Potty Training tricks

    Since I was one of the first of my friends to have children, I have found mommy friends have been coming to me for the potty training tips since I have already "been there, done that". Since I only have boys, I can really only give advice pertaining to them, although I'm pretty sure my methods would work just fine with either boys or girls.
 

    I always heard boys were especially hard to potty train, but to be honest, I found it to be very easy and my son caught on very quickly. I bought him a cute little mini potty to put in the bathroom when he was as young as 18 months, not to start training him, but just to introduce him to it and get him familiar with it. At first, he just loved to sit and play with the little handle and pull on the toilet paper holder. After a while, I would just let him run around the bathroom naked after bath time and he finally realized he could sit on it. He would just sit and play with it, or even relax on it while he brushed his teeth (as you can see from my picture above).
 
    Around his 2nd birthday is when I really started the potty training process. I had heard that bribing with m&m's sometimes worked, but my little guy was much more interested in the sticker rewards. I printed out a calendar with pictures of his favorite Disney characters and bought a few of the 99-cent sheets of stickers from Target (or Wal-mart or any craft store). I taped the calendar on the wall right beside the potty and every time he used it, he got to pick a sticker to put on his calendar. Another helpful trick is to ask them throughout the day if they need to go to the potty. I asked my little guy about every 30 minutes or so for a while, just so he became more aware and had to start thinking about going pee-pee.

    After being so dependent on diapers, I find that they sometimes aren't even aware of when they have to go... they just go. To make my little guy more aware, I would just let him run around the house without any diaper or pants on throughout the day.  I found that this is really what made him realize on his own, when it was time to run to the potty. For some reason, if the pants or diaper was on at this phase of potty training, he either didn't realize it was time to tinkle or he was just a bit more lazy and figured the diaper or pants would take care of it for him.

    So with all that said, I hope this is helpful in some way, during your potty training journey. I had my son fully potty trained and wearing underwear by the time he was 2 1/2 years old. Although sleeping through the night with a dry butt is a whole other challenge. He is now 3 1/2 and we are working really hard to get rid of the night time pull-ups. he loves to have his cup of milk before bed, but the nights that we have skipped the milk and I make him go pee pee before climbing into bed, he stays dry. It's just a matter of getting daddy to stick to his guns and not cave with the bedtime cup of milk to get him to sleep on the nights that I am coaching late. So I will keep you informed on his (or shall I say our) progress.

    Do you have any great advice or tricks for potty training? If so, please don't hesitate to share with us.  Because what works for one kid, may not always work for another.  

Tornado in a 2 Liter!

Ever since my 3-year-old son saw The Wizard of Oz, he has been fascinated with tornados.  He will go on and on about them if you let him. After watching the Tom & Jerry: Wizard of Oz (which I absolutely recommend for your little one if they aren't quite ready for the real Wizard of Oz), they had a quick lesson and tutorial on how to make your very own tornado at home.  It's super simple, takes seconds to do and results in some fabulous little tornados that will surely fascinate your little one.

Here's what you need:

- 2 empty 2-liter bottles
- a washer (like the ones you can probably find in the garage somewhere)
- duct-tape
- water
* (optional) I put a little bit of blue food coloring and glitter in ours just to give it a little debris and add a little something extra to it

How to do it: (super simple)

1. fill one of your 2-liters at least 3/4 full of water
2. place washer on top of 2-liter opening
3. duct tape your second 2-liter on top of the water-filled 2-liter
4. flip your 2-liters (water-filled on top)
5. help get your twister started by gently wobbling the top bottle in a circular motion and TA DA! You should start to see your funnel form as the water drains into the lower 2-liter!

This is a great little science activity for the kids that will surely grab their attention.  My little guy had me flipping 2-liters for a good half-hour before he decided to take a break.  About 20 minutes later, he was back for more!!  (I had a super cute picture of him that I took on my phone, but for some odd reason Blogger won't let me add it to my post! GRR)

Please share your experiences if you decide to do this activity!  I would love to hear what your little one thought of it!  Have any other fun science experiments that you enjoy doing with your kids?  Please share!

