Seriously, I have to say that potty training my 1 year old is the smartest thing I have ever done. I just gave my diaper champ to good will and we are done with all of that yucky diaper stuff. Now, she is still wearing a diaper at night time, but the last 3 or 4 nights in a row she has been dry when she gets up so if that continues during our vacation to Grandma's house this week, then I will try to just go with panties at night too and see what happens.
So here are more potty training tips in case you were dying for more:
1. Bring a potty with you in the car when you first start adventuring out of the house in panties. That way you can make a pit stop in any parking lot and let her go potty. BUT ALWAYS BRING A LARGE WATER BOTTLE SO YOU CAN RINSE IT OUT WHEN YOU ARE DONE.
2. Buy a book. Did I include this in the last post? I can't recall. We tried several potty books, but the best one for us was "A Potty for Me". Its gender neutral and it came closest to matching our particular style of potty training. We used to keep it in the bathroom and read it whenever the girls sat on the potty. It has fun pages to flip and you can watch the baby practice going potty and have an accident in her pants until she finally gets it and says "I'm so proud of me". Anika was very fond of that phrase. On a side note, it is helping with her use of pronouns. I also found it to be a useful reminder that the baby's Mom says "that's ok" whenever she has an accident. Because it is, in fact, ok. Not a cataclismic disaster, as I am feeling it is when it happens.
3. Repeat after me, "My poop is awesome". When Ani started pooping on the potty, she was really scared. And I made it worse by saying "don't touch that" "poop is yucky" "dirty" etc. So I changed my vocabulary to "just look. We don't want to get our hands wet in the pee pee" and "great job pooping, your poop is awesome. Can you say my poop is awesome?" A few days of this completely solved her fear factor. Clearly her poop in the potty is awesome so why was I constantly using negative words to describe it? Here she had created this great thing and put it exactly where I wanted it to be, and I was "poo pooing it". hee hee. get it?
4. Buy a portable toilet seat insert. I bought mine from Bed Bath and Beyond online. It is a toilet cover to make the opening smaller so she won't fall in. It folds up and fits in the diaper bag. Our has handles on the front. This makes going potty in any toilet easy for her because the seat always feels the same. Plus it has the added bonus of keeping her hands and bottom off the dirty public restroom toilet. It was less than ten dollars and worth every penny.
Well, that's the list for now. Happy pottying.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The Joy of Potty Training!
I know it has been a long time since my last post (almost 2 months!). Conveniently, I have told no one about this blog so no one has missed me thus far. In the interim, we started potty training. And it has gone much better than expected. So I decided I would share my "system". Am I qualified to have a system? I doubt it. But... I have now potty trained two 21 month olds (and helped with 1 2.5 year old several years ago - as well as simply working full time in a 2 year room at daycare many moons ago). So here is what I have discovered:
The rules:
1. Accidents are no big deal. Seriously, it is way yuckier to clean up a poopy diaper than it is to wipe pee off a wood floor. Thus there is no yelling, scolding, asking "why did you pee pee on the floor?". Just set them on the potty. Change clothes. Clean the floor and it never happened.
2. Train the children to sit on the potty when it is convenient for you. Once they get the hang of letting go into the potty, then they will go pretty much every time you put them on the potty. Kids who aren't bursting at the seems with number 1 and number 2, don't have as many accidents.
For example: in the beginning we sat on the potty when we woke up, after breakfast, before snack, after snack, before lunch, after lunch, before nap, after nap, before leaving the house, before playing outside, etc. Once we had the hang of it we went less as they requested to go.
3. Find a good reward. I tried stickers. My baby did not care for them. We ended up with fruit loops. 1 for pee in the potty, 2 for poop. Both girls LOVE their potty treats. Right now I am phasing them out. We only give them when they ask, since neither one has accidents anymore (most of the time - maybe once or twice a week). Eventually we'll move to 1 if they are dry all morning and 1 if they are dry all night. Or I'll just quit when this box of Fruit loops is gone. We'll see.
4. Plan for it to take 4-6 weeks to feel like this is a success.
5. Get rid of diapers during the day and swich to cloth training pants - no pulllups. pullups are seriously completely useless. If you are on the go alot, buy Gerber training pants (since they have an extra absorbent layer) and Gerber plastic training pants. Put the cloth pants in the plastic pants and they will contain most spills. At home just use the cloth ones.
Well, I have to care for the children now, but I'll add to my system as I think of it. Enjoy.
