4 months, 2 1/2 years, and Peter Pan

Hello! Here I am. Did you miss me? I'm stopping by to let you know that on the nights where I really have something important to say, I'm too tired to sit down and type it out. Then on the nights where I have time to sit and write, I have nothing terribly interesting to say. Simply put, when you don't hear from me, just imagine all sorts of deep and profound parenting moments going on, and when you do hear from me, you can skim it because it can't be that great, lol!


Poppy is 4, almost 5, months old. She reaches for toys, smiles like she means it, and dances her little heart out on the changing table. The girl is a kicking machine! Though she still needs her reflux medicine and will tell you on the dot when she needs her next dose, spit-up has dramatically reduced. She still can't handle dairy. I cannot wait to one day (not anytime soon, mind you) wean her off breast milk and then have an ice cream party all to myself. Chocolate Milkshake? Sure! Mudslide? Even better! Let's whip up a pot of macaroni and cheese, too, just for good measure, hmm? Alright, I need to stop salivating on the keyboard! I must say that Senpai has been my savior here in the keep-Mommy-dairy-free effort. Without his trips to specialty stores in St. Louis to keep me stocked on dairy-free yogurt, cheese, butter, and (even more importantly) CUPCAKES and BROWNIES, I would've gone off the deep end a while ago. I'm not saying I would've given up on breastfeeding Poppy-- nuh-uh, I've got an iron will there-- it's just that I would most certainly be more miserable about it. Poppy and I thank you, Senpai.




Rosemary is growing like a weed. She is 2 1/2 now. It is safe to say that she is daytime potty trained. We're still working on reducing accidents at night. Though I say she is daytime potty trained, there was a rash of accidents recently because I up and moved her little potty from the living room into the bathroom with no warning. Apparently I was supposed to move it gradually-- about a foot a day-- until it ended up in the new location. Whoops, oh well. It was two days of messes, but she has since recovered nicely.



Rosemary's favorite game at the moment is to be chased. If no one is chasing her, she'll still run around in circles and say, "Peek-a-boo! I see you!" when she gets back to you. She has recently picked up my saying of, "Sleep well," when I put her down for bed. As I leave the room she could say anything from, "Nigh nigh," to "Sleep well," or even "See you later!" And sometimes all of the above. Though she picks up new words and sayings every day, she still strings together long sentences of gibberish just to hold your attention for minutes at a time before finally ending with a single real word. Granted, she has been throwing more real words into the middle of those gibberish sentences: "Pan! fgdskjds;odopid In the sky! dfkljdsofiufwei Fly! gfoepewop[eiof Smee! dkljfdoewiofl In the water! fgopifdoifnewkfn Tick tock!" She has so much to say about Peter Pan, it's adorable. :-)

Speaking of Peter Pan, that is our costume theme this year. Rosemary is the plucky boy herself, while Poppy is none other than the impetuous Tinkerbell. Senpai and I will be Captain Hook and Tiger Lily respectively. Here's a sneak preview of our little pixie:




Well, time to sign off.

Poppy looks adorable as ever, and I.... still look like a mom.

Precious Cargo

Precious Cargo

The house is quiet. I sit at my desk, completely aware of how lucky I am to have nothing else to do. That's not true, really. The house is a mess; there is always laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, sticky surfaces to be wiped, cloth diapers to be folded, etc, etc, etc... But I won't do any of it right now, because I don't want to disturb my precious cargo.



She doesn't nap well without me. Her little eye just peeked open, challenging me to put her down. I'm watching you. Really, I should be pacing, lulling this baby into a deep sleep, but I'm pausing for a moment to write. And since I don't want to type on my phone as I do my rounds of the dining room table, I will sit for a moment, get up, sit for a moment, get up. This is why I haven't written much since Poppy's been home. :-)


Floor Sleeper

I went upstairs to retrieve Poppy's reflux medicine from my bedside table, and this is what was waiting for me:



What inspires a kid to sleep on the floor when there is a perfectly good bed right next to her? I have to wonder, did she drop like a fly, or did she pause for a moment and think, "This looks like a particularly comfy stretch of carpet." It boggles the mind.

