This morning, The Boy got downstairs before I did. He had already been in to visit Grandma, who had done him the courtesy of removing his wet night diaper. I was getting dressed and then had to get Meatball, who was awake (though content). When we arrived downstairs, The Boy was going through the drawers in the bathroom and had picked out a pair of Elmo underpants. I'm thinking, oh crap--where's the puddle?
Turns out, he had taken himself to the bathroom and had gone in the Elmo potty. Himself!
Breakfast was also pee-free.
Unfortunately, as I cleaned up from breakfast, he had wandered off and in the few minutes had gone poo in his Elmo underpants.
Can't win 'em all.
But that is HUGE progress, that he went by himself with no prodding or cajoling on our part, just a suggesting several minutes earlier that he might want to try.
Scan results come today, so we're probably just going to stay home.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Big Day in Medicine
CT Scans AND Nephrology today. Long afternoon.
We've learned, now, that we don't need or even want to schedule two appointments on the same day, because what's the point? We live close to the hospital and it's not that difficult to just show up on two different days.
So the CT procedure at this hospital is, they have patients stop eating 3 hours before. The patient arrives two hours before. Then the patient has to drink the contrast. They mix it in a drink and divide it up into three cups. The patient is in a room doing nothing but drinking this stuff. If The Boy were an older child, he'd just drink the cup at the designated time and spend the other 29 minutes of each half-hour doing whatever he felt like, but naturally, it was a bit of a production and he didn't drink all of it. He did okay, drinking more than half, but it took a bit longer than we thought because the people over in radiology were debating how much was really enough...
It's not too much fun.
But the nice thing is, he doesn't need to go without food or drink for any real length of time because they don't sedate him.
The CT was VERY easy, particularly since I brought Toy Story (knowing that they have a DVD player and a TV above the CT). This is his current favorite film. The Boy didn't even complain, because all he had to do was lie there and watch his movie while the machine moved him in and out a few times.
And when he was done, he got a pirate hat.
THEN up to nephrology. Blood pressure is good. He's having the dose of his Enalapril dropped, so we'll only give it in the morning. He also might not need the Bicarb anymore. Tricky thing about the Enalapril is that while it does protect the kidney in some ways, it also can skew the creatinine level, which was measuring high today. His last blood chemistry showed normal levels of electrolytes, including potassium.
He needed a blood draw in the lab, which I figured, so I had them leave the port accessed from the scan. But then, we had to go to the lab, which was in a different location. Only to find out that the people in the lab do not do blood draws from ports. They have to call the IV team.
Really? Are you serious? Never mind that I could easily do it MYSELF if I had the proper equipment in my hands.
The good news is that during the wait for the IV team (which never showed up), The Boy did produce the urine sample. In the bag.
The bad news is that since I was sick of waiting for the IV team, he had to get his blood drawn from his arm after all. But I should have known better--that's what they do all day, so they don't really have trouble with it.
We get results from both the CT scan and from the lab tomorrow. I'm trying not to think about it too much.
Two successful potty visits today! The first was, The Boy woke up at 6 AM and he wanted a new diaper. I convinced him to go to the potty, and although there was a little bit of poo in it, a LOT more went into the toilet. I'm pleased that it wasn't in either a diaper or even in his little potty, because cleanup would have been a major pain. The other was a pee right before his bath. Unfortunately, I could not get him to pee in a cup today. Maybe next time.
Tomorrow might be nice out, after some rain in the morning. Maybe we'll do some fun stuff to keep our minds off of scanxiety.
We've learned, now, that we don't need or even want to schedule two appointments on the same day, because what's the point? We live close to the hospital and it's not that difficult to just show up on two different days.
