Bedroom Transformation

This summer, I did a lot of thinking about organization.  And talking about organization.  I needed to be more organized so that I didn't lose the kids' library books, homework, mittens, etc. Last year was pretty good, but there was definitely room for improvement.   I also had to figure out where to put Lucy, since she needed somewhere to sleep too.  I was trying to decide if she would share better with Sam or Eric.

When I got home from Utah, I started looking at the spaces and thinking about different options.  We have two small bedrooms for the kids and a hall closet.  I went to IKEA to look at options there.  I had never really thought about putting the boys all in one room, cause I was afraid that they would wake each other up.  But our first night home, Eric said, "I don't want to sleep all alone; I need a friend to sleep with."  (Now he wishes he had never said that!) So a light bulb went off and I sat in the big green Lazy Boy that I wrote my Master's Thesis in and rocked all my babies in and just thought about the rooms.  

At first I thought about putting all the boys in one room and have Lucy's room be her room/the communal room for coats, mittens, etc.  But a friend suggested that I turn the hall closet (which was my junk closet, and not useful anymore because there was so much stuff in it) into the kids' coat closet. (We have a front coat closet, but never go through the front door, so it doesn't work--I need a place that the kids can throw their stuff in to as they are walking in the door; it doesn't work if they have to go very far out of their way.)

Then I sat in the big bedroom and let the ideas come to me. The transformation was amazing.  I really wish that I had before pictures.  Inspired by my parents' closets, I realized that I could get rid of all the dressers. So I got rid of two dressers.  I took the lazy boy out of the bedroom and put it in the living room.  We also took the twin/trundle bed apart and stored it in the attic until Lucy is finished with her crib.  I got shelves from IKEA for the closets and a set of bins for Lucy's room.  We put the crib for Lucy in the small bedroom and made a "food storage bed" for Mikey (a toddler mattress on top of some cans of wheat).  

I am not exaggerating when I stay that there is at least double the amount of floor space in each room.  Now the kids can actually play in their rooms.  For the first time, the vents are not covered.  I can open the shades because I can get to their cords.  The house feels so much cleaner and fresher.  The hall closet is organized and I can find what I need.  The boys have a "cubby" and they hang up their backpacks, jackets and put their shoes away.  It's amazing.  Here are some photos:

Do I Haaaave Toooooooooo?

Sam is a talented kid.  Math and reading come easy for him.  Because of that, I try to encourage him to read.  We have a "rule" in our house that you read for 15 minutes a day.  Of course, no one follows this rule (like most rules at this point, unfortunately.)  With Sam, even though he whines and complains and says it's too hard, I don't believe him because I have read with him. Maybe it's just that he's done with Magic Treehouse.  So one day, he was going through the recycling and said, "Oh, mom! I'm scared to go into the woods."  "Why, Sam?" "Because there are bad people there."  "Why do you say that?" And then he pointed to the following:

I was so frustrated--you'll read advertisements in random public service announcements, but you won't read a book?  Sam's first grade teacher, who worked with him a little last year, was on to him.  She figured out that he loved non-fiction and got him a National Geographic reader for kids called Deadliest Animals. He loved it.  We've found similar things--a beginners atlas, more scary snakes, etc. and finally he sits down and reads without being asked.

Lots of Posts on the Way!

So this summer, I went to my mom's physical therapist for some core training.  He noticed that my tendon that holds my right ankle in place was "not functioning" and recommended that I see and orthopedic surgeon to check it out. To make a long story short, my tendon was in the process of breaking longitudinally (sort of shredding like a cheese stick) so I had surgery last Friday to fix it as well as my very flat foot.  I won't be able to walk for 8 weeks or drive for 12 weeks, so all of the sudden, I can't cook, clean or drive my kids around. It's quite the humbling experience.

I also had a lot of pain after the surgery and was very grateful for drugs that could take it away.  It made me think of the millions of people who do not have good health care, or are injured in war, or throughout history who have been hurt but did not have anesthesia or painkillers and it makes me feel really grateful for modern medicine.

So with part of the time that I'd normally be running errands and cooking and cleaning, I plan to blog.  I'll go backwards in time, with whatever topic I feel like writing about that day.  I also spend more time with my kids, reading, playing, talking, etc.  This is what Mikey and I did today after our lunch:

(He got out Jenga yesterday to play with Ivan.  I thought he would play with me, but it turned out that building tunnels was much more fun.)

Pictures of Lucy

These are some of the pics from the photo shoot.  I'll upload some of my favorite candids later.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overheard At Our House

We were in the playroom the other day and Eric was doing somersaults off this little table that I use to fold clothes on. He slipped a little and bonked his head on the floor and started crying and crying. Then he sat up, put his hands on his head, and said, "Oh! That was terrible." And then Sam said, "How adorable. Have you ever heard of anything like a three-year-old using the word 'terrible'?" I think he gets his verbal skills from you, Sam. Now, could you just teach him some Spanish?