The reason for the weird framing of the photo is because I was trying to exclude her naked bum from the shot. ^_^ Speaking of which, potty training is going great. She is 100% diaper-free, and, while accidents still happen, their frequency has diminished.


Three Months



Poppy is three months old now. She eats every hour during the day, and then goes for five hour stretches at night. Reflux has got her bad. I walk around with a prefold tucked into my back pocket like a waiter with his napkin, so I always have it on hand to mop spit-up off my shoulders, Poppy, and the floor. She "snacks" every hour as this is easier on her stomach than taking full servings every three. But she nurses every time. And the nipple shield is a long forgotten memory. Yeah, we're doing well.

Developments

I webcammed with my husband tonight.


That used to be the standard-- back before FaceTime, before I had a laptop with a built-in camera, before he had an iPhone-- it was us, computers, and webcams, communicating across the country. I had met him in my home state of Maryland right after I had already signed up to attend a massage school in Las Vegas, NV. We had three short months of face to face dating before I packed my car up and drove away. But, in that fleeting period of time, we had already fallen deeply in love. The relationship continued over cell phones and webcams, as I learned effleurage and petrissage in the desert, and he moved to Southern IL to get his bachelor's degree. The following year I graduated from massage school, we got married, and I moved to Illinois all in one weekend. It was a busy weekend. Now, five years later, we find ourselves once again connected by webcam. He is on the East Coast for a week long training, and I'm here, at our house in Illinois, with the two-year-old and a 32-week-old fetus gestating inside me. I'm ever so glad that my Dad is here, too (otherwise, I wouldn't make it!).




It works in our favor that R now loves her daycare. It was a rough transition for sure: my fully daytime potty-trained Cupcake went back to having (multiple) accidents, both at home and at "school." Thankfully the daycare staff was patient and understanding, and now, three weeks later, she comes home wearing the same clothes we put her in in the morning. She needs pull-ups at naptime, but that's understandable; the daycare staff have to stick to a schedule and put all the kids down at the same time instead of keeping one up until her bladder is fully emptied. But yes, R loves it. She has figured out that daycare is more fun than staying home and running errands with Mommy, or going to doctor appointments and watching Mommy get measured and hooked up to weird machines.


Speaking of doctor's appointments, I now go in for weekly ultrasounds and doctor visits, and twice weekly non-stress tests. Fun stuff. All of this time spent sitting around in waiting rooms has given me a non-stop list of knit and crochet projects. It's been awhile since I last picked it up, but I'm back to using the knitting jenny to make little hats for the NICU babies. I've also made a hat and two pairs of booties for Poppy, as well as finished her baby blanket. See?







I'm keeping busy, for sure. Until Senpai comes back home, and until Poppy makes her grand debut (another full moon is on its way... time to refill the anti-contraction meds prescription!), a steady stream of yarn flows through my fingers.

Napless

The afternoon nap might have joined the ranks of the dinosaurs, the dodo birds, and other extinct creatures...

Ever since last Saturday when I first started "Three Day Potty Training," I have been emphasizing to R how she's a big girl now. "You're such a big girl for wearing panties!" "You use the potty like a big girl!" I guess she interpreted big girl to mean she doesn't have to take naps anymore either.

It started on Wednesday when she fell asleep on the car ride home from the Science Center. Our routine is usually wake up, eat breakfast, shower and get dressed, leave the house for errands/playtime/doctor appointment (whichever needs to be done that day), and then go back home for lunch and nap time. The Science Center day threw her off because she fell asleep before lunch. In the car. For 5 or 10 minutes. Apparently, to her developing mind, any little bit of sleep equals nap, and no further sleep is required until bedtime. So when we got home, and after I had made lunch, there was no sleep. No glorious two to three hours (yes, I know I was spoiled) of quiet. Instead there was stress and mounting frustration as I insisted she get back in bed and go to sleep, but, of course, she wouldn't.

The next day, Thursday, went the exact same way. I had a doctor appt. in St. Louis which she again fell asleep for the last 5 or 10 minutes of the drive home before lunch. Uuuuugh! I knew what to expect this time and did not get upset like I had on Wednesday, but I was still at a loss: where did my afternoon break go???

