Motherhood | I Tri and Craft

February 19, 2013
by Dawn Marie Leave a comment

What’s in your microwave?

My toddler LOVES little compartments and boxes and things with doors or drawers.

He loves to put little treasures in little ‘treasure chests’.

We have a 10 gallon glass brewing jug set up in our bedroom for our spare change. We usually find things that are not money in it.

I don’t know how many ‘magic wands’ he has deposited with the quarters and dimes. There was a ton of Legos, the key to his bank my dad made him, bouncy balls, instruction manuals, flyers from the mail, marbles, and the list goes on.

It is always interesting to see what he comes up with sometimes. Tonight was no exception.

While I was cooking dinner he kept running into the living room and back into the kitchen. He would open the microwave and close it again.

I didn’t think anything of it, because he is always opening and closing it ever since he could reach the button (it is on a low counter). Usually he would tell me dinner was ready, or that he is cooking dinner too.

Tonight after dinner Tyler asked me where a toy is for Baby Sid, to which Ian jumped up and said “oh, hold onasecond. I get it” and ran off into the kitchen.

I followed him and found this

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A post shared by Mama Sonshine (Dawn Marie) (@mamasonshine)

At least he didn’t turn it on!

Happy findings

January 22, 2013
by Dawn Marie Leave a comment

Best laid plans….

Have you ever noticed how reality doesn’t match our expectations?

I have a plan on how my mornings should go, but some how that never happens.

This was my plan this morning:

5 am ~ semi-wake up to feed Baby Sid, then go back to sleep

6 am ~ get up, get coffee and pump

6:30 am ~ shower & get ready

7 am ~ feed Baby Sid again

7:20 am ~ turn van on to warm it up for the kidos

7:22 am ~ get Baby Sid changed and in his car seat ready to go

7:30 am ~ get Ian up and ready to go

7:40 am ~ calmly and efficiently load up kids to take to the sitters

Here is what REALLY happened:

4:40 am ~ Baby Sid wakes up and wants to eat

5:50 am ~ Ian goes to bathroom door crying “Mama, I need to see you a minute” not knowing my husband was the one in the shower.

5:52 am ~ Ian crawls into our bed, after I tell him where I was.

6 am ~ put Ian in his bed with a movie and something to drink

6:06 am ~ change Baby Sid and put him in the swing and hope he goes back to sleep

6:10 am ~ pump while drinking coffee (finally!)

6:15 am ~ Ian comes out of his bedroom wanting to ‘watch Tall Star Wars in da living room’

6:34 am ~ turn on Return of the Jedi

6:45 am ~ shower time

7 am ~ find Ian asleep on the couch, time for me to get ready

7:20 am ~ wake up Baby Sid and try to feed him

7:26 am ~ Baby Sid won’t eat take him to clean out his nose

7:31 am ~ try to feed Baby Sid again, still won’t eat

7:37 am ~ go out to start van

7:39 am ~ change Baby Sid, take some pictures because he is so cute and then put him in his car seat

7:42 am ~ run around the house in circles trying to locate everything we need and get my shoes on

7:55 am ~ put a sweatshirt on Ian and take the still sleeping boy out to car and buckle him in.

7:58 am ~ take Baby Sid out to car

7:50 am ~ make at least four trips back into the house to get things I had forgotten

8:02 am ~ leave for sitters house

Maybe Thursday will be easier….

Happy Reality Check!

November 27, 2012
by Dawn Marie 5 Comments

How to Potty Train Boys

OK, so I don’t have an easy answer for this topic. I did lots of reading and research on this topic. Nothing helped me.

My oldest son is two and a half years old. Last fall, when he was about eighteen months old, we started introducing the toilet to him. I would put him on the toilet and we would sit there singing songs or reading books till he went and then I would point out to him what he did.

I would then talk to him about it while changing his diaper and suggest he use the bathroom instead. This worked and I was very hopeful for potty training success. But then the Christmas holidays came and we got busy so potty training went on the back burner.

So when the new year came we started again. Then he would refuse and flip out when I tried to put him on the toilet. I knew couldn’t force it because that would only make it worse for him. So we took a break.

For the next six months or so he would sometimes be ok with it and sometimes not. One day in the spring he didn’t want to wear a diaper, since he was staying home with my mother-in-law I let him. I don’t know what happened that day, but he wouldn’t use the toilet for months after.

As the summer came nearer I really wanted to get him trained, especially since the new baby would be here in Sept. My son is a very stubborn boy, if I pushed him too hard he would rebel. So we had to talk about it all the time and when we stayed home for the day I would put him in big boy pants.

Everyone would tell me that it is ok he is not trained, boys are harder than girls, or their kids weren’t trained till three, or he just isn’t ready yet.

I didn’t believe any of those reasons. He knew what was going on. He knew when he had to go to the bathroom, how to hold it if he wanted to. The problem was me. As much as I disliked changing diapers, it was much more convenient then taking him to the bathroom all the time.

I couldn’t take the time off work to stay home with him because I was going on maternity leave soon. I decided to wait till I was on leave to train him.

One Monday I decided it was time. From the time he woke up till the time he went to sleep he wore big boy pants and we didn’t leave the house. He did great. It only took a couple of days for him to figure it out.

When he would have an accident we would talk about it, clean him up and change clothes. I would then remind him to tell me when he has to go.

We had some accidents, and we still do every once in a while, but over all he is trained. I still put him in a diaper for bed time at night, but when he is still awake he tells me when he has to go, and sometimes he wakes up to tell me.

I still constantly ask him if he needs to go, because sometimes he forgets and gets sidetracked. He isn’t a master at holding it yet.

For me I think potty training is different for everyone and if you trust the kid then they will know when it is time. I also learned patience is necessary.