Binkies and Briefcases • Page 200 of 268 •

My Little Piece of Paradise

August 22, 2011 By: Stephanie1 Comment

Actually it’s just outside of Paradise, PA in Lancaster. A 45 minute drive from my house…

AND

Sigh.

I like to make a trip to the PB outlets in Lancaster once a month or so. Because I can. The kids don’t mind going along because the genius engineers behind the parking lot design (my husband’s a roadway engineer so I have an affinity for these people) scattered several gated playgrounds in the midst of the parking area. One of them is directly outside of Pottery Barn.

The Rockvale outlets cover several blocks and there are only two or three playgrounds, so this is a big deal. All the better to bribe my children with.

And on the other side of the playground, just 200 yards or so from PB is a great place to stop for lunch. (Although we never eat there because Eddie’s office is right on our way home, so we go bright and early when the outlets open and meet him for lunch on our drive home.)

But are the prices that good you ask? It depends.

Sometimes the furniture is only discounted 10-20% off retail, but usually you can find one or two deals like this:

A full size headboard marked down 88% to below a hundred bucks. As a matter of fact, that’s the price we paid last year for Nick’s Catalina bed, which is currently “on sale” on the website for 4 times that price. Ours was mega-discounted because it only came with the headboard & foot board, but my in-laws had extra rails, so it was no big deal.

They also had coffee tables on sale this week for $99, and all of the outdoor furniture, which is already discounted because of the end of the season, was an extra 25% off the lowest price.

I found a red corner seat on this trip, like you would find in a sectional sofa, although this one seemed to work fine standing alone, for below $100 too.

Last time I bought this exact mirror, which is selling for $249 right now, for our bathroom remodel. I paid $49. It was $200 off because it was missing one screw. A trip to Lowes and less than $5 fixed that quickly enough.

I wasn’t in dire need of any new furniture, though. What I did snag at a pretty good deal were some Halloween costumes for the kids. They are from last year’s collection, but ask me how much I care. P.S.How is it time to start thinking about Halloween costumes already. Can you believe September starts next week??

We’re going to be the monkey and the mermaid. (That sounds like a weird fairy tale.) I hope Abby doesn’t have a huge growth spurt in the next 10 weeks because hers fits perfectly for now.

Have you seen the regular prices of the Pottery Barn Kids costumes? The cheapest one on the website this year is $54, but they go up to $89. Then you have to pay shipping.

My monkey was $15 and my mermaid was a little bit more of a splurge at $25. PB Kids always has a great resale value on ebay & Craigslist, so if we choose to resell these costumes next year, I know I will get my money back & then some. Both of these costumes are listed on ebay right now for over $50 each. (I’m pretty sure the seller just hit up the same sale I did. Maybe I should consider doing some outlet shopping, then turning a quick profit on ebay.hmmm…)

Apparently there are only a few of these outlets scattered around the country, but it might just be worth it to grab a friend, rent a U Haul, and take a day trip to the closest one you can find. 🙂

Deal of The Week

August 18, 2011 By: Stephanie4 Comments

I highly suggest heading to Kohl’s right now if there is one in your area because all of the games are 60-80% off. Plus if you sign up for their email list there is an extra 15% off your entire purchase, including clearance items, coupon this week.

I bought all 6 of these games for $25. I can’t usually do much better at the thrift store and these are brand new. Not bad considering the Scene It games retail for $30 each. I also got some Pj’s that Abby needed, which brought my total high enough to qualify for $10 in Kohl’s cash that I plan to use next week to but two more of the games if they are still on sale (The cashier thought they would be) which would make 8 games for $25.

At least one will be going with my hubby tomorrow because he’s playing in a golf tournament to benefit Toys for Tots, but the others I can save for Christmas & birthday gifts. The Twilight game is going to elicit some major eye rolling from Eddie when I gently twist his arm into playing it with me tonight. (Hey, I couldn’t pass it up for 5 bucks.)

We had to break out the Cooties game right away. My sister and I used to play it with my Mommom when she would babysit us as kids. Nicholas loved it too. It is great for fine motor skills, colors, and counting practice. Plus it’s fun. 🙂

It was the first time he’s ever sat through an entire game.

I’m addicted to games. We have an entire 7 foot tall shelving unit in our basement stacked with board games. They are my second biggest vice, right behind hoarding children’s books. Are you a board game family? Which games are your favorite?

The Potty Training Journey

August 18, 2011 By: Stephaniecomment

“Don’t pee on your cupcakes.”

