Dreams

When I was younger I picked up a book all about dreams that I found on one of my mom's bookshelves. Dreams have always intrigued me- are they just my brain making sense of my day? Are they my creative juices run amok? Or do they hold a key to a deeper, subconscious self that knows more about me than I do? The answer was: Yes. A little of all three.

As I recall, the book was very long, and I didn't read all of it. To be honest, once I got through the first chapter I felt like I had the whole dream thing down (keep in mind I was a teenager at the time, so I pretty much knew everything). The basic gist of it was this: your dreams are your subconscious projecting your inner feelings in code. And since not all of us are entirely in touch with our inner feelings, it can be very beneficial to pay attention and try to decipher the code in order to recognize those feelings, because once we do, we might be able to take steps toward resolving some unknown inner conflicts and thus live a happier life.

The key to the code, I learned from the book, was to pay attention to the people, places, and things in your dream and how you feel about them. Many sources out there will tell you that certain "dream symbols" mean specific things- like dogs represent loyalty, flowers mean love, etc. However, this is only true for certain things, and for obvious reasons. For example, dreaming that your teeth fall out is representative of being anxious about something, and that is fairly universal because really, is there anyone who would be happy about their teeth falling out? Probably not.

The important thing is to break down your dream into its basic components and to ask yourself, "How do I feel about this in my everyday life?" For example, if I have a dream about my seventh grade English teacher, there is a reason. If I ask myself how I feel about my seventh grade English teacher, I might say that she was very tough but at the same time I felt like I learned quite a lot from her. I take that feeling and then try to compare it to something happening in my life right now, like maybe my current job, which is tough but I feel like I'm learning a lot. If I dream that something terrible happens to my teacher, it may mean that I fear losing my job. Knowing that that is a subconscious fear, I can take steps to allay my fears by rededicating myself, preparing for potential job loss, or gathering reasons why my fear is unfounded. All of these steps will lead me to become a less fearful, more fulfilled person.

After I learned all of this from that book, I began to look at my dreams with fresh eyes. Every night was like a therapy session, and dreams that on the surface seemed as random as they were illogical were suddenly perfectly orchestrated metaphors for my life. Every dream was like a puzzle, and every solved puzzle was another insight into my subconscious. It was so much fun! Plus, I got to amaze my friends and family by interpreting their dreams and becoming their dream guru. Kinda cool.

To give you a recent real-life example, lately I've been pondering recurring nightmares/dreams I've had in which planes and helicopters crash. They have become so regular that I can't see a plane in the sky anymore without pinching myself to make sure I'm awake. Because if I'm not, that sucker is going to crash and I'd better hightail it outta there. It's just a fact. Anyway, a long time ago I had figured out that those dreams represented what I've learned is my greatest fear: that everything I know to be good, right, and real suddenly falls apart and I'm left with nothing of real emotional value (think husbands with secret lives, friends who try to kill you, etc.). In my mind, planes are safe. They take you where you want to go, and are supposed to do so without incident. Until something goes horribly wrong and they crash and you die.

Anyway, the other night I started wondering why it was that I had always dreamed about planes (there were a few years when the dreams became buildings falling down, but lately we've been back to planes- yes, I know this sounds like post-9/11 trauma, but they actually started long before that...which is in itself a little creepy...but that's for another post). I realized that the dreams started shortly after my parents divorced, a time during which I think a part of me did feel like my life was falling apart. And then it occurred to me: my parents met while working at an airport. My mom was a former flight attendant turned ticket agent, and my dad was a recreational pilot and ticket agent. Coincidence? I think not. Funny how our clever our subconscious coding can be.

My newest recurring dream is about tornadoes. My son is obsessed with tornadoes, so I'm always watching shows about them and reading books on them with him. I assumed that was why I was always dreaming about them, but then I decided to take a closer look. How did I feel about the tornadoes? Well, in every dream I would feel terrified- it was a tornado, after all- but I would also feel a little excited and in awe. And after every narrow escape I would think, "Cool. I just lived through a tornado." So my question to myself is this: what is something that scares me, and yet I think it is so awesome and cool at the same time?

The answer is: writing. I want to be a writer. I think it would be so cool to be published, and yet a part of me is terrified of it! What if I'm not good enough? What if I try and I fail? What if I run out of things to say? (highly unlikely, but we're working on 'what if's' here, okay?) Writing is something I'm so close to, I look at it with wonder, and yet I just barely skirt by it, not ready to take the leap into the whirlwind world of publishing, not sure if I'm ready for a damaging storm of rejection. Writing is my tornado.

Now that I am aware of that, I know two things:

1) Writing is important enough to me that it has seeped into my subconscious. That tells me that it's not just a passing phase, it's something that's real and important to me, and it's time to take it seriously.

2) I can allow it to scare me away and never feel that rush of "Hey, I got through this!" Or I can plunge ahead full force, chase the storm and live to tell about it. I think I'll pick the latter.