So the CT procedure at this hospital is, they have patients stop eating 3 hours before. The patient arrives two hours before. Then the patient has to drink the contrast. They mix it in a drink and divide it up into three cups. The patient is in a room doing nothing but drinking this stuff. If The Boy were an older child, he'd just drink the cup at the designated time and spend the other 29 minutes of each half-hour doing whatever he felt like, but naturally, it was a bit of a production and he didn't drink all of it. He did okay, drinking more than half, but it took a bit longer than we thought because the people over in radiology were debating how much was really enough...
It's not too much fun.
But the nice thing is, he doesn't need to go without food or drink for any real length of time because they don't sedate him.
The CT was VERY easy, particularly since I brought Toy Story (knowing that they have a DVD player and a TV above the CT). This is his current favorite film. The Boy didn't even complain, because all he had to do was lie there and watch his movie while the machine moved him in and out a few times.
And when he was done, he got a pirate hat.
THEN up to nephrology. Blood pressure is good. He's having the dose of his Enalapril dropped, so we'll only give it in the morning. He also might not need the Bicarb anymore. Tricky thing about the Enalapril is that while it does protect the kidney in some ways, it also can skew the creatinine level, which was measuring high today. His last blood chemistry showed normal levels of electrolytes, including potassium.
He needed a blood draw in the lab, which I figured, so I had them leave the port accessed from the scan. But then, we had to go to the lab, which was in a different location. Only to find out that the people in the lab do not do blood draws from ports. They have to call the IV team.
Really? Are you serious? Never mind that I could easily do it MYSELF if I had the proper equipment in my hands.
The good news is that during the wait for the IV team (which never showed up), The Boy did produce the urine sample. In the bag.
The bad news is that since I was sick of waiting for the IV team, he had to get his blood drawn from his arm after all. But I should have known better--that's what they do all day, so they don't really have trouble with it.
We get results from both the CT scan and from the lab tomorrow. I'm trying not to think about it too much.
Two successful potty visits today! The first was, The Boy woke up at 6 AM and he wanted a new diaper. I convinced him to go to the potty, and although there was a little bit of poo in it, a LOT more went into the toilet. I'm pleased that it wasn't in either a diaper or even in his little potty, because cleanup would have been a major pain. The other was a pee right before his bath. Unfortunately, I could not get him to pee in a cup today. Maybe next time.
Tomorrow might be nice out, after some rain in the morning. Maybe we'll do some fun stuff to keep our minds off of scanxiety.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Ah, industry...
Now I know I'm a giant hippie, because I keep seeing these ridiculous ads online for baby stuff and getting irritated.
"The Gerber Generation." Gerber food is processed crap, and the more I hear and the more I promote finger food over purees and cereal for babies starting cereal, the angrier I get about parents and doctors being duped by stupid baby food companies. And their stupid jars of crap. And packages of crap. And of course, Gerber was bought by Nestle around the time that The Boy was born, so "The Gerber Generation" includes Nestle baby formula.
And, as usual, because of our culture being a formula-feeding culture despite the still-fledgling attempt to encourage mothers to feed their children as nature intended, I have to include the usual caveat that some mothers have to use formula for one reason or another and that I don't mean to judge mothers who legitimately have trouble breastfeeding. Which is true, but since this discussion isn't so much about formula vs. breastfeeding, I'm exasperated by the fact that if I don't say something to that effect, someone will pick on the post for being judgmental about formula-feeding mothers. I guarantee it.
Anyhow, I have seen the ads recently about "The Gerber Generation" and I stick my tongue out at them. The messed-up thing is that SO many parents think that because Gerber is a baby-food company, everything that they make is obviously healthy and is ideal for babies. And they have that same picture of a baby that you grew up with, so obviously it is a wholesome company. Gerber food is expensive, processed, and the icing on the cake is that Nestle owns them, and Nestle's aggressive marketing of formula in developing countries has been jeopardizing the lives of babies for decades. So by purchasing this Gerber junk, you are supporting the promotion of formula to families that can't afford it, when breastmilk is free and can't be contaminated due to lack of clean drinking water. Way to go.
