My Next Million Dollar Idea...

Car Seat Pee-Pee Pads!  What mom of a potty-trainer doesn't think that an absorbent, waterproof pad wouldn't be helpful during those times when you just don't make it in time?  Seriously... genius.  (By the way, I have had many million-dollar-ideas... none of which I've actually made a penny from.)

You're probably wondering how I came up with this idea.  Or maybe you aren't wondering, and you're ready to click the x in the top right corner.  Either way, I'll tell ya.  The weather is getting warmer down south (set to hit 82 tomorrow!) and when I get in my car after it sits in the hot sun I noticed a faint familiar smell.  Baby pee.  Well, not really a baby anymore.  Almost 3-year old Olivia pee. 

Gross, I know, but it got me thinking that it's probably high time I take off that pain-in-the-*ss car seat cover and throw it in the good ole washing machine. Usually when someone has an accident in the car I try my best to soak up the fluid, and wipe the seat with a few Lysol wipes.  Because taking the pad off to wash it is a job that I absolutely dread.  It is always so hard to figure out how to get the damn straps back in, hook the elastic thingys back in the appropriate spot, etc. etc. etc.  And it's gross.  Once I take the cover off I become well aware of all of the yucky dropped cheerios, pop-tart pieces, Chicken McNuggets, spilled juice, etc.  And then I have to clean that off too!  Yuck, what a pain. 

Anyway, as I thought about the dreaded job of car seat cover cleaning I thought about how one could prevent their child's car-ride accidents from soiling the seat cover in the first place.  And thus, I came up with the idea for a car seat pee-pee pad.  Wouldn't that be great?  Your kid decides to take a pee while on the road... no problemo, just take the kid out of the seat, throw out the pad, put a new one down, and voila- you're good to go.  And it isn't something you'd have to do often (hopefully), or for a very long time span (hopefully), just change as needed, and in time your little one will get better at holding it.  I think it's a genius idea, and now that I've put it out there on the wonderful World Wide Web hopefully someone will create it so I can go to Walmart and get me some!

And that my friends is yet another reason why I am a potty-training champion.  (or maybe not... my kid is, after all, peeing in her car seat on a regular basis on occasion...) 

Hey Jealousy! *Revised*

*Revision: Thanks to my friend Dana for pointing out that "Hey Jealously" is a song sung by Gin Blossoms, not The Goo Goo Dolls.  I had a good laugh when she sent me a corrective text moments ago.  Apparently my recollection of mid-to-late 90s hit songs and/or artists is foggy.  (can't imagine why that would be?)  I've updated accordingly.  Thanks, Dana.

I'm titling this post after that song from the 90's by The Goo Goo Dolls The Gin Blossoms.  Does anyone else remember it?  "Tell me do you think it'd be all right... if I could just crash here tonight...."  -I could go on and on, I probably still know every word (even if I don't know who sang it first), but that's really irrelevant to what I intended to write about, so I'll stop there.  Oh, but in case you're wondering, The Goo Goo Dolls are still around... my friend Marija saw them at an event not long ago! -They didn't sing "Hey Jealousy" though; I asked. (it would have been really weird if they did, seeing as it wasn't their song!) *Note to self: search Goo Goo Dolls (and Gin Blossoms) on iTunes.*

Anywaaaaaays, my kids haven't really been given the opportunity to get jealous of each other just yet.  They all have pretty much the same stuff (or at least the same amount of stuff), they get to do basically the same things, and they are (hopefully) treated by my husband and I the same way.  With the exception of when they are sick.  We all know that being sick when you're a kid has it's perks.  Mom and Dad check on you a lot more than usual.  You get a whole lot of snuggles and head rubbing.  You get to sleep in a different room than your own; like on the couch in front of the TV or Mom & Dad's bed.  You get to eat whatever you feel like, and it's usually something out of the usual food service choices in the house.  You get the idea...

Last week my family was struck with the stomach flu.  YUCK, I know.  Joey had it early-on in the week, and I thought the rest of us had escaped it until Olivia started puking on Friday afternoon.

As soon as Joey realized that Olivia was sick, and my husband and I were tending to her in the same exact way we took care of him just 3 days earlier, he could not handle it.  Within a 2 hour period, Joey had a "hurt in his throat," a "broken leg," and his nose "was starting to feel like it was getting a little runny."

Katelyn was no different.  When she noticed a sick little Olivia propped up on Mommy & Daddy's bed watching Dora The Explorer, she dropped to the floor and said, "Mommy, I sick too," (She then proceeded to throw a temper-tantrum when I told her that she wasn't sick and would not be joining Olivia on the bed.)

It was amazing to me how quickly my kids caught on to the special attention one child might receive for being sick, and instantly felt like they needed to work to get my attention too.  I guess it didn't take long for them to learn to feel jealous.  Too bad they didn't learn how to feel compassionate for their sick sibling just as quickly.

