Potty Training in 3 Days August 23, 2008

I saw this AD when I was searching on the internet on tips of how to potty train my daughter. “Potty Training in 3 Days!” Sounds wonderful, but I didn’t really want to pay to get that tip. Part of me was asking, “What if it’s all some kind of scam…?” So I just decided to take the advice of others and start potty training early, at 20 months. And if you have read my previous post, you know what happened, “Chronic Constipation.” It’s been almost a year from the diagnosis of my child not being able to poo because she is scared to poop in the toilet. They said it would take about 6 months to a year for her to start having a normal bowl movement (everyday).
So here we are today, proud parents of the child who, most of the time, poops every day. It has been a long battle and I am so glad that it’s almost over. She is almost completely potty trained, and guess what, it happened in a matter of 3 Days.

Because of her constipation, we were told to just quit potty training her and let her just go in her diaper, so I did just that. She was struggling with the pooping, so if she didn’t go in 3 days we had to bust out the suppository, which is the worst thing ever. You feel like you are torturing the kid. It hurt mentally so bad, every time we had to do it…
Any who, that is basically all over, and since she started wearing undies, and not diapers, I have some cool items that helped us out.

1. Okay, so lets start with the training pants. The “Imse Vimse Training Pants” are really nice for little accidents. It’s really soft, and absorbs a lot. They’re not water proof, so not recommended for nap time or bed time. They are a little on the pricey side, so we only bought 2 and one water proof one. Which we use the “Happy Heinys Pocket Trainers“. You can stuff it with cloth diapers for extra protection if you desire, it’s soft, and it’s water proof. Also, if they have a #2 accident, the sides snap off so that it’s easy to take off.
   My little girl still wears night time diapers at night though, because I know she will go while she’s sleeping. That will be the next step, but I’m not rushing. I’ve watched my friend run to grab her kid in the middle of the night, so she won’t wet the bed. I like the relaxation I have at the moment.
2. Next the “Potty”. I think it’s important that you keep the comfort of your child and their likes and dislikes in mind when you are choosing a potty. It’s a whole new world to them, having to take their pants off, diapers off and sitting on a cold seat. We first got the “Safety 1st Comfy Cushy 3-in-1 Potty“, because it seemed most practical. It’s a potty, and could be converted onto a training seat. We also liked the fact that it is very cushy and comfortable. I think it’s good to have both a potty and a toilet trainer, because you never know what they are most comfortable with.
   Because we were having her sit on this seat before we would change her at 22 months, she was not uncomfortable with the transition to the toilet.
   Now, the seat seems a little bit too small for her heinie, so we got her a new trainer.
   We have been to a friends that have the “BabyBjörn Toilet Trainer“, which is very nice, it stays in place very well, love the design and color, and is pretty sturdy. It’s a hard seat, but that doesn’t seem to bother Zu. She seems to think it’s more grown up. I would have bought this one if I could do it over. We considered it, but we chose something cheaper, because we didn’t know how long she would be using it. We bought the “Soft Seat Toilet Trainer – Disney Winnie the Pooh” It’s cushy, not too ugly (not Disney Princess or Dora) and affordable. Forget the design, Zu seems to like it a lot.
3. Travel Potty’s are very important for me right now. There are those times when we would be in a place where there is no restroom in sight. And at the park, I DO NOT want to go near those public restrooms, I don’t even like to use those, they give me the creeps… So this is what we have, “Kalencom POTETTE – On the Go Potty“. You can get it at Babies R Us. It comes with a bag that has a absorbent sheet in it, that I personally think it was meant for a Chipmunk it’s so small… We just use regular plastic grocery bags with our left over “gDiapers Flushable Refills“. It’s just plain easy and wonderful. The Kalencom Potette is small, you can fold it up and leave it in the car. We took it camping, to the park, very long car rides, bike rides, and just any where. I really love this!! I am so much more comfortable when she says “おしっこ！(oshikko:I need to pee).”, that she gets to go in a more sanitary environment.
4. The other thing is a trainer seat for traveling. I like the “Mommy’s Helper Cushie Traveler” because it’s cushy and comfortable. It’s perfect for traveling and staying in a hotel or a relatives house for a long weekend. The first travel one we had, “Safety 1st Easy Care Adapter Seat“, is probably why Zu got scared of the toilet. This travel seat does not stay in place, is flimsy and really, I have nothing good to say about it… I sat Zu down on it while we were traveling in California, and it pinched her butt. She was so scared of the toilet with that thing on it, she refused to sit on the toilet again. This was a disaster. I should have read the review, rather than just buying it on the spot.
   Originally I bought a travel seat because I hated the idea of my daughter having to sit on a public toilet. I got one and it very quickly was just one more thing that took up space and another thing I had to lug around in my already huge bag. I soon stopped going everywhere with it and just sprayed the seats with the “Clean Well Pocket Sanitizer“. This stuff smells like eucalyptus, it’s all natural, safe for kids, and it kills 99.9% of germs. It’s a spray and not a gel, so it’s fast and easy to sanitize the seats. Also it really keeps your skin smooth, not dried up feeling like those gel ones with alcohol.
5. Finally, a good reward. Zu doesn’t normally get certain stickers, so we made a sticker chart, and she got to stick a “Littlest Pet Shop” sticker on it every time she pooped in the toilet. And sometimes she gets a manicure, if she goes.

