5/25/10

All You Need is a Hat

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You know life is good when all you need is a hat!

OR 2 headbands and a bib!

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Potty Training Update:

I am sure that many of you are tired of hearing about tee tee and poo poo in the potty, but hey its a big deal around here and that's been our main focus this past week. I can't believe that is has only been a little over a week and we already have a handful of accident free days under our belt. We have even progressed from a toddler nudist colony to a toddler with pants! Blythe is doing wonderfully impressive things as this 20th month wraps up.

5/18/10

ROCKING the potty!

So after our 3 day immersion I thought that Blythe did a great job, but I wasn't sure that she was really ready to be sans diapers and I can't really expect or even ask Lauren to do potty training with her because lets face it, even with a rockstar pottier it can be hard work, or maybe not. Anyways the game plan was to let her be in diapers in the morning and continue the potty training at home with me until she got better. Of course this is a bit confusing for her which was demonstrated on several occasions in the morning when I dropped her off and she was holding herself, she wasn't asking to go to the potty or even looking for Oslo's potty but she was holding it and had to be told that it was o.k. to go tee tee.

I think part of being a parent is second guessing yourself so of course I thought well maybe this wasn't the way to go and maybe I should have waited until my mom or MIL could be in town to continue the training at home or maybe I should take a week off now to stay home with her instead of at the end of the pregnancy. My problem with the waiting part was that I really just needed/wanted to know if she was truly ready to be potty trained or if she/I just thought she was showing signs of being ready. My other problem with waiting was that IF she was truly ready to be potty trained I wanted there to be enough distance from the 'loss of diapers' to the new baby arriving that she didn't see the loss of diapers as a result of the new baby.

I am not one to read a bunch of parenting books and parent by a method and certainly the same applied during potty training. I came up with a system and of course as you read below found some things in my system that needed to be tweaked. I was curious what these 1 day and 3 day potty training methods were about so I did a little Internet research. Apparently a lot of what I was doing was the same as far as a 3 day immersion, stay at the house, naked from the waste down part. The main difference in what I was doing was that they do not have you set a potty timer and simply have you put a potty in each room of the house (I think that is a little excessive, but...) simply tell the child that tee tee and poo poo go in the potty and leave it at that. If they have an accident than you say something like uh oh you forgot to put the tee tee/poo poo in the potty and move on. At the conclusion of day 2 I had decided that I was hovering too much and needed to give her some space, which I was better at on day 3, but not like today.

When we got home today at 2:30ish I took off her diaper and she was still dry from the start of her nap (12:30) so I figured she would need to go before too long. I set the potty in the living room and we played. I have to admit that is was REALLY REALLY hard for me to not ask her if she needed to sit on the potty when she was holding herself and clearly holding it for dear life, but I did it. I just kept reminding myself that an accident was no big deal, she isn't truly potty trained if its just me knowing when she needs to go or hanging out in the bathroom with her until something materialized. She danced around the potty several times. She would sit for a few seconds and if I happened to make eye contact I said "good job," and then focused my attention elsewhere, knowing that she is pretty independent and this needed to be about her making the choice to use the potty. After dancing around the potty and thinking about the potty she finally decided to sit on it and to my surprise she sat down, pushed, and then stood up and proudly proclaimed "BIG POOP," I walked over to investigate and sure enough there was big poop in the potty!! Even if this was our only success all afternoon it would have been great because I wasn't constantly asking her if she needed to go to the potty and she had made the decision on her own, but it didn't stop there. She proceeded to go tee tee in the potty 3 more times and even another poop (all unprompted and completely on her own accord)! That is 5 visits to the potty in the span of about 4 hours and zero accidents....WOW. I must say that this afternoon was the easiest and least stressful of all the days. I guess this is just one more way of her showing me that she doesn't need me and she's capable. To say that I am over the moon proud of her is an understatement.

