Character sketch: Amby, living the piano lesson life: front seat, kids' French app, "cheesy wheezies" snack, pink rubber boots, homemade necklace, and don't forget that gold sparkly crown. Why do I ever even think I can attempt to convince/persuade/force this headstrong wild child to do anything she doesn't want to do?
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
IT ALL STARTED WHEN I DROPPED THE SOAP. Or possibly when Jeff's congested loud breathing woke me up repeatedly all night until 5am, when I lost the ability to fall back to sleep. I can only fall asleep so many times each night! I ran 5 miles this morning even though I wasn't planning on running. I was up early-early, so why not? Sigh. I'm tired.
Before school, Amber and Rose had simultaneous meltdowns over two unrelated things (Legos and piano practice). It was loud. I actually took a video because it was so...THEM. While I was getting Amber dressed, I suddenly decided to put her in undies and see what happened. Since she just finished pooping in her diaper, I figured it was as good a time as any. I know she's smart enough to figure this out, but she just doesn't care! I haven't put her in undies in nearly a year, so I figured we'd see how she does this time. UGH. I got some juice at the sore and gave Amber plenty of drinks, and she actually peed on the potty when I told her to--TWICE! We were on a roll.
Later this morning (post-school rush), Amber went outside with me while I swept the garage. Our busted garage door was finally fixed yesterday so I finally got to sweep out all of the debris that blew into it while it was stuck halfway open. Predictably, Amber kept riding her trike and scooter right in the patch I was trying to sweep. Eventually I finished and it was satisfying. Amber begged and begged to go on a walk so she could play in the little creek out back, so I dug out my big sun hat and went out with her. Sigh. It was a gorgeous day--65 and sunny, blue skies, IDEAL outside weather. I just felt tired. But I spent an hour-plus trailing around after Amber while she explored the length of the drainage creek, helping her out of the more difficult situations she got herself into. She stood still too long in some very goopy mud and got stuck past her boot ankles in the mud. When I lifted her out, the boots stayed behind. That was the beginning of the end of her cleanliness. She also tripped and fell in the mud and eventually filled her boots with water. At that point she wanted to go home. I had hoped to sit in the shade and read a book while Amber played, but she kept wandering far and I ended up only reading 3-4 pages during our whole hour-plus excursion.
After a successful post-lunch potty pee, Amber settled down to watch Moana. Partway into the movie, I glanced over and saw Amber laying in a weird position on the carpet. Then I saw the poop. It was everywhere: her dress, undies, legs, hands, even a little on the carpet. I carted her off to the bathroom and plunked her into the bathtub with a short irritated lecture about poop going in the potty. I donned my rubber gloves, stripped Amber to her skin, and began the arduous disgusting process of cleaning poop off of her. After I got it out of her clothes, I sprayed her down with the shower (we have a shower head on a hose--THE BEST for kids), hoping only to wash her body, not her hair (washing curly hair is an arduous process). Then I looked up and there was poop in her hair. This day is my enemy. Curly hair is no fun to wash. Amber cried the whole time I was removing poop from her hair and body crevices. At last she was clean. Now what?
More undies? A pull-up? Or the dread cloth diaper? I was completely at a loss. At last I settled on the cloth diaper. Now what again? Let her resume her movie? That seemed like it would make pooping her pants totally acceptable. But turning it off meant a long cry-a-thon and my patience was already thin. I turned off the movie, and Amber cried for 12 minutes straight. NOW WHAT??
Naptime. I read her a story and put her to bed. Am I just terrible at potty training or is Amber just hard, or is potty training just awful no matter what? I'm thinking it's all of the above. I'm bad at it, Amber is hard, AND potty training is horrible. Will it end in success or defeat this time? WAHHHHH!
Amber likes to steal Jay's and Rose's Lego creations to play with and she gets very upset when the big kids take them back.
Stuck in the mud: this was HILARIOUS. I was laughing my head off watching Amber before helping her.
Pulling herself up by her bootstrap. Problem: she couldn't pull the other boot out too without sinking the first foot back into the mud.
