He Peed on me!!!

So I have been in the process of potty training Little Dan for the last couple of weeks. We have been working on it very enthusiastically and giving different rewards as well as using extensive amounts of enthusiasm to encourage the use of the potty. But even though I say 'we', what I really mean is 'I' have been working on it! Which sucks because I'm pretty sure he could really have a good handle on things if it was a consistent thing b/w my time during the day and the 2 hours a night that G&S have him... and then if they would only put in a little effort on the weekends! Its not that hard and it comes with big rewards for all of us!
So once he learns to "go potty" I won't have to change his diapers, and more importantly, he will be allowed to go to his pre-school class in the fall (they don't except kids that aren't potty-trained.. even though they are only there for 3 hours... whatev). So considering the benefits.. I would think that as a parent you would want this to happen, but it almost feels like they want him to stay a baby forever. Maybe b/c G doesn't get to spend enough time with him she feels like if he can do certain things that it means that he is really growing up and she isn't getting to be there for enough of the process. I really don't know, and this is just a shot in the dark... they could just also just be way to busy, but I still think its the prior option.
Either way, last Monday I was encouraging him to go sit on the potty to see if could earn a reward! It's all very exciting ya know.. Anyhow, I was helping him get his pants down so he could try and apparently he had to go so badly the as soon as there was nothing in the way he let'er rip! Unfortunately I was on the receiving end... and even more unfortunate, I had to encourage that he almost did it and that it was a really good try, etc., etc. all while I was covered in urine!!

Disgusting!

But I guess slowly but surely he is learning.. and I should just be thankful that after 8 or 9 years of babysitting and nannying, I've never been peed on before this... and at least he didn't just crap all over the floor! :)

Happy Monday :)

Swap Fun!

Coffee

1. What is your preference? Whole beans or ground? Ground.. it just makes life that much easier!

2. What kind of coffees do you enjoy? A rich, bold roast; a light, fresh one, or something in between? Leaded or non? Any range from a medium, mild to a rich bold roast is good. Definitely leaded.

3. If you were headed out right now to buy some coffee for the house, what would you be picking up? I'd probably just grab some pre ground beans from Starbucks, so I could get a latte at the same time, and then I would get either the Verona, or the Sonoma blend.

4. Do you drink for caffeine, pleasure, or both? I'd say both. I love the aroma, and that a cup can warm you up or cool you down, depending on how you drink it, but the caffeine is a good perk that coffee has :)

5. Do you enjoy flavored coffees? How about add-ins or flavored creamers? I am not a fan of flavored coffees. If I want a flavor, I'm going to add it in with a flavored cream. I want to be able to change my mind about what the flavor is or if I just want it black.

6. A large, lovely mug or a small, dainty cup? Lovely and Large! I love those cups that are short and really wide so when you drink your entire face could sink into the mug! :)

7. Describe your perfect cup - not JUST the coffee, but how you'd enjoy it! I use a french press to Enjoy my coffee, and then I have this little milk-foamer tool, that I use so I let the coffee sit in the press before pressing it down, and then I take it down slowly. During that process I will pour some cream, usually french vanilla, chocolate caramel, or just plain soy milk (depending on the day). I use the foamer to fluff up my cream and then I pour my coffee on top, so that it stirs itself, and the foam settles to the top. Its delicious! mmmm.

8. You're sitting down to enjoy a nice cup in the local coffee shop, knitting bag in hand, iPod all tuned up - or maybe you're there with a few friends for knit night! What treat do you pick up to enjoy with your coffee? A sweet, rich brownie, or something more healthy? How about a salty treat? What goes best with that great cup and company?
Right now I am on a health kick, but I do love treating myself to something sweet if I have had a good healthy week. Sweet treats go so well with rich coffee!

Yarn

1. Do you knit or crochet? knit

2. What are your favorite types of yarns to work with? anything that feels good, I just like to knit with something that feels soft and luscious running through my fingers!

3. What do you have on the needles (or hook!) right now? Three different scarfs.. two that are gifts and one for me for a nice lacy bright spring touch to add to a boring outfit!

4. What are your favorite colors in yarns? What about those that you'd never find in your stash? I love subtle colors, like light blues, yellows, and greens; I love to use gray, cream, and brown for neutrals; and then for a nice bright splash i'll use a bright apple green or red! I wouldn't probably use black, but everything else is good.

