Let me just preface this by saying I’m really not trying to potty train Dash. He’s young and only showing a few signs of being ready. We bought him a potty for Christmas because it was Christmas and I figured he’d need it eventually. I just wanted to have it on hand when he decided he was ready. Much to my surprise, he decided to potty on it a few weeks ago. Skip ahead to a few nights ago.

So other than the three peepees on the potty a couple of weeks ago, he’s all but forgotten the potty. OK by us. Whenever you’re ready, man. Night before last, he rips off his diaper and yells “Potty! Potty! Potty!” so we tear off for the nearest potty, I plop him on there, he looks down for a second, turns around and flushes, waves bye-bye to the water, and reaches for me to get him off. OK, false alarm. Fine. I go to get his diaper, and he pees all over the floor by the time I come back. Repeat this scene 3 times in about 2 hours.

So now, I think I’m a bit stuck. He obviously gets needing to pee means taking his diaper off and tearing for the bathroom. He’s not afraid of the flush and actually enjoys it. We’re just not quite connecting that you should pee ON the potty. Not around it. So what can I do? Tell him no, to keep his diaper on? That would take us back a notch. Are we just doomed to peepees on the floor until he makes the connection? Sigh.

So I think I’m going to get the “Potty Train Your Toddler in a Day” book, buy some training pants and give it a go this weekend. I think if I can get him to pee ON the potty one more time, I can give him a sticker or something and reward the crap out of him until he makes the connection. Peepee on the potty = best thing in the world (in the form of a sticker.) If he doesn’t go for it, we’re not out anything except a few puddles on the carpet. But if he DOES go for it…

So I have a new goal to at least post on this blog once a week. If you can forgive me for not posting with pictures, I think I can do it.

First, some info on the pregnancy…

The biggest news is I’m trying for a VBAC this time. If you know anything about the state of Alabama, you know that’s really not a possibility here. At least not with my doctor. I think the VBAC rate at the hospital where I delivered Dash is 4.6%. Pitiful.

There’s a midwifery group in Nashville where we took our hypnobirthing classes last time. They’re super supportive and I feel very comfortable with them. They have a 85% success rate with VBACs so if everything goes ok we’ll have a pretty good shot at it. I won’t go into specifics of why we’re going this route here, I’m sure I’ll talk plenty more about it in the next several months. Plus, I get all fired up and wind up saying more than I should type in any single blog post.

Second, work stinks. I like my job but we’re under a ton of pressure to produce software we can sell and it’s making for a stressful work environment. I think our big push is in February so hopefully this will let up soon.

Third, Dash is doing awesome. We went to The Little Gym in Huntsville this weekend and had so much fun. They have classes every Saturday at 9:30 and we went to a free trial this weekend. They have organized activities and then free time to run around and check out all of the gym equipment. Dash had a blast. We did too. It makes me feel better for not having him in a structured daycare.

I think that’s all for now, I hope you all are doing well… I promise I’ll post again soon so it’s not weeks between blog posts.

Dash pee-peed in the potty last night!

We were watching a video and he started trying to undo his diaper and when I asked him what was wrong and if he had to go potty, he nodded yes. I set him down on the floor and he took off for the bathroom, I put him on the ducky kids’ toilet seat and he sat there and watched for 5 seconds or so and then freaking peed on the potty! Woo-hoo! I know we have a long way to go but at least he gets the concept!

He did it again later that night but didn’t make it to the potty… I don’t care, at least he gets it!

And I’m pregnant! 13 weeks tomorrow, due July 29th! That’s probably what you thought anyway when I said I had big news, right?

So we have this little vent near our fireplace that has never worked right. It opens to the outside and some little mousies got in there and made a home. Then the vent screw became loose and they moved into OUR home…

So one night I’m sitting on the floor with Dash and one goes RUNNING past me. Scared the bejeezus out of me. It ran under the stove and we couldn’t get it. So we contemplated getting a humane mouse trap for a while, the mouse stopped making noise and we kind of left it alone. UNTIL…

It got into our pantry. Every day, there was a little more stuff on the floor that it had chewed through. Cardboard, bird seed, chicken noodle soup, powedered sugar… Finally we bought a humane trap, tried for a few days with no results and decided to take drastic measures…

And empty the pantry. I can’t tell you the trepidation I had every time I pulled out the next box. I was waiting for a little mousy to be behind each one. When we got the pantry emptied and didn’t see a single mouse, I was really freaked out. Where were they? IN a box? Did it slip by us?

Well, thank goodness for cats. The other day, John found one that Black Baby had a little too much fun with, bless his heart. But TODAY… Orangey caught one and dropped it in the pantry and sat there with it cornered. John went and looked and saw there were TWO mousies. (Obviously, they’ve spawned.) He was able to catch them both in a cardboard box and let them go outside. John. My hero.

They’re still acting like there’re mousies in there (they seem to be running between under the stove and the pantry, probably looking for the chicken noodle soup box) but hopefully that was the last one. I’d be creeped out but they really are so stinking cute. Little gray field mouses. About the size of my thumb.

I’ll keep you guys posted. How many mousies are in my house??