I was hoping for a positive change on Friday. We did not leave the house. There were no long car rides for her to squeeze premature sleep out of. She still didn't nap. What?! :-( A plus side to the nonexistent nap yesterday is that a dear friend brought her son over for a playdate. :-) She sent me a text asking if R was napping, and if she wasn't, how about a playdate? I said sure; all the better to make use of the unexpected awake hours added into my day.

And today? She initiated going upstairs to her room after lunch, same as she had done the past couple of days. But something is different today. As I type this, there is quiet over the baby monitor instead of incessant gibbering. Maybe, just maybe, she fell asleep... I think she did.


Hallelujah!

One Week to Disney

There were so many accidents yesterday.

Getting tired of potty training posts yet? Sorry, it's all that's on my mind, therefore all I have to talk about. I gave Senpai a full play-by-play of what happened this morning when he called from work. I'm sure he was thrilled to hear about the minutia that accompanies getting a 20 month-old girl to stop wetting herself.

Yesterday almost had me putting R back in diapers today. There were so many accidents last night. She didn't want to sit on the potty when we'd tell her it was time, and she wouldn't signal that she had to go. This morning I enforced, "If you don't sit on the potty when Mommy asks you to, you have to wear a diaper." I watch her fluid intake. I have a pretty good idea of when she'll have to pee. For her to not sit on the potty when I know she's going to go, that now automatically means diaper. And she HATES wearing her diapers, which makes it a very good incentive. :-)

It's working so far this morning. I had to put a diaper on her once due to her unwillingness to sit on the potty first thing when she got up (I know her bladder is empty first thing in the morning because she goes in her diaper at night, but I'm looking ahead to when she won't be peeing in her sleep). When I went to the bathroom, she followed me in. I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty now, and she did not refuse. Nothing happened, but I put her in training pants afterwards, simply because she had been a good girl for sitting on the potty when Mommy asked her to. Since I've put the fear of diapers in her this morning, she's signaled twice that she had to go, and each time gave results.

I don't know what will happen this afternoon. For some reason-- probably because I don't watch her as closely after Senpai comes home-- afternoons always yield accidents. Maybe I'll ask Senpai to cook dinner tonight and see if we can get better results.

We are flying to Disney World in one week. Hear that? ONE WEEK. What a way to put pressure on a mama. If I were sane, I would not be potty training my child in such a limited time span. But R is leading the way here. She is the one choosing training pants over diapers, and (usually) signals that she has to pee. Don't worry about poop. I haven't mentioned it before, but she hasn't been pooping in her diapers for months. So this is all her idea, and I'm just going along, trying to limit the number of wet underpants on the way. I'm so worried about the trip, though. If I have to put her in disposable diapers, maybe she won't hate them as much as her cloth ones, and maybe that will cause her to regress. If that does happen, it's quite possible that she'll go back to potty training mode once we get back home and try to put the cloth diapers on her again, but who knows. There are so many possibilities, so many projected outcomes, that I don't know which one to expect. And I certainly have no idea what to pack for the trip. Pull-ups? Training pants and Flip covers? Special training pants with a hidden PUL liner (Tinkle Time Trainers)? Everything?

Mommy has a lot to think about.

UPDATE: Today was accident free! We did need to put a diaper on her during dinner due to potty avoidance (and she peed in it), but I did not mop up any puddles today! I wonder how Storytime will go tomorrow... Do I dare take her out in just a Tinkle Time Trainer? Umm, I may not be that bold yet.

Potty Club

I know I need to reign myself in, but I'm so excited that R is taking closer and closer steps to being potty trained. Life around here is slowly morphing into something better as old patterns are being disrupted and new rituals creep in. She wears Gerber training pants at home during the day. No more daytime diapers unless we leave the house, and even that paradigm is starting to shift.

We drove to Storytime this morning-- Senpai (off from work), R, and I-- and I took R to the bathroom as soon as we arrived. Her diaper was still dry. She sat on the toilet but nothing happened, so I put her back in her diaper. At the end of Storytime, I saw her fidget with her pants. I should've taken her to the bathroom right away, but she was in the middle of coloring, and I decided to wait. I had told myself before leaving the house this morning that we would do potty trips before and after car rides, but before I knew it, we were in the car heading home and I had completely forgotten about my rule. Not surprisingly, her diaper was wet when we got home.