5. What sort of needles or hooks do you enjoy using? Any you just detest? I love bamboo needles, and other wooden needles as well, they feel really good in your hands. I'm not a fan of plastic, but I could use them if that was my only option.

6. Are there any particular notions you absolute do NOT need? Some of us swap a lot - are you sure that you have enough tape measures to last your lifetime? Enough stitch markers to mark every stitch of a 10 foot wide afghan? I don't have a stash of too many notions... just a handful of markers...

7. You walk into the yarn shop and have exactly and only enough money to purchase 2 skeins of yarn in their 2 for 20 special they have going..The choices are a soft, thick cotton/viscose blend in your favorite colors, slightly variegated..a beautiful sock yarn that's just squishy and sproingy in your hands.. a soft, worsted weight wool like malabrigo.. and a lovely bamboo blend with colors to just die for. Which do you walk out the door with? I'd have to go with the bamboo blend.

Spring

1. We're starting sign-ups on the first day of Spring - is it already truly Spring-like where you are?

2. What's your favorite spring flower? Do you have one? I love them all, but I am specifically a fan of the lily family of flowers.

3. What do you most look forward to about springtime? Color in Nature :) It makes me smile. And I love taking spring walks while the sun is shining and the air is so fresh, and everything is in bloom again... it is beautiful!

4. They've predicted a gorgeous day tomorrow - Sunny and about 65 with a nice breeze - how do you spend your day? Well since I am a nanny and have a ridiculous amount of flexibility with our schedule, I would take Little Dan to the park to run around and play, and then have a nice little picnic! We also have two big ponds near our house, so taking a stroll to one of them could be a nice way to spend the day. And during his nap time, I would sit outside, and read or knit, and enjoy the lovely day.

5. The day after, it's going to be cooler and pouring down rain - does that impact your mood? How do you spend that day? what helps cheer you up? I actually love the rain (I think its the Seattle-ite in me).. but it doesn't effect my mood at all, we just play indoors, or spend the day being a little more productive, either running errands, or getting things done around the house.

Odds n Ends

1. Do you collect anything BESIDES yarn and needles? Not really.. I try to keep down on the clutter, so that if you have to pick up and move across the country (or if you choose to), you don't have to pack up a ton of small knick-knacks, or get rid of them.

2. Are you allergic to anything? Just the normal Allergens.. dust, cats, dairy...

3. Do you have pets? I have a pet Hedgehog, and the family that I live with has a dog, two cats, a bird, and a snake... some say we have a little zoo going.

4. Is this your first swap, or are you an old pro? What are the last 2 swaps you participated in? This is my second official swap. The last one that I participated in was the Dogs on Thursday Holiday Ornament Swap.

5. List 3 of your favorite blogs - craft related or not - and tell us why you love them. G-marie Sews, I love because it is my mom's blog, and I am very close to her, so it makes me feel at home to know all the little crazy details of her life other than just the stuff she tells me on our daily phone call.
I love Lapdog Creations, because Nichole always has something fun going on with the dogs, or with her crafts.
And Shut Up, I'm Counting, because Cass has a terribly fun since of humor, and I love the way she writes, and her funny stories. She also does fun craft projects.

Extreme Home Make-over

:Sheila's Edition:

When I first got little Sheila, she live in a little hedgehog mansion. Which would not break down small enough to it into even my largest suitcase! So I had to buy her a new and not so exciting cage. And ever since I moved here I have been meaning to dress it up a little for her to give her some more room.. but of course that hasn't happened for the last 7 & 1/2 months.... I fail at being a good mother. :(
So her new cage was basically just a cube with a wheel, her litter pan, and food and water dishes all crammed onto the one level of the cage and then her tube and toasty tent snuggled in there too. Very Crampy! So the whole point of the renovation is to spread things out to give her more levels to run around and have more fun, and not to cramp her style :)

Here is what it was before...of course I took this photo after removing everything so her cage could be cleaned.. so you really can't see the crampy-ness of it.

Boring!

And here is all of the wonderful new space she has acquired through our renovations!

So I as you can see, I added two shelves and some ramps to be able to elevate things, now she has a level for dining, and a level for exercising, and then the main level for her bed, tube, and litter. And it is great because she loves being snuggle in beneath the dining level for when she is sleeping!