Kid's Say the Darndest Things

Olivia was playing in the playroom and decked herself out in all the fancy princess gear she could find: sparkly shoes, a crown, a princess cloak, etc.  She walked over to show me and said in her own sometimes-difficult-to-understand dialect, "I'm a princess mommy."  Joey took one look at her and said, "what's a butt-chops?"  I couldn't help but laugh.

I'm pretty sure that he was just looking for yet another reason to throw the word 'butt' into normal conversation, but it was very funny nonetheless.  I just hope my kids don't start walking around calling every princess item they see 'butt-chops.'

The Mighty Mastermind

My kids seem to fight a lot with each other these days.  They argue over what to watch on TV, who had what toy first, who is going to sit on the potty first, what kind of snack they want mommy to get them from the pantry, etc. etc. etc.  Sometimes it feels like it's a never ending battle in here.  They also play with each other a lot too though, so I guess that's good.  I think that as much as it kills him to share is stuff, Joey genuinely enjoys having little sisters to play with, boss around, and manipulate.  Yes, I said manipulate.  Joey has become quite a little mastermind in getting his sisters to play under his terms.

In the following pictures Joey is playing with his collection of cars and Olivia is desperate to play too.  Not really wanting to share his treasured vehicles, the conversation went something like this:

Me, from across the room: "Joey, Olivia wants to play too, give her a car to play with."
Joey: "OK.  Olivia do you want a purple car because purple is your favorite color?"
Olivia: "Yes."
Joey: "Sorry, I don't have a purple car.  Go find something else to play with."
Olivia, (whining): "I want car Joey."
Me: "Joey, let her play with a car please."
Joey: "OK, I will.... Olivia, do you want a sparkly car because you love sparkles?"
Olivia: "Yes."
Joey: "Sorry, I don't have any sparkly cars. I guess you can't play with these."

Olivia, being passive as usual just stood there because his explanations were actually making sense to her. If only Joey had a purple sparkly car she could play too.  But he doesn't, so she was left on the sidelines looking longlingly at his massive collection of cars that she couldn't use because they weren't purple or sparkly.

Finally I told Joey that he was to give Olivia any car.  It didn't matter what color or whether it was sparkly or not.  He obliged, and the two played peacefully together for all of 30 seconds until both lost interest and moved on to something else.

This entire encounter was so funny to me because neither of them really got upset or frustrated.  Being the older brother defintely puts Joey at an advantage in this house in so many ways.  He's the first to get to do things on his own, he gets the more exciting toys, and gets to hang out with mommy in the afternoon while the girls have to nap.  Being able to manipulate his way out of sharing his toys was new for me to witness, but I have to say I was impressed by his clever reasoning skills, and in the end I was proud that there was no fighting, crying, or whining, and Olivia got to play too.

Absolute Sweetness

While browsing files on my laptop tonight I somehow came across this photo of me and my sweet girl.  I'm rarely in any photos with my kids (since I'm usually the one taking them), and I had actually forgotten all about this one of Olivia and I.  My dear friend Marija took it last Christmas during our too-short holiday visit.  She then emailed it to me, I saved it in some random folder on my laptop and it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling to find it tonight.  So I decided I'd post it here to share it with ya'll.

Proud Mom Moment

My proud mom moment of the weekend:

We took the kids to the children's museum on a rainy, humid, Labor Day Monday.  Katelyn is potty trained (wearing underpants), Olivia is working on it (sometimes wearing underpants or free-balling it at home, always wears a diaper out of the house.)  Getting my kids ready to leave the house is a little like a circus act.  Clothes flying everywhere, shoes on wrong feet, last minute potty trips, sippy cups & snacks packed, etc. etc. etc.  Somehow in the midst of all of this neither Ron nor myself remembered to put a diaper on Olivia.  She was wearing the cutest little dress that I made, low cut socks, and sneakers -we sacrifice style for practicality around here... (sneakers are a must for climbing, running around, etc.)  Fast forward 50 minutes later: Olivia & Katelyn are playing with the plastic fruit at the pretend farm stand at the VERY crowded kids' museum.  I'm standing 7-8 feet behind them wondering how much longer I have to endure this kind of heart-palpitating kid watching/losing/finding/watching/losing cycle.  Olivia turns to me, says "pee-pee."  I proudly call out, "do you have to go pee-pee baby?"  I walk over to her, reach down to feel her diaper to see if it's wet and discover that there is no diaper, my daughter is now wearing wet socks & sneakers and standing in a puddle of pee, and my hand is also wet with pee.  Awesome.

