Tuesday's Toots! #7 "Potty Time": Where's the Poop?

I haven't actually read this book yet

It's Tuesday's Toots! again, but today I decided to go with a theme.  That's right it's "Potty Time".  One of my readers sent in their funny story and it inspired what you are about to read.  And as everyone does poop (along with many other "potty time" situations - regarding the kids, of course ;) I'm sure this could be a recurring theme.  

Beth Z.(@bethzimmerman)

(At a restaurant- Click 6-year-old-logic to read entire post) I don’t remember what prefaced it but I told M (6yo) she could have a piece of Key Lime Pie for dessert when we got home. The child loves Key Lime Pie and tries to sneak it onto every grocery list! This time though she looked at me and sadly said that her tummy was too full. I responded, reasonably I thought, that was okay, she could have some later. To which she replied,

“Oh yeah! My tummy will be empty later” … volume increases … “because” … another notch up in volume … “I’ll POOP it out!”

Martha (@TheNextMartha)

Tonight 3 y/o son RIPS ONE in Target and then says out LOUD "Mommy, who tooted?" Then he chuckles.

Nicole G.

Using a porta potty is always an interesting experience, but add to that taking your 2 yr old son with you while you have your 3 month old baby in a front pack...and that's a circus act! It's a good thing they had a handicapped one so we could all fit. My 2 yr old (Q) has a new found appreciation for urinals. Which is fine with me, since that means his dad must take him potty all the time being we don't have those in women’s restrooms. But this time, I was flying solo. And in the porta potty we were so "lucky" to have one. So after I helped him go potty, (standing on the seat so he could use the urinal), I realize that I really need to use the restroom as well. Q, not exactly knowing the anatomical differences between boys and girls yet, says, "Mom, you better not use the urinal."

"Why not, Son?" wondering where this was going...

"You better sit down, because you only have buns!"

(not actually her kids)

 Amy S.

(In regards to potty training):  Cheerios.....in the toilet.....that's what I did for my little guys.... made a game out of it..... if you can hit the cheerios you get a sticker!!!!!.....I have one great “pee'er” and one not so good......so who knows, but it seemed to help.....

Jodey M.

Apparently my child has a sweaty booty issue...

I saw E (6yo) crying in the library at school...I asked him what was wrong. He said his butt is all sweaty and it itches! I try to hold back the laughter cause it is very apparent that he was uncomfortable. I asked him how his tush got so wet (his pants were soaked) to which he replied, "running at recess... so my teacher told me to go to the bathroom and wipe it with a paper towel!" He had shoved a soaking wet paper towel down his pants to wipe his sweaty booty which is how his pants got so wet and why he was so itchy!

Come to find out later... While he was in the bathroom he got locked in the bathroom stall! 2 of my co-workers passed by the bathroom and heard him yelling, "help I am trapped in here and I can’t get out!! So not only did he have an itchy wet booty, but he also was traumatized from being locked in the bathroom stall! We agreed next time that he should use a dry paper towel and not to lock the stall:-) Luckily, i had an extra pair of pants and unders in my car!

Wendy M.

When Brother Rootbeer was about 22 months old, we were in the beginning stages of potty training. He had his little potty that he would often sit on and read books as I changed the laundry and picked up upstairs. One day he yelled at me from his little throne, "I poop a square! I poop a square!"... I ran in there to see what he was talking about and there in the little potty was a perfectly formed "triangle"... Like any first time mom, I was pretty impressed that he recognized that he had pooped a shape. So impressed that I took a pic of it! ;) What a little genius I must have on my hands to be able to poop shapes!  

Thank you to all who shared! I had so much fun putting this post together and I hope you enjoyed it. If this inspires any other stories, please keep sending them in! Email us at ToddleToots.  I will leave you with a montage of some cute, funny, and interesting pics I found today...

Inventive!

So you don't miss at night! (clean much?)

Nicole G. here's your answer ;)

Not really even sure what to say. WTH?

Convenient and maybe even GENIUS

Even Potty Trainers need a little group support

Happy Tooting!

MamaToots

The Versatile Blogger Award!!

You guys this is my FIRST online award and I owe it all to the fans!


Well, actually, I owe it all to Bruna from Bees With Honey.  Thank You Bruna! I am honored and truly excited to receive this award and to be listed among those you deemed worthy to receive it.  Thank You!


