am I the only one?

Am I the only one that has no interest in potty training?  To me, it’s pretty easy to change a diaper on the go and then not worry about it for a couple of hours (unless there’s a poopy of course).  Once they are wearing underwear, you have to worry about accidents.  On the couch.  In their beds.  In the shopping cart.  In the car seat.  Theo is not quite 2 and people have started asking me about it.  He doesn’t seem terribly interested and I’m certainly not going to force it at this age.  He has a potty seat and if and when he asks to use it, I let him try.  But so far, nothing has happened.
Am I the only one that has no interest in putting my kid in a toddler bed?  Theo has never tried to climb out of his crib (knock on wood) and I am not looking forward to the day that he does.  I picture him strolling across the hall to our room all hours of the night.  I picture screaming fits at bedtime because he doesn’t understand that, just because he CAN get out of bed, it doesn’t mean that he SHOULD get out of bed.  When we were at Big Splash, he wanted to sleep in that lower bunk so bad, but he was way too excited.  He couldn’t calm down enough to do it and eventually ended up going to bed in his pack n play. 
Am I the only one that has kept my kid rear-facing all this time?  We’ve bought his next car seat, which is forward facing only.  We haven’t installed it in our vehicle yet and I don’t plan on using it until his 2nd birthday.  It will be so weird to look in the rearview mirror and see him – not a reflection of him in his mirror.  I hope he enjoys facing forward and being able to see out better.  He’ll be able to see Dexter better (which also means he will be able to throw things at him better…which does sorta worry me).
I remember when Theo was taking itty bitty steps.  It seemed like he would never be able to just walk around the room without thinking about it.  It seemed like such a hurdle.  These developmental milestones are huge at the time and then you almost forget how big they were once they’ve been conquered.  I know we’ll eventually get on the other side of the potty training and toddler bed hurdles, and (hopefully) look back and appreciate how easy it was.  But right now?  Right now those two things seem just about impossible.  I can’t imagine life without diapers and cribs.
Now I’m asking you, the experts. 
At what age did you potty train your kid?  Was it a nightmare?
At what age did you transition him/her to a toddler bed.  Was it a nightmare?
~C~


**UPDATE!  I wrote this post a couple days before it published and Theo has since taken his first ride in his forward facing seat, which we have installed in R’s parents car.  Our babysitter is  having her baby so they are taking over watching the boys for a few weeks while she recuperates.  He loved it and today the first words out of his mouth were “new car seat! Ride to Nanny’s house in Pop Pop’s car!”  Safe to say he appreciates the change.  

Despite the look on his face, he was very excited!


how do you get rid of fleas?