Potty training was a territory that seemed so unapproachable, but in reality, I think you just have to sit back and just let them get there at their own pace. I really felt the pressure and tried early on, but it totally back fired on me. She knew how to go, she just couldn’t tell when to go. Now, I don’t think there should be any rush to get them out of their diapers. To tell you the truth, I think it’s easier when they are in their diapers sometimes…
OK, so after her 3rd birthday, we decided to try again. I did exactly what my friend did when her daughter potty trained when she was a little over 3. They potty trained in 3 days.
We got a pack of Princess Undies and I told her, “Princesses use the toilet, they don’t pee and poop in their diaper. You’re a big girl now, would you like to join the princesses and become one too?” She jumped to the idea. She put the undies on, we played outside, she wet herself. She was extremely upset. “I won’t be a princess!” So we tried again. Again she wet herself… She was really mad. This day was a failure.
Next day, we tried again. We went to the bathroom when she woke up, a couple hours after she had something to drink, before and after lunch, a couple of hours after her juice, before and after her nap, before and after dinner, and before bed time. No accidents. Yeah!!
3rd day, we try again. First we went to the toilet when she woke up, and then I tried to let her tell me when she needed to go. She wet herself… She was very frustrated. We tried again. This time, right after lunch she told me she had to go, and only one accident since then. That was about a month ago. Yeah!!! We did it!

So it’s true, you CAN potty train in 3 days. You just need to find the right timing. Here’s a tip, put your child in undies, if they get upset when they wet themselves, you can quite possibly start potty training. If not, wait a little longer. There’s no rush. You could feel the pressure when some people around you are potty trained, but seriously, what is the rush?

Good Japanese Food July 11, 2008

Food in Japan is incredible. I’m not just talking about the Japanese food, I’m talking about any kind of food.  You can get Italian food and it tastes better, Chinese food is authentic, even a hamburger tastes better.  How is that? Is it possible that they have better, more fresh, ingredients than what we have here in the U.S.?  That has to be the answer!

I come home from my long, wonderful stay in Japan, and I am not in the slightest mood of getting back in the swing of, having to cook every meal in order to have a decent one, so we get carry out.  It wasn’t bad.  We got my favorite Lebanese food, from the Lebanese (Anita’s) restaurant 2 blocks away from us.  Since you can’t find Lebanese food that easily in Japan, I was craving it!
But the next day I go to our local Japanese market, because of the empty bachelor fridge my husband left for me, it was actually depressing.  There is a limit to what you can buy, since they only import 2 options of one thing, and the look of the fish in the cases not that great.  Is this because we are in the Mid-West and have to have everything shipped frozen, or packed in ice?  Before I left for Japan, this was the most fresh place to buy fish.  Doesn’t look anything like what I had in Japan.  Now it doesn’t seem that great.  My mouth has been spoiled.

