I’m so glad Halloween is over. This holiday is so annoying
for me. We always have fun but it takes a lot of effort on my part. The kids
have their own costume ideas and it usually doesn’t consist of anything
creative (or free) around the house and typically has accessories sold
separately thus pushing my costume budget way off of the Dave Ramsey approval
list. Ever since the sex offender map
became available to the public, trick or treating just doesn’t have the same
vibe it did when I was a child. We always attend our church’s fall festival and
the outcome is always the same. Kids have fun, get candy and play games. Mom
gets stuck holding buckets all night and screaming for kids not to run off
(they do anyway). I got the buckets kids home safe and sound. Only 11
more months before I have to do it again. YAY!
This weekend I squeezed every ounce of patience my body
could physically produce into the attempt to potty train Logan. This also
resembled what they teach at A Man’s Best Friend. I treated Logan like a dog. I
took him to the potty, begged him to go, waited, waited some more, nothing,
went back to the living room, accident. Alerted with much enthusiasm
(frustration) that pee pee goes in the potty not on my carpet or couch. Clean
up the mess, repeat. Reward any bowel movement with a treat and praise. So many
parents told me not to force it, not to push it on him or he will resent it. That
was my game plan until he turned 3 and now I am resenting him. I would much rather be the resented than the resentor. So I’m
pushing him. Go ahead, judge me. Not using the potty is no longer an option and
I’m finally seeing some results. It’s not even actual potty training. He refuses to use the actual toilet that flushes. No,
that would be entirely too convenient for me. He insists on using those little
mini-me potties. The kind you have to physically dump the crap into the toilet
then clean the bowl. It should be called bowl training, or bucket training. I
guess it’s my destiny to be hands on with fecal matter. But I am hopeful I just
bought my last box of diapers. Take your victories where ya can right?
The boy and I are still actively falling in love with each
other. We try to get our kids together as often as our schedules allow. With
rotating weekends, Kylee’s cheer games, Isaac’s baseball, birthday parties, and
everything else in between it isn’t always feasible for us. But this weekend we
were able to work it out and hang out with our kids together. Kurt helped Logan
learn to ride his bike, Isaac tried to wrestle me, Kylee engaged Kurt. It was a
beautifully chaotic day. We put a movie on and all the kids lay on the floor
together eating popcorn while Kurt and I had the VIP seats on the couch. One by
one a kid would join us until it was all of us on the couch together. I could
tell Kurt and I were both looking at the same thing. Our future. It was
perfect.
Until Logan peed on the couch. JUST KIDDING. I think.
