Bay to Breakers Has a New Set of Sobering Rules

You are supposed to sit on the toilet, not shit on it.This year’s Bay to Breakers will look — and feel — a bit different than what you’ve come to know in year’s past. For starters, there will be no floats allowed and no “wheeled objects” permitted — that includes moms (or dads) with strollers and bicycles.

And remember the roving tiki bar in 2005? Or that giant duck float from 2010? Gone.

Last year, race operators released a slew of new rules restricting the only-in-San Francisco traditions that have shaped the bizarreness of B2B since its inception. Much of that fun was alcohol-induced, but now race participants have to leave their booze at home. And no dog or headphones, either, because you know what they say: If you act like children, you will be treated like children.

Also everyone has to wear a bib to prove they are paid and registered for the race — unregistered runners and last-minute registrations are absolutely forbidden (that includes you, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom!).

Yes, it kind of sounds like B2B has become a killjoy, but organizers say these new rules aren’t meant to do away with the zany fun. Rather, they are there to make the footrace a safer and — fingers crossed — a much cleaner event.

Speaking of being clean, some 1,200 portable toilets will be stationed at intervals along the route, which means you’ll have to exercise those potty-training skills you learned as a toddler. If you are able to hold it and use a Porta-Potty like an adult, then you will be rewarded, just like any 3-year-old — or puppy. We’re not kidding! An attendant will be there to hand you a wristband proclaming you as a
bona fide “Potty Hero” for not pissing and defecating anywhere other than a public restroom.

So if you’re planning to partake in the race this weekend, expect to see plenty police out there enforcing the news rules and trying to make it safer for you. However, if you’re like us, then you’ll be swigging a beer, with your dog by your side in the comfort of your own home, far away from the Bay to Breakers stampede.

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How long untill your child stopped having regular potty training accidents?

My son potty trained a couple months before his second birthday as well.  I don’t think it’s too early, but I do think that your expectations about accidents should probably be different than for a kid who’s say, 3 1/2 and just potty trained.  Ds will be 3 this summer, so we’re coming up on a year of being “potty trained”.  He does still occasionally have accidents during the day.  Most of them are just leaks, not full out pees.  He wears the little Gerber brand non-waterproof training pants as underwear.  They are really just slightly padded underwear, but it’s enough that sometimes I don’t have to change his jeans when he has a little accident.  The accidents seem to come in little spurts, where he gets lazy/too distracted or whatever to take himself potty when he needs to.  After a few accidents, he gets more vigilant about taking himself on time.  When we first potty trained him, he was much more amenable to me just watching the clock and taking him when I thought it was time.  Now that he’s older he’s all about being independent and really resists me suggesting that he go potty.  I do insist he go potty sometimes, like before we get in the car to run errands and first thing in the morning when he’s still kind of groggy and I know he’s liable to have accidents.  Other than that I try to respect his wishes for taking care of it himself. 

I think it’s normal for kids who start early to have a longer transition period, and that’s okay.  I’d still rather wash some soiled underpants a couple times a week than do full out diaper laundry for another year!  5 in a day is a lot though, I’d probably try to take more of the responsibility of making sure he’s sitting on the potty regularly if I were you, though if he’s already at that strong-willed independent stage that might be difficult. 

Potty Training: Girls vs. Boys

Potty training can be one of the most challenging tasks for parents especially the mothers. The task of potty training gets even more challenging when differentiated amongst potty training boys versus the girls. But a little guidance and help to mothers can be a great source of information and they can tackle through the challenges of potty training quite smoothly.

Boys Confusion 

One of the most common aspects seen in boys that take them longer with potty training is that, as mostly mothers arepotty training therefore, the boys get confused with the potty training habits. It is always best that for the potty training of boys, fathers should play an important role as they can much relate to their sons and help them in making potty training easy.

Timing Differences

For mothers, it is important to understand that boys take a longer time in potty training as compared to girls. Therefore if they have trained a daughter quickly earlier and now the son is taking time in potty training then being patient with it is the best option. One of the reasons for boys to take time for potty training is that they are not mature or get matured quickly as compared to the girls.