Last night, Ivan was commenting that he sometimes wonders what they think of us at Sam's preschool since he comments on everything. We're having more sleep issues as Sam and Eric have been waking each other up at 5:00 in the morning again, so I made Sam sleep in Mikey's room again. This morning he told me that he was going to sleep in Mikey's room until he Eric was 4 and then back in Eric's room "until we move to a bigger house."

"Oh really? we're moving to a bigger house?"

"Well yes. We'll need at least three apartments for Eric and Mikey and I when we grow up and our wife."

Our wife? I'm thinking where did he come up with this? Sam knows absolutely nothing about polygamy, but his teachers at his school (who knows that he is LDS) don't know this.

So I say, "How many wives are you guys going to have?"

Sam: "Just one. One of the dads will go to work to earn money, one will do the cooking, and one will ... will set the table. And the wife will just play with the babies."

Sounds good. And I'm sure you'll be the star of the new reality TV hit, Brother Husbands.

The End of Potty Training (For Now)

I wish I could report a raging success. Nope. I am just completely demoralized and tired of the potty defining my day and my relationship with my son.

We got a Jack-in-the-Box dragon which Eric thought was great. After peeing in his underwear all day, I told him that he couldn't play with the dragon until he went to the potty. He went four times that evening. The next morning, he woke up and said, "I have to go to the potty." Yay! Potty dance. Potty skittles. Play with the dragon. And 15 minutes later he pooped in his pants.

Later that day, I said "do you have to go potty?" "Nope." And 5 minutes later, he peed in his pants. So I thought I would take the "this is so inconvenient" tactic and say, "Oh man. Now that you've made a mess, you'll have to stop and clean it up." So I made him go in the bathroom and wash out his underwear. Of course, I had forgotten how much Eric likes to play in the water. So two hours later, I hear, "Oh! Poor Tinkerbell. Now I have to wash you out." Ivan, of course, is not so concerned about Eric's manliness now that he likes to pee on Tinkerbell.

So I gave up. The question is not one of ability, it's motivation. And for now, I don't feel like fighting that battle.

Potty Training Chronicles

We are so tired of poop. Sick of it. For the past 14 months, we have been changing two boys' diapers. That's over 4000 diapers. In fact Sam had this insight a few weeks ago:

Sam: "Mom, what smells like butt?"
Me: "I don't know."
Sam: "I think it's you because you spend so much time around Mikey's butt."

We've tried potty training a bit. Our potty-training expert friend says that with determined kids, you can either potty train (oh, excuse me; to be politically correct, I should be saying that our child is potty learning right now) before they turn 2 or after 3-1/2. In between, they are asserting their independence and there's nothing you can do. We have tried several times, but it just frustrates us.

Eric is a very determined, active, masculine child--full of energy and testosterone, and quite frankly, potty training takes a lot more work than changing the diapers.

But something snapped and we decided that we are going to give it another try now. So we were in Target last Saturday and one of the techniques is to let your child choose their own underwear. Well, we have very cool underwear left over from when Sam was that size--cars, diego, batman, mickey mouse, etc. so I hadn't really felt that I needed to do that. But we were near the underwear aisle, so we strolled down it.

Me: "Hey Eric. Do you want some cool new underwear?"
Eric (pointing): "I want those."

Sam and I looked at each other and Sam and I both started showing him other options. Don't you want the Superhero ones? Look at the awesome Toy Story underpants! Aren't these Diego ones coooool?

Nope. Eric only wanted Tinkerbell. The ones with frilly edges. Now, knowing what a boy he is, this was really funny to us. I called Ivan and asked him how he felt about his son wearing girl's underwear. He said, "I don't care as long as he stops wearing diapers." So we put them in the cart and kept going. Eager to enforce the idea that he would not be wearing diapers, I said to Eric, "Now Eric, you're going to want to make sure that you always go in the potty so that you can keep your Tinkerbell panties, excuse me, Tinkerbell underwear nice and clean."

Did it work like a charm? Nope. The next day, we put them on and he peed in them. The next day, we put some more on and he pooped in them. He peed in the next pair. "Oh, Eric," we'd say each time, "that is so sad that your Tinkerbell underwear are dirty." Later that night he peed again. "Oh Eric. That is so sad that they are all wet." "No," he said. "It is NOT sad."

So today, we were off to Target again, to try to find something to bribe him with. We got some Squinkys (I had never seen them before). They are tiny dolls/accessories/animals that come in little plastic balls that are in a gumball machine type thing. I figured this would be good because he could get a new one every time he went pee. But then we hit the jackpot. Target has this area with retro toys and we came across a dragon jack-in-the-box. He couldn't put it down!

Since we got home, he went pee in the potty 3 times (and kept his underpants clean) so that he could play with the dragon. I'm just hoping he gets the potty thing down before the novelty of the dragon wears off.

Oh, and we're starting to potty train Mikey now too. We're not going to go through two more years of diapers. Since Mikey is as compliant as he ever will be (which is not too compliant as we had an inkling since it took so long for him to be born), we figured we'd better get it done before the 18 month mark. Maybe he'll even be potty trained before Eric.