The Trials and Tribulations of Potty Training

So last weekend, we decided we were going to make a concerted effort to potty train Connor.  We bought some Pull Ups and resolved to sit him on the potty every hour.  Here's how it's gone so far...

Saturday:

• Two successful trips to the potty.  Lots of cheers and high fives!
• Many wet Pull Up diapers...we went through about one per hour.  Basically, every time he sat on the potty, we had to put a new Pull Up on.
• Some self-exploration while sitting on the potty.  Fun new names for things..."a bat", "bubblegum", and "a chicken".  
• Frustration over having to sit on the potty yet again!
• Not telling us that he has to go...ever.

Sunday:

• Peed on the potty a couple more times.  More praise and high fives!  
• Still peeing in the Pull Ups.  Going through Pull Ups like they're going out of style.
• Created a new name for pee...now it's just referred to as "making yellow" around here.
• Read The Potty Book for the umpteenth time.  Decided to try wearing underwear to see what would happen.  Didn't pee on the potty but peed in the underwear and on the kitchen floor about five minutes later.
• Back to Pull Ups...more sitting on the potty and more Pull Ups.

This Week:

• Sits on potty first thing in the morning and before bed.  Sometimes success and sometimes nada.  Cheers all around.
• Trying Pull Ups at daycare and mostly back to using diapers.
• Asked to "Make Yellow" a couple times after he went to bed so that was promising.  Had already peed in his diaper both times but it's a start, right?

We asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty tonight...here's what he did.  I'm guessing...he's just not ready yet and I'm okay with that.  We'll give the every hour schedule another try this weekend and continue to be patient.  I will be upping the ante with some Cars stickers.

Oh, and I am very open to suggestions and tips.  Please comment with your best! 

I Love Them So Much, I Had to Steal Them Twice!

I had a dry spell from "stealing" until I saw Eleven Shoes pop up on Kidsteals.com the other day.  Connor desperately needed new shoes so I felt no (okay, little) guilt when it came to buying him a new pair of shoes, especially such great quality ones at half price.  I have heard a lot about Eleven shoes and they were on my list of shoes to buy if I happened to see them on a daily deal website.  Yes, I still check the websites from time to time although my purchases have gone down significantly. 

Back to the Eleven shoes.  They arrived in the mail today and they are just as expected.  They fit perfectly which is what I wanted.  Connor needs shoes that will fit right now.  They have the best velcro closures I've ever seen.  These shoes are going to stay on his feet because I'm not showing him how to take them off yet.  Each shoe has two velcro closures that go both directions.  I took a photo from above so you can see what I mean.  The shoes are solid and look like they'll handle a lot of wear.  They've got lot of grip on the bottom and I am just generally impressed with the overall quality.  They even feel nice.  Of course, they look great too which is always important.

The only bad news is that I am pretty sure that something is going on with the Eleven Shoes company.  I am not 100% sure they going out of business but I believe that was the jist of what I read on Twitter the other day.  Because of this, I just checked the www.kidsteals.com website archives to see if I could stock up on another pair or two and I could and I did.  In fact, there are a couple styles available tonight that weren't there when I checked last so I got a different style for Connor and even got a pair for Aleena to wear when she's a bit older.  Here's a direct link if you're interested.  Eleven Shoes on the KidSteals Archives

Here's the shoes...and that's the dog's paw.  Our house is a zoo!

The top view.  You can see how the velcro closures go both ways.

Now that's some serious grip!

Peachy Peach Pie

If you love peaches and cool summer desserts, then this is a great recipe for you!  It also comes from the Looney Spoons cookbook which features relatively healthy recipes so it's a not-so-guilty pleasure.  One slice is a reasonable 278 calories with 6.9 g of fat. 

The recipe itself is quite simple.  My least favourite part is the peeling and slicing of the peaches but it wasn't too bad this time around.  I'll give a tip with the recipe that makes it easy and painless.  This time around, the hardest part was the sauce as you will see.

Peach Pie Recipe

1 9-inch deep-dish frozen pie crust shell
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
5 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup peach-flavoured Jell-o powder
8-9 medium peaches, peeled and sliced

1.  Bake pie crust according to package directions.  Cool completely before filling.
2.  To prepare the filling, combine sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch, and boiling water in a medium saucepan.
3.  Cook and stir over medium-high heat until mixture thickens and becomes clear (it will become quite thick).
4.  Remove from heat and stir in Jell-o powder.
5.  Let cool at room temperature. 
6.  Add peaches and stir until evenly coated.
7.  Pour into prepared pie shell.
8.  Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving.

My Notes:

• Peaches are way easier to peel if you first immerse them in boiling water for about 20-30 seconds.  I then pulled the skin off and actually just ran them under cool water to help quicken the process.  
• You can easily make two pies with this recipe.  I used a lot fewer then 8-9 peaches and still made two pies.  I didn't end up with the best peaches so I threw out the bad parts and just used the good ones.  You can't mask the taste of the peaches in this recipe so go with fresh, ripe peaches only.  If you wouldn't eat it on its own, don't put it in the pie.
• I had some trouble with making the sauce when combining all the ingredients as instructed.  I ended up with a big lumpy mess because the corn starch just wasn't dissolving.  I tried it again by adding the corn starch to just water first and ended up with the same result.  Rather than start a third batch of sauce, I just conceded and used a metal strainer instead.  I'll post the photos below so you can see what I mean.  It still worked out in the end but I don't remember having such a problem with this before.

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Finally, some photos of my Peach Pie making journey!

Peaches peeled and sliced.

Here's what happened when I followed the recipe.

After using a metal strainer and adding the peach Jell-o, things didn't look so scary.

I added the peaches to the cooled sauce and divided it up into two pie shells.

Peach Pie after cooling in the fridge overnight.  Ready to eat!

We have eaten this on its own and it's delicious that way.  You could also add some whipped cream or ice cream of course!