I feel bad for not updating in a while. Things have just been a bit difficult here and I've not felt any desire to post. I have been writing, though, so there might be some of that popping up. I figure I'll give a nice overview update of things here.
Potty learning is driving me nuts. I keep reminding myself and the girls that we aren't in a hurry and there is no pressure. But really. This is getting ridiculous. B will sit on the potty for an hour, dance and play naked for an hour with no accidents. Then she asks for a diaper while doing the Ivegottogoreallybadly dance. If you sit her on the potty she won't go. Put a diaper or learners on her and she goes. Put regular panties on her and she will sit on the potty and go. With the panties on. So just when I think I can't handle it anymore and I'm going to put her back into a diaper and put the potty away she will just sit on the potty and go.
Last week I was worrying that she might be getting a UTI. She would hold herself and cry like she was in agony. This happened with diapers, learners, panties or naked. I upped her liquids and she stopped doing it. I'm really just at a loss with her.
The other two. Ugh. C is the least problematic. She will happily wear a diaper or sit on the potty. She has had success once and was very happy, but hasn't repeated it. S will cry that she wants to sit on the potty any time you are putting panties, learners or a diaper on her. It doesn't matter how long she's been sitting there. But after all the sitting, she will get up and pee on the floor.
I do have a stack of prefolds on the shelf and the girls have to help clean up their accidents. I also have them put their diapers, learners and panties in the laundry when they decide to take them off. That only seems to really effect Batya. I still think she will be first. I just thought it would be a little more consistent than it has been.
Sleeping is getting better. We had a few nights where I thought we had fallen into a good routine, but then it got messed up with some rough nights and now I know that we are getting colds. It started one night when S was going to sleep and told me that she wanted the little bed and that C would sleep in the "green bed."
For those not in the know, for the past year or so B has slept in the "green" bed alone and the other two have slept in the "yellow" bed together. B would wake up 3 times at night (to come to bed, for a diaper change and then when Aba gets up) and one of the others would wake up. Whomever was left in the bed alone would sleep fine.
So, I thought about it and we put S and C asleep in separate beds and B with us. B woke up once for a diaper change. That was it. So we did it again. And Again. After three nights we figured we had success. Then we had a everybodywakeupandclimbintothebigbed night. And another. Then last night they all went to bed at 6:45 and S woke up around 9:00 with a stuffy nose and some sneezing. The decongestant got her pretty wired but Aba and I made a big show of doing our bedtime routines and getting into bed. Batya woke for her diaper change and S slept fine once she got to sleep.
Transitioning out of cribs is happening soon. It is taking me forever to get the juk room (girls' bedroom) cleaned so I'm going to change my method. We are taking the guest bed apart and then in the space created I'll just box the junk up and move it down stairs. Then we'll move the mattress upstairs. We just need to figure out when we want to do it because I don't want to put the bed there and have them play with it. So we need to look at the calendar adn holiday schedule and figure out when the best time is.
Schooling is all figured out. We're going to homeschool for preschool and possibly kindergarden. After that we will decide. Nothing is starting until they are three. Until then, I'm just going to keep doing some light Montessori work with them. I'm careful not to do certain things. I don't call it work, I don't use mats or rugs and we don't wear aprons. I want those things to start when we start formal homeschool because I think they are really great visual cues that it is "school time" as opposed to just play time.
I'm taking this time to find and make supplies and lesson plans. I have some fun ideas. We've also been working on the basic things like courtesy, setting the table, cleaning up, washing hands, helping each other and some of the beginning Montessori work like color tablets, pouring rice, spooning, sorting, lacing and matching. The girls will even ask for certain things by name. "I want to lace, Ima." So grown up!
Knitting is getting there. I'm busy working on B's Joseph. I fell in love with both the pattern and the yarn I used for C's so I purchased two other colorways. I have three sweaters-worth of yarn for me and two for Aba so I'm pretty set for the next year or so. I've cancelled all my YOTM memberships and don't plan on buying for quite a while unless something comes up that I need to make and need yarn for. I can't see that hapenning, but never say never.
Scrapbooking is getting back on track. I'm learning Photoshop so I can do more pages with that. I've also been scalping scrapbook supplies for the girls' art so I'm not feeling too badly about stuff I'll never use. My goal with all the craft stuff is to get down to a reasonable amount of basic supplies. I want to craft, not collect craft stuff.
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