traveling ... alone

this weekend i'm going to boston, ma ... alone ... this will be the first time traveling by myself since pbs was born. i've left him for a few hours or a day at a time but have never been away from js and pbs more than that. i think i'm a little nervous. i'm meeting friends in boston so i won't be all alone.

before we had pbs, i would go on trips with girlfriends a few times a year. since pbs came along, i haven't done any of that. maybe this is exactly what i need. i've been feeling a little claustrophobic lately because of the weather, myself and other excuses. i love being with pbs and js all the time. i think i just need a little more time to myself once in a while.

it's my fault that i'm in this state of mind right now. after feeling like i was single for three years while js went to law school and like a single parent during the time he studied for the bar, i guess i feel like all of our time should be spent together and i have a very hard time doing anything for myself, by myself. it's kind of like we're still getting reacquainted and figuring out this parenting thing together. i'm sure that's hard to understand unless you've been through something similar.

so traveling ... alone ... i'll let you know how it goes!

time management

i read a column from the washington post the other day by carolyn hax (tell me about it) titled, "why don't friends with kids have time?" I'm not sure of the date of the article and couldn't find it when i looked  for it. basically the column talks about how friends change once they have kids and all of their time is spent on the kids and not the friendships that were in place before.

i agree that changes happen but i know that when i didn't have pbs, i was cautious about when to call a friend for fear of waking the kid(s) or bothering my friend while she was busy with whatever. i would send an email instead of call. sometimes that was frustrating because no response would come. i now understand that when you have a free minute you just want to sit and do nothing for a little bit before it's on to the next thing.

i think the same sort of logic that was used in the column could be applied to having only one kid or having more. sometimes difficult situations happen, such as miscarriage, fertility issues, etc. that prohibit and/or prolong the time between kids. in js and my situation, we've been pregnant three times and have one happy, healthy pbs. the other two angels are watching over us and waiting for us in heaven.

i guess what i mean is that people with more that one kid should be a little empathetic, putting themselves in the other persons shoes, and be careful about the way they phrase things. i guess i'm still thinking about what was said over a month ago (maybe i'm still a little sensitive...). i should really let it go. so in a way it all ties together and it comes down to time management.

fall is here!

i'm kind of sad to see summer go. i much prefer warmer temperatures to rain and snow. i do enjoy the colors, pumpkin and apple picking and somewhat slower pace of fall...at least for the next few weeks until thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season.

it's fun to see pbs learning about leaves, pumpkins, apples when we go out. he seems to love to get out and explore with me. most of the time he is stuck in his stroller but he loves to go. we stop by the pond on the Mall or at the potomac in old town alexandria and visit our feathered friends. he laughs at the way they dive for the bread we throw to them, how they are so daring when they come within inches of our feet. i wonder sometimes if the ducks will/would ever take the food from our hands but haven't been brave enough myself to try it.

if it's too cold, we can go to a museum or shopping mall. i try to stay outside most of the time because that time is so limited. i guess i'd better get myself ready for the cold weather that i know is not far behind. fall is here!

mommy's little helper

pbs has started "helping" with the laundry, dishes, nightly trash take out and picking up his books and toys. i'm quite happy that he wants to do this already. although we have to be careful before starting the washer...i found a chubby truck in there the other day.

he likes to hand me the clothes to put into the washer. sometimes he reaches up and throws a sock or something in. after it's washed i separate the air dry and dryer safe clothes. pbs likes to "help" with the air dry clothes that i've hung on the dryer rack. if we're not watching, he'll pull off a piece and run around with it. the other day i wasn't paying full attention and he decided it was a good idea to run around the apartment with a pair of underwear around his neck like a necklace. it was kind of funny, and i did chuckle, but i told him no and hung them back on the rack.

he's been trying to "help" with loading and unloading the dishwasher for several months. he pushes the buttons, pulls out the racks and puts toys in. he does take clean dishes out one at a time and hand them to either js or me to put away.

trash is one of his favorite words. he follows js around every night to gather up all the trash for the nightly pick up. he does like to take the trash out of the can too. we're trying to break him of that...so far not very successfully.

i love mommy's little helper.

potty training...where to start?

so i've been reading up on some different ideas for potty training because pbs is showing signs of being ready. i think i have been dreading this since we found out we were pregnant.

i don't know how a boy goes to the bathroom! what am i supposed to do? some of the articles i've read have said to let him go naked from the waist down. i'm not comfortable with that. i'm thinking about just spending a few days in the bathroom with him. that probably won't work though.

i have heard that boys are harder to train than girls. pbs has been showing signs of being ready for quite a while though. he hates having a wet or poopy diaper and pulls at it when he wants to be trained. he goes off by himself when he's pooping. he's been more interested in the toilet lately, wanting to put toilet paper in it and flush it.

how do i know for sure he's ready? i don't want to force him and end up being miserable for a very long time. we know people who have an almost four year old little boy and they are still trying to get him potty trained. we also know people who have two boys and the older boy was completely trained by three years old. i'd really like for pbs to be completely trained by three years old.

where to start? maybe our next step should be a potty seat, cloth training pants and rubber covers with pull-ups for only at nap time and night. maybe we should have a chart with stickers, a potty dance and a special prize for so many successes. i guess we'll figure it out pretty soon.