Smell my Butt, Mom!

Yeah, this is a sort of pre-potty training post, so if you can't handle those kinds of things, you may want to leave now.  I will add, there is nothing disgusting in this post, either, just funny.

In just a week from today, we plan on beginning to bootcamp-potty train the child.  This means a whole week, if necessary, on the porch for most of the day, with just underwear on and a potty standing by, with enforced visits every half hour or so.  The reason is that if I want to get her started in preschool this fall, she will need to be potty trained by then, and also, I think she is ready, just not willing.

Oh, she wants to wear the cute, big-girl undies, she just doesn't want to do her business on the potty.  Well, we'll see if we can change all that.  Daddy will be home with me all next week, so I'll have some backup, and we'll make another sticker chart, too. 

So last night, while we had a friend over, (a thankfully very understand friend), Maeve decided she wanted to take her pants off. Fine.  Then her diaper.  So I told her she should go put some undies on.  So she did.  There was a lot of flaunting of the Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck undies.  Then I did a quick check, after a few minutes, to see if she was still dry.  She was so proud of herself, she started bellowing, Smell my butt, Mom, I'm dry!

I couldn't stop laughing.  I know I shouldn't have laughed if I didn't want to keep hearing that phrase for the next week, but it was too late, she had cracked me up mightily.  So, visitors to our house be warned - you may encounter a half-naked child giggling and asking you to smell her butt - however, I don't recommend it!

Maeve and Super Heroes

So, I couldn't think of much to write about today, but I thought I'd just do a quickie on why I let Maeve watch Super Hero Squad on Netflix.  I mean, not that many three year old girls are into the Hulk, but oddly enough, I know another one.  Maeve's friend T has loved the Hulk for I'd say a couple years now.  She used to think he lived at Target because as a promo for the movie, they did adhesive Hulk footprints around the toy aisle, and now she tells everyone the Hulk is her boyfriend.  It's pretty cute.

Maeve hasn't gone so far as to imagine dating the Hulk, but every time I ask her who her favorite Super Hero is on the Squad, she tells me The big guy.  And when I ask her if she means the big, green guy, she says yes.  So she hasn't learned his name yet, but she thinks he's funny.

I let Maeve watch Super Hero Squad for a couple of reasons, for one, because her dad loves a lot of those characters, and it gives them something to enjoy together.  Also, considering the subject matter, it's not a very violent show, nor does it often employ words I don't want her using. (i.e. Stupid, idiot, hate, etc)  It's generally a very clean, funny, totally random show with lots of comic references that go over my head, and a few that I catch.  But I kind of love Captain America, he's like a cross between Captain Kirk and The Tick.

Anyway, happy Friday, friends, and if your kid is into it, I say give Super Hero Squad a chance.  It's not remotely educational, but it's pretty fun.

Day-Long Tantrum Adventures

"The tantrum isn't even really about what just happened; it can be the release of pent-up frustration over days of struggles of trying to do the right thing, and learning to be a socialized little person." - Web MD

Yesterday Maeve was in tantrum mode from about 9am to 3pm, when she finally fell asleep on the couch.  It was literally an insane day  Anytime any little thing displeased her, she cried about it and screamed and threw things for, oh, an hour.  I had errands I needed to run and I literally could not, since the one trip we took in the car was composed of screaming all the way there (because I forgot her special blanket) and all the way back (because I didn't let her go into the library while she was screaming), so I gave up and kept her home.

I tried so many different tactics yesterday; I held her close, I gave her space, I tried to do deep breathing, singing, dancing, reading, drawing, and as many other distractions as I could think of.  She kept screaming at me that she wanted me to calm her down, and I would gently tell her that only she can calm herself.

But here's one thing I didn't do yesterday, that feels like a huge victory for me: I didn't get angry.  I didn't yell at her.  I was the still point in the middle of rough waters all day.  I don't know if I was infuriating her by not getting riled up, but it sure felt better than the day before when I had let her get under my skin. 

And I forgot my oh-so important mantra of childhood: sleep wins.

Murphy's Blog Writing Law

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" - Murphy

You may be unaware that there is a Murphy's law in effect for bloggers.  Moms know about this, which is why we almost always refuse to discuss our children's napping habits, because the minute we tell somebody how great our kid is sleeping, they immediately suspend good sleep behavior and turn into night owls.

For bloggers, it means that when I write about how much I love Maeve, how I adore seizing every beautiful moment with her, then I am doomed to be short-tempered, anxious, and mostly crazy for the rest of the day, becoming the opposite of my blogging persona.

This definitely happened yesterday.  I felt so serene after I posted my blog (the child was not yet awake), and we had a good morning up until I had to nearly drag her out of the store where I work.  She had a meltdown that started at 11 and did not end until 12 30, at which point I gave up on trying to get her to nap. 

Then I just kept trying to find ways to keep her busy where we didn't have to interact much, because I was all out of patience and nice-mommy juice.  Upon reflection, some coffee might have been in order.  At any rate, when Daddy got home, I stuck around just long enough for him to get a few important things done, then I flew the coop.

After an hour and a half of thrift store and Asian grocery store therapy, I felt ready to return and put the child to bed.  I'm just so grateful to have a husband who senses when I'm about to go mad and sends me away, and I'm grateful for the giant mojito I made myself after the lights went out upstairs.  You have to get through the day any way you can, as kindly and safely as possible, and I think I did that yesterday.   Today?  Don't jinx it.

Just Two Dandelion Girls

“The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world.” - anon

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."--Buddha

I have always been a dandelion girl.  My dad used to yell at me for blowing dandelions in the yard and spreading them around, but I've always wanted more, not less.  My mother taught me, early on, how to make dandelion chains for necklaces, crowns, and other ornamentation.  I showed Maeve how yesterday, but I think she's a bit young to pick it up.

I wore dandelions on my head or around my neck just about every summery day in high school, so much so that I became known for it.  Like, people stopped staring at me and and just shrugged.  High school was merciful to me that way.  I even painted dandelions on my graduation cap, bright yellow against the traditional deep blue.

So when I had the chance, yesterday, I told the two little girls with whom I was on a picnic to run and get me heaps of dandelions.  As many as they could, with as long of stems as they could manage, and soon I had piles of sunshine flowers in front of me.  I quickly strung them into crowns and decorated the girls and myself.

I believe in the beauty of the everyday ephemeral.  There are moments that seem common as weeds, but shine as bright as that unmistakeable yellow, and they are worth celebrating, holding on to, turning into ornaments.