Hit me with your best shot

I've got to start off by saying that we are really proud of Sal and his eagerness to potty train. Granted, he's been working on it since last summer and we are still slapping diapers on when we leave the house, but really--he's how shall I say? House trained. Public toilets in China are high on ick factor and I've got no problem letting him finish out our time here in diapers to save myself and him from dry heaving in the public restrooms. 

That aside we've got issues. 

Specifically, aiming issues. 

He's a big boy. He stands like "da big boys do, right dad?"

Problem is, mama doesn't like cleaning up the walls and floor around the toilet every time he stands like the big boys. A stool helped temporarily. Then he decided to put one foot on the stool and one on the floor to pee--which then caused my bath towels to get shot. 

I tried Cheerios. I ended up with a bowl full in my toilet and a toddler telling me we need to buy more. 

I shared my woes with my family and this is what my sister came up with. She used her silhouette cameo to cut out vinyl adhesive excavators and cement mixers to adhere to my toilet bowls. 

He was pumped to pee on the cement mixer and our overspray rate has decreased considerably. 

I'm guessing bathtub decals would suffice as well if you don't have a crafty sister like mine. Just clean and dry your bowl, then adhere. I've cleaned over this one with no issues so far. 

Fingers crossed this works! 

Circus act

Whoa.

Like, whoooooa.

My first week as a stay at home mom of two little ones has come to an end.

I'm extra thankful for the visits and meals brought to us by friends this week...if not for them, I can't guarantee we wouldn't have been eating Cheerios doused in past-the-expiry date-almost-rotten milk for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Instead we've been spoiled with a variety of dishes--so if nothing else, our bellies are kept full.

I end the week with mixed feelings. 

On one side, I feel successful. We' re all alive. My toddler got bathed daily ( the newborn's sponge bath has been put off two nights in a row now--but who's counting?), my husband's lunches got packed ( although he had to fend for breakfast himself--Cheerios and milk, anyone?) and the baby slept the days through like an angel, despite sharing her rock-n-play with various "gifts" from Sal (matchbox cars, money & slobbery,heavy lipped kisses on the mouth) when I turned my back for a few. I managed a shower four days out of five (high fiving myself now), but rarely changed out of pajamas and hoodies.

Sal gave Carla a plastic $10 bill. Train fare to anywhere but here, perhaps?

That's a win, right?

But, along with the success of keeping everyone alive, there were challenges that almost broke me. The biggest one being rotten behavior from my toddler anytime the baby had my attention. I had an arsenal of activities for us to do together while I nursed. Puzzles, counting money ( he got a cash register with plastic coins for his birthday), playdoh, lacing boards, stacking blocks, books and my iPad were amongst my efforts. Instead, he chose to lay behind me and kick and flip and hit my back as I nursed. That's way more fun, right? If I held his sister, he too wanted up. The quote of the week was "all done" and I'd hear it 100x a day, or anytime I touched his sister. Naps were brutal, and by Thursday I gave up even trying. It wasn't worth the two hours of battle. I know he is young and still needs them, but I just gave up. Instead we've watched "Toy Story" more times than I'd like to admit. 

                   Movies and " resting" on the couch is better than nothing.

I feel like I'm failing my son. 

It breaks my heart.

I spent Thursday afternoon in tears, wondering how I am going to fix the situation. I have been trying my best to spend Carla's sleeping hours engaging in play or snuggles with him, but he often likes to play alone, and I don't want to smother him either. We did some big kid projects ( valentine garland & baking a cake) together.  I want him to feel the normalcy and comfort of the home and mama he has known. I keep telling myself that this is just a season. 

                           Making valentines

It will pass. 

He will feel my love. 

But man, does it ever pull at my heartstrings.

Redemption

I'm not sure if it was just me being extra tired from being sick this week, or what, but this morning was a tough one. Maybe I just wasn't up on my game, but by 9:00 am, I had already had to clean up two puddles of pee and the items that were hit by the pee floods ( thank goodness our floors are tile and hardwood-makes cleaning easier) by a child who rarely has accidents like that anymore. This was met with a toddler pulling my pant leg asking for more "Duce" and when I told him that I wasn't serving any more juice because he had obviously had to much to drink this morning (causing pee floods), he lost it on me. 

