Adventures in Pottyland

I've had it with diapers. NO MORE DIAPERS. I said this to Ben late last week.

On Friday, I decided to go cold turkey with Rachel. NO MORE DIAPERS. Did I mention NO MORE DIAPERS? Actually, that's not entirely true. Since the round trip to drop off Ben at UMKC can sometimes be up to 1.5 hours, I did tell Rachel that she'd be in pull-ups when we're out and underwear at home.

Friday was an okay day. I think that the number of successes and accidents were about equal. Memorable moments included pooping twice in her underwear but at least not denying it.

On Saturday, Rachel was more successful at telling me things like, "Mommy, come wipe my pants!" after she peed in them.

On Sunday morning after breakfast, Rachel came running up to tell us that she peed on Tinkerbell. Yes, she has Disney princess underwear. Isn't Costco a marvellous place? We were thrilled when Rachel told us this because it was honestly the first time in over 2.5 years that she told us verbally that she had peed or pooped! Later on Sunday, Rachel pooped in the potty.

Today was a good day. Ben brought Rachel home in between errands and a quick visit to Deanna Rose (children's farm). At first she said that she didn't need to use the potty, but when she saw Ben being so successful at his pottying, she came running up to tell him to get her pants off. A minute later, she pooped. Yay, Rachel!

This afternoon she peed several more times in the potty, and pooped too! We even managed a whirlwind trip to the library IN UNDERWEAR. (Yes, I wore underwear too.) It's all in the timing.

I won't deny that Rachel is spending an awful lot of time just sitting on the potty entertaining herself with books and elephants. She's also begging videos & CDs. Hehe.

So far, she refuses to entertain the possibility of using either our "big" toilet or anything that isn't her potty. We'll see how long that lasts.

In other news, it's picture day tomorrow at pre-school!

So much for my Halloween plans

Yesterday Ben took Rachel to a pumpkin patch that was set up near our place. The kids all got plastic pumpkin baskets, and for each game they played they received some chocolate or candy in their basket. Rachel loved this! She also had her picture taken and got a flower balloon. Fun times...

This morning Rachel started talking about her Halloween candy and how she needed to get it. I tried to tell her that I was taking it out of the basket, but she wasn't buying that story! She's currently wandering around the house with her candy. So far she hasn't tried to open it, but I guess we won't be raiding her Halloween bag next week since she's been telling me all morning that she's figured out Halloween. (Yes, she overheard me telling Ben that she had figured it out.)

When I knocked on Rachel's door this morning, she called out, "Who's at the door?" Silly girl.

Bedtime routine

Rachel's usual bedtime routine is as follows:

*bath
*diaper/jammies
*possibly 2-3 books
*brush teeth & hair
*get all elephants and head for bed where the rest of the elephants and bears are waiting
*Mom & Dad tell bedtime story that is basically a re-cap of what happened that day to the little girl named Rachel
*Mom & Dad kiss Rachel, tell her they love her, good night & "we'll see you in the morning"

Apparently we took too long tonight because Rachel told us this:

"I want you guys to just close the door."

Um, ok. I thought we still had a few more years before she'd kick us out of her room! ;)

Report from the trenches

I spoke to Ben and Rachel this afternoon to see how they were doing with me away for the weekend. It's now been a little over 2 days that I've been gone.

Rachel's version of her time with Daddy goes like this:

"We played games. Then we played more games. My hairbow! My hairbow fell out!"

She also gave me lots and lots of kisses over the phone.

Ben told me that this afternoon Rachel helped herself to a snack. It seems that the diaper bag was left open, Rachel got hungry, and she helped herself to some cheerios from the bag while telling Ben, "I got myself a snack."

Ben also informed me that Rachel slept for 14 hours again last night. All I can say is that I hope she does that when I get back tomorrow afternoon!

The longest nap in the world?

