Official OFFICIAL Potty Training - Part 2

(Obviously from the title this post is about M and pee and poop. Feel free to skip this one. I know it's a little TMI.)

Ok. So where are we now after six weeks?

We are still continuing with undies all day except for at nap and through the night. Currently she's had a majority of successful days with no accidents and some days with just one accident. The accidents usually occur when I haven't initiated taking her to the potty. All her accidents (except a couple) have been at home. I guess I'm more on alert when we're out and about.

 I'd say she can hold it pretty successfully for about a 90 minutes to two hours maximum. I still have her try every hour and a half or so if we're home...or if we're about to leave to go somewhere.

She's super comfortable using toilets in public, and for that I'm SO SO thankful. I bought a little portable potty that sits on top of toilets...but lately I keep forgetting it and just end up holding her without the portable one. It's a little gross I guess...but...you do what you gotta do. Carrying around the potty seat seemed to be more of a hassle. Sometimes I just use the covers provided, or lay out some toilet paper on the seat if it seems really gross.

(Random sidenote: All public restrooms should have a sink accessible to toddlers (or some kind of step stool). Seriously. I'm SO over trying to hold her up and balance her on my knee without squishing her belly while getting water everywhere!)

She hadn't gone #2 in the toilet for probably the first month...mostly because she'd been doing it in her diaper either right away in the morning or right when she wakes from her nap. Around the end of week 4 she had a few #2 accidents. It was not fun. I was about to lose it with the potty training around that time, too. I felt like she had learned to hold it...but had NO clue how to tell me or anticipate needing to go. It was frustrating. I felt like I was doing something wrong. I felt like I had failed teaching her how to use the potty. It was a rough few days for me.

But then...after a few too many accidents (in my opinion) around week 4/5, I decided to go back to her being naked (on the bottom) while at home. And we watched her shows about going potty on the toilet every day. And she FINALLY started getting herself to her little potty on time. She's even gone #2 several times. And, just last week we were in public and she actually stopped playing and told me she had to go potty. It was wonderful. I was SO SO happy. She also was downstairs with my Dad last week (I was upstairs) and she stopped playing and told him she had to go upstairs to go pee and poo (she did both). And, she was in her bath and told me she had to go. Whew. Just when I was about to lose it. Something clicked for her. THANK GOODNESS!

She's now at the point that she knows she can hold it. And, she almost always puts up a fight if you want to take her to the potty. She'll almost always say that she doesn't have to go if you ask or tell her to go. I've learned just to take her to the toilet...once she's on it, she'll either give in and end up going pretty easily...OR she'll arch her back refusing to sit and refuse to go (which I just let her skip it then), and I've learned to just trust her. She can even take off her underwear (when we're at home) and sit on her little potty all by herself.

We're gonna just stick to what we're doing these next few weeks. I think I'm going to put her little potty just outside our bathroom though (it's usually in the living room) to gradually get her used to going to the actual bathroom to go potty.

Part 3 will happen when I think she's ready to start staying in her undies during nap. But for now. I'm super happy with where we're at and how well she's doing.

I'm so proud of her.

And...I'm proud of me. I seriously about lost it a week and a half ago...like seriously...like I was crying all by myself about it. Geesh! Oh, and thank you to my family and friends who've listened to me and gave advice these past few weeks. It's been SO much appreciated!!!

Official OFFICIAL Potty Training - Part 1

(Warning: This post is a little dated (I've had it saved for forever)...and also something that many of you probably don't care to read about! And that's totally understandable! Haha!!)

Anyways, so I know I've mentioned a couple times that we were beginning potty training with M. Most recently in this post I stated what my plan was going forward.

And, then...I didn't do that.

So. Finally...after more persuasion from Josh...and after my daughter yelled at me across the store, "Mama...I poo poo in my diaper!" I decided to just go for it and see what happens. I decided to document this just because. LOL! I'm sure I'll read this someday to M and she'll roll her eyes at me. :)

So...beginning Friday the 14th when she woke up she went right into her undies. And, away we went. I kinda had a plan in mind...and kinda just figured it out as we went. So...here's our first few days. I'll try and be brief.

