Had a big breakfast – apple oat pancakes with turkey sausage.  Topped the pancakes off with applesauce (yummy!)   That really set me up well for the rest of the day.  I ate a small lunch with Tyler, but didn’t do as well in the afternoon.  I really need to make sure I have an AM snack, a good lunch, a PM snack and then dinner.

Did pretty good with water – definitely downed a good bit while the kids were asleep.  Painted my toenails tonight which is a good me thing.  It is now 9:20pm.  I am tired, so I am going to eat/drink a little more and then go to bed.

TTYL

Yes, he has not been the easiet toddler lately, but it isn’t his fault. He is still waking up between 5 and 6am pretty reliably. We try to get him into bed as early as possible to balance it out. Tonight was 7:30pm (he had a short nap), so I am hoping for a well-rested child tomorrow.

This evening we sat down for dinner and he said so many cute things to me:

Be careful, Mommy. Soup is hot.

After sitting down to eat with him, he looks at me and says:

Want water, Mommy? Want water?

I had finished up my bowl of noodles and says excitedly:

There’s one, Mommy. There’s one more in there!

There was some noodle fragments left in my bowl, so I ate them. Afterwhich Tyler says with a big grin on his face:

All gone!

I love this kid. He has put me through the ringer lately, but he is just a sweetheart through and through. {sigh} After I spend day in and day out taking care of my children, it is so cute to see them watching out for me sometimes. Big huger Tyler! (When he wants a hug, he says ‘huger’).

Well, I blogged a while back about our Halloween adventures with the kids. Looking back at the pictures, they did look so cute in their costumes and seeing how much Tyler’s friends enjoyed theirs, we really need to get into it next year. Tyler will also be near three, so I think his interest will also be much greater. He may even be able to tell me what he wants to be for Halloween. Anyway, here are some pics – Quinn in a common baby costume (sweet pea) and Tyler was a villian. Thanks to my neighbor for Quinn’s costume and Chris’ Mom for Tylers’.

Remember when I was recovering from my D&C and talked about being my own wellness coach? Well, that didn’t really work so well. I fall into old patterns so easily and forget the things I need to do to keep my batteries charged. I am learning that when I don’t do this it affects me, my husband and my kids and leaves me vulnerable to temper flare-ups, arguments, and depression. It is the simple things – like eating and drinking water. It sounds obvious enough, but I could go hours and not eat or drink any water. It sounds preposterous, but I just get “too busy”.

I had a one-on-one appointment with my book study leader and realized just how poorly I take care of myself. I want others to meet my needs for me, because I do so much to meet theirs. But that isn’t realistic. We talked about several things I can do and this time, I plan to stick with it. I have someone else now holding me accountable. In case you are wondering, just who is this book study leader – her name is Carrie Contey and here is her bio. Here is an excerpt on her education which I think is a fascinting blend:

I received a B.A. in psychology from Hamilton College in 1993. After moving to Austin I completed my Masters of Education through the University of Texas in 1998 with an emphasis on holistic prenatal, birth and early childhood health promotion. In 2000 I moved to Santa Barbara to be a member of the first class of the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, the only school in the world to offer graduate degrees in the emerging field of prenatal and perinatal psychology. In 2003 I completed an M.A. in prenatal and perinatal psychology and in 2006 I received my Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Currently, I serve on the board of directors of the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health.

Anyway, I plan to use to my blog as well to look back at the day to see how I did. To examine what variables in the day threw me off. If I was having a down day, were there basic needs that went unmet, etc.

Anyway, I have to go – Tyler has this awful hacking cough when he lays down and I worry it is disturbing his sleep. I need to do a profile for him to see if there is a homeopathic remedy for this. My new book is so cool – I will expand on this in the future. Suffice it to say that there is an art to selecting the appropriate remedy – you just can’t take anything whenever. When you get it right, you should see results almost immediately. Fascinating stuff….

Got to go to bed.  I have pictures ready to go, but will post tomorrow.  I did however post an archive of Hedge Family holiday letters.  I started them in 1998, so I am just missing one.  Anyway, there is a link to the archive on the navigation bar reading “Holiday Letters”.

Well, starting Monday, we tried to get Tyler to bed in a very consistent manner. Being that he was so messed up sleep-wise, we used Benadryl for several nights to ensure he got to bed at a decent hour and to get his body used to winding down at that time. Chris discovered that the process was much more peaceful if he asked Tyler if he could turn off the light instead of just doing it. Some days this works better than others. Did it all work? I don’t know.

The first three nights he was down around 7:30pm. He slept til his usual 6am. He was in the most amazing moods those days. It was like I had my sweet boy back. Then he started waking up at 5am and that has continued. I have NO idea why. He crawls out of bed, runs into the hall and says “Mommy!”. It doesn’t seem to phase him that it is pitch black outside. As long as he has a good nap, this early wake-up hasn’t negatively affected his mood.  Today he only napped for 1.5 hours (1 hour short) and it showed.  Tonight was the first non-Benadryl night. That short nap put him in a sour mood this afternoon and the nighttime thing was a little rough – Chris felt like we were back to square one. The Benadryl nights Tyler was probably out in about 15 to 20 minutes. I think it took longer tonight.
Still, the kid was down before 8pm – probably about 7:45pm. We will see – this is a work in progress. He is most definitely getting canines – that was confirmed visually yesterday. He also has a terrible hacking cough at night that I need to address with some homeopathic something. It is all a delicate balance right now. I can tell you that I see a dramatic difference in my child when he gets the rest he needs. {sigh}

OK, I am tired tonight. Went to bed late and then was ping-ponging between kids all night and up at the you-know-what crack of dawn. Gotta clean the kitchen and off to bed.

Well, the first three days in underwear just didn’t seem to be going very well.  Thursday we decided to try a new tact – no pants whatsoever.  This did seem to make him feel more vulnerable and more interested in communicating when something might happen.  Thursday was also Thanksgiving, so he was in diapers half the day – we didn’t think Grandma would appreciate a chance or pee or poop getting on her brand new carpet nor did we think her guests would want to watch our son running around the house flying free.  Friday afternoon we decided he just wasn’t ready, called it quits and made plans to leave the house! 

He didn’t seem to always really know when he was about to pee and really didn’t seem to care if he did it on the floor or in his underpants.  Many times he wet his underpants and never said a thing to me indicating he was wet or uncomfortable.  It just didn’t feel like we were helping guide him towards something he was wanting to do.  He is back in diapers now and hasn’t been fighting the diaper changes too much.   If he does say that he needs to poo or pee though, we will take him to the potty.   We figure we might as well keep that up.

It is all fine with me – it will happen when he is ready.  I am just happy I can leave the house again.  Actually, I was very impressed  that we stayed in as much as we did and Tyler was really fine.  There weren’t a lot of tantrums to get out or anything.  Granted he was getting some good sleep during this time which really helped his mood.

There you have it…..Potty School Dropouts…