Moments like this melt my heart!
Tag Archives: parenting
Fifty-One
5-1
I have to keep saying this to myself.
Fifty-one.
This is the age I will be when Baby Ellie graduates from high school.
Yes, fifty-one.
How did this happen?
I am having a very hard time digesting this.
When I first became a mom back in 1999 I had things all figured out.
I was going to get to be a mom and by the time my kid graduated from high school I would only be 38 and I’d have my entire life ahead of me still.
And then, I had my second child in 2000 which meant I would be 39 when she graduated.
Then, I got pregnant, got married and had a baby in 2008.
And now, here I am in 2011, approaching my 33rd birthday and preparing for the arrival of my fourth child.
I will be 51 when she graduates from school.
The Alex, he’ll only be 45.
I really need to work on digesting this……
Parenting…..it’s no easy task
Today I had one of those days.
Definitely not one that I am proud of.
I had a complete I hate my child moment.
Not all 3 of them.
Just one of them.
I don’t know what happened.
What I do know is that it probably doesn’t help that I am
pregnant
hormonal
stressed
exhausted
you know, just a few things.
This is on of those moments when I feel
broken
weak
and like the worst mom in the world.
Parenting is not easy
no matter what anyone says.
No one can be the perfect parent 24/7
We all have our crash and burn moments.
I had mine today and I’m sure I will have another tomorrow!
Potty Training Update
As I have mentioned multiple times over the last few months, we have been working hard to get Alexander to make the move from Pull-Ups to underwear.
Potty training this time around has been an absolute nightmare!
And then this weekend, something magical happened.
I realized we were running extremely low on Pull-Ups and our diaper fund was pretty much exhausted.
At that moment I made the decision.
Since we would be spending the next 3 days mainly at home, Alexander was finally going to hang out in underwear for the entire day forcing him to either pee down his leg or use the potty.
Thankfully, he opted (for the most part) to use the potty!
Saturday went pretty darn good after he threw a fit for over 15 minutes that he didn’t want to wear underwear and wanted his Pull-Up.
But I, as the mom, am one smart cookie.
I had the Zack conveniently stash all of the Pull-Ups where the toddler couldn’t find them and told him they were all gone and all we had left were nighttime ones.
Apparently lying to your 3 and a half year old does get you somewhere!
Within minutes he was rocking some awesome Buzz Lightyear undies.
We survived Saturday and he only had one accident in his undies.
Sunday was another good day but Monday proved to be even better!
Monday morning, Alexander was hanging out in nothing but his undies and wanted to wear his new Iron Man costume.
I explained to him that he could wear it but he had to be really careful and not pee in it because mommy couldn’t wash it if he did.
Now, he absolutely cherishes this costume.
This again was another tool that worked for us because the minute he had to go potty he came running for help to get the costume off and into the bathroom.
Afterwards he told me, “Iron Man pees on the potty”!
That evening he successfully used the potty while we were visiting his Gramma and Bumpa and then he even pooped on the potty that night!!!
This brings us to today, Tuesday.
We had a slow start after he injured himself last night and mommy thought snuggling was a little more important this morning.
He woke up looking like this after a face plant to the kitchen floor last night.
Needless to say the morning started out a little rocky, including poopy underpants.
But as the day went on things began to look up.
The Alex and I took Alexander out to lunch.
He successfully used the kids size urinal.
Then this afternoon, he went in the potty all by himself and peed without any assistance or being prompted to do so.
And a few hours later, he let us know he had to poop and did it on the potty!!!
This evening on the other hand has been a little rough but I contribute that to his being extremely over tired due to the lack of a nap.
Here’s hoping tomorrow is a S-U-C-C-E-S-S!!!!
**Update: As I hit Publish on this post, Alexander was in the bathroom once again, unassisted going pee in the potty like a big boy!!
It’s Our Life, NOT YOURS!
**Alex is the Alex commenting.**
I’m sick of people judging me, my family, my children….my life in general.
(Alex – This happens way too much and it causes a lot of consternation in our household. And to those, unnamed, who like to think that all of the problems we have are due to my wonderful wife and I have no say in matters or that believe they know how I should run my life better than I do, you can just go FUCK yourselves.)
Yes, I’m fat (Alex – Hey SO AM I!!!)—I know it, get over it!
I plan on changing that after I’m done growing a human being inside of me.
Yes, I am a strict parent…when I need to be. (Alex – They are called CHORES for a reason. When our children have not finished the chores that they have been given because they decide they would rather goof off and procrastinate then they should not be allowed to go somewhere and have fun especially when they get back from this place they have an even worse attitude then before they went.)
Most of the time, I let my kids be kids but am teaching them responsibility at the same time. (Alex – They have more responsibility than I had at their age but I have grown to be a very lazy person who does not like to do anything so I am trying to make them a more productive member of society than I am and get them to grab hold of the opportunities given to them like I never did.)
No, I do not shelter or coddle my children.
I feel they are better off knowing how the world works and experiencing things. (Alex – I think it is much better for our kids to be informed properly than having to piece things together from the things they hear from other kids or to be woefully ignorant in the ways of the world.)
I also let my kids be kids and they run around barefoot when they want, play in the dirt, get grass stains, jump around and can be wild and crazy but that’s the fun of being a kid. (Alex – The way our parents were raised but some of them seem to have forgotten when raising us and when talking about our kids.)
They get bruises, banged up and get the occasional cut.
But again, they are kids and when you are being a kid these things happen.
Yes, I have moments when I am mean, when they get disciplined and when they are grounded but they know this happens because I am only trying to do what is best for them. (Alex – sometimes I do go overboard but I am working to be a better parent and I do apologize to the kids when I take the stress and anxiety from work and school out on them. I am doing my best to not be the same type of parent as my Dad but its hard when that is what I know.)
They get mad at me, tell me they hate me, but in the end they always forgive me.
In the end, this is OUR LIFE, NOT YOURS.
If you don’t like it, you don’t have to be a part of it.