The Potty Dance

Fair warning: this is a post about bathroom business...as the title indicates.

I have been very fortunate to have assistance in potty training all children thus far.
With every child, as it became "time" to train, my Fairy Potty Mom would magically be around to help. Not this time.

Elizabeth has been showing some interest in training in the ways of toiletry. So, I have decided to try it out by myself. **see the fear in my face**
I've read up on "how to potty train in three days or less,"
and think I may have what it takes. I have whisked her off to the bathroom first thing in the morning, sat and sang songs while she tries to do her business, and get excited after any amount of success. So far a pretty good start. I've even bought some bribery candy!

Tonight I realized, with great joy, that I am not alone in my quest. Her sisters came to announce that Elizabeth was "on the potty" and they were singing her songs to help her go. Although nothing came of that sitting, even with the temptation of candy(...for everyone!) later we had quite the 'doo'zy. When she came strolling out of the bathroom after going #2 on her own. Of course I had to clean her up, and then we "all" did the potty dance (this included Daddy and brother). She was so pleased with herself. As was I.

I know it is just the start, but I may be helping decreasing the amount of diapers in the landfills...in three days?!?

I don't think we want pictures with this post. :-) And, no, I haven't tried to let her go naked yet as the instructions suggest. It might just speed things up though...

Our attempt at Crating our dog

We wish our dog, Rusty,
would take to the crate as Elizabeth did.

We ended up having to gently force him in for a few hours while we were gone today. Tonight he went in to lay down for a few minutes on his own. I was worried that he might not ever want to go in by himself after the forced incident this morning, but I was pleasantly surprised. He might warm up to the idea after all.

Hey, it can't be all that bad...the kids like to climb in too.

3 out of 4, Dentist agrees he likes Porter children

Ok, so I'm not sure if this is really such a great thing to post about since it will reflect poorly on my parenting skilz.

We went to the dentist last week to find out that three out of our four children needed some work ranging from very mild to semi-extreme.
Today we did the work on all three*...
and are now anxiously awaiting our Income tax returns!
Although we still have coverage through the military there are some overpriced expenses (sedatives) which are not covered that had to be paid for TODAY.

We learned a few years ago that it is easier on everyone involved if our child(ren) is/are medicated for dental work. This is also my opinion, Greg would differ on the "everyone" part. He had a very tough time watching sedation effects on his then three year old son. This time he was dreading having Elizabeth (his precious baby, almost 18 months) go under. He didn't sleep well, not that he does anyway. He has now announced that it was better to go in prepared for the worst because then it wasn't so bad.

We were told that the children would probably sleep the rest of the day away.
I got gypped, I want my money back!! OK, how about half?

*Kaitlynn is our "NO cavities" winner this round. Yea!! Kaitlynn!!! I think she was glad too.

Big Shoes to fill

The other night Elizabeth was trying on her Daddy's new shoes.
They are almost half her height alone.
The amazing thing is she could actually walk around in these massively huge shoes (10 1/2 6E)!
"Moon Boots"
She was cracking us up.

We hope you enjoy the video too.

Sweet Sweet Sleep

Her daddy told me to get the camera...
she had fallen asleep watching tv on the couch
with her older siblings.
She tries so hard to be a big person, it wore her out!

New addition - better photo

See, I knew it wouldn't be long till I took a better picture of Rusty.

Sometimes it pays to be patient.

It helps that we took off that silly cone, and that he was sitting still for a change!

I almost got it.

There is a tradition in my ward where the Relief Society Women have a "white elephant gift" exchange, it is tons of fun. A sister, back in 2000, gifted 2 sconces that look like they came from the 70's or some era long forgotten. Every year the "lucky" recipient of these sconces is to put their family name on the back and make sure to bring them the next year. It has been fun to see the responses of the past recipients and over the past few years the sconces have even been stolen from the first person who opened it. So was the case this year. Only this year I was not just viewing the "fun" but actually picked the box that housed the sconces! I'm not sure if I looked happy or not. I think my first thought was "OH, LUCKY ME!!" sarcastically. I then was thinking that it might be a good thing to get it since this might be my last year to be able to put my name on the back and subsequently "live on" (even if only in name) in the ward. And just as I was resigned, no, excited to have the honor...my dear sweet ex-visiting teaching companion went and took it from me! Her family name had not been on the back either. My next gift got stolen as well. It was a fun night.

This following picture is Elizabeth who accompanied me to the RS Christmas party at the a fore mentioned sweet ex-visiting teaching companion/host's home. Her tree was absolutely beautiful, and Elizabeth could not help touching the reachable ornaments.

Today we went to Katie's very fun Fairy Birthday Party.

"Itty-Bitty" went as the Binky Fairy but quickly found a replacement...

