5/8/09

Three...


I can't believe Stella will be three in four days! She will, she really will! Time sure has flown...OK, ready for another one








NOT!

The 'gooky' fairy (aka the pacifier fairy) will be visiting our house Sunday night...oh please pray for me!!! I've got three MAJOR events to deal with concerning Stella and that is just one. I hope the old saying is true, 'it'll hurt me more than it'll hurt you'. It'll break my heart knowing how much she loves that darn thing! I don't really mind her having it but there are others who make their opinions known ;)

I figure once that's gone maybe she'll want to potty train. She wants NOTHING to do with it now and I'm starting to get worried! She's set to go to school two days a week (for two and a half hours) in September and she HAS to be potty trained...yikes!

Lastly, I HAVE to get her out of our bed!!! I don't know what to do, I don't know how to do it! If anyone has any ideas PLEASE help!! I don't want to hear 'I told you so' or 'You should have never let her sleep with you in the first place'...ANYTHING along those lines will be met with deaf ears. Comments like that aren't really useful, you know? I'm looking for helpful advice...OK?

Alright, I'm off to get ready for work! Anyone local want to come visit me??? I'll make you a really, REALLY good cocktail!!!

XO

6 comments:

gina said...

Wish I was there and I'd rush right over and you could make me a 'virgin anything!' - we'd figure out something for your little shared sleeper. My Caleb - for the first time in 2.5 years slept in his own little bed the entire night. He's been with us the entire time. I put his little crib mattress - tucked it into the corner of my room, about 3 feet away from me - made it cute and cozy and he loves it. We started with naps there - now and then. Sometimes we'd read books there together - helping him make good memories there - sometimes I'd lay on the floor by him there until he fell asleep. It seemed like a very slow process - and one we are still going through - but it is working! And he's happy and secure - not feeling kicked out of his safety zone in a harsh way... you know what I mean? I was surprised at how he loved his new little bed - like he was ready for his own place - even for a few hours. Good luck - maybe that will help. I know it is difficult - I've got the same Fall preschool potty train deadline and it isn't going to be easy. We'll have to stick together!!

Hope your work time goes fast - and that you have a beautiful weekend.

AnniKae said...

I feel for you. I went through the same thing with my kids...
My solution was one that just happened...
Somehow, don't know really how, but my son and I came up with "Good Dreams" room freshener. Just after I tucked my little man into his bed, I would spray a blend of essential oil room spray in his bedroom. It made him feel safe from the scary dreams. I'm sure that wouldn't work for every child, but thankfully, it worked for us. Oh...Enjoy your Mother's Day on Sunday!

Jody said...

I have felt (and feel) your pain! Lucy had a pacifier until 3 1/2! It was her favorite thing, and I, too, just didn't want to take her sweet "pacie" away...yes, I am WEAK! It finally took a visit to the dentist who showed me how it was wrecking her mouth/teeth and that very night the pacie fairy came, and she knew that the dentist, Dr. Debbie, said she needed to say bye bye to the "pacies" as she called them.
Charlie is 3 1/2 and it took the new baby to get him out of our bed and into his...but now he needs his brother or sister to snuggle/sleep with him...Yes I am weak, but he just gets me, right in the gut...he's so sweet!
Potty Training...have you tried rewards? I ended up buying way too many Thomas the Tank engines, but Charlie finally did it soon after turning three....Stella will be fine...she's got a few more good months, and maybe once she knows that she needs to do it in order to go to school, she'll do it. That's what finally got Charlie to do it...he wanted to go to school like his older bro and sis, and one day just started going on the toilet.
If I was there, I'd be belly up and drinking something fun, made 'specially by you! Then I'd start talking way too much and have you make me another one!:)
Hang in there...Stella is so sweet...and you've given her the security to know that her needs, no matter how crazy, will be met by you and that security and trust will carry her a long way! Keep trusting your gut...you sound like such a fun, intuitive mom...keep it up!
xxoo
jody

HeyMiemie said...

With the co-sleeping I can't help you. Miss M still crawls into our bed in the middle of the night. A few nights ago I woke up to find her hanging half off my side of the bed, fast asleep.

With potty-training we used a loose version of the Fast-track method from the Everything Potty Training book by Linda Sonna. Here’s a link to the chapter: http://books.google.com/books?id=3mTNcfhH9YAC&pg=PT142&lpg=PT142&dq=fast+track+method+potty+training&source=bl&ots=6Mahy36W-T&sig=3CA-HyM4hEzVHHWJGnm1oqK7LqA&hl=en#PPT141,M1
She described several methods in her book, but we picked this one. You basically have to take a weekend off, put your toddler in underpants, keep her in the kitchen or bathroom – where the floor is easy to clean – and go for it. We called it a potty party, took turns and stayed in the kitchen. We had books and toys and laptop with an Elmo DVD, which she could only watch while seated on the potty. We had a chart where we noted her progress with star stickers she could stick on herself. And special incentives for successful number 2’s, like a ride on the carousel at the mall or a smoothie. It is very intense and it felt like it wasn’t going to work for about the first 24 hours, and then all of a sudden it did. There were still a few accidents afterwards, but don’t go back to pull-ups (except to sleep). That seems more confusing to the child. Just carry extra dry clothes with you and go often ;-) I used to carry a little toilet seat around with us to the stores, but we’ve since perfected the “Public Restroom Pose” – I hold her by the thighs over the toilet in a sort of Rugby scrum position, my butt sticking out, my elbows resting against my knees, her head by my hip, her arms around my legs. I’d send you a photo, but the photographer wouldn’t fit in the stall with us…

Bethany said...

WOW! There is some great advice here!! Gentry still has her binky too...she'll be three in July. My husband has been trying to get it away from her forever now and I insist that she can still have it! She may be our last baby and I am all for keeping her as "baby" as I can for as long as I can!! So, I am no help whatsoever there! I DREAD when she turns three because he told her that on her third birthday, it is gone. I'll be crying right along with her I am sure!

Potty training! We had Gentry potty trained way back in October when she was just over 2 but she totally reverted. Lil' stinker! We just got her potty trained again in the last month and so far so good! She had NO problem getting the pottying part down again, but #2 proved to be challenging! I finally bribed her with a new princess bike and it worked like a charm!! Once she did it the first time, she understood what was happening and has been good to go since! Huntler was a different story...he was 3 and 3 months before we got him trained...so don't worry!! She'll get there when she's ready!!

LOVED Gina's thoughts on the co sleeping! Huntler slept with us until we had Gentry and he had to move to his bed. She has never slept with us on a regular basis...too independent. That being said, they BOTH find their way back to our room quite often!! They seem to go in spells...we can go weeks without hearing a peep all night and then we can go weeks with an extra person or two in the middle! We are in the middle of that phase now!

Good luck!! I'll be thinking of you and the binky fairy!! I KNOW that will be rough!!

elma said...

Oh my the fun things we moms have to do:) With the paci we bought Abigail a pink poodle from build a bear and told her the pipes as we called them were going to the new babies at the hospital. And for Adrian I told him that there was no diapers at the store and he was done in one day:) He would play outside and five times in one day came in all wet changed his underware and was done day and night:) The sleeping that is sooo hard. We just put a mattress in our room and now when he is sick he just sleeps on a bunch of blankets on the floor next to me:) Our babies grow up way to fast. We have eight kids and our baby just turned five. Love those baby years. Happy mothers day to you!!!