Potty Training: The Ongoing Saga

So we are still in the midst of potty training (as I suspect we will be for quite some time).  I have tried very hard to just stay calm and not push it if C doesn't want to sit on the potty.  We have ventured out of the house on many occasions and have had only one accident (and that was outside at the park while her sister played soccer).  Today she went the entire day with no accidents but also absolutely nothing in the potty!  I swear she holds it until she has that diaper on for nap and bedtime!  We are now considering getting her into her big girl's bed (she is the crib right now) and then taking away all diapers.  I know it will be messy for a while then but I don't know what else to do.  She is so stubborn.

The funniest thing she does when she has a pee accident is that she will stand very still in one spot and place her hands over her eyes.  It is as if she is saying "I can't see you, so you can't see what I have just done!"  I find it always good to have a sense of humor as a parent and I think I am trying to use it now more than ever!

Thanks so much to all that have voiced concern and offered words of encouragement.  I deeply appreciate it.  This too shall pass and then we will be on to the next challenge -- getting rid of the pacifier!

Tales from the Toilet: Potty Training Day 5

Relax.  Take a deep breath.  I am constantly telling these words to both my girls.  I have even heard the two year old tell them to her seven year old sister when she (Miss M) was upset.  Today I took my own advice.  And it was a much better day.  In fact it was the best day of the week.

We ran lots of errands.  Ate at a restaurant.  No accidents.  The best part?  Poop in the potty!  Cheers were made and happy dances performed.

So we are getting there.  I am learning the less I talk about it and the more relaxed I am, the more relaxed C becomes.  Baby steps.

Who knew that a toilet could teach you so much?

Tales from the Toilet: Potty Training Day 4

I really don't know how much longer I am going to be doing these daily posts.  One of my friends has already referred to my blog as "your potty blog" so that might be a sign that I may have to tone it down a bit. : )

Anyway...today's word is Frustration.  My girl she is a stubborn one and one that has no problem poopin' on Dora (or whatever else character she has on her underwear).  She did that not once, not twice, but, yeah, three time's (a lady -- not really).

We did leave the house today and had no accidents while running a couple errands.  So there's that.  Perhaps C will be one of those kids that has no problem when she is at school (in the way of accidents, etc.) but at home will be another story.  Or she could be like Miss M, who I swear only pees twice a day.  Bladder of steel, that girl.

It has been a long day and I'm tired.  But I have not given up.  I can be just as stubborn as my little friend C can be.  I have been given good advice from a couple good, trustworthy friends and I intend to use those tactics tomorrow.  No more iPad on the potty.  No more asking "do you have to go potty?"

Frustrated but resolute.

Tales from the Toilet: Potty Training Day 3

"Do you have to go pee?"  I can't tell you how many times I asked this question today.  Did she ever answer me with a yes?  Good gosh, no!  Patience...patience.

Two accidents today.  Both times when she deliberately left my sight and went to "hide."  What frustrates me the most is that this kid KNOWS what she is doing.  Patience....Patience.

She did poop in the potty twice but I think that was just because I caught her in the act and rushed her to the toilet.  I did give her some stickers, though, since the poop did go into the potty.  Patience.  Patience.

I repeatedly have asked her "Where does the pee go?" and she replies "In the potty."  Side note: tonight when I asked her this question in front of her dad, she replied "On the refrigerator!"  Wise guy.

Kinda feel like I am stuck like in the Groundhog Day movie.

Patience.

Tales from the Toilet: Potty Training Day 2

Today was pretty much the same as yesterday.  C was very willing to sit on the potty, especially if she got to play with the iPad!  Despite sitting on the potty for numerous times and for very long spurts (sometimes 15-30 minutes long!), she never went.  Frustrating!  She only had one accident and that was in the afternoon.  In the morning, she held her pee until she got her nap-time diaper on.

So here we are.  She does not self-initiate to go to the toilet at all.  I continue to watch her like a hawk and attempt to get her on the potty as much as she is willing and is possible.

The journey continues....

Tales from the Toilet: Potty Training Day 1

Today was it.  The first day of no more diapers.  To be truthful the diapers are still here for naps and bedtime, but that is all.  I don't really have an approach or method.  Just good ole "you are almost three and you need to not be wearing diapers anymore" philosophy.  So we did it.

How did we do?  Two accidents, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  No actual pee, etc. in the actual potty.  Some tears and lots of iPad watching on the toilet.

C was clingy this morning.  You could tell she was sad about not having a diaper.  As my mom said she was mourning.  I don't know if I would go quite that far, but this kid does not like change.  So it is probably a little of it.  After her nap she was not too pleased about having to wear underwear again.  But didn't fight me when we put the underwear on.

Biggest accomplishment of the day: C actually sitting on the big girl's toilet.  Before today she would only sit on her little potty despite picking out an insert for the regular toilet.  Today the little potty was gone so she had no choice.  She clung to me the first time we sat on it but by the second time she was sitting there with no problem.

Funniest moment of the day: After she sat on the potty for the first time this morning, C tells me "I go to preschool now."  (She has been told that once she starts going on the potty she can go to school like her big sister).  I explained to her that first she has to actually GO in the potty and also that school doesn't start until after summer but maybe she can take a class in the summer.  She was kinda disappointed at this news.

