This right here is called bribery. Wiggles figurines in return for potty training. The only problem? We’ve run out of rewards. He has all four Wiggles, a Wiggles fork and spoon and even the Big Red Car. I knew this day would come, I had just hoped it would come after Thomas was fully potty trained. I have nothing left. And with Xmas just around the corner, rewards are just not cutting it. Now it’s up to him. I am handing the power over to a three year old.
November 20th was a big day for me at work. A day that marked the delivery of a lot of projects and the first day that I could really take a breath in quite a while. It didn’t help that Kei was out of town for work on this day and that between us we had been working crazy hours for the past few weeks (hello Hong Kong time). I honestly can’t remember being so busy. Two kids + work + keeping up the house + impending holidays makes for one crazy life.
I am looking forward to some down time – whatever that means for this little family of four. I just have to make sure I stop and enjoy it and don’t let this time pass by quickly in a blur of work and business. It’s all about maintaining focus on what’s important.
Thomas is growing up so fast. He has always been a good talker and he continues to surprise us with the things he knows and remembers.
Thomas is starting to recognise letters and has even started spelling. His first word? Not bat or cat or tub. No, it’s Sam. And not as in Sam-short-for-Samuel-my brother. No Sam as in the Wiggle Sam. This Wiggles thing is out of control.
Put this under the heading of “Why didn’t I buy one sooner”? I had a rice cooker in Japan – 10 years ago. I loved it but never got around to buying one either in Australia or here… until last month. I love it. I love the fact that I can just turn it on and forget about it. I love the fact that the rice will stay warm regardless of the time dinner is ready. I love that it has a vegetable steamer and apparently I can make a whole bunch of other recipes in the rice cooker. Although let’s be real – it will be used to cook rice 99% of the time. And that’s just the way it should be.
Proud of this
I can actually share something I helped create while doing my day job. Months and months of work finally came to fruition. This is only a peek – the full internal version of the film was 15 minutes long. (I tried to share before but the links weren’t working for some reason. I also added a second link).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1OemWNG6ls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFUZqfnZ0l8
Loving This
And This
She makes me feel like I am transported back in time. I seem to have a thing for British artists.
Wish I could afford this…
http://www.oliverjeffers.com/shop/print01.html
Unsure about this…
My new blog look. Hmmm. Maybe I need a new picture at the top. It looks like I’m advertising a night club.
Birthday party time again. This time a combined party for two little girls from daycare. The party was at the local community center which is within walking distance of our house so I didn’t experience the usual getting out the door frenzy of other parties. We also knew most of the people who attended and they did a book swap instead of presents so this was probably one of the most relaxed parties I’ve been to.
The other bonus – a huge gym for a group of three year olds to run (and drive) around in.
Happy birthday “Camellia”.
Two things I want to do this year. Do more arts and crafts with Thomas to keep him from going loopy when we are kept inside during the cold and wet Winter, and actually make (and send) a few little Christmas gifts. Enter Christmas project 2008. Thomas and I made the most of Samuel’s naptime and made a few ornaments to send to family around the world. I wanted to make pretty coloured christmas ball decorations. Thomas wanted the penguin and the bear. Thomas won. Oh well, at least we got a chance to make them a little fancy with the glitter glue.
The end of a very long week. Kei is out of town so I was on my own getting the kids up and ready for daycare. I dropped them off and was already running late for work but HAD to stop at Starbucks for coffee. This was definitely a strong coffee morning.
Standing in line to order and a man comes in, taps me on the shoulder and says “do you know you have a flat tire?”. I look out at my poor little car and, sure enough, the front tire is looking sad – totally deflated. I ordered my coffee and started contemplating my options before deciding I would drive the short distance to work, call AAA and wait for them to arrive.
I headed out to the car and the same man who told me about the flat tire walked by and said “I can change that tire for you”. Really? I told him I was happy to call AAA but he said “no, that will take too long and I can change it for you much more quickly”.
And so this stranger who seemingly had nowhere he had to rush to on this Friday morning, decided to drop everything and help me – just to make my morning a little easier.
THEN Les Schwab replaced my tire for free because they couldn’t fix it. It was a used tire with the same amount of tread, but it wasn’t a broken down flat tire.
AND I can be grateful that I made it to work at all. Apparently I had been driving on the tire for some time – probably the 20 or so miles of freeway that I travel down to work every day.
So the day turned out to be one filled with happiness and gratitude – for my untouched bank balance, for my safety (and my kids’ safety) and especially for the good Samaritan who help out this damsel in distress.
P.S. I know my feminist side is letting me down here – I cannot change a tire and have no intention of ever learning. That’s why I pay $50 a year for AAA membership.
We’ve resorted to bribery. (at this point I should warn you that potty talk follows). Thomas has peeing worked out. It is rare for him to have an accident these days and when he does it is only a small accident and then he manages to hold it until he gets to the toilet. He even pees standing up.
Unfortunately he refuses to do the number 2 on the potty. Thankfully he’s past the stage where he just did it wherever (I was SO over that). Now he waits until we put a diaper on him at naptime or bedtime. It’s so frustrating. He knows when he needs to go, he just chooses not to.
Enter The Wiggles. These are our latest bribe tactic. One wiggle of his choice each time he poops on the potty. Those who are familiar with The Wiggles will notice that I have only photographed three of them. Sam (the yellow Wiggle) is missing. That’s because Thomas has him. Seems The Wiggles may be working – or at least helping. They should. I had them shipped all the way from Australia.
Nicole Ishida Photography 