One More Battle Won

I've been waiting a few weeks to write this post because I didn't want to jinx myself, or Lana really.  I tend to be superstitious that way.  In fact, I'm fairly certain that the good thing that has been happening will not happen tonight just by me writing about it.  Yes, this is my crazy side.  Welcome!  Don't pretend like you don't have one too.  Anyway, the "thing" I'm referring to here is Lana no longer wearing a pull up to bed at night.  

Almost two years ago I wrote this.  At the time I wasn't sure how long Lana would have to wear a pull up at night and I was worried we weren't doing enough to help her out of it. At one point I would even wake her up before I went to bed to make her pee thinking it would help.  It didn't.  She would pee around five in the morning whether she had the 11pm potty break or not.  Limiting her liquids before bed made no difference either.  Then I asked her pediatrician if it was something we needed to work on or be concerned about.   He assured me there was nothing we could do about her peeing in the middle of the night.  She couldn't control it anymore than someone can control their snoring, and that most kids grow out of it by 6, sometimes 7.  Once I heard this, I felt comfortable and totally let it go.  Andy took a bit more convincing and I had to remind him to not say anything disparaging about her still wearing a pull up.  Making her feel bad was not going to solve the problem.  It would only make her feel worse.  

So every night we would  put a pull up on her and never made a big deal about it.  Every morning she would wake up and that thing was so heavy with urination it was like she had been swimming in it.  Part of the problem is that she never woke up when she peed at night.  Even the few times I attempted to have her go sans pull up, I would check her at some point in the night and she would be soaked and completely zonked out.  Every once in a very great while she'd wake up dry, but it was such a rare occurrence I never put much stock in it.  

Then, about a month ago, she started going more than one day with a dry pull up.  Soon it was two, then three, and before I knew it we were at a week and she was asking if she could switch to underwear at night.  I wanted her to have the chance to get rid of the pull up, and she had never gone for a week completely dry before. Still I was not looking forward to the middle of the night sheet change if she did have an accident.  Plus she sleeps on the top bunk.  Do you have any idea what a pain in the ass it is to change sheets on bunk beds?  I didn't!  Until we got them.  Sucks.  Especially at 4am.  Still, I had to let her try and see if she was ready.  

The first night went great.  Not one accident!  I think we got to about a week in until there was an accident, but no big deal.  I had expected a couple.  The good news was that she woke up when she had the accident.  This was something she hadn't done in the past.  Before she would have just slept in pee for who knows how long.  So this was progress!  She was dry for a night and then had an accident two days after her first one.  Hmm.  I hoped that didn't mean regression, but still she woke up when it happened. 

 The next night she called me from her bed and I got up and shuffled groggily down the hallway.  I was fully expecting her to tell me she had peed again and prepared myself to change sheets.  I was thinking it was a good thing I hadn't claimed victory over the bed wetting issue, because here she was back to peeing every night.  I walked in the room and asked what she needed.

"Mommy, I have to go potty."

"You didn't pee the bed?"  I asked surprised.

"No, but I have to go," she told me.

FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!  She woke herself up BEFORE she went this time.  She didn't tell me then, but I found out the next morning, that she had started to pee a little in her underwear, but then woke up and stopped.  That was when she called for me.  I guess her underwear were wet unbeknownst to me, but the sheets were dry. 

That was over a week ago.  Since then she has stayed dry all night long. She's called me a couple times to get up and go to the bathroom.  One more time where she peed a little in her pants and we did change them, but so much easier than changing top bunk sheets.   All in all major progress!  NOW I am ready to claim victory over the bed wetting problem which is why I decided to write this today.  I will not be surprised, however, if I find myself changing sheets in the middle of the night tonight.  The Universe likes to laugh at me.  

Thankful

I know I'm a couple days late, but I am so thankful to have three beautiful, healthy, smart although sometimes sassy little girls.  This was them on Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy's Parade with me.  This is a tradition I've had since I was a little girl and I'm so happy I can pass it down to them.  They even anticipated Santa's arrival at the end of the parade and asked at every commercial break,

"When is Santa coming??"

This is a question my sisters and I undoubtedly asked my mom several times during the same parade years ago.

As much as they may drive me crazy some days, and I know I may complain about them on here,  I know how incredibly lucky I am to have these three little souls in my life.  Thanksgiving reminded me how thankful I am to be able to be their mom.   