She peed on the big potty before lunch (that's another rule: potty before meals), and kept her panties dry throughout the meal. When it was time to go upstairs for her nap, she didn't want to sit on the potty (the last rule of Potty Club: potty before and after sleep), and she didn't want to put a diaper on either. I fastened a Flip cover with a stay-dry insert over her training pants. She took an hour to fall asleep. In that period, I tried putting her on the Bjorn potty that now resides in her bedroom. She sat on the potty for all of 5 seconds without doing anything, but I was thrilled that her diaper covered training pants were still dry.

To recap, but mostly to remind myself, the three rules of Potty Club are:
1. Do not talk about Potty Club.
2. Do not talk about Potty Club.
3. New babies go first.

No wait, it's more like this:
1. Potty before and after car rides.
2. Potty before meals.
3. Potty before and after sleep.


If I can remember to keep to these rules, R can be a dry-pantsed toddler. From there, it's only a matter of time before she'll start to initiate potty trips herself. I'm so excited! I'm really curious to know if her diaper will be dry when she wakes up from her nap. I highly doubt it, but, man, that would be awesome if it is! Yeah, reign your excitement in, Mommy.

21 months and 5 months

R is 21 months old

She has a bread fetish. Today she snuck into the cabinet where we keep the bread, almost knocked over some glass dishes, but emerged victorious with a bag of hamburger buns. She then squeezed them up to her nose and took a deep breath, multiple times. Baby likes to huff bread.



She speaks amazing paragraphs of gibberish. I can't even replicate the sounds that come out of her lips. "Gibl gibl gibl gibl!" is as close as I can get in print. She'll say "bye" sometimes when we leave a store, but her words and use thereof are unpredictable. This morning when I wanted to change her out of her nighttime diaper, she avoided me, playing, until she finally realized that the diaper felt uncomfortable. She suddenly squatted as if trying to get away from the diaper, and said, "It is weh...T." That's a delayed but very strong T sound at the end there. The girl amazes me whenever she busts out sentences like that.

I made a dedicated effort towards potty training last week. We stayed home most of the time, R spent her waking hours in training pants, and, while I got better at catching her accidents, she has made no progress in telling me when she has to go. Storytime started back up this week, and R is back in diapers for the most part. Even while wearing the diapers, I know when she is peeing, but she still won't tell me. So I ask, "Do you have to go potty? Peepee or poopoo on the potty?" and I wait for one of these days when she will say yes.


5 months

I can't believe that there's only 5 months left in this pregnancy. I'm only 15 weeks pregnant-- which is nothing in the long run-- but counting down until the due date gives me 5 months to go. It seems so short. R's pregnancy felt like it would last forever, and then it didn't because she came early, but this pregnancy feels like it's going by so quick. Have I really been pregnant for 4 months already?

I'm still seeing the doctors every 2 weeks. I see them next week on Senpai's 30th birthday. I was really wishing they would do the ultrasound that day, but I asked and they insisted that we wait until I'm 18 weeks pregnant. Can't wait to find out if this baby is the little girl that I think she is, or a boy waiting to surprise me. I also can't wait to see more than just a little blob on the screen. We have one ultrasound pic already, taken at 6 weeks, and I haven't bothered to scan it yet because it doesn't look like anything. Show me my baby. I can't feel it move yet. Every two weeks I am reassured by hearing the heartbeats over the monitor, but I need more connection to this entity hidden inside me.

Live-Blogging Potty Training... Again

I didn't expect to be writing this post today, but R insisted. Hey, lady, I'm all for having you be diaper independent. If you say you're ready, then let's get this boat moving!