Yesterday (Wednesday) Rachel got up at 8:10am. She was out at choir with me the night before, so she didn't go to bed until 10! We didn't do too much Wednesday morning, and then Laura came over with Joseph & Camille in the afternoon. They left around 4:30, and I let Rachel watch a little tv while I cleaned up/organized some things. At about 5:15, I told Rachel that she needed to help me finish cleaning up and then she would be having some "quiet time." She cleaned up some toys and books, then chose 2 books to bring to her room.

After reading the books, I closed the blinds, tucked Rachel in, and told her to have a good nap & I'd see her in a little while. That was at 5:20pm.

At 7:20am this morning Rachel got up from her "nap" seeming very well rested!!!

So last night Ben and I enjoyed a delicious homemade dinner of garlic bread, spaghetti and meatballs. We ended up eating in the living room watching our Friends DVDs. It was a nice surprise "date" for us!

Rachel's favourite part of Simchat Torah

Rachel enjoys going to shul with us. She is usually quiet for a good portion of the service.... and that's saying a lot since most Saturday morning services are 2.5-3 hours long!

On Sunday, we skipped church to go to Beth Shalom for Simchat Torah services. Rachel and Ben also went to the Simchat Torah party the night before, where apparently the rabbi had a bit too much to drink. Hehe. Anyway, Sunday morning was a good mix of fun and seriousness. The rabbi was toasting the Torah with shots of scotch after each reading, there was dancing and singing, and we all had a great time.

Ben's friend (C) came with us although he usually attends another synagogue in KC. A couple of hours into the service, some of the older kids started passing out Hershey's Kisses to be thrown after the final two Torah readings. Well, C kept offering them to Rachel despite my dirty looks. ;) After the candies were thrown up to the front, all the kids were scrambling to go and get them. Rachel had no clue what was going on, but Ben was more than happy to tell her that it was time to go pick up some candy. In fact, he went right up with her and helped her find some.

A few minutes later, Rachel started whispering to me. I leaned down, and she told me that she wanted to go and pick up more candy. Why do I get the feeling that this year she won't believe that Halloween candy is for parents?!

Yesterday I asked Rachel what her favourite part of the Simchat Torah service was. Her answer:

"Pickup-ing candy!"

Her next favourite part?

"Eating the candy!"

I expect that she'll be sorely disappointed next Saturday when there is no more candy to be had. Then again, there's almost aways a good kiddush afterwards so it's not like the poor kid goes hungry or anything. ;)

Update

Rachel napped for almost 2.5 hours this afternoon! She hasn't done that in weeks. After she finally got up, we had a snack and headed out to the van. R sat in the "big girl" seat while I reinstalled her carseat. It seems like it's in tight enough, and Ben's going to double-check in the morning. In any case, we picked up Ben and now we're just about ready to send Rachel to bed.

It's Monday.

If you're looking for a happy story, you can skip this entry.

This morning we got off to a late start since the 2.5 year old alarm clock did not go off until after 7:30! I left Ben and Rachel to their own devices, and headed off to teach.

Later in the morning I picked them up, and we headed to UMKC to drop off Ben for the day. Ben assured me that he was getting a ride home with a friend, so I wouldn't need to worry about coming back for him at 8pm.

It's been raining on and off all day, and it's basically miserable outside. Rachel and I stopped at the library to get some books and DVDs. She lucked out and got a Backyardigans video AND a Timothy Goes to School video. Lucky Rachel! Then we went to the post office in the grocery store, only to find out that they take cheques and cash, but not debit. I don't understand American stores. I really don't. So we walked across the parking lot in the rain to the bank. I did my deposits, withdrew cash, and back we went. After mailing the packages, I decided to get a few groceries. At that point, I noticed that R's pants were soaking wet. I asked her if she wanted to go home and change or if she wanted to get groceries quickly. She chose to get groceries, and insisted that she would sit in the cart.

A little while later, we got home. I noticed that the carseat cover was wet enough that it needed to be taken off and wiped down. I love our carseat, but it is a pain in the butt to uninstall and reinstall. In any case, I managed to figure out how to get the cover off, and I took the seat out as well. We went inside and got R into dry clothes/diaper, and all was good!