Also, did you know that the same people who make Huggies disposable diapers and Pull-Ups also make Depends undergarments? So a person can spend so much MORE time creating disposable diaper garbage thanks in part to the Kimberly-Clark company.
No thank you to the Pull-Ups, by the way. I have enough trouble convincing The Boy that he can't pee in his underpants without making a puddle. Pull-Ups are just a diaper that slides on and off in a slightly easier fashion. For educational purposes, we'll just have to keep the puddles.
"The Gerber Generation." Gerber food is processed crap, and the more I hear and the more I promote finger food over purees and cereal for babies starting cereal, the angrier I get about parents and doctors being duped by stupid baby food companies. And their stupid jars of crap. And packages of crap. And of course, Gerber was bought by Nestle around the time that The Boy was born, so "The Gerber Generation" includes Nestle baby formula.
And, as usual, because of our culture being a formula-feeding culture despite the still-fledgling attempt to encourage mothers to feed their children as nature intended, I have to include the usual caveat that some mothers have to use formula for one reason or another and that I don't mean to judge mothers who legitimately have trouble breastfeeding. Which is true, but since this discussion isn't so much about formula vs. breastfeeding, I'm exasperated by the fact that if I don't say something to that effect, someone will pick on the post for being judgmental about formula-feeding mothers. I guarantee it.
Anyhow, I have seen the ads recently about "The Gerber Generation" and I stick my tongue out at them. The messed-up thing is that SO many parents think that because Gerber is a baby-food company, everything that they make is obviously healthy and is ideal for babies. And they have that same picture of a baby that you grew up with, so obviously it is a wholesome company. Gerber food is expensive, processed, and the icing on the cake is that Nestle owns them, and Nestle's aggressive marketing of formula in developing countries has been jeopardizing the lives of babies for decades. So by purchasing this Gerber junk, you are supporting the promotion of formula to families that can't afford it, when breastmilk is free and can't be contaminated due to lack of clean drinking water. Way to go.
Also, did you know that the same people who make Huggies disposable diapers and Pull-Ups also make Depends undergarments? So a person can spend so much MORE time creating disposable diaper garbage thanks in part to the Kimberly-Clark company.
No thank you to the Pull-Ups, by the way. I have enough trouble convincing The Boy that he can't pee in his underpants without making a puddle. Pull-Ups are just a diaper that slides on and off in a slightly easier fashion. For educational purposes, we'll just have to keep the puddles.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Bass Bow 911
It's broken. As in, it cracked. I was at rehearsal, putting rosin on the bow and somehow it just got away from me. Yikes!
It was an expensive bow, although it isn't nearly the caliber of bow that I should be using on the type of bass that I have. So I guess it wasn't expensive by bow standards but it's still a lot of money.
I have another. It's a student bow. I left rehearsal and found the extra bow at home, so I packed it up and went right back to rehearsal.
I have an appointment at 2:00 to see if my bow can be fixed.
If not, I'm stuck with the old one for awhile. If I can justify the expense of a new bow by spending more time practicing my instrument, then I'll get a new bow once we have the money. Unless I spend the time working on my instrument, I don't think I deserve a new bow.
It was an expensive bow, although it isn't nearly the caliber of bow that I should be using on the type of bass that I have. So I guess it wasn't expensive by bow standards but it's still a lot of money.
I have another. It's a student bow. I left rehearsal and found the extra bow at home, so I packed it up and went right back to rehearsal.
I have an appointment at 2:00 to see if my bow can be fixed.
If not, I'm stuck with the old one for awhile. If I can justify the expense of a new bow by spending more time practicing my instrument, then I'll get a new bow once we have the money. Unless I spend the time working on my instrument, I don't think I deserve a new bow.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday Mundane
The more exciting events of today were a pee and poo in the potty right after nap on the part of The Boy and my first successful lunch outing with both children, and just me.
I guess that's not such a bad thing, as you know how much we enjoy and prefer the simpler, more mundane aspects of life with little kids. Could be sarcastic, but isn't.