Day One - Friday (December 14th)

As soon as she's up her undies went on. Of course we talked about undies and where her pee pee needed to go and that she didn't want to get her new pretty undies all icky.

First accident during breakfast...while in her high chair. Gross! It didn't seem to phase her. I'm worried. I then set our oven timer for 20 minutes and made her sit on her little potty (it was in the living room) every 20-25 minutes. She had a couple successes and another accident before nap. Diaper at nap. And, back to undies afterwards until bedtime. Every 20-30 minutes she'd sit on her potty and was usually successful! Yay! No more accidents after nap.

Accidents for the day - 2

Day Two - Saturday

Same strategy as day 1. Except I set the timer for 25 minute increments. Sometimes she'd resist sitting on her potty. Annoying! She'd try to run away. This was frustrating for sure. I thought about moving it to the bathroom...but wanted it to be easy to access...so we started the 10 second rule. We only counted to 10 and if she didn't go, she didn't go. I kinda figured out that she could hold it for about 30-45 minutes. Successful morning/afternoon with no accidents.

Diaper at nap (she went #2 in her diaper) and back into undies until bed time. She ended up having one accident while we were all out in the shop. It was partially my fault. Her potty wasn't easily accessible...she had Nala as a distraction, and I was distracted as well doing something else when she had her accident. After that, she did great for the rest of the night.

Accidents for the day - 1

Day Three - Sunday

Quick trip to Durant for donuts right away in the morning. Our first trip away from home. I was SO nervous. But, we started the day telling her she had to potty if she wanted to leave the house...and donuts were a good reward so she went and then we left. It was about a 25 minute trip. Once home, I set the timer for 30 minute increments. She resisted a lot...but still had successes most times.

Accidents for the day - 0 (I think...or maybe 1?)

Day Four - Monday

Undies on! We went to Durant and went to the grocery store and to Subway after breakfast. I made her go potty before we left. This was probably a 45 minute trip. After she ate lunch though, we had a situation. I was waiting for her to have to go poo...I knew it was coming since she hadn't done anything the day before. I put her on her potty about 30 minutes after lunch - #2 success!! Her undies are off and I just leave them off since it's almost nap time and she'll get a diaper in a few minutes. I was so happy for her and immediately went to clean her potty. While I was cleaning it...I heard, "Mama, Mama, poo!!!" I was still cleaning her potty and no choice but to hold her on the regular toilet. Ok! Success...again. Yay! We celebrate. I clean up a small bit of #2 that didn't make it to the toilet. I still leave her undies off. Then after she is clean, her little potty is clean, the floor is clean, and I'm clean, we finish our tea party. I think to myself...she has to be done with #2. NOPE. Another tiny bit comes out before she can make it back to her little potty...but the majority makes it into the potty. Ugh. I'm so frustrated. Cleaning up poo is NEVER fun. But, I keep my cool as best I can for M's sake. After all this...I'm mentally exhausted. She goes down for her nap, and after nap, she does great for the rest of the evening.

Accidents for the day -  1

Day Five - Tuesday

We are really only using the big toilet. She likes this. I like this. We're all happy. I'm no longer using the timer...just my own intuition...and generally making her try at least every hour. After her nap we run an errand with Josh and eat dinner at Culver's. She goes potty at Culver's and I'm so happy for her.
Accidents for the day - 0

Day Six - Wednesday

We ventured out at 9am and didn't return home until a little after 1:30pm. SUCCESS! No accidents. We went potty three times while we were out. We got home and I just wanted to run to our shop quick. I knew we should have went to the potty first, but I pushed her and it had been over an hour and a half since she last went...so she had an accident. But, then...on her own...she ran to her little potty and successfully went #2. Yay! I'm so happy for her.
Accidents for the day - 1

Day Seven - Thursday
I basically control when she has to sit on the potty. She still hasn't really alerted me that she has to go. And then...right before bed as we were brushing teeth in the bathroom and she FINALLY told me, "Mama, Mama, potty!" I'm super happy for her. :)
Accidents for the day - 0

This has been such a huge learning experience for the both of us! I never did sticker charts or any type of tangible reward (candy) for M while at home. She's not really into that though. I would have totally done something like that if I thought it would help her. *I did bring a few M&Ms in baggies for when we were out and about...just in case she needed some extra encouragement to go while we were out in public.*

My thoughts after the first week.
-Start early! We introduced the potty to M a LONG time ago...she's been having naked time at night for quite some time and has successfully used her potty a LOT. (She has had a couple accidents. I always laid a big waterproof pad and blanket down on her floor in her room.) She was already comfortable with her potty and knew what the potty was for. I think this is what has helped us most. I think we got her the potty around 18 months or so. We also started reading a couple potty books around then.

