Esteban's New Schedule!

Well, we’re going on almost two weeks since Esteban changed jobs and so far, I love the change! We have much more family time. And I have much more flexibility with my work schedule now. It’s wonderful. He’s a lot more busy at the Dolphin than he was at the Swan, but that’s a good thing. This is a picture of the Swan side. The Dolphin side is on the other side.And even though he doesn’t go in until 6pm, he only comes home about an hour later and as expected, still making just about the same amount of money. Way to go darling!

We had to alter schedules at home, but I don’t mind it one bit. Jayden and Maya wake up and have their milk with some dry cereal or fruit. Then at 10am I make a light breakfast for them. Esteban wakes up shortly after. I make the kids lunch between 12 and 1pm and they go down for nap at 2pm. Then Esteban and I actually have adult interaction time. We can talk without competing with Jayden and Maya. We can make plans, discuss finances, or just relax. Sometimes Esteban naps when the kids nap if he had a rough night or if he woke up early. But if not, he works on his projects around the house and I usually get an early start on dinner.

I love being able to cook dinner for him before he goes to work. And I especially love cooking in complete and total peace. Esteban and I sit down to dinner between 4 – 5pm. If they kids are awake, they eat with us, but most of the time, they are still asleep. Then he gets cleaned up and goes to work. I clean up the kitchen and everything is ready by the time the munchkins wake up. The kids have dinner at 6pm and clean up is now a cinch since most of it was done while they were still sleeping. And we have the rest of the evening to do whatever we like. We go for walks, do art projects or I let them have free play so I can have internet time.

So although I would prefer for Esteban to be home at night with us, I am really enjoying this new schedule. We have 4 extra hours together a day on my off days and because we have more time together, I’m much more relaxed in the evenings on his off nights. I don’t mind it as much if he wants to go see the game or have a beer at the neighbors. Plus, since he starts at 6pm, I can get a full days work in on any day of the week. He doesn’t have to have specific days off like before. And twice so far, we have actually had a day off together. Imagine that!

Because of our decision to be the sole providers of our kids, we never had to utilize daycare. That was great because we knew our kids were always safe and in a loving environment. Plus we didn’t have any of the associated costs. The down side was that our marriage was taking a beating. We never had time together. Now, things are like they always were and I thank God for that.

A Quick Update

I had to work today so Jayden spent the day with Daddy and it was so hard for me to let go and let Daddy take over. But that's another story...

According to Daddy’s report, Jayden had a great day with no accidents. His diaper was a little wet in the morning and so was his pull-up after nap, but that’s the least of my worries right now. After a few false alarms, he went poop on his own. Esteban said Jayden was dragging him to the bathroom all day long, but he felt it was a great success! I’m very proud of my big boy.

Hard Core Potty Training: Day 4

Jayden woke up today and gave me a very hard time about going to the potty, but at this point I’m not about to back down so I took him kicking and screaming. I was very happy to discover that his diaper was dry. He did what he needed to do and we moved on. During breakfast, I noticed he was fooling around so I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said yes. Immediately, I noticed that he had to poop and after he went pee, he was very quick to jump up and say all done. I reminded him that he couldn’t go poop in his undies. He has to poop in his potty. He told me he was scared.

Long story short, we spent one hour in the potty. I even lost my nerve and told him to come up off the potty, but he said no and he sat there. I held his hand. I hugged him. I kissed him. I told him not to be afraid. I read him a book. I practiced his letters with him. I gave him privacy. We talked about the weather and his Titi, his cousins, his daddy, his sister, and everybody he could think of. I even prayed with him. And finally, he did it. He went poop in the potty. I felt so relieved and thankful and he was so excited and proud of himself. I rewarded him with two m&m candies.

After nap, Jayden’s pull up was dry. Yeah. Another success! The rest of the evening was uneventful, except for the fact that Jayden wants to go to the potty every few minutes. Sometimes I think he just wants the m&m, but as long as he’s going successfully I’m happy. I’ll find a way to wean him from the chocolate soon enough.

Hard Core Potty Training: Day 3

Today started out great. Jayden woke up. I immediately took him to the potty and he went with no problems. This was an improvement from yesterday, when he went in his diaper just before I could change him out of it. I was still reminding him to go every 30 minutes or so because he didn’t go poop yet. After breakfast, we went to the potty but no luck so we washed hands and moved on. I went to the kitchen with Maya and Jayden went to play in his room.

All of a sudden, I see him run out of his room to the screen room, but I thought he was looking for a toy. And then right before my eyes, I see him making that weird face. He’s watching me watching him and he comes back and says he has to go potty so we run to the bathroom. I quickly take his pants off and out it flings. I look at Jayden, horrified and I see the pee dripping down his leg and I was beside myself. So he got his spanking and sat on the potty while I cleaned up. I spared him the long lecture, but he knew I was upset. He came over to me for a kiss and a hug, which of course I gave him, but I went ahead and reiterated that he had to learn to go pee and poop in the potty. Ok he said.

