Lazy Potty Training

It doesn't take much to make me feel nervous and anxious.  One of the things that makes me feel that way is the possibility of any bodily fluids getting anywhere it should not be, for example on carpets, beds, and couches.  This makes the "throw your diapers away" potty training method very uncomfortable for me.
I feel like we live in a society that judges others if their older children are still in diapers.  I don't know if that's true, or if that's just how I feel, but most parents of young kids I know these days are dead-set on their kids being diaper free by age 3, most even younger.  If you and your child can do it, hats off to you, but it made my husband and I do some crazy things to get my first-born, my son, potty-trained by his third birthday when the "correct" way wasn't working.  In the end, time-outs for accidents was what finished the job and I still have guilt about it.  It seemed like a constant battle, and it wasn't any fun for any of us.
When my second child, my daughter, started showing interest in using the potty shortly after her first birthday (after all, she'd seen her big brother use the toilet a million times already) we heard about that three day potty training bootcamp method and a friend emailed me the e-book.  (By the way, it even advertises right on the website, "You will have bragging rights in front of jealous friends and family", proof that it's become a competition!  And why, so you suddenly have to be at the ready 24/7 to sprint your child to the nearest toilet and worry about them springing a leak on daily outings to the grocery store and shopping mall?)
Anyway, it made total sense after we read it, and as soon as my little girl was the golden age to try it, 18 months, if I recall correctly, we packed up the diapers in a big garbage bag and put her in the adorable big girl undies that she picked out from the store herself.  She was excited, we were excited, we were committed.  Until the accidents came.  We knew you had to have many accidents before a success, the e-book fully warned that the whole three days might be all accidents but guaranteed success by the end of the third.  Accident after accident, my anxiety's nightmare, we finally started making her stand or sit on a towel wherever she went, and at the end of day one she started to develop a horrible red, sore, itchy rash on the backs of both legs.  Not cool, pee, not cool.  So we aborted the plan, cleaned up all the accidents, did a giant load of peed laundry, and took the diapers out of their hiding spot.  We felt like failures but we both felt she was just too young still, she needed to "get it" for herself and she wasn't there yet.  So we stuck to Pull-Up's, calling them "big girl diapers", and kept up sitting on the potty every time we needed to change it.
Then we got lazy.  We went on holidays, we went on with our daily lives and potty training became something we were waiting for her to want to do.  And then I started to realize I don't need to feel guilty about it, it's not a competition, I'd way rather her be ready then to force it on her too young like we did with my son.  As long as she was potty trained by the time she went to Kindergarten, I'd be happy. 
A couple of months after my little girl's third birthday I noticed she was peeing in the potty about half the time I took her to sit, and decided to make up our own potty training game.  I made a potty chart using a mix of ideas I'd seen from others I found on the internet, bought some M&M's, bought a whole bunch of stickers, and taped the chart to the bathroom wall.  I brought her to the potty often, to sit and see if anything happened, I wanted to try to figure out her schedule and keep her clean so she didn't get used to hanging out in wet diapers anymore.  (And by "potty" I mean our regular toilet, not a empty-it-yourself kids potty because the thought grosses me out, and not a potty seat because she'd have me right there to make sure she didn't fall in and she'd need to use a regular toilet when we went out anyway).  Every time she had a wet/dirty diaper I'd write "Oops" in the square and mark the time, and every time she had success I'd mark the time and she would get an M&M (and one for her big brother, if he was home from school, so that he would help encourage her and cheer for her when she went) and she would get to put a sticker in the square.  Most kids respond really well to stickers or candy, so I did both to keep her extra excited.  We also kept adding things to the "when you pee and poop on the potty all the time you get..." list, including wearing big girl underwear (obviously), going to celebrate at Chuck E. Cheese's, and, the biggie, getting her ears pierced!  So, if she was having a day with lots of accidents, I'd go through the list and remind her of all the exciting things she'd get when she could do it all the time, and she'd get back on track again.
Eventually I started to notice a pattern, and figured out how many times a day she went, on average, and I knew when to remind her to go.  I started to set a sticker goal for the whole week and if she got that many stickers on her chart at the end of the week she got a big prize (a small toy or book).
It took a good 5 weeks of doing this before she was telling me before she had to go and only having only wet/dirty Pull-Up a day, and she'd always tell me right away if she had an accident as she was no longer used to sitting in it.  The last hurdle was #2, she'd wait until her afternoon quiet-time when she was alone in her room to dirty her diaper.  A little bribery incentive and a successful trip to the potty got her over her fear and made her realize she could do it all the time.
A whole week free of accidents (in Pull-Ups still), a chart full of stickers was the final step I wanted her to achieve before letting her wear real underwear.  Once she got it, she totally and completely got it, and she's been in big girl underwear ever since with not a single accident (although I'm sure this varies from kid to kid!)  It may have taken her a little longer, at 3 1/4, but it was worth it for the lack of stress, anxiety, and wet carpets, couches or beds.  I am a proud Mom!