And here she is when I first put her in... She's checking it all out! (and I know that in this photo it still looks cramped, but she as all of the room beneath the shelf, and then free space too! Plus she knocked the ramp down, and figured out how to climb up to the first shelf without it, so I took that out too, and now she really has a ton of space! It all worked out very well!

Best Buds

On Monday nights I go over to the neighbors' house to watch their little guys. They have 3.. a little girl that is 1 1/2, and two boys who are 3 and 6. Usually I am only there for about 3 hours, and often I have to bring Little Dan and Little Ann with me. But it works out, because little Ann is best buds with the oldest neighbor boy, and little dan is the perfect age to play with both of the younger kids. Usually we just spend the time running around the racetrack, which is the circle that is made by the hallway from the entry, to the kitchen, then through the dining room, and living room, then back to the entry. A perfect place to do laps, and play tag! Not to mention that it wears them out without much effort.

Last week however, they had just purchased a new movie and all of the kids wanted to watch it so we popped popcorn, and vegged out for the show. All of the kids were hooked in, except little Dan.. he was much to excited by all the toys.I just thought that it was so cute how they were all laying together. There was no space between them, and they were in order of age, and all just happy as could be with the movie :) It was a good time for sure, and it is nice that they get along so well.. makes life a bit easier :)

Something Good

So, I am doing a charity walk this weekend. It is the Walk for Water which is an event sponsored through Starbucks. The point of it is to address the World Water Crisis, which is something that the United Nations has declared World Water Day because of. Essentially it is a lack of clean, safe drinking water (which you can see from the picture above of some drinking water in Africa), and the lack of adequate sanitation services (Which you can see from this photo of the children bathing in the rivers) in so many areas globally.


You can read more and sign up to do it in your area by clicking the above link.

Anyhow, I was thinking that it would be really good to do a walk for charity once a month. Which is really easy to do when you live nearby a big city. So I did a little search on google, just typing in "Charity Walks in ________" (Fill in the blank with your local 'big city'), any I was surprised to see all of the things that come up! There are definitely at least one per month in NYC! For New York City, you can find some good info for a varriety of walks at the Time Out New York Site.

I am feeling very inspired to go get out there, and walk for my fitness and the greater good of several less fortunate people... whatever the issue may be!

Beach Bums and Beach Birds

The other day, Little Dan and I met up with my friend Jocelyn again. This time, she wasn’t working so she didn’t have her little guy, but we still had a great afternoon of fun! We went and got sandwiches from my all time favorite deli (the Firehouse Deli), Sooooooo delicious .. and yes it needed that many o’s! Then we took our sandwiches to the beach and had a little beach picnic!

Little Dan found the seagulls quite amusing! It was really cute he would run as fast as he could to go and get them, until I shouted, “Too far!” And then he would turn around and see how fast he could run to get back to me. When I asked him where he was off to, he said he was out to get the beach birds, how cute! And then he would turn around and go get those beach birds again and again! It was such a nice day too. Not warm enough to do without jackets, but we were able to be out in the sun! And because it was only about 50 degrees out, the beach was empty! So after Jocelyn and I were done eating, we had the whole beach to run around with Little Dan and use up all of his energy. By the time we got home, he was soo out! Anyhow, it was a good day!

I just love the beach! :)

Ugh!

Last week was a very long a trying one for me! But, Today I took the initiative to make sure that next week is better, and sorry for the lack of updates recently, but I will work on doing them more! I just need to upload some pics off of my camera, and then I will have some great posts coming at ya for this next week! Hope everyones week/weekend was good! And lots of good weeks to come :)

Munckin Play-date...

Nanny Play-date! :)


Two of my friends are also nannies in the area, and so sometimes we all get together, and the kids can play (which is of course just as much socialization for the nannies as it is for the kids). This time it was a visit to the aquarium! We have a membership to the local aquarium in Norwalk, and the kids love it. They show animals mostly from the Long Island sound so you can learn about what you're swimming with in the summer time I guess.. and they also have other animals that are just fun to learn about.
So Jocelyn watches a little boy and so does Ashlee. Little Dan was in heaven with boy time... and he was the oldest, so he felt even more cool! He was teaching the younger boys all about all of the creatures we came across. Just what they were called anyway, but considering that he is only 2 & 1/2 that is pretty good. His favorite exhibit is the shark tank! We counted 7 sharks today!


