My Girl Wants to Potty All the Time!

Starting solids...sleep training...moving to a big girl bed....potty training...just some of the major transitions in the past 2 and half years of my daughter's life.  Each has been difficult and each has had its moments of pride and joy.

This past week it was Potty Training time.  Why I chose this weekend? I don't know.  But I read about and asked every person possible about the 3 day potty training boot camp and felt like I was ready.  I wasn't. Just like sleep training is not for everyone and certainly not for the weak at heart, neither is this type of potty training.  But I really just wanted to get it over with quickly and with as little pain as possible.

On the first day, upon wakeup it was undies only. No diapers. God I miss diapers. I rinsed out more undies than I can count and was more frustrated than I've felt in a long time.  But we were done with diapers and that was that.  I had to stick with it. She went pee pee when prompted, never unprompted and had many accidents (some minutes after going on the potty - which was soooo frustrating).  I gave her a Skittle when she went on the potty - but she could take it or leave it - which I guess is a good thing. Day 1 sucked. period. Stuck in the house on a beautiful day with a kid pissing all over the place. awesome. I called my friend (who did this with her son) and asked her why she didn't warn me how horrible it was.  But we survived.  Barely.

It was that night hat I told Mike that I am taking FULL CREDIT for this achievement (once it actually happens) and that he is responsible for potty training baby #2 (he agreed).  Because honestly, I can't do this again and I'm writing it here so I remember that I don't have to do it again. (Funny Mike side note: in the morning, I was in the bathroom and I hear "Daddy pee pee. Pee pee Daddy." So I'm waiting to hear the running footsteps.  And you know what I hear? Nothing.  Mike did nothing. Really? UGH! I have to teach kid how to go on the potty and the other kid how to take a child to the potty!)

Day 2 was so much better.  She went whenever she was prompted. (never not prompted) But get this - no accidents! We even left the house (twice!).  Once to take a walk and buy ingredients for some Yum Yum Brownie Muffins (we used yams instead of pumpkin - delish!) and once to buy some fruit.  Toward the end of the day, we even went to our local pool (in swim diapers - not ready for that yet!) and had a nice end to our day. I felt like the tide was turning and maybe yesterday wasn't a huge waste of time.

Day 3 and 4 were weekend days- in retrospect, this was probably not the best weekend to start potty boot camp, because we were upstate for the day on Saturday and Sunday was Mike's triathlon.  But Saturday was ok.  Definitely some setbacks (read:accidents) but nothing horrible.  She did a great job considering we were far from home in a new place.  The issue was that she wasn't pooping.  She was telling me she had to poop, but it wasn't happening.  There were tears (hers and mine) but we stuck with it.  My thinking was that I was still putting her in diapers at night, giving her ample time to poop in there if she needed to.  But she didn't.
Then Sunday, I made the decision to stay home instead of rooting Mike on in the city to get J back on potty track.  I'm glad I did.  She had no accidents and went consistently and pooped (finally!).  She even stayed dry at Grandma and Poppa's house.

Monday, she went to school and when I picked her up....she was still in the same outfit!!! No accidents all day or at home. Success!!

I''m not saying my kid is fully potty trained. But I'm feeling pretty damn good about myself right now (oh, and of course I'm super proud of J for being such a big girl!)

It's ON!

I try really really hard not to be competitive with other moms.
It's really hard because I am an extremely competitive person.

And unfortunately for my daughter and my wallet, my competitiveness has just set in.

You see, lots of J's little girlfriends are potty trained.  J is not. She was doing well at daycare for a while, but now...not so much.

So now it's GAME ON!

I spent the morning at Target and Michael's picking up panties (back to that word in a minute) and incentive items so that we can begin the process.

"Incentive items - arts & crafts crap that I know she'll love

She doesn't like M & M's so I'm going to try Skittles

Based on lots of friends tales of potty and advice, I'm going 'all in' on this one - In a few days, we will be saying goodbye to diapers! And from what I understand, once you say goodbye, there's no turning back.  So I have to mentally prepare myself for this....the mess, the inevitable frustrations, the constant reminders...but I'm ready.

Panties or Underwear??

My biggest dilemma: Do I call them underwear or panties.  J's a little girl - I think the word 'panties' is appropriate - some think it's creepy.  I call women's under garments 'underwear', but something about Dora and Disney screams "panties" to me...Mike thinks that I can call them 'panties,' but he can't because he'll sound like a dirty old man.  Thoughts???

I made my kid pick up sh*t

You may look at the title of this post and say "yeah I make my kid clean up too"...and to that I will say "no - I made her pick up her sh*t"

Not on purpose of course...