Potty Training Reward - Getting her ears pierced!

And so, if you loathe and dread potty training like most of us do and you want your cutie, no matter how young or old they are, to learn at their own pace, when they're ready, try adopting some of these tips and see if it works for your child!

Example

Here are two free printables, one for a girl, one for a boy, that you can print out each week to keep track of your child's successes, and best of luck!  Drag the image to your desktop (if you're on a Mac) or right-click and download/save it to your desktop, then print the image filled to page.
The second column beside the days of the week is to record whether they woke up dry or not.  That way you can get an idea whether they'll be ready to stop wearing diapers at night as well.  Remember to keep extra sheets close to their bed so if they do have a night accident you can change the bed quickly and quietly and get them back to sleep.

Girl Potty Chart

Boy Potty Chart

And if you sew, check out my Zippered Wet Bag Tutorial to have supplies on hand in case disaster strikes while you're out and about!

Kidterview #2

What is your name?

Elliott.

How old are you?

Five.

What's your favourite colour?

Blue!

What's your favourite movie?

Lego Star Wars

What's your favourite food?

Macaroni and cheese!

Who is your best friend?

Aida.

What's your favourite show?

Super readers, I mean Phineas and Ferb!

What's your favourite book?

What's you favourite look?

Book.

Book!  Um, uh... Grandma and Grandpa's Backyardigans one where they're under the sea.

I didn't know they had a book like that.

...

What's your favourite thing to do?

Play Lego Star Wars and Lego games.

Who's your favourite sister?

Molly.

What's your favourite dessert?

Apple pie.

Really?  Mine too!  If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Hawa-- uh... the North Pole.

What's your favourite song?

What Jake and the Neverland Pirates sing, "Yo ho matey's away..."

Thanks for the interview, Elliott.

Wanna read it all now?

Kidterview #1

Every year or so I like to interview my kids to record what they're favourite things are, it's cute to look back on the older ones and remember who they were and what they really loved after some have since been forgotten.

These are a few of her favourite things:

What is your favourite food?

Mushrooms.

Really, mushrooms?

Yeah, lots of mushrooms.  And cheese, lots of cheese.

What is your favourite colour?

Lellow (yellow) and pink.

What is your favourite TV show?

Jake and the Nevyand (Neverland) Pirates.

What is your favourite movie?

Movie Curious George (that's what she calls it, as opposed to the TV show or the Christmas movie).

Who is your best friend?

Izzy (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates).

Who is your best real friend?

Elliott's friend Jacob.

That's Elliott's friend, you don't know him.

Yes I do.

Do you have any other friends?

Aida and Claire!  Did you know what Aida's allergic to lunch?  Pickles!  (That's not true.)

What is your favourite thing to play with?

Toys, Little People, and I like to play with Paybeel (Playmobil).

Silliness

My dad isn't the worlds biggest Monty Python fan or anything, but he does enjoy it, and I know we've giggled together specifically over their "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch.  It's so ridiculous, it makes me laugh every time.

Well one day when I was perusing Pinterest I came across a Ministry of Silly Walks clock tutorial and immediately thought that would be a great gift for my dad, and it looked pretty simple to make, too.  I simplified mine a little bit as well, no decoupage required.

After a quick trip to Michaels, here's what I gathered for supplies:

- 8in x 8in Circle Pine Plaque
- Clock Movement Kit
- White glue
- White card stock
- Hole punch
- Black Sharpie or felt marker (which I forgot to include in the photo)

I made a clock face template on my computer and printed it onto regular paper and cut around the circle.