Writing this post and writing on this blog is a small step in the right direction for me. It's allowing me to acknowledge my passion and to feed it, even if it's in a small way.

That's what my dreams have done for me.

What could your dreams do for you?

Art

Last week I had a wonderful opportunity to visit the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The best thing about this opportunity? It was all ladies, and I didn't have my kids! (Don't get me wrong- I love my kids, but a few hours away never hurt anyone, right?)

As most moms probably know, something strange happens when you get away from your kids for awhile. You are suddenly able to use both hands. You are able to hear yourself think. You are able to talk to- and actually hear- other grownups. You can even wear the same clothes for longer than an hour without having to clean random bodily fluids off of them, which means you can even wear nice clothes. You can enter a building without first mapping out the locations of all available restrooms and elevators for strollers. When I visited that museum, for a few brief hours I got to just be me again.

I know, being a mom is probably making me the best me I can be (don't worry, I'm not going to break into song here) but the noise and chaos that comes with having kids doesn't give you much time to get to know that person you're becoming. By the time the little ones are in bed I'm too inundated with cleaning up messes and too worried about the next day's messes and too tired to think straight enough to be introduced to myself.

But as I walked through the museum and gazed at the incredible works of art from throughout history, a quietness came over me. The clean white walls and the neatly ordered paintings and sculptures brought a peace that I'd forgotten. I could stop and study anything I wished; I could wonder and ponder and read and contemplate and listen to my own thoughts as I did so. I found myself asking wonderfully intelligent and thought-provoking questions, and at the same time I also found myself just letting the colors and the textures wash over me, just taking them in without regard to their greater meaning or context. A part of me awakened from a deep sleep, stretched luxuriously and yawned deeply, inhaling the beauty that is art.

It was a rare opportunity, and when I left I felt renewed and invigorated. I felt I could go back to my daily labor of love feeling just a little bit lighter, remembering that underneath all the spitup, homework, and diapers, I'm still in there, getting better and wiser day by day. I'm hoping that sometime in the near future I'll get to hang out with myself again. Until then, I will simply appreciate the art that is my baby's smile, the music that is my children's laughter, and the incredible beauty that is my life.

Wanted: Actual Writer

I keep saying that "I'm going to be a writer someday." Here's a question: Why can't I be a writer right now? Doesn't the very fact that I'm writing something at this moment make me a writer?

You haven't heard from me in awhile here, and I guess this is my way of saying I'M BACK! Pretty much everythng else I do that's creative makes a big mess, and to be perfectly honest, I am sick and tired of cleaning up messes! Writing is the one creative thing I can do that isn't messy. And I am in desperate need of a creative outlet.

I was also in desperate need of a new post on this blog, because I really don't want people stumbling upon it and being forced to read about potty training! (which was a success, by the way- she is now 4 and going to preschool and perfectly potty trained, thanks to that last method) Unfortunately, I couldn't really think of anything particularly creative to use to reclaim this blog, so I'm just kind of rambling here...

My point is, it's time for me to get my butt in gear (as my dad always says) and BE a writer. And in 2010, writers write blogs. So here goes.

Potty Training Boot Camp: I See the Light!

Well, I've been hesitant to post on here just because it seems that whenever I get positive, things go down the toilet- or rather, don't go down the toilet? But anyway, I thought I'd at least give you an update.

Two weeks ago I was feeling pretty down about the whole potty training experience, but then Chad came home with an idea from one of his customers (I feel so touched that he shares our potty training woes with clients) that sounded like it just might work for our little princess. He said we put her in underwear, and when she has an accident, we don't change her- we let her sit in it and she is exiled to the kitchen where she can't soil anything. This idea appealed to me for several reasons:

1. The potty training had turned into a game for her where she was reveling in the attention she got from her accidents, and she held all the cards. This way, the accidents got her very little attention- the opposite, really, as she would be placed apart from everyone and there would be no immediate reward of one-on-one time spent changing and lecturing her.

2. No more shelling out the big bucks for Pull-Ups that were constantly getting soiled.

3. I don't have to constantly keep changing her and washing dirty clothes- saves me some time and energy.

4. We are employing natural consequences, which I tend to utilize and support in most of my other disciplinary techniques- if she chooses to have an accident, then she cannot enjoy the comforts that the rest of us potty-trained people enjoy. Simple.

Well, I continued to remind her to use the restroom, but I didn't make her. Her first accident came right before we were going to sit down on the couch in the living room and read stories. I told her I was sorry, but she was wet so she was going to have to sit in the kitchen by herself while we read stories. It felt harsh, but I knew it was the only chance for her to get it. Boy was she mad! My son and I didn't hear the end of it during the entire half hour we read- she screamed, she cried, she had a fit, but she stayed in the kitchen. It was naptime shortly thereafter, at which point I changed her into a diaper to sleep, but when she woke up and I reminded her to go potty, you'd better believe she didn't whine or complain about it.

