Karen Chatters » milestones

Nap-no-more

Karen — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:43:01 +0000

I know I’ve been holding on for a long time. Hoping and hoping and hoping that the naps would continue. That the quiet would continue. That the me time would go on. But alas, I think we’re done. Three years and two months into it and I’m pretty sure we nap no more.

Of late it’s been a battle. Not the act of going into Courtney’s room for nap time, she’s happy to go in there. But staying in and being quiet. Which is really all I want, some quiet. I want Courtney to have some time to rest and recharge. Because really, she needs it. She needs that time when she’s not doing 600 things but maybe one or two, in the confines of her bed, of her four walls. But I’ve taken away the diaper or pullup at nap time so if she needs to go to the bathroom, she has to tell me and I need to come and get her. So she screams. I mean, SCREAMS. This ear-piercing, window shattering, dog-calling scream. And I go RUNNING from where ever I am to make the screams stop because I don’t want her to wake her brother. Or shatter my her eardrums. And inevitably, we get in some type of a thing with me wagging my finger and telling her to Stop. Yelling. This. Minute. Which, of course, only makes her scream more. And louder. It’s a nightmare.

The thing is, she’ll stay in her room (mostly because the door is locked) and play quietly for a while. And maybe that’s all I’ll get. But on the other hand, I also think that Courtney waits and waits and waits UNTIL nap time to go to the bathroom. It’s as though she knows it’s her free ticket. Little devil child, she is…

So as of Friday, we’re going to play it differently. She’s still going to her room but I’m not shutting the door all the way. I’ll leave the light on and the white noise off and if she has to go to the bathroom then have at it. The question then becomes, how long can I expect her to stay there. Probably not long. I wonder if I were to set an egg timer or something if she’d stay in there until it dings. I wonder if I can set it to go off 5 days later… Wish me luck. I’m sure the force is not with me but we’ll see what happens. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll get enough time to get into the shower and shave BOTH legs as opposed to the 3/4 of one leg I completed yesterday. Now the question for me is when will I shower again AND have the time to shave the rest?

Goals to keep moving

Karen — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:00:04 +0000

As of the 16th day in 2012, I’ve done a pretty good job keeping moving. The number I saw on the scale the other day was one that I hadn’t seen since 1985 or some such. OK, I have no idea when I last saw that number but it doesn’t stand out as something I’ve seen recently. I haven’t seen it again but that doesn’t mean that it’s not achievable. But I don’t necessarily want my fitness goals to be tied to weight loss goals, I want them to be tied to fitness and getting into better shape. I’ve decided what I’m going to do is divide the first half of the year into several goals/events to work towards.

End of April, 1/2 marathon – more to come on this
End of May, participate in the 10th Anniversary of Action Cycling 200. I expect to only ride maybe 50 miles a day but we’ll see what happens between the 1/2 marathon and the ride.
July 4th – Peachtree Road Race 10K. I’d like to better my time on this by at least 15 minutes and do it all without stopping.

Three goals. If I can stick with it, those goals will carry me through the beginning of July. From there I can come up with a second half of the year goal. But I think it’s doable. I know it is. I would like to intersperse all that cardio with some weight training as well. I bought some Living Social package deal for a gym and have been going to body pump. I don’t love it but damn I’m sore so I know it has to be doing something for me. I’m hoping for 5 days a week of some kind of activity. Keep it moving and keep in shape. And keep it honest.

I’m tired just thinking about it. But I’m fired up. I have a goal to work towards and assuming my almost-40-year-old body doesn’t fall apart between now and then, i would hope to be in kick ass shape!

All dressed up

Karen — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:25:16 +0000

Things here are just crazy busy. Not that that’s any different than your house but here, it’s been a welcome distraction. After Friday, I need all the distractions and busyness I can get.