Once the "Duce" tantrum ended, he found some crispy onion crackers and already being frustrated, I agreed-- afterall, it wasn't juice, so that was a win win for both of us.  I turned on a cartoon for him (I needed to get a cake frosted), and he went to the living room with his bag of crackers. Next thing I know, the bag has been dumped upside down and there are crushed crackers all over my rug. Followed by another pee flood. ON.TOP.Of.THE.CRACKERS. Of which were then stomped until they were mush in my rug.

Are you kidding me, child?! 

After cleaning it up and dousing the carpet with my vinegar/alcohol/dish soap concoction, I conceded. 

My surrender flag was a'wavin.

We both needed out of the apartment. We have been in all but one day this week due to my terrible cold and unhealthy pollution levels. We loaded up and went to the playground, and then on to the promenade in front of our complex so he could ride one of those electric rides. 

We returned home for lunch, of which he requested meat-uh-balls (he says it like an Italiano) and naw-chos. I rounded it out with a side of Greek salad and a sippy of milk. As I was getting his room ready for naptime, I hear an uh oh from the dining room. He had pulled his lid off and poured milk all over the meat-uh balls and naw-chos. 

Are you kidding me, child?!

This behavior deemed lunchtime OVER, and in his credit, he did help me clean up. He is a good helper, this kid..but he also knows how to make a catastrophic mess. Anyways, naptime usually goes off without much of a hitch. Occasionally he will talk for a half hour or so, or throw his blanket out and call til someone gets it for him, and once in a blue moon he will refuse a nap.

The moon must be blue today.

For over an hour he refused to nap. Alternating cries of mama with the sounds of a crib being pushed away from the wall, and the sound of tiny feet kicking the ends of his crib (IKEA sundvik cribs have a solid headboard and footboard that make the worst sounds when kids kick them), he went on for an HOUR. Frustrated, I peeked in after letting him carry on for that long only to see his crib in the middle of the room, his rug scrunched up and all of his bedding thrown on the floor. This kid has skills, yo!

I remade his crib, picked him up (after a really deep "keep-your-shit-together-mama" breath) and started holding him like a baby. He's already like half my height, so this wasn't an easy task. I put him up over my shoulder after a few minutes and sang a couple songs to him. As I finished out the last verse of "you are my sunshine", I felt him surrender. 

He was lights out within minutes of being rocked.

I stood there in his room, hugging him tightly before putting him in his crib, and my eyes welled up with tears. The realization that this young, independent, spirited little boy who had run me ragged this morning is still just a baby. Often times I feel like I can't wait for the next milestone to be reached, but standing there in his room this afternoon, just giving him love and rocking him made me want time to stand still. 

Our naptime snuggle was just the redemption I needed after a morning like today.

Qtips in a bottle

This activity seemed too easy (& clean) to be true, but we had the items on hand so we tried it. An empty Parmesan shaker with the large hole, and a travel pack of Qtips kept these little hands busy for over twenty minutes. 

This activity is small and easily portable for dinners out, Dr. appointments , car rides and I'm thinking it will make out airplane travel bag next month. 

Have any of you tried this or something similar? Please share!

(Gold)Fish Eggs

Please tell me I'm not the only parent out there who has a child that devours goldfish crackers like they're going out of style?

And when I say "devour", that's a nice way of saying he shoves a small school of fish in his mouth. After a few choking incidents (for the record- number of fish I have extracted with the finger swoop is eleven), I have had to start rationing his fish eating.

A fellow expat who has since returned to the US sent us a care package of Easter themed stuff, including plastic Easter eggs.

One morning, I got the idea to put 3-4 goldfish in each egg and hide them in the living room. As he found them, he could open them and have a mouthful of fish, and I wouldn't have to play fish police all morning.

We've been doing this for the past week, as Easter approaches, and thought I'd share it since I know most toddlers love them some goldfish crackers, and as a parent, it serves two purposes...an activity AND snack time. Double bonus in our household is the fact that it slows my son down so he actually enjoys them!