Kids and Electronics Don't Mix

Ok, so it wasn't wine, it was actually iced tea, but you get the picture.

While the baby was distracting me, the two year old decided to climb up in my chair and knock over half a glass of tea. of course most of it went straight onto the keyboard. Lovely.

Thankfully, hubby was able to clean it up and dry it out. It actually is in better shape now than it was before the tea incident. I had no clue how much ick could collect inside a keyboard. Who knew...

However, this wasn't our only child/computer fiasco of the day. The baby decided to shove my printer off its shelf and onto the floor. I'm hoping its ok, but am a bit nervous of checking it out. Keep your fingers crossed that he didn't do any major damage.

As I just posted on my other blog, I am finally out from under a huge pile of work and deadlines, so I can get back to doing some things for me and not just things that pay. I still have plenty of paying work, but should have some time to blog and get to work on my professional website.

This week I'll be coming up with a plan for the baby's birthday. He's turning one on the 29th. I'm thinking we'll wait until the weekend after to have a small party. Weeknights aren't good for anyone around here. Anyone have any clue if they still sell Toy Story party supplies? He's really into Buzz, for some reason.

Image: Flickr - Siobhan Curran

Kids Do The Strangest Things

My kids are very smart for their ages. This may just be a biased mom talking, but they impress me on a daily basis with their newfound capabilities and understanding. That said, even with their budding intelligence, sometimes I wonder what ARE they thinking...

Now my oldest struggled with ADHD when he was young, but has since outgrown it and developed into a very mature and responsible young man. One of my favorite stories of the funny and strange things he did is the day he decided he wanted to water the lawn, but didn't feel like being outside. It was a warm, early spring day and I had the windows open. So he closed his door, pushed out the screen, hung the ladder from his bunk bed out the window(first story), climbed out and turned on the hose. By the time I noticed the door was closed, he was climbing back through the window, hose in hand and spraying water all over his room. I believe this was right around his fourth birthday.

The middle baby, who turned two in February, hasn't quite matched his big brother in the scheming and plotting department as yet, but I have a feeling his day is coming. His current obsession is with spices, particularly pepper. This morning's adventure took place while I was changing and dressing his brother. In about 5 minutes, while he was supposed to be watching the Wonder Pets, he managed to pepper half my house. He dragged a kitchen chair to the counter to get the pepper shaker, somehow quietly enough that I didn't hear the chair scraping the linoleum. He then peppered all the couches, and headed to the bedroom. He opened my bedroom door, which he had never managed to do before today, and peppered our bed and the pillows. I came out as he was coming back into the living room and when he saw me coming, he took off and jumped on his own bed. I knew he was up to something, and by the time I figured it out, most of the almost-full pepper was gone. I'm now washing all the sheets...And there's quite a bit of sneezing going on around here now.

The littlest has yet to do anything strange or mischievous, but I know it is only a matter of time. He has two very talented big brothers to learn from!

So what are your favorite "strange things that kids do" stories? I know mine can't be the only ones who find so many adventures!

We're Off And Running...Sort of...

My littlest has been working his way up to toddlerhood over the past few weeks. He's been cruising the furniture for awhile now and finally decided it's time to let go. He's still takes the occasional spill, but would rather walk than crawl now!

He seemed to get really brave, very quickly and has even figured out how to climb up onto the smaller pieces of furniture. I'm starting to see the baby slip away and the curious toddler emerging.


He'll be turning one on April 29th...where has the last year gone...

Potty Training Update

A couple weeks back I was asked for an update on the potty training situation.

The truth of the matter is things are not quite going as planned. Stomach bugs and not so nice reactions to apple juice have stalled our progress. However, we keep trying...

We have had one single success in peeing in the potty and well, several messes on the floor to clean up.

It seems he'd rather be naked than wear underwear or even a diaper these days and that leaves mommy with a bit of a dilemma. Do I succumb to the pleas to let him go to the potty (which doesn't actually happen) or do I keep him in diapers awhile longer?

Stay tuned to find out!

Peek-A-Boo!

Well, its been an insane week or so around here and between clients and my real life, I haven't had a minute to update things around here.

I have been quite busy trying to keep up with my ever-growing writing business. That has been on the front burner lately and keeping me up nights.