Morning
She fussed through her diaper change this morning, same as she's been fussing through diaper changes for awhile now. The routine after any meal is that R will go to the bathroom to wash her hands, I'll sit her on the potty for a bit, and in the morning, the next step is that we'll take a shower together. She did not want to wash her hands (I made her), and she certainly didn't want to sit on the potty. I told her if she didn't sit on the potty then she wouldn't be taking a shower with me. She LOVES shower time, so that's quite a punishment. Nevertheless, her anger overwhelmed her desire for shower. I sat her on the travel potty in front of Sesame Street while I took a shower without worry of being knocked over by a toddler trying to squeeze herself between my legs.

When Sesame Street was over, I tried to put a diaper on R, and she once again, big surprise, threw a fit. The lightbulb went off in my head, "You want to potty train today, don't you?" It's not like we have anywhere to go today, so it works out. She wandered around in her training pants for an hour with no accidents. Now I'm about to get ready to make lunch, so she's sitting on the travel potty and watching Peter Pan. I'd like to put her back in a diaper while she eats lunch (based on previous experiences), but I don't foresee her enjoying that either.

Lunch
She peed a bit on the travel potty during Peter Pan. She had drank juice while she was watching the movie. Now she is in her high chair to eat lunch, still wearing training pants. I put a plastic bag and a prefold diaper underneath her. We'll see if she'll want to sit on the big potty after she's finished eating.

Well, she really surprised me: she was still dry after eating lunch! I could not get her to wash her hands or sit on the big potty, though. She wanted nothing more than to climb all over the couch with her food-smeared hands and face. That didn't go over so well with Mommy. I sat her in the dry tub and attacked her with a wet washcloth. She played with the bath toys for a bit, still not wetting herself, and still not wanting to sit on the big potty. She accepted a diaper without fighting and then happily went upstairs to take a nap.

To recap this morning, after I took her nighttime diaper off, she has peed only once and it was in the travel potty. She seems absolutely certain to know when she does NOT need to pee, but I haven't really been assured that she knows when she DOES have to pee. Still, it seems like I could place more trust in her judgement. I'm not expecting a bowel movement until just before dinner, as it's been the last couple of days. So far, so good!

Afternoon
She had a long nap (always helpful), and woke up with a wet diaper. She did not want to use the big potty when I brought her downstairs. Right now she is wearing training pants and playing with her toys. Let's hope the rest of today stays dry!

She had drank juice at 4:20. I was going to enforce a mandatory potty break at 4:40, but she beat me to it: at 4:30 she started tugging at her underwear. I sat her on the big potty, and it took awhile, but she did eventually pee a little bit. I waited to see if she would poop, too, but it wasn't happening, so I took her off around 4:45. At 4:50, she picked up her juice cup and started to pee on the floor as she drank. Her first accident of the day. I put her back on the big potty. She peed twice more while sitting on the big potty. She got really involved in a new show I found on Netflix called Baby Class, so now she's sitting on the travel potty to finish up the show while I type this up. Thai food for dinner has been ordered and Senpai is on his way home from work. I'm going to lie down.

Evening
She peed on the floor again as she tried to play with some toys. I put her in a diaper after that. She then stepped in the pee while I was trying to clean it up. I was thrilled. Thankfully that's when Senpai came home, not a moment too soon.


After the way this evening went, I'm tempted to keep potty training only to the mornings for now. Some hiccups are that I have a doctor appointment in St. Louis tomorrow morning, and R has a pediatrician appointment Thursday morning. Fun, fun. We'll figure this out somehow.

Live-Blogging Potty Training, Day 2

I didn't think I would blog again today, but Senpai mentioned how he liked visiting the page and being kept abreast of our day while he was work. Here we are again, keeping Daddy and the blogosphere informed of our progress.

8 am - Today has not started so well as yesterday. R woke up at 6. I refuse to get out of bed until 7. She sat on the big potty when we finally came downstairs to start the day, but nothing happened because she had already gone in her diaper, understandably. I put her in a new diaper while she ate breakfast, and now I can't get it off of her. She didn't want her post-meal potty time, and she won't hold still to let me put panties on her. She's started playing with blocks... I think now is my opportunity to do the switch.

9 am - She just peed a little bit in the travel potty. I had given her some juice, so I'm still waiting for the rest of the pee.

10:15 am - More pee (and a goldfish!) in the travel potty while she watches "Peep's Big Wide World." No accidents yet today. I'm turning off the tv.

