Heather's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 1/14/08 -------------------- 4/20/07 4/13/07 4/6/07 3/30/07 3/12/07 12/5/06 10/10/06 8/25/06 7/24/06, Entry 3 7/24/06, Entry 2 7/24/06, Entry 1 7/5/06 6/6/06, Entry 2 6/6/06, Entry 1 -------------------- Heather's Introduction

7/24/06 - Potty News and the Biological Clock

July 24, 2006

7/11 DOCTOR VISIT – FOLLOW UP APPOINTMENT

 

This morning I had to take Aidan back to the doctor for his follow-up appointment (to be sure his ear infection was gone).  I decided not to tell him we were going to the doctor until we were on our way so that he didn't worry about it.  I told him that the doctor was just going to look in his ears to be sure his ear was all better, but when we pulled into the parking lot, his little eyes filled with tears and he said, "No go to the doctor, Mommy.  Afraid of the doctor, Mommy".  Poor little guy. 

 

 

 

When we got inside the doctor's office, I was telling him that the doctor was going to look in his ears and he kept saying, "Afraid of the doctor, Mommy" and looking really pitiful.  I told him that I'd stay with him the whole time and told him that I would never take him anywhere where anybody would hurt him.  Then I asked him what he was going to do today at Mamaw & Papaw's house today and that seemed to get his mind off of things.

 

 

 

 

 

Anyhoo, his ears are all clear and he weighs 34 pounds.  He did really well with the medical assistant who took his temperature, but he didn't like having to stand on the scale and absolutely does NOT like the doctor.  As soon as she walked in the room, he clung to me for dear life and said, "Afraid of doctor, Mommy.  Go HOME now, Mommy".  I kept telling him that the doctor makes sure that he's feeling good and will help him not to be sick, but he wasn't comforted much.  I told him that Benny goes to the doctor like a big boy, trying to play up the "you want to be a big boy too!" thing.  For the most part he was OK, but he squirmed around a lot when she looked in his ears and would NOT let her look in his mouth.  She had to use a stick to pry his mouth open and he cried .  As soon as she was finished I told him we were all finished and said, "See?  That wasn't so bad was it?"  He said "All done now!  I want gummies!"  Ha!  I promised him I'd give him gummy bears if he was good for the doctor.  Apparently that got through to him.  LOL

 

 

 

 

 

I asked the doctor about his recent bout of diarrhea and lack of appetite – she said that the amoxicillin can effect the stomach and that his stomach probably "needs a break" after taking amox in April and again in June. 

 

 

 

7/15/06 – FIRE TRUCK VISIT

 

This past Saturday we did something fun – our local library was having a Fire Truck visit from the local fire department!  Aidan has been pretty into firefighters since watching his "Elmo Visits the Firehouse" video a thousand times, so he's been talking about this ever since and asking if he can "go see the firefighters again"!

 

 

Before going out to the fire truck itself, the firefighters gave a little talk about fire safety (i.e., call 9-1-1, stop/drop/roll, etc.).  During the talk, they had one of the firefighters put on the entire outfit, including the oxygen mask and helmet.  They told the kids that this is what a firefighter looks like and had the guy crawl on the floor.  "This is what a firefighter will look like if he's trying to save you from a fire," the chief said, "So don't be afraid – go TO the firefighter if you're ever in a fire.  He's there to save you."

 

 

They let the kids come up and touch the firefighter and Steve took Aidan up there to touch him too (I was shocked that he touched him, but he did it!). 

 

 

While the firefighters were talking, Aidan was playing hide and seek with a little boy who was sitting right next to us.  He would get down low on the floor, hide his face and then pop his head up and grin at the little boy.  It was SO cute.  It seems like he's coming out of his shy phase a little more each day.  When we go to family functions now, he doesn't cling to me like he used to and freak out.  It's definitely encouraging!

 

 

7/17/06 - INITIATING THE POTTY

 

We had a very exciting occurrence this week – Aidan peed in his potty!!!!!  Here's how it went down:

 

 

Aidan had just thrown up his milk and animal crackers after bath time, so he was upstairs with me while Daddy got out the carpet cleaner (lucky Daddy).  We were laying on my bed and I was telling him stories.  Out of nowhere, he said, "Diapey is too tight.  Take diapey off, Mommy".  So I loosened the tabs on his diaper, but Aidan pulled it all of the way off.  "I read potty book, Mommy!" he said and slid off of the bed, running for the bathroom (we have a book called It's Potty Time [the boy version] that has a toilet-flushing sound button and Aidan LOVES it).  So I got up and followed Aidan into the bathroom, where he was holding his potty book and standing in front of his potty.  When I walked in there, he lifted the lid on his little potty and started peeing in it!  I was completely shocked.  We haven't pushed the potty training at all – earlier in the week I asked him if he wanted to take his diaper off and sit on the potty while I read his book, but that's literally all I did. 