So, I Think I Can Dance

A few months ago, Andy got us memberships to the 24 Hour Fitness a few miles from our house.  I was excited to go to a gym, because even though I've found ways to work out just about every day for the past seven years, my workout DVDs were really starting to get old.  Now that I have a few hours a week alone, I can actually take advantage of going to the gym.  Sometimes I wake up early and go before everyone else wakes up.  Either way, it's nice to add something different to my regime.  I was getting really sick of the Bob's Biggest Loser Boot Camp, and I wasn't looking forward to my 10th round of P90X.  The other awesome thing about the gym is that they offer classes like spinning, Nike Fit Club and Zumba.  A few weeks ago a took my first Zumba class and it was WAY harder than I expected.  

Now let me clarify.  When I say harder, I don't mean in the too tough of a work out way,  although it is a kick ass fun workout.  No I mean in a- I so can not dance kind of way.  For those of you who don't know what Zumba is, it's a Colombian dance fitness program.  That was the problem, the "dance" part.   I've taken the class from three different instructors and while they all have their own style, the basics remain the same, move your body and shake your booty.  A lot.  The problem is, I am the whitest of the white girls when it comes to dancing.  I've always known this.  In fact Andy and I took dance classes together years ago and he would get so frustrated with me because most of the time I couldn't move the right way, but I thought I could at least move a bit. Then I took this class and realized I can't.  

The truth is, there are all kinds of people in the class.  Woman and MEN in their 60s who get it less than I do, and girls in their 20s who could teach the class themselves.  Therefore, I didn't feel completely incompetent because I'm somewhere in the middle.  Plus I know my mom has taken this class at her gym in Florida and she's a whiter white girl than I am when it comes to dancing.  Sorry, mom!  I learned from the best.  HOWEVER!  I started to gain a little dance confidence the more classes I took.  It would-and still does-take me a minute to get a move when they change it up during a song, but I'm getting better at picking them up more quickly.  There are mirrors all over the class and I catch glimpses of myself from time to time.  Last time I took a class I caught myself during a move and thought-

"I CAN move my body better!  This class is sorta teaching me to dance!"

So, I've been feeling pretty confident about my moves and my booty shaking and have been practicing them around the house when the mood strikes.  I will salsa through the kitchen, and mambo to the living room.  I and anxiously anticipating the next party my neighbors have where sometimes impromptu Colombian type dancing breaks out.  I won't look like such an idiot next time!  My youngest daughter would not agree.

Friday night I took the girls out to dinner at a cafe and bakery near our house called Porto's.  It a Cuban bakery and the music they play tends to have a Latin flair.  After our meal the girls had to use the bathroom.  Georgia and I were together in a handicap stall.  She was on the toilet, while I stood by and waited for her to finish. I heard the music piping through the speakers and since there was space in the big stall I decided to try out my new moves.  I started dancing around then Georgia looked at me and said,

"It'sth good dat nobody can sthee you in hea."

I continued my dancing, feigned being hurt and said, "Why?  You don't think Mommy is a good dancer?"  

Realizing she might hurt my feelings and not wanting to, she looked at me with a touch of pity and said, "No! It'sth just good dat nobody can sthee you."

Huh.  Guess I'm not ready for Dancing With The Stars: Mommyblogger Edition.

Building Up Her Immune System

You know how everyone has that one baby in their family who puts EVERYTHING in her mouth?  For us that baby was Georgia.  She was constantly crawling around the floor as a baby and putting everything from cat food, to play dough, to bouncy balls, to lint in her mouth.  We would go to the beach during the summer and she would poop out sand for two days because she ate so much.  I don't know why she would keep eating it after the first handful, but I guess it was tasty to her.  Come to think of it, she is always asking for extra salt on her food.  Perhaps there could be some deficiency there.  Eh-it'll work itself out.

Anyway, turns out, even at four, she still puts things in her mouth, but it's not as bad as it used to be.  We can take her to the beach worry free now.  I have caught her chewing a toy a time or two, and she has no reservations about eating something that has dropped on the floor.  Most of the time this is okay, as long as it was JUST dropped on the floor and it's something like a goldfish cracker.  Eating pasta off the floor is never okay, but crackers, whatever.  We do the obligatory "blow off the germs" and I will allow her to eat it, if it was JUST dropped.   My van, however, if full of crackers, popcorn, etc on the floor that was not JUST dropped but there for God knows how long.  Yes, I vacuum and wash it from time to time, but I do have three kids who like to bring snacks in the car on a regular basis.  I'm sure you can see where this is going.

About two weeks ago, Georgia and I were rushing out the door to go pick up Lana from school.  I told her to go out and get buckled in the car while I locked up.  As I was walking up to the car, she was standing in front of her car seat munching on something.  I hadn't given her a snack.