10:20 am - She just wet herself next to the slide. There's nothing like the slide to get this girl peeing. I'm tempted to put a puppy mat in front of it. :-p Based on yesterday and today's happenings, tomorrow I will start to implement a mandatory 10 am big potty break. While the travel potty is nice, she doesn't fully relieve herself on it.

11:06 am - I had sat her on the big potty from 10:40 to 11:05 in the hopes of getting her to poop, but no such luck.

1 PM - She's down for her nap now. I had put her on the potty for 5 minutes just before lunch to see if she would get everything out of her system before wetting herself in the high chair, but she didn't go, so guess what happened on the high chair. Sitting on the potty after lunch she didn't do anything either. We're still waiting for poop today. Two accidents in this first round.

I'm well aware that right now this whole potty training adventure seems to be more about training me than her. I'm holding on to the moment yesterday when she stopped watching Winnie the Pooh (!!!) to let me know to take her to the big potty. And then she peed. It was beautiful. I need more moments like that. Tell me you have to go, Sweetie, hold it until you get on a potty. That's all I'm asking. These are the things that will come with time. For now I have to keep an eagle eye on her, and I will admit, it's getting boring. I'm really curious to see where we'll be by the end of the week.

3 pm - I need lots of calm and strength right now. She woke up early from her nap. I took her to the potty, nothing happened, and she was in a sour mood. I took her back upstairs to finish her nap. She isn't looking like she's going to fall back to sleep and that has both of us feeling crabby. I'm not sure how to continue from here.

9 pm - Are you wondering, "What happened to the rest of the day?" Haha, it was rough. I needed to get out of the house before I had a Mommy Meltdown (in capital letters, because it was baaaad), so I threw a diaper on R and we went to Target. I strapped her into her stroller, got myself a Frappuccino, and met up with Senpai who stopped by on his way home from work. Sigh, much better. We went home, abandoned potty training for the rest of the day, cooked our usual Tuesday dinner of frozen pizza, then I went off to bellydance class. When I came home, R was in bed as she should've been, catching up on some much needed sleep.


It was the short nap that killed the afternoon. Usually she sleeps for 2-3, sometimes even 4 hours during her afternoon nap. For her to wake up after only 1 hour today, after going to bed late last night and waking up early this morning... it was just bad. Her mood was horrible, and in my trying to "fix" her mood by forcing her to go back to sleep, but she wasn't having it, which pissed me off... oh, it was bad. When I find myself taking away her beloved Pooh doll and saying, "You don't deserve Pooh!" I know something has gone horribly wrong. Potty training had to be abandoned because neither of us could handle it as frazzled as we were.

Do I try again tomorrow? Senpai says no. I think I need to relax the standards a bit... use more diapers throughout the day, and just toss on training pants at certain times, as opposed to trying to keep her in training pants for all of her waking hours. The reason I started this potty training adventure was because R had been fighting both the potty and diapers. I wanted to switch things up for her to try something new. Come to think of it, this afternoon she was fighting both the potty and diapers again, but that could be from the tiredness.

She just woke up screaming... I wonder if she's teething? Ahh, babies. We'll never figure them out.

Live-blogging Potty Training

Yes, I am live-blogging potty training. Why? Because R and I are stuck at home, and I am nowhere near as interested in R's toys as she is. Right now she is sitting on her "My Carry Potty" while drinking juice and watching Sesame Street. Thank you, Elmo.

Today is the day when I'm ready to crack down on removing the safety and security that comes with diapers. She knows full well how to use the potty-- she's been doing it since he was 12 months old-- but she still pees in her diapers, because they're there. It's time for me to stop relying on the diapers, as well. I bought three packs of Gerber Training Pants, and I am ready to take her all the way to diaper independence. (Psyching myself up, lol!)

She has worn the training pants for limited occasions on two previous days. Those days involved accidents, but this morning has gone well so far. R woke up well rested. I brewed a large pot of coffee. We're all good. ^_^ The first thing we do in the morning is sit R on the big potty. Usually she won't pee then because she'd already gone in her nighttime diaper, but not today! So we started off strong with a morning pee. I put her in a diaper for her to eat breakfast, but the diaper was dry, so I think I'll stick with training pants during lunch. She peed on her carry potty around 9:30 while watching Sesame Street. Now I'm waiting for the juice to work its magic. As of 10 am we are accident-free.