Saturday I took Courtney to the Atlanta Ballet production of the Nutcracker. I know I was kind of pushing my luck with a 2 hour performance + a 25 minute intermission but she did really well. We’d been reading the book so she knew what to expect and that definitely helped. We easily could have left at intermission as she was pretty punchy in the second half and at one point asked me if I could help her with her hangnail. I really wanted to get up and go but was terrified of the screaming that would ensue if I just got up and left. So we stayed. But it was awesome. We had a great day, went out for a girls lunch and then the ballet. I’m hoping that this can be a yearly tradition for us and maybe when Patrick is a little older, we can all go. Although, we’d have to take a second mortgage out on the house to afford that.

All dressed up with somewhere to go

Well, that was fun!

The merry ol’ age of 3

Karen — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:05:49 +0000

The light of my life has turned into the blemish on my nose in horrifyingly rapid fashion. Courtney hit the 3′s with a vengeance and there’s no going back. Trust me, we’ve tried. There’s no shortage of information out there on how 3 year olds are a barrel of fun and what people wouldn’t give to ship their child off to Cambodia for a year. Although, in all reality, that may not be far enough away to hear the NO’s that resonate from those little lips and HUGE lungs on an hourly basis. (Hourly, who am I kidding? Make that every 5 minutes.) It turns out the terrible 2′s are grossly misnamed because they were really just fine. Courtney has always been a great kid. People tell me that all the time when we’re in public. And I’ve always been so proud, maybe even a little cocky. “Thank you” and “We try to instill good behavior.” And she’s GREAT with authority figures – teachers and leaders, anyone but her parents it seems. It looks like in order to keep those accolades at the forefront of my mind, we will now cease going out for the next year.

At least I have this.

And this.And this:

And occasional bits of this:

When I am 3…

Karen — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:10:30 +0000

Courtney has been saying for MONTHS that when she is 3, she’s going to use the potty. We’ve been asking here and there if she wants to go to the bathroom and she’ll say, “Am I 3?” And when we say no, she tells us she’s not old enough yet. Everyone in her class is 3 and they all use the potty so apparently there’s something in her little head that prevents her from going pee in the toilet until that magical age arrives.

So on the magical 3rd birthday, I gave her a hall pass. She did go on the potty during the party when one of her friends went but otherwise, she spent the day in a diaper, peeing away. And then Monday, we buckled in and gave the potty training a whirl. And I have to say, she did really well. I was going for the 3 day boot camp thing, which makes for 3 very long days, stuck at home, waiting to drop everything and run to the bathroom. And while we’re not there yet (7 days later), she’s done awesome and I think we’re not there mostly due to my own doing. Monday morning there were a couple of accidents and they were hugely distressing to Courtney. But after that, she’s done great. We’ve had an accident here and there but she’s made her mark most of the time and she’s quite proud of herself when she does. Hell, we even drove to South Carolina with no incidents, it was quite impressive.

Here’s where the shit hits the fan if you will. She almost always poops at nap time. I mean, ALWAYS. (If only I could be so regular.) Aaaand…. I lock her door at nap time, so she’s kind of unable to get to the potty. But I don’t want her wandering the halls, waking her brother as she screams for me from outside his door. I did try it the first day but after 30 minutes of in and out and in and out, I stuck her in a pullup and locked the door. I really want her to figure this thing out. I want her to have the freedom to come and go from her room when she needs to pee but stay in her room when she doesn’t. That’s NEVER going to happen. There’s no way she going to stay in there if she doesn’t have to. I don’t get it, I’d kill for someone to force me to take a nap every day. Why don’t these toddlers see the joy in it all???

Anyway, tomorrow is her first day back to school and I wouldn’t be hugely surprised if she had an accident or 2. I feel like I spend 90% of my time waiting for poop. Or worrying about it. Or cleaning it up. So maybe with the help of her 3 year old friends, and her teachers, we can figure this thing out. I’m NOT ready to lose our nap time and I have a TON of sewing to do while she’s supposed to be asleep. So it’s probably not overly fair of me to keep her in a pullup for my own selfish reasons. She’ll get it. I know she will. In the meantime, stay out of her way, leave the bathroom door open and the light on, and be prepared if she’s sitting in your lap…