If you're on a Mac, simply drag image to your desktop and print.

I made a page of the body parts and printed it onto white card stock so they would be sturdy, and cut them out as well.  I also printed a black area to punch holes out of to use instead of numbers.  I used the black marker along the edges to black them out, I found it looked nicer against the wood to not see a white edge.

Next I lay the clock face template over my piece of wood and pressed in the centre of all the dots (starting with the centre) to make an indent so I know where everything should go.  (I folded my paper in half after indenting the centre dot so I could line it up with the wood grain, but if you decide to paint your wood or don't care if the grain is straight horizontal or vertical this step won't matter).

I had my husband drill the proper sized hole in the centre of the wood for the clock movement to poke through (mine required a 7mm hole), and then I glued my black dots into their indented spots around the board.  After sliding the back of the clock through the back of the wood and securing into place, I punched a hole in my man, slid him over the clock piece and glued him in place.

I punched holes through the tops of the legs, attached the hour hand to the back of one leg and the minute hand to the back of the other.

(If you're wondering why my man's legs are backed with dark paper it's because I'd backed them with brown card stock to make them even sturdier but it's not really necessary)

I then assembled the rest of the clock according to the directions on the package.  The "second" hand didn't fit into my vision so I just bent it back and forth until it detached from the very front piece.

Feel free to use your marker and colour any metal bits black.  I didn't bother colouring anything I couldn't see from directly from the front.

Now enjoy watching your silly clock do it's silly walk!

All packaged and ready to wrap for my Dad

She Sleeps

My darling 2.75 year old daughter has a very good grasp on the English language.  Her ever-growing vocabulary surprises me every day, and most of the time she can pronounce the words so that most people can understand her (if she talks loudly enough for them to hear her).  There are, however, a few that she does not pronounce quite right yet that make me giggle every time, here are a few:

Delicious = 'Licious
Drawing = Drawling (her brother said the same thing for a long time)
Scrumptious = Scrumpish
Tomato = 'Mato
Computer = 'Puter-game (although she doesn't play games on the computer)
Volcano = 'Cano (you'd be surprised how much volcano's come up in conversation in our house)
Piano = Playno
Grandpa = Kappa (she does know how to say "Grandpa" almost perfectly but chooses to call her grandpa Kappa instead)
Strawberry = Strawbstrawbry (this one makes me laugh, and she loves Strawberry Shortcake so she says this one a lot)
The Man in the Yellow Hat (from Curious George): Lellow Hat (like that's his name)
Macaroni and Cheese = 'Roni
Medicine = Ledison
Lemonade = Lemelade
Yogurt = Yergret

I love these pronunciations so much I don't correct her, she'll figure it out in time.

For the last year or so she's been skipping her naps, sometimes she'll have one nap in her bed at nap time during the week, sometimes three, sometimes none.  On the days when she doesn't nap, by the time 4:30pm rolls around she'll sometimes nod off wherever she may be at the time.
Here are the pictures I've taken of her having naps in strange situations over the last year:

A Year Of Naps

Corn Chowder Nap

Bending Over Couch Nap

Sleeping on Mommy & Daddy's Bed Nap

Half On Half Off Couch Nap

Mid-colouring Nap

Nap on Mommy

Stylish Nap

Technology Nap

Airplane Nap #1

Hawaiian Holiday Nap #1

Hawaiian Holiday Nap #2

Airplane Nap #2

Christmas Tree Nap

Toys On Brother's Floor Nap

Barbie Nap

Grandma's Car Nap

And she isn't the only one:

Mid-Snack Nap

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free)

Recently some good friends of ours discovered they have a plethora of food allergies to challenge them, including allergies to gluten, dairy and eggs.  After having baked a bunch of goodies for my husbands work, including a few great gluten-free recipes that I had some help finding, I had a few ingredients leftover and decided to try making a dessert my allergic friends could enjoy as well.  I used a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe I'd tried before and make a few changes.  The cookies turned out so soft and moist and delicious that I was asked to share the recipe, and decided I should probably share it with everybody!

