Year: 2007

Potty Talk & Lima Beans

Sarah Carolyn

Darn it, I’ve been mentally saving up cute things Carrie has been saying lately, and now that I sat down to blog about them I can’t remember most of them.

One thing that was especially cute was New Year’s Eve: Lisa and Greta and their families came over for the afternoon. Carrie was thrilled to be running around and playing with all the other kids. At one point she asked to sit on the potty, and while I was sitting there with her she asked if we could go downstairs and watch “Sesee Street”. When I replied that she had already watched Sesame Street, and didn’t she want to go play with her friends instead, she said, “yes, watch Sesee Street with my peoples!”

And about that sitting on the potty thing… Carrie has intentionally pooped in the potty twice. I know most kids start out peeing in the potty, but apparently mine just has to do things in her own order. I’m actually not pushing this at all – she asked to sit on the potty both times, told us that she needed to go, and after a bit she went. Whether this turns into full-blown potty-training or not is entirely up to her at this point. She’s asked a few other times and not done anything, but usually it’s because one or another of her friends has just gone and peer pressure seems to work even at this young age.

I also have the weirdest kid ever. Today I convinced her to eat more macaroni and cheese with the promise of more frozen lima beans. I have no idea where her love of frozen lima beans came from, because I can’t stand them – frozen, cooked, or anywhere in between. The ironic thing is that it’s usually the other way around, with parents bribing their kids to eat more veggies by withholding yummy things like mac-o-cheese. (That’s her word for macaroni and cheese. “PBJs and jelly and bread” is how she describes peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.)

Happy 2007!

Sarah General

The years are seriously going by too quickly. I mean, there obviously isn’t enough time in any given day, month or year, because I didn’t actually have time to accomplish any of my goals last year!

I have things I’d like to change about myself and my surroundings this year as always, but I think I’m going to organize things a little differently. I’m not making a list of resolutions. Instead I’m going to try to accomplish one constructive thing or start creating one new habit every week. It’s much more concrete – and manageable – to say “this week I’m going to sort through one box of fabric” than “this year I need to organize my craft room”. Or “this week I’m going to do something active every day” than “I have to start going to the gym more this year.” So, this week, I’m going to do something small that makes me smile every time I go into my room: I’m going to make my bed every morning.

The other thing I’m planning to do is to start using an organizer. A real, honest-to-goodness paper organizer. With checklists. For me, being able to check a task off a list is a very motivating thing. (I’ve been known to add things to a to-do list after I finished them just so I could check them off. Very satisfying.) So if I have a list of things to accomplish in any given day or week, I’m much more likely to spend Carrie’s naptime doing a few constructive things in addition to my usual knitting and computer time. I briefly toyed with the idea of resurrecting my pda, but I’ve survived without carrying it for 2 1/2 years, and I don’t think I need it weighing down my purse (even more than it already is) and beeping at me at odd intervals.

Of course, it’s January 1st. I can say I’m going to be more organized and try to accomplish things pretty easily today. I guess we’ll see next year whether it works better this way than just the blanket list of resolutions ever does.