About an hour after we got home, Ben called to say that he no longer had a ride home and could I come pick him up tonight?! Apparently the friend he was going to get a ride home with had to schedule something last-minute. GRR.

So I asked Ben to try to find another ride home since Rachel is almost always in bed between 6:30-7pm. He said he'd try, and I headed out with Rachel to see if we could put the darn carseat back together. Not surprisingly, I couldn't figure it out. Rachel was crabby, so we came back inside and I put her down for a "nap" - I'm probably jinxing it by saying this, but it's been quiet in there for almost half an hour!!

While I was outside, Ben called to say that another friend might be able to drive him home, but this friend lives all the way out in Lee's Summit and that would add an extra 45 minutes or so to his drive home. :( After Rachel gets up, I guess we'll head back out to the van to see what we can do.

Cleaning up Rachel-style & other stories

About an hour ago, Rachel was hiccuping and looking exhausted. I had indicated that it would soon be time to go have Quiet Time with her friends (all the elephants & bears). Shortly after I said this, Rachel told me it was time to get her friends. She picked up Olly and Phil, and headed for the bedroom.

There were lots of toys on the bedroom floor so we started putting them away in the bins. Then Rachel noticed that her Cinderella backpack was on the floor in her room. She picked it up and threw it out in the hall! It doesn't go in her room, so therefore out it goes. I see the logic, really I do. In fact, I hurled a Dora book out the door not long after the backpack was tossed out. ;)

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This morning Rachel went back to the gym for the first time since we left in May. She had a great time jumping on the trampoline and apparently she liked the group activities too since she was doing all of her "stretching exercises" at home this afternoon.

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On Monday, I walked 8km (~5 miles) with Rachel in the stroller. It wasn't intentional. I started out thinking that I'd just walk to the "nicer" grocery store. I figured it might take 45 minutes or so. Basically, I planned to walk there, hang out at the Wal-Mart next door, and call Ben to tell him to pick me up at the grocery store instead of coming straight home from school.

Unfortunately, the sidewalk on 135th St. kept ending, so I decided to turn up a different street and head north instead. For my KS friends, I walked all the way to 119th & Blackbob!

Rachel and I had a great time - we went to Target, the half-price book store, Childrens Orchard (kids clothing re-sale store), Borders and Old Navy. I was able to use the phone in Old Navy to call Ben and request that he meet me at the Olive Garden down the street from where I was.

It was a terrible hardship having to eat dinner at the Olive Garden, but we managed. They have a new dessert that involves chocolate gelato, caramel sauce AND pieces of dark chocolate. Need I say more?!??

We have a winner!

The prize for most creative way to tell Mommy about a poopy diaper is hereby awarded to Rachel.

I was on the phone with my mother late this morning when Rachel came out of her room to tell me that she needed me to come get her Little People bin down so she could play with them. Well, you see, Rachel's Little People bin isn't even a foot off the ground! She takes her people out all the time without any help. I leaned over to sniff, and as I suspected, a diaper change was in order.

This was followed by Rachel re-enacting the diaper change with her little people. Grandma had to change Baby's diaper. This included dialogue such as, "Stay right there while I go get a wipe! Don't move!" and "Now I'm going to get another wipe! Wipe, wipe, wipe!" Grandma moved back and forth between the bathroom and living room of the Little People dollhouse. Hehe.

I now hear Rachel in her room calling out, "Mommy, what does ptooey mean? Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!" So much for Quiet Time.

Time setting

I just realized that the time setting was set to pacific time so my previous post looks like it was typed before the event in question happened. This has now been fixed!

Hungry child

Rachel was up at 7:30 this morning and she didn't get a nap (hahahahahahaha!!! She doesn't nap anymore unless we're "lucky" and she falls asleep in the car.) or quiet time. I decided to put her to bed at 6pm since she'd been up all day and was showing signs of being ready for bed. She had dinner at 5:30 - it wasn't big, but she ate a fair bit.

