2am Richie leaves for his concrete job. Yup, you read correctly. 2 am. Thankfully this is not a normal schedule.
3-630 am wrestle with Gwen on the couch, the bed, and finally she settles for her pack n' play. We take numerous trips outside to breathe the cold night air. Miles even joins the party sometime around 330 completely wet, despite his pull-up. How did he manage that??
630 am Richie comes back from grinding concrete, showers and gets ready to go teach seminary all day. We wish each other luck.
730 am finish breakfasts and get the kids dressed, teeth brushed, hair done etc. We do a little mini school in our hallway. (We recently joined a joy school group, so now on most mornings Miles and I have "little school" where we review calendar etc. He loves it!)
845 am Gwen goes down for nap #1 and I put a movie on for Miles. I leap at the chance to get a shower. Miles comes in 2 minuets into my hot shower. "Mommy, Potty!" Stop the shower, dry off, help Miles go potty, finish my shower.
10am I'm almost done getting ready when I peak in on Miles in the living room. He looks ashamed. "When was the last time he pooped?" I think to myself. And then my entire soul fills with dread as I remember that he hasn't really pooped in almost 3 days, not counting the accident he had the previous morning. "Miles come here. Did you poop your pants?" And he runs away and tells me to go away. That seals it. I know what I'm in for.
1015am Clean up poop. I wish this was unusual. It's not though. I get so mad that I spank him twice. Yup, you heard me right. I spanked him! Twice!! Call child protective services on me if you'd like, but in my book he's lucky I didn't make him stand outside in the cold, stark naked for the next hour.
1030am Gwen wakes up prematurely. Feed her while I try and do something productive with Miles. We make a turkey and put what we're thankful for on the feathers. I think I'm such an awesome mom for doing this and Miles will totally appreciate it. I was wrong again.
11am Saw an idea on pinterest and decide to get ambitious and try it out. We put all the magnetic letters in the tub and then I let Miles "fish" for them with a magnet attached to a string and a wooden spoon. Success!
1130am Both kids are wanting to take a bath. Works for me, it's a nice time killer. Miles has to have 2 time outs during bath time because he keeps taking toys away from Gwen. Get kids out, lotioned and clothed. We play toys. Miles gets bored quickly, so we build a fort (a blanket thrown over the card table) and read some books inside. I am almost through an entire page before Miles loses interest and walks out.
1230 pm Lunch time! Put Gwen Down. Put Miles on potty. He poops in the potty!! Enter Parade! I make a big deal out if it and he gets to take something out of his time out box and eat a piece of candy. Wahoo!!
130pm. Nirvana. Both kids napping, I'm eating lunch and watching Office re-runs again. Just about to get to work on a Christmas present when Gwen wakes up. Poor thing sounds like a seal. Breaks my heart. And oh, what's this? A new tooth coming in? Yikes.
330 pm Gwen plays by herself on the floor like a champ while I make headway on the previously mentioned present.
4pm Miles wakes up from naps and informs me that in addition to being "wet" and "gross", that he has a "little poop" in his pants. He even shows me with his fingers how big he guesstimates the poop to be. "Really?" I think. "How much poop can one kid have in him?" His estimates were off, to say it delicately. I'm past mad. I give up. I don't even tell him that it's gross and yucky. Instead I throw out the underwear, clean him up, take both kids into their room and start crying.
430pm Miles quickly notices how sad I am, comes up to give me a hug and strokes my face softly and says, "Alright mommy?" I tell him I'm just sad right now. So he pats my back and says, "Come here mommy, it's ok, calm down." (only it's all in Miles-ese, so it's way cuter) He leaves momentarily and comes back with strips of toilet paper he's ripped off and wipes me eyes and gives me more hugs. I tell him mommy just needs a little time out right now. So I head to my room to relax and he comes in with more "tissues" and snuggles.
530pm Hail the conquering hero! Richie's back and had a great day of lessons. He assesses the situation and immediately takes Miles to go get some pizza. Bonus points for picking up a movie to watch later tonight!
6pm I'm currently sitting here all by myself because Richie took the kids out for a drive so that I could take a nice, long, hot bath. Best husband ever?? Yes sir.
How was your day? :)
10 comments:
this sounds so much like my days! two kids are rough! i'm glad you are brave enough to outline it though. it makes me feel better about crying/losing it some days. :-) hope it gets easier soon! glad richie came to the rescue and you got a little rest!
I could have cried with you! I remember days like that!
I sure hope Gwen starts feeling better soon!
This brings back memories! I had forgotten the specifics of days like that. I'm so glad you take the time to write them out. One day you will look back and say, "Oh ya, I'd forgotten..." I promise.
On a side note, if it was me, I would put Miles back in diapers for a couple of months and then try again.
I hope Gwen gets better soon!!
Love you - my heart is with you!
Potty training is such a nightmare! For some reason it took Theo quadruple the time it took Izzy. I agree with Jenn, I think I would put him back in diapers for a few months. It is amazing what a few months can do for them. I remember when Theo was where Miles is...using the potty sometimes, but still having lots of accidents. After I put him back in diapers (for a few more months) he got in trouble a lot less. Sick kids also add extra stress. Just know we love you and know exactly what you're going through!
Wow Rach! You really are a super mom. I never would've done all those creative things with the kids. Even though it sounds like a horrible day you are amazing! Goodluck - I'm excited to see you soon.
oh my heck rach!I am so sorry you had such a long, busy,overwhelming day. I hate those days. :( Hopefully you can rest up a little. Sometimes i think having two kids close together might have more challenges than having twins. but who knows? im not to the potty training stage yet... anyway love ya rach! hang inthere, and chin up!
Whenever someone asks me how long it took to potty train Raleigh I tell them "6 months and 1 day". 6 months of me pushing it and being inconsistent and yelling and spanking (I'm glad to hear its not just me : ), and 1 day where the stinkin' switch went off in his head and he just did it all by himself. It was really hard for me to accept that he just didn't get it yet, but when he did it was a miracle. I laugh now because Trenty is at the age when I started buying pullups and the little potty for Raleigh and there is no way Trent is ready to be potty trained. Anyway, gotta love hindsight. Good luck, and I hope Gwen feels better! Croup stinks!!
PS You are a rockstar! All those crafts and activites, I am impressed : )
I truly appreciate this post Rachel. I have similar days and it can be so discouraging. I'm glad I'm not the only one that goes through this stuff. This mommy business isn't all flowers and roses...there is a lot of poop involved. :) I'm sorry Gwen is sick.
my kids love to jump off the toilet and squeeze their buns, so that no poo comes out. ethan and cora have both been afraid to poo in the toilet. we bought the everyone poops book on amazon. cora has watched me poo. ethan watched scott poop. but i think the thing that worked best was to get them to relax and be distracted enough to stay on the toilet seat. with ethan we drew a train track on the toilet seat and he got to play with tohmas when he needed to go poo. with cora she plays with playdough on a tray. this works great to get them used to pooing sitting down and to be able to relax to go on the toilet. however this is only a poo time thing. so i watch carefully and look for the signs. but i can pretty much tell when the poo should be coming. and then i bust out the poo toy. the first time cora played with playdough for about 20 minutes. now she down to about 2-5.
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