Tag Archives: story

Exploring New Homes As A Family: An Instagram Story

Any Instagram users create their own Instagram Story yet? I’ve never used Snapchat, but from what I gather, it’s pretty similar. At first I thought the concept was dumb (why would I want my pictures to disappear?), but then my curiosity got the best of me.

Last weekend, we decided to go on a little family adventure to explore new homes in the Phase Three Construction Site. This was the perfect opportunity to test creating my first Instagram Story. What’s even cooler is the ability to save the pics you post, so technically, they never really disappear.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy our little excursion and maybe it will spark an idea for you to do with your family. My first Instagram Story pic was Going Mom and I taking a selfie before heading out.

Instagram Story, Instagram Stories, Family, Fun, adventure, exploring, kids

Walking through the first house to explore.

Instagram Story, Instagram Stories, Family, Fun, adventure, exploring, kids

Had to make it clear that we were not looking to buy a new home, despite all the cool upgrades some of them had. Stupid new homes….

Instagram Story, Instagram Stories, Family, Fun, adventure, exploring, kids

I always find coins when walking around the area, and was excited to see this shiny circle. Not money though, boo.

Instagram Story, Instagram Stories, Family, Fun, adventure, exploring, kids

Stopping for a family selfie as we walked to the next house.

Family Team Selfie_08-07-16

Our good friend, Benny the mini excavator was out, so Avery jumped on to say hi.

Standing in Mini Excavator_08-07-16

We found another construction site friend, Spinny, sitting face down inside this home. Avery later gave it a hug and kiss. Yeah, she had white lips.

Avery and Mommy with Spinny_08-07-16

A piece of scrap trim? Nah, it’s a light saber from the old ages!

Avery with Wood Light Saber_08-07-16

Score!

Real Money_08-07-16

Not score. Avery got “the look” and we knew there was no waiting.

Porta Potty Emergency Stop_08-07-16

Back home we enjoyed the afternoon shade in our backyard. Avery had “washed” her Pink Millie Car (Millie is the name of G-Ma’s car) and needed to tip it over to get water out of the cup holders.

Pushing Pink Millie Car Over_08-07-16

After tipping Pink Millie, she brought it back up to park.

Pulling Pink Millie Car_08-07-16

Another family selfie (yeah, we take a lot) in the new hammock we installed. We all agree, our current home is the best for us!

Instagram Story, Instagram Stories, Family, Fun, adventure, exploring, kids

Daddy was kicked out of the hammock. No worries, looking at these two is all I need.

Instagram Story, Instagram Stories, Family, Fun, adventure, exploring, kids

Do you have Snapchat or Instagram?

Have you already or do you want to try creating a story? It’s actually pretty cool. There’s more to come from me I’m sure!

A Parent vs Toddler Standoff

So it’s come to this. We have stooped to the stubbornness level of our toddler and now have a standoff at least twice a day. It’s usually us asking her to pick something up, but she won’t budge and neither do we.

We both end up standing there waiting for the other to act, but nothing happens. Well, my wife or I will repeat ourselves more than any parenting book would recommend, and Avery will usually let out a series of whines and/or a cutesy “hi” with a cheesy grin.

Seeing as to how Kelley and I are both pretty stubborn already, and Avery is, well, a toddler which automatically equals stubborn, these standoffs can be quite time consuming. As a matter of fact, I was able to take pictures during one of our said standoffs and figured I’d go over how the event went down here.

The scene begins right after Avery dropped her almost finished green smoothie. Instead of picking it back up, she walked away to a corner in the kitchen despite my request to hand me the bottle.

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I ask her to pick it up again but only get that “I’m innocent” look.

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Going Mom and I have both been through this several times, so I knew it was going to be a while before one of us caved. I asked once more trying to keep a straight face as her turned all puppy-dog-eyes on me.

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Meanwhile…..

Ummm, can't someone at least just stand me up?
Ummm, can’t someone at least just stand me up?

5 minutes have passed at this point, but it felt like 30. I just kept busy with food prep and dishes for the day while she stubbornly stood in her favorite corner. Just as I was about to give in because we had plenty more to do that day, she walks over to the bottle.

I freeze, try to be nonchalant and keep away from the camera, but all she does is stand it up on the floor and step away.

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My relief that our standoff was over quickly turned into anguish as I realized she was going to continue dragging it on. Her smile said it all, “I won’t give in that easy, Dad!”

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It was on, there was no way in hell I would give in now! All chores could wait. Kelley just might come home from work hours later to see us staring at each other with the bottle still standing on the floor. I would win this standoff, dammit!

Several minutes slowly passed as I looked around for something else to do while asking her to pick up the bottle a few more times. My angst about how long this would last kept growing deeper, but finally a glimmer of hope emerged; she bent down to get the bottle!

