Worky-McGee, Poop, and Torture.

I feel a little ADD today, so like me, this blog entry has no focus.

1.  Dave got a new teaching  job!  He will be teaching at Crescent View Middle School in the Canyons School District (jr high age - he's brave.)  He'll be teaching 9th grade biology and a couple integrated science classes.  He was also offered a job at Olympus High School, but he turned it down.  It would have been great because it's right up the street, and he prefers high school, HOWEVER, the job would have been teaching all of the following classes EVERY DAY: a couple biology, wildlife biology, zoology, anatomy and physiology, and medical terminology.  He would be great at teaching all of those, but when you are asked to make spectacular lesson plans every day for that many different units of study, that's insanity.  I am pretty certain Dave would have spent every waking moment developing curriculum, along with other teacher stuff, every day at work and home.  He's a great teacher and makes learning  engaging for his students.  I know he would have continued to be that great teacher if he took the job at Olympus, but it would have cost him time with Isaac and I, as well as any kind of social life.  So, I think he made a good choice.
2.  Potty training dilemmas.  As many of you know, Isaac used to poop on the potty every day, starting at 19 months.  He used to poop for buttons.  He never was great at peeing on the potty, but he did the poop thing for a solid 3-4 months with less than 5-7 accidents total.  Then, I don't know what happened.  He decided that he wasn't into it anymore I guess.  It went from 1 or 2 accidents a week, to nearly every day.  We tried different incentives, charts, big boy undies, etc.  We're back to where we started with him going poop on the potty.  He does it every day, however, that's only because we take off his diaper when he wakes up and keep him naked until he uses the potty.  If he has a diaper on, he'll gladly unload right into it.  SO I guess I can't really say he's poop trained.
We also became so desperate that we used Buzz and Woody as pawns.  When he has a horrible bout of croup a couple months ago, we broke down and let him watch a lot of TV during that week to keep him from being a sad, sad boy.  He probably watched Toy Story 3 ten times that week.  This means he quickly became obsessed with Buzz and Woody (the main characters.)  If you've seen it, you know that during the climax of the movie, Buzz and Woody end up at the Landfill.  Isaac loves this part, and he totally gets that garbage goes to the landfill (don't you dare call it a dump, Isaac will correct you and tell you it's a LANDFILL!)  Anyway, back to our desperation bit:  we told Isaac that if he poops in his diaper, the poop goes to the landfill.  If the poop goes to the landfill, it will probably get on Buzz and Woody.  And we certainly don't want THAT to happen, do we?  No.  no we don't.  Isaac will emphatically tell you that poop goes in the sewer, NOT in the landfill.  Still, this has not brought us any magic moments with potty training.  I do realize he is only a couple months past 2 years old, and I likely wouldn't push it if he hadn't already demonstrated his pooping abilities.  SIGH.
3.  Dog Torture.  Isaac kind of left Day-Z alone for a long time (well, relatively left her alone.)  The last couple of weeks, however, he is in full force torture again.  He doesn't pull their hair, but he does prefer the following methods of torture:
*chasing Abbie around the house, trying to grab her tail.  She is so gentle with him.  She's never growled and I know she'd NEVER hurt him.  However, it does freak her out.  We've declared under the kitchen table as her "special safe spot," since that is where she runs to (thanks Tori  for the idea - they have a special blanket that their kitties lay on that's off limits to their toddler.)  It works, but Isaac is definitely jealous of this special spot.  When Abbie isn't under there, he goes there and plays with his toys.
*Isaac likes to put things on Day-Z.  Small toys, pillows, clothes, anything.  He doesn't hit her with them, but he thinks it's funny to put anything and everything on her.  She growls, bares her teeth, and has snapped a couple of times.  I feel bad for her, but it also scares me.  She doesn't run away, so we can't use the "special spot" with Day-Z.  So recently we have started telling Isaac that if he bothers Day-Z, we're going to let Day-Z choose one of his toys to keep and play with.  He resisted for a few days, until yesterday when he dropped a handful of beads onto Day-Z.  We took Day-Z to Isaac's room and let her sniff his toys.  She chose Gumby as Isaac proceeded to have the world's biggest meltdown.  Negotiations between Isaac and Day-Z ensued.  "Day-Z, I won't do it again Day-Z.  Promise.  Please Day-Z.  Don't pick Isaac's toys. No Day-Z.  Day-Z's a good girl."  Gumby will sit on a shelf above her kennel for 24 hours until Isaac shows us that he can have "good manners" with Day-Z.
*He also likes to take Day-Z's small dog bed, move it around, lay in it, and tell Day-Z that she can't have it.  See "Day-Z choosing one of his toys" as new consequence.
Any other ideas/suggestions for the potty training or the dog torture?
And in other news:

How cute is this little linen shirt?  He got it from Aunt Jen and Uncle Jiri when they went to Greece last year.  He wore it to a wedding and now we have to find another excuse to wear it. 

This little clip just makes me laugh.  I was showing Isaac unshelled peanuts for the first time.  He couldn't quite smash them between his fingers like I was showing him, so he looked around the table, wheels turning in his mind, and this is what he came up with.