Survival - Day 3

Michaela: 1 accident
Maeve: 3 poops in her pannies
Alasdair: 1

I am convinced that children have some sort of internal alarm telling them when the worst possible time to crap in your pants is. I mean, really there is never a good time to crap your pants, but some times are definitely worse than others. Like when your mom is getting ready to herd you all out the door to swim class. Or when she's late picking your big sister up from school. Or she's going to miss her bus for work. Or right after she's given you a bath and hasn't had time to diaper you yet.

Today it was swim class. I was running a little late and herded the kids from the back yard into the house so I could get Maeve in her "jump-soup" (that's Maeve-ese for swimsuit) and head out to her lessons. But the minute I pick up Doodie i can smell him. So I wrestle him to the ground and pin him down so I can change the grossness and I asked Michaela to help get Maeve's jump-soup on her. As soon as Maeve's panties are down Michaela's all "Eeeew! She pooped!" Well, of course she did! We're late, she's not dressed and Doodie's got the shits from hell! Yay! Anyway, i cleaned her up and we ended up making it to swim class on time.

Then to end my marvelous day, the kids were playing in the back yard after dinner while I was trying to clean up the kitchen (which has a clogged drain and is FULL of gross standing water, ugh) when I hear something plastic on the slide outside. Now the kids decided that getting in our old cooler and shutting the lid is "fun". So they take turns getting in, the others shut the lid, then open it and you get out. Next kid goes. Rinse, repeat. Before you all call CPS on me, it's not a refrigerator type cooler, it's like an igloo cooler. And it's a cheap one at that. It doesn't fully close and it's not airtight, so it isn't a safety hazard. Except that when I'm hearing this plastic sound on the slide. My kids figured out how to turn it into one. My 7 year old crammed the 2 year old inside it and was dragging it UP the slide so she could let it go and watch it slide down. OMG. So I yelled at her and put her in a time out, which apparently was her most oppertune time to crap her pants.

I hope my husband isn't reading this from Springfield. He might not come home. :)

Survival - Day 2

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1 poo in her pannies
Alasdair: 1

My day went something like this:

Get up
Get ready for school
Take M to school
Work
Lunch
Naps for kids
Work
Pick M up from school
Coach M on her "to do" lists while trying to
Work
Snack
Work
Ballet class (while keeping the two little ones entertained for 45 minutes in my car)
Work
Dinner
Dishes
Baths
Jammies
Doodie grabs a dirty plate and messes up the floor
Garbage to curb
Maeve Poops in her pannies
Laundry
Brush teeth
Read stories
Bed for the Girls
Get Doodie his "milk cocktail"
Book for Doodie
D to bed
Bake Brownies
Work
Blog
EAT BROWNIES.

Time for that last step now. I'm surviving w/o Mike here, but I could use a small break. Hum.

Survival - Day 1

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1 pooh in her pannies
Alasdair: 2

So, the hubby is out of town on business (which doesn't happen very often so I'm very much not used to it) and honestly, this is probably one of the worst times ever for that to happen. I'm way too emotionally fragile with the kids right now and having to handle the three of them, plus work, plus swimming and ballet, plus the gym, well, let's just say we're walking a thin line of sanity.

BUT, I made it through day 1 with no major meltdowns, the kids got fed, bathed, homeworked, dishes are done, my chores are done (even the laundry!), the house is clean enough to not totally stress me out, and i just finished up my last bit of work for the day. I finally got a shower about a half hour ago and i'm ready to slip into my clean sheets!

I'd say other than Maeve's pooh incident, things went pretty well today. 4 more to go!

Blogging Standstill

Michaela: skid marks aplenty
Maeve: pees great in the potty and poops in her underwear
Alasdair: 2 good poohs

I think i'm losing my mind, seriously. I can't keep up with punishing my kids every 5 minutes, so I definitely haven't had time to blog. Things are pretty normal though. Michaela's totally ADD, which i'm slowly coming to terms with, and still crapping her pants constantly. Maeve is now a professional at going in the potty, as long as it's not solid. We haven't mastered that yet. And Doodie is pooping right along, no diaper rash and nothing too funky.

