- Emily's potty-training: Needless to say, it has been quite an adventure in this department for the last month. After more than 2 weeks of intense efforts and multiple strategies resulting in limited success and lots of frustration and messes, I've decided that Emily is just a classic strong-willed child and is absolutely not going to do it until she decides she's going to do it and there's nothing I can do to change that. Therefore, I've taken a more casual approach, purchased large quantities of pull-ups and have resolved to stop fighting a losing battle and just wait her out for awhile. Some day she's going to surprise me!
- Moving Emily's room: This is really more of a March/April project. However, because of the whole light battle most of her stuff is in the new room already anyway. I know what I want to do with the new room, it's just a matter of getting it done. :o)
- Deep-cleaning one room: This is the goal that needs the most accountability. I'm happy to report that we really almost got two rooms clean! I did the upstairs bathroom and Austin did the downstairs bathroom. I still have a box of little-used stuff that I have to sort through and reorganize on the storage shelves in the downstairs bathroom, but there was a lot of progress made!
- Cutting the monthly grocery bill by 25%: I ended up spending 79% of my grocery budget this month. It included a few splurge items (I usually allow myself one/week) and some stock-up items that were on sale. I feel very good about using up some things in my inventory that have been around for awhile and creating some more breathing room in my freezer while not totally depleting all my supplies. It takes a lot more concentrated effort, but it's doable!
- *Added Goal* Praying over Emily on a nightly basis: This is one of those obvious things I should be doing as a Christian parent, but it wasn't until I started reading Dr. Dobson's The New Strong-Willed Child book that I realized the true importance and gained the real motivation to actually do it. Every night I check on Emily before going to bed myself. Part of it is a need to cover her up and check the diaper/pajama situation (we sometimes have a removal problem), but I also take the time to physically lay my hands on her while she sleeps and pray for both of us. I believe it has truly altered my attitude towards her in sometimes difficult and frustrating situations. I wish I had started doing it sooner.
I hope you are making progress on your own personal goals! Check back at the end of February for more progress on mine. :o)
Good job on keeping up with the goals. It sounds like you've done a great job! I'm not sure how I'm doing with mine, probably not very good. I'm suppose to be "enjoying the moment" more with Wendell. I've been a bit more frusterated with him the last few weeks so maybe I need to focus on my goal more and the frusterations will go to the back of the burner instead of the front. I really want to be joy filled and know I made the best of his toddler years. I know 20 years from now I'll miss these times. Keep up the good work on your goals, hopefully I can do better with mine!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the reminder. My main goal is to sit down more and let my knee heal. I haven't been very good about this but I am trying to sit down at least an hour every day and knit or read. I am such a busybody!
ReplyDeleteWith the light switch, you could put a blank cover or duct tape over it for a while. Of course she could figure out how to peel off the tape!