Here are some fun shark facts:
Fun Fact #1: Sharks can only swim forward, so if you are being chased by one, just dart to the side as quickly as possible and then swim fast, fast fast in the opposite direction...He'll have to turn around to come back and get you.
Fun Fact #2:If a shark stops swimming he/she will sink to the bottom.

Oh Kati!

Every hour, I take Kati out.. She goes out on the line for about 15 minutes basically long enough to take care of any business she might have and get some fresh air. Well 25 minutes after she came in, I was making the kids some dinner, and they were playing in the living room. All of a sudden I hear the high pitched shrill of Little Ann, "Kati peed! KATI PEED!" I'm thinking there is now way she peed, she was just out, and even if she did why in the world would it cause you to scream like you are dying! Of course, I don't say anything, I just run over to make sure that everyone is OK... I mean she did scream like the world was falling apart. Well sure enough, Kati had jumped up onto the couch and peed, right next to Little Ann! That little bitch angel! So I put Kati away in the laundry room to take a time out, and then I stripped Little Ann, as well as the couch cover... and everyone had to get cleaned up. Not to mention that the spot that Kati decided to pee, is the spot that is used 95% of the time! And boy did she pee! Then I had to look up how to clean urine off of Micro Suede, and clean that up, and clean the kids up, and wouldn't you know it.. I let dinner burn! Damn it!
Anyhow, if you ever need to clean urine off of micro suede, you just soak up what liquid you can (by blotting, not rubbing), and then cover the area with baking soda for at least 30 minutes, and then vacuum it up. It works pretty well, except that I didn't read the part about blotting not rubbing up the pee, and so now we also have to take ours to the dry cleaners b/c they can't be washed (the water will leave spots on the material)...
Needless to say, the event didn't need a somebody is dying, window breaking high pitched shrill, scream from little miss Ann, but if someone peed on me I would have probably screamed like the world was ending too! I mean after all I am a princess :)

My weekends...

Lately they have been very uneventful!

I've been trying to be better about saving money, and so I have been having more and more weekends basically doing nothing. Which is ok, because a lot of my friends are in the same boat. So, my typical weekend consists of me hanging out by myself, or with just a few friends watching movies from our collections. But I think as a result of 'doing nothing' for so many weeks in a row (it's been like a month since the last adventure of any kind), we have all been getting a bit of cabin fever!
So this weekend, Dave and I went up to the outlet malls! My first thought was... oh geez! This is going to be a disaster for my budget! However, I showed remarkable restraint! I only bought two shirts and one dress... whereas Dave spent almost $300 on new clothes! I was very proud of myself, I got out of the house to do something fun, and I had a great time, we spent most of the day up there... and I only spent a grand total of $68 which is including my morning coffee, and going out for dinner! (although my starbucks was free! because the queen sent me a gift card!)

So anyway, that was my little adventure to tide me over for the next month or until my cabin fever returns.
The rest of the weekend we had movie night at Amber and Will's house with a group of us which was just the typical hang out. And then I helped my friend Justin move into his new place and get it set up a little.

...I know you are all just jealous of the adventurous life that I lead...

Eureka!

I found it!!! A new LYS that is! The one that I used to shop at closed a little over a month ago, and I hadn't found a new one yet... although I hadn't actually gone online to look for local shops I had just driven around trying to find one. It turns out the new one, is one that I drove by all of the time, but it has such a small little storefront that I had never seen it! But I've found it now, and I love it, its a decent size for a shop and the women who work there are very nice. It is called Knitting Central.
And of course, who goes into a yarn shop without walking out with at least one new project, or the yarn for an undecided project... I'm going to say that none of us knitters know how to show restraint when bombarded with beautiful fibers, that are luxurious, and soft... inevitably you walk out with something :)
So I bought two skeins of this beautiful Merino Wool, called Super Merino (which means it is washable!). The color is color #139 which is a variegated yarn with a scale of light to medium blues as well as some more medium greens and teals. I like it a lot...and it will match two of three winter coats that I own, plus a good chunk of my wardrobe. (I'm thinking of making it into a cute lacy scarf.. anyone have a good pattern in mind?