But my 7 year old, OMG. I'm ready to wring her neck. Here's her list of "issues" currently:

Can't follow directions
Doesn't pay attention in school
Doesn't finish her school work
Talks and interrupts
Can't remember to put anything away
Can't remember that my floor is not a trash can
Can't remember to do her homework
Can't remember to do chores
Poops her pants
Can't answer any question unless the answer is "i don't know"
Can't sit still to save her life
Can't stop screaming at her sister and brother
Has no volume control whatsoever
Can't get herself ready for school in the morning

there's more, but there's probably a character limit on blogspot. I'm so torn. I can't decide if she's just 7 and maybe immature or if she might need a trip to the doc and a diagnosis of ADD. It's not something I'm taking lightly, but i'm at my wits end with her. I don't know how to parent her successfully and it's not good for anyone in our house. I didn't just decide she's a pain in the @$$ and chalk it up to ADD, but every day I'm more and more convinced that her behavior isn't normal.

Anyway, I shouldn't be the only person in our house medicating themselves to stay sane, should I? Misery loves company!!

Worst Day EVAR

Michaela: no accidents, but some skid marky undies
Maeve: 1 pooh in the potty, 2 in her pannies
Alasdair: 3, and one was a DOOZIE

Let's begin with 1 poopy Doodie diaper and 2 pantie poops from Maeve.
Then there's the flat tire. I walked out to my car with the little ones to go to the gym and had to drive straight to Les Schwab. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.
After I got that fixed we drove to the Y. There was no parking. Not one spot. Nada.
After 15 minutes I found a spot and got inside, but the Child Watch for Doodie was full. So I checked Maeve in and put D on the waiting list. For 45 minutes.
Finally I got in to the gym and slammed out my workout in 30 minutes, grabbed the kids and fled home.
Poop.
Lunch.
Nap.
Poop.
Work.
Collect M from school.
Work.
Poop explosion from Doodie.
Swim lessons for Maeve.
Work.
Oh, and in between all this was the incessant bickering, fighting, screaming, jumping, running, crying and downright unruly-ness from my kids.
I was at the end of my rope. Seriously, I'm at a loss. I'm not sure where I lost control of my kids, but it has happened and I don't know how to get it back. My 7 year old is literally out of control, and the 3 year old just copies everything she does. Then the 2 year old picks up on all the finer points from the bigger two. Between picking up all their messes and breaking up fights and trying to ignore the screaming I can't seem to hold on to my sanity these days.

I think it's time to chant my mantra for a few hours: This, too, shall pass.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

She won't even poop for ice cream

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 4 poops in her pants, 1 pee accident
Alasdair: 3 (4?)

I can't remember Doodie's total because my whole day is just a blur of poop. If it wasn't Doodie's diaper it was Maeve's underwear. My hands are raw from scrubbing with soap all day long. Gah. I mean, it actually inhibited my work today. I just couldn't get anything done!!

I tried to bribe Maeve with ice cream if she'd poop in the potty. I knew she'd have to go since she didn't go yesterday at all. She had a nugget in her pants first, so I told her she could have ice cream if she used the potty. So a few minutes later she said she needed to go, so she sat and a little while later she said she went! But I highly suspect she went in her panties and it just sort of hung on to her cheeks for dear life until she sat down, then dropped it's way to freedom. But she thought she went so I gave her some ice cream. ho hum. Maybe in another couple days when she's got to explode again we can find a new bribe.

Still no poops

Michaela: no accidents, but she's all backed up like a sewer line
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 2

Michaela's all constipated again. I can tell because she's going through underwear with serious skid marks like the world's going to end in three days, and she smells like a sewer. That's my tell-tale sign. So I'll try to clean her out this weekend I think, more milk of magnesia, and then cram some probiotics down her throat. We haven't been religious about taking them every day, but she gets them probably 3 - 4 times a week. Obviously that's not enough. And we've been kind of lax on the milk too. She's been having yogurt, cheese and regular milk more often than I'd like.

Maeve seems to only pooh once every other day or so. I think she's nervous about doing it in the potty. She didn't go today, so I'm going to watch her like crazy tomorrow and see if I can catch her in the act and get her on the potty before it's too late. Then I'll reward her with a huge bowl of ice cream with whipped cream and sprinkles!!

