I'm Back Like a Vertebrae

After some wheeling and dealing with my eBay friends in Hong Kong- I have managed to acquire a new USB cord for my camera. (On a side note- I had the other one the whole time and didn't realize it fell through a hole in the pocket of my purse and was stealthily lying between the liner and the leather of the purse- mocking me I assume.)

No worries though. Now I know for sure I'll always have a backup in case I lose it again. Now if only the USB cord could talk some sense into my cellphone that selfishly commited suicide in my toliet last night. Then we might be getting somewhere.

Speaking of toliets... ( What a way to lead into today's post huh? I'm as smooth as Sade's operator people and don't you forget it.)

Kalaya is still doing great at going to the potty. Lucky for us, she's not the type of kid who potties at home and refuses to go when we are out somewhere. You show the girl a potty and she's got that situation covered.

I try to make it as interesting as I can for her short of:

A. Letting her pee on a tree like "Zach at school does"

B. Try to potty while standing with on foot on each side of the seat, or

C. Attempt to potty on her seat while precariously holding Diesel over the "big" potty by often only one paw and/or ear.

Our entertainment is usually simply a book to read or mommy singing the "pee-pee" song that I most assuredly will regret making up one day.

We also get to put a sticker on our chart everytime we go potty. Yes I know it's not the most exciting reward ever but- come on! The kid gets balloons every Friday for going potty through the week and this past Sunday Mom, Lindsey, and I took Kalaya and Alex to Build a Bear to get their own bears for being big boys and girls and going potty.

Meet Kisses:She's the most expensive stuffed bear you have ever seen- trust me. But they had a blast and so did the adults. So it was all worth it.

Of course, there are still accidents and that's to be expected. Matter of fact, Alex dropped off a load at the Build a Bear store itself. Fitting huh? Kalaya took notice and handled it herself.

Kalaya: Alex- you stink.

Alex: I'm sorry. Alex poop.

Simple and too the point don't you think?

So here's to those bygone days of diapers and pull-ups! Who needs ya!? We've got better things to do with ya.( She's cutting her eyes at me because I'm awesome- not because I'm a huge embarrasment. Trust me.)

In Russia You Don't Play With Your Play-doh----Your Play-doh Plays With You!!

Looks like I should follow the old saying and 'open mouth- insert foot' right now. Guess who proved me wrong and went potty last night for me- for the very first time?! That's right- Miss Kalaya. Of course, we immediately got in the car and went to get balloons- like I promised her she could have if she went potty.

We talked about it the whole way there-- how she was a big girl and big girls get balloons for going potty. We talked about what colors and what styles we wanted and how we were going to let them fly up high to the ceiling of the house

(Which coincidentally, if you didn't know, is only 6 feet 8 inches from the floor in my house. (Or 6 feet 5 inches depending on what part of the sloping hallway your standing at the time) So basically, when I wear heels, my ceiling is only 5 inches above my head. Needless to say- we don't play "throw the baby in the air", stretch our arms while yawning, or jump with any ethusiasm very often in my house.)

We pulled into Wal-mart just giddy with excitement about getting our 'Potty Party' balloons- walked in the store, over to the greeting card section, and promptly noticed that the only available balloons were "It's a Boy" ones or a half deflated Elmo that quite honestly looked like it had seen better times.

Thanks Wal-mart-- thanks alot. You've always been a pal to me-- pulling for me in the hard times. I can't begin to tell you how great it was explaining to my 2yr old that those 'Potty Party' balloons we've talked about for days don't actually exist and mommy is simply a compulsive liar bent on destroying every childs fragile dreams. (This is your head start Santa, Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy. You better get your magical booties in gear and head back to the sugar coated lands you came from. I'm on a mission!)

Thankfully- (and I can't believe I'm saying this)-- can someone hold my hand when I say this? I'm scared-- hold me tighter.

Ok-------deep breath------

Thankfully -I got her focus off of the Loch Ness balloons (as I have so called them for their mysterious and sometimes questionable existence) to the ever beckoning PLAY-DOH AISLE!!!! As you all remember, Play-doh and the act of playing with Play-doh is NOT taken lightly in our household. Our Play-doh comes with a dictator like agenda listing the times, places, and exact motions you can carry out with said Play-doh--- all established by Commadant Kalaya. Failure to communicate your intentions ahead of time can lead to extremely disturbing results.

You know how the Play-doh containers say " Fun to play with- not to eat"? Yeah well, ours should say "Fun to play with- when we tell you it's fun to play with" Somehow we find the only container of communistic Play-doh everytime we buy some.

Aside from the berating and domineering play tactics that were endured-- I really enjoyed playing with Kalaya and her new Play-doh.

Next time we're going to find balloons if it kills me- before the Play-doh does.

CONGRATS TO KALAYA FOR GOING POTTY!

Giving It The Old College Try

Well, it's on! This week is potty training week for Kalaya. We started a few months ago and things went sort of ok for a week or two but quickly went backwards from there. Her babysitter had two new babies for awhile and I think Kalaya felt a little sad about not being the baby anymore. So using the big-girl potty just stopped. After trying everything you can think of to convience her to use the potty- we decided it was just time to take a step back and give her a break.

Flash forward a month or two and here we are! Trying to get it down pat again. She's a smart girl. She knows what the potty is for. She's not scared of it. Matter of fact, it's a quite interesting event for her when someone goes potty. She knows that big girls go in there and she even will let you know that she went potty---immediately after she went in her pull-up or panties. (slight delayed reaction there it would seem- I blame the curls-- blocking brain waves). Even Diesel and Minnie get in on the act (which ends waaaaaay worse for Diesel then Minnie. Can you say puppy swirly?)

Matter of fact, the other day Kalaya and I pulled in the driveway after getting off work and from school and like everyday when we get home, she has to go to "her" tree in our yard that is located near the driveway. When I say her tree- I mean she has an insane obsession with this tree. I'm not sure if I need to get her more friends or less sugar. Anyways, she immediately went over to her tree while I walked around in the yard checking our flowers and doing some weeding. We were probably out there for abut 10 minutes or so when Kalaya starts running towards me with this wide-eyed look, calling out "mommy! mommy!". She got about halfway to me and yelled " I have to go po-------" but stopped in mid run and sentence-looked down at her pants and informed me "It's ok- I don't have to go potty anymore". Needless to say, her potty timing is clicking along more like a New York street Folex then a Bulgari timepiece.

We'll get it eventually. If she goes to the potty this week we are going to go get balloons. That's what she picked. I can't wait. If she goes to the potty for a week I'm going to take her to ride a pony. She loves riding anything- this can include:

1.) Ponies

2.) Baby Justice - I was informed of this in the car one evening. The conversation goes as so:

Kalaya: I'm big.

Me: Yes you are. And Justice is small.

Kalaya: I'm going to ride him.

Me: I think we'll have to ask Bubba and Lolly about that.

3.) fourwheelers/motorcycles- another one of her obsessions:

4.)cows or anything else that will stand still long enough for her to get on it:

Wish us luck! We'll need it!