Doing Things Well & Excellently

This week, I had a conversation with a loved one that challenged my actions. I was reminded to do things excellently and by doing that it meant doing one thing at a time well.

Are you that person that starts something and rarely finish?

Do you have projects that never end? Are you that person who offers to bake, make a quilt, a scarf or jewelry for a gift and do not finish it? If so, keep listening and if not, share the podcast 😉

Do you often find yourself apologizing for not finishing what you started?

Guys, this is all ME!

What does this have to do with excellence?

Excellence according to the dictionary means the quality of being outstanding or extremely good. Starting things and not finishing it is not excellence. To me it is a collection of clutter and a spot for “sacred items” that I tell my husband not to move or touch. I tell myself, I will finish these things and end up not finishing them.

As a parent excellence is important because I am showing my kid it is important to do one thing at a time and do it well and then move on to something else.

To apply excellence to what I have been talking about the past couple of months- potty training- I had to buckle down to make sure my son got it right. The benefits of doing this is that my kid grows up to be the kid who is confident, when he is invited to stuff he will not be afraid or worried about kids teasing him for still wearing a diaper or pull up and so much more.

What else do I need to add to being excellent?

-The road to excellence is not easy. Potty training cost me many hours of sleep. There were moments, I would confess I told my kid; Dude, you are wearing a pull up, pee in your pull up! That was not being excellent, I had to make sure that when he said he wanted to go, I went with him. I did not complain or gripe or grumble but encourage him in this phase, even if it meant carrying him back to bed because he was tired 😄 As a parent, this was my role to help him.

-Every good thing takes time and practice. “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you are good. It is the thing you do that makes you good”- Malcolm Gladwell. As a histotechnologist, how did I get here, what does it take to be a histotechnologist? I did not wake up one morning and became one, I learnt from the best, from my mistakes and more. When I had to embed, I did not just throw a piece of tissue into the embedding mold! I had to take into account what the pathologist assistant (PA) had sectioned and I had to place it in a way that when it was sectioned, the pathologist would see what part of the tissue they were looking for.

-Excellence is also about keeping my word. It is not fun to keep apologizing- though there is nothing wrong with saying sorry. But think of it this way, your word is your bond! If you say you would do something, do it. The more I do it, the better I get at it.

I talked about my love or desire to sew. I go to Joann Fabric and I am in Fabric heaven. The more I sew, or complete the gifts I promised, the better I become and my next project is much improved.

Just like my baking of banana bread has improved from the first time I made it with my best friend (y’all it had tasted like soap and we threw it away) and now I can make it and be proud to offer my banana bread. I follow a recipe and can almost tell when the recipe is off.

At the end of this conversation with my loved one, I decided:

1. I am going to finish that baby blanket that was supposed to have been done in December of 2018

2. I am going to finish that baby quilt…. yes… that was supposed to have been done in August of 2014

3. That goal of beginning to prep from couch to 5k and possibly doing a mini marathon, will be the next thing… My dears, keep me accountable here!

I need you to help me- if you have run before and have tips do share with me please. Find me on Instagram or Twitter and email me too at theizorapodcast@gmail.com

Are you one of the people I had mentioned earlier?

What will you do excellently? Let me know

Have a great week,

Always,

Ezanya

Grad School is Hard

In this weeks episode I talk about my Finance class and I update you on the potty training.

I am currently taking an accounting class and it is difficult. I am already behind- I emailed the professor and he said if I was able to turn in the late work, I would get credit for it, but I am still trying to figure things out.

In the potty training update, I share how it has clicked for the little one, albeit I had a time when I was not paying attention. The little one knocked on the bathroom door while I was in the bathroom and I did not let him in and he went in his pull ups.

I added one of silly potty songs in this episode.

You can listen here

Potty Talk... Potty Training Boys

Today I would be talking about the potty- as in potty training. Have you tried potty training while working full-time and going to school? Or while busy?

This is the one thing about being a parent currently that I kind of dread because what I had experienced. I had watched my aunts potty train their kids and it was not a pretty experience, I would not call it experience, but I would say that I did not like the aspect of moving stuff from one spot to another. 