Don't get me wrong we still have plenty of hurdles to jump such as remembering to go to the potty when we have pants on. I guess the first step is teaching her or letting her teach herself how to pull them up and down (surely if she can put her shoes on and off she can master pulling loose pants up and down). I can see that she is more into this potty idea if its all on her own so I am going to have to let her/help her figure out how to get pants up and down. Jason isn't a big fan of her running around sans pants, but he understands the importance in the early days.

We had a VERY exciting, VERY successful potty training day and it was ALL Blythe. Way to go baby, you did awesome, and quiet honestly a LOT better than I thought. I had convinced myself that our true success from this weekend was just because of my hovering or my constant asking, but I can see that you really do 'get it!'

5/17/10

Immersion Day 3

Today there was no potty timer and no strongly encouraging her to sit on the potty at certain intervals. It was simply a here's the potty you know what to do and what your rewards are. When I saw her doing her potty dance I would say "do you need to sit on the potty," if she said no then I would just remind her that if she felt tee tee coming she needed to tell mommy and go to the potty.

She only had ONE accident all day long and as I looked back over my notes from yesterday and today, I noticed that the 3 accidents she had in the last 2 days were all when she was wearing big girl underwear. I don't know if it is because they are cloth and she is used to the cloth diapers or if it was just coincidence, but somehow we are going to have to graduate from being a nudest to weraing clothes and still using the potty!

She certainly knows how to hold (almost too well) it and knows when its coming. She will hold it until she literally can't hold it anymore. Then she will sit on the potty and still try to hold it (literally) and I had to remind her that she was on the potty and that is where we want to put the tee tee, then she would relax and go. Poor thing, it almost seems like she is trying to not tee tee.

Overall I think today was a lot more relaxing for both of us. I didn't hover over her which was good for her (she likes her Blythe time) and good for the house (I did some cleaning and some projects of my own) and she was still successful.

When we go bye bye we put on a diaper, but I remind her that she can still tell me if she feels tee tee coming. We took a quick trip to Target (left right after she potted) and her diaper was dry when we returned. She has still had a dry diaper when she wakes up from her nap and promptly goes to the potty.

I think we are off to a good start. Now to find the balance between keeping her on the track she is on and still getting out and about with friends before we are accident free.

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5/15/10

Immersion Day 2

Overall we had another very successful potty training day, but upon reflection I think I was too overbearing today. I think I was hypersensitive to her having an accident, not because I didn't want to clean it up or cared, but because of how she reacted after she had an accident yesterday. I felt like she did a fantastic job for day 1 and because she had the accident last thing and then asked for a diaper I was afraid she was getting discouraged. I totally overcompensated.

I feel like we spent the entire day in the bathroom. Jason made a table where she could color and play with playdoh on the potty. She was happy to sit on the potty and color and play playdoh with mommy, but by the end of the day I was exhausted. I think I literally gave her my un-divided attention ALL day. It was like back in the baby can move and inevitably find something to put in his/her mouth (despite all the child proofing) so you have to watch them like a hawk. I guess I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss any signs and we made the bathroom so much fun that the toilet essentially became a seat where we played. At one point Jason was reading her a book and she walked off (we don't make her stay on the potty, only if she wants to) and then Jason got distracted doing something else in the bathroom and when he looked over he saw there was tee tee in the potty. Apparently she had walked in, done her business, and walked out, no big deal, no fuss, no look what I did, just left it and went on. I think this was Blythe's way of asserting her Independence and showing us that she's got this.

O.K. baby I hear you mommy hovered too much and needs to let you take the reigns, its a learning process for me to, we'll try a more stand-back approach tomorrow.

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5/14/10

Once Upon A Potty - Immersion Day 1

I mentioned in a previous post that I had several 'big girl' items for Blythe during her 20th month. The first one was going from the crib to the toddler bed which couldn't have been any easier. She seriously didn't skip a beat with nap time or bed time.

Blythe has been showing signs of being interested in potty training; 1) waking up from nap and bed time dry 2) telling us when her diaper is wet or soiled 3) the few times we let her run around in her birthday suit she either asked to sit on the potty or asked for a diaper.

