Make you feel my love

To Jaiden and Piper,

When the rain is blowing in your face it will eventually stop.
And the whole world is on your case because one small mistake,
I could offer you a warm embrace anytime of the day or night,
To make you feel my love which is boundless.
When the evening shadows and the stars appear, take some time to appreciate it.
And there is no one there to dry your tears you may need to do it yourselves.
I could hold you for a million years and would gladly do so for a million more.
To make you feel my love forever and ever.
I know you haven't made your mind up yet about your lives.
But I will never do you wrong on purpose.
I've known it from the moment that we met and you were mine to hold.
No doubt in my mind where you belong, right in my arms.
I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue.  You are my priorities.
And I'd go crawling down the avenue or anywhere you need.
No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do for you two.
To make you feel my love is my goal.
The storms are raging on the rolling sea but not in our love.
And on the highway of regret but not in our home.
The winds of change are blowing wild and free so stay true to yourselves.
You ain't seen nothing like me yet.  I'm a mama bear with her cubs.
I could make you happy, make your dreams come true within reason.
Nothing that I wouldn't do to keep you safe and healthy.
Go to the ends of the Earth for you to realize your passion.
To make you feel my love for my family.
To make you feel my love of you two.

I was listening to a song the other day, and I couldn't stop thinking of you two.  I have changed it just a little.  I want you to know that I will always be there for you.

Love,

Mom

Dear Jaiden

Dear Jaiden,

Your cuddles are the best!  While your dad was at work, we went to the movies today and you wanted to sit in my lap the entire time.  It was great.  I want you to always feel comfortable in your mom's and dad's arms.  We are there for you.  Always and forever.

Now, what is this marriage you keep talking about?  You're too young.  Besides, you aren't allowed to date until you are 25.

Love you forever my prince,

Mom

Dear Jaiden

Dear Jaiden,

I've been meaning to write you a letter for some time now.  Hopefully, I will continue to write these. I want to tell you what a joy it is having you in my life.

You make everyone smile when you smile.  I know that sounds sappy, but it is true.  Also true: you scare me sometimes!  Two days ago, we were playing in the driveway waiting for your dad to get home.  I turned on the silly sprinkler.  You know, the one with all of the wiggly sprayers?  You wanted to play with your Jake and the Neverland Pirates sword so you could hit the water.  After a while you were stabbing the driveway with it.  Eventually, you impaled a cherry.  And do you know what the first thing you said was?  "Look mom.  My sword has blood on it."

Ok, it's a little scary that you recognize blood but I understand.  That is how life goes.  You are going to learn that your blood is red.  And that sword can get blood on them.  It is more scary that as a mom of a 3 year old I feel I have failed as a parent to shelter you from that.  Oh well.  What is done is done.

Now for the truly scary part.  You stick the sword in your mouth after stabbing that cherry "blood".  I tell you not to do that.  I mean, you don't know what has driven over the cherries, if dogs have peed or licked them, what bugs may have crawled in there, etc.  Gross.  Your response? "But I have to get the blood off."

Wait, what?!?  You get BLOOD off of your sword by licking it?  I know you have never seen a tv show or movie that does that.  Where did this come from? Your own brain?!? AHHHHHH! Do I need to sleep with the door locked at night?  What did I do after that?  I laughed!  That is hilarious.  Creepy, but hilarious.  

Please don't be a serial killer.  

If you are, I guess we know where the turning point was.  My bad. :)  I'm not sure where you get your macabre sense of humor, but I love it.  Now stop sticking your sister with the Bowzer shell and get ready for "school" (AKA. daycare).  

I love you forever my peanut.

Mom

There and Back Again: A Rational Mother's Tale of Her Journey Into Irrationality

My son has been going to a daycare/preschool for about 3 weeks now. We chose this daycare because we have a few friends who take their kids and they really like it. Jaiden has a blast. He was moved to the preschool section with the 3 and 4 year olds instead of the toddler section because he is potty trained and has a great vocabulary. In other words, he is brilliant for a 2 year old. (I know, I know. He is almost 3 but don't try to change my mind.)

One of the people dropping her kids off is a very good friend of mine. We have known each other for about 15 years, maybe more. Her youngest is 3.5 years old. Jaiden and this little girl, let's call her Sammy, have known each other since Jaiden was born (she is about 9 months older than he is). They have grown up together.