Alasdair's just chugging along. Nothing really to report, so that's great on the HD front!

Now I've got Doodie trained too!

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1 naptime accident and 1 poo in her panties

Alasdair: 2

No, not potty trained, but he did grab the bowl out of the potty chair after Maeve had used it, carried it into the bathroom (sloshing it all over the kitchen and bathroom floor), dumped it into the toilet and flushed! Nice. I pretty much don't have to do anything now. Michaela and Doodie will take care of everything for me. :)

On another note, I saw just about the cutest and most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen Maeve do tonight. I was cleaning up, Michaela was reading, Daddy's in bed (wtf??) and Maeve is taking care of Elmo. He took a nap on my kitchen rug that was dragged into the girls' room. He peed in the potty which required a wipe and an imaginary dump in the toilet/flushing, etc. He was at the table in Doodie's high chair with a bowl and a cup, but he was apparently "not eating his be-fest" according to Maeve. After that he needed a bath. Now, the bathtub was still draining (it's really slow) and I saw her go in there, but i figured she'd just pretend to wash him and maybe get some jammies on him or whatever, so I let her be. Two minutes later I hear the bathtub faucet turn on, so I yell from the living room for her to turn the water off and don't play in the bathtub.

(here's the heartbreaking part)

So Maeve comes tearing out of the bathroom into the living room and she's absolutely freaking out with fear, and she's saying "Elmo's dying!! Elmo's dying!!" I mean, she was terrified. You would have thought she birthed him herownself. So I had to run in there and rescue the drowning Elmo from the bathtub, wring him out and promise to give him a bath downstairs and get him all dry in the dryer.

(not our actual Elmo)

On one hand, it's freaking hilarious. But she was so geniunely scared and upset that I can't help but feel bad for her. Plus I'm in some weird way really proud of her having those kind of complex feelings and also understanding that water is dangerous. Huh. My amazing little 3 year old.

the pooping isn't going so well

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 2 poops in her panties
Alasdair: 1

Just like every potty training kid, Maeve still hasn't grasped the whole pooping thing yet. This morning she was laying on the floor playing with some Barbies and all of a sudden she looks up at me and says "I peed!!" with a look of shock on her face. So I brought her over to clean her up and lo and behold, poop too. So I cleaned her up and then reminded her what we do when we have to go poo, and not an hour later she pooped in her panties again. Geesh.

The problem is that with Michaela i knew what she did when she had to poop. She had a pooping "place" and she'd get really quiet and stand a certain way. With Maeve I haven't figured it out yet. She does tend to get quiet and still I think, but I haven't quite grasped it.

And, to top things off, Maeve woke up with one of her butt cheeks covered in a rash with one spot in particular really flaky and nasty. I have no idea what it is, if I should use benadryl or steroid cream, or how she got it. What I do know is that it is NOT diaper rash. And I dare you to try to google "rash" and "butt cheek" or "bottom" or "butt" and "child" and not get an entry for diaper rash. Google fails. If it's not getting better in a week i'll take her in to the doc. For now we're just chalking it up to Swine Flu. :)

A bit of a backslide

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 2 pees in the potty, 2 poops and 2 pees in her panties
Alasdair: 2

Today was my first day back to the work grind after 11 days, so we need to get a new potty routine in place. I actually think when Maeve is more active, she's better at recognizing when she's got to go, as opposed to while she's losing herself in an episode or two of Dora the Explora. We'll get back on track though.

And then there's Doodie. I mentioned yesterday that his poops are just gross lately, and today was no different. But with pooh #2, we (I) left him in it a little too long. I put him up at the dinner table and he wouldn't even sit down because it hurt his bum. He squatted in his booster seat and ate. Once I got him cleaned off in the bath and dried off, I could see his whole scrotum is bright red. Poor baby. So I creamed him up with some Desitin and he was off. I think we can avoid the weepy rash. That usually stays pretty localized on his butt cheeks and doesn't get on his penis or balls, although they haven't been 100% unaffected. But this rash isn't so bad. We won't even need the Ilex.