Hygiene

Teaching good hygienic habits and inculcating them into your child is another integral part of potty training. But you need to go in a stepwise fashion. First, make sure that your child is fully done with potty training and goes to bathroom when required. When this step of potty training is done, move to the other, which is how to do washing and cleaning. Using of tissue papers, wet tissues, water etc. are all a part of it and teaching the importance of cleaning is extremely important in potty training with special reference to germs, infections and other health problems. Moreover, telling your kid to wash hands afterwards is another important phenomenon.

Position

In potty training, a big difference in boys and girls comes when they are urinating. Boys mostly get confused whether they sit or stand. Therefore, in potty training, removing all these confusions is also a must factor. Conveying the message to boys in potty training that they can do both ways and stating the preferable way is also a part of potty training.

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Lessons in potty training

By Lisa Franco
Healthbeat

May 18, 2012 4:08PM

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Dr. Lisa Franco

Updated:
May 18, 2012 4:08PM

Mention “potty training” in a roomful of parents and you’re likely to hear horror stories, along with some helpful hints, for a smooth transition.

Let’s face it. Kids don’t always cooperate with toilet training. It’s the one element in their life they can fully control. Parents can force a child what to eat, what to wear and when to go to bed, but they cannot make the child use the bathroom.

So when I tell a parent you won’t accomplish training in a weekend, I often hear a panicky, “But he needs to be trained by the end of summer for preschool!” Unfortunately, the more the parent pushes, the more the child resists.

There is no magic trick for toilet training. Most kids accomplish it all on their own with lots of support and guidance from their caretaker. “Positive reinforcement” is the key to success. There is no place for punishment when it comes to potty training.

Watch the signs

First, watch for some developmental and emotional signs that your child is ready to begin the process.

For instance, is your child walking? Most kids walk by a year to a year and a half, the soonest you should even be thinking about toilet training.

Does your child put on and take off his clothes? Is he able to pull his pants up and down? Most kids can do this by age 2.

When your child has a soiled diaper, does he bring you a fresh one and ask to be changed? Having awareness of a wet diaper is a good clue he’s ready to start potty training.

Does he “do a little dance” when playing? Use this opportunity to encourage him to “try.”

In general, girls exhibit readiness signs slightly earlier than boys do.

Once your child is developmentally ready, you can entice him with books and/or videos on potty training. You can allow her into the bathroom with you and let her flush for you. Buy your child their very own potty chair. Whether it’s a separate kid-sized chair or a special kid seat to place on the grown-up toilet is up to you and your child. Either way, they can call it their own and that makes it special.

Reinforce correct behavior

How should you react to success and failure? If the child is unable to “go,” be nonchalant about it and quickly and quietly clean up.

If the child has an accident – accidents are common in the early stages of toilet training – simply and quietly, clean up the child, saving the conversation until he is wearing fresh clothes. If the child receives too much parental attention during this time, it might boost the notion that accidents bring extra notice from mom or dad.

On the other hand, lavish praise as well as incentives – sticker charts, kisses and treats – will help reinforce the correct behavior. Children really do want to please their parents, so knowing they’ve earned your approval will help guarantee future successes.

Sometimes, however, parents view these techniques as “giving in” to the child and try to control the process, such as forcing a child to train quickly and punishing for accidents. This could have negative consequences:

Low self-esteem: A child may feel like a failure if he cannot control his bodily functions.

Constipation: A child will become so fearful to “let go” that, eventually, he literally cannot. When he does, the resulting bowel movement may be large, hard and perhaps bloody.

Household stress: The family literally plans their life around the child and his toileting routine.

Training quirks: Perhaps a child will only feel comfortable using the home toilet.

Gradual process

How long does toilet training take? Generally, it’s a gradual process for a child to do number one and two in a toilet (some children will, at first, do only one or the other) and to finally remain dry at night, which can take several years past the time the child discards daytime diapers.

