Starting tomorrow, two new charts will be actively used in our household. After a few slack weeks of what I like to call "potty awareness training"; we'll start afresh tomorrow with a brand new motivational chart. I'm hoping shiny star stickers will be just the push Chloe needs to begin this potty training adventure.So far, Chloe's sat on the potty several times, but she's not successful gone potty. I didn't push her or pressure her because I didn't want to make the potty chair a battle zone. We want positive vibes to surround the potty chair. :)
Since Chloe's has never even experienced a tinkle on the potty, her star stickers will be to reward her just for sitting on the potty. I'll encourage after breakfast, after lunch, after nap, and after dinner potty-sitting times.
Not only did Chloe get a new chart this afternoon, but so did Matt and I. As a visual learner, I need to see my progress at something to keep me motivated. Right now my gym membership is a new novelty so I'm using it regularly. But I know myself and I know that beginning motivation will wear off quickly. So, I whipped up a swimming chart so I can aim to swim at least 4 days a week (with Sundays as a day of rest).
I combined Matt's chart with my swimming one. This husband of mine is NOTORIOUS for staying up late and getting up late. I don't blame him for using the quiet late-night hours for intensive studying, but tomorrow he starts back to teaching freshman English and he won't be able to sleep until 9 every day. He's also very hard to rouse in the mornings after a late-night study session; it's not fun to have him be a grumpy bear for breakfast before he goes off to a full day of teaching. Matt's chart lists specific bedtime goals for each evening.
I know this probably sounds juvenile (and rather anal on my part), but I really want our family to get disciplined in these areas. What tips/suggestions do you have for keeping family goals?
And please give feedback on my potty-training plan. I want to make this transition a smooth one for all of us!
7 comments:
That's really funny that you had this post today, because JA and I just finished creating a chart for our daily schedules so that he's not hibernating all day on Saturdays preparing Sunday Sermons, and so we can both get to bed at a decent time. We've had too many late nights, and I am tired!!! Good luck keeping your motivation to swim. I just started exercising at 6 three mornings a week with two friends.
Great ideas!!! As far as going on the potty, the one thing I did to get Victoria to understand what the "feeling" meant was to put underware on her. It only took her a half dozen times till she realized what the "feeling" was! I don't know if you want to try this, but it really worked for me. :)
I love your chart idea for potty training:). I may have to "borrow" the idea when Michael is ready. He is being a bit of a booger right now about sitting on the potty. He just will not do it and I don't know that I want to force him to. He's still young enough where I'm not annoyed that he isn't using the potty. *sigh* Supposedly, boys take longer than girls to train but I'm no expert:).
I have been convicted recently about how I manage my time. God has given me some great ideas that have been working for me and I am so thankful. I have made up 3 charts with daily and weekly responsibilities, monthly responsibilities and bi-monthly responsibilities. I have them on my fridge so I can observe what I have "finished" and what I still need to do. It's rather basic but it has helped me to spread out my "chores" vs. doing an entire overhaul in one day only to end up exhausted.
I suppose that most people already do this but I'm a slow learner - hee, hee. I prayed about it and God supplied a great system that is tailored for my specific needs. Sorry the lengthy comment:). I hope that you are feeling well.
I had to laugh because I am visual too and charts are great for keeping me on track too. We had a family talk or should I say couple talk since Kayla was in bed already two weeks ago outlining our priorities and how we can use our time most wisely for the rest of the year.
As far as potty training, I am thinking I will start with Kayla full swing after Labor Day. She is fascinated with her potty chair, and she loves to take off her pants and diaper and sit on it which I let her kinda' like you said to give her positive feelings about it. I haven't worked with her at all, though, because I haven't been ready for the commitment of starting. No time seems like a good time to start so I just need to try it.
Thanks for the post.
As Karis said, there's no good time to start, you just have to do it. I remember I kept putting it off too because I didn't want to have to commit to it and put all my time into it. Aaron did so well for about two weeks and I was praising the Lord that it only took two weeks, then things totally took a turn for the worse, for whatever reason. He's still in underwear, but he doesn't tell us when he needs to go and has many accidents. I believe that he knows better and so we've started disciplining him for the accidents, especially if we are home and he could have told us. Some days are great and other days it's like I'm beating my head against a brick wall! We're still working on it, but one day it'll just click, hopefully anyway! I don't want to discourage you at all and I hope I didn't. I think it's great to have some sort of reward system (ours is M&M's). I also know that girls seem to take to it a lot better than boys so maybe that will be a plus too. I will be praying for you two, or should I say three, as you embark on this new phase and that it goes smoothly and successfully AND quickly!!! Chloe's so smart it wouldn't surprise me if she got it right away. Good luck!!!
Tracy: Glad to hear I'm not the only charting one! Yikes, exercising at 6?!? Don't think I could do that. At least you can be motivated by your friends doing it with you though.
Heather: Thanks for the input on potty-training! Not quite ready for underwear yet though. I want her to be a little more comfortable with just potty-sitting first.
Rachel: Chloe's the same way when it comes to potty-sitting! I think I should have started before she turned 2 and before she had such independent ideas. :) We're just focusing on sitting on the potty first and then when we get over that hurdle we can graduate to wearing undies. My goodness, you are way more charty than I! But that's probably because I detest housework and don't want to motivate myself to do it. :)
Karis: I agree, no time is a good time. Seems like I need to psych myself up for potty-training just as much as I psych up Chloe! I'll pray you get a good block of "home" time to be able to start with Kayla soon! Wouldn't it be grand to have our girls trained before the new babies arrive?
Janelle: Wow, sounds like you and Aaron have had quite the pottying adventure! With Chloe it seems to be more of a control thing for her than a smarts thing. I also noticed today that the potty seat left a mark on her bum so maybe that's part of the reason she doesn't like sitting on it. God's grace and patience to you in the weeks to come!
Well, with 3 potty trained, my advice is stick with it, don't compare your Chloe to any other children and don't get discouraged - I've tried a lot of "gimmicks", but I think it just comes down to being patient, as consistant as possible, and keeping at it until they're ready. Kids are so different, and in potty training, two and two definatly does not always equal four - which can be very overwhelming, frustrating, and discouraging for those of us who are just as anal (if not more) than you :o) And, maybe when it's time to train my fourth, I'll take my own advice - wish I had with the others!
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