I am a saver and a procrastinator with ADD.  You know what that means for my inbox?  It means that I have 1200 messages in Outlook.  Yep 1200.  One two double zero. 

When I saw this number last night I screamed at myself…”How did I get here!?” 

This is how.  Every morning I have about 30 new emails most of which are junk.  My procrastination means that I only click on 1 or 2 interesting ones and leave the rest for later.  My ADD is the reason that it takes me all morning to respond or do whatever it is I need to do with those 2 emails.  But it is the saver/hoarder in me that is why those 2 emails along with the 30 others never get deleted.  This goes on day after day until now I have 1200 mostly useless emails just rotting away in my inbox. 

BUT, if I ever want to go back and read about the free financial seminar that was offered at my bank 2 years ago it’s there.  Or the cartoon of Garfield drinking a cup of coffee in his pajamas that’s there too.  What if I need to reread the email my sister sent out 3 years ago planning our annual tamale making day?  How about who was going to be on the Oprah show the week of 4/16/2008.  It’s there….somewhere.

I don’t even want to think about how high that pile would be if this was actual mail. 

(If you’re like me you can probably benefit from xobni which my husband made me download last night and is a HUGE help.)

I came across this story today and it caught me attention.  “Risk of child abuse rises when potty training.” When I was working with at risk families this was one subject that we always stressed to parents.   Please Please Please have realistic expectations when potty training.  Otherwise it can get ugly quickly.

Sorry that’s it for today…gotta get back to watching the Michael Jackson Memorial and a very very tired toddler who was up at 5:30 a.m.

For some Random Tuesday Genius head over to TheUnMom

Okay so I am a day late…sue me.

There hasn’t been too much going on in the potty department.  A few times this past week little E has told me she needs to go potty, a couple of times she did and a couple of times she didn’t.  At least it tells me that she is getting the concept of this whole potty business.  Even though she is showing more readiness signs I’m still gonna wait a week or two before I jump back on the potty band wagon.  I want to make sure she is good and ready.

I feel like I am jipping you since this post is so short so I’m gonna direct you to my favorite website when it comes to stuff like this.  Babycenter.com has some great info. about potty training so go check it out.

To join in on the potty time Tuesday fun click the link below!

Last Tuesday after writing the Potty Time post Little E decided that she did not want to use the potty anymore.  She started being very resistant and instead of turning it into a control issue or having her end up with a UTI or constipation I decided to take a little break.

A couple of times she woke up from her nap and asked to use the potty and did.  But that was pretty much it this week.  She is my headstrong girl and this could really turn ugly if I try and force her or let her know that this is something I really really really want her to do!

We will try again soon and at least she now knows more about what going on the potty is all about.   I am hoping in a couple of weeks she will be ready to be a “big girl.”

I can’t leave you without letting you in on a great poop story that happened today.  If you are squeamish not a mom you might not want to read.

So my friend came by today with her parents who are visiting from Indiana.  We went to lunch and when we got back to the house Eva was having a great time playing in her bedroom with my friends Dad. (She thinks every man over the age of 50 is her papa).

Well it was brought to my attention that she had a poopy diaper so I go in her room to change it when she plop’s down on the floor tears her diaper off and poop goes flying everywhere!  With my friend (who doesn’t have kids yet), her mom, and her dad all standing right there!!!  All I could do is say “Oh my God”a million times while picking up poop and placing it back in the diaper.  One of the best parts of being a mom is being able to share these embarrassing poop stories!

To join in Potty Time Tuesday fun click the link!

After a week of potty training we are making some progress. Last Thursday we came home from the store and she immediately grabbed her little potty and asked me to help her take off her pants. When I did she sat down and went pee.
Then, on Friday we were at the mall and went into the family restroom I asked her if she needed to go potty she said yes and she did!
Yesterday I started to notice that she is getting better about controlling when she pees. I know this because her panties are staying dry and when she sits on the toilet she will only let a little bit go and then stop. So I have to sit there with her and encourage her to stay on the toilet until she is completely done. Otherwise she tends to stand up right away after only going a tiny bit.
One other thing we did was buy her some pull ups for when we have to leave the house and for bedtime. When I opened the package she said “Diaper” but I immediately corrected her and said “No, these are not diapers they are panties with princesses on them! We need to keep these dry just like our other panties.”
As long as I am seeing progress and as long as it stays a positive thing I will continue with what we have been doing. The way I see you can go about potty training two ways. You can wait until your child is completely ready to go independently on their own or you can take the initiative and help them learn how to do it. Of course if they cannot physically control themselves then it is not possible to train them and if you do not have the patience for it then it can be very damaging and prolong potty training for a long long time. Either way you choose they will eventually learn.
Oh and I learned yesterday that pull ups don’t hold in diarrhea so well. Just thought I’d let you know.

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I have been thinking about potty training Eva for a while now but wasn’t sure where to start. I’ve read all the information but still just wasn’t sure if she was ready and was worried about keeping it a positive experience. That is the most important thing to me, keeping it positive. Eva is such a strong-willed child that she often rebels against what mommy tells her to do so I wanted to make sure that potty training didn’t turn into a power struggle.
I introduced the little potty to her when she was 18 months old and bought her a little potty book that flushes when you push a button and has a place for stickers in the back. Even though she loves stickers using them as an incentive to go potty wasn’t working out so well (plus she wasn’t even close to being ready).
Now that she is two I am getting a little more serious with the potty training. This past weekend I put her in big girl underwear (with her favorite characters on them), set the timer for every 15 minutes and told her “When the beep beep goes off you get to sit on the potty and if you go pee pee or poo poo in it you will get a chocolate chip!” So far it has been working pretty well. I put the potty out in the living room so if she resists sitting on it I turn on a favorite cartoon and she sits there happily. She has had a couple of accidents but we just don’t make a big deal out of it. I know she still does not have the cognitive skills to be able to go on her own or the physical control to hold it. I just want to introduce her to the concept and hope that by doing this every day she gains the physical and cognitive control/skills.
I’ll update you on how it goes next week!
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