Scary Creepy but Amazing

When my daughter was at the early point in her life when she developed true love for her baby dolls, we made an amazing discovery that I now could not live without.

This accidental discovery came in the form of creepy scary clowns.  At least I find them creepy and scary.  But my daughter found the the love of her life in a little clown with big blue eyes, a red nose and overalls with the name of Gymbo.  Many of you Moms and Dads will know exactly who I am talking about.  Gymbo is the mascot for the Gymboree classes that you can take your wee ones to.  (On a side note, I totally recommend Gymboree for the first year of the child's life.  The babies love the sing-a-longs and the playtime with peers.) 

Now Gymbo himself is not the discovery he was just the catalyst. The discovery came about when my little one wanted to take Gymbo everywhere she went.  She loved playing with him in her room, taking him on our walks, hugging him, reading him books, and taking him in the car for outings.  Everywhere.  So being the supportive Mommy I am, we would not leave the house without him.  At least not until Daddy decided to get funny.  

Every since the 1988 scary movie "Child's Play" came out I have not been a big fan of clowns, especially not ones that actually look like Chucky.  But for my daughter, I would suck it up.  My husband would tease me every time I called Gymbo "scary creepy clown" and eventually he took it too the next level. I would turn around and Gymbo would be standing up behind me, or sitting at the table looking at me, or maybe even in the shower when I opened the door to get in.  Not funny.  But to my husband it was hilarious.   So being the supportive Mommy I am, but one who can only take so many heart attacks, I banned Gymbo from the house.  To appease my daughter's crying, I declared that Gymbo was now allowed only in the car.  We needed him to guard the car, this would be his new job.  

THIS was our amazing discovery.  Since she could only see Gymbo whenever we went in the car, she was thrilled anytime we had to drive somewhere.  No more crying or fits, no more taking off her clothes or shoes right when we were getting ready to leave, no more delaying the process.  Now I was thrilled.  My life just got easier.  So easy, I soon added Gymbo to our walks.  

I strongly suggest this to all new parents.  Take your little one's 2nd favorite dolly or lovey, not the most favorite...that they need all the time, and make it your car buddy.  It will make life easier.  However, maybe stay away from dolls that scare you. 

Gymbo is still not allowed in the house, it is hard enough when I run an errand without my daughter and I look in the rearview mirror and see HIM sitting in her car seat looking back at me.  

40

If "40 is the new 30", I wish that someone would tell Mother Nature.  

Mommy Zombie

Yes, that's right...Mommy Zombie.  The walking tired.

Symptoms of a Mommy Zombie:
1. Creaky bones followed by a couple of moans as you are trying to get out of bed.
2. Hair that doesn't even rate on a "bad hair day" scale.
3. Inability to focus, smile, blink, talk, or to walk without tripping.
4. Loss of muscle control, memory, and patience.
5. A desperate need for caffeine or chocolate. Whichever is the first thing found, even if you have to rip it out of the hands of the first person who crosses your path (hey, at least it is better than eating the victim like most zombies).

Not a pretty sight.  I feel for my daughter who has to see me like this on occasion.  Of course it IS her fault.

Okay, let's be fair.  I have to take a good chunk of the blame. Fine...most of it.  She is just a baby and  I am the person who failed miserably in the art of sleep training.  I tried.  I tried desperately to not go into her room in the middle of the night when she would cry.  I would lie in bed and do a check list with my husband...not hungry..check, not thirsty...check, dry diaper...check, not cold..check, not hot...check.  I knew she was okay, I knew she was in need of nothing, yet I just couldn't lie there and not go in to let her know that I was near.

I know that there are differences of opinion on sleep training methods, all the way to none at all.  I personally do believe in the method that you go in at first when the baby starts to cry, then make the time further and further apart until  eventually she will not wake up in the middle of the night at all.  It is a couple of hard nights when you don't go in at all, but it really does work.  It did for us...until she would get a cold and since we would check on her often when she was sick, we would have to start the process all over again.  Not fun.

All was going fine until she started talking.  It was really hard to not go in to let her know I was near when she was actually calling "Mama".  Broke my heart, so I caved.  Then exhaustion for both my hubby and I hit (did I mention that I have a GREAT husband and he really does do 50% of all the work with me) and we would start again with the sleep training.  Again, we repeated the cycle of it working and then my or his giving in and going into her room.  Let's face it, we were awake the second she made a noise anyway and it would shorten the length of time we had to be awake if we just went in. Okay fine...she controlled our every wink of sleep.

Now at two, not only is she calling my name, she very specifically says "Mommy I'm awake.  Mommy please come back. Mommy, I have to pee pee."  How can you not?   Potty training just added to the delimma.   And although she is in pull ups at night and I do somewhat limit her liquids before her bedtime, if you gotta go, you gotta go.  What's a gal to do?

So here it is, another morning of Mommy Zombie and the only cure is caffeine and a hot shower.  Now if only I could get the faucet on.

When you were single, did you ever think Peeing would be a topic of conversation with your friends?

This is the question: Can a parent get arrested  if their child is peeing in a public park?  Does it count as indecent exposure if the bare butt in question belongs to a two year old?  

Potty training...no one ever said it was going to be easy.  

Let me start at the beginning.  After receiving unsolicited advice from a complete stranger, (just why this woman decided to stop me in the middle of my ice cream cone when my daughter was only a year old to tell me this, I will never know...maybe it goes back to the theory that everyone in my Mom's generation swear that we were all potty trained by the time we were only one.),  I went to the toy store and bought a bath dolly as directed. 

Up until this moment, my wee one would sit on her potty seat to read a book, wear her potty seat cushion on her head or stuff her "babies" in the hole, but the actual peeing in the potty seat was still on the back burner.  After getting this bath dolly, I have to admit, things did get better.  My wee one would take a bath with "Bubbles"  who would fill up with water and after the bath we would sit Bubbles on the potty and squeeze her tummy to make her pee.  Soon my daughter got the idea and the potty training officially started.  After that, other than the middle of the night wake up to "Mommy,  Pee-Pee!", the rest was down hill.  Or so I thought.

At 22 months she began to wear big girl panties.  Which brings me to the fun part.  Every day we take our 3.5 mile walk and go to the park.  After this hour walk, my daughter inevitably has to pee.  So being the supportive Mommy I am, not to mention the desire to not go back to the use of diapers, I would find a big tree at the park in a discreet area and whip down her panties and hold her up so she could pee in nature the same way our ancestors did.  This, she mastered in no time.  Unfortunately, instead of this being used for only emergency pee-pee needs, this became something that my daughter actually looked forward to.  On more than one occasion she has run over to a tree and stripped naked before I could get my fortysomething legs to catch up with her.  Okay, so a bit embarrassing, but I can look at the strangers at the park and smile and tell them that she is only two so it is cute, right?

Until last week when we did our normal walk, our normal request to pee pee, me whipping down her pants and instead of the tinkle that I normally hear hitting the grass, I heard a THUD.  Oh sh*t.  Now THAT is not cute.  Thank goodness I did have a baggie with me in the stroller and just like any good dog owner, I did the poop-n-scoop.  So this is a my next question...can a person get arrested if their child defecates in a public park?  If so, I am going to start saving my bail money now.  

Advice for pregnant Mommies, re: STROLLERS

For the soon to be Mommies out there, a bit of advice based on my experience:

STROLLERS 101:
Stollers...you will need four. Yes, FOUR. :) One to keep unfolded in the garage for daily walks..should be a jogger type stroller. One for secondary car (normally the Daddy's), can be a very simple stroller because it will be rarely used but believe me you will want it in his car if you happen to take his car and forget to transfer the stroller from yours. One in your car..this is the main one but this will not be used until the baby is about 6 months old and is supporting herself pretty well. Before that you will need just a SNAP N' GO to be used with the baby's car seat. Don't let anyone talk you into a car seat that comes with a big obnoxious stroller...they are WAY TOO BIG!..aka "Travel System Stollers".

Garage stroller: since this one will stay unfolded in the garage and used often it can be as big and cushy as you want. The main very important thing that I will tell you with a jogger stroller is make sure that the foot support for the baby completely covers the front tire. Let me tell you why....because a jogger will last from birth until the no longer get into a stroller and as they get taller (at about 1 1/2) they like putting their feet on the wheel making it impossible to push. It becomes a huge frustration for you and a fight for you and your toddler. Fortunately our jogger stroller...well we got lucky because ours is fully covered, but I have a couple of friends whose wheel does show and it is a constant battle with the toddler. Not fun for Mommy. :) Our stroller is a "Babytrend Jogger" brand and is great. Not expensive, lighter weight, but not totally easy to fold up...hence, keep it open in the garage for daily walks. Also, get one with a big moveable canopy to protect baby from sun on walks. Some canopies are locked in place and that is not good on any stroller.


For your main "family" car, get one the is EASY to fold and unfold with one hand. This is how you will be most of the time. It needs to be super comfy for baby but have a BIG basket, cup holder, and key holder area for you. Trust me on this, you will hate a small basket...this is where the baby bag and your purse, and the kicked off shoes and socks, thrown out toys....will go. Not only a big basket, but one that is easy to access. Some I have seen are big but way under the stoller and really hard to get your diaper bag out. Test this when you are shopping. Stuff a diaper bag super full and try to get it in and out.


But remember for the first few months you need only a SNAP n' GO. You will use this stroller during the time that the baby stays in the car seat when you remove him from the car. But register for the other anyway so someone else will buy it for you. :)


When at the store, spend time to play with them. Get a doll from other area of store, and a diaper bag and try taking things in and out. Also remember, you want a place to put your drink, cell phone and keys. Also, make sure it has a tray for baby to have drink and food too!

Have fun shopping!