Just kidding

So, you can just forget all the stuff I said yesterday.

We're not potty-training.

I forgot to take into account what a strong, stubborn personality Sadie is; when she doesn't want to do something, it just doesn't happen.  We never had even one successful potty experience yesterday, and this morning when I tried to put her on the potty for the second time, she went completely rigid and tried to bite me.  She won't even sit on it without crying hysterically.  I don't want this to turn into another epic power struggle/horrible experience.

So... yeah.  Guess we'll try again in a couple weeks.  I never thought Ethan would turn out to be the easier one... (potty-training wise; he is easy in lots of other ways!)

Here we go again...

Potty-training Ethan was possibly the most horrific experience ever.  It took nearly a full calendar year for him to be completely trained- no more accidents, no more power struggles, etc.  We started the process because his pediatrician basically shamed me into it; at his three-year check-up, she was shocked that he still wore diapers.  It was close to Christmastime, so we used the lure of Santa Claus to entice him to sit on the potty.  It worked a little bit.  Then we made sticker charts and he would get a sticker every time he peed in the potty.  That lost its appeal after a while, so we decided to offer a big reward if he could go for a pre-determined stretch of time without an accident.  His big reward was a light-up lightsaber.  He worked really hard and got it.  We were so proud.  He got pretty good at peeing on the potty.  But if he got distracted (say, while watching a movie), he would forget he had to pee and wet his pants.  Unfortunately, he absolutely refused to poop on the potty.  I don't know if it was his way of rebelling against our authority, or if he was scared or what, but it was a major power struggle.  We'd sit him down on the potty at the same time every night and he would just scream his lungs out.  There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  We tried everything to entice him but nothing worked.  He would wait until he went to bed (in a diaper, as he wasn't nighttime-trained) to poop, which then caused a whole host of other problems.  It wasn't until we moved to New Hampshire in August of '08 that he really started doing all his "business" on the potty.  I don't know what happened to make him start using the potty, but he did.  And there was much rejoicing!

Sadie is turning three next week (can you believe it??!?!) and is still in diapers.  I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to potty-training (obviously).  I have no idea what the "signs of readiness" are, and everything I read about them makes me think Sadie's not there yet.  But I just think it's time.  She is the only one in her dance class that still wears diapers.  I had decided to start after her birthday because we're going to Disneyland next Saturday to celebrate and I didn't want to worry about her having a million accidents or rushing to find a bathroom every 20 seconds.  For whatever reason, I started telling her about my plan this morning and showed her the Minnie Mouse panties she got for Christmas and the Pull-Ups I bought a few weeks ago.  She was super excited to wear her big girl undies, so she demanded I put them on her right then and there.  Not wanting to discourage her, I agreed to let her wear a Pull-Up.  We ran to the grocery store and bought an enormous bag of M&M's and I told her she could have one every time she peed or pooped on the potty.

It's been about three hours now, and she is currently next to me on the couch, naked from the waist down after peeing in her Pull-Up, writhing around hysterically and having a crying screaming fit because I won't give her an M&M.  Wow, this is going well...

Living On a Backlot

Last Wednesday we got somewhat excited because a commercial was being shot at the house across the street from us. Turns out it was a Viagra commercial but still.


Then the Oprah Winfrey Show shot a segment on the sidewalk in front of our house on Sunday.


Finally, some film was shooting a few houses down today.


Any excitement or sexiness that was associated with film shoots is gone. We've come to associate them with big trucks taking up your parking and scruffy looking dudes sitting on your yard. Not exactly Universal Studios.