 

 

I guess that's not completely true – we have been doing things over time that I think have helped.  We've been reading the potty book, we let Aidan come into the bathroom with us and we explain what's going on, and we've tried to hype the potty a lot when the opportunity presents itself.

 

 

I did do some reading on potty training right around his 2 ^nd birthday and the message I kept seeing was DON'T PUSH THE POTTY TRAINING, so I didn't.  I kept reading that kids will let you know when they are ready.  They're right – and this was so much less stressful than if I would've forced him to pee in the potty. 

 

 

I think that the biggest influence on his interest in potty training, though, is from watching his cousin Ben.  Ben gave him a full demonstration on using the potty once at our house and I really think it stuck with Aidan!!  He definitely wants to be a big boy like his cousin Ben.  

 

We've also tried to stay low-key and level-headed when discussing anatomy.  We don't freak out if he touches the weiner or if he says 'butt'.  We do NOT want to freak him out about his body, especially anything that's covered by a diaper, during this crucial time!!  God forbid he starts to think of his privates as dirty or something to be ashamed of – we'll never get him potty trained if he's afraid to touch himself.  I noticed when he peed in the potty that he didn't hold himself and I made sure to tell him that it's OK to hold onto the weiner when he pees. 

 

 

We really made a big deal out of the big event.  I told him how proud I was and then we ran downstairs to tell Daddy.  Then we all did a dance in celebration of the big event.

 

 

I am so excited about this latest development!!!  This weekend we'll get some underwear and really get him rolling.  I know that there will be set backs, and I know that he won't be 100% potty trained overnight, but he IS on his way!!!

 

 

That night, after we put Aidan to bed, I slid head-first into Sappy Mom territory in a huge way.  It occurred to me that in a few months Aidan is going to be 3 (yes, THREE!!!) and here he is, crossing off the last right of passage before entering the league of little boys.  I got all weepy thinking about how big he is now and just how FAST it's all gone by.  The emotions were hard to define because I'm very glad that he's growing and hitting all these milestones in babyhood – and it's not that I want him to be a baby again.  I can honestly say that I've lived in the moment and I've enjoyed every phase he's gone through.  I look forward to seeing him go through new phases in the future too, but he is just so cute and so sweet right now.....it made me a little sad to get smacked in the face with the reality that this, too, is fleeting.  This time will be gone so fast and the thought of that just made me a little sad.  What's odd is that this is the first time I've really had a big emotional breakdown over him getting older.  Who knew that the transition from diapers to big-boy underwear would get to me?  I'm such a dork. 

 

Talk to Me:  I've read and heard from other moms that Pull-Ups delay the potty training process – that going straight to diapers is best.  What are your thoughts?

 

 

MORE SELF-DISCOVERY

 

 

After having that little melt-down, and in keeping with my big self-development craze this summer, I've really started paying close attention to my priorities.  When I start doing the dishes before playing with Aidan, I stop myself now and ask, "In 10 years, are you going to be glad that you did the dishes or are you going to wish that you'd taken this opportunity to be with a 2 year old who is dying to have your undivided attention".  Guess which one wins! 

 

 

I have, for some time now, bought into the lie that I have to be on top of everything at all times to be a good mom.  I'm just not doing it anymore.  My house might be a mess and I might not be putting in as much overtime as I could be, but at the end of the day I can be happy with my choices.  As a working mom I've learned only this - it is IMPOSSIBLE to do it all.  Something has to suffer - and it's not going to be my kid anymore.

 

 

I've been trying to schedule at least one fun thing for us to do each weekend - going to the pool or the park, doing something that's cheap and age-appropriate, etc.  Summer is a really easy time to do fun things - there's a lot going on (and a lot of it is free!).  Last night we went to the pool and it was just really good - very low key, very relaxed.  Aidan had a great time splashing around in the shallow end with the other little kids and I got some exercise in.  I really like doing active things rather than just sitting at home - it's so much more energizing for me and it lets Aidan expend all of that pent-up energy that he has!  More than anything, I really want to keep him active as he grows up so that he, hopefully, will avoid the weight issues I've always had.                                 

 

 

 

THE AIDAN UPDATE

 

So what's up with our favorite two-year-old this week?  Why, let me tell ya!

