Murder on Zarthan
Okay, nobody actually died, but it looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy had bled to death with a struggle this evening after I finished mixing up a pizza dough for my family's dinner. Seriously, the floor, the cabinets, the refrigerator handle. I cleaned up most of the evidence, but if the CSI team shows up, they're going to have me in the slammer before I can stammer gluten-free pizza crust.
The pizza turned out quite well, especially considering that I threw it together in half an hour because the girls and I were sitting in the car - them napping me knitting - till Joe got home. Too bad the three-year-old for whom I made the special wheat-free crust barely touched it, and I finally offered her a bowl of reheated chicken soup so she wouldn't go hungry. She slurped that down in no time, and I'm not going to complain about having a kid who wants to eat chicken and vegetables over cheese and white bread.
I may complain, for just a moment, about having a three year old who still soils her pants THREE times a day. Okay, most days it's once or maybe not at all, but today was a bad 'un. She still doesn't poop in the potty (she's done it twice ever) and she will pee in the potty only when physically led there and kindly asked to "make a tinkle" and sometimes it helps if I sing "Tinkle Tinkle Little Julie" to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Oy. I don't want any comments on this paragraph, unless you have first hand experience with a kid who was a slow potty trainer, the parents were patient and kind and let them do it at their own pace, and eventually they went off to college making the appropriate movements in the potty every time and wiping their own behinds. I'm serious. Unless that's you, don't comment on this part. Or I will bite your head off. Don't make me.
Now back on the happy track. Today was exceptionally warm weather for December in Minnesota. It got up to 50 F today (that's 10 C for the rest of the world), and when you've been stuck indoors for weeks, that's park weather. My friend Jen and I took a long walk with the girls to the park, then made a Starbucks pit stop on the way home this afternoon. Everyone was happy and tired, which is what led to the blissful backseat napping this evening.
Tomorrow they're coming over to our house to bake some cookies, and then we will probably not see them again until January as they're going home to Ottowa for the holidays. Just typing this out makes me want to cry. Maybe I even have a tear in my eye. Sorry, Jen, but it's true. We're going to miss you terribly - especially since Julie doesn't have school for two weeks. It will be okay, and we will all be very very happy to see each other when you return. That is the bright side.
Yesterday the girls and I went to our Wednesday-morning knitting group (hi, ladies!). We just started going to this group over the summer, and I am continuously amazed at how quickly they accepted me/us as part of their circle of friends. They are nice, funny, and very thoughtful ladies. And I'm not just saying that 'cause I know they're reading. Anyway, we had a little Christmas party, and people brought treats (except for me, because I'm lame and the only baking I've done this year is gluten-free gingerbread that I'm not sharing because I've got to save it for Julie and I was too disorganized to pick up something store bought) and the treats were good.
We played that game with the presents where people draw numbers and steal from each other, and this group was a little lame about it for the most part because hardly anyone stole anything. Except - and here's the cool part - the gift that I contributed was stolen several times. That made me feel pretty good, especially considering that I was feeling a little inadequate about the whole no-treat-bringing thing. I pre-measured a skein of Knitpicks bare sock yarn for self-striping dyeing, and included that plus some instructions and packets of Kool-Aid. Who knew it would go over so well?
I came away with a nice gift that I'm surprised nobody stole from me - it included a handknit panda bear that both girls wanted to steal, but which I am keeping for myself, a pair of Christmasy antlers on a headband, of which I will show you a picture when my friend e-mails me the pictures off her camera, two lovely skeins of Artyarns ultramerino in teal, a gi-normous candy cane and a pair of humongous Clover knitting needles. All very attractively packaged in a basket lined in red felt embroidered with Ho! Ho! Ho! which makes me laugh and is why I picked it.
Now I'm off to watch a DVD and I swear I am going to finish addressing the holiday cards tonight if it kills me. And hopefully start the third of three face cloths for Julie's teachers. I need to have them done by next week so we can give them to them before the break. I am tired of knitting with flax. I haven't washed the first two yet, but they better be some damn fine face cloths when they are washed because they have been a major pain in my hands to knit. And boring McSmoring too. This coming from the girl who loves to knit stocking-stitch socks.
The pizza turned out quite well, especially considering that I threw it together in half an hour because the girls and I were sitting in the car - them napping me knitting - till Joe got home. Too bad the three-year-old for whom I made the special wheat-free crust barely touched it, and I finally offered her a bowl of reheated chicken soup so she wouldn't go hungry. She slurped that down in no time, and I'm not going to complain about having a kid who wants to eat chicken and vegetables over cheese and white bread.
I may complain, for just a moment, about having a three year old who still soils her pants THREE times a day. Okay, most days it's once or maybe not at all, but today was a bad 'un. She still doesn't poop in the potty (she's done it twice ever) and she will pee in the potty only when physically led there and kindly asked to "make a tinkle" and sometimes it helps if I sing "Tinkle Tinkle Little Julie" to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Oy. I don't want any comments on this paragraph, unless you have first hand experience with a kid who was a slow potty trainer, the parents were patient and kind and let them do it at their own pace, and eventually they went off to college making the appropriate movements in the potty every time and wiping their own behinds. I'm serious. Unless that's you, don't comment on this part. Or I will bite your head off. Don't make me.
Now back on the happy track. Today was exceptionally warm weather for December in Minnesota. It got up to 50 F today (that's 10 C for the rest of the world), and when you've been stuck indoors for weeks, that's park weather. My friend Jen and I took a long walk with the girls to the park, then made a Starbucks pit stop on the way home this afternoon. Everyone was happy and tired, which is what led to the blissful backseat napping this evening.