Here's how it went.  J was running around naked - It was pre-bath time and I figured how much "damage" could be done in a few minutes. 
I'll be honest, I wasn't paying much attention and she comes over to me and says something that sounds like "Mommy I did it" as she was pointing over to her lego blocks. 
I look up and say "Oh okay honey - we can do blocks - bring it over"

With that, she comes over to me with a pile of her sh*t.

Lesson Learned: I should pay closer attention

18 months going on 18 years

So after our night from hell, we hightailed it over to Buy Buy Baby to get some new gear for our big girl.

On our list:

Crib Tent and/or Toddler Bed

Potty Seat - not starting to train, but figured while I was there, might as well get it

Baby Proofing stuff (especially if we get the bed)

So here's how it went...the Crib Tent looks like a freaking cage.  I know it works for many families.  But I seriously think J would go batshit if we put that over her crib. And Mike? He was not into this at all.

So we went for the toddler bed.  I know she's a bit young for a bed, but I also thought she was a bit young to be climbing out of her crib.  So it is what it is.  I was also thinking that at daycare she naps on a close to the ground cot, so maybe the transition wouldn't be too crazy.

We bought something that looks like this one.  The one we got matched the rest of the furniture in her room and is a little curvier than this one, but you get the idea. 

While we were there, we picked up a Dora potty seat, which she was happily sitting on in the store and for $30 we figured why not...

Sunday went a little like this:

Before heading to our friends' house to watch some football, I was going to the bathroom and I asked J if she wanted to sit on the potty.  She nodded (I think) and jokingly I was telling her to "PUSH!" Honestly, it was more for the funny way she says "push" than anything else...but holy shit (pun intended) she pooped in the potty.  I didn't know what to do.  I was excited over her poop.  Now I know it was a total fluke, but as my friend from work said, at least she now knows what "push"means...

On our way home from our friends she fell asleep, we transfered her into the bed and a couple of hours later, she was pretty much out of her mind.  It must be pretty crazy waking up in a strange place in your own room...so into our bed she came - So I guess Night #1 = FAIL!

Now we're on night 2 and with a much longer wind down she did fall asleep in there - so fingers are crossed that she'll last longer in there than last night...

Oh transitions...they're so much fun!

I was holding on tight but...

I'm going to change the wording just a tad to fit with the story I'm going to tell...

For me, I'm forever holding in tight but...my bladder will inevitably fail me.  I'm going to take you back...before I became a mommy (and the whole birthing process surely ruined my capacity to hold tight) before (I think) I was pregnant...

Mike and I took a trip to Barcelona, Spain.  It's an amazingly beautiful place.  We took a day trip to Figueres and Girona....on a bus...about 2 hours...no bathroom. 

You probably know how this ends. 

I was fine on the way there.  The two places were a lot of fun and very different from Barcelona.  It was a nice way to spend the day. But I made a mistake.  I forgot to go to the bathroom before we got on the bus to go home.  Rookie Error. 

About halfway through, I look at Mike and say, "Honey, I have to go to the bathroom."  As is typical for us, he asked me how bad - I said on a scale from 1 to 10 about a 7.  He went to the front and asked our guide how much longer. Another half hour without traffic. 

I tried to hold it in.  I really really really tried.  I concentrated on anything and everything that I could to keep my mind off my bladder.  I was not successful. 

I told Mike I couldn't hold it in any more. I had some sanitary napkins in my bag and proceeded (on this crowded bus) to shove them in my underwear (hoping that they would soak everything up).  FAIL. I also put our backpack around my bottom, so I wouldn't get it all over the chair. FAIL. I peed all over my shorts, all over my bag, all over the chair. On a crowded bus.  Did I mention it was August? And hot. Yeah. 

I was so embarrassed.  But unfortunately (or fortunately) Mike is used to these kinds of things happening to me. We ran off the bus straight to our hotel so I could change. 

I'm sorry to the person who sat in our seats the next day thinking they were on a lovely day trip.  The smell must have been horrible and it was probably still wet. 

I was holding on tight but....

This post was written as part of Mama Kat's Writers' Workshop

1st Year Dr. Appointment

I went today for Jenna's 1 year appointment at the dr...didn't do the MMR and the Chicken Pox vaccines since she was sick, but had the basic checkup - some interesting things...

1. Told me to drop the pacifier and the bottles cold turkey and together - definitely nervous about this and would love some advice!
hubby's response: "how is she going to sleep without the pacifier"
my response "do you sleep with a pacifier in your mouth?"

2. Start thinking about potty training...WHAT?!?! She said girls are easier and why not start? I mean don't get me wrong I would love to be done with diapers, but not sure about potty training just yet - but maybe...no clue how to even start this process!

3. Baby Food be gone! Teach good eating habits - no more purees! This actually sounds good to me - I'd much rather watch her chomp on a banana than have to feed her from a jar.