I had big plans to start potty training boot camp last weekend, but what can I say, life happened, friends were meeting for a play date (which ended up being AWESOME) and Jason wanted to go garage saleing. Jason did decide on Sunday to do a little potty training, but not exactly what I had in mind as far as a 3 day immersion course where I could really work with her around the clock to see if she was in fact ready or if she just liked the idea. In the mornings this past week Lauren has worked with Oslo and Blythe a little bit, but I wouldn't say that Blythe had any real big success. In fact a few of the stories made me think that she really wasn't ready, especially since Lauren said that when she did go she didn't seem to react or even tell Lauren.

Never the less I had in my head that I would give it a try because IF she is in fact ready I wanted to have 2ish month under our belt before the newborn and if she isn't ready that is just fine too, but I would probably wait till just past 2 because I would want the new baby to be older before needing to run to the bathroom every couple of minutes.

SO enough with the background and on to TODAY! I started out the day with a potty chart and explained to Blythe that if she sat on the potty and tried to go she would get a sticker and if she went tee tee in the potty she got one skittle and if she went poo poo in the potty she would get 2 skittle. So we put on the big girl underwear at 9:15 and sat on the potty every 40ish minutes. By 12:30 there was NO action, no accidents and no tee tee in the potty. We were out on the front porch at 12:50 and she started to tee tee, but I quickly got her to the potty and I explained to her that if she feels tee tee coming she needs to tell mommy. She didn't end up going tee tee and it didn't see like she had tee tee'd that much outside, esp. since she hadn't done anything for 4 hours (heck, I had already gone at least 5 times). At 1pm it was time for a nap so I put her in a diaper for nap time because I was just certain she needed to go. I guess this little girl knows how to hold it! She insisted on big girl underwear so our compromise was to wear the big girl underwear over the diaper. She took a great 2 hour nap and to my surprise she was DRY when she woke up. I asked her when she woke up if she wanted to sit on the potty and she told me no and I didn't want to push the issue because I thought she might need a little more time to get woken up.

I kinda lost track of time and about 20 minutes later she had a pretty full diaper. I felt like she tried a LOT in the morning with no success so I made some juice hoping that she would down more fluids and we would have more opportunities. Even if we had more accidents I figured that at least gives her the chance to know what it feels like and for us to talk about it. At 4:00 our tee tee timer went off so we headed to the bathroom to try. She quickly informs me that she needs her Elmo book and it wasn't long after we started reading the Elmo book that the aroma began to change. Shortly after that the potty began to sing so I knew she had tee tee'd in the potty as well as poo poo'd. [Jason came across this potty at a garage sale for $5 and it is supposed to sing when you go, but I guess it is liquid activated because it doesn't sing for poo poo, which seems odd, but oh well Blythe doesn't really dig the singing anyways.] YEAH our first successful try attempt and she tee tee'd and poo poo'd. She very much enjoyed getting to flush the toilet and her 3 skittles. I would be lying if I didn't admit that I really felt like giving her more skittles. I knew there wasn't a whole lot of tee tee in with the poo poo, but I still set the timer for 40 minutes. About 20 minutes later we had an accident and we once again talked about telling mommy when we feel tee tee coming.

THEN the most exciting part of the day happened. About 7:40 she looked up at me and said "potty," we rushed into the potty and we barely had the Elmo book out before the potty started to sing!! YEAH Blythe she not only tee tee'd in the potty, but she told me she needed to go (and yes that got 2 skittle instead of 1, even though it was just tee tee). I thought this was a HUGE step and quiet honestly one that I wasn't sure she was capable of grasping yet and certainly not on immersion day 1!

About and hour later Jason came home and I was washing dishes, I thought I heard her say "potty," and she ran into the bathroom, but I didn't run after her and instead told Jason that I think she said potty. Well she didn't make it to the potty, but I still give at least 3/4 credit because she KNEW she needed to go and she went to the bathroom. I take the blame for this accident. This was probably a classic rookie mistake...when potty training if you think your child says anything close to signaling that they need to go DROP everything and GO. Just one more reason why this kind of training and a newborn would NOT go well together. After this accident she asked for a diaper which was actually right on scheudle for bed time, but I really hope that she wasn't discouraged because she did SO well today.

