More Bullets (Potty Training, Housing Situation, etc).

On Saturday night/Sunday early morning I forgot a few things I wanted to say, but at 2:30 a.m. one can hardly think. I enjoy staying up late and I'm getting used to it, but it's doing terrible things to my memory. I just forget things right and left. When it's just things to blog it's OK, but when I spend 10 extra minutes to leave (when I'm already late) to print out a document and then forget said document at home, then it gets really annoying.

• (Sat. night) Potty training is back on track, except for solid waste. I'm afraid Linton's going to get in the same rut as his brother, asking to go on the diaper (Kelvin did that until he was 4 1/2 and he was potty trained at 3, even at night). The fact that he's constipated doesn't help much with potty training. The pediatrician told us to use Miralax and it's been working OK, but he didn't say for how long we could use it. It says on the label that it should be used for only a week. I don't know if we should go back to mineral oil or what. I'm afraid not to give him anything since even on the medicine he only has a BM every 3 days or so. Any advice from parents out there is appreciated on this issue.

• UPDATE on previous bullet: He's doing GREAT with poop as well! :) He went on my in-laws house on Sunday night (kicking and screaming from his fear of it, but compliantly sitting on the toilet with that child seat) and... drum roll... today (a record for him to go every other day), he went on the toilet proper, without crying. WOW! I gave him a fiber supplement yesterday, so I guess that worked wonders!

• Moving on from potty talk, look what my mother in law brought for me from Brazil when she arrived a week and a half ago:

This was one of my wedding presents, given by my one and only rich uncle. It must have cost around 600 dollars at the time. Not much for here maybe, but a small fortune in Brazil, the same price of my washing machine (I had a front loading machine there too, like I do here, and it was also a gift from my best friends' parents ;). The silverware (should I say "stainless steel ware") is kind of plain looking, but I like that because it can go with anything.

My mom sent it because now that my husband has a job, she has finally realized (with much sadness, I'm sure) that we're staying here for good, so we have to start bringing the last remaining things we have stored at her house (I've already brought most of it -- baking pans, pots, everyday silverware, serving dishes, comforters, etc). And I'm going to do a "tag sale" there with the rest.

• As for my husband's job and visa situation, we're still waiting for one remaining letter for his process to start since the one that was mailed over a month ago got lost somehow since it never arrived. We're very stressed out about that because of the next item.
  

• We're renting this house for an assistant professor starting at Penn this fall. They're staying here for a minimum of 9 months until they find and buy a house next year. It's a family from Russia and they have two children, 4 y.o. and 8 months. A perfect match to the house and for us (we only wanted to rent for academics). If we don't find another tenant we'll try to sell.
  

• Now we have to vacate this house, but we don't want to make an offer on another house until my husband has started work. So... we may need to put things in storage and I may have to extend my stay in Brazil until we're able to close on another house. As I told you on Sunday we already started looking, but can't make a move on any houses yet. Luckily the market is extremely slow, so we should be fine. Wish us luck!!

OK, I have to go finish packing my bags, but I may yet write a couple of posts before leaving tomorrow night. And now my mom has DSL in her house in Brazil, so it'll be easier for me to be online there.