Tag Archives: Rhythmicity

where I've been

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I haven’t blogged in a week, which is practically unheard of for me, so y’all will have to indulge me here and let me do one of these recappy things to cover what’s going on here at Chez PooBou.

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* Catie hasn’t had a single potty accident since last Friday (as in, April 23rd). That’s 9 days ago. I think, I mean I’m reasonably certain, that this means she’s… potty-trained? Like, we’re done? Quick, somebody knock on some wood for me!

She still wears a Pull-Up to bed, but she wakes up dry every morning, so we could probably ditch that as well. But she asks for the Pull-Up at bedtime, I think it makes her feel more secure. And that’s fine. We made a BIG DEAL out of putting her diaper pail in storage the other day (no more putting stinky poops in here! All your poops go in the potty now, right? Right! YAAYY!), and she was pretty excited about that.

And on the one hand, I feel like, wait, that’s it? We’re all done now? That was too easy! But then I have to slap myself and remember that we started this process a full freaking YEAR ago. So, no. It has not been easy. At all. But I think she’s got it down now. Finally. Praise the lord.

Future's so bright...

Also? She is so proud of herself, y’all. Last night we went to TGI Friday’s for dinner, and she introduced herself to the waitress. “Hi! I’m Catie W[last name]! I poop in the potty!” Dave and I almost died laughing. (And thankfully, the waitress seemed to think it was funny too, she didn’t look horrified.)

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* I’ve been exercising like a maniac lately. It’s bizarre because I’ve always hated working out, but now I’m finding that I actually look forward to it. The exercises for my knee that the sports medicine doctor gave me have really helped, and I’ve been able to really push myself to work out hard, which feels great. I’m doing the couch-to-5K (although I’m stuck on week three because no matter how hard I try, I cannot run for longer than 3 minutes without feeling like I’m going to fall over and die; I’ve tried to move up to week 4 on a few different occasions, and nope, sorry, my body cannot run for 5 minutes; hopefully I’ll get there someday?) and I’m doing “The 30-Day Shred” in there on alternate days.

Yesterday, just to mix it up, I did my “Weight Loss Yoga” DVD, which I haven’t done in ages (btw, that’s another “Biggest Loser” by-product, and I do not understand why I’m suckered into buying these things when I don’t actually watch the show!). And it was a great workout, so I definitely need to start working that one in more frequently.

So, yeah. I’m apparently becoming a workout nut. Bizarre. The diet part is trickier. I’ve lost about 5 pounds and I’m holding steady there. I know the foods I need to change in order to amp it up. I’m just having a hard time making myself walk away from the junk food. As usual.

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* My job is busy. Trying to balance working full-time along with taking care of the house and the kid and all of that? It’s kind of kicking my butt. I think there are probably a lot of areas in which I’m failing right now – like, say, in the housekeeping division. But hopefully I’m going to be getting some help on that front very soon, because there is just no way I can keep this whole house clean on top of parenting my kid and working 40 hours a week. And Dave works even longer hours than I do. So I think a housekeeper is definitely in our immediate future.

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* Spring means getting to hang outside more often, which probably accounts at least partially for my lack of blogging. Catie wants to spend every available moment playing outside with the neighborhood kids. And she’s too little to play outside by herself, so that’s where I am too.

Spring also means the return of Drum Night. The last Friday of every month, we go to see a band called Rhythmicity that plays at an outdoor mall near us. The kids love it.

Catie rocking the tambourine at drum night

Elizabeth boogies down with the belly dancer
(Catie & her cousin Elizabeth both liked the belly dancer, and I have to admit that she was pretty awesome. I admire anyone who can get up in front of a crowd and shake their stuff the way that she did.)

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So, yeah. If you don’t hear from me as much on the blog here, don’t worry about me. We’re all good.

t-shirt headdress

In fact, I think we’re better than good.

tea, a drink with jam and bread

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Ok, I didn’t get a video of Catie singing the alphabet song, but I did get this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItjtLfsBSD4

Since she’s starting to like The Sound of Music, I showed her this video of the people dancing to “Do Re Mi” at the train station in Antwerp, Belgium, and she absolutely loved it. We must’ve watched it at least five or six times this morning.