"Georgia," I said.  "What are you eating?"

"Goldfish!" she told me.

"Ummm....where did you get the goldfish?" I asked.

She gave me a sheepish grin and said, "Fwom da floow."

"Georgia!" I yelled.  "That's gross!  We don't eat things we found on the floor of this car!"

"But Mommy!  Is okay!" she assured me.  "I bwew it off fwist."

Sure, a goldfish cracker sitting on the floor of a car for weeks can become germ free simply by a four year old blowing it off.  Good call Georgia.  

Heading Toward The Wonder Years

Monday was Sonya's 8th birthday.  EIGHT!  As in -she was one, then two, then three...all the way to eight!  How I ask?  HOW?!!  Time goes way to fast when you have kids.  Anyway, over the weekend for her birthday we took her and two of her friends to get their nails done.  Then we went out to lunch.  They were all very excited and such little ladies.  And also gentleman, because Carter joined us as well, but not until lunch.  He decided he wasn't into getting his nails done.  Although there are quite a few men who do that now.  Well, at least here in Los Angeles, and no they aren't all gay.  

After lunch we came back to our house and had cake and ice cream with everyone.  It was a fun little birthday celebration for her.  Sure it cost a bit with the nails and lunch, but all I had to do was make a cake,  so I'll take it!  I spent many years planning and hosting big birthdays at our house.  We decided once the girls turned five that would be the end of the big parties.  Now they pick a couple of close friends and do something fun, like nails or mini golf.  Hey I still make my own cakes, so I'm still working!  Just a bit less, and it's fabulous.  I actually get to enjoy their birthdays now.  

The other thing that is nice about having only a couple of friends to celebrate with is less presents.  She doesn't receive dozens of toys or other things that she won't use and we have no room for.  She got three gifts from three good friends who know her well and got things she will use. 

My favorite part of the day was after Sonya opened her gift from her friend Gwen.  It was a salon chair for her American Girl Doll.  I don't know if you know about the American Girl Doll craze or the complete racket that store has going on. If you don't then here's a piece of advice: STAY AWAY!  I can't get over how much crap they have for those dolls.  You can buy furniture for them that is better than what I have in my house, and just about as expensive.  I am so not kidding about this.  The good news is that places like Target and Kohls have knock off furniture, clothes, etc for a fraction of what the "real" AG wants to sell it for.  Sorry, I digress.

So, Sonya opens this salon chair, and it's exactly as it sounds.  You can put the doll in the chair and fix her hair.  It came with all kind of accessories to play beauty salon.  Sonya was completely excited about the gift and was ready to play the minute she opened it.  Carter, the only boy amongst all these girls, eyed it for minute or two.  He looked interested in it, but I could tell he didn't want to look interested in it, so he said to Sonya,

"Sonya, I am probably going to regret saying this, BUT I will play American Girl Doll with you if you want."

Well, don't let us twist your arm Carter!  Andy and I looked at each other and we both surpressed our laughter.  Then I immediately texted Stacy to let her know how funny her son was.  Sonya was more than happy to oblige Carter and let him play dolls with her.  

Monday was her birthday, and lucky for her, they had the day off school in honor of Veterens Day. (Thanks to all those soldiers who do and did so much for our country, my Daddy being one of them.) I told her, since she didn't have school, we could do whatever she wanted that day.  We could go anywhere, the zoo, aquarium, park.  What did she most want to do?

"I want to go to the farm and pick vegetables," was her reply. 

Yup, my daughter WANTED to go pick vegetables.  So that is what we did.  Since Stacy doesn't work  I invited her and Carter to come along with us.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize the farm we go to doesn't have 'pick your own' after October during the week.  Sonya was slightly disappointed, but there were so many other things to do there she got over it quickly.  They ran around and fed the chickens, sheep, and horses.  They had fun in the petting zoo with the baby goats, which I was ready to put in my pocket and take home they were so damn cute, and they rode the cow train a couple of times.  Then we bought some vegetables from the famers market there.  They sell the veggies they grow on that farm.  So we sorta picked our own.  Just not directly out of the ground.  

All in all, she had a fantastic birthday.  Still, 8 has been hard for me to wrap my head around. 

On Sunday night, as I was putting her to bed, I said to her, "This is your last night of being 7, I can't believe it!"

"Why?" She asked.  "It's not that big of a difference from 7 to 8."

"No?" I said.

"No! It's not like I'm turning 13 or something," she told me.