10:11 am - More pee in the travel potty. She's eating her goldfish and watching "Peep's Big Wide World." I feel bad for her little butt to be sitting on that hard seat for such an extended period of time, but she's interested in watching the tv shows, and I don't feel comfortable with her sitting diaper-less on the couch or carpet yet. When she's playing with her toys on the wood floor I just keep her in the training pants with the potty nearby.

10:30 am - She stood up from her potty, and stood next to her slide still transfixed on the tv. She peed on the floor. Note to self: turn off tv if she isn't sitting on the potty.

10:40 am - Massive deluge on the slide. I should've taken the little dribble before as a sign to take her to the big potty, especially after she drank all of that juice. I tried putting her on the travel potty right then but she wouldn't go for it. She's sitting on the big potty now. I'm not expecting there to be any more pee left. We're going to hop in the shower now.

11:14 am - Here is where I start getting frustrated. We got out of the shower, I had just put new panties on her and sat her down in front of some toys so I could get dressed... and she had another big pee. I mean, where did it even come from? Patience, Mommy, patience. She is on the big potty again and she will stay there until pee or poop goes into it.

11:45 am - We read books and she peed on the big potty at 11:35. I asked her if she wanted to flush and get down, but instead she wanted to read another book. Ten minutes later she pooped on the big potty. Now she's playing, and I've got to get lunch ready before she wets another training panty. We're down three from the morning, six more to go.

12:35 pm - Her panties were dry when I put her on the high chair for lunch. After she finished eating they were wet. It would have a been a pleasant surprise if they had stayed dry, but I wasn't expecting it. I set her on the big potty again for the post-meal standard potty break and nothing came out, no surprise there. She is down for her nap now wearing a diaper. The shirt I had put on her this morning stayed clean through all of the accidents, but I had to change her into a new shirt anyway because I forgot to give her a bib with lunch. Oh well. Time for me to clean, bake a pumpkin pie, and try to relax. I need to regain my calm and composure for round two when she wakes up.

3:20 pm - Round 2! She woke up at 3:00 with a wet diaper. She sat on the big potty but didn't have any deposits. Now she's sitting on the travel potty watching her favorite movie ever, Winnie the Pooh. At the moment I feel like sitting on the potty while watching tv is good for her, because it reinforces the rule that pee only goes in the potty, not diapers (or training pants). Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to move away from so much tv time.

4:30 pm - R took a break from sitting on the travel potty watching Pooh so that she could get on the big potty to pee. I had given her juice at 4, so it was time for it. Now the question... she wants to finish the movie, but she just peed... do I put her back on the travel potty? Or let her watch the movie without any sort of plastic protection? I know what the answer is, but I don't like it. No one said potty training would be fun.

4:50 pm - Since the issue of "plastic protection" was what was bothering me, I sat her on a plastic bag on the couch. I'm sure she appreciates the soft cushion under her butt! Still dry.

6:30 pm - She's in a diaper now. She had peed a little on the potty before dinner, but then after dinner we pulled her off her high chair sopping wet. I put her on the potty again and she wanted down before she had done anything, and she also wouldn't let me put a new panty on her. So diaper it is.


There's only an hour left to her day before we put her down for the night, and she's in a diaper, so that's the end of today's potty training. R is doing really great. She was very cooperative for the most part. The morning was a little rough, but, aside from wetting herself during dinner, there weren't any afternoon accidents, mostly because she signaled to me when she had to go. I see that as great progress!

I don't know if I'll live-blog tomorrow. Now that we've started potty training it will be an ongoing endeavor. My hope is to solely focus on it this week, with few, if any, trips ventured out of the house. We'll see how we hold up.

Fitting In

I've started taking R to Storytime at Barnes & Noble. It's nice for her to see the other kids and start getting involved in structured group activities. At 12 months old, though, she is at least eight months behind the other kids. I would like to would like to talk more with the other moms, but it's hard to strike up a conversation when you're herding toddlers just before lunch. Why does Storytime have to be at 11?



