Riding the potty train again

Clive's 2nd birthday has come and gone and I've yet to truly dive into potty-training. Isn't it funny how your perspective changes on parenting issues with the second child? I imagine parents grow more and more laidback with the addition of each new kiddo to the brood . . .

When Chloe turned two I was stubbornly determined to potty-train her. I was intense. We embarked on 7-10 day stretches where Chloe sat on the potty for most of her waking moments until her body was forced to eliminate. Looking back, I'm certain my intensity level and the pressure-filled ambiance I created made Chloe fearful of the big transition from diapers to potty. It took 4 long months of on-and-off training before Chloe was consistently tinkling in the potty. It took almost a year for her to be fully training (including undies at night).

That is an experience I do NOT want to go through again. I'm convinced that potty-training can be one of the all-time worst aspects of mommyhood and can seriously threaten this mom's sanity and patience-level.

Fast forward to Clive. We've talked up pottying and given all the explanatory talks to him about human excrement. Both Matt and I often take Clive with us so into the bathroom so he's definitely aware of the process. Even before Clive turned two we began sitting him on the potty regularly. He's had 4-5 successes but what usually happens is Clive alerts us when he needs to go, we race him up there and inevitably, we're too late.

Today we had a quiet day at home with nothing on the agenda. So I took the opportunity to break out his new big-boy undies. Even though I've often let him play sans-diaper (forgive me if that's too much information -- it's supposedly a sure-fire way to train), he's still not going consistently on the potty. I hoped the transition to big-boy undies might do the trick today.

Clive did great! While he wasn't successful on the potty, he didn't have ANY accidents even though he was in big-boy undies almost all day long. Let's hope this is a sign of good things to come!

The added and unexpected blessing of this potty-training experience is Chloe. She's incredibly helpful and patient with Clive, often sitting with him and showing him books to keep him occupied.

What's your stance and experience with riding the potty train? Any good boy tips for me? Any and all encouragement and tips are welcome!

Finally!

[Warning: Overuse of exclamation points below to display utter jubilation.]

I am EXTREMELY happy to report that Chloe is now almost completely potty trained!!!

Incredibly, she mastered pottying back in December but has only gone #2 in the potty a handful of times. She seemed very afraid of going #2 on the potty (I hear that's a common trouble for toddlers) but I had no idea it would take 6 months for her to conquer her pooping fears!

The turning point came early this week when I finally tried putting Chloe on the potty with her diaper on. I won't go into the messy details but after 3 nights of success, she asked to try going without her diaper. And today she succeeded!

The best part was seeing her get so excited about her accomplishment. She leaped off the potty and screamed, "I did it, mommy! I did it! It was so easy!" Lots of hugging, exalting, and rewarding with candy immediately ensued.

Hallelujah! What a long long process this has been. I've decided Matt's in charge of potty training Clive. :)

It DOES really exist (and other news)

Kudos to Jen S. for validating my claim on St. Nick's Eve as a real holiday. (No, Carissa, I didn't make it up!) One of my blog subscriptions even mentioned St. Nick's today. Chloe really liked her Christmas puffy stickers and I'm pumped about her Elmo preschool activity book. Thanks for the goodies, mom! (I mean St. Nick, of course.)

In other news, Chloe is doing great passy-free. She only cries a wee little bit before bedtime now and it's almost like she's totally forgotten about it. Yeehaw!

Potty-training seems to be progressing upwards slowly. Turns out the stickers aren't truly motivating her. In fact, she really likes sitting on the potty because I read to her and she gets my undivided attention. So lately when she sits she prolongs the process and doesn't do her business. I'm on to her now though! Yesterday I realized her bladder could NOT possibly hold it any longer and so I tried a new tactic. Our conversation went like this . . .

Me: Chloe, I'd like to go downstairs and make some Christmas cookies. Would you like to help me?
Chloe: (immediately jumping off the potty) I go downstairs please!
Me: Well, you can't come downstairs with me to make cookies until you go pee-pee in the potty. I don't want you to have an accident while we're downstairs.
Chloe: (hopping back up on the potty and tinkling in a matter of seconds) I go pee-pees, mommy.

What a stinker! She certainly knows what's going on and can't fool me anymore. Tonight she did something similar and went almost immediately when I motivated her the right way. Pray for me to be consistent and to separate reading books from potty time. When baby #2 comes along I certainly won't have the time (or the energy) to sit and read to Chloe on the potty.