It’s a gradual process. It could take months between the time a child successfully urinates in the potty and when he succeeds with bowel movements in the potty. It could take years before a child is finally dry at night from the time he’s initially trained during the day. About 40 percent of kindergartners still wet the bed at night.

During the process of toilet training I recommend staying calm, following your child’s cues and offering lots of encouragement. Toilet training is more than just a “chore” we all have to do with our children. Once your child has mastered this skill, she will have also gained increased independence and self-confidence, which does wonders for self-esteem. So, try to enjoy the process and make it fun for your child.

Dr. Lisa Franco is a pediatrician who admits patients to Adventist Hinsdale Hospital.

Snow Days Without the Tech Haze

I’m just a young mom, trying to survive potty training, cleaning up dirty socks and spills and always trying not to be the last mom in the pre-school line.

GREENVILLE, SC (PRWEB) May 17, 2012

What happens when the technology goes out and a family is left to their own devices?

In her new children’s book, “When the Power Went Out” (published by AuthorHouse), Amy Smith looks at what happens when the gadgets are gone and the modern family is left to its own devices. Smith, a mother of two young children, wrote the book when she noticed some disturbing trends in today’s technologically savvy world.

“It seems like every month a new gadget comes out,” says Smith. “Whether we know it or not, it’s competing with our families for our time.”

In the book, Simon’s family is forced to reevaluate what they consider family time, when a freak snowstorm cuts them off from the rest of the world. Complete with a recipe for snow cream, the book focuses on different ways that a snowstorm can bring a family together, instead of forcing them apart.

For Smith, the battle to enrich family time comes from personal experience. As a mother of two, graduate student and author, Smith understands the time crunch that many families are in.

“I’m just a young mom, trying to survive potty training, cleaning up dirty socks and spills and always trying not to be the last mom in the pre-school line,” says Smith. “I want to give all parents and children a relatable, fun book that will spark their creativity.”

For information, visit http://www.amazon.com/When-Power-Went-Zane-Smith/dp/1463439520

“When the Power Went Out”

By Amy Zane Smith

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3952-1

Softcover, retail price: $11.70

About the author

In addition to surviving potty training, cleaning up dirty socks or spills and trying to be first in the preschool line, Smith is either writing or studying. She is currently working towards her master’s degree in education at Anderson University. Amy and her family currently reside in Liberty, South Carolina.

EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact:

Lauren Cascio

Phone: 317-366-7897

Email: lcascio(at)bohlsengroup(dot)com

(When requesting a review copy, please provide a street address.)

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We’ll never forget: We call our five babies our sextuplets to remember the …

Most parents find having one young child exhausting, with the endless routine of washing, playing and potty-training.

But times that by five and you come close to understanding the chaos that constantly surrounds Nuala and Austin Conway.

Three years ago on Tuesday the couple made history when they became parents to the first British sextuplets in 25 years.

After they were conceived naturally at odds of one in 4.5 million, doctors advised some of the foetuses should be aborted at 14 weeks to give the rest a better chance of surviving.

Despite the shock at discovering they were expecting so many babies Nuala and Austin refused.

And when Eoghan, Karla, Austin, Ursula, Shannon and Kerrie arrived 14 weeks early by Caesarean section with 30 medical staff on hand, they had just 50% chance of survival.

Weighing in from 1lb 7oz to 2lb 2oz, the tiny babies were whisked to intensive care where they all initially appeared to be progressing well.

Sadly, two months later Kerrie Mae, the smallest and the last born, developed breathing difficulties and died.

But her surviving five brothers and sisters went from strength to strength and will celebrate their third birthday with cake and a bouncy castle next week.

For all the celebrations surrounding the five happy, healthy miracles, there will be a shadow of sadness as they will also be going to the cemetery to visit Kerrie’s grave.

And while she’ll watch delighted as her five excited children rip open their presents that morning, Nuala, a former retail supervisor turned full-time mum, will always consider herself a mother of six.