Last week she also went #2 on the potty without me trying to talk her into it. She was sitting there and said she needed to, and she did! She's been doing fantastic with that part. We've had a few more wetting accidents, and every time she's miserable at her kitchen-bound fate. Whenever I ask her if she needs to go and she says no, I say, "Okay, it's your choice. Just remember that if you get your panties wet then you will have to sit in the kitchen all by yourself." She'll usually at least reconsider.

My most joyful moment was this afternoon. I had asked her several times if she needed to go and she had said no, so I was steeling myself for another kitchen scene. But then, as she was sitting watching tv right by me, she suddenly put her hand down and said, "Oh! Mommy, I need to go potty!" I said, "Well GO!" So she jumped right up and ran into the bathroom and went. It was a first, and I gave her an extra treat for saying it herself instead of me reminding her.

So that is the status for now. I am happy because it is all beginning to lose its sense of drama, and it's becoming somewhat more mundane. One good thing about doing this now is that with me being pregnant and her being 3, our bladders are about the same size so I don't mind the frequent bathroom breaks when we're out, and I usually know about the right time to remind her to go. I think she's also finally recognizing the pleasure of not having yucky diapers- we put her in a diaper to go to bed at night and she's come in a couple of times an hour or two after we put her down to tell us that her diaper is wet and she needs a new one. Would be better if she actually realized before she went in the diaper and used the potty, but at least we're making progress.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for more positive progress!

Aaaand....10 steps back.

I'm starting to want to give up again, people! The last time I wrote, we were trying the big-girl underwear. That lasted about 4 hours, until I forgot to remind her to go and she went in her pants while we were playing hide-and-seek. So I decided we had jumped the gun on the big-girl undies and put her in a pull-up. Which was stinky about an hour after that. Seriously.

So I kept up with the pull-ups and the constant reminding to use the potty (amid lots of "I don't want to!") and it's been hit and miss. Today rather than making her go I've just been saying, "Do you have to go potty?" and she has said no every time (even though it's a time I'm sure she does) and so I've been letting her wet in her pull-up (because she has every time) and we've been taking stickers off the chart.

By the way, she doesn't seem to care much about the chart either. She doesn't care about any of it. I really feel like I'm back at square one here! Any advice for a bedraggled mommy??

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 8

There is the sweet smell of success in the air, people! (just so you know, that's the smell of anything that doesn't smell like human excrement) We had a great breakthrough on Sunday that I needed to share for anyone else who might be struggling with the um, "Number Two" problem.

I had been really frustrated b/c as long as I was reminding Princess to go, she was staying pretty dry. However, when it came to number 2, she would not go on the potty, no matter how much I threatened/bribed/begged her to. She would use the potty, then 5 minutes later I'd smell something.

So anyway, on Sunday she was going #1 on the potty when I heard her "toot." Suddenly, I had an idea. "That was a great toot!" I said. "Can you toot like that again?" She grinned and scrunched up her face and did it again. We proceeded to have a grand time as she continued her little one-girl symphony, but then....well, let's just say it led to more substantial results. We celebrated her accomplishment with great triumph and she was very proud of herself. I did the same thing with her last night and it worked just perfectly.

Princess stayed dry and clean all day Sunday and all day yesterday, so today she is in- gulp!- big girl underwear! I was especially impressed with her yesterday because we were on the road for 7 hours on the way to my mom's house. We only stopped 3 times for potty breaks.

The other little incentive I decided to do for Princess was a "Stay-Dry Chart". I created a sticker chart shaped like an ice cream cone, and whenever she goes potty and is still dry, I let her put a sticker on the chart. If she's not dry, then we take a sticker off. When the chart is filled, then I take her out for ice cream- just the two of us. She is very excited by the idea, and she loves stickers.

Anyway, we seem to be making progress. The only thing I'd like to see is her telling me she has to go, but maybe I'm just reminding her too often. I guess I'm afraid to not remind her- I think maybe I'll give it a few more days and then try a day of letting her tell me and see how it goes.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that today will be a success with her wearing underwear- we'll see! I'll keep you posted.

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 5

This is for you, Richelle! 

Here's what's going well so far this week:

1. Only about 1 wet pull-up per day- she has managed to stay pretty dry as long as I'm vigilant about reminding her to go

2. We have stayed positive about it

3. She is getting the hang of the steps involved- removing her clothes, wiping, flushing, etc.

We still need to work on:

1. Going #2 in the potty. She seems to be saving this for when we put her down for bed at night and she has on a diaper. But the current bribe is that as soon as she does go in the potty, I will take her out for ice cream- just her and Mommy. Whenever I have to change a stinker, I just say, "Oh, bummer. Looks like we won't get to go out for ice cream this time. But I just know that you'll remember to go on the potty tomorrow so we can go get ice cream!"

2. Her initiating using the potty. So far it's all me, but at least she's aware enough not to go in her pull-up.

The saga continues...