There are some rules that go along with this:

1. You have to Thank the person who awarded you & link them back in your post.  Thank you Bruna!

2. Tell everyone 7 random facts about yourself.  I love coffee, BOOKS, playing with my toddler, wasting time on twitter, writing my novel, spending time with friends, and traveling.

3. Pass the award on to 10 new bloggers.

4. Contact each blogger and let them know you’ve passed the award on to them, & let the “giver” know you accept the award.

Here are bloggers (and Tweeters) I have recently discovered and/or just simply enjoy:

Keli@ImproperlyForward

Heidi@LittleMommyFooFoo

MamaCrass@TheSassyPieHole

MammyWoo@MissLexyWoo

Katie@SluiterNation

Jen@BuriedWithChildren

Bumbling@BumblingAlong

Natalie@MyCrazyBusyLife

MadsMom@ADiaryofAMadWoman

Julie@3momsin1

Check out these fabulous ladies and their blogs! Please make sure to check out the fabulous Bruna@BeesWithHoney who generously awarded me with The Versatile Blogger Award. 

Thanks and Share the Love!

MamaToots

Tuesday's Toots! #6

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!  Enjoy...

Sassypiehole (@sassypiehole)

3yo daughter in bathtub: "That was a sad toot!" (can't say I've ever heard of that) "And THAT was a happy toot!" (we might need to get out of the tub).

"My pajamas have curtains!"

Nicole A.

As the kids are eating breakfast J (9yo son) was practicing writing in cursive. Then N (5yo son) says, 'quick R (6yo daughter) - say something in cursive!' R looked at him and said very dramatically 'ohdoligwe'. Apparently, she's quite fluent. ;)

Keli B. (@improperlykeli)

I'm just sitting at the dining table on the internet while the little man (5yo) eats some cheetos when suddenly he looks at me and says, "I know, Mom. These Cheetos are totally calling your name aren't they? They don't know you're working out at the gym now."

Ben D. (@bendelaney)

Son (4yo): Hey Dad, look! It's a Magooby Maschew!

Me: A Magooby Maschew?!

Son: Yep. 

Me: ooooOk!

Thank you to everyone who shared your cute comments with us! We love them, keep 'em coming! If you haven't had a chance, "Like" our Facebook Page!  


Happy Tuesday,
MamaToots!

Tuesday's Toots! #5

Toots! Toots! Toots! It's time for Toots!...

Dawn M. (@dawnmetcalf)

Reasons why I love my daughter: "Mom! Listen to this little tune! ♫ doo-diddle-ooo-doo-doo! ♫ Do you know where that came from? My brain!"

Misty R.

Yesterday MORNING at 6:45 I hear 4yo screaming from the kitchen. After running in there to see what's wrong I realize he had climbed into the fridge and fallen and cut his chin. I comforted him of course but asked him what he was doing in the fridge. His response? "I was just getting you a beer mom!" apparently beer is the new coffee.....

Amanda G. (@caffeinated_mom)

4y/o: "I want to make a snowman, can you get me some milk mommy?"

Brittany G. (@barefootfoodie)

Son just pulled open the front of his pants and was all, “Jesus, are you in there?” Catholic School is hilarious. Totally worth the money.

The Drama Mama (@poopscoopinmama)

Things you dont want to hear from your 3yo before that 1st cup of joe is gone: "Mommy my wee wee's hard." Thanks, son. Go tell your daddy

Michelle (@boytrapped)

Me: Son, quit biting your nails.

Son: I'm not, I'm eating toothpaste.

Me: Don't eat toothpaste. – why does this need to be explained?

Jennifer B. (@Jennifer_Brandt)

Tonight 3yo grabbed paci and blankie and said "Ahhh, its just so nice after a long, long day." Where does he come up w this stuff! So cute.

Thanks to everyone who shared your fun comments! Happy Tuesday :)

MamaToots!

MamaToots Personal Ramblings- Sillynesses

I had an idea that when I became a mama that I would go to great lengths to make my child smile and laugh, to keep the entertained, to keep them from crying, or stop them from crying. After all, I watched two sisters and multiple friends create all kinds of "sillyness" to accomplish the same thing.

