Story Hour

We weren't in there for an hour, it just seemed like it. I've read that children who wear cloth diapers toilet train faster than children who wear disposables. I think it's because parents get tired of changing cloth diapers faster than they get tired of changing disposables... :)

It's really not so bad, but for some reason I keep thinking that he's old enough to be using the toilet. He's old enough to tell me that he doesn't like his "new" diapers after all. He just doesn't get it. He can sit on the toilet for 20 minutes (it's good reading time- even my 5-year-old joined in on the fun) and do nothing but toot (which he does get excited about!) and then five minutes into a clean diaper, he "goes". It's driving me crazy.

How do I get him to do his duty on the potty? He does make some nice faces while he pretends to poop. It reminds me of my friend whose little boy said to her "don't strain yourself".

My Brother and the Shenpa

My brother is in an interesting position in life. He's trying to figure out what to do to support his family. Should he do something to make a lot of money? Should he do something to help others? I think Ideally, he'd like to do both (although maybe money is not so important to him....). I'd imagine he'd like to provide comfortably for his family.

Here's a really good post on his blog about money.

I want my money.

Check out his other posts too. I've really been enjoying his new blog.

Not so old...

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HAPPY 30th MR.


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Not Everything Has To Be A Contest

I tell my 5-year-old fairly regularly that not everything needs to be a contest. He's very competitive. He knows which kids at school are "ahead" of him in their homework books. He knows who is further along in their computer program. I talked to his teacher about it last time we had a parent/student/teacher conference, she said that there are 22 kids in the class and only 5 or 6 (I can't remember for sure) are girls, and the boys are extremely competitive with each other. She said it's something they're working on at school, and encouraged me to continue working on it at home.

Well, here is something that isn't going to help. My Mr. and I are having a contest of sorts to see how long we can make one tank of gas last. This isn't entirely fair because he drives into salt lake for school at least twice a week, so maybe it's not so much that we will be competing with each other, as we'll just be trying to each do the best we can. I've walked to pick up my kindergartner from school every day so far in the past two weeks. My Mr. does drive him to school on the way to work (it's been to cold to walk so far, and since the time change we've had a hard time waking up early enough to walk (it takes me nearly 30 minutes to walk the 1/2 mile to his school these days, I have to go very slowly). Lots of excuses. After the baby is born we'll see about walking to school (I need to find a group of kids for him to walk with- he just seems so little to be walking to school without me!).

In other news, my 3-year-old has sat on the toilet three times this morning. Right now he's in there reading his books. Nothing has happened yet, but I'm hoping.

Go Canada!

One of my Canadian friends mentioned how, in their federal budget, there will be extra fees attached to the purchase of new "gas guzzling" automobiles, and rebates on purchases of fuel efficient vehicles (not just hybrids either).

Hooray for a government that is getting it right! An article I found on the CBC Website says that it will hurt families who don't have a choice when it comes to smaller vehicles. I find it hard to believe that families HAVE to choose SUV's. Our minivan doesn't get the best mileage in the world, but it is not too much worse than a regular sedan.

It makes me glad to see a government holding those who want to drive large vehicles that waste resources financially responsible for their excess instead of trying to punish people who can't afford to drive new cars, which from what I can understand is what the Tailpipe Tax would do.

I would agree that imposing higher taxes on cars with higher emission levels would be good for the air, perhaps people would be more careful about taking care of their cars and driving cleaner cars, except that it seems to me, that people who drive older cars do so because that's what they can afford.

The Nicest Walmart in Utah...

According to an article in todays Tribune, the nicest walmart will now be in Cedar Hills (if it is approved). I thought Centerville was going to have the "nicest Walmart in Utah". I guess that was before they were allowed to swap cultured stone for the original plan of Farmington Rock.

Watch out Cedar Hills...

Here's a little snip from the Trib article...."It captures that colonial look well, which is a challenging thing for a building like that. The building is more attractive. . . . I think it looks great." Wright agreed, saying Cedar Hills is getting the nicest Wal-Mart in Utah.

Motivation

Over the weekend, I attended a youth leadership conference in Logan with my city's Youth Council. During the conference (and this is the 3rd one I've been to now), we get to hear some really good speakers. My favorite from this year's conference was Mike Schlappi. He was accidentally shot by his friend when he was a teenager, and paralyzed from the waist down.