Also, this past week my oldest finally hit thirteen! My baby is all grown up...or so he thinks. Like it or not though, mama still knows best!

We also had a death in the family last week, followed by another yesterday. Two of my great aunts passed away, both from pneumonia. These were the oldest and youngest of 5 sisters, one in her 90's, the other her 80's, and the first of the sisters to pass on. Keep my grandma and her remaining sisters in your prayers, as it has been a very rough couple of weeks for them.

To round out the fun over here, the middle baby had some kind of viral thing going on, which started Saturday and finally finished Tuesday night. Fluctuating fevers, a little bit of stomach stuff, all around good times. Of course, he shared with mommy, but luckily we were the only ones hit, as of right now.

Here's to a better week for us and I hope all of you are having a better beginning of Spring than we are!

It's Potty Time! Part One

We are about to take the plunge, so to speak, and get down to business with potty training our toddler. His 2nd birthday is next Saturday, so I think it is high time the "big boy" gets down to business. We have casually introduced him to the potty, but really haven't worked on it to date. I've been searching around for advice and here are the techniques that I am planning to try:

• Skipping Pull-ups at home - Knowing this child, he might be a lazy potty trainer. I can see him being too engrossed in what he's doing and treating the pull-up as a diaper. I think we'll jump right in with regular underwear. We will use pull-ups or diapers when we go out and at night, in the beginning stages.

• Character Underwear - We're picking him up a few packs of underwear in some of his favorite characters. Thomas the Tank Engine, Diego, and Toy Story, if we can find them. I'm hoping this will get him interested enough to not want to wear diapers anymore.

• Sticker Charts- This kid loves stickers and also loves to show off what he's done. I think he'll love the idea of having a chart to show daddy, when he gets home at night. I even found a potty training chart with his favorite thing: trains!
  

• Sitting First - Even though it isn't what daddy does, we plan on training him to sit on the potty first, before we have to deal with aiming. I have the rest of my life to clean up the off-target sprays from the bathroom floor and wall.

I'm pretty sure he's ready, as he's showing interest, tells me when he needs changing, can take off his clothes, and follows simple instructions. If I'm wrong, no big deal, we can try again in a few months. Wish us luck when we start next week and I'll keep you posted on our progress and any further tips and tricks I come across.

Sick Kids? Alternatives To Cough And Cold Meds

As the mom of 2 children under preschool age, my heart was broken when the FDA announced their new recommendations regarding cough and cold medicines for children under 2. The findings suggested that children under 2 should not take any over the counter cold medicine, as there is a laundry list of serious side effects that could result. Many of these come from giving a child the incorrect dosage, as there is no actual recommended dosage for children of this age range.

First, I was a bit afraid, as the older of the pair of babies is just turning 2 and last year I gave him cough and cold meds on a couple of occasions. Once I read the study and realized that I had obviously done now harm, I began to wonder what I would do for the inevitable next cold. Nothing is more miserable than a coughing, stuffed up baby who can get no relief, so I started hunting for alternatives to medication. Here are a few treatments that I have tried or am going to try.

• Steam treatments - My mother always swore by a humidifier in our room when we were sick as kids. While I haven't made the purchase yet, I figure I can try the approach of turning on a hot shower and steaming up the bathroom to help to relieve the congestion of the next cold.

• Saline and Suction - Saline drops are supposed to loosen the mucus in the nose, and the suction bulb will help remove it. This does work, but boy do my kids scream whenever they see me coming with the bulb!

• Extra Liquids - Replacing fluids is said to keep any mucus from becoming too thick. While my kids aren't big water drinkers, if there is just enough juice added to give it some flavor, they'll take it. Oh, by the way, chicken soup counts, too!

• Vapor Rub - Many do not suggest using rubs on babies' chests, but I've read that you can put a little on their feet and it will give them some relief. There are also infant versions that are a bit less intense.

• Raise The Bed - Putting a rolled up towel or blanket under the head of the mattress might help them sleep a bit better and breathe easier. Just make sure you never put anything in a crib with an infant, under the mattress is much safer. This suggestion wouldn't work with my crew, but might work for someone else. My kids sleep all over the mattress, upside down, sideways...wild little sleepers!

If anyone else has some tried-and-true cold remedies for babies, please share them in the comments. I hope none of us will need them, but they will certainly be welcome if we do!