The other day I had a very prominent "sillyness moment" (one of many to be sure).  My daughter is 1 1/2 and I have only on rare occasions been able to get her from the carseat to her bed for nap time without waking her up; or at the very least, being able to get her to go back to sleep.  I go to ridiculous measures to keep her awake when I know we are getting close to nap time and we are out in the car.

This is how it unfolded: We had just left a play time at a friend's house and I could sense -as I am quite intuitive- the quiet blanket of sleepiness start to fall upon her (also known as restlessness, eye rubbing, and yawning).  We were about 15 min away from our destination and hopefully a long satisfying nap.  So, of course, we hit about every red light possible.  And of course, being the good driver that I am, weaving through traffic and taking the most direct routes I can think of ahead of time while still obeying all traffic laws.  All the while trying to entertain my daughter by singing her favorite songs (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Your Boat, If Your Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands, ABC's), counting from 1-10 with her, and pointing our every landmark that I think she would find interesting as she pointed at every big truck calling them "tractors" (except for some reason she knew "bus") along with all their colors.  She was close enough behind me in our sedan that I could clap my hands on her feet (safely while driving, of course) and try to keep her excited about life as we approached our destination.  Her eyelids slowly drooping then she would look at me and giggle as if she knew the ploy all along.

Thanks to the suggestion of a friend from a previous conversation on this very matter (the same friend we had just left, in fact) I resorted to my final tactic: window rolling.  I would roll down random windows in the car to let the breeze in -now people, it was 26 DEGREES today so this was a blast of arctic air which led us to the "Oooo's" rising to high pitches then ending with "BURRR, COLD" which she would laugh and say "Cold" (now of course I let the car warm up before I did it again, I'm not cruel ;).  She would then say, "Again! Again!".

It WORKED!  We made it to our destination awake and even more ready for her nap.  Looking back on the event, because it was an EVENT, I wondered what it must have looked like to the car next to us: Sillyness that's what!

To me, these new "sillynesses" (yes, that's a new word I just made up) that I have incorporated into my life are part of what makes life fun.  It's the childlike "sillynesses" and fun that I can enjoy with my little girl that makes me smile and brings joy to my heart.

There are many, MANY "sillynesses" that we as parents do (Don't even deny it, I know you do it too) ;) and this was only one of mine.  Whether it be weird or crazy voices, funny faces, silly dances (I do my fair share of these too), or something of your own creativity we want to know!  What are yours?  Please share with us...

MamaToots!

Guest Post ~ Story Time with Mama B.

One of the fun parts about being a Mama for me, is hearing experiences from others and the things they love about being “Mama”.  We have a special guest post from a Mama who combined 2 of my favorite things: snuggle time and reading.  * Love *

Meet Bruna. She is an elementary school teacher in Vancouver, BC where she lives with her husband and 3 daughters.  She has a blog Bees With Honey

“I took up blogging because I enjoy writing and blogging provides me a venue through which I can share my journey through life. I love to share what inspires me, what I enjoy, what I’m up to ~ at the same time ~ also sharing the challenges I face trying to balance a career and a home life.”

Please Welcome Bruna!  

 As a mother and a teacher, I love any time I spend reading stories to children. I love books and have been collecting my favourites since I began my Teacher Education training many years ago.

At home, I love it how my girls get as excited about books as I do. We can never go to bed at night without having Story Time. No way!  They will run to our “quiet room” (a room for just sitting, socializing or reading) and go through our mini-library to choose the books they want to read with either their Dad or myself. Sometimes, big sister B sits and reads with them too and they really *love* it!

My favourite part of the whole Story Time experience is how the girls sit one on each side of me and cuddle into me as closely as possible. They love to snuggle when we read books and so do I.  Sometimes, I will even read an extra book just to keep them snuggled up to me for a few minutes longer.

Now, being a teacher, I always do Story Time the same way whether I’m reading to my students or my own children. Habit, I guess.  I want to make sure they’re getting the most out of their reading experience.

So I’m dedicating this post to all of my Mommy friends and readers out there who read with their children on a daily basis. I want to share with you the steps I follow when reading with my girls. Keep in mind that my girls are 2 and 4 years old. I might vary what I do with older children but the framework remains the same.

I hope you find this helpful!...

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Making Story Time Meaningful

1. We look at the front cover of the book and we read the title of the story and the name of the author and illustrator. It’s important to point these things out to children. They need to know how a book works and understand that a book is written and illustrated by people who have names. We might talk about how you open a book, hold it and how you turn the pages, specifically how we go from left to right.

