Just Another Manic Monday

Yesterday was hectic. Here's what happened.

4 a.m. Paul wakes up hungry. I feed him and fall back asleep.

7:15 a.m. Adam's alarm goes off for the umpteenth time and I finally hear it. I jolted out of bed and ran to make coffee.

7:20 a.m. Check e-mail for just a minute.

7:21 a.m. Claire hollers and I hope she goes back to sleep for a few minutes.

7:22 a.m. Coupon cutting ensues.

7:23 a.m. Paul wakes back up and is hungry again. Adam fumbles through the kitchen, ironing his shirt.

7:30 a.m. Claire screams again. I sigh and go get her up.

7:45 a.m. Breakfast commences. En lieu of Bible study, I cut coupons.

8:20 a.m. Adam flies out of the house, late for work.

10:30 a.m. Kids and I are bathed, dressed, and fed. Ready to go shop.

10:45 a.m. We walk into Costco. Claire's bathroom trips = 1

11:15 a.m. We walk into Target. Claire's bathroom trips = 1

Noon We walk into Kroger. Claire's bathroom trips = 3, Spilled milk = 1, Leaking baby food jars = 1, Crying baby = 1, Fights between a toddler and a baby = 3 or 4, Elderly shoppers getting tripped up by a toddler = 3 or 4, Claire squats in the aisle, mimicking going potty = 10

2 p.m. We walk out of Kroger and apologize to Adam for the tardiness of his lunch.

2:10 p.m. Fly into the house, throw lunch together, serve it, throw the kids in the bed for a nap and start putting up groceries.

4 p.m. Get kids up to go to church for two meetings. Several snacks, potty trips, and changes of clothes later, we get in the car at 5:00.

5:02 p.m. Paul starts crying uncontrollably.

5:23 p.m. We pull into the church parking lot and realize we have lost a pacifier.

5:24 p.m. I hand off the kids and drive as fast as I can to Walgreen's.

5:35 p.m. Made it to the first meeting.

6:30 p.m. Nursery workers leave, telling me they weren't booked for the second meeting.

6:35 p.m. I take my kids to the meeting.

6:45 p.m. More nursery workers appear and I am relieved.

8:00 p.m. Dash home, feed Paul immediately, start dinner immediately, get Adam to bathe the kids.

9:10 p.m. Dinner on table.

10 p.m. Kids in bed. Cleanup commences.

11 p.m. Attempt to watch TV with Adam, but collapse within 30 seconds or so.

So tell me...When does the "stay-at-home" mom part start?

Panties and patience

Today is day 11 of Claire wearing panties. She is officially potty-trained, kind of.

I wasn't pushing her. We've been working on it off and on for over a year. Santa brought her a singing potty for Christmas 2007. We've done bribery, celebrations, explanations, peer pressure, and many other techniques, but I finally just had to bite the bullet and do it.

The catalyst was when she was at a playdate and told the mom that she needed a diaper change. "If she's telling you that," the mom said, "She's ready." The next day we were in panties with few objections.

That's not to say we haven't had any accidents. The first couple of days were rough, with pee-pee and poo-poo accidents, but we're getting better. I'm also getting more observant to her body language.

Sometimes it's real hard to figure out what she's telling me, like when she crawled under the table the other day and hid. She kept putting her hand on her backside, feeling for something. It was pretty funny, but what was hilarious was Adam laughing so much about it that he imitated her later. (She was unaware.) So a hint to all those potty-training parents out there: When your kid hides under the table and grabs her crack, she probably needs to go potty.

We're doing much better. We haven't had an accident in two days, with the exception of church last night. I left her and Paul in the nursery for an hour. I took her potty before I left. While I was gone, she wet herself twice. The nursery worker got so frustrated (I do understand) that she stretched Paul's diaper out and put it on Claire. Paul's bottom is so big that the 7 month old baby's diapers can be stretched to fit a 2 1/2 year old!

And now I am completely immune to being grossed out by poo.