After that, he was great. He went, usually on his own with no prompting from me. During his nap, he barely wet is pull up. Then, after dinner I took him to the bathroom to wash hands and sit on the potty and I heard him tootin’ so I asked him if he had to poop and he said no. I told him he had to do poop in the potty and he said no, not yet. A little while later, I hear him whimpering in his room. When I get there, the door was locked. Now I’m scared because I can hear him crying and the door is locked and he won’t open. I’m fumbling around with the skeleton key but I’m nervous so it doesn’t open. Finally he opens it on his own and sure enough he’s pooped in his undies again! Can you say angry?

How many spankings does it take? My heart is breaking for even having to go there with him. I don’t know why he’s afraid, but somehow I have to help him get over his fear of pooping on the potty. I know he's not the only child to be afraid of their own poop, but it's nerve racking!

So after that he said he had to pee, but he had already leaked in his undies (no doubt from fear). I took him to the potty and he finished up there. And then he wanted to go to the potty for the rest of the night every 15 minutes. I’m going nuts with this guy. Clearly, he’s got the pee part down. It’s the poop part that is throwing everything off. I’m really hoping that he’ll get it by tomorrow because after that I go to work and he’ll be home with Daddy and he's the king of throwing off my routines.

Hard Core Potty Training: Day 2

Today started out ok. Jayden was hesitant to get out of his diaper and into his undies, but he handled it well. I was most worried about the first go of the day, but after a couple of visits to the potty, he went like clockwork. The day went by pretty smoothly. There were no accidents and we went through only one pair of undies. In fact, he was even telling me on his own when he had to go, which was great. Sometimes he was dragging me to the bathroom and went through the motions, but he didn’t have to go. Of course, he figured since he held up his end of the bargain, I should hold up mine. I informed him though that he only gets an m&m IF he goes to the potty.

In the back of my mind, I’m a little worried that he did not poop today. He normally goes everyday and I don’t like the idea of him holding it. But he can’t hold it forever. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Hard Core Potty Training: Day 1

I have a reached a point where I am sick and tired of changing the poop diapers of a child that knows when he has to go, but refuses to use the potty. Two nights ago, I told Jayden that if he went poop in his diaper without telling me first, he was going to get pow-pow. That’s the Puerto Rican way of saying you’re going to get a spanking. You know what Jayden did? He held it. He hasn’t gone poop ever since. Can you believe the stubbornness of this child? So that’s it. Today, I’ve decided is the day. Enough!

I started by removing Jayden’s diaper and I put on his undies. He was not happy and Esteban had to hold him while I get his underpants on. We took him to the potty several times and nothing. Then he went outside to the screen room where no one was looking and pooped in his undies. So, I gave him a spanking. I hated to do it, but following the advice of books has gotten me no where so far. While I cleaned up the mess, Jayden sat in his potty chair looking sad. I explained that he should use the potty if he has to go pee or poop and he said ok.

The rest of the day, I took him to the potty every hour or so. Success was rewarded with candy. He was loving that part. He only had two accidents. Once, he peed half in the potty and half on the floor. (That’s still a success to me.) The second time, he must have leaked, caught himself and stopped the flow. I took him to the potty and he finished his business there. For nap, he wore a pull up, which was inflated by the time he woke up. And at bedtime, he wore a diaper. We went through 3 pairs of undies all day. I’m utterly exhausted, but it was a very good first day indeed.

Old Skool Freestyle

So now that I have an iPhone, I figure I should work on building a music library. Right now, my library consists of lullabies and nursery rhymes. So I start searching iTunes, looking for a potential ring tone. I’m looking for a song I can identify with, that has a catchy beat or tune and that’s different from other people’s ring tones. I start listening to clip after clip. I thought maybe I could get a great Salsa tune or a Merengue song with some pizzazz. Maybe I could search for an inspirational tune among the Contemporary Christian songs. Or what about a show tune? And before you know it, I’m thinking of all kinds of crazy tunes like Shaft. I performed my first dance to that song. Or the Pink Panther theme. One of my first plays was the Pink Panther. I was going way down memory lane and before you know it, I was on the hunt for 80’s freestyle.

I am probably dating myself here, but I grew up on what we used call club music or freestyle. I don’t know who else listened to this stuff and can relate, but I sat at my computer, cracking up all by myself. I was amazed at how well I could remember most of the beats and lyrics. There were songs and artists I haven’t heard of or thought of in what seems like a lifetime. Some songs took me back to specific parties, events, girlfriends and boyfriends. And so I had myself a night of freestyle listening to the likes of Judy Torres, India, TKA, Noel, Coro, Lissette Melendez, Expose, the Cover Girls, and Stevie B. to name a few.