Potted Plants

Found these cute little mini rose bushes at Walmart on "Day After Valentine's Day Clearance." Apparently, mini rose bushes are a Valentine's Day plant??? Anyway, I only paid $1.25 each. Sweet! And I love them! They make me so happy every time I see them!

Their thorns are not much to speak of. In fact, my 6 month old was grabbing branches of this plant and was unharmed.

One important thing to note about rose bushes, is that their dead leaves can b

reed/spread plant disease, so don't let the dead leaves and branches stay on the ground, get rid of them!

One fun thing about rose bushes, is that it is GOOD for them when you cut the bloomed flowers off. Doing so actually encourages the plant to produce more flowers. So enjoy those roses! Treat yourself to a vase full of them!

I also found some clearance plants at a hardware store. This one is an orchid. I think they are so pretty, but I knew nothing about care for an orchid. I have been doing some googling, though, and have learned that these plants are EXTREMELY prone to root rot. So much so, in fact, that you can't even plant them in dirt. You need to buy a special orchid mix to plant them in (either moss or a mixture of bark and other things). Also, you should not water orchids too often, nor allow the water to get trapped in the crevices of the leaves.

Orchids do require feeding, so you will have to also purchase an orchid fertilizer and will need to apply it regularly...about once a month?

Although the orchids don't like to be too wet, they also don't like to be in too much light. The sunlight they get should be indirect light, filtered through sheer curtains, if possible.

Lastly, for these fickle plants, you will need to re-pot these plants into slightly larger pots every year or two. Interesting little things!

I'm not totally sure what kind of plant this is, but it reminded me of California and I liked it...So I bought it! I guess I'll figure it out as I go.

Update: It's a Bromeliad! Learn more in my Bromeliad post!

Finally, we found this Yucca Plant at Ikea. These are pretty cool little indoor trees. They require next to no care. They should not be in much light, and they only need to be watered every few weeks, "when the dirt becomes dry." Nice!

Potty Training, Round 2

My second daughter recently made it clear that she was ready to potty train. She had started to fight me when I tried to put diapers on her, and, one day, she even removed her diaper, and replaced it with underwear, without my knowledge. We were out and about that day when she suddenly started walking funny and crying "I peed!" I couldn't figure out why she was so upset about peeing, until I realized that she had no diaper on!

Let me tell you, if you have not yet toilet trained your child: there is no rush! Life is so much easier and simpler when you do NOT have a toilet trained child on your hands! Potty training is not so much about training a toddler to recognize the feeling of needing to go to the potty and then doing it, as it is training YOURSELF to constantly be asking your child if they need to go potty, forcing them to use the potty, and ensuring that no matter what is going on or where you go, you are not too far from a potty.

Obviously, I didn't enjoy my first round of potty training and had vowed not to train my second until she was 3 years old. But, when they are this insistent, what can you do? So, here we go!

With MJ, my first, we put her in underwear and kept her in it all day, each day (except for when sleeping). She basically held it for hours (as long as she could), and then started having accidents about every 15 minutes for the rest of the day. Lovely. She was frustrated, we were frustrated.

This time around, I stripped Lala down to do naked potty training (as I had heard that worked well). She did NOT like that idea, and insisted on getting dressed. "Eh, ok," I said. So, she was fully dressed (with underwear). Day 1, she made it in the potty twice, and then had an accident. After having an accident, she went in her room and put a diaper on herself. "Eh, ok," I said again! Yep, I am turning into a real softy in my old age! She remained in her diaper the rest of the day. For the next week, I put her in underwear every morning and at about lunch time switched her back into a diaper for the rest of the day. It has been working great! She didn't get frustrated, we didn't get frustrated! Now, she is in underwear all day every day (except when sleeping) and only has accidents a couple times a week. We have the confidence to be able to take her out places and she does great!

My conclusion: take it easy and slow. Don't frustrate everyone in the house over potty training.