 

 

 

"I do it MYSELF, Mommy!" seems to be said a lot these days.  He wants to brush his own teeth, use the spoon himself and put on his own socks.  Hello, independence!  I had read around his 2 ^nd birthday that this phase was coming and here it is.  SuperNanny recommends letting them feed themselves at this age, even if they make a mess, so that they can have control over at least ONE thing (it's supposed to help cut down on tantrums but I have a hard time just letting him make a huge mess).  Speaking of which......

 

 

 

The terrible twos seem to have possessed my sweet little boy.  It's like a bi-polar roller coaster:  one minute he will yell 'NO' at us, the next minute he will say something really sweet, the next minute he will burst into tears over something trivial.  This weekend, when we were on the way to the grocery store I said, "It's just you and me tonight, Boo Boo".  When we were in the store, he patted my arm and said, "You and me, Mommy.  Just you and me."  It was so sweet that I was on the verge of getting teary-eyed when he let loose with this skull-shaking high pitched scream that made my eyes go crossed.  I never know what the moment will bring anymore!

 

 

 

He now does the oh-so-embarrassing collapse when we try to pick him up when he's acting a fool too (LOVE that).  This sucks my soul dry of patience, I tell you!  He'll go from singing sweet little songs to kicking his feet and shrieking.  I fear that this is the prelude to the tantrum – I think he's getting warmed up for it by trying out all of the pieces one by one.  I am just assuming that the Grande Finale will hit – where and when is anybody's guess. 

 

 

 

I can say with confidence that I am a very patient person..........but holy crap, the Terrible Twos are a challenge!!!  There are days when I just feel like the world's biggest failure, like "What am I doing wrong?"  Luckily I have a husband who will talk me off of the ledge and remind me that this, too, shall pass.  There's a reason the "Terrible Twos" is a universally known phrase – almost every kid goes through this!

 

 

 

Aidan forgets NOTHING these days!  It's really interesting to hear him re-telling what's happened.  In my last entry, I told you about the "Boo Boo and Benny Stories" that I tell him at night.......well, this week they took a different turn.  This week Aidan asked me to read him the story about going to Jeremy & Trisha's house.  We went to my cousin Jeremy's house on Sunday to celebrate his birthday and Aidan wanted the story to be all about our trip there.  So I started recounting the story and Aidan would correct me along the way – if I put things out of order, he corrected it.  It was cracking me up!

 

 

 

One of the items in the Jeremy & Trisha story that he corrected for me was a game that he and Ben were playing.  Aidan and Ben were playing in the upstairs hallway and Aidan informed me that the game they were playing was called "puggy puggy".  Apparently the way the game went, Ben would start down at the other end of the hallway and he'd run over to Aidan and they'd yell "puggy puggy!" at each other.  Steve just shook his head and laughed, saying "Simple pleasures I guess!"

 

 

 

I've been making a bigger effort this week to show Aidan by example how to do things.  I've been brushing my teeth in front of him so that he gets his front teeth brushed and I've been demonstrating how to use a spoon, etc.  I know that he doesn't have all of the skills yet to do things like an adult does, but I figured it can't hurt to show him how I'm doing it. 

 

 

 

THE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK?

 

Oddly enough, lately I've been having some biological clock-related thoughts.  I've just been thinking that I have a small window of opportunity to decide if I want to try to have another baby – Aidan will be 3 in December and I'm going to be 33 in February.  Am I going to want to wait much longer to have a 2 ^nd baby?  Do I want to have a 2 ^nd baby at all?  If I don't have another baby, will I regret it in 10 years?

 

 

 

There are so many things to consider.  There are physical, financial and emotional risks involved on both sides of that decision.  There's the fact that I struggled with infertility a few years before Aidan was born.  There's the fact that I did not do pregnancy well with Aidan and my delivery was an out-and-out horror story (if you're not familiar with my story, click here to read Aidan's birthstory: http://www.pregnancytoday.com/diaries/506/12262003.php).  There's the fact that we don't even have the money to send Aidan to preschool, let alone pay for day care for another baby (my in-laws very generously watch Aidan every day and it seems beyond rude to just expect them to watch another baby). 

 

 

 

There's also the fact that I always imagined having 2 kids, so that Aidan would have a brother or sister.  There's the fact that my husband is an only child and so my perception of only children has changed a bit.

 

 

 

I'm at an impass here, not exactly sure what I want to do.  I definitely don't want to get PG this year.  My boss is giving me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend training sessions this fall so that I can be promoted out of my current position and into a higher-level professional position, which would help the financial situation immensely. 

 

 

 

Talk to Me:  Those of you out there who had a nightmarish first pregnancy/delivery – how did you arrive at the decision to have baby #2 (or not)?

 

 

Have a great week!

 

Love, H & A

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