-Don't get angry. Remind yourself a LOT to NOT to get frustrated when accidents happen. It's really challenging though!)

-Set a timer in the beginning. Time flies. Their bladders are tiny. It's hard to give them 100% of your attention. But you have to do it. While at first I was so sad about being 'stuck at home' all day for a few days...eventually, I enjoyed all the 1:1 time M and I spent. I also found that we played more together with all her toys and cuddled a lot more too. So. It's not all bad! :)

Overall, I'm so, so, SO proud of Madison. And, it's great just using 2 diapers a day, too!!! Wohoo!

And So 'It' (Officially) Begins

What is 'it' you ask?

Potty training. (Stop reading now if you want. It's ok. I understand!)

Ugh. I'm excited and terrified all at the same time.

Yesterday two things happened that I'm still uncomfortable with.

1) We cancelled our subscription with Amazon for our diapers. As of today...no more diapers for M will magically appear at my doorstep every month or so.

2) We introduced our baby girl to her first pairs of 'undies.' (Yes, I call them undies. The word 'panties' has always bugged me.)

What we've done so far:
1) We've read a couple potty books on and off for the last few months. Potty and The Potty Book - For Girls. She really likes The Potty Book for Girls.

2) At night, after bath, she has 'diaper free time' in her room and we read books on her blankie. She's been successfully peeing her little potty most nights before bed for quite some time and hasn't had any accidents during this time. I'd say we started this, I don't know how long ago...a few months ago at least, when we started reading the books with her.

Our (I say our...when it's really my plan) plan moving forward:
1) 'Diaper Free' time anytime we are at home for a significant amount of time. I just want her to get used to using her potty during the day and more often than just at night before bed.

I tried it this morning after she woke up. I sat her on the potty right away and she went #1 (yay!). Then we ate breakfast (I put a towel in her high chair) and played. I made her sit on the potty several times throughout the morning and kept her potty out in the main living area when she could always see it. We were accident free from 8am until 9:30am.

2) We will still use diapers at night, for naps, and for outings for the time being.

I haven't thought too much yet about how and or when I'll actually start having her wear undies at home. For now, I want her to have no where (not even undies) to relieve herself except for her potty while at home.

Baby steps for now. Baby steps are better than no steps...right?!

24 Months

This post should probably be titled, "2 Years Old." But, I can't bring myself to do that...24 months makes her seem younger.

I was seriously mad at my BabyCenter email update earlier this week. The subject line read: My Preschooler This Week: Your 2 Year Old. Um. She's a toddler, ok. OK?! I am just coming to terms with calling her a toddler...and then they go and spring "Preschooler" on me?! No way!

She was actually in the mood for me to take a few pictures to start with! I can't believe she's too tall and gets in the way of her sign!!!

Sitting down so I can see her sign.

Anyways, we went to the doctor on Monday and she's in the 95th percentile for weight and height. She weighs around 32 lbs. and is around 36 inches tall. She's 3 feet tall!!! I think I'll be buying her 3T clothes for the most part...especially for anything I want to last through the winter. 2T fits her great right now.

This last month has brought LOTS of verbal growth for M. She now says LOTS of words (too many to list them all), and is more willing to (try to) say new words when we ask her. She is also finally stringing two words together without me prompting her in between.

Some of her newest favorite words that we hear often are:
Pay (for play)
Shide (for outside)
Fry (for french fry and for fly...)
Yesh (yes)
Bike
(Can you tell our little girl LOVES being outside!)

She is also great at saying, "Yesh, peas." So cute!