He has taken a horrible experience and used it to accomplish amazing things. He was on the US Paralympic Basketball team for 4 olympics, and he presents an amazing story to motivate those he speaks to.

In past years there have been other speakers that I have found to be similarly amazing, people who go through horrible things, but use those experiences to do more with their lives than those of us who have things pretty easy and just continue on day to day doing what we always do.

It really makes me wonder about motivation. What makes some people step up in the face of adversity when others retreat? What makes ordinary people decide to do amazing things? What would I do if I were to face any extreme challenge in my life, and why would I need to wait until then to make a difference in the world?

Where much is given, much is required. I know what it feels like to hurt, but my life has been pretty easy. I've never been hungry without knowing where my next meal would come from. I've never really felt like my life was in danger. I have a comfortable life, so what do I need to do with it? I try to be involved in good causes, I am trying to be more patient with my kids, and do things with them to give them healthy childhood experiences. I guess it's difficult to say whether our everyday actions are "amazing" or not, at least short-term. Maybe our goal should not be to accomplish amazing things, but to not waste the time we have. I can sit and come up with excuses about why I should rest and not do anything all day long, or I can do something with my kids to teach them to serve others.

In for the long haul...

Several months ago, I discovered gdiapers and posted about them on my blog. I decided that they would work great with cloth inserts instead of the flushable inserts, and that not only would diapering the new baby be more earth-friendly, but it would also be more budget-friendly.

Since then, my fear of cloth diapering and my Mister's lack of enthusiasm over the idea (will I have to change the poopy ones?) kind of sent me back to the do-nothing-different approach, which meant disposables because I can buy them at the grocery store (or costco) and that is much easier than buying something online (I hate paying for shipping).

A few weeks ago my sister gave me a baby gift which included a starter set of gdiapers. If I had those, it would be silly not to use them, so pushed into action, I ordered 2 dozen prefold diapers and a couple more covers (and I got free shipping! Ha!).

I also ordered a toddler-sized cloth diapering package, since if I'm washing cloth diapers for one baby, I might as well wash cloth diapers for two-plus I'm hoping that my three-year-old will decide that it's uncomfortable to actually feel wet and decide the toilet isn't so awful after all.

I've been researching cloth diapering ever since the first package of newborn-sized covers arrived in the mail, and I've learned that you don't necessarily have to dunk and swish in the toilet (a huge plus in my book). Newborn poop "washes out like yogurt" (good to know, but I might not be making yogurt anymore...) and there are these cool flushable liners that you can use for solid-food-eating infants....

My Mr. is an easy going sort of person, and recognizes a good deal when he sees one. We've been spending approximately $30/month on diapers for the last three years (double that if you count child #1). That is $1080 spent on diapers. That we throw away. We figure for cloth diapers, we will spend approximately $350 total. I've already spent about $175 but that is on small sized diapers and the biggest sized diapers we will need, so I think the $350 is being generous. That's $730 difference! Imagine what I could buy with that! (My Mr. is imagining motorcycle stuff, and we'll let him imagine whatever he wants as long as he changes plenty of diapers)

Smart and Business-Minded

On Sunday, my 5-year-old was busy building something with his K'nex (His are similar to what is shown in the link). He built a nice set of dumbbells. After he had them all lined up nicely, he got out his piggy bank and set it up nearby. Then he went around the house recruiting customers.

For 25 cents I had a nice workout with very light weights, and the privilege of watching my son "make money". I think he'd open up the gym for anyone who was interested, so come on over.... My Mister's comment was that he takes after my side of the family (we generally don't like working for other people).

This morning while we were brushing teeth, my 5-year-old said, "mom, the black thing in your eye is called a pimple".

"I think you mean a pupil."

"Oh, yeh, a pupil... and when you are in the dark it gets really big, and when you shine a light in your eyes, they get really small."

It always surprises me a little bit when he spurts off information that he didn't learn from me. Now that he is in school it is happening more and more often. I'm having a hard time with the idea of having him gone all day when first grade starts next year (august 29th, and he can't wait). It's enough to make me consider home schooling him, just to keep him close to me. I won't though. He's having a great time in school. I'll have to be satisfied with our great discussions about pimples and whatever other information he decides to share with me.