Sammy has been going to this daycare for about a year. So when Jaiden started going, he naturally saw an instant friend. He does everything with Sammy. EVERYTHING. The staff have even joked how it is good for Jaiden when Sammy isn't there, because he then has to play with someone else.

About 3 or 4 days ago, Jaiden came home and said, "Sammy is my best friend." At the time 2 things went through my mind. First was: Awww! How sweet. My 2, almost 3, year old thinks he has a best friend. Second was: How does he even know the term "best friend"?

If you were to ask Jaiden who his friends were, he will point to everyone and say they are all his friends. It is interesting that he placed Sammy in the "best friend" column. Adorable, right?

Well, yesterday I picked Jaiden up and about halfway home he says, "mom, Sammy's not my best friend." The radio was on and I had our AC up so I didn't think I heard him correctly. I turned everything off and asked him so say that again. So he says, "Sammy says she's not my best friend." And then he proceeds to cry. Here enters my journey into irrationality.

Into my mind goes all of the criticisms of Sammy. Who does she think she is? Jaiden doesn't need her. He can find a better friend. Etc, etc, etc. If you have a child of your own, you are surprised at how quickly any logic leaves your mind. All that I could think about was how she just broke my little boys heart. I'm not sure if you realize how far my irrationality went. Any other day, I really like Sammy and her family. We've exchanged hugs at daycare and when our schedules align, we get together. Maybe have a play date. Maybe just see each other at birthday parties. Her mom and I have gone through a lot together. A LOT! I was ready to end it all.

And then reason returns. I made myself take a step back and think about their age. They are 3. While I know my son is brilliant, he still thinks that everyone at daycare is his friend, no matter their age. While I hope this innocence never goes away, it may lead to quite a few tears along the way.

Next, I thought about Sammy. She and Jaiden were great friends the day before, so what changed? Jaiden is pretty laid back. He doesn't throw temper tantrums except for the rare occasion. But when he likes something, he loves it. And he thinks of nothing else. Even if the something is a person. Thinking about what Jaiden said, I realized she probably just wanted a break from him. Remember, they are 3. He can be a little overwhelming at times.

This entire journey happened within a matter of seconds. Ok. Maybe a minute or two or five. Don't judge. It was my first time.

So, finally I gave him the advice that he needed. Sometimes he is going to have to play with other people too. Sammy sometimes likes to play with her other friends too. He needed to try to play with the other little boys and girls. This is where he informed me that he wasn't little, he was big. And our conversation detoured. Phew! Crisis averted!

Today when I picked him up, Jaiden and Sammy had returned to being friends and were chasing each other around. All was right in the world again.

To all of you rational parents out there, you are not alone. We all have our irrational moments. Learn from them. And may your world be righted again soon.

Potty Training--Day ??

We stopped working on the potty training front for a while.  Jaiden just didn't seem all that into it.  And he has an attitude like his mother.  When he decides he doesn't want to do something, watch out! :) We went back to diapers, but didn't give up entirely.  Every once and a while, we would ask him if he wanted to use the potty.  If he said yes, success! If he said no, that's ok.  Then, at the end of the year, we decided to change daycare facilities.  (We loved our daycare, but the hours just didn't work.)  When our neighbor found out we were changing, she asked if she could watch him for us.  Score!  An at home daycare, with great hours, and a person we know and respect!  Can't get much better, right?  Wrong!!  She then said that she would be willing to work on potty training if we wanted.  Sweet!

We needed to get a couple of things for Jaiden so that he would be ready.  We still had two weeks before our neighbor would start watching Jaiden, so we thought it would be a great idea to get him comfortable with the process.  Jaiden and daddy went to the store and picked out new underwear, Thomas the Train.  Jaiden is absolutely obsessed with Thomas the Train.  We also pulled out his little potty to get him used to it.  Now let me just say, this all happened the last week in December to the first week in January.  Jaiden was only 2 years and 3 months old.

With the purchase of the new underwear, Jaiden was gung-ho about potty training.  He would have an accident and would come tell us immediately.  If we asked him to sit on the potty, he would do it right away.  Those two weeks were great.  There were lots of accidents, but Jaiden wanted to use the potty so badly that the accidents were few and far between.  Our neighbor was surprised at the level at which Jaiden was using the potty.  After a month or so, Jaiden was no longer having accidents unless we forgot to prompt him to use the potty.  He still wasn't recognizing the signs of a full bladder himself.  And then we hit a plateau.

