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 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....

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.

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.