Vent

It is Day 2 of my I-Can't-Take-It-Anymore-I'm-Going-To-Potty-Train-You-If-It-Kills-Me adventure with my daughter who is 3 years old and knows perfectly well how to go potty and has the bodily control to go potty but who simply doesn't give a hoot about going potty. 

You put her in underwear, she goes in her pants. 

"Oops," she says. "Can I go watch tv now?"

You see what I'm dealing with.

Trust me, I've tried rewards, bribes, cold turkey, positive reinforcement, yelling, etc. She JUST DOESN'T CARE. But the fact of the matter is, we're going on vacation this summer, and there is a kids program at the resort, and I would love to be able to take both the kids to it so my husband and I can have some one-on-one time together, but they only accept kids who are potty trained. Therefore, I don't care what it takes or if she cares or not- she WILL be potty trained. My strategy this week is to just be consistent and do NOT, under ANY circumstances, give up. I don't care if I have to take her every hour on the hour, I will be vigilant and just make her do it. Maybe after a few weeks of it it'll be enough of a habit that she'll get it. Let's pray.

Anyway, so this morning I was checking my e-mail and Princess was in Big Brother's room playing, when she came in to see me. I smelled something funky. I felt her bottom. Definitely a lump. 

"Are you stinky?" 

"Yeah."

And off we marched to the bathroom to remove the soiled pull-up (I know, I know, so many of you are against pull-ups, but I've tried straight underwear and the results are the same- wet and poopy accidents whether I like it or not- so I use the pull-ups. I'm pregnant and I'm tired, and I just don't have the patience for the underwear. We're taking this in steps, people.). I got it off of her and used some flushable wipes to clean up the, uh, "residue". And so Princess promptly lost her balance (I'm pretty sure she was trying to reach for my contacts lens case on the bathroom counter- she's fascinated by my contacts) and knocked the package of wipes into the toilet (which, by the way, contained the soiled wipes and most of the contents of that pull-up). 

Luckily, the wipes package landed bottom-down in the toilet, and, being that it is encased in plastic, it floated. I quickly pulled it out and tossed it into the sink, where I washed it with soap and water. I (through gritted teeth) told Princess to sit on the potty until I was done. She did, feeling slightly ashamed about causing such a ruckus (at last! Remorse!!) and did so.

Well, I got her all cleaned up and on her way, then decided to take out the trash, since I had to remove the stinky pull-up anyway. I got a large garbage bag from downstairs and started in the master bathroom, then moved to the kids' bathroom and Princess's bedroom. As I was dumping the contents of her trash can- very heavy wet diapers- the side of the bag dropped down and everything tumbled out onto the floor. I sighed heavily, and reached down to start putting it all back in. I Lysol-ed the trash can (and my hands) and started to lift the bag back toward the door to go to the next room, when the weight of the bag was more than I expected and it got caught on part of Princess's dresser, tearing a large hole in the bottom.

I put the bag down, threw my hands up in the air and said, "SERIOUSLY? ARE YOU SERIOUS? CAN ANYTHING ELSE HAPPEN RIGHT NOW?? SERIOUSLY!!!!!!"

I finagled the bag into a position such that everything would not come spilling out and managed to wrangle it out to the trash can by the garage. Then I came in and washed my hands about 10 times.

It's just gonna be one of those days.

What's the Deal With Kids Getting Off the Bus?

Schools in our county had an early release yesterday, around 11:30am, and so in my runnings-around I nearly ran over a few spacey "children" wandering the streets. Why is that?Specifically, why is it that when children get off a school bus, they think that they own the road and don't have to follow any pedestrian safety laws? 

I kid you not, I nearly ran over at least 5 teens or pre-teens yesterday. Two of them were skateboarding in the middle of the street, and looked quite surprised to see that there was actually a CAR on the road behind them. A car? On the street? That's absurd! The other three were strolling down the right lane of a two-lane road with a double yellow line down the middle where the speed limit was 40mph. They glanced up as my car approached (as I was slamming on the brakes so as not to turn them into roadkill) and simply stared as I tried to decide if I should cross over into the oncoming traffic lane to avoid them or simply park until they'd meandered around my car. Heaven forbid they actually walk on the shoulder to let me pass.

Sorry, I just needed to get that rant out. I see it all the time out my window when the bus drops kids off too- they just stroll down the middle of the road without a care in the world, and cars follow behind them traveling 3mph waiting for them to get a clue and move to the shoulder. I just don't get it. Maybe we need more sidewalks. Or maybe they should teach kids this stuff in school. I don't know! I just hate dangerous stupidity!

K, done.

An Angel With a Limp

Last night I happened to stay up late to watch the ABC news hidden camera experiment, "What Would You Do?" where they set up candid camera situations to see how (or if) people would react to various scenes played out by actors. For last night's episode, they had an actress portray a nicely dressed woman walking down the street in a busy part of New Jersey, then suddenly collapsing onto the sidewalk. Every single time she did it, people stopped to check on her and call 911, usually within 6 seconds. 

Next, they decided to change the scene by having an actor play a homeless-looking man who did the same thing- stumbled and collapsed, then lay there not moving. Decidedly fewer people took action, and even when they did, the average response time was 3 minutes. 

Next, they changed it up by having the homeless man have a beer can in his hand when he collapsed. 88 people go by without stopping. Then a small, bent over black woman comes hobbling up on her cane and sees the man. She stops, and is unable to help except to politely say to passersby, "Excuse me, excuse me, could you please call an ambulance for this man?" She leans over and gently takes the beer can out of his can and throws it into the trash can. Over and over, she asks the people passing by to get help for the man, and twenty-six people go by, ignoring her. While she waits, she gives the man a name, she says, "I don't know your name so I'm just gonna call you Billy. Come on, Billy. Open your eyes." Finally, a woman passing by hears Linda's pleas and stops to dial 911 on her cell phone to call for help for the man. More people eventually stop to offer assistance.

After the cameras were revealed and the follow-up interviews were concluded, Linda Hamilton just quietly shuffled her way back down the street, away from the spotlight. What a kind, brave, wonderful soul she is. Watching her standing there, like a guardian angel over the man brought tears to my eyes. Even thinking about it today I get choked up. To see the story for yourself, along with other "social experiments" done on the show, click here.

May we all be a little bit more like Linda Hamilton, and see those around us as our brothers and sisters, children of the same God, and treat each other accordingly. May God bless you, Linda Hamilton.

Some Good Counsel for LDS

I just read this article, and I thought I'd pass it on. Read it, ponder it, pray about it, and decide how you will handle these things- The Publicity Dilemma