Being by the ocean, eating fresh caught fish is like eating something from heaven, compared to the once frozen, possibly was caught last week, kind of fish you can buy here…  I pretended that I didn’t know it wasn’t that fresh, and thought maybe I can trick myself into thinking the Sashimi here would be good, so I got some tuna, some salmon, and some yellow tail to take home to have sushi hand rolls that evening.
I also had to stop at the market for some veggies.  I expect Whole Foods to have the best ingredient I can find, since you dish out a bit more to shop there.  So I’m looking, looking, looking…  It’s summer, where are the fresh good lookin’ veggies?
When you shop for veggies in Japan, the super markets are loaded with great looking veggies that are in season.  When I say good looking, I really mean good looking!  The carrots are all the same size, amazingly orange, the strawberries are all the same size in each packet, and are bright red.  Nothing at all close to being wilted or even bruised!  Almost too good looking that I feel guilty cutting it up to use it.
Then back to my real world in the U.S., where the carrots are mostly crooked and for some reason split down the middle, the banana is either green or bruised, and anything with leaves, you can’t use the first 5 layers because they are crushed.
I know it just sounds like I’m just complaining, and I’m just some kind of Japan lover, WHICH I am…, but it’s true!  You really have to see it to believe it.  Even the meat is so much better!  Beautifully marbled and so fantastic that you don’t have to worry about eating Organic.  They don’t use hormones to grow the cows!!  You can also have pork & chicken rare, and not worry about getting salmonella poisoning.  Now that is amazing.  Even the cheap meat at the supermarket is GOOD!!
Anyway, back to my dinner that night.  Disappointing. My lovely sushi dinner that I expected, turned out that I couldn’t cheat myself.  What am I going to do…

I know what exactly is going to happen.  I am going to be disappointed for a little while, then the whole denial thing kicks into my brain, and things I eat here start tasting better again.  Maybe it’s the same chemical that is dispersed after you give birth, so that you forget about the pain you go through during child birth so that you would actually consider having another child.  OK, maybe I’m exaggerating but I’m still a bit disappointed in what I’m getting…

Next weekend, I am planning on going to the farmers market, hoping for something better.  Also my friend has told me of a local organic farmer that will sell a whole pig for a fantastic price!  She also has mentioned how delicious the eggs are too.  I would love to try some.

So here is my future menu for my organic pig & eggs.

Niku-jaga (Pork and Potato’s)

• Half a pound of pork belly meat cubed. (This is hard to find in regular grocery stores here so having my own pig butchered gives me this opportunity. You can also find pigs belly meat at most Korean or Japanese Markets frozen)
• 1 knob ginger sliced
• 3 Yukon Gold potato’s
• 1 or 2 carrots
• 1 large Vidal Onion sliced
• 1 block of Konnyaku (Konjac)
• 4 hard boiled eggs peeled.
• 4 Tbsp of Sake (cooking rice wine)
• 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Mirin (or half honey, half white wine)
• 1/2 to 1 Tbsp of Sugar (depending on how sweet you like it) Start out with 1/2 and add more to taste)

Cut all ingredients into bite size pieces and soak the potatoes in water for about 10 min.  Heat up you Le Creuset pot and melt a small knob of butter. Brown the pork on both sides, add enough water to cover the pork and boil for 10 min.  When done, dump water and rinse off the pork.
Put another small knob of butter in the pot and fry up the ginger on medium low heat until fragrant, about a minute.  Put the carrots, potato’s, in the pot and add the pork, eggs, and Konnyaku on top of that and finally cover with the onions.  In a small bowl add the Sake, Soy Sauce, Mirin, & Sugar and put in microwave for 1 min and dissolve sugar.  Pour sauce over the pot with the pork, cover and simmer on medium low for 15 ~ 20 min. Stir and finish cooking with no lid until all veggies are cooked through.

