So we are trying to potty train our 3 yr. old son Nicolas. For those of you who have tried this you know it can be a challenge. Children vary wildly in terms of when they are ready to learn to use the big boy potty and both of our girls were "relatively" easy.
The process basically let them run around either naked or in "nickers" so that they learn to recognize the feeling. Nicolas has shown basically no interest in potty training but we have a very busy summer so we decided to try to make summer travel and events easier.
So last weekend we tried to introduce him to the concept and although he was excited about the "big boy nickers" he missed the concept somewhat. For example Nicolas and I were out and did the drop by to our friends Darren and Carol last Saturday and i encourage him to go before we left, even held him over the potty and encourage him but nothing. So we went down stairs to leave, he put his hand in a fountain and instanly pees in his pants. Nice try.
Then we went to Target, again I encouraged him to go to the potty while we were in the store, no dice, we went to the car and he went #2. Ugh. No diapers, no more extra clothes.
We then added another dimension to the task. We enlisted the girls to help encourage Nicolas by offering them a licorise (same reward Nicolas gets) when he uses the potty. This as it turns out has shown some early success because the girls pester him to use the potty very often and he has shown more interest!
More later!
So we continue to try.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Running with an escort
I mentioned an earlier post that my 5 yr. old has been very interested in fitness to the point that she has been getting up and riding her bike with me in the early morning to "get strong muscles". Usually when I return from a long run I'll go back out with her on bikes to help her meet her goal of getting exercise.
Yesterday I took her on a ride that was the length of a typical moderate run to see if she could make it and handle the sidewalk with the multiple intersections and other obstacles along the way. I am happy to say she did great and that particular run takes me past a small nature area where we saw wild rabbits feeding in the field which of course was very exciting and news worthy to the rest of the house when we returned.
Well the stories of the rabbits motivated my older daughter (7) to want to join the fun so this morning I went out for my run with a full escort of my two daughters on their bikes. They did really well and I even extended my run slightly going onto the levy near the house to create a loop.
We did get quite a few smiles as I jogged along and even several comments from the other runners we saw out in the morning. Maybe I was looking more tired than I thought because one even suggested that I was running with my medical team in tow! Har Har!
Yesterday I took her on a ride that was the length of a typical moderate run to see if she could make it and handle the sidewalk with the multiple intersections and other obstacles along the way. I am happy to say she did great and that particular run takes me past a small nature area where we saw wild rabbits feeding in the field which of course was very exciting and news worthy to the rest of the house when we returned.
Well the stories of the rabbits motivated my older daughter (7) to want to join the fun so this morning I went out for my run with a full escort of my two daughters on their bikes. They did really well and I even extended my run slightly going onto the levy near the house to create a loop.
We did get quite a few smiles as I jogged along and even several comments from the other runners we saw out in the morning. Maybe I was looking more tired than I thought because one even suggested that I was running with my medical team in tow! Har Har!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Philisophical Day with the kids
With small children every now and then they catch you off guard with their questions and observations. I remember the time my oldest asked my wife and I "who made God?" which if you are not prepared (who is really) can leave you stumbling for an answer.
The other day I got a double whammy from my kids. To start off the day i was riding bikes with my middle child (5 yrs old) early in the morning (the time of day and her desire to exercise is worthy of another post) when she looked up to me with her big blue eyes and said "I wonder what the last two words will be I will say before I die?". "I think they will be 'good bye'." I was of course taken back, way back! I thought about it for a second and then told her that there were many more things for her to do and to worry about before she had to worry about death. To that she said "like getting grey hair?" I could only laugh.
Of course if that were the last of it that would still be note worthy however it was not. Later that morning as I was driving my 7 yr old to school she declared that she no longer wanted to be human because humans pollute. Now you have to know her, she can be quite introspective and in fact chose to be a vegitarian from the age of 5. She is very concerned with how humans treat animals and the world in general so she may be more evolved than some. She was very upset about pollution this day and feeling very bad. I encouraged her to use her energy to try to help humans be better and pollute less. This seemed to satiate her for the moment and she went off to school pondering the situation.
That to me was a very interesting way to start a day!
Next post - we are at the moment trying to potty train my 3 year old son before the summer gets into full swing and he is showing no interest but it is a funny process to watch.
