Monday, January 10, 2011

One of Those Days

Today was one of those days. (Yet NOT one of those days...) It wasn't a bad day by any means, and actually, it was a pretty good day overall. There wasn't too much yelling, or too much drama, or even too much stress. Instead, it was one of those days that really make you think, "Man, this parenting thing really is no joke." I mean, really... I'm tired tonight! Like I've said before, sometimes being a stay-at-home-mommy seems like it merely consists of squashing squabbles over who will win the last yogurt tube, finding that elusive sippy cup, or wiping four hineys of various sizes for the millionth-jillionth time. These are all important in our little world's existance, but not really important, you know? Today, though, we conquered truly important things. Childhood-shaping things...


Potty training began this morning for Brigham. We've been wanting to start for the last month or so, but with Christmas, visitors, and travels, it just wasn't a good month to start. I didn't want to set him up for failure before we even began. In the realm of potty training, that's never good. Today was the day, though! Brigham did a fantastic job, as I knew he would. (When a two-year-old is driven by promises of M&Ms, can there ever really be failure?) Every two minutes this morning, we were crawling to the bathroom. Oddly enough, Briggs chose to crawl to the bathroom every.single.time instead of his usual toddler-like sprints. Maybe he was trying to hold onto his babyhood, but again he just wanted those prized M&Ms. Who knows? What I do know is that I don't care if he rode a mule to the bathroom as long as things went well inside. All-in-all I'm happy with how the first day went, but those who have potty trained before know that one should almost physically train for the million back-and-forth bathroom jaunts and whooping and hollering to follow. It's physical work, People, especially now that I've turned *cough*thirty*cough*. Also, not to forget the other three children to take care of amongst the hoopla... ;)


Moving on to the homeschooling... Bella's been doing great in school, but it's to the point that I'm seriously second-guessing everything that I'm teaching her with our kindergarten curriculum. I've been worried that she's bored and that the lessons are too easy for her now that she's really taken off with reading. (For a brand-newbie of homeschooling, I'm thinking that second-guessing is normal. This just adds to the insecurities, though.) Before I ordered the materials, I considered both the kindergarten and first grade curriculums, but decided on the kindergarten. She's a late-summer birthday and had barely six months of kindergarten before moving last year. After much consideration and reading from veteran homeschoolers, though, I've now decided to speed up her lessons and do two to three lessons a day instead of one. Condensing or skipping some of the activities and speeding up the phonics beef of the lessons will allow us to move onto the first grade studies sooner. I'm excited about this, and so is she. I know it's the right thing to do now. I think. Praise the Lord that we were able to start and complete this new schedule of two lessons today when Brigham was napping. I could barely do school from the edge of the tub in the bathroom where I'd been camped-out for much of the day.

Well, another busy day in the books. Today, though, was full of victories aside from yogurt and sippy cups. I'll take it any day. I love my job...
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7 comments:

Marcella{The Life After "Trust Me"} said...

So glad things went well for you today!!

Lenae said...

Oh, how I hear ya! We've been having a lot of "those" days and I might be freaking out just a little as we get closer to having four littles in the house ;) Love your attitude, though, Kate -- so cheerful and grateful! You are one of my role models.

Good job with the homeschooling; your plan sounds like a good one. Although we're just doing preschool stuff, I often find myself second-guessing my approach. Being a mommy-teacher is a big job!

bwolfrum said...

Love hearing about the kids! I can't believe how fast their growing up! I'm looking forward to Grady and Griffin meeting sometime in the near future! I hope the "winter" there in TX isn't causing to big of a culture shock for you and the kids (minus griffin). =) Love keeping updated by your blog, take care kate.

Shannan Martin said...

Our job really is amazing, isn't it? But I'm with you on the exhaustion front. And I'm not potty-training (yet) or homeschooling!

Sounds like you're rocking your days, Mama!

Happy weekend. :)

Teresa said...

I hear ya on the potty training, sister friend!
The method I used with my oldest involved practically drowning him with liquids so he had to go potty often, the idea being that he'd figure it out quicker with so many potty going opportunities. After his eleventy seventh glass of apple juice, he just looked at me and asked, "Why are you doing this to me, mama?"
Potty train - FAIL!
You have the best and most important job there is, Kate.
Keep up the good work!

Polly said...

It seems like yesterday and not 4 years ago that I had 3 in diapers.So cliche but it sure does fly by. I felt compelled to stop by your sweet blog because of our similar blog names.
Blessings,

*Katy* said...

I just found your blog from another one and I must say that you have some pretty cute kiddos!

Plus, I've worked in our church nursery for the past 13 years and I've seen a LOT of kids potty trained with m&m's and jelly beans. It's amazing what they'll do for candy :)