All in All I think Blythe totally ROCKED it today and I am excited to see what tomorrow holds. I am one PROUD mommy!

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5/11/10

Mother's Day Weekend

On Friday we had to bid farewell to Gustavo who has been visiting for 4.5 months from Argentina. Gustavo worked with Jason at the turbo lab, but left behind 2 small children. One child just days older than Blythe so we hosted Gustavo so he could get his kid fix. Of course it wasn't the same as being with his own kid, but we like to think it helped pass the time. Blythe is always happy to find an excuse to have mommy bake something sweet because she loves doing clean up!

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Dr. Child's sent home this tractor and trailer with us last year because it was just sitting in his yard and his grand kids no longer played with it. This tractor is HEAVY and would take a very strong child to pedal it so Jason had plans to motorize it. The motorization hasn't taken place yet, but Blythe was able to find herself a few willing peddlers.

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5/7/10

TAMU Horticulture Gardens

This morning we set out for a play date at the horticulture gardens followed by a picnic. None of us had been there before so we really didn't know what to expect. We loaded up snacks and lunch and had a park in the back of our pocket just in case the gardens were a flop. That's the thing with play dates, you never really know how they are going to go. Inevitable if you plan to have some good mommy chat time it will be a play date that requires a lot of mommy assistance.

This morning was one of those absolutely Hollywood style picture perfect play dates. We were all running a little behind schedule but pulled up in the parking lot at the same time! We started out on our garden walk and came across a few cactus, one of them didn't appear to be very prickly, but Jonah quickly learned that it did indeed have prickle's on it, but no sweat Super Mom of the day, Lauren, had an antiseptic wipe and a band-aid, crisis averted! Somewhere in the walk Oslo was greeted by a few ants, but after a little carry time with mom everything was right in the world again. The kids enjoyed walking around the gardens and looking at the flowers, but by 10:30 it was getting hot and the kids were ready for a snack. At this point I thought we would sit under the pavilion for about 15 minutes, have a snack and then migrate on to the park. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. This pavilion had everything that 3 toddlers needed to stay entertained for hours. There were stairs, a ramp, rocks, and a golf cart..aka, toddler heaven. The 3 toddlers happily played while we lazed around chatting. Despite the 90 degree weather it was paradise. I love when play dates go that well!

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I think this flower looks like something straight out of a Dr. Seuss book.

5/3/10

Baxter, No More Blow

Today I had a NAFSA conference in Plano, TX so Mamo and Aunt Jalyn took care of Blythe. Blythe enjoys playing with all of our old baby dolls and stuffed animals, but she is NOT fond of Baxter. Baxter is a happy birthday doll that used to have a bazooka that you put in his mouth, squeezed its belly, and air came out of his mouth and played the bazooka. The bazooka has gone by the way side, but Baxters tummy is still full of air. Jalyn squeezed Baxter to make him 'breath' and Blythe freaked out "no, no, no blow." We asked her if he needed to go to time out and she promptly replied "yes, time out, no more blow." Baxter had to sit in time out for a long time and every time she walked by him she would scold him "No more blow." I really wasn't sure if she was even willing to pick him up, but after an hour or so she made amends and he got to get out of timeout. I think toddlers just might be the funnies people!

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5/1/10

Ft. Worth Zoo

Becky and Mr. Wilkes took Blythe and I to the Ft. Worth Zoo! It was a power zoo trip because we only had a little over 2 hours before they closed, but it was a great one and we saw a ton of animals.

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Certainly the highlight of the trip for Becky was brushing the goat. He LOVED it. We couldn't convince Blythe to brush him, but she enjoyed watching Becky.

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Papa made a lot of preparations for our visit. He brought in sand for the sandbox and even attempted to fix the slide. I say attempt because unfortunately when we went to glue the slide down we didn't get it lined up just right so we had to start over. The shop that sells the slide material (I am drawing a blank on what its called) was not open on Saturday so we will have to wait and try out the slide next time.

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Thanks for the new dress !