We woke up before Daddy had left for work and had breakfast. We puttered around the house for awhile, doing assorted playing. I have discovered, unhappily, that The Boy has a habit of pushing Meatball over when he is unhappy about having to share his toys. Not such a problem on the bed, but it sounds rather painful when it is on the floor. I haven't figured out how to address the problem other than to pick up The Boy and tell him not to. If anyone has any suggestions, please share.
I'm being paged, so...
Continued...
Lunch with the boys was touch-and-go. I did have to get them back in the stroller and prepare to leave, as The Boy wasn't cooperating as much as he could, but he became interested in talking about what was on the menu, things improved. He had macaroni and cheese for lunch. He also got applesauce, but it was chunky, so he didn't like it for some reason. Meatball and I shared a hot turkey sandwich and a salad. He enjoyed turkey, bread, cucumbers, lettuce, and raw onions.
I also enjoy raw onions--who am I to judge?
When we arrived at home, we all napped. The Boy napped in underpants, on a pad. When he awoke from his nap, he felt that he needed to use the potty. And he did.
We were able to get outside for a walk during the brief period of time in the afternoon when it wasn't raining. We went to visit a friend of mine whose phone number I didn't have, but I knew her address. Her daughter is 8 months old. Soon, we'll get to play, but this time, she was just about to nap. My boys had no problem playing with her toys while she napped. The Boy left the house in underpants and kept them dry!
Unfortunately, when he was having his snack upon our arrival at home, I noticed a puddle on the floor. So much for that. He really doesn't like interrupting his meals in order to use the potty.
I can definitely see how potty training is easier when you don't have other children around to distract you. You have to watch your toddler like a hawk to read the signs that he is going to go or that he is trying to hold it. Much like EC. Of course, had I been able to potty-train him early when he was first showing interest, it wouldn't have been an issue. Or had I just done EC with him or with Meatball...I'm very jealous of people who are actually able to do Elimination Communication. I understand the concept and it makes all kinds of sense--you're doing the same potty-training things and watching your child to see when they have to go, but you're doing it with babies instead of willful 2-year-olds. And in general, most of the moms that I know of who do EC aren't doing it for extra credit or to brag about how their child is potty trained at 2 months--they're doing it because it is MUCH more hygienic. The child uses the potty on their own at only a slightly earlier age than a child who is in diapers, but there's no fundamental difference in time spent changing diapers versus time spent watching and reading cues at the beginning of the EC process. Major criticism of this way of doing things says "But the child isn't trained--the parent is trained to know when the kid is going to go!" Typical response: "So?"
That digression aside, we're still sitting at the mostly-not-trained stage with The Boy. He wears underpants at home frequently, and he goes in them frequently. One success a day, just about, and everything else is puddles. Saves diaper laundry, though.
On Saturday night, I went to Wine Club, at a friend's house. It was a lot of fun. Buncha girls getting together to drink wine and act silly. And I got to talk about something other than poo.
I guess that's not such a bad thing, as you know how much we enjoy and prefer the simpler, more mundane aspects of life with little kids. Could be sarcastic, but isn't.
We woke up before Daddy had left for work and had breakfast. We puttered around the house for awhile, doing assorted playing. I have discovered, unhappily, that The Boy has a habit of pushing Meatball over when he is unhappy about having to share his toys. Not such a problem on the bed, but it sounds rather painful when it is on the floor. I haven't figured out how to address the problem other than to pick up The Boy and tell him not to. If anyone has any suggestions, please share.
I'm being paged, so...
Continued...
Lunch with the boys was touch-and-go. I did have to get them back in the stroller and prepare to leave, as The Boy wasn't cooperating as much as he could, but he became interested in talking about what was on the menu, things improved. He had macaroni and cheese for lunch. He also got applesauce, but it was chunky, so he didn't like it for some reason. Meatball and I shared a hot turkey sandwich and a salad. He enjoyed turkey, bread, cucumbers, lettuce, and raw onions.
