The Potty Training Wars

When I hear that title, usually I think of the mom who desperately wants to potty train her child, but the child is resisting as hard as he can.

Well in my case it is the opposite. Jacob wants to be potty trained. He goes on the potty a couple of times each day. He is convinced that he is a big boy, but he's not consistently dry. I don't know that he is ready, since he seems to go every ten minutes.

Today's casualty: The bathroom floor --Jacob had realized that he had begun (not finished) having a bm. 

So he trots himself into the bathroom. 

Moves the stool over.

Removes partially full diaper

Sits down and finishes his bm.

Then he tries to wipe himself

Then he comes and gets me when he realizes he just doesn't have those mad skillz yet.

What a mess I found! So I don't train until my children are doing bms consistently on the potty. This is backwards from what most experts say to do, but honestly it has worked for me. No children hiding in the corner doing their business. No messy underwear--which really is the worst. And the other stuff comes easy after that.

Jacob is convinced he is ready, and I should probably jump on his wagon and join him in his quest for independence. But oh the work, the panic, the short tether of the first months---I just don't want to!

The Tooth Fairy Leaves a Note for Beth

A little late . . .

So our weekly update is a bit late. I don't know why, but the last two days, I've been massively tired. Even now I'm yawning, and it's the middle of the day! Plus I still have so much to do! Oh well.

News for the week: Beth lost another tooth yesterday. Tragically the tooth fairy was caught in a freeze and ended up spending the night at the Easter Bunny's house last night. Things should be made right by the time she gets home. Doesn't work too well when Mom goes to bed at 9:00, and sleeps later than Beth--Dad forgot to leave a message for the tooth fairy.

Caleb is being Caleb. He made some slime at Joyschool, and is laughing manically about it right now. He is so cute. We have started reverence stickers, and going to bed stickers, and Caleb has taken right to it! He's doing a great job.

Jacob is my sweet buddy boy. When we tell him to go get into his bed, he climbs into our bed. Last night Rob and Jacob had a conversation about that. When Rob said, fine you can stay here for now, Jacob shot him a look and cocked his little head at him, as if to say I totally won Dad. Today during visiting teaching, he was ready to go, so he turned and said good bye to the sister, pointed to the door and signed to ask for a cookie.

Rob is doing pretty well. He's happy, since he got me my new computer. It gives him joy to mess on a brand new Mac. Which is another reason I posted late. And other than being tired, I'm good as well.

100 Book Challenge

One of the forums I go to has issued a 100 Book challenge.  That is a challenge to read a 100 books a year. Now I can't say how many books I normally read in a year, but I figured that it'd be fun to find out.  To get the challenge you have to read about two books a week.  Also I'll list books I reread, but I won't count them to my challenge. Since I mostly read YA I'm not usually reading books over 350 pages.  

Here's my list so far.  I'll just pick up a new post with new numbers.

1. Nicola and the Viscount
2. Victoria and the Rogue
3. Princess Mia
4. Princess on the Brink
5; Forever Princess
6. When Lightening Strikes

7. Code Name Cassandra

8. Safe House

9. Sanctuary

10 This Lullaby (by Sarah Dessen) My favorite of all her books

11. The Last Summer of You and Me (by Ann Brashares)  Awesome love story

12. 3 Willows by Ann Brashares

13. Miss Match

14. Catalyst By Laurie Halse Anderson (This book really reminded me of how I felt in high school as opposed to some of her other books (which are good too))

15. Senses Working Overtime

16. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (Incredible book)

17.  Prom

18. The Kind of Friends We Used to Be 

19. The Forgotten Warrior

20. The Host (I liked it better than the Twilight series)

21 My book--and yes I'm going to count the first time I read it through

And I may be leaving some out, but that's okay.

Reread books that I remember this year

Hunger Games (So awesome, that you can not imagine the awesomeness of the book)

Harry Potter 7

Valentines Day Slideshow

Here's my attempt at being thoughtful this year ... a little slideshow I made for Mim. Hope you enjoy it too. There's a higher quality video here. Music is by Peter Breinholt.


Valentines Day Slideshow from Robert Caldwell on Vimeo.

Beth's Storybook

Every year, our local PBS television station hosts a children's storybook contest, where kids write and illustrate their own book. Of course, Beth was really excited to give it a try, and here is a little video podcast we decided to make based on her book. She did it all herself, with a little help from her younger brother Caleb.


Beth's Storybook from Robert Caldwell on Vimeo.

Rock Band

We have a Rock Band party coming up this next weekend at a friend's house. I just wanted to let a few of the other bands know, we take Rock Band really seriously around here, and they can expect a challenge, as should be evidenced in the video below. Okay, actually, I kind of suck at it, and haven't played the game in months. Should be interesting. At least I can wear tight pants and do scissor kicks.