Mommy's Attempt at Potty Training. Gerritt's Attempt to Cosleep. Gerritt's Favorite Breakfast.

Gerritt in his toddler class


Gerritt found unexpected fun in an empty diaper box


Making faces at the playground


Gerritt's cars all neatly organized


Sitting on a potty while watching his favorite "Word World"

I finally made it to Friday! After watching Sophia for 6 nights I am ready to have some "me" time. My husband took both of the kids to his Mom's house with an overnight stay since I have to work next couple of days. Not looking forward to my 12-hour+ work day tomorrow, however, I can't complain after having 7 days off in a row. I really love being a nurse! What other job would give me such flexibility? Speaking of my job, I got the H1N1 flu vaccine last Monday. After reading reports on Dr. Mercola's website about potential dangers of this vaccine, I wasn't going to get it. I intended to be one of those nurses at my hospital who would complete the Flu education module on line & sign a paper stating that I was informed of the risks of not getting the flu vaccine including potentially not being able to work for up to 2 weeks, infecting my unsuspecting patients & bringing the flu home to my family. I quickly changed my mind after having to take care of 3 Swine Flu patients last week. In fact, when I came to work last Friday, the Evergreen hospital has moved to Level 3 alert due to more than average patients with flu-like symptoms being admitted to the ER. It was decided that all of the flu patients would be put on 8 West, the hospital wing where I happened to be assigned that evening. The swine flu pandemic wasn't exaggerated news after all. The patients I've admitted were very sick & had high fevers (103-104 degrees F), fatigue, malaise, myalgia (muscle aches), hard-to-control cough, shortness of breath, & decreased blood oxygen saturation level (in low 80s with normal being above 92%). One of my patients was a young 32-year-old mother of 4; another one was an immunocompromised woman in her 60s. It wasn't the H1N1 flu itself that made my patients so ill, but the resulting bacterial pneumonia. Heavy-duty intravenous antibiotics (Vancomycin, Rocephin, Azithromax) were needed to help them get "over the hump." I started to seriously doubt that my diligent handwashing, N-95 mask & extra vitamin D3 alone would be enough to keep me from catching the swine flu. I've decided to receive the H1N1 FluMist vaccine instead of the injectable one to avoid controversial mercury & other preservatives. Luckily I didn't experience any side effects. I will have full immunity against the H1N1 flu in about 2 weeks. I was fortunate to get vaccinated since our hospital has received only 400 doses of the H1N1 FluMist & I was on the high-priority list due to working on the front lines, so to speak.
Moving on to my mothering job... I've been trying to potty-train Gerritt for the past couple of days. Several wet urine spots on the carpet, several pairs of wet pants & many hours of watchful waiting didn't amount to much. Gerritt was without his diaper from 8 am until 12:30 pm & he still pooped in his diaper as soon as I put it back on at 12:40 pm. He always has a BM right after breakfast, so I made sure he was planted firmly on his Baby Bjorn potty chair while eating & for at least 30 minutes afterwords. It looks like he is afraid to poop in the potty. Not sure how we are going to solve that one. He is becoming more aware of where the urine comes from & even takes off his wet pants all on his own. It is not pleasant to have wet spots all over our living room carpet, however, we are getting rid of it anyways (we are transitioning to hard-wood floor everywhere). I'll keep on trying...
Gerritt's favorite games still involve playing with puzzles & cars. He loves to stuff the cars into the crevices between our couch pillows, line them up on a carpet in a straight line, hide them under a pillow or a blanket, or line them up along a window seal. He went through a period of wanting to sleep with cars too. It wasn't easy to hold his stuffed dog, bear, blanket & 3-4 cars while putting him to sleep in a rocking chair. I had to wait until he was asleep & then quietly sneak into his room to remove all of the cars to prevent Gerritt from rolling over them in his sleep. Thankfully, this stage didn't last long! Unfortunately, there is always something else to take its place. For the past couple of days, Gerritt has been refusing to sleep in his crib. I would rock him for up to 1 hour in a rocking chair & as soon as I attempted to put him into his crib, he would shake his head "no" & cry loudly. I was so tired that I ended up putting him to sleep with me in our bed for the last couple of nights. Actually, it's not such a big deal to me. I am aware Americans in general are strongly opposed to having their kids sleep with them in a family bed, & cosleepers are looked down upon by other parents & doctors. I used to share my parents' bed occasionally up until I went to school (age 7). My parents divorced when I was about 4 years old, so cosleeping with my Mom & Dad (when I visited him) was very comforting to all of us. Since I practice the attachment style of parenting, cosleeping was something I've been wanting to do for a while. I tried to cosleep with newborn Gerritt & couldn't do it since I wasn't getting any rest due to my anxiety of constantly checking on him & being woken up by all of his newborn noises. I've tried sleeping with him again since he became a toddler, however, wasn't able to do it since he kept climbing all over me & laughing (even with the lights out) thinking it was a game. I will welcome Gerritt into our bed gladly if he is truly serious about it this time. I guess we'll find out. That was the whole reason we bought a king-size bed. I was imagining both of the kids sleeping with us eventually, if not during the week, then at least snuggling together on weekend mornings. :-)
Not sure what brought this on... My husband thinks Gerritt really misses me when he goes to daycare 3 days a week. It is not hard to guess. Yesterday after coming home from daycare Gerritt followed me all over the house & even to the bathroom when I took a shower. He undressed himself wanting to get into the bathtub with me. So much for Mommy's relaxation time! We ended up bathing together & playing with foam alphabet letters once again. On Tuesday in our toddler class Gerritt did not let me out of his sight. When I went to a separate room for my bi-weekly parenting lecture, he found me there, grabbed my fingers & tried to pull me off the couch while whispering, "Mommy, come! Mommy, come!" (I guess he was shy of other Moms sitting next to me, so he didn't speak in his full voice. :-))
As much as Gerritt enjoys being in his new Russian daycare, there is no place like home, even if being at home involves doing nothing exciting. He just likes to be close to me. Since I don't leave for work until 2:30 pm, Gerritt & I have plenty of time to bond in the mornings. Sophia is already at her Korean grandmother's house, so Gerritt gets undivided attention. My husband likes to get a rise out of him by saying," Common, Gerritt! I'll take you to daycare. Let's go!" Gerritt makes a sour face & responds in a whiny voice, "Daddy, york ("work"). Mommy, stay!" If I attempt to take him to daycare, he immediately switches his whining to, "Pacaaaaakes ("pancakes"), saaausyyyyy! ("sausage")." I proceed to ask him if he is hungry, to which he replies, "Baby, hungry!" I usually comply dutifully since making pancakes & sausage doesn't involve that much time & happens to be our family's favorite breakfast of all time.


Our favorite pancake mixes are the Arrowhead Mills' Organic Buckwheat Pancake & Waffle Mix & the Arrowhead Mills' Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix. I follow directions on the package, but alter it slightly by adding a few tablespoons of Bob's Red Mill Whole Ground Flaxseed Meal (a good source of omega-3 fatty acids) & Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract for flavor. We serve pancakes with pure maple syrup & sauteed fruit (like peaches or strawberries). I serve some kind of protein at every meal, so our favorite protein to have with pancakes is ground turkey patties (Gerritt calls them sausage). Waking up on Saturday mornings to a delicious smell of pancakes is one of my happy childhood memories & the one I would like to create for Gerritt & Sophia.

"A life-long blessing for children is to fill them with warm memories of times together. Happy memories become treasures in the heart to pull out on the tough days of adulthood." ~ Charlotte Davis Kasl