Bring back my wife!

Years ago, during the Christmas when Noah was 3 1/2 years old and Jack was about 17 months old, Jack received a Fisher Price Noah's Ark set.

If you are a parent, you might already be seeing a point of contention for the children -- Jack received a Noah's Ark set, and Noah did not.

Now, first, before I continue, I must interject that we are pretty strict on that certain toys aren't owned by certain children. Like a commune, apparently, toys are typically owned by the collective. We typically say for the first couple of days, the first owner can really OWN it. After that, it is pretty much community property. There have been a few exceptions to this, if that makes sense, given whatever the circumstances may be. These generally rules have really only come to be in the last several years. Really, before this story took place.

Okay, so back to the Ark.

This idea of Noah's Ark not belonging to our son Noah was very confusing to him. He would say, "No, it's MY Ark. Noah's Ark." We finally explained to him, and thought it got through, one day that the little old man Little People person in the set was ALSO named Noah, and it was his Ark that God told him to build.

After that, there was peace in our home.

That is, of course, until one day when they started questioning who the female Little People person was. We told them that it was "Noah's wife." And, really, it was still okay for a day or so. Then the next day when they were playing, Jack kept trying to take the female and hide her. Finally, he just put it in his hands and started running.

Noah quickly jumped up and shouted, "BRING BACK MY WIFE! BRING...ME...BACK...MY...WIFE!"

I have seen a lot of things that have tickled my funny bone in my life, but amongst the top of the list have to be a 3 1/2 year old shouting to a 17 month old to "bring back his wife."

After things settled down (e.g. we stopped laughing, we re-explained this whole "Noah's wife" business, and stopped the boys from fighting), Eric and I both came to the conclusion that we hoped we would have to see that scene play out with our boys again. Because, while funny as toddlers, it would not really be so amusing between adults.

13 Games I have Managed to Play Obsessively (Thursday Thirteen #7)

Thirteen Games I Have Managed to Play to Extreme Okay, so I happen to have an obsessive personality. I wish I didn't, but it is just something that I have had to accept. One of those things I can get obsessive about is playing games. Makes me crazy! So, I generally try to avoid them, as to not get addicted. But, here are 13 games that have grabbed ahold of me throughout my life, including some when I was younger than some of my kids and was sitting with bugged out eyes in front of the TV that was built into the big cabinet using an Atari with the joystick. This list was inspired by my 40 minutes of playing my newest game obsession.

1. Pac Man

2. Frogger

3. Tetris

4. Super Mario Brothers (the original)

5. Shrunken Heads (online -- from smashingames.com)

6. Mine Sweeper

7. Hearts (on the computer)

8. Mario Kart Double Dash

9. Home Before Dark (on Webkinz)

10. Cash Cow (on Webkinz)

11. Cash Cow 2 (on Webkinz)

12. Hyperbowl Plus! Edition

And the latest obsession....

13. Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party (for the Wii)

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If I stop having my craft business, what will I do with my stuff?

I have been seriously pondering pulling everything out of my Etsy shop (or having some "business closing sale"), and finish having my craft business.

And really, I'm pretty fine with that idea. I'm actually more than fine with that idea. I don't like the book keeping aspect of it, and know that I often don't put the time into it that it would need (and other times just put far too much time into it). Seriously -- it is WAY appealing to me to not have to deal with junk like sales tax, inventory tax, year end taxes, etc.

Oh...and then there is the little fact that though I went into this as a business, I would guess that there will come a time when the IRS says it is a hobby.

My only real issue is -- I love making saints bracelets, rosaries, and the like. What will I do with them if I don't put them in my Etsy shop?

ETA: Oops -- sorry if I wasn't more specific. Thanks for the comments, but I was actually just asking what I would do with things I made if I didn't sell them at all (craft shows, etc. included). I'm not really looking for alternate selling options versus Etsy. Just was worried I would have tons of rosaries hanging around my house.

Maybe I'll just keep my shop and only put in stuff when I feel like it and just not worry about it. Oh, and then there is also the controlling what I spend as to make the business not a loss. (I'm bad like that, of course.)

WFMW: What I have learned about potty training

I will stop myself short of saying that these are potty training tips, because quite frankly, I think that me trying to pretend that I can give awesome potty training tips is like a vampire giving suntaning tips.

But...after potty training three children, including two or three that were difficult to potty train, I do feel like I have learned a few things.