I also enjoy raw onions--who am I to judge?
When we arrived at home, we all napped. The Boy napped in underpants, on a pad. When he awoke from his nap, he felt that he needed to use the potty. And he did.
We were able to get outside for a walk during the brief period of time in the afternoon when it wasn't raining. We went to visit a friend of mine whose phone number I didn't have, but I knew her address. Her daughter is 8 months old. Soon, we'll get to play, but this time, she was just about to nap. My boys had no problem playing with her toys while she napped. The Boy left the house in underpants and kept them dry!
Unfortunately, when he was having his snack upon our arrival at home, I noticed a puddle on the floor. So much for that. He really doesn't like interrupting his meals in order to use the potty.
I can definitely see how potty training is easier when you don't have other children around to distract you. You have to watch your toddler like a hawk to read the signs that he is going to go or that he is trying to hold it. Much like EC. Of course, had I been able to potty-train him early when he was first showing interest, it wouldn't have been an issue. Or had I just done EC with him or with Meatball...I'm very jealous of people who are actually able to do Elimination Communication. I understand the concept and it makes all kinds of sense--you're doing the same potty-training things and watching your child to see when they have to go, but you're doing it with babies instead of willful 2-year-olds. And in general, most of the moms that I know of who do EC aren't doing it for extra credit or to brag about how their child is potty trained at 2 months--they're doing it because it is MUCH more hygienic. The child uses the potty on their own at only a slightly earlier age than a child who is in diapers, but there's no fundamental difference in time spent changing diapers versus time spent watching and reading cues at the beginning of the EC process. Major criticism of this way of doing things says "But the child isn't trained--the parent is trained to know when the kid is going to go!" Typical response: "So?"
That digression aside, we're still sitting at the mostly-not-trained stage with The Boy. He wears underpants at home frequently, and he goes in them frequently. One success a day, just about, and everything else is puddles. Saves diaper laundry, though.
On Saturday night, I went to Wine Club, at a friend's house. It was a lot of fun. Buncha girls getting together to drink wine and act silly. And I got to talk about something other than poo.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Trying it, and
I'm not sure I like it.
Yesterday and today, Musical Daddy and I both went to work, him to his normal long-term sub job, and me to teach music at the middle school down the street. So close that I walked and even came home for lunch.
The problem with both of us working is very simple--neither of us is home to take care of the children. Not that anything went horribly wrong, mind you, but yesterday and today the boys were kinda passed back and forth over the course of the day and it's sometimes hard to keep track. Grandma was mostly in charge, but she had help. While I don't have anything but nice things to say about my mother or the lovely people that help us around the house, it gets confusing when the children are being cared for by multiple people and little things get lost. Point being, we LIKE it when one of us is with the children more often.
Grandma did a wonderful thing for The Boy and took him to the Shabbat program at the JCC. It was definitely difficult for her, since she worked before and had a lunch date with cousins after.
The talk is also about starting The Boy in preschool in the fall. I don't know if I want to do it. I don't know how important it is, and I don't know if he's ready. Sure, he needs to learn how to socialize eventually, but I'm just not in such a rush to put him in school of any sort...let him just do his own learning for awhile, considering how much he likes it. Also, if both Musical Daddy and I are working, the money goes toward child care for both boys. If only one of us is working, it is probably not financially possible for us to spend the money on preschool. We may be better off sticking with activities at the JCC and things like that, now that we know that we'll be able to get out of the house.
I guess I'm down on school right now. Sad, considering that I'm a teacher. Yesterday and today, I subbed for a music teacher who left music material for the kids but nothing that involved singing or performing and barely involved listening. The students read little magazine articles and answered questions, and the majority of the kids looked for the wording of the question directly from the text so as not to actually have to spend the time doing the reading. Not a single question asked involved any sort of actual critical thinking or creative thinking...just low-level repetition (Bloom's fans: knowledge level only!). Granted, this is middle school, and middle school is terrible, but elementary school isn't much better.