New Trend Alert: OWLS!

They're just so darn cute!

FurniKids.com

While shopping around on the internet for Christmas presents this year, I have noticed a good amount of owl paraphernalia, and I can't help but LOVE these precious little guys! Obviously, they seem to be a trend going around right now, and I have totally fallen for them.  From computer gadgets to shelves, coffee mugs to nursery decor, and even fabulous jewelry... these owls are just too cute to pass up! So with that said, I figured I would share a few of my favorites with you all:

For that coffee or tea lover... is this not the most adorable coffee mug you've ever seen?

Pier 1 Imports Owl Mug'

Hang these little guys on your wall to keep track of your miscellaneous little gadgets.

Pottery Barn Teen Wall Hooks

 Add a little owl bling to make that outfit really POP!

Amazon Pendant Necklace

Amazon Crystal Rhinestone Pendant Necklace

 This USB plug can either sit perched on his little log, or you can attach him to the top of your computer or lap top, where he moves his head around, opens and shuts his eyes and will keep you company while you browse the web.

USB Interactive Computer Owl on Amazon

Check out how he works here:

I found these adorable crochet owl hats on Sweet Loves Creates Photography Props. I'm no photographer, but I sure would love one of these for my little guy. I just can't get enough of these cute little owls!

Sweet Loves Creates

 How adorable is this little doorstopper? I would totally sit him by the entrance to my house to welcome guests and hold my door open... or just sit him up on a shelf somewhere... just precious!!

Pier 1 Imports Door Stopper

Black Friday Deals LEAKED!

So if you're like me and love to shop, and love getting great deals, then you are obviously getting pumped for BLACK FRIDAY 2011!  Get your shopping shoes ready and be sure to check out the leaked ads before anyone else, right here!  Map out your game plan and get ready to save lots of money!  This website has them all before anyone!  


BLACK FRIDAY 2011 ADS!

SHOP TIL YA DROP!

Make Your Own Doll House for CHEAP!

So my niece's 4th birthday was coming up and I knew I wanted to do something super special for her.  She's going through a serious doll phase, so when I saw this dollhouse shelf at Michael's on sale for like $20, I just couldn't help myself!  Now while the original purpose of this "house" is to hold books and other gadgets and gismos for display, I saw serious potential for an awesome little dollhouse that my niece could play out her own soap operas in.  I always dreamt of having a dollhouse, with the little furniture and miniature appliances, but never got one, so I used a dash of imagination with a sprinkle of creativity and came up with some of the cutest ideas to furnish the house.  And catch this, most of it was made using items I already had lying around the house or taking up space in that junk drawer (you know you have one of those drawers), so the cost was minimal.  So if you love crafts, have a good imagination and have always wanted to make a dollhouse for that special little girl in your life, then here's a project for you:

STEP 1:  BUY THIS AWESOMELY CHEAP DOLL SHELF AT MICHAEL'S 

STEP 2: PAINT YOUR HOUSE 

(and I bought a flower calendar from Michael's for $1 and used a couple of the pictures as wallpaper)  Just used wood glue to paste it to the "walls".  Trim as needed to fit perfectly.

STEP 3: PAINT AND DECORATE THE FRONT OF YOUR HOUSE!  

I found packs of wooden squares for about $1.50 at Michael's, the trees are actually place card holders for a $1 in the wedding section and the fence pieces were like $1.

STEP 4: MAKE YOUR FURNITURE AND ACCESSORIZE THE HOUSE!  

