SuburbanDaddy

Our three boys are similar in many ways. All very active, in constant motion, and competitive with each other. But they also have developed very unique personalities and it’s fun observe. A recent trip to the playground is the perfect observation booth.

Playground Personalities

To Thing 1 everything is a game. He wanted to throw the ball or frisbee to count how many times we could catch it without dropping (he may have learned that one from me). When Thing 2 wouldn’t play his games anymore, it was how many times could he throw the ball through a spot on the jungle gym.

Thing 2 likes to socialize. After getting frustrated about losing to his older brother a few times, Thing 2 went over to where some others boys were playing. He introduced himself by climbing on a rock and declaring he is King of the Rocks! He is Mr. Imagination. Give Thing 2 a stick, a pair of swim goggles, and a rock and he is off in his play world for an hour.

At first, Thing 3 wants to do whatever his brothers are doing. “Throw it to me! Throw it to me!” A byproduct of being the youngest. But after that wears off, his own personality settles in. He discovers someone walking their dog and sets off in pursuit. He pets, pokes, hugs, and generally provokes the dog. He doesn’t want to leave the dog until he is suddenly distracted by a squirrel. “Look at that!” He chases the squirrel up a tree. Then he wanders after birds and butterflies and I watch him fill his hat with mulch. Thing 3 has a bright future as a park ranger.

If you are like us, you have several mobile and electronic devices in your house which need to be charged. They all require different plugs and the result is a spaghetti mess of tangled wires.

In our house, we have two iPhones and one Blackberry.  Each one has it’s own charger with a separate power cord.   We keep them all on top of the microwave and it’s kind of a mess.  Maybe you have something that looks like this.

Before: Spaghetti Wires

I decided to give Powermat a try.  Disclosure: I was offered the product to review.  Powermat’s tag line is Lose The Cords and promises to end constant plugging and unplugging and the mess of cords.  Sounds good to me.  Sign me up. [Read more →]

Sometimes it’s best to rip the band aid off quickly.  There is a very brief amount of pain but then it’s over.  That has been the case with getting Thing 3 to do major new things.   It’s how we got him to move from his crib to a bed.  No slow transition, just cold turkey.

That was going to be our approach to potty training him last week.  We had the marathon training session on Sunday, then sent him to daycare in underwear on Monday.  He had some accidents but generally sat on the potty willingly.

Then came Tuesday.  He went into meltdown mode when the teachers tried to get him to go potty.  He screamed.  He fought.  There were reports of poop on the floor, and something about him pooping on a teacher’s hand (not something for which I wanted to ask for clarification).  So on the teacher’s recommendation, we pulled the plug on potty training for a while.

Yeah, ripping the band aid off quickly works sometimes.  But other times, the bandage is stuck to the wound, and pulling it off opens it back up and it starts bleeding.  Metaphorically speaking, that’s what we got this week.

Anyone have any great potty training ideas for Thing 3?  Maybe ask one of the potty training experts.  Oh, wait, that’s supposed to be me.

We knew this was coming. But that doesn’t make it any easier. We delayed as long as we could, knowing the difficult road that was ahead. Now, we can’t put it off any longer. It’s time to potty train Thing 3.

Most every transition has been tough with him. Like all three year olds, he is a creature of habit and routine. But Thing 3 takes routine to the extreme. His daily routines sometimes border on the bizarre. Every detail is important, from which episode of Diego to watch, which color cereal bowl he uses, who opens the car door, and on and on. It’s a delicate act that we have all but perfected.

Until a new milestone occurs that throws a wrench into his carefully scripted world. Moving from a crib to a bed was a big deal. New shoes? Watch out. New classroom at daycare? Forget about it.

And so, we have dreaded potty training. We’ve been casually introducing him but he’ll have none of it. Now with just one month to go before he moves up to preschool, where being potty trained is a requirement, we are forcing the issue.

Yesterday was 12 hours of potty training bootcamp. We threw away the diapers (or so he thinks) and I watched him like a hawk all day, and offered him bribes of candy to sit on the potty. I had to clean pee off the carpet more than once but cold turkey is the only way to go with him. It was marginally successful.

Today we sent him to daycare in underwear and with four extra changes of clothes. He came home wearing underwear but with a pull-up underneath. For him, that’s actually progress.  It’s going to be a long, long week.

One word: Popsicles!

It goes without saying that kids these days are way ahead when it comes to using technology. With all the toys and devices they see a a very early age, it isn’t a matter of learning to use them, it just comes natural to them.

At two years old, Thing 3 was using the computer himself, finding and opening the programs he liked using the mouse after watching me do it a few times. Now he breaks through the child protection lock on the office door, climbs up to the desk, and opens the MS Paint program and makes a drawing.

Thing 1 and 2 have been playing games and checking sports scores on my iPhone for years. They know how to take pictures and scroll through the albums.  I have found a picture of Thing 2’s butt on more than one occasion.

It took a month of serious practicing for me to finally beat Thing 1’s high score on Fall Down. They both routinely beat me at most Wii games and at 5 and 6 years old have figured out how to do things on the Wii I can’t follow. The ease with which they surpassed me was unnerving, considering I pride myself on being a bit of an expert having spent much of my youth playing Atari. Not to mention I happen to program computer software for a living.

This morning we were unsure if we needed to pack lunch for Thing 1’s field trip. While I debated making lunch just in case, he said: “Why don’t you just email the teachers and find out?”

And when he asks me a question I can’t answer, which is often, he says: “We can Google it.”

I suppose it’s the same as when I was a kid and my parents needed me to program the VCR.  So now I am the modern day equivalent of a VCR blinking 12:00.

Cutest in THE world may be a big claim. But Thing 4 is certainly the cutest in MY world. She loves to smile at everyone and loves to get her picture taken almost as much as SuburbanMommy likes to take it.