"Why, then it would be a big difference?" I asked.

"Well, yeah!" She said.  "Because then I will be old and almost dead!"

Soooo...if she thinks 13 is old and almost dead, I must be living on serious borrowed time.  Maybe she thinks we live in 1812 when 13 was old and 38 was unheard of.  The truth is, her turning 8 has made me feel old, especially because of how grown up she acts now. I guess that's what it is.  She's a big kid now, not a little girl at all.  I was prepared, somewhat, to raise babies and toddlers, but this big kid to tween to teen stuff...I am so screwed!  Help.

8 days old to...

8 years!

Happy Birthday baby girl!  I love you! No matter how old and sassy you get, you will always be that baby in my heart.

No Texting While Driving

This morning, as I was driving Georgia to school, I grabbed my phone at a stoplight.  I was going to take a picture of something, but the light changed before I had a chance, so I just held the phone in my hand for a second.  I PROMISE I wasn't doing anything on it, just holding it.  From the back seat Georgia says to me,

"Don't text, Mommy!!"

"Oh don't worry, Georgia, I'm not," I assured her.  "I was going to take a picture, but I didn't get a chance to.  I'm just holding it."  Then I put it down to show her I wasn't doing anything while driving.  Just for the record, I swear I do not text and drive.  I can't say I don't ever look at a text at a stoplight, but I always put it down when the light turns green.  Honestly, I don't know how people can text and drive at the same time.    

"Okay," she said.

"That's good that you know that I shouldn't text while I'm driving," I said.  "It's dangerous to do."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Because you will fall out of da ca."

"What?" I asked.

"You will fall out of da ca if you text when you awe dwiving," she told me. 

I'm not really sure where she got that idea from, and I thought about correcting her, but then I remembered that someday she will be driving.  Someday she will have a cell phone.  Someday she will be driving and have a cell phone.  So why not scare her into not using them together now.  So, I went with it.  

"Yup," I said.  "That could happen, so I never text while I'm driving.

"Yeah," she said.  "'Cuz you don't want to fall out of da ca!"

Kindergarten Homework

Lana has homework every week.  Yes, even in Kindergarten they get homework.  It's nothing to difficult.  They practice writing words they've learned that week or tracing and writing their letters.  It's mostly just a review for them, but it doesn't keep Lana from whining about having to do it EVERY week.  Sonya always loved doing homework and even now doesn't mind it so much.  Lana is not that kid.  The next thirteen years are going to be a blast!  

A couple weeks ago, as part of her homework, her teacher suggested they create a small sentence with the word they practiced writing.  She encouraged the parents to allow the kids to sound out words and spell them the way they hear them, even if it isn't the correct spelling.  This is how they learn to read and write, and eventually spell correctly.  I always make Lana think of the sentence on her own, even though that is often met with groans from her.  In the end she will do it, but she's NOT happy about it.

One day she was working on writing the word "me".  She got to the part where she has to write a sentence. She moaned about it for a minute then said, 

"I know!  How about I write, "That is me."

"That is a great sentence, Lana," I told her.  So she proceeded to write what she heard.

A while later I took her homework to look over it and make sure everything looked okay.  Then I saw the sentence:

If you noticed I erased a word she originally wrote.  It said "Tha tit is me."  Later I had her add the 't' at the end of 'Tha' after I got rid of the word 'tit'.    I know Mrs. Lombardo wants us to let the kids sound things out and spell it themselves, but I guess I felt completely leaving the word 'tit' in my daughter's homework would not be the best parental move.  Yes, I laughed at this for a good five minutes and even though I erased most of it, I left just a enough behind to give her teacher a good chuckle as well.  This is the kind of thing that makes the groaning about the homework just a bit more bearable.  

Trick-or-Treat

I couldn't let this week go by without giving you pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes.  

Sonya went as Mulan, Lana was Sleeping Beauty, Andy was Johnnystein from Hotel Transylvania and yes that is a Georgia Spiderman.  That kid still LOVES Spiderman.  She was so excited to wear this costume.  She has been talking about being Spiderman for Halloween for six months now.  And to this day, I have zero idea where the whole Spiderman thing came from.  They had a great time trick-or-treating and I can't believe how long they can last now.  Gone are the days of just going down our street.  We have to go at least two or three streets now.  That equals a shit ton of candy we don't need.  We basically trade what we give out, for what they bring home, but whatever.  They have fun, and I know this stage won't last forever.  Someday I will give out candy on Halloween and it will actually be gone.  I'm not really looking forward to that day.