I took R over to the train table on the other side of the room when the kids began coloring. Another mom and her little boy soon came over and we started talking about allergies. Soon enough the other mothers and kids came over, and then I found it hard to get a word in edgewise. The mother of a twenty month old was saying, "She was on the potty at 16 months. We still have her in pull-ups at night..." R uses the potty... The mother of a three year old was saying, "So I ask her, 'Why don't you want to use the potty and wear your underwear like a big girl?' She answers, 'Because there are still diapers left, Mommy!'" [Cue group laughter] We use cloth diapers...

I don't know. R is so much younger than the other kids, and her milestones don't exactly line up with theirs, even if it's the same milestone, like potty training. I could add my two cents to the conversation, but I'd have to preface whatever I say with "I read somewhere, and I thought it was worth a try, to..." because I don't want to seem like I'm trying to be better than them. We do things differently, not to try to be better than the general population, but because it made sense to us. We use cloth diapers because we wanted to pay for our diapers all at once and reuse them. We started potty training early because we wanted to get her used to the idea of using the toilet before toddler rebelliousness kicked in. You (other mothers) chose disposable diapers for your own reasons. You potty train at the time you do and the way you do for your own reasons.

What does it really matter that we use cloth diapers or started potty training early? It's just different. But when I run the situations in my head-- of my possibly mentioning cloth diapers or early potty training-- it really does seem like I'm trying to be better than them. I don't want to be better than them. I want to be friends with them. I want R to have friends. Being more than half a year younger than those other little girls won't matter in a couple of years, but right now it does. We're different, trying to fit in at Storytime. I hope we manage it eventually.

Today's Two BIG Achievements!

Today has been a VERY special day for the R-baby. I don't know if I can even call her a baby anymore! Here are the two new developments that happened just this morning:

1. First words!!!

First words are tricky. Just because a baby knows how to make the sounds doesn't mean she knows what they mean. R has been saying "Dada" and "Mama" for months now, but I'm only halfway certain that she knows what they mean. We had a conversation in the car Friday that went something like this:

R, "Ki."
Me, "Do you see a kitty?"
No answer.
Me, remembering hearing a clunk sound the minute before, "Did you drop your toy keys?"
R, "Di."
Me, "I'll be stopping the car in just a little bit. I'll give you your keys back then, okay?"
R, "Di."

So those were almost words. But today, when the cat plopped in front of her and she said "kitty," and then when she clearly said "up" after I had picked her up, I can say with absolute certainty that she knows what they mean. :-D I need to pay more attention to what I say to her! And I absolutely need to "give her [more] words" as my Mom says. ^_^


2. She pooped in the potty.

Yes, she pooped in the potty!!! The Baby Whisperer books recommend starting potty training as early as 6 months, but I wasn't ready to take on the task until 12 months. We just started last week, putting her on the potty after her meals. The cupcake is very regular, usually pooping after lunch or before dinner, so I've been trying to catch her before she goes in her diaper. Today we did it! She has a small seat that goes directly on the toilet. Our routine is that she will sit on the seat and look at a potty book while a timer counts down 5 minutes (it's nice to give the potty trips a definite end). After lunch today, while she was still in her high chair picking at the last bits of noodles in her tray, I saw her starting to grunt. I quickly got her out of the high chair, rinsed the food off her hands, then whisked her into the bathroom. We sat there reading the book for almost the whole 5 minutes. Just when the timer was about to ring, she looked at me and started to whine. It was as if she was saying, "Mom, I have to poop! Where's my diaper?" I reassured her, "It's okay, Sweetie, this is where you're SUPPOSED to poop!" She tensed up and then I heard the water splash beneath her. I was so excited! I called Senpai right there in the bathroom while R was still pooping, ha! Is that rude? He was eating lunch. :-p Afterwards I made a big deal of showing her the poop and flushing it away. Then I hung the reward chart that came with her potty book on the fridge and put a sticker on it. I'm so proud! ^_^


Sigh. Happy Mommy memories. :-)