Rescued.
I tried leaning up against an irrigation wheel to read while Amber scampered around, but she would not leave me alone. Also: I feel equal parts nerdy and comfy in my massive sun hat.
I found a lumpy tree stump, put my Kindle cover on it for padding, and settled down with my book. This is where I sat for a vast four-to-six minutes and read a few pages before Amber filled her boots with mud and water, got her dress wet, and asked to go home.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
This afternoon was busy! I had an eye appointment and got my pupils dilated at 1:30pm and as a result wore my sunglasses nonstop until 7pm. Right when the kids got home from school, we jumped into the car and drove over to the high school to watch the home track meet. I sat with sweet Sister Bos who came to support kids in our ward, and it was so fun to chat with her and get to know her better. I want to be like her when I grow up. I kept one eye on the kids playing while we talked. At one point about half an hour in, I had to go settle a kid dispute and I discovered that Amber had pooped in her undies. I almost left, but we had just gotten there! So I let it go. Amber ran around in public with poopy undies for nearly 2 hours! Several eloquent emojis come to mind.
After the 3200 race ended, I gathered the kids to leave. Halfway back to the car, I paused in an empty soccer field, peeled off Amby's poopy undies, and chucked them in a nearby trashcan, where they floated on six inches of accumulated water down in the bottom. She was wearing a dress so her bare booty was covered. At the car, I wiped her messy booty with lots of wet wipes and put her in a pull-up. It was hot in the car and I was sweating while cleaning up poop with nowhere to wash my hands. Blech.
Since it was 6:40pm by the time Amby was all cleaned up and buckled in, we zipped through the McDonald's drive thru for Happy meals as the kids' combined dinner and track treat. Problem: McDonald's got our simple triple Happy meal order WRONG. I pulled back through the drive thru window to ask for a do-over and they had me pull over to wait. Nobody came. Finally an employee came out to deliver someone else's food and asked what I needed, whereupon I told her: a hamburger, a go-gurt, and ketchup. (We were given chicken nuggets and no go gurt or ketchup). More waiting. Finally, they gave us the right food. We could have saved $9 (haha), gone home, and grabbed quick sandwiches for dinner in the time we sat waiting in the McDonald's parking lot! Sigh. By that point, it was 7pm and I figured the track meet had to be over, so I called Jeff and offered him a ride home. Back to the high school (very close to Macdow), and we picked Jeff up. Whew!
We got Amb in bed quickly and let Jay and Rose do their own thing. Rose took a shower since she was sweaty from playing. Jay went to his room to read. It all felt too easy, and now I am realizing why: we forgot to have family prayer. Sigh. Oops. At least we had it this morning! In the car sitting in the driveway before school! Haha, like every morning. Amber reminded us to have family prayer this morning and it was so sweet!
Jeff and I enjoyed the pulled pork I cooked in the crock pot all day for a late dinner while watching an episode of Star Trek. Now, I want to go read!
Daddy-daughter Wii game: Just Dance
Saturday, May 5, 2018
I woke Amber up from her nap today at 4:20pm. It took her nearly 10 minutes to wake up. She kept rolling over and dozing off again. I didn't rush her because I love looking at my sleeping babies' relaxed peaceful faces. While I watched her sleep, all of my frustration, resentment, and confusion from this difficult week of attempted potty training melted away. I saw a sweet little child who was so trusting and adorable, I forgave her for all that stubbornness. Finally I said "Amber, do you want to watch a movie?" She popped up immediately and said "Kai watch Sleeping Aurora?" (could I watch Sleeping Beauty). We went downstairs and popped in the video tape. She came up during all of the scary parts and told me about them with such an intent little face and voice, again I was flooded with love and peace about potty training her. She is still so little in so many ways, and she will come around to using the toilet eventually. I re-realized that making the potty into a battle like it has been this week will not work at all. It's ok to slow down, I thought. It's ok. And just like that, I was able to let go of "she should be potty trained by now; she's 3.5 years old and big for her age!" Oh well. Patience.
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