“Every year, on the children’s birthday, we lay flowers at Kerrie’s grave and say a prayer for her,” says Nuala, 29, from Dunamore, County Tyrone.

“I feel so incredibly lucky and am overwhelmed with love for my other five children, but nothing ever replaces the one that you lost.

“To us, they will always be our sextuplets and when people ask about our five children, I always say there were six because we will never forget our daughter.”

The date is doubly bittersweet for Nuala as she also lost her mother to a heart attack one week after her children’s first birthday.

“It was absolutely devastating,” recalls Nuala. “She was only 57 and had been suffering from heart trouble. The last time I saw Mummy was when we had a party for their first birthday.

“I wish she could see what little ladies and gentlemen they have turned into.

“Last year’s birthday was really tough and this year will be too because it reminds me I will be missing two important people in my life: my daughter and my mother, Teresa.”

In the past three years, however, Nuala has had little time for reflecting. With five noisy, demanding children to look after life has been a relentless routine of non-stop childcare.

But Nuala says the key to coping with it all is working together with Austin, 29.

The day starts at 7am when Nuala and kitchen-fitter, Austin, start the feeding and dressing.

“Being relaxed is the secret,” says Nuala. “Every day is very different but we try to have a routine.

“The kids are all very different, too. Ursula is very outgoing and chatty, Austin is gentle and caring, Shannon is strong-willed and determined, Karla mummies the rest of them and Eoghan wants to do exactly what his daddy does.

“They all fight among each other but they can sort out their own differences, too.

“When they do bicker it can be over anything from all wanting to play with a certain toy to what they want to watch on TV.

“At times, it can be very stressful but Austin and I try to let it go over our heads.

“At tea time, one of the children will help set the table and the kids all scramble to get to their seats and their food.

“It is a very social time because Austin and I make sure that we sit down as well and eat with them.

“But it can be difficult and we are always too tired to go out to the pub or for dinner even and often we are in bed by 11pm as we are both so exhausted,” she admits.

 “The only time we ever really go out is if it’s a family occasion.

“But we both have the same attitudes towards parenting. For example, we are both quite strict when it comes to discipline and have no qualms about using the naughty step!

“We both want the same things for our children so we support each other. Our relationship has got stronger and it helps that Austin is a very hands-on dad.

“His work is quiet at the moment so he’s around to help out.”

Having five to feed, bathe and clothe is an expensive business. Nuala calculates they’ve spent more than £30,000 on nappies, washing powder and food since their birth.

“Every week I spend between £200 to £300 on food and toiletries for them, not to mention their clothes and shoes,” Nuala says.

In recent weeks, the couple has been doing their best to potty-train the five children, which will save a small fortune.

“At first we lined their potties up in front of the TV just to get them used to sitting on them,” says Nuala.

“There are two blue ones for the boys and three pink ones for the girls and they look very cute all in a row.

“We started potty-training one child then progressed to three and by the second week we were potty-training all five.

“We thought it would be a lot easier than it has been and we haven’t gone out as much because it’d be a logistical nightmare if they all needed the toilet at the same time!”

In September, the children will start at a local preschool, before beginning at primary school next year.

“Three years ago, it seemed so far away, but it has come and gone in the blink of an eye,” Nuala explains.

“It will be strange not to have them at home so much with me and I’ll really miss them. But we’ll look forward to hearing them tell their stories of what they got up to at school.”

Unsurprisingly, Nuala has no plans to add to her already large family, though she wouldn’t totally rule out another baby.

“People ask would we have any more kids. At the moment we have lots to keep us busy, but you never know,” she laughs.

All the children are quite healthy, despite their premature birth. However, all were born with heart murmurs.

“Eoghan and Karla had an operation to correct theirs in the year they were born,” recalls Nuala.

“Unfortunately it affected Karla’s vocal chords and, although her voice has come back over time, she speaks really quietly. She might have to see a speech therapist eventually.