Here is the canopy bed that I made from scratch.  It's probably my favorite part of the entire project.  I bought a piece of rectangular styrofoam for a $1 or so and used an old white pillow case to wrap the foam in and hot glued it in place.  I then used 4 chop sticks (yes, the ones you get when you order out chinese food), painted them white and poked them down into the styrofoam.  Then all you need is a little bit of ribbon for the top of the canopy and the bed skirt, some lacy material for the drapes and some material for the comforter set and pillow.  So much fun to make! It took me a little while, just because I wanted it to be perfect, but I could probably make the next one in half the time now that I know how I want everything done.  And you can't really see it, but I glued a piece of cardboard that I cut and shape like a headboard and glued little rhinestone squares (look like mini mirrors) to it to make a glamourous headboard.  

STEP 4:  PUT IT ALL TOGETHER TO MAKE A FABULOUS DOLLHOUSE FOR THAT SPECIAL LITTLE GIRL IN YOUR LIFE.   

Or shoot, I have two boys and they totally loved playing with it before we got it to the Birthday party.  Throw some blue paint on it, make some boy accessories and your little guy has a cool Batman Cave or Spiderman Hideout house!

And please note the lights that put up around the house.  These came in a pack of 6 and are the battery operated miniature lights that have a little on/off switch on the back.  I glued one piece of velcro to the top of the house where I wanted the lights put up and another piece of velcro to the actual light so that you can just pull the lights off the house to turn the switch on or off and then just stick it back up there.  (notice I also put one by the front door)

I must say, this particular dollhouse doesn't fit the adult sized Barbie dolls in the smaller rooms, but if you have a small Skipper dolls or any other little doll, the kids will use them!  Luckily, my niece got a pack of little Disney Princess Figurines which she used and found to work perfectly.  It was definitely a great gift and was not only a hit with the little girls, but with everyone else at the party.  My family and friends joked that I made their gifts look pretty lame and that it was obvious which gift was her favorite!  My response:  "Well it better be after all the time and hard work I put into it."  ;)

STEP 5:  ADD A CURTAIN (IF YOU WISH) 

I'm not sure if I'm totally glad I did this or not.  I saw a similar idea somewhere and it was super cute, but I'm not sure I am quite advanced enough to pull this one off, but as you can see above, I put hooks on the sides so that she can pull it aside and have it held when she's playing and then can close it when she's done.

Do you have a dollhouse project or doll furniture that you've made?  I'd love to see what other people have come up with! Enjoy and please message me pictures if you decide to go make your own now!

McDonald's Happy Meal Change: Good or Bad?

While I realize it's tough to put the words McDonald's and healthy into the same sentence, there was just something about ordering a chicken nugget kids meal with whole milk and apples that made me feel a little less guilty about feeding it to my child.  Recently, McDonald's has made a change to their happy meals: "The New Happy Meal - With fruit in every one.  See how we're changing. Together."  Instead of giving parents the choice to either order fries or apples with each meal, McDonald's has decided to give a kid-sized fry and a smaller bag of apples with their meal.  While this may be better for the kids whose parents have always just ordered fries with their meals, as a parent who has always only allowed my child to have apples and milk with their meal, I find this change to actually be a negative change.  I quickly realized, I can just take out the fries, but now they only give about 4 slices of apple in each bag of apples, which they used to give about twice that amount.  I wonder if they would allow me to order 2 bags of apples and no fry with my child's next kids meal.  To me, it's worth a shot!  

What do you think about this change?  Do you think it will actually get more kids to eat "healthier" when getting a kids meal, or will those apples get tossed aside and thrown out?

Back to Baking!

Last week was my youngest guy's first birthday!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown by.  Since I went all out and made my other son an extravagant spiderman cake for his third birthday, in March, I obviously had to do the same for my little guy.  Instead of spiderman, we went with the Elmo theme since he's a big fan of Sesame Street.  I bought the cake pan from Party City and used the homemade fondant recipe from TheCookDuke.com and let my creativity and imagination go to work from there.  I must say, it took a while to do everything, but in the end, the cake was spectacular and everyone loved it...especially my little birthday boy!

Checking it out...

Doing  a little bit of taste testing...

I think he liked it :)