About 20 minutes after she went to bed, I heard some chattering and "woo-ing" (elephant sounds). Okay.... maybe she wants to play. I ignored it until about 6:45 when I heard the following:

"I wonder if I'm ever going to get to eat!"

At that, I opened the door and said, "Rachel, would you like a snack?"

"YES!!!"

She was back in bed by 7:10 and I haven't heard a peep since.

Back to Rachel

Last night I told Rachel that it was time to go get changed since we were headed out to dinner in the sukkah at Beth Shalom. I said that we were going to put on a pretty dress, and she responded, "I want the dress with flowers!" I had no idea that she was that aware of the clothes she has other than her elephant jammies. Hmm. I'm not sure that this is a good development.

Who knew?

Last night Ben got home from his concert. He decided to take the garbage out before changing out of his suit. This is nothing out of the ordinary for Ben. Heck, when we lived in London he would regularly wash dishes in his tuxedo after getting home from an Orchestra London concert!

As Ben was walking back, he was approached by a young woman at the mail kiosk. She came up to him and asked if he was a preacher! She said that he looked like a preacher, and that she'd seen him heading out all dressed up on Sundays. Ben kindly explained that we provide music for a local church on Sunday mornings, but that he wasn't a preacher. At that, the woman told Ben that she was new in town. She asked if he could recommend a church - it didn't matter what denomination. Resisting the urge to tell her that he's heard great things about Beth Shalom (www.bethshalomkc.org), he told her that we play for First Family Church (www.ffc.org).

I had NO idea that I was a preacher's wife. ;) I guess she never sees us leave for shul on Saturday mornings... mind you, Ben's kippah is usually in the car so I guess it wouldn't be obvious. Regardless, between the High Holy Days, church and concerts, Ben's been walking around pretty dressed up lately. Oh wait - that's Preacher Ben to you.

Now you can comment...

Thanks to my friend, Anonymous, this blog is now set up so that anyone can comment rather than just registered users! Thanks, Anonymous. ;)

There's no place like home...

No matter how many times I've clicked my heels over the past year and a bit, I've always ended up back in Kansas. ;) Overall, it's not so bad, but this morning I was wishing I was anyplace but here! ***Rebecca, you really might not want to read this!!!***

It all started when I went to move Rachel's mattress so I could access her closet. I was planning on digging out Rachel's old cloth diapers to send to a friend (hi, Meg!) and I knew they were in a storage container in the closet. Thankfully Rachel was at pre-school because the scene that followed was anything but pretty.

I pulled the mattress back and out ran a HUGE black bug with really long antennae!!! Those of you who know me well know that I have a bug phobia to begin with, but honestly, the bugs in Kansas are huge! Last winter I ended up attacking a gigantic spider with one of our kitchen chairs because there was no way I was getting close enough to whack it with a shoe. Just last night as I was leaving my violin students house, I told her to close the door quickly because there was a spider almost the size of my palm trying to get in. Eek!!

Predictably, I screamed and left the room in a hurry to consider my options:

a) Wait until Ben gets home and let him deal with it.
Problem - Ben won't be home until after 8pm tonight when Rachel will be asleep

b) Smash the bug with something - what? A-ha! Upon spying our fancy new free umbrella, I thought it just might do the trick. But what if I missed?

On to option c...

c) Vacuum the @#&* thing up and make Ben empty the vacuum bag tonight.

So in I went, armed with a vacuum and an umbrella. I tried to vacuum the bug, but it just kept squishing itself against the wall. Finally, in desperation, I turned the vacuum off and started wildly smashing at it with the umbrella, screaming all the while. It finally appeared to be dead, so I switched to the hose sucking vacuum method to dispose of the carcass.

There may or may not be a few scratches and dents in the wall.

I hope that this bug doesn't have friends.

I think it's time to buy a frame for Rachel's bed.

I am well aware of how pathetic this post makes me seem. I blame my mother. After all, she started it all years ago when she ran away from the big black snake in Australia! Here's to no more creepy-crawlies in our home...