For the record, I filmed it early this morning, which is why her hair is so messy. She was still in her PJ’s with a major case of bedhead.

Also, last night we went to see Rhythmicity, a local band that does African/Cuban tribal drumming, who we’ve seen a few times now, but I finally remembered to bring my video camera this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EZptEMxj54

The band always brings a big basket of small rhythm instruments for the kids to play with. Catie loves them. You can also see Elizabeth and Cat (with Austin in his sling) dancing in the background. The girls always have so much fun at these drum shows.

And no, I don’t know why Catie grabs her own butt halfway through the video. Maybe she farted? Two year-olds are a mystery.

for what it's worth, Cookie Monster is still my favorite

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We’re having one of those weekends where it feels like we’re doing a good job of keeping Catie on the move. Last night we met up with my cousin Cat, Tony & their two little ones to listen to an African tribal drum band. It sounds odd, I’m sure, but it’s very kid-friendly. They bring a big bin full of rhythm instruments for all of the little ones to play with: maracas, tambourines, etc. So you can play music with the band, or you can dance, or you can just sit and listen and eat. (The concert is in sort of a food court area of an outdoor mall. We had Greek food for dinner and Coldstone Creamery for dessert. Nice.)

Catie found some bongos that the band didn’t happen to be using at that moment, and went to town on them.

Catie & bongos

I love that Elizabeth will smile for the camera when I ask her to, even if all I had was my crappy iPhone camera.

Elizabeth at drum night

(Actually the iPhone camera isn’t that bad, I just wish it had features like zoom, or a flash.)

Catie & Elizabeth at drum night

The girls had a really great time, and so did the parents. We figured that with all the activity, surely Catie would sleep well that night. Ha! We’ve had to move her to a Pack n’ Play in the guest room while her ceiling was being replaced (which just reminds me that I think I forgot to blog about that, but basically the A/C in the attic was directly over Catie’s room; it died, water leaked everywhere, her ceiling turned to mildew, and they had to tear the whole thing out and replace it. But they had to replace the A/C first. So I have had random repairmen in my house WAY too much over the past few weeks. Anyway, digression over, sorry!). I think the change of scenery has sort of thrown off her sleep patterns. Sometimes she’s fine, but if she wakes up in the middle of the night, she’s all confused and freaked out and can’t get herself back to sleep. And that’s usually when she ends up in bed with us, because at 2 a.m., the ONLY thing in the world that I want is to go back to sleep, and if letting her sleep in bed with us is what’s going to allow me to do so? FINE. I realize this is lazy, but whatever. YOU try living with someone who interrupts your sleep on a regular basis for 2 1/2 years and see what kind of adjustments you make to YOUR parenting philosophy.

So yeah, Catie was up at 1 a.m. and ended up in bed with us. Then she was up again at 6 a.m. And then I had to get up at 8 a.m., because… (drumroll)… this morning we went to see ELMO! LIVE! On stage! I know you’re jealous. You are, aren’t you?

Love this pic

It was actually not a bad show. It was just maybe a little bit too long for the average toddler attention span (an hour and a half; includes a 15-minute intermission, but still). Cat and her family came with us, and Elizabeth was absolutely enthralled. She was an angel during the show, she was obviously having such a great time. So sweet.

Elizabeth at Sesame Street Live

Catie was sort of into it, but was also a little freaked out.

Dave & Catie at Sesame Street Live

It was funny because during the second half of the show, at the end of every song, Catie would yell, “All done! Bye-bye, Elmo!!” She is not the most subtle creature; she was DONE and was ready for the show to be done, too. Luckily there were enough other screaming toddlers in the place that I’m pretty sure none of the Sesame Street characters heard her.

After the show, we all went out for lunch, and Catie promptly collapsed when we got home. After her nap, she played with two neighborhood girls who kept her on the run until she had an asthma attack. I was warning them to please slow down because I knew it was going to happen. Sigh. Kids. Luckily one dose of albuterol fixed her up and that was that. Still, I hate it for her.

Now I am praying that we all get a good night’s sleep tonight, because man, I am exhausted. Oh, and we have plans tomorrow too. Of course we do. More on that later. Right now I’m going to bed.