The rules:
1. Accidents are no big deal. Seriously, it is way yuckier to clean up a poopy diaper than it is to wipe pee off a wood floor. Thus there is no yelling, scolding, asking "why did you pee pee on the floor?". Just set them on the potty. Change clothes. Clean the floor and it never happened.
2. Train the children to sit on the potty when it is convenient for you. Once they get the hang of letting go into the potty, then they will go pretty much every time you put them on the potty. Kids who aren't bursting at the seems with number 1 and number 2, don't have as many accidents.
For example: in the beginning we sat on the potty when we woke up, after breakfast, before snack, after snack, before lunch, after lunch, before nap, after nap, before leaving the house, before playing outside, etc. Once we had the hang of it we went less as they requested to go.
3. Find a good reward. I tried stickers. My baby did not care for them. We ended up with fruit loops. 1 for pee in the potty, 2 for poop. Both girls LOVE their potty treats. Right now I am phasing them out. We only give them when they ask, since neither one has accidents anymore (most of the time - maybe once or twice a week). Eventually we'll move to 1 if they are dry all morning and 1 if they are dry all night. Or I'll just quit when this box of Fruit loops is gone. We'll see.
4. Plan for it to take 4-6 weeks to feel like this is a success.
5. Get rid of diapers during the day and swich to cloth training pants - no pulllups. pullups are seriously completely useless. If you are on the go alot, buy Gerber training pants (since they have an extra absorbent layer) and Gerber plastic training pants. Put the cloth pants in the plastic pants and they will contain most spills. At home just use the cloth ones.
Well, I have to care for the children now, but I'll add to my system as I think of it. Enjoy.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Just Joy
So I have been going through a long spell where I am just tired of being at home all the time with toddlers. I am especially longing to go back to work. Why, I am not sure. I think if I was just at home with my own little girl it would be a very different experience, but I find myself losing patience with the other kids much too easily.
So today's joy came as a bit of a surprise. Its early morning and I only have 2 girls today, mine and her best friend, which is a blessing after having had three several days a week for the last month and a half. Well, the sudden urge to use the bathroom came over me, and as usual I announced "Mama is going to the potty, do you want to come with me?". This announcement is usually greeted with "yes" in some fashion and then we spend my bathroom time talking about poop and pee and they take turns sitting on their potty while I sit on mine. A little embarrassing to be so open with my private time, but this affords an opportunity both for early toilet training and supervision.
Well this morning was a rare occasion where they just said "no". But have to go I did, so I went into the bathroom and started to do my thing. Then I started to hear loud thumping in the living room. My concern was that they decided this would be a good opportunity to jump on the couch and then to jump off the couch. So from my vulnerable position I began asking questions "are you girls being good?", "do you want to come sit on the potty?" and after no responses and continued thumping accompanied by squealing, a clear sign of present danger, my questions became more desperate "where is your favorite doll?" "What is the doggy doing?" in an attempt to distract them from whatever horrible activity they cooked up. Finally I finished my business and ran into the living room, only to discover that both girls, huge grins across their faces, were hugging themselves and spinning in circles on the carpet until they fell down. Then they would squeal or say "Bridget fall down" etc. and do it again.
I had thought the worst of them, but they gave me the best moment I have had in the last few weeks. Watching them enjoy their game and each other's company was priceless. Sometimes I just want to give up, but I shouldn't. Because they are already becoming funny, wonderful, responsible little people.
So today's joy came as a bit of a surprise. Its early morning and I only have 2 girls today, mine and her best friend, which is a blessing after having had three several days a week for the last month and a half. Well, the sudden urge to use the bathroom came over me, and as usual I announced "Mama is going to the potty, do you want to come with me?". This announcement is usually greeted with "yes" in some fashion and then we spend my bathroom time talking about poop and pee and they take turns sitting on their potty while I sit on mine. A little embarrassing to be so open with my private time, but this affords an opportunity both for early toilet training and supervision.
Well this morning was a rare occasion where they just said "no". But have to go I did, so I went into the bathroom and started to do my thing. Then I started to hear loud thumping in the living room. My concern was that they decided this would be a good opportunity to jump on the couch and then to jump off the couch. So from my vulnerable position I began asking questions "are you girls being good?", "do you want to come sit on the potty?" and after no responses and continued thumping accompanied by squealing, a clear sign of present danger, my questions became more desperate "where is your favorite doll?" "What is the doggy doing?" in an attempt to distract them from whatever horrible activity they cooked up. Finally I finished my business and ran into the living room, only to discover that both girls, huge grins across their faces, were hugging themselves and spinning in circles on the carpet until they fell down. Then they would squeal or say "Bridget fall down" etc. and do it again.