I immediately grab each girl by their hand, drag them around the area of the museum that we are in, dump Katelyn with Ron & whisper to him that we forgot one very important thing: Olivia's diaper.  Off we went to the restroom to clean her up, remove wet socks but put back on the wet shoes, (didn't know I had to add extra shoes to my diaper bag), and notify a museum staff member that my daughter had "a, ummmm, ahem, an accident" over near the farm stand of the play area.

Yea, that was definitely my proud mom moment of the weekend.  Maybe of the year.  What's yours?

Shoe Fetish

By now you have probably learned that while she may be small Olivia has a big opinion about pretty much everything. Quiet and calm most of the time, when she gets something stuck in her head there is no denying her. Not without a lot of tears and yelling anyway.  She's a lot like her momma that way.  Well, minus the quiet and calm part.

Olivia's most recent demands have been regarding which shoes she wears. At a mere 2 years old, she has a serious addiction to shoes. Last week you may remember me posting a picture on facebook when Olivia and Katelyn both decided they should be sporting the boots & no pants look.

Well just the other day as I was preparing to leave the house I pulled out my first choice in children's footwear... Crocs. I think they are super cute on little feet (not so much on the bigger variety...), comfy, and obviously the easiest style for a mom who has three kids that can't put their own shoes on. No laces, velcro, zippers or other fastening device involved. Unbeknownst to me, Olivia had scurried into the closet behind me and pulled out a pair of fancier dress shoes that were in a bag of hand-me-downs from our little friend Julia.  The reason these shoes (among others) were still in a bag is because they are too small for Katelyn's big stompers and still too small for Olivia's tiny toes.  So they are in the "on hold" department of our shoe collection.

On hold no longer.  When I denied Olivia the shoes and tried to get her little feet wedged into her Crocs she ran from me, brought the shoes to Ron and cried for him to put them on.  It was a test of wills, to say the least.  I didn't want her to wear them for 3 reasons: 1. They don't fit, and I didn't want her to trip over them all day, 2. They didn't match her outfit, and 3. I had already selected a pair of shoes for her and I am the boss.  Now is the time to exercise my power and demonstrate how in control I am.  (Mostly, just #3.  The other reasons are just things I told Ron so he wouldn't think I was being irrational.)

Olivia threw a fit to end all fits.  She cried, yelled, covered her own face in snots and boogers, threw the Crocs at me, and laid on the floor when I tried to leave the house.  Ultimately, she won.  She wore the too-big, non matching shoes, and she wore them proudly.  And I vowed to never make a big deal out of my daughter's shoes again.  Well, until she's like 13 and wants to wear stripper heels to school.  Now that's where I'll put my foot down.  No pun intended.

Little Mommy

I've recently discovered that Olivia is the caretaker of the group around here.  She gets very concerned when one of the other kids cries, and always tries to find a way to soothe them.  She really is quite the little mommy, often patting their backs, finding their blankies, and sharing her toys without complaint.  Here are a couple adorable examples of her sweetness:

• Soothing:  At the YMCA Nursery, Katelyn started whining and Olivia walked across the room to find her blankie and binkie, walked back to Katelyn, handed her the blankie, inserted the binkie into her mouth, and sat down next to her.
• Patient:  While all three munchkins stood at my feet anxiously waiting for me to pour and pass out 3 sippy cups of juice, Olivia took each cup and handed them to her siblings before taking the last one for herself.  Just like a mom.  Serve others first, then serve yourself.
• Sharing:  When Katelyn's bowl of animal crackers was empty she started to yell for more.  Olivia, who was quietly sitting enjoying her own bowl of animal crackers, noticed this, and brought her bowl to Katelyn to for sharing.
• Helpful:  When we are getting ready to leave the house I can say something like, "Olivia, go find the shoes," and she will do just that.  She will bring me all 6 little shoes to strap onto 3 sets of little feet.
• Loving:  Olivia loves being loved.  She is a snuggler, a cuddler, and a kisser.  She shows such affection for each of her siblings and us.  As a mom I can never kiss and hug my kids enough.  Olivia is the same way.  She just never gets tired of being hugged and kissed. 
• Listens Well:  When we leave the house, I'll push the buttons on my key chain to open the car doors.  Then I'll say, "Everyone go get in your seats," as I collect the bags, lock the house, and try to keep anyone from getting injured on their way out.  Olivia will do exactly as I say.  She will carefully step out of the house, turn around to go off the 4-inch step from our porch, and walk down the little path to the car.  Then she will stand at the opened door of the car until I get there and lift her in.  She will find her way to the waaaaay back, climb up on the seat, and wait for me to buckle her in.

As our children get older their personalities show more and more, and it is truly fascinating to watch them develop from tiny babies to little people.  What I've described for you tonight is just one part of little Olivia's big personality.  She is also very opinionated, stubborn, spunky, silly, and lives up to that red-headed expectation of being a little firecracker.  I love my sweet girl for all that she is.