Her newest favorite skill is jumping. The girl LOVES jumping. She's great at it, too!

She loves painting with water. This keeps her busy outside a lot and for a long time.

Pouting about something...


She still enjoys stickers and coloring. She loves watching her shows on TV. She also likes books.

She still LOVES the park and being pushed in the swing. She can swing on the big girls swings now too. She's growing up too fast...

No real progress on potty training...same as last month, but I think she's probably ready. She's more purposeful before bed when she uses her potty. She's comfortable with the words. I'd say she goes pee 2-3 times a week. She gets so excited. We do a potty dance/song and she likes flushing the toilet. She is also very aware of me when I go to the bathroom. She usually cheers for me when I'm going. It's pretty funny I guess. I think I'll try and train her sometime within the next month or so...we'll see...

SHE CAN COUNT! She still has no real concept of actually counting things, but she can say the numbers 1-12. We are still working on ABCs...she now says 'U' instead of me. She still laughs when I say 'W." I need to start working on getting her to associate the sounds with the actual letters I suppose.

Showing me how old her is with her fingers.


Her eating is pretty much the same. No meat. Lotsa dairy (but I am switching her her to 1% milk now) and fruit. She still gobbles down Casey's breadsticks. She loves ice cream (of course). She loves dipping her fries into ketchup.

She still naps once a day and sleeps from about 8:30pm until 7:30am.

No new teeth...that I know of. She went to the dentist with me when I had my appointment...but wouldn't open her mouth for any of us to see. :)

I think she was 'counting' her gold fish crackers.


She gets embarrassed when she falls or trips (sometimes) if we aren't at home. She freezes and puts her head down. It's kinda funny really (well, not to her). Also, if she does actually does get hurt, her first reaction is to yell, "NO! NO! NO!"

When she is angry at me she runs into her room and slams the door. *sigh* Already?!

I feel like I am forgetting something. I wasn't as mindful about keeping notes for her update this month.

Oh, and I won't be tracking her with pictures monthly anymore...I think I'll be moving to quarterly updates. I know you're sad about that. Haha!


Deep in thought...

23 Months

WTF(udge)!!!! She's almost 2. TWO!

Believe or not, I've done NO planning for her birthday party. Zero.

What's wrong with me? I don't know. Do you know? If so, let me know.

Anyways...back to M. :) Yes, I'm starting with my rambling...the rest of the pics are at the end.

M is definitely in her 'terrible two's.' And, while sometimes frustrating for me (and for her I'm sure), it's really not ALL that terrible of course. I know she's just soaking in all kinds of new things, testing her limits, and developing her independence...all while having low impulse control and a lack of complete verbal communication with me. If I were in her shoes, I'm sure I'd have a tantrum here and there, too!

K. Time for the funny/cute/random updates about our little M.

She calls flies - bees. It's so cute. She'll point at it and say, "Mama, bee." She doesn't really like them. And that's why she tells me about them...every single one of them...and every time she sees them. :)

She loves stepping on ants outside on the sidewalks.

Dave-what she's decided to call my Dad. She has yet to say Grandpa (or Grandma), and never took to Papa or any other names...so, he's Dave for now.

We started to let her watch full length animated films when we drive...of course she LOVES Mulan and Mulan II. Seriously...did you think I'd let her start her Disney movie watchin' with anything other than Mulan??

Her favorite cartoon is probably Curious George. Although, she still loves her Mickey Mouse and Yo Gabba Gabba. (Which also reminds me I have a post in the works about her TV watching....)

Ew. Her new favorite word. Like when I try and get her to try a new food. She'll say, "Ew," and promptly hand the food back to me. Or when I go wipe her mouth after she eats. She'll scream, "Ewwwww," until I'm done. It's pretty funny actually. I asked Josh where he thought she learned that word...then, I later realized it was from me. Oops. Ew.

She also knows the color purple. And, I think she knows pink. We are working on saying names of colors...but she's still learning how to distinguish them.

As I mentioned early, she's started having slight tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She likes to express her anger/frustration with whining, crying, throwing her toys, knocking things over, oh, and spitting. Yep...that's my girl. Josh says she deals with anger like he does. :) I do believe it's ok for her to express her anger in any way that's not a danger to herself or others...but the spitting, I can't stand. We just started putting her in two minute time-outs if she spits. We'll see how that goes...

