Parenting Questions! Help!

I keep thinking I'm going to get back into the swing of things with So Mommy, but things keep "happening" and it keeps getting pushed to the back!  I'm hoping to start writing my reviews after the kids go to bed so that it will be easier to have them posted for you all!  I have some good ones to share!

We have recently started "homeschool" with my 2 1/2 year old.  Nothing major, just having her sit down with me for about 10 minutes 3 days a week.  We work on various things like drawing shapes, cutting paper, reading - mostly things to help her learn to sit still for longer periods of time.  It's giving me an idea of what homeschooling will really be like with 2 kids!

While I have you reading, I have some questions for you all! I'm in need of advice from you all!

(1) My 2 1/2 year old daughter is potty training.  She rarely has accidents (#1), and has been in big girl panties for awhile now.  Every now and then she has an accident, but no biggie.  However, she still refuses to do #2 in the potty. 
         We've tried:
-Prizes - she has 3 large prizes she gets if she does it and could care less
-Putting her on the potty when we see her going - she stops and won't go at all and ends up constipated
-Apple juice (to make it easier) - she still stops if we site her on the potty
-Putting her potty chair in front of the t.v. to get her distracted while she goes - she gets too distracted

I'm out of ideas!  She asks for a diaper to poop in, so I've resorted to putting a diaper on her and encouraging her to poop (in the diaper) in the bathroom.  I'm hoping I'll eventually be able to get her to poop in the diaper on the toilet, then without the diaper, but who knows if that will work haha.  Any ideas are appreciated!!

(2) My 2 1/2 year old is having nightmares.  She has always been a very good sleeper until recently.  She screams when you mention bedtime - terrified screams, not just crying.  She finally told us that the animals come out when we close the door (sometimes they play soccer on her wall and sometimes it's football). 
-She won't go to sleep with a nightlight or with the door open. 
-She won't let us sleep in her room with her, she just wants us to sit at the end of her bed and sing "Jesus Loves Me" forever. 
-I finally got her to lay with me on the couch and sleep (she goes to sleep in under 5 minutes) and then I go lay her down. 
-We let her watch VeggieTales "Where's God when I'm Scared" and we assure her that her room is safe, but it hasn't seemed to help much. 

Any ideas for getting rid of nightmares?

Lilies in the Moonlight - Book Review

I received "Lilies in the Moonlight" by Allison Pittman as part of Waterbrook Multnomah's Blogging for Books program.  If you like to read and review books, you should check them out!

Publisher's Description (from cbd.com)

He’d lost his zest for life. She was just lost. Will they find the healing and love they long for?

After a roaring night on the town, fun-loving flapper Lilly Margolis, dazed and disoriented, twists her ankle and falls into the backyard of a wealthy family where the effects of the Great War—over for more than half a decade—are still endured. Inside the walls of the Burnside mansion, Cullen Burnside, a disillusioned and disfigured veteran, and his widowed mother, Betty Ruth, who daily slips a little further into dementia, lead a lonely existence … until Lilly. Whimsical, lighthearted, and beautiful, she rejuvenates their sad, disconnected lives and blossoms in the light of their attention.

But Lilly, like Cullen, is hiding from a painful past. And when Cullen insists on returning her to her faraway home, their budding attraction seems destined to die on the vine. The resulting road trip becomes a journey of self-discovery—but what will Cullen and Lilly find at journey’s end?

Author Bio (from cbd.com)

Allison Pittman is the author of Stealing Home, The Bridegrooms, the Crossroads of Grace series, and Saturdays with Stella. A former high school English teacher, she serves as director of the theater arts group at her church. Allison makes her home in Texas with her husband and their three boys. Learn more about the author at http://www.allisonpittman.com/.

 

My Review

I have decided that I'm not really a romantic novel type person.  The book was very well-written and enjoyable, but it just isn't my kind of book.  The plot was a nice change from boy-meets-girl-gets-married.  It definitely had a unique twist on the normal love story novels, which I liked.   The first few chapters kept me reading, but the middle got a little slow for me.  If you like romantic novels, you would probably enjoy this book...I'm just more of a mystery girl!