Potty training adventures with Gwyn

I know it has been AWHILE since I blogged.  Life with kids and ministry and a job and homeschooling.  Life.  That is it.  I would rather play with my kids...or read a book...or watch a great TV show...than stare at the computer.  Anyway, I just could not, not share this with my blog girls.  This one is for you Aly and Annie.  I miss being able to share these stories with you at the park...

We recently dedicated our sweet Gwyn which basically means we prayed over her life with close family and friends (pictured here Aaron and Emily-friends so dear they seem like family) and committed to raising her in the knowledge of Christ and pouring His love and ours into her.  She is the most precious, soft little soul and she has completed our little family.  We love her, but life with a 21 month old is always a crazy mix of pure joy and pure...hmm read on.

Gwyn is potty training, and doing well as a preface.  She usually only has about one pee accident a day and never poos in her pants anymore.  She is even dry at Disneyland or on drives to LA.  I am impressed.  But, she has a milk intolerance that makes her gassy and constipated.  We are usually so careful, but this week a bit of cheese slipped through and she ate it.  The next day she was upset at her bowels and trying to poop.  We let her roam with no pants to allow easy access while we were cooking dinner after a long day.  She was kinda whining and we were kinda not paying much attention.  Not a good thing cause next thing I know she is calling Poop! from her room.  I go in and she is squatting in front of her dollhouse dropping the biggest log ever.  I look at her red face and see defeat.  She is mad at herself, so I don't make a big deal, grap a wippee and lysol, pick it up and we take it to the potty, talk about how it should go in there and NOT on the ground and flush it bye-bye.  I go back to dinner prep without dressing her.  I figure the danger is gone and a little naked time is always fun.  She comes in the kitchen and "cooks" at her play kitchen.  THEN, after a few minutes I hear the Poop! call and look over to see her STANDING in her own poo.  She didn't just drop one...she stepped in it!  Ahh!  Adam and I were SOO excited to have choosen parenthood at that moment.  Aggie held the dog back (Peyton the dog is famous for eating the poo-good times), while I held Gwyn in mid-air.  He went and got the wipees.  We wiped her down.  Sprayed HER feet with lysol.  Picked up the poo.  Wiped up the smashed poo.  Lysoled the ground and mopped with antibacterial soap.  THEN, back to dinner prep.  Good times, hey?  Adam and I joke that maybe we should have waited even longer (we waited 5 years) to have kids.  It surely is an adventure.  Especially the poop part.  

Prop AB 755 - Prohibition of Spanking...

"AB 755 would, in its practical effect, make a non-injurious spanking with an object such as a ruler, small paddle, etc. illegal. After being arrested, charged, and tried in a criminal court, parents could receive up to one year in jail and could lose custody of their children."

Info on this proposition is now on the Christian email curcuit and the email forward proposes we take action AGAINST it. My response is not to forward it on, but to think why do we as religious people hit our kids at all-especially with an implement? I don't agree with hitting kids in any way to get them to behave. It seems we should lead by example and I think we all agree we don't want them hitting other kids at play-dates. I interpret (after biblical research) the rod referenced in Proverbs as a shepherds rod. This rod is used to guide and redirect or even to protect the sheep from predators. I feel I can shepherd my children with other gentle, yet firm discipline techniques. I do have friends who choose to spank and though I do not agree I respect their decision to do so...with their hand. I do not accept use of an implement as this law proposes because that is too much force to use on a child. Children should be protected from this avenue of abuse. If it hurts a parent too much to hit with a hand then they are hitting too hard. There are other faith and biblically based ways to parent that don't involve hitting and they can be read about at Dr. Sears site (who is a christian man), and in his book The Discipline Book where he makes a point that it is not necessarily biblical to hit our kids. More info can be found on websites such as Graceful Mothering and Gentle Christian Mothers and Parenting in Jesus' Footsteps . I know this is such a hot topic and there have been tons of my friends that have gone through "Growing Kids God's Way" and read Dobson pamphlets, but this makes my blood race when I hear that it is somehow our right as Americans to hit our kids with sticks and belts and rulers and whatnot. I don't think this is leading to a no spanking law (though I wouldn't oppose one), it is just protecting kids-go read it. What would you as an adult do if someone hit you with a belt or a shoe? Maybe your pastor would take you aside and whip your legs with a stick "lovingly" to teach you not to go into credit card debt? I am thinking that would not go over to well in a counseling session...

Yay, for Le Leche League!

Gwyneth recently staged a nursing strike-Adam said he could imagine her with a little picket sign crawling around with a grouchy little look... She is getting some teeth on the top (I figured out after lots of parenting detective work) and refused to nurse from 10am yesterday until we had success at about 8pm! I was bursting to say the least-since she is only 7 months and nursing is still her primary nutrition every 2-3 hours. It was horrible...I would lay her back into position and she would wail this horrible yell I have never heard from her, or she would just put her mouth on and look at me sideways with no latch-on and then sit up crying, or she would bite me and cry immediately from guilt...nursing has always been a beautiful bond between me and my babies and a way I bring comfort and intimacy as well as nourishment to my girls, so this was heartbreaking for me. I worried (since she is eating solids twice a day now and moving on to finger food) that she didn't want it or was weaning. I had to wean Agatha at almost 2 years old-because I wanted to stop-not because she did-so I was not ready for these thoughts. It was hard, and I realize I may need to prepare myself for Gwyn to move on before I am ready. But, I knew it was too early to move on now. I pumped, I gave her some in a bottle (should have used a cup and no artificial nipples I realize now) and she sucked it down. AHHH! What was wrong? SO, finally I called my LLL Leader, Rebecca Konegen, and she is my lifesaver. She has saved me from three nursing catastophies with Gwyn and I owe her some crazy big attachment parenting points! She told me to take a bath with Gwyn and try to nurse in there with the skin to skin, comfy atmosphere. I have to admit it seems wierd to those who have never birthed or nursed-but it worked! (As did the admittedly wierd suggestion of boob soaking in a sink of hot water for mastitis/clogged milk duct, among other helpful things she has told me) Yay for LLL! Yay for Becky! Yay for Gwyn who is now nursing again, gently and with a little pain, but nursing!!! Double Yay for Gwyn who is also crawling now. She started on New Year Day and has now started to really get around. SO many big things happening in her little life-it is no wonder a nursing strike was staged!

Both sides of the 4 year old coin

She is so wonderful...and challenging. We have taught her to be srong minded, to voice her opinion, to be creative, to explore and be free, to be active, to live her emotions--and on the other side of the coin we can end up with a stubborn, sassy, whiny, unfocused, figity, dramatic 4 year old. Not all the time, but the last few days I feel like it is alot of the time. I've always got a consequence ready to go, I'm always having to be on my toes with creative discipline measures, and I'm tired! She is work. She is worth it, but she is work.