The other day I got a double whammy from my kids. To start off the day i was riding bikes with my middle child (5 yrs old) early in the morning (the time of day and her desire to exercise is worthy of another post) when she looked up to me with her big blue eyes and said "I wonder what the last two words will be I will say before I die?". "I think they will be 'good bye'." I was of course taken back, way back! I thought about it for a second and then told her that there were many more things for her to do and to worry about before she had to worry about death. To that she said "like getting grey hair?" I could only laugh.
Of course if that were the last of it that would still be note worthy however it was not. Later that morning as I was driving my 7 yr old to school she declared that she no longer wanted to be human because humans pollute. Now you have to know her, she can be quite introspective and in fact chose to be a vegitarian from the age of 5. She is very concerned with how humans treat animals and the world in general so she may be more evolved than some. She was very upset about pollution this day and feeling very bad. I encouraged her to use her energy to try to help humans be better and pollute less. This seemed to satiate her for the moment and she went off to school pondering the situation.
That to me was a very interesting way to start a day!
Next post - we are at the moment trying to potty train my 3 year old son before the summer gets into full swing and he is showing no interest but it is a funny process to watch.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Ultimate Geek Post
I thought I would try the ultimate geek thing today and blog from a conference I am attending called Tools of Change put on by O'Reilly the famous STM publisher and technology pioneer. The are kindly providing free wireless during the conference to enable this. Nearly 1 out of 3 people here have their computer open checking email, IM'ing, blogging, and who knows what else...
We just watch an interesting keynote from Dale Dougherty on the beauty of print and he spoke a lot about Make magazine, a very cool magazine about how to make things. He read a very funny and moving letter written by a reader who discusses the anticipation of the arrival of the magazine and the total disruption of his day when it arrives. The audience applauded when he finished reading it.
Now we are looking at a book prototype from Manolos Kelaidis which blends the physical and digital worlds in print. He just demoed a prototype book where he clicked with his finger on the book on the word Mona Lisa and it did a Google search on his computer. VERY COOL! Much applause from the audience.
Another example of reading an essay and you want to see what others are saying about it, clicking on the paragraph brings you to a blog on the topic. Also instant translation if you find words in a different language and now he just played a song (Beatles yellow submarine) from the book with the lyrics printed on the other page.
He uses conductive ink on the page with some embedded electronics in the spine to communicate with the computer. Very cool and promising stuff for things like education and training. (think physical book with a picture of a giraffe that actually played "this is a giraffe", or a mail-order catalog that can order with a touch of a button).
We just watch an interesting keynote from Dale Dougherty on the beauty of print and he spoke a lot about Make magazine, a very cool magazine about how to make things. He read a very funny and moving letter written by a reader who discusses the anticipation of the arrival of the magazine and the total disruption of his day when it arrives. The audience applauded when he finished reading it.
Now we are looking at a book prototype from Manolos Kelaidis which blends the physical and digital worlds in print. He just demoed a prototype book where he clicked with his finger on the book on the word Mona Lisa and it did a Google search on his computer. VERY COOL! Much applause from the audience.
Another example of reading an essay and you want to see what others are saying about it, clicking on the paragraph brings you to a blog on the topic. Also instant translation if you find words in a different language and now he just played a song (Beatles yellow submarine) from the book with the lyrics printed on the other page.
He uses conductive ink on the page with some embedded electronics in the spine to communicate with the computer. Very cool and promising stuff for things like education and training. (think physical book with a picture of a giraffe that actually played "this is a giraffe", or a mail-order catalog that can order with a touch of a button).
It's the future of books.
Signing off for now... more from the conference later.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Catching up
Ok so it has been a few days.
I took the family camping over June 8th weekendwhich in big basin state park is california's oldest state park. It is an awesome park with good family camping and hikes and has the only old growth redwoods south of the golden gate bridge. My parents went and it was the first time they had been camping in 17 years! It was a great time and the kids roasted many s'mores.
They have family events, sing alongs, kids programs etc so take your family there if you get the chance!
I highly recommend that for camping and will blog again on great family camping sites in california in and around the bay area.
I took the family camping over June 8th weekendwhich in big basin state park is california's oldest state park. It is an awesome park with good family camping and hikes and has the only old growth redwoods south of the golden gate bridge. My parents went and it was the first time they had been camping in 17 years! It was a great time and the kids roasted many s'mores.
They have family events, sing alongs, kids programs etc so take your family there if you get the chance!
I highly recommend that for camping and will blog again on great family camping sites in california in and around the bay area.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Welcome to the world of blogging
Well welcome to myself to the world of blogging. I hope to use this to post thoughts, feelings, obeservations and other random things. I'm very excited to get started and want very much to participate.
John
John
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