 Among my cousins, I am the oldest female cousin and I saw my younger cousins be potty trained in Nigeria and it is totally different. Here is what I remember; during holidays when we visit our grandparents and my aunts come with their kids who are being potty trained at the same time. We the cousins would hang out and it is our responsibilities to make sure that our little cousins do not wet the bed. Grandpa’s old house did not have the toilets in house then, we had what we called the “po” If you happen to be the favorite big cousin who gets waken up at night because the little cousin wants to do the number two, then, it is you who dumped it in the morning. I love my cousins but I did not like being older and I di not want to be the one to dump out the number two.

Fast forward to today

 I know that every child learns differently but when it comes to potty training; I have heard multiple times that girls are easier to potty train than boys are. , and I used to roll my eyes when I heard that. I used to say that it was all dependent on the parent willing to do the work.  

I have a boy child and I would say I am almost agreeing to the old wife’s tale that potty training a boy child might be harder than a girl child.

I posed a question to a Facebook group that I am a part of and ask them what suggestions they had for potty-training boys and the suggestions I got all summed up to wait for the time when they were ready,  to look for clues like, being able to stay dry for a few hours and not being comfortable when with a wet diaper and also getting books that might help the process

 My spouse and I talked about potty training and one thing I did not want to do was to have a potty that was separate like a potty and place it in a spot in the bathroom for my little one to use.  I refuse to move poop from one spot to another. When in the diaper, it is different but in a potty- NO!!! And my thing is if you can understand me, God willing, I think you can understand let us go to the “big boy/girl” toilet.   

I would like to hear from parents, siblings and friends about their experience potty training. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter at Ezanya1 and email me at theizorapodcast@gmail.com. I could read your message on the next episode.

If you are enjoying this podcast, share with friends, subscribe and leave a review on your listening medium. Check out the website theizorapodcast.com for detailed shownotes.

Let’s get back to the podcast.

We got a potty ring training seat for the toilet, got cotton briefs and we decided to begin this adventure. It was hilarious. I learnt quickly that giving juice to a child and potty training do not go hand in hand, they pee often when they drink juice and I got tired of changing briefs every few minutes. We got the book called The Potty books for boys by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and this had a very positive effect on the little one when we read it to him. He wanted the book to be read multiple times and he was intrigued by the child in the book being a “big kid” and going to the potty.

At this point I wondered if we should have got a potty like in the book….. NO!

 I GAVE UP! He was not ready yet. We will try again.

I got busy with school, and with work.

I decided to test the old wife’s tale about boys being harder to train than girls by asking Google and lots of links came up. Here are some of the links that came up; there was  a potty-training stubborn kids by a blog called kandookids.com,  there was one on how to potty train a reluctant child by care.com. I finally clicked on Secrets to potty training boys:  by parentingpssage.com and the working mother article.

Fast forward to now

We have started potty training again and I am celebrating little milestones with lots of stickers and progress chart.

This time, he is ready. What are the clues, he understands to sit on the potty seat and pee not to pee first and then ask to seat on the toilet? Another clue is that he is not comfortable with having a wet diaper for long.

Here is a summary of steps that have been suggested to follow:

1.    Find what works after you have noted he/she is ready. Do you want to stick with certain number of days or extend the training period if needed for the kiddo? It is up to you

2.    Would you reward each “go” or not? Or would you be like me and do a happy dance- I would say if you can do cartwheels; go for it. The kiddos think it is funny especially if you are not a great dancer

3.    Make sure that they are comfortable- and be prepared. If your little one wants to be read to while seating on the stool, read to them. Dhanya G. mentions that “men like to be comfortable on the toilet, that is why they head there with the latest subscription of the New York Times… Boys are no different; if something is uncomfortable for them, they would not go

4.    Make sure you have the right tools. Avoid urine guard or anything that would make the child associate being in pain while on the potty. Dhanya G. also mentioned that the urine guard can scrape against a child and leave them associating the potty with pain so avoid it.

5. For parents with autistic kiddos; I was sent a link about potty training a child with autism, I found very helpful information and I believe you would too. Check it out! (Thank you Karen).

6.    Be patient!

6.    Practice, Practice

7.    Lastly Pray, practice and be patient.

These are some of the steps that I would follow. If you are busy and are trying to get your little one potty trained what would you do differently and if you succeeded in potty training how and what did you do?

 Have fun! This is only a season and soon, we as parents will ask where did time go?

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