Dawn's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 7/31/04 -------------------- 6/20/04 5/5/04 4/25/04 3/28/04 3/13/04 2/20/04 2/3/04 1/15/04 12/7/03 10/31/03 10/26/03 10/17/03 10/11/03 9/22/03 9/15/03 9/1/03 8/19/03 7/30/03 7/14/03 7/11/03 7/3/03 6/27/03 6/23/03 6/12/03 6/3/03 6/2/03 5/26/03 5/1/03 4/26/03 4/14/03 3/31/03 3/21/03 3/12/03 2/28/03 2/19/03 2/15/03 2/9/03 1/28/03 -------------------- Dawn's Introduction

October 17, 2003

Here we are in mid - November already. I am totally in the Christmas spirit now, excpet we are still having some pretty good weather. It has snowed a little bit, but today it is quite warm again (well just above freezing, but the sun feels warm)and William and I just returned in from doing some "yard work". He helped me carry in all his outdoor toys and store them in the garage for the winter, which is sure to come sooner or later. Christmas on the other hand, has arrived in our home. I have our two trees decorated, my wreaths out, boughs and lights wrapping the staircase, and also my tole paintings and other crafts adorn the walls and shleves. The outside is yet to be tackled, but I like to wait until later to put out those lights etc. (Like maybe this weekend). Now I know you may all think I am crazy for decorating so early, but I just love the feelings that come with Christmas, and I like to prolong those for as long as possible. I feel a saddness after the season, when all our company is gone and I have to look at the decorations as a reminder (or at least that's how I felt last year), so I like to put things up early and enjoy the feelings of anticipation.

Un- potty training

After bragging about my son's self induced ability to go to the potty, I now have to dig my head in the sand and accept that fully trained status could be a long way off. William has not used the potty or even asked to go for almost three weeks now. Well since about Halloween now. The last time he went was when my nan was here. I left him with her for an hour and he pooped for her then, but sort of made a mess as he started before he got to the toilet. Now I can just imagine my nan's reaction as she is easily flustered, god love her. She probably said something like, "Oh my oh my oh my, look at this mess, now look what you've done...." All meaning well of course, however I have to wonder if somehow she didn't frighten him from using the potty as he has not asked to go since. Not even once. And when I ask him if he wants to he absolutely refuses. It could also be that is he just plain lazy, and realized that going to the potty means leaving something else for a while that was much more appealing, or it could also be the fact that our lives have been super busy lately. We went away for the long weekend, have had lots of company, I have been working quite alot, and the days we are home together, we are rushing off to one place or another, so when would he have the time to ask me to go? Where we go from here I have no idea, but I am sure that just like every other milestone it will eventually fall into place.

Socializing

William has come a long way from this summer when we were visited by Jeanette and Isabella. Although they did play together, for the most part he was very wary of having another toddler on his territory. Something he had not experienced up to that point. He spent a lot of that time up in my arms seemingly wondering if she was going to become a permanent fixture in my mother's house. I became a little concerned about shyness and jealously issues. SInce that time however, he has been cared for by my friend who has two children his age, and I think this has done wonders for his ability to get along with other children. He loves the boy and girl he spends many of his days with, and although they still squabble over the occasional toy, they are able to invent and play games together, and had come up with their own system for taking turns. When one child feels they should have their turn with a certain toy, they call a trade, and they all switch.
William still is not very used to having small kids around his own belongings, and when my cousin decided to come out with her two children (ages 4 and 1) this weekend I was nervous abouthow William would react. I was exptremly pleased to see how very well they all got along. They played from the time the girls got here tot he time they left, and with out so much as a whimper from any of them (well not in relation to getting along anyway - does any child go the whole weekend without a whimper?). Their favourite game was when I put all the cushions from the couch on the floor and they would dive off from the couch onto the cushions and then pretend thei were swimming in the ocean. They also loved to dance together to the new Wiggles CD that I made, and just run around and chase each other. Seeing how much fun William had with his cousins this weekend really made me realize how badly I now want a second child. Having more than one child around took a lot of pressure off me, as he wasn't coming to me all the time to play, and his imagination was working on overtime, trying to come up with new things to do with Emily and Abigail.

Well I guess that's it for now. I would love to hear if anyone has experienced a break in potty training like William has, and if so, what your response was.

Thanks for reading,
Dawn