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Was this the end of our impasse? Would the household chores and a workout actually get done? My anxiety eased up a little with each progressive move she made.

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Yes, contact! Keep going…..

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We have liftoff! I think even Avery felt relieved as she held the bottle high in celebration.

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I was about to hold my hand out for her to give me the bottle, but I guess all of that time in between made her thirsty.

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Ummm, Avery, can I have the bottle now? I’m pretty sure she was telling me to hold on a minute here.

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Finally, after finishing what was left, she relinquished the bottle and most importantly, our standoff. But she didn’t want to act happy about it…

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I took the bottle with a giant grin and praised her for doing good. I think that turned her mood into something better and she even gave herself a little round of applause.

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How can you be upset with that face for more than a minute? Not easy, I’ll tell you that much.

Although, this is only one of many occurrences that have happened and will happen, I guess it’s just a part of parenting.

Do you find you and your kids in standoff situations often?

What are some of the ways you deal with these trying times?

Potty Training is a Crapshoot

We had our first shot at potty training the other day, and after our failed attempts, I’ve deemed it a crapshoot.

poop, baby, diapers, potty training

Taken right from Dictionary.com, the definition seems fitting….

crapshoot

[krap-shoot]
noun
1. Informal. anything unpredictable, risky, or problematical; gamble.
verb (used without object), crapshot, crapshooting.
2. to play craps.
3. Informal. to take risks; gamble.

I bolded the words that stand out the most to me when it comes to potty training. I bet all of you experience parents with plenty of potty training time on your latex-gloved hands are all laughing thinking “just wait”, and I can’t argue.

But, I also bet you agree that potty training is indeed a crapshoot, true?

Honestly, I haven’t looked at one resource on potty training, and we have yet to officially decide when to start attempting to get Avery to sit on the pot. I’m not even sure what age you’re supposed to start, and the more I think about it, it’s just another one of those “each child is different” scenarios.

Isn’t that how it is for almost all of parenting? We get bombarded by advice from what worked for others, but, taking advice from the thousands of internet parents is, wait for it, a crapshoot!

“Oh, my little princess (or DD as most forums call their daughters) was easy to potty train. I just told her to watch me and then she went all by herself! She even wiped, flushed, and cooked us dinner!”

Okay, I might’ve slightly exaggerated, but you get the point. All parents have their own parenting style! It might work for other parents too, but nothing is set in stone.

Anyway, Avery has been somewhat consistent with a morning and evening poop, and every now and then she’ll throw us a curve ball turd with another stinker somewhere in-between.  One morning this week, she was in her Pooping Chair when I heard the poop grunts begin.

It was too late to even attempt to move her at that point since her face was already beet red from squeezing, so I just allowed her to go about her business. Five minutes later, I assumed the deed was done since her normal complexion had returned, and I brought her to be changed.

Diaper off with just a little pooplet (didn’t seem like her normal size), crazy legs in the air, and what do I see? A tiny turtle starting to emerge!! Crap (ha ha), time to attempt potty training session number one! I cradled Avery by holding her back and legs so that she remained horizontal until we made it to the toilet and quickly (but safely) rushed to the bathroom. Almost on the pot and then…..

….the turtle’s head fell off on my arm and rolled on the floor, next to the toilet. Damn. Since she had only two smaller nuggets so far, I sat her on the pot just to see if she had anything else to deliver.

She went from whining, to pointing at the bathroom lights, to crying, to hitting my face as I held her, to pointing at lights, and back to crying. I finally gave up, changed her into a new diaper, and thoroughly washed my pooped-on arm as I thought about how I could’ve approached that better.

Back in the kitchen and living room area, I set Avery down so I could finally cook her breakfast. Of course I get to eat some too, which is why I love using NuttZo as an ingredient and to spread on my creations. But not one minute after setting her down, Avery’s face turned dark red, she let out a grunt followed by her usual “poop shivers” indicating she was done.

Breakfast was put on hold once more as I changed Avery’s massive load. I think I found the body that belonged to that turtle head! I asked her why she didn’t do that when I had her on the pot, but she just pointed to the light in her room and said “Shdlislek” or something like that.

That night, while Going Mom was playing with her, Avery had her round two. Kelley attempted putting her on the pot to finish any unfinished business, but it only resulted in crying.

Two failed attempts and probably many more to come. Yeah, it “stinks”, but we might as well try when we can. I guess the first order of business (geez, I keep making myself laugh!) is to get a potty training toilet so we don’t have to hold Avery over our adult throne and risk dropping her in. Stay tuned for more adventures in poopland!

Are you past, in process, or still waiting for potty training with your kid(s)?

To you experienced parents, any tips you care to share?

What age did you start and what’s a good training toilet, method, book, etc?

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