I just don't want to ruin his enthusiasm by sending him to school just yet. I dread the first day that one of my sons (probably both) comes home sad because a teacher shamed him for failing to conform. I understand that schools need to be run a certain way for safety purposes and that, unfortunately, there are a lot of kids who require more direction. I know a great number of teachers who are wonderful, who are compassionate and caring and also encourage kids to enjoy learning, not just for the sake of doing their work but because the subject matter is interesting. I have also seen a lot of teachers whose bluster and silver steam seem to lack substance, and the bluster is all that they have.
So I don't know...it is possible that Musical Daddy and I will both find wonderful jobs in the fall that we just can't pass up, in which case we find a stable care situation where the kids are following a predictable weekly schedule. It would probably be our ideal for one of us to find a full-time job and for the other to do some other side work.
I used to be so passionate about the work that I did, but to tell the truth, I don't think that I'll ever get that back, so I'm not really itching to get back in the classroom.
Yesterday and today, Musical Daddy and I both went to work, him to his normal long-term sub job, and me to teach music at the middle school down the street. So close that I walked and even came home for lunch.
The problem with both of us working is very simple--neither of us is home to take care of the children. Not that anything went horribly wrong, mind you, but yesterday and today the boys were kinda passed back and forth over the course of the day and it's sometimes hard to keep track. Grandma was mostly in charge, but she had help. While I don't have anything but nice things to say about my mother or the lovely people that help us around the house, it gets confusing when the children are being cared for by multiple people and little things get lost. Point being, we LIKE it when one of us is with the children more often.
Grandma did a wonderful thing for The Boy and took him to the Shabbat program at the JCC. It was definitely difficult for her, since she worked before and had a lunch date with cousins after.
The talk is also about starting The Boy in preschool in the fall. I don't know if I want to do it. I don't know how important it is, and I don't know if he's ready. Sure, he needs to learn how to socialize eventually, but I'm just not in such a rush to put him in school of any sort...let him just do his own learning for awhile, considering how much he likes it. Also, if both Musical Daddy and I are working, the money goes toward child care for both boys. If only one of us is working, it is probably not financially possible for us to spend the money on preschool. We may be better off sticking with activities at the JCC and things like that, now that we know that we'll be able to get out of the house.
I guess I'm down on school right now. Sad, considering that I'm a teacher. Yesterday and today, I subbed for a music teacher who left music material for the kids but nothing that involved singing or performing and barely involved listening. The students read little magazine articles and answered questions, and the majority of the kids looked for the wording of the question directly from the text so as not to actually have to spend the time doing the reading. Not a single question asked involved any sort of actual critical thinking or creative thinking...just low-level repetition (Bloom's fans: knowledge level only!). Granted, this is middle school, and middle school is terrible, but elementary school isn't much better.
I just don't want to ruin his enthusiasm by sending him to school just yet. I dread the first day that one of my sons (probably both) comes home sad because a teacher shamed him for failing to conform. I understand that schools need to be run a certain way for safety purposes and that, unfortunately, there are a lot of kids who require more direction. I know a great number of teachers who are wonderful, who are compassionate and caring and also encourage kids to enjoy learning, not just for the sake of doing their work but because the subject matter is interesting. I have also seen a lot of teachers whose bluster and silver steam seem to lack substance, and the bluster is all that they have.
So I don't know...it is possible that Musical Daddy and I will both find wonderful jobs in the fall that we just can't pass up, in which case we find a stable care situation where the kids are following a predictable weekly schedule. It would probably be our ideal for one of us to find a full-time job and for the other to do some other side work.
I used to be so passionate about the work that I did, but to tell the truth, I don't think that I'll ever get that back, so I'm not really itching to get back in the classroom.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Truckin'
No real imaginative title today; I just like trucks. Or maybe that's The Boy.
