Wednesday, February 03, 2010

A little of this, a little of that

People always complain about Maryland winters but I have always loved them. I don't mind the cold and I think the snow is pretty and fun to drive in. Granted I am ready for spring to roll around so we can get back to the playgrounds but still... I do love the winter.

Until I got this months electric bill.

Dear Maryland winters,

We are through. I do not love you anymore.


Sincerely, Jessi


Holy freaking crap. We've had some high bills in the past but this by far takes the cake. Apparently living in a somewhat single family house, where the neighborhood acts as a giant wind tunnel, will destroy your heating bill. Well that and this stupid estimate bill one month and actual bill the next. Allegheny Electric, I hate you. In fact, I never loved you. Sincerely, Jessi

Add to that some major repairs on the Jeep and the health insurance insanity I spoke of earlier... well, let's just say my head hasn't been in the best place.

But I'm trying to not worry... I'm really trying to hand this all over to God. All I need to do is what is in front of me... He'll take care of the rest.

Jesus in, Jessica out... right Danielle?

In other awesome news, Adam finally got to celebrate 13 years sober! His actual date is in Oct but for one reason or another, the celebration date got pushed back to late Jan.

The whole family came out to see Adam celebrate... including Chase! The meeting was at 8 so I was a tad concerned about his mood but figured he would be fine. However, my concern was greatly heightened when he didn't nap... not one single minute of sleep.

Still... it was important for Chase to be there so we kept our plans.

When we got there he ran up and down the rows of chairs having the absolute best time a 2 year old can have. A few of the people seemed to really delight in his happiness too ;~)

I prepped him a lot with the fact that once the meeting started we would be sitting quietly in our seats... and that he would get pretzel goldfish. As soon as the meeting started Chase stated (somewhat loudly) "YAY! meeting is starting, pretzel goldfish now!" And for 15 minutes he sat good as gold on my lap eating goldfish.

As soon as I noticed boredom I pulled out his ipod and headphones... he was good for another 15.

When boredom set in again, I pulled out animal cookies.... again, good for another 15.

When he was bored with the cookies, I pulled out my iPhone. The heavily coveted but rarely played with 'mama's iPhone'... this is Chase's holy grail.

He happily played for the last 15 minutes... only once interrupting daddy by holding up my iPhone to his face and saying loudly "Smile!"

When Adam was done and the meeting ended Chase clapped loudly and yelled "YAY Daddy!"

I could not have asked for a more perfect child.


and so handsome too ;~)


Happy 13 years honey!

And now for another drastic topic change... potty training!

Today was the official start of 'see how ready Chase is for the potty'.

If today was any indication the answer is a resounding no.

We are 0 for 4 with making it (or even coming close) to the potty. Ironic because when we weren't trying, when it was just fun, he pee'd on the potty 3 different nights. Oh well.

But really... how much can you tell from one day. We'll try again tomorrow and see where we end up. If he doesn't make any progress then I'll slap a diaper on him and head to MOPS on Friday. If he starts to get it, we'll stay home and work on it more.

I did get smart and order some of these:

Love love love Baby Legs! Because the pants can pose a bit of a stumbling block, it's nice to be able to let him run around in just his underwear... unfortunately the house has a slight chill in the air at all times. Bear legs running around isn't an option. These things work great and Chase loves them. Ran around all afternoon pointing to his 'Baby Legs'!


How squeezable are those little legs!


This would be one of our many failed attempts at the potty today.

The underwear, the baby legs, the socks... he might be the cutest thing in the world running around the house like this. I wish I could share a picture of him in his potty outfit but alas, this will probably be the closest I ever get to posting an underwear shot on the blog. It's a comfort level thing.

Tomorrow we try again! Wish us luck!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to Adam~! That must be a very hard task. Anyway, I think it would make you a great great mom just that you give your iPod to your toddler. That makes me very nervous! Glad to hear you are all doing well except that gas bill!

chocolate hug said...

Tried to send this on FB but it was being stupid...so here's what I wrote!

Hey Jessi!

You are a brave brave woman! I'm so very happy to be done, or I should say, mostly done, with potty training. I'm sure you've gotten all sorts of advice from others but after reading your blog post I thought I'd share a little trick that my cousin's wife,Moe, taught me. Moe has the knack of being able to potty train her boys in two days. The first time I tried her method with Sam I gave up after two days...but it gave him just enough experience on the potty that when he was ready there was no looking back...that's not the trick though...Moe's trick was this:

When your little one gets up in the morning (this is assuming they've already wet their diaper) give them a TON of things to drink...have that child drink drink drink. After an hour get into the bathroom with them and either have them sit on the potty (if it seems like they have to go) or let them play in the bathroom with you till you see that tell tale little squirt that says they can't hold it anymore. After which you plop them on the potty, of course. Moe suggested books and toys, but the best one was a tub of warm water. I had a little tub that I put Sam's feet in and gave him toys to play with(while he was sitting on the potty). It worked like a charm the first time. His bladder was so full that he just had to go. And then of course it was all followed by clapping and a skittle.

I was amazed at the amount of patience it required to potty train Sam. His reward was playing "elmo games" on the computer (www.sesamestreet.org). We spent three days inside playing computer games every five min. I kid you not. This child would finish playing his five min of reward time and then sit back on the pot to pee so he could play more! At the time I thought it was too much of a reward, but really it was just what Sam needed!.

Keep up the good work! You guys will get there!

diana