Note: Best thing ever after sinus surgery? Sneezing. Close second: Blowing your nose. Don't take these things for granted people.

!!!

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1 pee accident, BUT she pooped in the potty again!
Alasdair: 2

Doodie's got something nasty going on in his tummy, and frankly so do I. I think between all the greens my dh has been cooking lately and my harsh meds for my sinuses, it's wreaking some havoc on my insides. I'm ready to head off to bed shortly so I can sleep through the awful gut feeling.

But before that I'm waiting for Maeve to pooh on the potty again! She was all tucked in and came running out saying she had to go poop. So now she's watching American Idol and watching her daddy to ab exercises in the living room while she gets inspired to "go". I'll send her back to her room shortly. She rarely poops at night, even if she does have to go.

But we continue to have lots of success going potty with Maeve, so I'm glad for that. Our diaper pail was only half full this week instead of overflowing!! Maybe we can even downsize our garbage can again. :)

Potty Trainer for Hire!

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1 - IN THE POTTY!!
Alasdair: 2

I haven't posted in a week or so because I was technically on "vacation" last week, but I ended up having sinus/septum surgery on Tuesday which put me out for the week. Then I suffered some complications that put me out even longer. Long story. Really long story. But today i'm back and tomorrow I start getting all the crap shoved up my nose out! yay!

The other motive for taking vacation last week was to fully concentrate on potty training Maeve, so I was concerned that it wasn't going to happen. But you know what? 1 day with me and 5 with my seven year old daughter was enough to get Maeve peeing on the potty when she needs to and she even POOPED on the potty this morning! I was still in bed!! Seriously, she deserves a Nobel Peace Prize and Maeve gets a gold medal! I couldn't be happier. Maybe we'll end up going to preschool in the fall after all!

Some Success!

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: NOT ONE WET/POOPIE DIAPER!!
Alasdair: 2

Today was offically day 1 of our Potty Training Boot Camp with Maeve. Yesterday at my in-law's Easter get-together we used our last pull up. She peed in her bed this morning instead of getting up and using the potty, but other than that she went 4 times in the potty, twice because she did a little potty dance/squeezy thing with her legs and I rushed her to the pot to go. One of those times was even at Walgreens and she used the public toilet!! I'm so proud of her.

Of course, this is day 1. Now my expectations are set WAY too high. :)

Happy Poopy Easter

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 2

We got all spiffied up this morning in the Easter fancy duds and headed out to a brunch at my friend's house. We did a little egg hunt (inside 'cause it's Washington and it's pouring rain outside), and then we had a nice meal. And something that Maeve ate made her crap her pants to the point where it actually fell out of the leg of her pull-up and onto her sock, where she then proceeded to track it all over my friend's beige carpet and house full of people.

Nothing like the holidays I tell ya.

Happy Easter!

The Terrible Twos? Terrible Threes? Nope. It's the Terrible Maeves.

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 3

First the poo, then the "Maeves". Doodie has been pooping up something runny and nasty for a few days now, anywhere from 3 - 6 times a day. And the diapers are FULL. Yesterday they started eating away at his bum and now he's got a rash. It's only weepy around his bunger, but his balls are red and raw, and his poor thighs are all irritated. The poo keeps running down his legs inside his pants and so it's making everything it touches all red. We used some Ilex tonight and creamed him all up with some Desitin too.

Oh, and he ate some birthday candles today, so his poops are runny, green and flecked with pretty red and blue wax!

So, I don't know what to do with Maeve. She is hands-down the most stubborn person I have ever come into contact with. She won't do as I ask, as I say, as I scream, nothing. We try to keep things fun and light and with any small request the mood turns dark. There's pouting and screaming and foot stomping which leads to time outs and butt smacking and sitting in your room crying for hours on end. And then there's Maeve. j/k! I took next week off of work for the sole purpose of potty training Maeve so that she can go to preschool in the fall. I was optimistic, but the closer we get to P-Week the less I think I'm going to be successful. I'm pulling out ALL the stops though, so hopefully we can get this burned into her hard little head. And maybe once it's there it will never come out like with my first one!! :D