Gluten-free, Dairy-free and Egg-free Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Land O'Lakes Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups Gluten-free Flour Blend (I used Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Baking Flour, which is a pre-done blend, but people used to baking gluten-free usually find making their own flour blend to be easier on the wallet)
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 cup vegan margarine (I use Becel Vegan Margarine which is lactose-free and gluten-free)
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg substitutes (after a little online research I decided to use 2 different easy egg replacers to make up each egg; the first I replaced with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in 2 tablespoons of water, the second I replaced with 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce)
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla (pure vanilla extract is gluten-free)
1 package (12 ounce or 2 cups) gluten-free dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips (I used Enjoy Life Mega Chunks)

Directions
Heat oven to 375°F.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum in a bowl.  Set aside.
Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar in a large bowl at medium speed until creamy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture until well mixed.  Stir in chocolate chips/chunks.
Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 9-12 minutes or until edges start to brown (do not overbake).  Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

Recipe yields 3 1/2 to 4 dozen cookies.  Store in an airtight container (if you don't eat them all first!)

Lego Party, Maui Vacation and Halloween

i know it's been a very (very!) long while since i've posted anything here.  all has been very well, but very (very!) busy, and i wasn't sure if anyone was even reading my blog anymore, until someone commented that she enjoys reading my blog and checks in sometimes to see if there's anything new (thank you for the love, angela, your comment made my day!)  my friends and family, who were my original inspiration for starting this blog, are all facebook friends and know all my business anyway, but then i started catering to a different audience, and haven't yet decided what kind of blog this should be, so it's a little bit of everything and, sometimes, a little bit of nothing.
since my last post we've had some babies born within our extended family, we celebrated my son's 5th birthday, he started kindergarten, my family went on a vacation to maui, i started babysitting my friends daughter again two days a week for the school year, i started a new business that's still sort of in the trial period (mary kay), we battled colds and a stomach flu, i'm currently making more jewelry for my sister to sell in her spa, and i've had so many side-projects going on i wouldn't know where to start telling you about them all!
and to catch up, this post may get a little photo-heavy so hopefully it won't take too long to load.

elliott turned 5 and asked for a lego party.  colin and i made this lego character stand for the kids to have fun with.  he built the structure, i painted the figure.

the goodie bags had homemade lego cookies (sugar cookies with royal icing and smarties for the dots on top), personalized laminated bookmarks (each with a picture of their own lego-self that i made with reasonablyclever.com's mini-mizer 3.0), and a lego mini-figure.

i learned how to make the lego cake from a betty crocker video tutorial.   i was very excited when i finally found the lego candles at target!

there were also colouring pages for the kids (and a couple of the adults) to have fun with.

my little guy is suddenly so big!

here are the kids on the third of three flights (we got rerouted due to unexpected airplane technical difficulties) on our way to maui, hawaii, where we took a 10 day vacation with my parents, my sister and her husband, and my brother and his wife.  the kids were absolutely dreamy on the flights, i did a lot of research for ways to keep them comfortable and entertained.  my favourite advice was to make take-off's and landings a game, upon departure asking the kids if they could tell the moment the plane left the ground and was in the air, and the moment the wheels landed back down on the tarmac.  we also gave them gum for the pressure in their ears, lots of water to drink out of cups with straws, and made sure to pack our tablet, portable dvd player with their favourite videos, colouring books, crayons and stickers, and elliott's nintendo ds.  the two biggest hits were the airplane pillows my husband found at the airport (the fishie in the picture above and a froggie for my son) and wikki stix that the kids received at restaurants during the trip.  they now live in my purse for boring moments.

we stayed at makani sands, a beach-front condominium in honokowai (about 15 minutes north of lahaina).  my parents, my sister and her husband, and my husband, kids and i all stayed together in one of their 3 bedroom rentals very comfortably.  there was also a hide-a-bed that my brother and his wife slept on a couple of the nights we were there (most of the time they stayed at her uncle's house).  we all loved having a kitchen to share, it saved us a lot of money so that we didn't have to eat out for every meal.  we took turns making dinners on the nights we didn't go out, which was really fun.  our unit was on the 3rd and 4th floors, the views were incredible.

the condo pool was such a big hit with the kids, there were no waves and water didn't taste like salt.
thanks to the life jackets we bought for the kids before the trip, elliott was able to swim on his own (with close supervision, of course) in the ocean and the pool.  he loved the independence and we loved not having to hold him the whole time.  we haven't exactly had much time in the water at home, we don't swim much, nor has he taken lessons, so it was a life-saver.  literally ;)

of course molly would find the sliding doors most exciting part of staying in the condo.  silly girl.