2. Before commencing our reading, I will always draw the girls attention to the front cover of the book and ask them to look at the illustration. I will then ask them to guess what the story inside the book might be about. The girls love to share their predictions and in doing this, I’m getting them thinking and wondering and igniting their imaginations.

3. I always use my finger to track the words when I read so that the girls know that each word I touch on the book represents a word I say aloud. By doing this, they will  see that my finger goes from left to right and back again and repeats this pattern as I read. They will eventually learn that a letter represents a sound, a collection of letters represent a word and a collection of words represent a sentence, all of which are concepts of print.

4. While reading, I will always draw attention to the illustration on the page and ask the girls to point things out to me. Where is the kitten? Can you see the little mouse? By doing this, I’m showing the girls that the illustrations offer a lot of valuable information that we should also pay attention to. When kids begin reading themselves, the illustrations are often where the kids will look to for clues when unable to read a word. We teach this strategy in school. By encouraging them to engage in the books’ illustrations at a young age, we’re equipping them with a useful reading strategy that they will most definitely come to use over and over again once they begin learning how to read on their own.

5. At different places in the book, I will often stop reading and half-way close the book. I will then ask my girls a few questions like, ” What do you think will happen next? Will Bear find his way home or be lost forever? What would you do if you were Bear and were lost?”.  By asking these types of questions, I’m inviting the girls to engage and connect with the characters and to relate to them by drawing on their own personal experiences.  It’s amazing how much learning we do as people simply by relating to things based on our own personal experiences. By asking children questions, we are better able to assess their overall understanding.

6. Once we’ve finished reading our story, I will usually encourage the girls to share with me their favourite parts. Each of us will take turns sharing our thoughts.  I sometimes will ask them to re-tell what happened in the story along with listing me the names of the characters. My 4 year-old *loves* re-telling any story in her own words. This gets everyone talking about the book so that I’m able to see just how much each of the girls understood the story’s main elements.

7. Before we move on to our next story, I always ask the girls to rate the book according to how much they like or disliked it. Two thumbs up means they loved it. Two thumbs down means they didn’t like it. Two thumbs turned side-ways towards each other means the book was just “okay”. I think it’s important for children to voice their opinions about books they read and it also provides me with a better idea of the types of books I should be looking to buy or borrow from the library.  We always need more books!

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If we’re reading a story during the day, I may ask the girls to draw me a picture of their favourite part of a story once we’re done reading. They love doing this and it gets them using words we’ve learned from reading.

This Mama will do anything to turn an activity into an educational experience.
It’s a gift, I know.

Or maybe, it’s just the teacher in me that never goes away:)

~~~~~

I LOVE this post and am INSPIRED to try new reading techniques with my daughter.  Thank You Bruna!  Please show some love and visit Bruna’s site Bees With Honey to see her original post Story Time with Mama B. and much more.  You can find her at her blog, Facebook, and Twitter by clicking on her cute “button”.

Please share your comments with us, what did you think? Do you have any reading rituals or techniques?

Tuesday's Toots! #4

It's that time again...

Sassypiehole (@sassypiehole)

3yo daughter: "I don't WANNA wash my teeth, I'm gonna leave the pancakes on 'em!

Nickie R.
My kids are hilarious, usually when I have nothing on me but my phone... 

"Girl Jesus" she was calling herself with a stick.

Michael C.

Son: "Where are you going on your work trip?"


Me: "Florida."


Son: "Do they have famous things there like...statues...or graves...or football...or papers?"

Me: "Mmmm this vanilla ice cream is good.


Son: "Isn't that like our State ice cream?"

Bruna M. (@beeswithhoney)

In the bathtub, my 2 yr old was trying to catch her fart in a cup and giving it to her sister to smell. Nice. 

Heidi (@lilmommyfoofoo)

Listening to my 6yr old giving our koi fish a pep talk. "Dagon, you only have 9 more foods to eat! Come on bud!"

How many times must you say, "lipgloss is for lips, not foreheads" before it can be understood by a 3 year old?

Thank you to everyone who shared! We will be having a special guest post shared with us from a mother, who is also a teacher coming soon. Make sure to sign up for our posts via email if you haven't already to make sure you don't miss out :)


Happy Tooting!
MamaToots