This week, as I mentioned, we had our "go be normal" meeting. Of course, a few days later, that was followed by a few hours spent at the clinic for an infusion. The Boy needs this dose and one more, in another month or so, of Pentamidine. That's the prophylactic antibiotic.
And then we still have to go back to the clinic tomorrow to recheck his counts, as his hemoglobin was pretty low. At a level 7.8 he was still running around and wanting to play all the time, so they didn't transfuse. They expect that his levels will eventually go back up on their own. Takes awhile, though.
Also, we still need to do scans and visit the renal clinic.
Not quite normal yet.
The weather was just lovely for most of the week, so we tried to spend at least a little bit of time outside. The Boy is loving his swingset and sandbox and playhouse, as is Meatball.
Even more exciting is that The Boy is loving Meatball! He is sad when he goes anywhere without his little brother and is so excited to see him, either in the car or at home.
The Boy faces forward and Meatball faces backward in the car, so they are looking right at each other.
We took a short trip to Washington, D.C. We were there for less than a day. The purpose of the trip was to see family. Added bonus: we got to have breakfast with some wonderful friends. Family lunch was a lot of fun. We just don't get to see many of these family members all that often, and it was nice to have the kids see them. Particularly since the kids were really very good!
The travel itself wasn't terrifically difficult with the kids, although getting on the road was a challenge. Musical Daddy works downtown, and the thing to do, with him working downtown, is NOT to try and pick him up from work. Instead, should we travel east again while he is working in this job, he should take the bus that he usually takes and get off at the end of the line.
The Boy enjoys "singing" along with "You've Got a Friend In Me" from Toy Story, which also amused Meatball. I put "singing" in quotes not because I'm an uppity musician who knows that my son isn't developmentally ready to carry a tune just yet but because he starts off saying the words and screeches the end of every phrase, which sends Meatball into laughing fits. He does that with the alphabet song as well.
Meatball, by the way, bolts for the stairs every chance he gets. He thoroughly enjoys the challenge of climbing the steps. He has also just started to push up on his hands and feet, meaning that standing on his own will happen before we know it. Oy.
Potty training is crawling along for The Boy. He likes his underpants, but he doesn't necessarily like to put in the work that it takes to keep them clean and dry. We have gotten one potty pee about every other day, and a proper one, where he feels that he has to go and, escorted, he goes. He knows how to pull his underpants up and down too. I have been toying with the idea of this method of intensifying the potty process and really getting The Boy focused on it, as he will only think about going when someone is on him about it. The method is supposed to take only a few hours; when my mother used it on me it took 3 days. I might have been stubborn.
It is potty bootcamp. You're supposed to kick everyone else out of the house and pretty much exclusively keep the child in one room. You give drinks and snacks, the type that you wouldn't ordinarily want the kid to have all the time, and you have frequent potty trips and pants inspections. Accidents are followed by "practice" where the child has to practice going back and forth to the potty and taking down his pants and such. But before all this, the child teaches a doll how to use the potty.
I don't know when we're going to do it, or if we're even going to do it this way, but I have picked up a few things from the book.
I decided that The Boy needed to be able to pull his underpants up and down. I showed him how multiple times, and sometimes he'd get mad and say "Mum do it!" But now he knows how.
Then, I decided to teach him to check for dry pants. Sometimes, dry pants mean jellybeans. Other times, they mean hugs and kisses. The book indicates that the focus should be on staying dry, and that using the toilet is the means by which that should happen. Except that The Boy doesn't go that often, so he really does stay dry for awhile.
But then, a newly potty trained child isn't any easier to deal with than a child in diapers, I predict. If you're out somewhere and your child has to go, you have to find the potty RIGHT AWAY. You have to change the wet clothes just like you have to change the diapers. But sooner, because they get more upset about it.
Even so, The Boy is ready. And he can hold up his pants even in underwear. Barely.
