They'll be in diapers until they are 20!

So, we just moved almost 3 weeks ago, and I haven't really hit the potty training thing very hard since early this summer. I've made the potty chairs available and even bought the small toilet seats to put on the big toilets. Sometimes they use them, some times they don't. Now, almost every time I tell my girls it's time for a diaper/pull-up change they throw a big fit and fight with me during the whole process. Even with a poopy diaper, they are content to sit in yucky poop mush for over an hour--often until their poor little skin is red and raw. What is the deal here? Why do they resist so much? I just don't understand. When I suggest using the potty chair I get a loud "No!", and then I offer the toilet...same response. I'm convinced that Emily and Savannah will be happily content to stay in diapers until they are 20 years old! The problem is that they are almost too big for the traditional sized pull-ups and diapers. Something has got to give.

Two 3yr olds and a paint store.

Do I really need to say anything more? Be forewarned--vent session about to begin! So, the 3's are really taking hold of my girls these days...either that or it's the fact our lives have been in total chaos with our quick sale of our home and rush to find another one. We move in to the new house in 5 days. Boxes and laundry are all over our current house--oh yeah along with every toy my girls own! I've packed tons of their toys and the fewer toys they have available to play with, the more they seem to spread them throughout the house. Behavior later has been challenging. Lots of direct defiance going on. It's different than a few months ago. It's almost like I can see them doing something wrong...while being warned to stop, and then taking a few seconds to think about it, and choosing to do it anyway. What's with that? Then, when they get in trouble they cry and act as if the world has ended. I keep telling them to do what I say and they still get fun things, choose to not to do what I say and get things taken away. It hasn't made much of a difference. I do simplify it and reword it and the result is always the same.

So, today I took the girls to a paint store to pick out paint colors for their rooms and bathroom. What did they do while I was speaking with a staff person? Run wildly all over the store! They took out over 40 paint color chips and scattered them all over the shelves and floor. When I told them to stop they would just look at me and then take another chip. I would then take away the chip and they'd get mad and sit on the floor. Then I would go back to talking with the staff person about paint colors--all while trying to juggle 3 pillow cases and a bath towel and shower curtain. The chaos resumes...I tried sitting them in chairs so I could finish up choosing my colors. No good. The girls then were standing in the chairs, crawling under the chairs and under the tables...and yes more running in the store. I was getting so embarrassed! My kids were totally disobeying me and I felt I had no control, nor any respect from them. I hate that feeling. When it was time to pay for the paint, Emily and Savannah were playing tag in the store. I pulled Savannah aside to stand next to me. She stayed, Emily on the other hand, just grinned and ran away from me.

I repeatedly apologized to the paint store staff and then tried to leave, hands full of paint can, and pillow cases, etc. and my girls decide to run out into the parking lot! AAAAAHHHH! Scary! I yelled at them to stop, Savannah stopped, Emily took it as a challenge, paused, and kept going. I got the van door open and almost tossed them both into their seats. Then the struggle began. They both tried to fight me on getting into their car seats. Emily even jumped out of the van! Argh! I was getting so mad by then. All during this process I took TV watching away, no listening to music, and put a stuffed toy in time-out. I was fuming at this point. I finally got the girls buckled in. I was practically shaking I was so frustrated. I cannot believe they were acting so badly!

I have no idea what to do. Nothing seems to make them listen and obey. Spanking even doesn't always work, unless it's a really hard spanking, but I don't like to do that because I'm usually spanking out of anger. What am I supposed to do? Stay home-bound during the day until Seth comes home? I'm sorry, I just don't feel like that's realistic. My kids have to learn how to behave in public. Suggestions?

The 40 minute tantrum

Well, the 3's are definitely eventful. After a good afternoon of the girls pleasantly playing together, snuggling and playing with mommy...the happy times came to an abrupt halt. Just before dinner, we experienced the usual pre-dinner defiance of getting hands washed. Once the girls were in their booster seats, I put a bib on Emily and rolled up her sleeves because we were having spaghetti tonight and I didn't want to get sauce on her shirt. I proceeded to do the same with Savannah and she got mad, rolled her sleeves down and started throwing a fit. I told her to roll them back up or she'd have to take her shirt off to eat because I didn't want spaghetti sauce stains on her shirt. This made her even more mad and she yelled "no" and started kicking at me. I told her fine, then took off her shirt. Then the ultimate tantrum began. Lots of kicking and screaming while in her seat. Seth then took her to her room and put her in time out. The screaming got even louder and more shrill. This went on at this level for about 30 minutes and then she couldn't scream anymore, but she was still throwing a fit for another 10 minutes. We are trying not to give the girls any attention when they throw fits like that...so I sat outside her door, just waiting for her to calm down before I could go in to talk to her. That was hard, she was crying and very upset, but I knew she would learn that screaming and crying will not get her attention if I ignored it.

Finally once she calmed down I went into her room and picked her up and sat her on my lap and hugged her and told her we loved her and then explained why she was put in time out. The rest of the evening went so smoothly after that. She was extra cooperative at bedtime--no resistance at all. We'll see what tomorrow night holds.

Crazy Life

Since my last post, we have sold our house, looked at over 40 houses in less than a week, and finally have a contract on a newer house. We just got the inspection results and are now in the renegotiation period. We have asked that a window be replaced, a few repairs be made to the roof, and for a mitigation system (radon) as the test results were high. I have no idea if the sellers will agree to any of those requests, but it never hurts to ask. We are still set to close on the house October 12th.

I think we have to absolutely crazy to be trying to do all this with two 3 year olds in the house. Emily and Savannah are definitely picking up on my stress, busy schedule, and lack of attention to them. I have never let them watch so much TV until this past week! On top of all that--both of them are now sick with a cold and are extra grumpy. Also, the 3year old stubborness is showing it's face. Holy cow--I had no idea there could be so many fights over the silliest and stupidest things! Sometimes it's EVERYTHING. Today is one of those days, from diaper changes to washing hands, to eating, to nap time, or just being plain civil to mommy and daddy and sister--there has been a fight. This has been my week. I am just about to go crazy. I work on Sunday, so that will at least give me some sort of break, but I know from here on out until we get settled into our new house, my days will likely be full of conflict, crying, and lots and lots of whining. What postive outlook, huh? I'm being realistic, at least if I expect the worst and it doesn't happen then that's something to be happy about.