We had been seeing tiny red dots on the bathroom sink for almost two weeks.  I looked at Niko’s paws on Friday afternoon for about the fifth time in as many days trying to find some sign of injury.  He loves to lay in the cool sink and on the counter so I suspected he had something to do with the red dots. 
big Niko
As I was examining the soft pads on his paws, something on the top of his paw caught my eye.  A tiny brown fleck wiggled and writhed its way back inside Niko’s fur as quickly as he flashed himself to me.  I dug around in the fluffy white fur for a moment before giving up and going to the other front paw.  A similar scene.  A skinny, shiny brown bug quickly wiggling its way back into the massive amounts of white fur.  I tried to grab it with my fingertips but the damn thing was just too small and speedy.
I texted R at work, saying “I think Niko has fleas,” and explained what had just happened.  Moments later, I was hard at work googling everything I could about “tiny red dots on sink” and “fleas on cats.”  Within moments, I knew that my poor boy had fleas.
This came as a pretty devastating and confusing revelation, considering that Niko has never even been outside since he has lived with us (about 3.5 years now).  We’ve had Sylvie even longer, closer to 7.5 years.  No fleas. 
So we went by the vet’s office early Saturday to pick up some medication, as everyone online said that the kind sold by the vet was better than supermarket types.  As soon as R mentioned the tiny red dots on the counter, the vet confirmed once again that it was due to fleas and said that they are exceptionally problematic right now.  I’d say.
Wanna hear something disgusting?  Sure you do.
Fleas eat blood.  Because they eat blood, their poop consists mostly of… you guessed it, blood.  It is black and flaky looking, until it gets wet.  At that point, it turns bright red…like?  Blood.  So that’s why we had only been noticing the dots around the sink. About that time, I also noticed a few of them on the washing machine, another one of Niko’s favorite resting spots. 
little Sylvie
We asked the vet if we should treat Sylvie too, and he said most definitely we should. We got home and I grabbed the grooming comb and started running it through Sylvie’s fur.  Um. Sick.  With every stroke, more and more black flakes of flea poo accumulated on the comb.  Oh, and the occasional flea, jumping up and down like he was having a party right there on the comb.  Double sick.  I flicked them into the sink and ran the water to drown them.  A few minutes later when I walked by the sink, I’d see 3 or 4 hopping around.  They just climbed right back up the pipes and were trying to find their gracious hosts again. 
The jerks are hard to kill apparently. 
I combed Niko next and it was more of the same.  Black dots and jumpy jerks.  We got the kids down for a nap and got the cats bathed in their lovely flea dip.  Not a luxurious bath experience.  I’m surprised they didn’t wake up Theo, with his bedroom on the opposite side of the wall from the bathtub.  I figured while we were bathing the cats, we’d see a bazillion fleas climbing out of their fur to dry safety, but I really only saw a couple.  We got the cats dried off and later gave them their first Revolution treatments. I guess once you start treatments you can never stop. 
This is the first time we’ve had to deal with anything like this.  It’s really disturbing to me.  I know for every flea we’ve seen, there are many more that we haven’t and many more eggs hiding out.  We are in the process of cleaning everything in the house, but there are so many surfaces where these microscopic eggs could be waiting for the right time to hatch.  How do you ever really get rid of them?
Maybe I am overreacting.  Maybe it will be fine.  Right now it feels extremely overwhelming and disheartening.  I feel like we will never get rid of the pests and that our house will be taken over.  I have pictured foreclosing on our home as the fleas set up their own bedrooms and master closet.  I have started naming some of the fleas.  I have probably watched one too many episodes of Infested on Animal Planet
Have you seen this show? Ew. 
Whenever I think I’d prefer to be pet-free, I’m reminded of this.

I’m new at this flea thing and the mere thought of it sends me into a panic.  I’m not gonna lie, it’s freaking my freak right now.  I’ve been itching from head to toe since about 3 seconds after I realized we had fleas. Have you had to deal with fleas?  If so, how did you successfully get rid of them and how long did it take?  Please.  Do tell.
itchy in Indiana,
~C~


what i can’t (or don’t want) to live without

I got my Canon Rebel T2i for Christmas in 2010.  I am incredibly disappointed in myself for not taking the time to learn more about all the functions and what all those letters and numbers mean so that I can maximize the quality of the pictures I take.  Of course, I am mostly taking pictures of my kids.  I don’t feel that they rise to the level of professional photos, but that is where I would like to be.
I’ve just started researching lenses and I’m trying to sort through a lot of information to determine what would be best for my needs.  They are just so expensive.  And fragile.  And I have 2 little kids.  Eek. 
Photography is definitely a hobby of mine, but I’m nowhere near good enough to take pictures of other people’s kids for money.  I enjoy taking pictures for fun.  I think taking them for money would be too much pressure and I’m into low-stress livin’ as much as possible. 
So while I could live without this camera, I sure wouldn’t want to!  It is especially vital now that I have challenged myself to Project 365 – taking a picture every day for an entire year.
I’m linking up with Mama G at Growing Up Geeky for her Toddle Along Tuesday blog hop.

What’s your one MUST-HAVE item?
~C~