Candy!

One of every color

While getting my military ID extended a lady next to me wanted to chat.

Lady: "You have one of every color, don't you"?

Me: "Yes, I do, and they all have the same father"!

Lady: "I think you are one of the first people to talk back to me, most people ignore me".

Me: "I know, Vegas is a difficult town for making friends. What made me more approachable"?

Lady: "Well, you don't have your arms folded in front of your body for one thing".

Me: "So, if I did this," folding my arms, " you wouldn't have talked to me"?

Lady: "Yes, it's all in the body language".

She was so approachable my red head came up and pointed to her arm where she had a tattoo of a cartoon like bunny.

Red: "What's that"?

Lady: "That is dumb, dumb, dumb. Can you say that"?

I love that there are people who are fine with themselves and can make fun of the silly choices they've made in life. She said she got the tattoo when she was 14-15 and hid it from her mom for 3 years, just making sure to put a sweater on every time her mom came around. Once her mom saw it she told her that one day she would be a grandma and her bunny would sag with her skin and she could make it hop. She is still trying to get the bunny to hop. Her skin was not yet sagging though, maybe in a few years.

She was a very nice lady and helped the hour and a half wait time to go by pleasantly. She had two "Kyle Bush" m&m bracelets she had made for some other little girls, who had since gone, that she gave the girls to play with. Later she ended up giving it to the 'one of every color' girls.

Basket Fun

I recently found out Elizabeth can put things into baskets, I was so excited to have another hand to help out around the house with all the toys that seem to find their way onto the floor.

Today I found her taking a few toys out of the basket to replace them with a bigger toy.

My children never cease to entertain me.

Almost There

Little Liz is working hard at standing on her own, she even is able to squat and sometimes get back to full standing position. We are having fun cheering her on at every turn (and fall) and everyone takes part in helping her in her quest to become a "big girl".

Step'n Up

I can't believe I caught her climbing already. I actually watched her use the dinosaur as a step to climb up onto the music stand. Unbelievable! As you can see she was mightily pleased with her new found ability. Just wait till the falling down starts, that smile will turn into tears.

My own firecracker

The other day I went to my friend Stacey's house to take pictures of our kids for 4th of July pictures. I took a ton of Elizabeth because she was just so darn cute, trying to catch her with her hands clasped from clapping. Every picture only caught her with her arms open just before the clap. She is going through the stage where any amount of praise she'll start clapping, she is so pleased with herself and what she can do. I decided to video it. Enjoy. I especially love the way she folds and intertwines her legs in the sitting position. It is pretty graceful.

Febril seizure

Elizabeth, 9 months, has been teething with some pretty serious teeth, fever, congestion, the works but still really good natured. Today she ran a fever and we took a few naps with some cuddling in between, very sweet. Silly me didn't check to see what her temperature was, she's only teething after all. Long about 8 pm after nursing we were having another cuddling session. She put her head back and looked like she was looking at to ceiling for something. Something didn't feel right. She seemed to be zoning, wouldn't look at me when I called her name, and then started convulsing. Panicking I start carrying her out of the bedroom calling my husband for help. We meet in the hallway with all the children gathering in as well. I state she is convulsing, he finds a phone to call 911 (good thing he keeps his wits about him!). I try to remember my infant cpr from before Joe was born but I think my brain went into I'm losing my baby mode. All that kept running though my mind was "there was no sign anything was wrong. She can't be dying, I don't want to let her go right now!" Her lips were turning blue and I kept tapping on her chest lightly. I don't know how long she convulsed, or how long she went without breathing. When I could tell she was breathing again I just held her. The paramedics didn't take long to get there! Maybe I lost track of time. We were whisked off to the emergency room just to make sure she was alright.

They say it is common for a child to have a "fit" or "convulsion" that occurs when there is a spike in the fever. Gosh, I never knew that! It is common for them to be brief, lasting less than 10 minutes. One minute, ten minutes, the time doesn't matter to me, it is very scary, common or not! Most children who have febrile seizures will outgrow them by four or five years of age. Probably a good thing or the mom would probably not live too long with her heart constantly stopping each time they convulsed.

So, here's what I did wrong (although they never told me I did anything wrong...)
I assumed it was teething. She has a little virus, the doctor said.
I didn't check her temperature. Her fever was 103.3 at the hospital (who knows what it was when it spiked enough to send her into convulsions).
I was giving her 1/3 the amount of fever reducing medicine she should have been getting. I was erring on the side of caution, which didn't reduce anything!!