i easily got used to witnessing these incredible sunsets every single evening.

me and my (very sunburnt) husband <3

on our "girls day" visit to lahaina we made sure to hang out under the banyan trees where molly put on an impromptu modelling show for us.

all 4 of us in a picture together.  for some reason this doesn't happen very often.

the maui ocean center is a must to visit if you're in maui with kids.  it's gorgeous.

if you ever find yourself in maui, a meal (or two, or three) at cheeseburger in paradise in lahaina is A MUST.  my husband, a connoisseur of burgers, claimed his bbq bacon burger was "the best burger he'd ever had in his life".  it might have had a little to do with the great beer and amazing ocean views, but mostly it was just that delicious.

elliott taking a moment to chill out between swims

we waited an hour in the pool-side line-up for the gazebo restaurant in napili.  again, the kids were champs.

they served the kids mickey mouse pancakes with whipped cream :)
and my banana macadamia nut pancakes with whipped cream and coconut syrup were out of this world!  i couldn't finish them, the portion was so big.

it was pretty awesome to see the very beautiful napili beach, the same beach my dad and i would gaze longingly at in the months before our trip on the napili sunset resort webcam.

it took a few days but finally the water suddenly making its way up the shore didn't freak molly out.

elliott loved it right off the bat.

we had some amazing food while we were in maui, including coconut shrimp at bubba gump shrimp co., the burgers at cheeseburger in paradise, the absolute most incredible ahi poke tacos i've ever had in my life at lahaina fish co., those awesome pancakes at the gazebo restaurant, pasta, burgers, pizza and pulled pork with rice at the maui brew pub, and the best ever flatbread blt (pictured above) at the hula grill barefoot bar, with it's applewood bacon, spinach, tomatoes, and goat cheese.  so good i would have eaten it all over again. 

molly enjoying yet another beautiful maui sunset from our lanai (the hawaiian word for balcony) with her super curly hair (it's usually just wavy, but it curled right up in all that hawaiian humidity).

after some heavy meals it was refreshing to have a simple, healthy breakfast at moose mcgillicuddy's (a bar by night but a fun place to grab breakfast by morning). 

my sibs and our spouses and i went back to cheeseburger in paradise together for happy hour, where everything on the happy hour menu was $3 each at 3:00 and $4 at 4:00pm, including chips and salsa, sliders and fries, a couple different beers on tap, mai tai's, and pina colada's (yum yum!)  that hour was indeed very happy.

even i think a cold beer on a hot day looks refreshing and i don't even like beer.

we visited the maui tropical plantation and took the tram tour, which was fun for the kids and very informative.  i learned more things about pineapples, coconuts, coffee, mangos, bananas and macadamia nuts than i ever thought i would.

aren't my island kids just the cutest?  i love this picture of them together.

baldwin beach in paia was a fun beach to visit, since it's on the north side of the island the waves were much bigger than the west side where we were staying.  we found a section nicknamed "baby beach" on the west end where the waves were blocked by a reef, making the water a little calmer to swim in for the kids.  molly still preferred to play in the sand instead.

before our trip i sewed molly this towel dress to hop into after a swim to help dry her off and keep her warm.  i adapted my pattern using ideas from both crafterhours' "beach towel dress tutorial-ish" and a little inspiration from MADE's "beach robe".  i'm super happy with how it turned out, my mom asked if i'd make one for her ;)

all good things must come to an end, and we had a tearful goodbye with my parents and sister and her husband (they were still staying for another week after we left).  the trip home went so smoothly, though it was a very long day of travel that direction since we essentially lost 3 hours with the time difference.

for this years (very dark and rainy!) halloween the kids wanted to be jake and izzy from disney junior's "jake and the neverland pirates" cartoon.  i wasn't about to spend $50 for a jake costume and $30 for an izzy costume from the disney store, so we figured out ways to make our own with some clothes we already had, some fabric, a horrible wig (haha!) and a little imagination.  most people who opened their door for them while trick-or-treating had no idea who jake and izzy were, but they said they were the cutest buccaneers they'd every seen, and my kids' great manners charmed them all.  i'm so proud of those two!