces of Tang consumed: 20 Thoughts Today couldn't really have gone any better.  I just went back to normal life, albeit with the added responsibility of taking Sven to the potty every once in a while.  And guess what?   He was dry all day!   Woot! From past experience, I know that this is not the end.  Your first "dry all day" is always a fluke.  But it's still an encouraging fluke.  Today gives me the motivation I needed to keep going next week.

Statistics Number of accidents: 8 Times ended on the potty: 0 Times started on the potty: 6 Times self-initiated: 4! Times peed on Mom: 0 Ounces of Tang consumed: 22 Thoughts Sven is slowly, but surely, "getting it".  I'm feeling hopeful.  Although, I must admit that I was feeling hope less  this morning.  I was totally ready to give up.  That's when Sven, for the first time all week, told me that he wanted to go pee.   And he was right!   When I helped him with his undies, he sat himself down and peed.  Huzzah!

Statistics Number of accidents: 11 Times ended on the potty: 4 Times started on the potty: 8 Times self-initiated: 0 Times peed on Mom: 0! Ounces of Tang consumed: 28 Thoughts I did a few things differently today, even though I'm pretty sure that changing strategies mid-training is a bad plan.  However, I needed to do something  different or I wasn't going to have the grit to keep going. Firstly, I got out the underwear.  I wanted to teach the importance of keeping dry.  He definitely didn't get it but I don't think that he is confused by it either.  So the underwear are going to stay. Secondly, I stopped picking him up mid-pee and taking him to the potty.  When I saw him having an accident, I told him "No, pee belongs in the potty.  Let's go to the potty," and made him go there himself.  Usually, by the time we got there, he was done peeing and so no longer had anything left to "end on the potty" with.  The upside to this was t...

Statistics Number of accidents: 11 Times ended on the potty: 9 Times started on the potty: 3 Times self-initiated: 0 Times peed on Mom: 3 Ounces of Tang consumed: 36 Thoughts It's a good thing today is over because sometime in the last hour I transformed from a rational being focused on a long-term (but achievable) goal into a raging maniac.  I'm frustrated beyond reason; three days of this and Sven appears to be learning the wrong lesson.  (Aka, "If I start to pee, Mom will whisk me off to the toilet and if I save back a few drops, I'll get a gummy bear!")  How many more days of this are yet to come?  I'm tired of being patient and upbeat.  What a change from yesterday! The last straw was when, while jumping and peeing  on the couch, Sven whacked me in the nose with a book and then Soren laughed maniacally about it.  The ungrateful wretches.  Maybe I'll just give up on this mothering thing and let them grow up to be crude, uneducated ...

Statistics Number of accidents: 20 Times ended on the potty: 9 Times started on the potty: 1! Times self-initiated: 0 Times peed on Mom: 2 Ounces of Tang consumed: 42 Thoughts You know what has surprised me the most this time around about potty training? I'm enjoying it.  No joke.  For Soren and Carl, potty training was the worst .  I seriously wondered if I wanted to have any more kids, just knowing that it meant I would have to potty train them.  I thought that it was the most abominable parenting job and I wished to never,  ever  do it again. But this time, I really am enjoying it. I think it's because I've had experience and know what to expect.  So it doesn't frustrate me when Sven has an accident; I know that's part of the process.  It doesn't discourage me that it hasn't "clicked" yet; I know that takes time.  And it doesn't gross me out to deal with all the pee; I know I'll just shower after bedtime.  Everything a...

Statistics Number of accidents: 12 Times ended on the potty: 3 Times started on the potty: 0 Times self-initiated: 0 Times peed on Mom: 2 Ounces of Tang consumed: 20 Thoughts I took the plunge and began potty training today.  My intention is to be really hard core about it for the next two weeks and if it doesn't stick ... well, then I guess we'll be waiting until next year.   So it's now or never.  Hopefully now. This is how my day went: 7:30 am - I'm getting Sven up for the day and, since I'm still not committed to this potty training thing, leaving him in his nighttime diaper. 8:00 am - Breakfast is over and I'm sticking Sven in the tub, then calling my friend for an hour long pep talk. 9:00 am - I'm getting Sven out of the tub and deciding to use the bare butt method, mostly because I don't want to go get my 18 mo underwear from the storage unit. 10:30 am - I'm rejoicing because I have "caught" 2 of Sven's pees mid...