Potty training 101

Potty training, after many starts and stops is once again in full swing. Over the years my philosophy on training has changed dramatically. I no longer go into it like a soldier to battle.....now it is more like a drunk in a bar. I realized early on that twins were going to be a little more challenging to train. When one was agreeable to be led to the potty the other couldn't be drug into that room. When the first "no, no," was heard the first twin immediately decided that she couldn't possibly go in there either. That's how the bar idea came into being. We still live in a sippy cup world but Chuck gives the girls bathroom cups in the morning while he is brushing his teeth. They think it is the greatest thing to get to drink...and spill...water in a real cup. I got to thinking this might be incorporated into a useful potty tool. The only time they get juice now is when they are sitting on the potty AND they get it in their prized cups. Works every time!

Our family circus.....

Trying to play catch up after not posting for so long has intimidated me....so instead, I decided to jump right in and worry about it later. 

Yesterday was one of those days that everything just wiggles in different directions.  I wanted to make some bows....Lyssa wanted to climb Mount Everest....and Kayla wanted to be a public announcer.  In other words, Lyssa was into everything high...such as kitchen counters where she can get into the knives and Kayla tattled at the top of her lungs.  The naughty spot has a nose print rubbed bare so after the fourth kitchen counter episode Chuck made Lyssa go to her room and lie down.
We could have peeled skin with less painful screaming.....with Kayla as the helpful chorus.  When it calmed down I began to worry. I have found as long as there is noise I know where they are....the silence is anything but golden around here.  Chuck is still a little slow on the uptake....he STILL thinks quiet is something good.  sigh

When I checked...Lyssa WAS still in bed but but giggling....and Kayla was jumping on her saying "You stay in bed or get swatted!"  She's a Nazi in training. 

Super Duper Chicken & Noodles

3 or 4 Boneless chicken breasts
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
2-3 Tablespoons bacon bits
1 Pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch Mix
1/2 to 1 cup water (depending on how soupy you want it)
1 cup Sour Cream

Dump everything in the crock pot and cook on low for at least 3 hrs.
Take the chicken pieces out, shred and put back in.  Add cooked broad noodles. 
I don't know how much....just a bunch.  Let it mix with everything as long as you
can...and it's ready.

Tonight I was in a hurry so I just boiled the chicken breasts in enough water to cover them till
done....sliced it up, added UNCOOKED noodles and let them cook....then added everything else.  I think it was just as good.  The bacon gives it a really good smokey flavor.

The Latin Duo

I got a new Zumba DVD and thought this would be great to dance with the twins.  They both enjoy music and dancing around and I so need the exercise. 

First we start the basics.  Those pretty, skinny girls show what we are supposed to look like and the Duo are down dancing, kicking their legs and really getting into it.  I decided to watch several minutes to get it straight in my mind before I start participating.  The Duo are having a great time so I'm thinking this is going to be a great morning routine for us. 

I get up to start going through the step by step routines and the twins stop to try to figure out what is wrong with me.  I spread my legs to try to do a body roll and Lyss starts crying.  Kayla comes to me and is hanging on to me to be picked up.  I sit them on the couch to watch me and both are boohooing to beat the band.  Tears are flowing and they are hanging on to each other like the world is coming to an end.  After a few more minutes of jumping and scrunching my body in strange positions, I finally give up and sit down to hold the girls.  I had to turn the DVD off completely before they would calm down.  I guess they thought I was going through my final death throes.  Who knew Zumba would be so scary??

Trashcanitus

I've just realized my husband has this terrible disease.  I don't know what the scientific name for it is but it could be fatal.  I have found that more men than women are debilitated by this horrible problem.

He is totally unable to put a trash bag into an empty trash can.  Now he can put trash, dirty diapers, etc. in it but an empty trash bag is just too much for him.  I think this disease is connected another which makes it impossible to change an empty toilet paper roll.  There is no known cure for this disease but if not treated, is nearly always fatal.  Since, starting a newsletter on this disease, I've found hundreds of families are afflicted.  The medical world has turned it's back on our suffering!  Through much time and effort though, I have found an old folk remedy which may be the answer to the prayers of people living with the ones with this terrible disease. 

First, you let them go to sleep.  You quietly and gently, place a pillow over their head and gently but firmly press for several minutes.  Five or ten minutes should do the trick.  I'll let you know if this works out for me.

Sleeping Beauty

The girls are so different....Lyssa wants her own bed, by herself....don't let the door hit you in the back when you leave her alone to go to sleep.  Alas, Kayla is our problem sleeper....she has to have a warm body to sleep against....usually me. 

Naptime.  I tell them it is naptime and Lyssa runs to her room and says "up!"  She finds her baby and she's finished with me.  Kayla disappears.  After I fish her out of her latest hidey hole, we go to lie down in my bed.  Her crib has monsters in it in the daytime.  I wrap her in her blanket so she can't roll and crawl from side to side and say a serious "nite, nite!"  She snugs up against me and scrunches her eyes close so I close mine to bore her to sleep.  

She talks...I ignore.  She gives me kisses....I ignore.  Finally, she rubs my hair in a rhythm....rub, rub, pause...then rub, rub, pause.  Finally, after about five minutes, I open my eyes to see what in the world she is doing.  She is licking her hand until it is dripping, then wiping it in my hair....over and over and over.  Now that I've chewed her out and have gotten her to sleep finally, I think I will go wash my hair.

Two years in a few sentences

Two years ago the Dynamic Duo were a few hours old, I had driven home and I was still living in Neverland that I was going to be nothing more than a meddling grandmother.  It seems like it was only yesterday that I left that hospital after only getting to see the twins for a few minutes.  They were so fragile, each baby had her own nurse within touching, and were kept in a darkened room with machines beeping. The hardest part was that no one would tell me anything because I was not a parent....and the "parent" wasn't asking questions.  The only thing I had to hang on to is I knew that they were breathing on their own.  It was a hard trip home but since I had a seven year old I was responsible for, home is where I had to be. 

After many trips, the Duo came home in mid November and haven't looked back since.  Two years later, they are healthy, ornery and going ninety miles an  hour most of the time. 

There will be challenges.  We are much older than other parents.  Kayla will have to work a little harder.  We will have to be vigilant for problems that could crop up from the prenatal drugs and alcohol. 

I made a vow that I would not worry and look too far ahead....and I haven't.  If we as Christians, believe in God, we also have to trust.  With trust there can be no worry.  I don't know where we are headed but I'm not worried.  We will make it.