Sometimes as a mom weird stuff comes out of your mouth. That one was in reference to my daughter keeping the cupcake printed fabric on her new undies dry. This post is going to be full of way too much information. Feel free to stop reading now. Unless you are a foster or adoptive parent on this journey with me (or just the curious but nonjudgmental type), then feel free to commiserate.

Potty Training and Adoption

We are knee-deep in potty training boot(y) camp over here.

Abby, 2, is doing surprisingly well. Or maybe it just seems easy in comparison.

With Nicholas, 4, is a nightmare, as expected.

I’ve shared before that Nicholas is adopted out of the foster care system. It is very normal for former foster kids to have toileting issues. It is one of the very few things in their lives they have any control over. Logically and professionally I know this. Realistically, it is a gigantic pain in the butt. (Sometimes quite literally for the poor little dude.)

The pediatrician and several psychologists have all said to wait and he will be ready eventually. It’s not considered a delay unless a child is 5 and not toilet trained, but we have already wound up in the hospital and at several appointments, with a GI specialist because our son is anal-retentive. Literally. As in the kid refuses to poop. Which causes all kinds of nasty side effects, like getting impacted to the point that he starts having very painful colon spasms.

Ever had to call a friend to come over and help you give a toddler an enema? Not. Fun.

Thankfully, our preschool allows Pull-ups, but there have been plenty of other activities that we avoid because they require kids to be potty trained by this age.

So you can understand why we were super excited when on our 7-hour trip home from the beach last weekend Nick decided to use the potty at every rest stop and kept his Pull-up dry. I even had the pleasure of balancing 5 months pregnant, squatting in the back seat, and helping him pee in a bottle while we were stuck in a traffic jam. We thought, Hey look, where we are at eventually. He’s ready to get started.

And he is. He can do it. He really doesn’t want to, but he’s ready. Thus begins my nightmare…

Nick fights me hard about anything he doesn’t want to do, potty training being very near the top of the list. (Kids with attachment issues usually take them out on the mother figure.)

He did extremely well yesterday morning. He stayed dry for several hours. I gave him all kinds of praise and decided to take the kids outside to ride their bikes since it was such a beautiful day. Everything was perfect until it was time to go inside and make lunch and try to use the potty again.

Then he bit me in the leg.
Then he punched me in the stomach and rammed into me hard enough to knock me over.
Then he peed in his pants on purpose.
Before the end of the day, I had also been kicked and spit on.
Plus he attacked Abby several times.
The dog didn’t fare much better.

I think that he’s fighting extra hard because we just got back from vacation and he always has a rough time when Eddie has to go back to work after they have a long time together.

Three years in and every time I think we are making progress it seems to start all over. It’s frustrating and depressing and very easy to get caught in the “what am I doing wrong” trap, but it’s not about me.

That’s the hardest part. It might actually be impossible. At least it’s the part we fail at the most often: remaining neutral. Yesterday I was not neutral. There was a lot of yelling going on from both parties. I am always careful not to say anything hurtful. Always phrase sentences to say things like, “You cannot kick mommy. Kicking is bad. (Never “You are bad.”) You cannot hurt mommy’s tummy, it might hurt the baby who lives there right now…” but sometimes they come out much louder and harsher than they should. It always, always makes the situation worse.

At least I know while I’m doing it and I can stop and walk away, which I hate doing because it breaks his little heart and there is nothing I hate more in life than hearing him cry and scream “Mommy, please don’t leave me.” while I walk away because I know I can’t handle it right now. The extra hormones from the pregnancy don’t help much either, but

It’s my job to be stronger than that.

One of my colleagues, another parenting specialist, posted this on Facebook yesterday to promote child abuse prevention. At the time it made me feel terrible because, although I would never behave like the mom in the story, I knew I had lost entirely too much patience with Nicholas, but it is also a sobering reminder of why we are doing what we do:

A child said to his mom, “Mommy, I colored your sheets with lipstick!” In anger, she started to hit her child until he was unconscious. Then, she regretted what she had done and crying said to her child, “Please open your eyes!” But it was too late, his tiny heart had stopped beating. When she walked into her bedroom, the sheet said “I LOVE YOU MOMMY.”

Sometimes Nicholas does frustrating and even bad things. That doesn’t make him a bad kid. It is my job to protect his heart.

Today I will guard it better.

*UPDATE! We did it (x 3)! I wrote a few posts about everything I learned potty training 3 kids. Click the posts below for my favorite tips.

Child on potty play with toilet paper, isolated over white