Caught up in the World of Wizardry

It's Harry Potter season. Between the movie coming out two weeks ago and the new book out last weekend, everything's coming up Harry. I ordered my copy of Deathly Hallows to come via Amazon on the day of the release, but I relinquished it to hubby. You see, I generally re-read the entire series with each new release. This time, since I have a pile of books stacking up in my must-read-as-soon-as-possible pile (which is next to my bed and becoming too cumbersome), I have opted to read only book 5 and 6 before savoring the final book to the last crumb. I started listening to book 5 on tape on the way home from Whittier and am now deep into the school year, incensed by Dolores Umbridge and wishing I could tuck in with the students at their feasts. Just once I'd love to be there with the ceiling of stars and the tables drooping with feast food!
So, I'm not going to spend much time on this blog--I want to get back to my book, and a girl only has so much time to read when she has four children, including one who is teething and one who "thinks he needs to go potty" every 15 minutes--have I created a monster?
Here's a site for fun HP games, quizzes, etc.
Now, back to my book!

Potty Training--Day 3

So, I'm on day three of a three day plan to get Ian potty trained. My mom has always insisted that it only takes three days if you do it right. So, on Thursday, I packed away all the diapers (I am too cheap to throw them away when I'll have another kid there soon enough) and showed Ian that their usual spot was empty. We put on some underwear, and I told him that big boys keep their underwear dry. Then every few minutes I ask him to check it and see if it is still dry. About every 30 minutes we take him in and have him sit for a few minutes. For sitting on the potty, he gets one fruit snack (a rare treat at my house) and if he goes, he gets the entire bag. We had a few s the first day, although he made it through his nap dry and woke up dry the next morning (we did take him once in the middle of the night.) We had fewer s yesterday--one wet and one of the other kind (blech! this potty training is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach). Today it really seems to be clicking--his only was #2 and he actually came and told me that he had to go once, which was wonderful.
We even went to the farmer's market today and then to Costco, where he went on demand. Yeah! Those of you without kids have no idea how monumental this is (and I apologize for the scatalogical subject matter.)
Nana brought him this cowboy underwear which he is showing so proudly in the picture and which he is working very hard to keep dry. He also got some new cowboy sheets from Target which he has kept dry at naps and bedtime. I am so proud of him. Hopefully we'll have him totally ready by Monday, when we pack him in the car for a six hour road trip (the ultimate bladder control contest.) I suppose we'll need to stop a couple of times to let him go.
Anyway, if you are trying to potty train your toddler, the best thing you can do is to get rid of those diapers and pull ups so that you don't have a crutch. Just prepare to clean up a few messes in the process. And have your carpets cleaned when you're finished!:)

By the way, I loved the The Order of the Phoenix movie, although it made me want to reread the book because they had to leave out so much. It was fun to see Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix LeStrange. She's in one of my favorite movies, "A Room with a View." Anyway, go see it (but not until you've read the book at least once.)