I don't know what I could have done about the other children seeing the baby convulse. I think we are all scarred for life! They picked up on my stress and worry plus witnessed everything. Joe kept saying "But, I don't want her to die, I love her too much." Brianna was the only one who was obedient and went to sit on the couch when told to do so, with worry in her eyes and tears running down her face. Kaitlyn was obedient getting ready, Brianna went to the hospital with just a shirt and underwear (I only noticed after Elizabeth was released, much to my chagrin). When they came back to visit Joe felt it necessary to bring a toy for Elizabeth, very smart thinking for a worry worn brother.

Needless to say, I am thankful we were blessed that it was something common that nothing really bad happened. Sometimes a little scary experience helps to jostle us back into appreciation mode, and remind us how short life can be...we shouldn't take any of life for granted.

Thermometor or Excitment Indicator??

Elizabeth used to do this funny thing with her tongue until late. Whenever she would get excited or happy she would stick it out. When I'd carry her around in the back-pack people would stop to talk to us, I could usually call when her tongue was sticking out. We got the funniest responses and made most people laugh.

Just about every time we'd put her in a swing she would stick out her tongue too. Her daddy said it was to test the air, I think she really liked swinging. The tongue would usually come out and her hands clench and shake in excitement.






She doesn't do it much anymore, I miss it a little. Luckily there is always something new to look forward to while she enhances her communication efforts.

Scary!

Today the girls and I went to the library. Had to use the bathroom (remember I have three (3) little girls). I had quite the conundrum before me. I would usually take all three in the same stall (baby in a backpack or carseat), but this time I was holding the baby and didn't want to place her on the floor. So, I put her on the diaper changing table just outside the handicapped stall...I strapped her in, and asked Brianna, my three year old, to watch the baby while mommy went to the potty real quick. Kaitlyn, two, was already pulling down her pants in another stall. I asked her to wait for momma to help her cuz I was going to be real fast. And I was...real fast, but heard the baby cry, yelled "Oh, Shit," while pulling up my pants as I opened the door (I didn't take time to flush!). There was no baby on the changing table, no baby on the floor, and no three year old either!

As I am calling LOUDLY after Brianna I'm checking all stalls and find my Kaitlyn still waiting for her boost up. I tell her I'll be right back as I open the bathroom door to an empty lobby area but hear my baby crying. I find her on the floor around the corner all scraped up. I scoop her up and continue looking for my daughter all the way outside asking if anyone out there had seen a little girl. No one had. So, I went to get Kaitlyn out of the bathroom and search other places. As I turned the corner to the bathroom I saw Brianna trying to get back into the bathroom. Assuming she had been hiding from me I asked her if she had pulled the baby off the table and put her on the floor and then hid. She replied, "No mommy, the bad lady did."

We finished up Kaitlyn's potty time while I asked Brianna a few questions about this 'bad lady' not sure I really believed her. She said, "she had dark hair like Daddy and Bubba (Joseph)." I asked if she could recognize her if we saw her again, she thought she could.

I know I didn't have all my wits about me because I just wanted to get my babies home and out of dangers way. Once in the car I questioned more, without offering details. Originally she said the bad lady put her in the bathroom, but I had checked all the stalls on my way out and knew she hadn't been put in a stall. It ended up being the Boy's bathroom which coincided with me seeing her trying to get back into the girl's bathroom.

I questioned my own thoughts as I suspected a possible abduction gone bad. Could it be my three year old had actually pulled the baby off the table and was trying to cover up? The more I replay the situation the more unlikely I realize those thoughts were. Brianna can barely walk two steps with her "big" baby sister let alone open the door by herself without difficulty. The time it took for me to open the stall door after hearing the baby cry was not long enough for her to even carry the baby across the bathroom floor, at least I would have caught her trying to open the door. I think someone had taken them, heard me coming, and put the baby down and the three year old in the men's bathroom, either ran out the exit 10 feet away or hid in the men's bathroom until all was clear.

After I got home I did call the library to report the situation and see if they had any serveillance equipment that might have caught the incident. They said they did not have any surveillance, the assistant manager was empathetic to my situation and was glad the children were all safe. ME TOO!! She suggested we fill out a police report which we did, even though there was nothing they could do since there was no suspect and the "witness" was too young to question successfully. The officers said there could be a few scenarios: the three year old did it and created the story, a concerned person seeing two children without obvious adult supervision may have thought they were helping and then decided it was none of their business, or a possible abduction aborted. I still stick with the abduction gone bad theory.

Long story short...I am glad to have my babies home safe and sound. I will never do that again! And I think public places like the library should have surveillance equipment covering all exits (this would have covered the bathroom door as there was an exit not 10 ft away from where I found the baby on the ground). I wish I knew for sure what happened, but I'm gut-wrenched when I think of what might have been. Be ever vigilant, and hug your little ones close!!

Announcing the new Porter addition