The final season for Oprah

With the final season of the Oprah Winfrey show this spring it was only fitting that Oprah (the guinea pig) decided to make this her final season as well. Today June 6, 2011 around 6:00pm Oprah took her last breath and was buried in our backyard.
Oprah came to live with me almost 5 years ago - not intentionally - but more out of duty. After brainstorming with my younger sister for many days as to what to get our brother for his birthday my sister said "I got it. The perfect gift would be a guinea pig. A soft, furry pet that Adam can hold and pet but would not be much work to care for." So after agreeing with her that maybe it was an ok idea we contacted my mom who found a "guinea pig breeder" and off we went to pick her up. When we picked her up I have to admit she was pretty cute and I was excited for my brother. It seemed like we had gotten him the perfect gift. We loaded the cage in my car, told him we were coming over for a birtday celebration and knocked on the door. Needless to say we pretty much knew right away how excited he was by the look on his face when we shouted Happy Birthday and showed him his new birthday gift. A mixture of shock, diappointment and maybe a little bit of disgust towards this furry little creature. He decided to try it out for a week or two (probably just to make us feel a little better about getting him such a crappy gift) but after she chewed several tv wires, computer wires and he found out he was allergic to her she became my new pet. But not without Adam giving her a name that I decided to stick with Oprah.
While I would have never gotten a guinea pig for myself the experience of having one for a pet was special. It was really cool to just go to the fridge and pull out some fresh fruit and lettuce and watch her chow down. Her vocalizations (that really sounded like a squelling pig) were very amusing and comical. When I was still single and living alone her squelling was nice to hear in a quiet house. And the times she raced around her cage full speed either because she had too many blueberries or to get excercise always caused me to smile. She also provided much amusement for my 2 cats and more recently my 9 month old infant.
So Oprah thank you for bringing laughter and amusement into my life in an unplanned, unexpected way. You were a great pet and will always be remembered.
P.S. Thank you Troy (my husband) for the many cage changes and feedings over these past several years Oprah lived with us.

9 months

9 months ago today at about this time I was sitting on the couch having contractions about 6 minutes apart and getting excited to see my baby for the first time.

Today I am sitting on the couch holding my baby as he drifts off to sleep and marvelling at how much has happened over the last 9 months.

My baby has turned into a much bigger baby now crawling everywhere, standing up on everything and even starting to walk while holding on to things. (He especially loves to walk with his little blue push cart.) No longer is he a little baby that needs held constantly and snuggled (although luckily he stills likes those things some) now he is my "little buddy". Going from room to room with me as I clean house. Or sitting on the rug by my side playing with toys while I fold laundry. Or helping me teach a baby music class to other boys and girls. He does everything with me and goes everywhere with me.

My days are filled with fun and wonder as I watch him experiment with new things for the first time. And get a big smile at discovering how to make mommy laugh. Or giggling at funny sounds I make.

I am realizing that being a mom is wonderful! My job is no longer just a "teacher". I am a comedian, a cook, a nurse, and of course a teacher. And I love every aspect of it - even the late night drill sergeant role when it comes time for bedtime.

Love you little buddy!

Elimination Communication - THE POTTY

So I wanted to blog about this so #1 others can share the experience and #2 so I actually have a record of what is currently happening with Tian and THE POTTY.

That's right THE POTTY.......Tian just turned 8 months and for about 2 months now he has been sitting on his potty. BUT not just sitting.......actually going to the bathroom.

For a month and a half now I have had to wash very few (probably 5 poopy diapers - I am cloth diapering) and the diapers are starting to get less wet now.

How did this happen you may ask?

Well it all started with a book "Diaper free before three" that I read. And then running into another mom at a sign language class who confirmed that she is using this same approach "And it works". And finally reading some blogs about other mothers trying the same thing.

So I figured why not what will it hurt. I just start by sitting him on his potty a couple times a day to get him used to sitting on something. (I waited until he was sitting up on his own which was around 6 months). I would just sit him on the potty and give him some toys to play with or read some books. He thought this was fun! We would sit there for maybe 10-15 minutes and just play. I would sit him on the potty first thing in the morning upon waking and then during diaper changes. Some moms leave the diaper on at first and just sit them on the pot. I don't know if I was just being risky or what but I just sat him on there without anything on. He seems to like being naked anyway:) I also started trying to communicate with him while he was on the potty by doing the sign language sign for potty and making bathroom noises such as grunting and "ssssssss". And before I knew what was happening I looked in the potty after the first couple of times and there it was.

So what has happened since.......Tian continues to go poo every morning upon waking......that's right.....every morning like clockwork. Then throughout the day I sometimes catch him stopping and starting to "grunt". We race to the potty and he once again poos on the potty. I also set him on during diaper changes and many times he will just pee. Diaper changes after lunch and dinner have been good timed opportunities for him to also poo/pee.

So while I wouldn't say Tian is potty trained I would say he is getting used to sitting on the potty and actually starting to get excited about it. Everytime he uses his potty I praise him highly and now he has started to show signs of excitement when he goes - waving his hands and clapping!

As I have read starting this early can be great for many reasons but one being giving the child a positive experience with the toilet early on so when they hit the "terrible twos" or time of rebelling it isn't so hard. I can definetly see the positive thing happening at this point.

And if nothing else it is making diaper changing and cleaning a lot easier!

Yeah Tian!!!!

7 months

Well initially I was going to just post every other month because it seems hard to find the time to sit down and write a post with a new found crawler. But since he is currently napping and I have some free time I decided I guess it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and break tradition and just post a 7 month post.

A lot has happened during Tian's 7 month too so I guess it would be nice to share it - and also nice for him to look back at someday and read.

During this month of April Tian had the chance to go to the ocean for the 1st time on a family vacation with the Hertlein family - Nana, Papa, Uncle Adam, Aunt Manny and Uncle Josh. We had a wonderful time in Hilton Head, SC and probably Tian's favorite thing was swimming in the pool for the first time. There were lots of laughs and giggles. He also got to enjoy some time on the beach and looking at the ocean.

Tian also learned how to change from an army crawl (which he started late 5 months) into the real thing. This happened around mid 7 months and since then he has been crawling everywhere and not getting so worn out! Besides the crawling another favorite thing is pulling himself up to stand on everything (which he started early 6 months). Now he is able to move from one thing to another while standing and walk along things while holding on. He also does a great job of getting down from standing and has learned to slowly fall on his bottom while still holding on. It amazes me each day how quickly he learns these things and remembers how to do them and just keeps getting better and better. He is growing into a little man:)

He is eating quite a variety of foods now too - bananas, mangos, apples, pears, carrots, green beans, peas, broccoli, sweet potatoes, squash, rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, tofu, avocados. And he seems to love everything but the peas. So I just decided to mix the peas in with some other veggies and voila - He loves his peas now too. Soon we will be trying meat.

Everyday is a new adventure for Tian and mommy. We have a lot of fun going out shopping, staying home exploring the house (the toys just sit there while Tian opens all the drawers in the house to see what is inside) and playing instruments to get ready for our baby music class we are going to teach in a couple weeks. And soon we are really looking forward to going to the pool!

This month has been a reall treat and a lot of fun and I look forward to the next:)