We're taking potty training slow...but she's gone #1 and #2 on her little potty quite a few times. She usually just gets to sit on her potty at night before bed, or occasionally during the day if she asks. She knows the word "poo-poo," and uses it for both #1 and #2. She knows what goes on in the bathroom. So watch out if you come over and use the bathroom in her view. We'll probably have a conversation that involves her pointing at you (and/or the bathroom while you're in there) and saying, "Poo-poo," a few times. (Seriously...before having kids...did you EVER think you'd deal with and talk about poop so much?! It's unreal sometimes!)

During our road trips earlier in July, she learned what semis are...and she loved pointing them out and saying, "shimmy." Too cute.

Choo-Choo - She loves trains...but refers to all large moving objects as "Choo-Choos." We are working on that...hence our excitement when she learned semi.

She is quite the little miss bossy-pants. When playing with her, she'll point to where she wants you to go, and she loves directing people to, "Mooooove." So, watch out if you're in her way or not in your place. She pushes, too...again...something for us to work on.

I tried to weigh and measure her...I think she's about 34 and half inches tall, and around 32 lbs. She's in mostly 2T and some 3T clothes.

I think she's finally got all her teeth...except for her two-year molars. I haven't really been able to look back there and see if anything's happening. Maybe they are already there and I didn't even know it...I hope that's the case.

She's talking more...but it's definitely not an area that I feel she excels in. I need to work with her more I think.

At this time, besides dog and kitty (oh, and bees), she refuses to call any animals by their names, and only calls them by their sound. So...even if I ask her to try and say cow, she'll only say, "Moooo." And, she only makes monkey noises when she wants to watch Curious George. She knows a lot of animal sounds...oh, wait, except for bunny, she calls them, "hop-hop." So...is this a problem? I hope not...she knows what the animals are and can point them out to me when I only use their names...so, I think we're ok?! I always obsess about something with her...and currently, it's her language development. I'll stop now because I know she's perfectly fine and all kids develop differently and at different rates...yaddah, yaddah, yaddah...but I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't admit that I'm slightly jealous that my friend's 18 month old (love you SG!!!) says full sentences like, "Bye Megan. Hi Madison. I missed you." And yes, even I can totally understand her. Ok. Moving on...

Miss Madison does not like having her hair washed, combed, or brushed. I can't wait to try and get it into a ponytail!

Her newest favorite songs are "The Wheels on the Bus" and "If You're Happy and You Know It."

She LOVES loves LOVES playin' outside. She loves going to parks, running around like a crazy girl, her water table, her bike, her bubbles, her chalk. Anything outside. She'll always ask me "Shoes?" because she wants to go out and play.

Wow. I wrote a lot. I could probably write even more. I'm sure some day I'll appreciate all my ramblings.

Ok. Onto the pictures. They were taken on Friday morning, and there aren't too many. She was far more interested in playing than having her picture taken of course. So...I kinda gave up. Oh well.

My first attempt. She's mad...as you can see from her face.

She managed to sit next to Winnie for a few seconds... 

Cute!

Her and Kitty checkin' out her sign.

Finally a goofy smile because I told her we were done and we could go play now.

"Kitty, aren't you glad Mom finally let us go play!!!"

Riding her bike. Still trying to figure out the pedals.

Carrying her bike. Her response to me telling her that the bike couldn't really go on the grass.

Bubbles! She's pretty good at blowing her own bubbles now.

Love her little mouth.

Next time I write a monthly post...she'll be 2! Ugh. I can't believe it!

Potty Training - Day 1

So I bought M a potty today. I'm not necessarily trying to rush her to potty train...but I have started thinking about it, and decided to at least buy her a potty chair so she could practice sitting on it.

This is what happened once we got home, and I showed her the potty. (She carried it in the kitchen herself.)

Yes, she ran away, and I found her in her room...with a fresh poopy diaper.

Maybe she is ready? But, I don't think I am!!!

(She's gonna love me for this video someday...right?!)