I had thought the worst of them, but they gave me the best moment I have had in the last few weeks. Watching them enjoy their game and each other's company was priceless. Sometimes I just want to give up, but I shouldn't. Because they are already becoming funny, wonderful, responsible little people.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Joy in "Mama"
So the other morning my toddler woke up and for once my husband went to get her instead of me. I heard him talking to her softly, picking her up, rescuing her doll from the crib and having her put her binky in his place on the bed. And then I heard those wonderful words... "mama? mama?" repeated over and over. I think she meant, of course you are nice Daddy, but where is my Mommy? So he brought her in, she grinned with all of her teeth (and she has them all now at 18 months except her 2 year molars), and gave me a big squeeze around the neck.
Someday when she is a teenager and thinks she either hates me or I am incredibly embarrassing, I intend to look back fondly on that day.
Someday when she is a teenager and thinks she either hates me or I am incredibly embarrassing, I intend to look back fondly on that day.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Joy in Jumping
Today we visited our local Cartwheels and Coffee, a coffee shop that has an indoor play area complete with slide, dress up clothes, balls, and tumbling things. In one end of the play area is a big tube that is perfect for jumping on. My toddler and her little buddy took turns holding an adults hands and just jumping for joy, literally, over and over for the good part of an hour. As she is sleeping soundly after our jumping excursion, I love that she finds such joy in life she just needs to jump it out. So here is to jumping. An expression that adults have all but forgotten, but can embrace at any moment. Seriously. Get up from your chair and jump around for just a minute. Yeah... it is fun isn't it?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Joy in Escaping
I know I started this blog to talk about all the joys of being with my toddler, but yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a conference in my former field of expertise. A friend babysat my bundle of joy and I was able to leave the house for once and interact with other adults who did not want to discuss babies. It was wonderful. I returned to a child who was happily playing with her toddler friends, and I thought, even though I love being with my baby, today I will be joyful in the escape; and perhaps in returning home too.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Day 1, Blog 1: Cuddles
This morning my toddler woke up around 5am. Contrary to my usual pattern, I decided to let her cry for a few minutes to see if she would put herself back to sleep. After all, there are 2 pacifiers in her crib, a teddy bear, a sock doll, and two blankets. Surely any one of those would be enough to signal her that it is time to go back to sleep. But to no avail. You see, she went from wakeful to fearful and left sleepy behind.
Usually when she won't go back to sleep I just bring her into bed with me. She spent the first year of her life in our bed after all. But lately she has only wanted to play once we bring her into bed and we spend 2 hours wrestling with a toddler who is not sleepy but very interested in pinching our noses.
So this morning, we went into the dark living room and cuddled up in the rocking chair with a blanket. Now I have never been a morning person, but strangely today it was just so peaceful rocking with her. She wrapped her little arms around my neck and laid her head down and I may always remember that moment. It was as if I was saying to her "Mommy is here, you can go back to sleep" and she was saying to me "Oh thank goodness, I couldn't bear it without you". What joy. Blissfully I was able to put her back down in her bed and we both slept in extra late this morning, but what a precious moment with my daughter. So to all you weary moms, find a moment in the day (or night) to appreciate what a gift you have in your toddler. Most importantly, make sure you get in a cuddle.
Usually when she won't go back to sleep I just bring her into bed with me. She spent the first year of her life in our bed after all. But lately she has only wanted to play once we bring her into bed and we spend 2 hours wrestling with a toddler who is not sleepy but very interested in pinching our noses.
So this morning, we went into the dark living room and cuddled up in the rocking chair with a blanket. Now I have never been a morning person, but strangely today it was just so peaceful rocking with her. She wrapped her little arms around my neck and laid her head down and I may always remember that moment. It was as if I was saying to her "Mommy is here, you can go back to sleep" and she was saying to me "Oh thank goodness, I couldn't bear it without you". What joy. Blissfully I was able to put her back down in her bed and we both slept in extra late this morning, but what a precious moment with my daughter. So to all you weary moms, find a moment in the day (or night) to appreciate what a gift you have in your toddler. Most importantly, make sure you get in a cuddle.
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