Potty training Chart

I don't even remember when I started to potty train Pumpkin, but we've done it in a very relaxed way. About 10 weeks ago I printed a potty training chart and I cut and paste a "sticker" on her chart whenever she goes and pees. Well, yesterday she completed the chart. 35 times! Wow! We've been trying to get her all excited and told her that when she filled the chart we would take her to pick a toy.



Yesterday she was only 2 stickers away from a complete chart. Obviously we were saying: "Only 2 more times, 2 more! And we'll take you tonight to pick a toy!". Finally at about 6pm she completed the chart. We danced, screamed, hi-5'ed, the works... then we got ready and headed for Toys R Us. She even took her chart with her, which I thought was a very good idea. That way we could remind her why we were there.

We asked for the Dora the Explorer section. If you've read my past posts you might now she is obsessed with Dora. It turns out they had a total of 5 toys, 4 of which were the furniture for the Big 'Ol Dora House, which we don't have. We continued looking for things she liked. Got to the book section, she looked at several then put them down again. Pumpkin does have a lot of books, probably more than 20. I guess she might become a bookworm just like her mommy? Actually JA is very happy about that because he barely reads. So anyway, she saw a Dora coloring book, one of those that have watercolors and she got that one. We kept looking through the aisles and got to the Little Tykes section, she has several of them. We let her make the decision, which one do you want Pumpkin? The airplane? The book? Or the car with the camper and tables and dolls? And isn't she a smart girl... This is what she picked and hurried us to pay:



Maybe she knows about the economy? She definitely surprised used with her choice. $7.99 beats $24.99 any day.

TTC sucks... sometimes

And no, I don't mean suck in the sexual way. Although I guess for some people it might include sucking. I won't comment on my sexual life, at least not yet, besides that is not the point. I know I wrote before about my thoughts on trying to conceive. But after 9 months of trying I am getting a bit frustrated. How can couples try for so long? I admire your patience and dedication. I am not sure I could try for more than a year and still me emotionally sane. Oh, wait... maybe so many years of therapy mean I am not completely sane, or simply that I like having someone to confess my thoughts to. I'm gonna go with the second one.

For about 7 months I've been charting my temperature every morning. And really, my cycles are wacko! There's no way to predict when or if I ovulated. Think that would have anything to do with not conceiving? Usually I have cycles of about 32 days. (Great, I am not talking about sex, but talking about womanly fluids is somehow better?) So even though I tried to convince myself that it did not happen this month, the truth is that the longer my period delays, I kinda get my hopes up, a little bit, that this could be the month. Taking 10 days longer (and 2 pregnancy tests) to officially know your answer really feels cruel. (I'm sorry God, I really don't want to piss you off. After all, I do need your help here). Maybe this is one of those things where is better to know the truth quickly. Like taking off a bandage. Sure it hurts at first, but the faster you take it off, the faster the pain goes away. But I must admit, taking bandages off every month, for 9 months (or more) doesn't stop stinging. You just know what to expect and have the bottle of wine ready.