Tomorrow they're coming over to our house to bake some cookies, and then we will probably not see them again until January as they're going home to Ottowa for the holidays. Just typing this out makes me want to cry. Maybe I even have a tear in my eye. Sorry, Jen, but it's true. We're going to miss you terribly - especially since Julie doesn't have school for two weeks. It will be okay, and we will all be very very happy to see each other when you return. That is the bright side.
Yesterday the girls and I went to our Wednesday-morning knitting group (hi, ladies!). We just started going to this group over the summer, and I am continuously amazed at how quickly they accepted me/us as part of their circle of friends. They are nice, funny, and very thoughtful ladies. And I'm not just saying that 'cause I know they're reading. Anyway, we had a little Christmas party, and people brought treats (except for me, because I'm lame and the only baking I've done this year is gluten-free gingerbread that I'm not sharing because I've got to save it for Julie and I was too disorganized to pick up something store bought) and the treats were good.
We played that game with the presents where people draw numbers and steal from each other, and this group was a little lame about it for the most part because hardly anyone stole anything. Except - and here's the cool part - the gift that I contributed was stolen several times. That made me feel pretty good, especially considering that I was feeling a little inadequate about the whole no-treat-bringing thing. I pre-measured a skein of Knitpicks bare sock yarn for self-striping dyeing, and included that plus some instructions and packets of Kool-Aid. Who knew it would go over so well?
I came away with a nice gift that I'm surprised nobody stole from me - it included a handknit panda bear that both girls wanted to steal, but which I am keeping for myself, a pair of Christmasy antlers on a headband, of which I will show you a picture when my friend e-mails me the pictures off her camera, two lovely skeins of Artyarns ultramerino in teal, a gi-normous candy cane and a pair of humongous Clover knitting needles. All very attractively packaged in a basket lined in red felt embroidered with Ho! Ho! Ho! which makes me laugh and is why I picked it.
Now I'm off to watch a DVD and I swear I am going to finish addressing the holiday cards tonight if it kills me. And hopefully start the third of three face cloths for Julie's teachers. I need to have them done by next week so we can give them to them before the break. I am tired of knitting with flax. I haven't washed the first two yet, but they better be some damn fine face cloths when they are washed because they have been a major pain in my hands to knit. And boring McSmoring too. This coming from the girl who loves to knit stocking-stitch socks.
posted by Shelly Kang at 10:03 PM
8 Comments:
Yes, just be patient with Julie. She'll get it soon. I know it can be gross cleaning up a three year old, but you are such a good mom, and you'll make it. The gift exchange sounds like it was a lot of fun. I would have loved getting your yarn and kool-aid!
I agree. I'm coming out of lurkdom to encourage you to relax with Julie. She will get it eventually, and everything will be ok. One thing I would gently caution you is not to let it turn into a power struggle. This is one area in which she will win. Just take a deep breath and reassure yourself that she won't go heading off to college still in diapers.
I have a 17-year old and yes, he eventually potty-trained but when he turned 4 he was still pooping in his pull-up and he just didn't care. What worked for us is this: he had a Thomas the Tank Engine collection of engines and he got a new one if he avoided an accident and (this is the part that worked) he got one temporarily taken away if he did have an accident. The next time he had sucess he got a new one and the confinscated one back. I guess we related his sucess/failure to a currency that he cared about - and it got his attention.
Another lurker coming out to say that I've been through the potty training thing once with my daughter and I'm going through it now with my (just turned) 3 year old boy. It's not fun, but he will eventually get it. We don't eat much candy in our house, but m&m's worked for him. Everyone in the house got them when they used the potty. He wanted some too and that seemed to work. With my daughter, it was stickers that motivated her.
Hang in there. My younger daughter turned 3 in August, and we're still struggling. In fact, she wasn't even interested in potty training until a couple of months ago when we finally got a little agressive. (In this case, aggressive means actively prompting to go, encouraging the wearing of panties only, resorting to occasional food treats, etc. - not real aggression, I guess.) This week, she's actually had only one accident in her panties. Granted, she, like Julie, strongly resists pooping in the potty. With Nora, part of the problem is that she just doesn't want to. Unfortunately, she can't articulate why yet. I can see gradual progress, though, and I'm confident that she will not be dealing with this forever. Sounds like we're in the same boat, cleaning up messes and letting them go at their own pace. I think it's going to work, but I will certainly NOT miss the dirty pants...
Jen
Sorry Julie is still having accidents:( Hang in there!
Your present was the coolest, I'd have to say. I was impressed with the time you put into measuring out the stripes. I was tempted to steal, but I've Kool-Aid Dyed before so I thought I'd give someone else a chance;)
My grandmother reminded me many a time when I was potty training my children that almost all kids go off to kindergarten potty trained. My six year old was well into her third year before she was potty trained...the more I talked about it, the less she did it. My four year old got it a little quicker, but still will only use the toilet at home with her little puffy potty seat placed on it. Julie will get the hang of it and you won't be cleaning up poop forever (it just feels that way).
Since I do not have children, just work with them, and not on potty training, I will just say you have my support and sympathy! On to other subjects, how do you dye with kool-aid?! Is there a tutorial anywhere on the net that you know of, or did you learn it somewhere else? And I think I read in the past that you decided on the measurements for the selfstriping from another yarn?
Thanks!
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