bear with me...it's been a rough week

Danny, there are several types of bodily fluids mentioned in this post (all parenting related). You've been warned. Love you, man! ~A

Well this has been a rough week. I'm just starting to get my feet under me again and figured that I would post a quick note just to let everyone know what is going on around these parts.

I started school Monday night. I'm taking two online classes which will put me within one class of finishing up my AA. I was a little overwhelmed...well, okay. I still am to a certain extent. Even though both classes are through the same university the online program they use is a complete different format for each. I much prefer one to the other...it's going to be an interesting couple of months. I think I will have a better feel for how I'm doing when I get my stinking books! Hopefully that will happen soon.

NaNo has been put on the back burner for the past couple of days but I'm digging back in tonight. I have already written about 600 words tonight. I need to pump out an additional 1500 more to really be back on track. I doubt I will make the full amount tonight but am hopeful that I can get about halfway there tonight and then get caught up tomorrow. A fellow NaNo'er (hi Sarah!) has suggested using this program to do smaller sessions several times a day instead of the marathon approach I have been using. It sounds like a great idea and I'm going to try that as soon as I get caught up!

On Monday Izzy up and decided that he was done nursing. Yes. Just.like.that. We went from 2-3 times a day to nothing. I have to admit, I feel a little rejected. It fits in with his personality though. He's all the time fine with something until he isn't. He's probably the most determined kid we have (not to be confused with Zander's stubbornness, which I will get to shortly). The kid just knows what he wants...and, apparently, what he doesn't. So I guess I'm done nursing now. Hmph.

Zander...oh, man. Where do I start? We have two issues really. One being that I cannot stop the kid from cussing. Yeah, Sam and Jake both said a few cuss words as toddlers but they were easy to fix. You just told them no a couple times and viola! Problem solved. Not so much with this one. We've tried everything we can think of (to include not cussing in front of him anymore) and he just keeps getting worse. Argh! This kid is going to be the death of me yet.

Our second issue is that he refuses to be potty-trained. Just flat out won't do it. We can get him to pee in the potty if we stay on top of him. But he will not, just flat out refuses, to poop in the potty. Not the big potty or the little potty. I have tried all the tricks in the book and am just at a loss. I even tried to just dial back the pressure and not mess with him...now he's back to peeing in his pull-ups. The only step I have left, I think, is to take him into the pediatrician to see if they can tell me something. I honestly think the biggest problem is that he sees Izzy in his diapers...he's been telling Izzy for a couple of weeks now, "No, Izzy! You don't poop in your diaper. You poop in the potty!" He's not seriously going to make me change his diapers until Izzy potty trains, is he? (Anyone out there have any tips? I'm freaking desperate here!)

That's pretty much "it". It's a lot though. Jake is off school for the rest of this week, Sam is out for the week after tomorrow. They just finished their first quarter, which went well enough. Jason gets home Sunday. Next week we'll have to sink into some sort of routine. Hopefully by this time next week I'll be fully functioning again!

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Veteran's Day. Thank you to all my fellow veterans out there. I think of you and all our wonderful active duty troops every single day. I'm thankful for you all every single day. This is just the day to let you know it!