Saving $$: Potty Training!!

Posted on by Becky

One of my money-saving goals for the next two months is to get Mara potty trained.

Mara Carrying Her New Underwear in a Bucket
Carrying Her New Underwear in a Bucket

That alone will save us about $40/month in diapers (not to mention the space in the landfills). She has been doing great!

We have . . . (and, by the way, this list also doubles as “Things I Thought I Would Never Do . . .”)

Well, it’s finally starting to pay off!

It is Friday afternoon, and we have not had an accident or a wet or dirty diaper since Wednesday afternoon! That includes 2 nights and 2 naps!

Mara runs around the house waving her hands in the air and singing, “No more biapers any more! No more biapers any more!”  (I think that’s from Potty Power, but I’m not sure, since I never watched the DVD all the way through.)

I’m not expecting perfection. I know there will be more accidents. 🙂 But I’m thinking: we’re on our way to saving $40 a month!

Preschool at Home

Posted on by Becky

My daughter is two years old and madly in love with her world! She is learning voraciously and talking incessantly about anything and everything new she discovers!

My background is not in education or child development.  (I was a CPA, who worked as an auditor at Ernst & Young, before becoming a stay-at-home mom at age 31.) So I would love to brainstorm with the blogging-moms community about structure, activities, and learning for the preschool child.

My 2-year-old can:

  • Count to twelve by herself.
  • Recognize most letters of the alphabet. (She is also learning the sounds letters make.)
  • Sing the ABCs song and other simple songs like “Amazing Grace” and “Jesus Loves Me.”
  • Fill in words in her oft-read books, if I pause in the story (i.e. “Corduroy is a bear who once lived in the. . . ” she will finish, “. . . toy department of a big store.”
  • Recite short verses (for example, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Ephesians 6:1.”)
  • Look through her Bible story verse and tell you a short synopsis of each picture. (“God made light.” “God made Adam and Eve from dust.” “Noah built big boat.” “Abraham Sarah laughing–baby!”)

I don’t want to overwhelm her or push her–she is only two. But she loves to learn and she just devours everything I can teach her. Since she loves to learn letters, numbers, songs, and verses, I want to do some sort of “lesson plans,” in order to be focused in the things we are learning, rather than just randomly learning things that come up, which is basically what we are doing now.

Talk to me about:

  • Preschool/toddler schedules (This is a big one for me!–how much one-on-one time with mom, playtime alone, reading time, helping time, naptime, etc.).
  • Goals for preschoolers
  • Activities to include daily/weekly/occasionally
  • Methods of teaching/learning (and discuss how this varies between boys & girls: my son is 10 months old, so it’s not long before he’ll be a toddler too!)
  • Lists of books we should check out from the library
  • Childrens’ Bible verse programs you have found helpful
  • Bible story books/visuals that seem consistent with the Scriptural text
  • Also a discussion on early music training (she loves to sing and “play the piano” with me–I teach piano, and as a child, I started taking lessons at age seven, but I’m interested in a discussion of the pros and cons of starting music earlier.)

I’m all ears!

I would soo love to read dozens of blog posts on this topic tomorrow! So pleeeeze reply in the comments or link to your own blog! Thank you!

Hop over to We Are THAT Family for more Works-for-me-Wednesday Backward Editions!

I never thought I would blog about potty training

Posted on by Becky

Funny how having children changes you. This morning as I came upstairs from the basement carrying a basket of laundry, my 2-year-old ran toward me wearing shoes and socks, but no pants or underwear. ??

“Lop-a-lop!” she announced with a smug grin, hands clasped behind her back. (Lollipops are the reward for going #2.)

“Did you go potty?” I asked, looking into her little potty. “No,” I answered my own question emphatically. “No lollipop.–There’s nothing in there.”

“I fushed it,” she explained.

First of all, her potty doesn’t flush. Second, if she had gone #2, she would be calling for me to wipe her.

But she insisted, pointing to a random piece of plastic protruding from the potty seat. “See? I fushed it right there!”

Oh, my . . . you’re not convincing me, little girl. NO lop-a-lop!

Potty Power

Posted on by Becky

Our friend loaned us a DVD called “Potty Power,” and Mara has been watching it the past couple of days. I don’t know how long it will last, but she went in the potty three times this afternoon, after watching the DVD. She would say, “Mara go potty! Mara big kid!”

When Daniel came home from work, Mara strutted around the house, arms over her head, shouting, “Power! Power!”

“What’s she saying?” he asked.

“Power,” I translated. “Potty power.”

“Mara,” Daniel said, shaking his head. “That is not power. If you have power when you’re going potty, you need to see a doctor.”

And Mara, who has begun the endless “why” stage, came to me, “Why, Mommy? Why Daddy say ‘not power’?”

All Organized

Posted on by Becky

In my endless pursuit of home-organization, I purchased three stackable bins at Target for my daughter’s toys. I want toys in the living room. I want the kids to be able to play downstairs but the growing pile of toys, books, puzzles and stuffed animals is becoming quite unwieldy.

The bins were on clearance for $2.99 each. My 2-year-old daughter loves them. (They are purple.)  She walked behind me in Target dragging one of the purple bins behind her the entire way, garnering all sorts of attention on every aisle.

“We’re going to get organized!” I told her. “One for books! One for puzzles! Little toys in the top!”

When we got home, I put all the puzzles in one, and then I got interrupted, so I instructed my daughter: “Get all your books and put them in this bin.”

She is a good little worker, and I watched as she picked up each book. When she set the last book in the purple bin, she clapped with her signature enthusiasm:

“YAY!!!!” she cheered. “Mara! All! OR-nun-ized!” she shouted.

I couldn’t help laughing. “That makes one of us,” I thought. “It’s a start.”

And Daniel said, “Maybe she can teach you now.”

Will I ever be able to say that? “Mommy all organized”? . . . wow