Jaiden was doing ok with the potty training, but we couldn't get passed him not recognizing when he needed to go potty.  We were flummoxed.  He was getting frustrated because we were frustrated and all of the frustration was not helping.  We tried to keep calm, but after you clean the carpet for the third time that day it just adds up.  We would ask Jaiden where he was supposed to go potty.  He told us on the toilet.  And the next time he had to go...it would be on the floor.  We tried getting him to help us clean up.  He would say it was yucky and then the next time...he would go on the floor.  We didn't know what to do.

Then one day, Jaiden saw how daddy went potty standing up.  It was a brand new concept and Jaiden wanted to try.  Then he started to tell us that he needed to go potty just so he could stand up when he did it.  It is now April and Jaiden is doing well.  He still has an occasional accident, but he is recognizing when he needs to go.  And if he doesn't make it to the potty, Jaiden is able to stop it so he only has a little mess. It has been a learning process for us all.

Potty training--Day 2

Today was more and less successful than day 1. It was more successful because we had less "accidents" and less successful because Jaiden never actually went potty on the potty.

I began today similar to day 1. I told Jaiden we were going to wear big boy panties (I can see all of the men cringe with my use of the word panties but too bad) and that he was going to use the potty. Jaiden likes his potty. His potty looks like a real toilet. It has a flusher, that doesn't actually flush but he can press it, a toilet seat, and a toilet paper dispenser. It is a deluxe potty. In my last post, I mentioned that the potty talks. Well, it has a sensor in its "bowl" that when activated by urine or poop will trigger the potty to sing and praise the kiddo who used it. Like I said, Jaiden likes his potty.

This time I didn't constantly give him liquids. He drank when thirsty and at meals. But for some reason I still could not get the timing right. Jaiden's first accident occurred during breakfast. I even tried to put him on the potty 15 minutes after we started, but that just wasn't soon enough. Oh well, I would get it next time.

His second accident happen an hour and a half later. I wasn't sure what his potty schedule was but after the one hour mark, we sat on the potty about every 15 minutes. I would read him two stories, to make sure he sat there for a little bit, and then he would go back to playing. At one point, Jaiden came and stood right in front of me and then just started peeing. Drats! Ok, ok. I decided this was a good time to talk to him and let him know what it is he is doing and what I would like him to do. I then sat him on the potty, hopefully to associate the two acts together, and read him another story.

This went on for the rest of the day. When daddy came home, he took over. Still with no apparent success. The potty didn't ever get to talk. I'm beginning to think that Jaiden isn't quite ready yet. I haven't decided if I will try tomorrow or wait a couple of days. We will see how I feel I'm the morning.

If anyone has and tips or tricks or advice, please share. Thank you!

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Potty Training--Day 1

I'm beginning this post with an apology. I didn't think about tracking Jaiden's potty training until day 2 so this post will be how I remember day 1. Day 1 began about 2 weeks ago.

Insert dream sequence music here.

Day 1 of potty training began with excitement. I read some books saying what to feed your toddler when trying to potty train, what signs to look for to see if your toddler is ready, what to say to your toddler, and others of the sort. I also talked to friends who recently had also potty trained their wee ones. I was ready!

I started by talking to Jaiden and telling him what we were going to do that day. We were going to learn to use the potty and we weren't going to wear diapers. Jaiden doesn't really like diapers so that is a plus. I knew that the first few bathroom tries were going to be chance so we needed to get the timing right.

I put Jaiden in big boy underwear and set an alarm. Every 5 minutes we were going to go to the potty. It seems a little excessive but I though I would have a better chance at getting him to go in the potty and not his underwear. As it turned out, my 5 minute alarm didn't work. He wet his underwear in between the times. So much for that idea.

We changed his underwear and tried again. I gave Jaiden snacks that would make him thirsty and plenty of water. All that did was make him pee more often! And not on the potty.

4 pairs of underwear later...he went on the potty!!!!! I couldn't have been happier. I praised him, the potty praised him (we have a talking potty), and I thought maybe we did it. Now that Jaiden knew what I wanted he could tell me when he needed to go. Right?

No.

By noon, I couldn't do it any more. I was done. Jaiden was frustrated because I kept putting him on his potty. I was frustrated because Jaiden was "going" on his potty. So in the end we stopped. Jaiden wasn't quite ready and mommy wasn't quite ready. We will try again.

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