Enjoy with rice & Miso soup or even Udon Noodles.

26 hours, 1 hour of sleep ~ Part 3 May 9, 2008

It’s been a while since my last post.
We’ve been running around for 3 weeks straight that the exhaustion has finally caught up with me. We have been staying in for 3 days now because of my cold.

Any who, let’s finish the 26 hour trip.

After the 13 hour flight we finally arrived at Tokyo Narita Air Port, which is not really in Tokyo. It’s actually in Chiba, which is about an hour out of the city of Tokyo.
There was a mom with 2 kids, a 3 year old boy and a 1 year old girl, sitting in the row in front of us on the flight. The boy was extremely active (kind of hyper), and I don’t think he slept at all. He kept bouncing on the seat, wanting to walk around, and throwing things at our seat. Having a 1 year old, who is trying to sleep, and can’t because of the unfamiliar surroundings, and the awfully impatient son, I felt so bad for the mom, I almost offered her the Benedryl I broughtto knock the boy out for just a little bit. The mom looked exhausted after the flight. I hope I never have to experience what she had to go through.

At the airport, we picked up our luggage and tried to find a place that sold a pre-paid SIM card. No one knew where to get one. Since we had 20 minutes to catch the bus to Tama Plaza, where my mom was picking us up, we had to rush to buy the ticket and find the bus stop. Although I speak the every day language pretty fluently, there are a lot of words I don’t know. Since it’s been a while since I’ve been in the world of Japanese people, it was a bit hard to understand the explanation of where the bus stop was. They just talk so fast, and the Japanese business language (proper language) is not commonly used around me, it’s hard for me to understand. I ended up just followed the pointing.

I finally slept on the one and a half hour bus ride to Tama Plaza, in Yokohama. John got to see the out skirts of Tokyo on the way into the city from the Inaka (country side) of Chiba.
From the Tama Plaza station, we drove another one hour to get to Shizuokaken, Susonoshi (on Mt. Fuji), where my parents now live with my 87 year old grandmother.

After a long, long 26 hours of traveling, and a quick stop at the super market, we have finally arrived at our destination at 7:00 pm Japan time (6:00 am Eastern Time).

Our first meal, super market bought Sushi and Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken). Compared to the sushi you can buy at the super market in the US, this was like going to Nobu or one of those expensive sushi restaurants. It was really good.
So, I will share my sushi rice recipe & Karaage recipe.

Sushi Rice:

• 2 cups of short grain rice (half white half brown)
• About 5 cm (2 inches) of Dashi Kombu (Kelp)
• 2 and a half tbsp of sugar
• 1/2 tbsp of salt
• 3 and a half tbsp rice vinegar

Clean the rice and let it sit in a strainer for about 30 minutes. Then add the Kombu on top of the rice and cook in a rice cooker, with the appropriate amount of water (about 2 cups).

Meanwhile, combine the rice vinegar, salt and sugar.

When the rice is done, place the rice in a large bowl and add the vinegar mixture. Combine well.
The rice may seem very wet, but as you combine the rice with the vinegar, the rice will suck up the vinegar and will start to get sticky again. Constantly mix the rice until sticky.

Now you have the perfect sushi rice to make your own sushi.

Karaage:

• Boneless chicken thigh meat (recommended with skin), cut into chunks.
• 1 knob of ground ginger
• 1~2 knobs of garlic minced
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp sake
• Pinch of salt & pepper
• Potato starch or corn strach for batter

Take all the ingredients except for the potato starch and combine well to marinade the chicken for about 10~30 minutes.

Heat oil to about 350°F.

Take the chicken and cover with the potato starch batter. Fry for about 5 minutes each. Batter may look white in parts when done, but that’s just fine. It’s actually tastier that way. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt, and enjoy.

Our long travel ended with us not even finishing our sushi dinner. I was exhausted…

26 hours, 1 hour of sleep ~ Part 1 April 17, 2008

This could get long so I am splitting this story in several parts.