“Austin, Ursula and Shannon still have their heart murmurs and Shannon might need to have an operation to correct hers later this year.”

Nuala feels enormous relief that she ignored doctors’ suggestions of aborting some of her foetuses to minimise risks.

“It’s hard to believe that I was advised to do that,” she says. “They are all fit and healthy but it’s hard not to picture them in their little incubators, grasping to life.

Next week, as they blow up balloons for their children’s birthday, Nuala and Austin will count their blessings.

But they will also be thinking about the sixth child they will always miss.

“Austin and I are throwing a big party for their birthday to celebrate with a bouncy castle and a cake that reads Happy Third Birthday Sextuplets,” says Nuala.

“They deserve to be spoilt rotten after everything they have been through.

“But we will also all say a quiet prayer for Kerrie, our little angel in heaven.”

A day in the life of Nuala and Austin

7am The first of the children wake and Nuala and Austin spend the next hour getting them dressed.

8am Breakfast (chaos with all five of them sitting down wanting different cereals and toast).

9am They set off to playgroup in their eight-seater van.

10am Nuala does all the housework, washing five lots of kids’ clothes and cleaning.

11am Time to pick up the kids.

12am Back home for lunch, feeding five hungry mouths at once.

2pm None of the children have a nap now so Nuala and Austin play with them or take them out to the park or library.

5pm Back home for tea. Again, five hungry mouths demand a snack.

6pm Allowed to watch their favourite TV shows, which include Peppa Pig.

6.30pm. Bath time together in the same tub.

7pm Dinner time… meaning chaos rules yet again.

8pm Story time on the sofa with hot milk, then bed.

9pm Nuala and Austin make dinner and then collapse in front of the TV exhausted.

10pm Off to bed for Nuala and Austin.

One of West Michigan’s largest construction companies is marking half a …

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GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM)- One of West Michigan’s largest construction companies is marking half a century in business with a new charitable initiative.

This morning Erhardt Construction owners unveiled a plan to donate $50,000 in construction work and cash to non-profits in Kent and Ottawa Counties. Any non-profit can enter the contest by filling out an application on Erhardt Construction’s website before June 12, 2012. The winner will recieve $45,000 in construction and four runners up will receive cash prizes of more than $1,000.

“Our hope is to reach non-profits that have challenges getting funding for their facility improvements that they need done. I think a lot of the work that happens in these non-profit organizations is done in conditions that could really benefit from our expertise,” said Ben Wickstrom with Erhardt Construction.

The company has built some of Grand Rapids’ most iconic structures including the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, the Van Andel Arena, the Van Andel Institute and DeVos Place.

By Chris Zoladz

This Sesame Street app will potty-train your kid

Hope you’ve got a screen protector…Sesame Street has a new iOS app, “Potty Time with Elmo,” that is aimed at kids and parents going through the potty-training process.

The app, from Sesame Workshop and Publications International, is based on the bestselling book of the same title. For kids, there’s “a story with Elmo about the rewards of learning to use the toilet,” songs, stickers and a virtual rewards chart. Parents can “track their child’s potty progress” and get potty-training tips.

“Potty Time with Elmo” is $0.99 for now and will increase to $2.99 after May 29.

Elmo faces competition from other potty-training apps, but none of them are hosted by the little furry red monster.

George W. Bush endorses Romney

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WASHINGTON (AP) — George W. Bush is backing presumptive Republican White House nominee Mitt Romney.

The former president offered a four-word endorsement of Romney as the doors of his elevator were closing after a speech Tuesday in Washington.

Bush said: “I’m for Mitt Romney.”

ABC News caught Bush after the speech, prompting his unscripted — but not surprising — endorsement.

Bush’s parents, former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, endorsed Romney in March during an appearance in Texas. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also publicly backed Romney.

Romney’s campaign issued a brief statement welcoming the support.

Since leaving office in January 2009, George W. Bush has tried to avoid politics. He left Washington deeply unpopular with voters who blamed him for the economic crisis that unfolded on his watch.

From the Associated Press

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