This is...Life

Molly got out all the necessary breakfast items for a bowl of cereal. Came time to get the milk and she looks in the fridge, goes back to the table, stands there, gets this very annoyed look on her face and says, "where is the milk?"
It is 7am and I am not a morning person. I've become more accustomed to awaking at 6am without bitterness, but a happy heart each morning is still a lot for me to muster up. I still try and stay up until 11:30 with a quiet house and late night television, but the morning attitude after a night like that makes me feel terrible about myself. So, when I get attitude from my 8 year old that makes me feel bad about myself at 7am I don't respond well!
I didn't go to the Grocery store to buy milk, because I decided to stop saying, "I need to potty train Austin," and I just decided this would be a good week to potty train Austin! If there is one motherhood duty that can make you question the job your doing as a mother it is potty training. I think it is in the Top 3 with sleep training and restaurant behavior! How many times do you see an out of control child in a restaurant and you feel a little better about your own child!!?

I've dropped down my trips to the "Beanery" which means more stops at my Keurig!
Thank God I grew a taste for coffee with my early rising family!

 I've successfully potty trained 2 children. My philosophy is to keep the diapers off of them and let them figure out how the urination process works, move to them figuring out when the urge hits to "run" to the potty, then move to getting there before it exits. So, when Day 1 is here and Gymnastics class has to be attended by Molly, then off we go with no diaper on Austin, a ziploc bag of clean undies and pants and a roll of paper towels! (Don thinks I'm crazy). Yes, Austin peed on the floor while playing at Gymnastics. Fortunately, to save me too much embarrassment he was sitting on the floor and the look on his face said it all...paper towels to the rescue and off to the bathroom to change! Thank goodness for women you know who you can pass your easy going baby off to!

Molly would be mortified if her little brother peed his pants in front of her dance friends!
Austin loves his big sister and her dance studio!

Day 2 of Potty Training Austin...I start my morning off with Molly giving me attitude we have no milk, Heidi so crabby I can't set her down, Grant trying to practice piano (cause they have lessons today and never practiced) and Austin pees on the floor. Unfortunately for Grant he didn't know this and when he was putting shoes on for school he commented that his sock was wet! "Ooops sweety, throw it in the washer with all the other "pee" items!" Wish I could have gotten his face on film!

Got a break from Potty Training to watch Grant at wrestling practice. I had to emphasize to Don that he COULD NOT get upset, raise his voice, or have any hint of frustration towards Austin if he peed his pants! I was still concerned when I left...Don and Austin have a history of things going sour very fast in the communication department! Just for my own memory..."sit down" in bathtub...Austin wouldn't come near bathroom for days!

I will not let the attitudes and behaviors of my children be the basis on which I determine "how I am doing as a mom." But more how my own attitude and behavior is towards my children and my home!
For instance, I have taken a very different approach to a messy house since having my first 2 babies. I embrace the mess now as recognition for a day spent being a mom. Not a housewife, but a mother...laundry unfolded on the bed, sippy cups filled with milk in every room, puzzles strewn over the entry, chocolate chip cookie mess all over the counter, cookies for lunch, coffee cup half filled on end of kitchen table, tub of clothes in middle of kitchen to go through, camera sitting on floor, computer open to my blog, kids still in their pajamas, and me...still in mine too...nope haven't brushed my teeth yet...milk?..nope...I haven't had time! I'm too busy being a mom!

Yep Austin, that is where your pee and poop goes!