It’s been 8 years since I’ve been in Japan, and our first trip as a family to Japan.

Flying with my daughter has always been surprisingly fabulous. She sleeps, hangs out in the seat, and just chills. But this time it’s not that 4~5 hour flight to San Diego, it’s a 1 hour flight to Newark, 3 hour wait until the next flight, then a 13 hour flight to Narita (Tokyo, Japan), 2 hour bus ride, then the one and a half hour car ride to Mt. Fuji. A lot longer.

Our day started at 4 am (Eastern Time) and ended at 6 am (Eastern Time) = 26 hours.

10:30pm, we go to bed. An hour later than when we really wanted to, but we had to get all of our bags to weigh less than 40 lb. I’ve been packing and getting ready for this trip for a week! Making sure I had everything I need and not more than what I need. Packing for 2 months is kind of hard. Luckily we are flying to a country that has everything, if we forgot anything.
Packing carry-on for toddlers takes a lot of thinking. Let’s go over my list:

1. Laptop with toddler games (Sesame Street), DVD’s in a small CD case, and head set.
2. Playdough (pack of 3, $1) with plastic knife and fork (disposable, just in case they lose it, it doesn’t matter)
3. Crayons and coloring book. Compliments of the Mazda dealership)
4. Stickers, to stick anywhere. Thank you Whole foods for all the free stickers!
5. Lots of small snacks, salty to the savory. Not too many sweets or they will be so hyper that they won’t stay in their seats.
6. Sweatshirt for the cold flight.
7. An extra set of clothing. Just in case of an accident.
8. Night time diapers, so you don’t have to freqent the bathroom to change them.
9. Ear Planes. For air pressure relief. & a echinacea sucker for strengthening immune system and pressure relief.
10. And a secret life saver. One fun toy that you don’t let your child know that you bought, and bust it out when you ran out of everything and you need something. I got her a few pets from the Pet Shop collection.

That’s all that was in Zu’s bag for this flight.
Our other carry on (since I read the itinerary wrong and thought they ONLY served lunch on this 13 hour flight), we packed grapes, bananas (you can buy fruit at the airport but they tend to be over priced), sandwiches, a couple onigiri, snacks, candy, neck pillows, eye mask, ear plugs, thick socks, poncho (can be used to wear or as a blanket), books, sudoku (get a gel pen, they usually don’t explode on flights), plug adapter for laptop (most of the time you need a EmPower adapter, you can find one at Target for about $40 in the electronics section), camera, and toiletry kit.

Our alarm clock went off at 3:30am. John (my husband) tells me that we have 30 more minutes until we have to wake up. So Not True!! We had to leave in 30 minutes to check in for our flight at 6:40am. He’s lucky I’m one of those people who can’t really fall back asleep after once waken up.
We get ready, Johns friend comes to pick us up. 3:50am get Zu (our daughter) and put her in the car. We packed most of the stuff in the car the night before. Smart way to travel if your leaving on a Red Eye or some thing super early like our flight. We got out of the house with practically no delay.

Now here’s a menu for some carry on food that I packed.
Onigiri (rice ball) for 2+toddler

• 1 and 1/4 cup frozen rice nuked.
• Salt & pepper
• Tuna
• Vinegar (you can use tuna, but I don’t recommend it for long flights)
• Sugar
• Soy Sauce
• Scallions finely chopped
• Sea Weed

In a bowl mix 2 tbsp tuna or salmon, 1/2 tsp vinegar, 1/2 tsp soy sauce, 1/4 tsp sugar, scallions and salt & pepper to taste.
Take 1/2 cup rice, make a little ball wrapping the 1/3 of the tuna mixture. Wrap with sea weed.
Repeat with 1/2 cup rice, and finally with 1/4 cup rice for toddler.
Very yummy and very satisfying for a small snack. Here’s a link to How To Video.

This is all for prepping for that International flight. This is “PreRestless in 26 hours”.

Continues….