Potty Training, take 2

Ok, so I'm the worst blogger in the history of bloggers.  I do realize that I will never have followers when writing like this.  In my defense, it's really hard to find time to sit, think, and put together sentences that make me sound like I have a working brain.  That being said, I think it just might help me to feel a little productive in the run of a week, though I'm not quite sure why.

So, the last time I checked in we were in the process of potty training child number 1.  I am happy to say that child number 1 is not fully potty trained, and even goes through the night without accidents.  I know, you would hope that he would be after this long.  He's great at using the potty, and is even beginning to wipe his own bum.  That's the good news.  The bad news, is that we still have to go through this again, with another (more stubborn) child.  We started with child number 2 before Christmas, probably about 2 months ago now.  He was definitely ready, and started asking to use the potty.  The child has since decided, however, that using the potty is too much work and that it's really rather funny to pee and poop on the floor.  Two months later, and we are still trying to get him to use the potty properly.

Now, I know that some of you are thinking, "Just keep at it, he'll get the hang of it eventually", and others are thinking, "He's just obviously not ready yet, give it a couple of months".  My problem is that I am torn between the two viewpoints.  The stubborn part of me refuses to give up, and the rational part of me just thinks that in a few months he might be ready.  The thing is, I'm very ready to stop wasting my money on pull-ups and diapers and whatnot.  I'm very ready to be free of all of it. 

On top of that, we have taken the bedtime bottle away from child #2.  This is another horrific experience as a parent.  The child has a complete meltdown every night before bed.  We had to take it away, because he was waking up several times throughout the night for a refill of the bottle.  Plus, he's almost 3 years old, and is MORE than old enough to be giving it up.  I think in order to understand how dramatic the reaction is, I think you'd have to know the child and see how stubborn and strong-willed he is.  It's 30-45 minutes of pure torture at bedtime.  On the bright side, when he FINALLY goes to sleep, he sleeps so much better than before!  So, totally worth it. 

On the happy side of parenting, my oldest child turns 4 in a week!  So, I'm planning a smurftastic birthday party for him!  I had looked at ordering all of the supplies, but then decided to make it all myself.  I'll take some pictures and blog about the party when it's done (I know, you're thinking 'yeah, right').

I feel like I have a whole lot of blogs brewing in my head, so there are a number of topics you can look forward to me writing about.  These include:  smurfy birthday party ideas;  childcare;  and several about being a stay-at-home-mom.  These have been brewing for a while, so you can expect some pretty opinionated stuff in these blogs.