This week, as I mentioned, we had our "go be normal" meeting. Of course, a few days later, that was followed by a few hours spent at the clinic for an infusion. The Boy needs this dose and one more, in another month or so, of Pentamidine. That's the prophylactic antibiotic.
And then we still have to go back to the clinic tomorrow to recheck his counts, as his hemoglobin was pretty low. At a level 7.8 he was still running around and wanting to play all the time, so they didn't transfuse. They expect that his levels will eventually go back up on their own. Takes awhile, though.
Also, we still need to do scans and visit the renal clinic.
Not quite normal yet.
The weather was just lovely for most of the week, so we tried to spend at least a little bit of time outside. The Boy is loving his swingset and sandbox and playhouse, as is Meatball.
Even more exciting is that The Boy is loving Meatball! He is sad when he goes anywhere without his little brother and is so excited to see him, either in the car or at home.
The Boy faces forward and Meatball faces backward in the car, so they are looking right at each other.
We took a short trip to Washington, D.C. We were there for less than a day. The purpose of the trip was to see family. Added bonus: we got to have breakfast with some wonderful friends. Family lunch was a lot of fun. We just don't get to see many of these family members all that often, and it was nice to have the kids see them. Particularly since the kids were really very good!
The travel itself wasn't terrifically difficult with the kids, although getting on the road was a challenge. Musical Daddy works downtown, and the thing to do, with him working downtown, is NOT to try and pick him up from work. Instead, should we travel east again while he is working in this job, he should take the bus that he usually takes and get off at the end of the line.
The Boy enjoys "singing" along with "You've Got a Friend In Me" from Toy Story, which also amused Meatball. I put "singing" in quotes not because I'm an uppity musician who knows that my son isn't developmentally ready to carry a tune just yet but because he starts off saying the words and screeches the end of every phrase, which sends Meatball into laughing fits. He does that with the alphabet song as well.
Meatball, by the way, bolts for the stairs every chance he gets. He thoroughly enjoys the challenge of climbing the steps. He has also just started to push up on his hands and feet, meaning that standing on his own will happen before we know it. Oy.
Potty training is crawling along for The Boy. He likes his underpants, but he doesn't necessarily like to put in the work that it takes to keep them clean and dry. We have gotten one potty pee about every other day, and a proper one, where he feels that he has to go and, escorted, he goes. He knows how to pull his underpants up and down too. I have been toying with the idea of this method of intensifying the potty process and really getting The Boy focused on it, as he will only think about going when someone is on him about it. The method is supposed to take only a few hours; when my mother used it on me it took 3 days. I might have been stubborn.
It is potty bootcamp. You're supposed to kick everyone else out of the house and pretty much exclusively keep the child in one room. You give drinks and snacks, the type that you wouldn't ordinarily want the kid to have all the time, and you have frequent potty trips and pants inspections. Accidents are followed by "practice" where the child has to practice going back and forth to the potty and taking down his pants and such. But before all this, the child teaches a doll how to use the potty.
I don't know when we're going to do it, or if we're even going to do it this way, but I have picked up a few things from the book.
I decided that The Boy needed to be able to pull his underpants up and down. I showed him how multiple times, and sometimes he'd get mad and say "Mum do it!" But now he knows how.
Then, I decided to teach him to check for dry pants. Sometimes, dry pants mean jellybeans. Other times, they mean hugs and kisses. The book indicates that the focus should be on staying dry, and that using the toilet is the means by which that should happen. Except that The Boy doesn't go that often, so he really does stay dry for awhile.
But then, a newly potty trained child isn't any easier to deal with than a child in diapers, I predict. If you're out somewhere and your child has to go, you have to find the potty RIGHT AWAY. You have to change the wet clothes just like you have to change the diapers. But sooner, because they get more upset about it.
Even so, The Boy is ready. And he can hold up his pants even in underwear. Barely.
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