TV, Clocks and Balls

"12 weeks and everything gets better" and it did.

My first order of business last week was to stop TV time. TV time to my toddler is like having beers with my friends. I go out with the intention of not drinking. After some eye rolls and snarky remarks, my friends order me a drink anyway. I drain that one and contemplate ordering another. My inner voice tells me... well you already had one. So of course I order another. Next thing you know I am up on a karaoke stage rapping "Shoop" by Salt n Pepa. (My friends are nodding their heads right now.)  It's a slippery slope.

"Uh. Here I go, here I go, here I go again..."

In her case, after one episode ends she hands me the remote over and over again. Throughout the day if she gets bored or tired she hands me the remote. If I am having a rough day I will probably let her watch another episode, because I already ruined the day with TV anyway, right?

That little white remote controls the apple TV.
This was followed by "TEEEEE  BEEEE?"

So we went cold turkey.

Instead of watching TV while I took a shower, I put up a baby gate to her room and let her play. The first day she cried almost the whole 10 minutes I was showering. The next day she cried on and off. 6 days later, she whines when I get the gate but then finds something to play with.  Now when she's bored or tired she goes into her room throughout the day and plays. A real life savor when I am trying to put Mr. K down for a nap.

"EEK! Did someone say nap?"

As for the boy, he just started sleeping 12 hours. I had to buy some blackout curtains for the room we sleep in, which helped push him to a 6:30am or 7am wake up time. Heavenly!

At one point this week, I was making dinner and noticed the kids were both on the verge of some serious screaming/crying spells. I hadn't realized that they both needed to eat... like ASAP. I put Mr. K in the reclined highchair and sat little Miss on the counter. Simultaneously I fed baby a bottle and spoon fed little Miss some Macaroni and Peas... yup you read that right. The girl loves peas.  At that moment I was sure a glowing white light surrounded me and I heard the sound of an angels choir. It wasn't that I could do both at once, it was that I didn't get stressed about it. I did what needed to be done and I could even take a moment to pat myself on the back for my efforts.

I bought Kenzie some pull ups instead of diapers so we could get her used to pulling up her own clothes. As great as they are in theory, she ended up with a raging diaper rash.  I decided the only way to fix it, was to let her go bottomless for a few hours. The entire time I was worried about her peeing on the couch, floor, bed, etc. I kept putting her on her potty seat every 15 minutes just in case. After the 12th time on the potty, we stood up and I saw that she actually went!!!!  I cheered, jumped, danced, screamed and carried on like I had just won the lottery. She joined me in the celebration. What a proud parenting moment.

"Just you wait Mom... Just. You. Wait."

Of course a few days later she peed on the porch 3 times. What can you do...

On Sunday we decided to hit the pools for a family swim. Little Miss was so good, she just sat on our laps or walked around holding our hands. Mr K cried out a few times in the beginning but then started to enjoy it. The pools were pretty quiet since Monday was the first day of school up here. So it was pretty disturbing when Little Miss started screaming "COCK! COCK!" and "BAW! BAW!"-which does sound like "ball".  As the wave of embarrassment and giggles settled, we saw all the clocks hanging on every wall and the toy balls floating in the water.

 I guess it's time we work on those "Ls"...