Tip #1 for successful potty training: Don't force it. Yes, I know -- there can be a lot of pressure.

"Oh, so Susie is already three and not potty trained? That's funny, Janie was about 3 months old and said, 'Mother, I need to have a bowel movement now' and I would just plop her on the toliet and she would go."

Still, do what is best for your own child. I have seen a few kindergartners (back when I taught) who still had some serious bathroom issues. One Mom fessed up to me that her son had those issues because she thought her husband was too hard on him when he was potty training.

Just remember -- unless there are some serious issues, your child will eventually use the toliet. It may not be on your schedule, but it will happen. So, stop worrying and just commend Janie's mom on her genius baby.

Tip #2: Bribery can work. Bribery is not wrong, as long as you don't take it to an extreme. Think of it this way -- would you (or whoever works in your household) keep going to work if you didn't get a paycheck? So, think of the bribery as their paycheck.

But, here's the important thing, you need to find a time to back off of whatever you were doing.

For instance, with my children, we used a chart for earning stars. They got a star every time they successfully, and when they filled up their chart, they earned a prize/reward/treat/etc. At first, the chart (just drawn on regular computer paper) might have four empty boxes on it, if they are having a really difficult time learning to potty on the toliet. As they become more successful, add more boxes. We had a point where we had as many as 35 squares on a paper!

Here's the beauty of it though, it has been my experience that by the time you get to that point, they stop forgetting that they want a star each time. And, at that point, you need to stop giving them a star unless they mention it. The bribes start to get faded out, and it will even probably come to a time when you can just quietly stop doing the chart all together.

If they complain, hopefully they will be at a point where going on the toliet is so natural that you won't have back peddling when you stop charting. (Either that, or they need to start losing stars for having accidents.)

Tip #4: Although I did mention taking away stars, I would only do that in an extreme situation. Personally, we never did that. So, that's this tip -- praise accomplishments, but don't punish accidents. Just clean them up (or have them help/do it themselves), and give them encouraging words. I often told my kids, "That's okay. Accidents happen sometimes, but I know that you will do a fabulous job next time!"

Tip #5: I have this tip thanks to the most difficult of my potty training kids -- Jack. Granted, Noah and Jack potty trained at the exact same age, but Jack was more difficult because he was able to use the toilet, but just never seemed to be able to get around to doing it. (Whereas Noah just wasn't able, but I'll get to that.)

We tried tons of methods of positive reinforcement with Jack for potty training. Nothing worked. We even talked to a psychologist (we were there for a different reason), and he suggested having a toy that Jack was only able to play with while he sat on the potty. This, I thought, was a great idea, so feel free to work with that one. But, it still didn't work for us. It just didn't motivate him. Nothing motivated him.

And then, one day, it hit me. Juice. Jack loves juice. Juice will motivate Jack. And, so I came up with a plan for my then 4 years and 10 month old son (remember -- he has some special needs, of course, though he has grown out of a lot of those that were holding him back at that time) that I was afraid was mean. Every time he would want juice, we would require him to go to the bathroom first. If he didn't go, no juice until he did.

I thought I was a horrible mother for this plan.

Two days later, Jack was potty trained with zero complaints from him. As a matter of fact, he even would often say, "Can I have some juice?" and then would run to the bathroom to potty, knowing he had to do that first.

(I will add in here -- Jack always went A LOT. So, I was not afraid that I would be withholding liquids from him.)

My tip in all this?

Find what motivates YOUR child. You won't find this answer in a book on how to potty train. You need to put serious thought into this, and then you'll know.

Tip #6: Okay -- one last thing I have learned about potty training. Be patient, and watch to see if your child is actually ready. Just because you want them to be potty trained doesn't mean it is really time. Perhaps that means that you need to stop and introduce it again in a week, a month, or several months.

When we potty trained Noah (with high functioning Autism -- Asperger's Syndrome), he really wanted to try to do it, but he was scared. He would cry when we would try to put him on the toilet, so we would stop and try again another time. We tried to bribe him, and he would cry because he just couldn't do it. That, my friends, is a sign to stop.

And, then one Wednesday afternoon, after never successfully using the toliet, he announced he had to go to the bathroom -- on the potty. From that moment forward, he was potty trained -- day and night.

It was his time, and he was ready. Our schedule was not his. And I am still so thankful that we finally backed off and just let him wait for that moment when he was ready. What a gift that was!



For lots of tips, tricks, and ideas on a huge variety of topics, be sure to check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer!