Parenting is HARD... so much to worry about... part one

One of my biggest worries as a parent is about when my little munchkin princess grows up and becomes a teenager. I know there were personally a lot of things I did as a teen that my parents couldn't have done a thing about- well, short of chaining me to the kitchen table. I'm not saying I was a bad kid. I didn't get in much big trouble, just normal stuff... bad grades, talking back, lying... the stuff I imagine most parents deal with. But I did have some parties with my friends, and I experimented with drugs (nothing crazy), drank a little alcohol, and had premarital sex.

My first instinct when I started thinking about all this, was that I should just get over it now, because it's just what people do when they are in their adolescence, and I should just not worry about it until I get there. Then, I had a revolution! Why should I just accept all that as ok? And how is waiting until I can't do anything about it going to help anything. Of course, she is going to make her own decisions, in the end, but I'm pretty sure there are steps I can take to set her up for successful decision making.

I was definitely not gifted with good decision making skills, and sometimes I think my moral compass is set to True South, but I do the best I can. Awesome Guy, on the other hand, has wonderful decision making skills. Once in a while, when I look back, it seems like there's a short in my system somewhere between my reasoning section of my brain, and the emotional section. But either way, I'm blessed to have such a great man in her life to help me guide her in the right direction.

One thing I intend to do is to make sure I have a good relationship with my girl. Right now, we are about the center of each-other's universe, which is where we need to be. My life revolves around taking her to the potty, planning balanced meals, and making sure she has plenty of social interactions. And her life revolves around doing everything like mommy, trying not to take naps, asking for snacks, and begging me to take her to the park. But what happens when I have less control of her world and her priorities? I hope to keep talking, asking questions, and trying to instill that she should always be absolutely comfortable at home and around her family. After all, we are going to love her no matter what. I just want to make sure I always fight for our relationship. I am going to do my best not to lose sight of it.

I have just decided to make this a multi part installment. I'm not sure how many parts it will end up being, but I'll try to pepper in some recipes and other less serious stuff.... If you guys have any suggestions or requests about what you would like to read about, just let me know in my comments below!

Peace and thoughtfulness!!
Flower

Potty Training Woes (and first CONTEST... everyone likes free stuff!)

UGH!!!!! We are working on potty training right now and it is a NIGHTMARE! Let me clarify, this isn’t a left-the-house-and-forgot-to-put-on-pants type of nightmare, this is a left-the-house-and-forgot-to-get-dressed-altogether-and-discovered-you-are-now-blue-and-have-a-furry-tail type of dream.

When I was younger, the women in my family loved to brag about the fact that when they decided I should be potty trained, they just put panties on me one day and *poof!* I was potty trained. Only this weekend did my mom inform me that my aunt and grandma devoted a whole weekend to staying home with me and making sure I tried to go potty every half hour or so. I was like, “Ya, Mom! Thanks for leaving that LITTLE piece of information out for 20 YEARS!!!”

I am convinced that I have the most potty training resistant kid in the entire world. Everyone keeps telling me to just put underwear on her and the feeling of being wet or having poop just hanging there with nowhere to go will flip that light switch on and she will just “get it.” Nope. She doesn’t care, not even a little. She just tells me afterwards that she needs to change her Dora panties, and THIS time she wants to wear the yellow princess ones. (I swear, it’s like a game to her.) Meanwhile, I am washing fecal matter out of her underpants, and drying about 3 pairs a day on the side of the tub because if I used the washing machine to wash her underwear everyday, I would go broke and never have enough detergent for all of the other clothes I need to wash.

So now it’s your turn, dear readers. Pass on your potty guru advice to me because, I swear, I will have grey hair before I turn 25 if this monster baby keeps this up! I know you have a little girl SOMEWHERE in your life that you can pull some experience from. (little sister, niece, creepy neighbor’s kid…) Anyway, I’m thinking of doing a contest, whoever gives me the winning advice gets something wonderful (I just haven’t decided what that wonderful something is yet, maybe the Play Doh extractor shoes??? SOMEONE might as well get some wear out of them, so if you are a shoe size 10 lady, love shoes, and have some stellar potty training advice… fill me in and I will send you some cute shoes!)

Peace! (and potties)

Being a mom rocks!

      So today A and I were taking a bath (yes, I still take a bath with my daughter, I think it is a great opportunity to play with tub toys, plus we both get clean so I don't have to kneel over the side of a tub in a rain poncho, and she doesn't have to sit in a shower getting pelted in the face every time she wants to look up and talk to me) and I'm pretty sure my plans of raising a mini rock star are coming true! She asked me to make a shampoo mohawk and kept trying to make peace signs and give me the rock horns \m/

      Also at her last birthday she wore a tutu, most were thinking "princess-ballerina-sparklebutt" but I knew she was thinking "Man, if mom had only put me in a pair of fishnets and some awesome baby combat boots, I could totally rock this tutu..." 

      I keep thinking about how awesome my baby is. She is completely a braniac-genious! She sings anything you could think of, she has FULL BLOWN conversations, and knows the quadratic equation by heart.... ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating that last part a tiny bit... Anyway, I have the best baddest kid in the world, at least in MY opinion...