Stay tuned for what will be, I am sure, an exciting week....

Spring Breakin'

Paczki!

Mmmmm....Chocolate Buttercream Paczki from Busy Bee Bakery.

Did you have a paczki yesterday?

What's Your Favorite Girl Scout Cookie?

Not all of these boxes are for us!  They are the total ordered (49 boxes - each box contains 12 boxes of cookies) from Miss M's Daisy Troop.  They did really good for their first time at it.  In fact they raised $457 for their troop.  A good portion of that money is going to be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  The girls decided to do this instead of receiving incentives for sales from the Girl Scouts.  A member of their troop has juvenile diabetes.  Thanks to all that ordered from us!  You will be getting your cookies soon.

What's my favorite G.S. cookie?  Tagalongs.  Hands down.  And yours?

Tea Party Time

Blanket Kid

This is C's stripe blanket.  I bought it at a garage sale when I was pregnant with Miss M and didn't know the sex.  C is an attachment kind of gal.  On this particular day she wanted her "striped blanket" by her.  I had no clue what she meant.  The tears flew.  Tantrum ensued.  I brought her another striped blanket (not remembering that her blue blanket has stripes too).  This added to her anguish.  I told her to come and show me where the striped blanket was.  She quickly got up and lead me to her room.  There was her blue blanket and boy was she relieved.  She wanted to use it to build a fort with her sister.  It isn't big enough for that job so she found another use for it..on her head.

Snow Much Fun!

Our Family

Not really liking the snow hitting her face.

Loves the Snow!

Miss M, on the other hand....Can you find her?

All Hands On Deck

Ms. Magoo

At the Half

I love my half birthdays.  Yes, I said my HALF birthday.  I don't get any presents but I do get a song.  My mother calls me up and will sing to me "Happy Half Birthday to you.  Happy Half Birthday to you.  Happy Half Birthday dear Angie.  Happy Half Birthday to you!"  Sometimes she forgets it is our half birthday and so my siblings and I have to call her to remind her to sing to us.  We are silly that way.

Today is not my half birthday.  (It is next month in case you are curious).  Today is C's.  She is 2 1/2.  I try to continue my mother's tradition and sing to my girl's on their respective half birthdays.  When they are little like C they just look at me strangely and then inquire about cake and presents, not quite getting the sentimentality of the little song.

Although I like my own half birthday, I do not like it when my children reach theirs.  I have never had any experiences with the "Terrible Twos," but rather the "Terrible Two and a Halves."  It never fails.  They reach their half birthday and they become a little less fun to be around and more trouble and cantankerous.  Take today for example, I can not just pick something out for C to wear gladly.  No.  She has to pick it out herself and if the shirt that she wants is in the wash?  Watch out.

My biggest frustration and hers is when C is trying to tell me something and I don't understand her.  This. Drives. Me. Crazy.  So many times she will just cry and scream at me instead of trying to tell me what she needs, wants, etc.  This behavior ultimately gets her a one way ticket to time out land.  She does pretty good in time out, meaning she stays put and is much better when she is "released."  I just wish I didn't have to put her in it as many times as I have to sometimes.

Parenting is hard, yo.

Three Little Piggies

Bought matching pjs for the girls...didn't realize that my niece had bought the same ones for her baby!  Hence a pajama party was born.

Pumpkin Gals

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch at The Children's Farm in Palos Park, IL.

Distraction

C is a definite two year old.  And a stubborn one at that.  When she doesn't want to do something, she, well, won't do it.  We found that two things work to cajole her to our way of thinking.

Threaten and Follow Through.
Many a night goes by where C does not want to clean up her toys and start to get ready for bed.  We tried time outs but she rather enjoyed them a little too much.  She liked them so much she ASKED to be put in time out rather than clean up.  J then had a thought, she loves LOVES to read or rather, be read to, before bedtime.  So we started to give her a warning that if she chose not to clean up, then there will be no bedtime stories.  After the first couple times where she didn't clean up and therefore she didn't get her stories, a warning is pretty much all that is given for the deed to be done.

Distraction.
Sometimes, no, really a lot of times, C becomes obsessed over something.  For example, the other day her empty fruit snack wrapper blew out of the car when I went to take her out.  Oh my goodness, you would have thought the world was ending!  Let me remind you again, the wrapper was empty.  She had already eaten the snack.  Didn't matter.  She talked about this empty wrapper for a good hour and then had to tell her daddy about it at dinner and then told me about it again today when I gave her a new fruit snack.  The only way I got her off the subject of the darn wrapper was through distraction.  I showed her something else, like a book or put on her Barney or Dora dvd or just talked to her about other things we saw on that same day.  9 times out of 10 this works and helps my sanity tremendously.  I truly believe that if I let her talk about that wrapper she would.  All.  Day.  Long.  My sanity is worth more than that.

Two year olds are tough.  But I know they are nothing compared to three year olds.  She is so different from her sister and yet, I take comfort in the fact that I have been down this road before.  This too shall pass.

Puzzling

Hey Piano Woman, Play Me a Song!