Life updates

Seems like my blog posts lately have been open-ended. Thanks to all of you for all your comments on portrait studios, potty-training, and Halloween candy excess. Here are some updates on those life issues:

• The best update must come first; Chloe went pee-pee on the potty twice yesterday!!!!! She definitely has some inhibitions about going on the potty because late in the morning (after much juice and two accidents) a few drops came out while she was sitting on the potty. She cried and screamed and tried to get off. I just hugged her and sang to her and a whole 5 drops went in the potty! After that, she was excited to be able to wipe herself, flush, and wash her hands. She raced downstairs to tell daddy (thankfully he came home early yesterday so he was around for the big event) and then he treated us all to ice cream at Dairy Queen. We went sans diaper for her nap which made for a short nap, but I'm thinking this is the way to go for her so she doesn't train herself to go when she gets a nap-diaper. The second potty success came last night. Chloe and Matt went off to run some errands after dinner and she kept her undies dry despite having a diaper on over top! So, I knew she needed potty-time when they got home. I was bound and determined to have her go before bedtime. It took almost an hour of me reading and playing with her while she sat on the potty but she did her tinkling! And this time she didn't cry or try to escape. YES! Thank you Lord for a small step forward!
• Stupid Sears won't give me any money back on my portrait purchase. I'm never going back.
  
• We've kept Chloe's candy stash out of sight and it's like she's totally forgotten about it! We'll recycle some tonight for our neighborhood trick-or-treat time. My mom already has dibs on any chocolate we have left over. :) She, grandma, and my sister are coming for Thanksgiving so I'm supposed to save the "good candy" until then.
  
• Had a midwife appointment yesterday and I'm still measuring 3 weeks ahead/big. The crazy news is I gained 7 pounds in the last two weeks!?! How can that be right? I've not eaten too much differently these past weeks though I know I've had a few uncharacteristic fast-food meals. She suggested lower carbs, higher proteins, and lower sugar. My glucose level is low so I'm not at risk for GD. Just carrying a big ole baby boy!
  

Riding the potty-train again

This morning did not start out well. After two spankings and lots of subsequent Chloe-crying before 9 a.m. I thought to myself, "Do I really want to start potty-training again today?"

You may recall our intensive and enthusiastic start to potty-training back in September. Encountering much negativism and a case of diarrhea, we took a sanity-preserving pottying break. Then with our unexpected visit to Milwaukee, potty-training took a necessary backseat once again.

Since rain is forecasted this week, I thought we'd dive in and make a fresh start on this pottying adventure. My goal is to have Chloe trained by Thanksgiving. That gives us an entire month to work out the kinks. I know, I have must have the words "Naive First-time Mom" tattooed to my forehead. :)

Surprisingly, we had a pretty good day of training. Chloe is vvvvvvvvvvvvery good at keeping her undies dry. I'm so impressed with how she can control that little bladder of hers! She's way better at that than I (but I have a huge baby pressing on my bladder so there). After 6 times of potty sitting today, she never successfully tinkled. BUT she kept her undies dry all day. So this girl went from morning to naptime and then again all evening without an accident in her undies. (For those of you who care to know these details at naptime I left her undies on and then slapped the diaper on over top. That way she still felt the wetness but didn't make a huge mess in the bed. Good idea?)

Now we've got to get this girl to actually do her business on the potty. I certainly don't want to train her to just keep dry all day long and then relieve herself when she feels the familiar diaper applied. Any suggestions?

Taking a potty break

This week seems like the beginning of mine and Chloe's fall school semester. :) This week our weekly Bible study starts up and we go back to swimming four times a week. We also have an outing planned for Wednesday - a desperate last attempt to find second-hand shoes for Chloe (if anyone knows of any online deals for toddler shoes, please enlighten me!). So, potty-training is going to take a backseat on those days.

Many thanks to all who posted pottying advice and encouragement! Last week was a long haul and my mind is ready to stop analyzing this pottying madness.

Overall, I'd say last week was trying yet profitable. It seems this potty-training jazz is going to be a month-long process so I'm happy that we had a strong start. Chloe sat on the potty oodles of times and actually went on the potty thrice during our 4 day stint. Having diarrhea didn't help matters and made for uncomfortable and messy accidents. She definitely knows now when she's going and can verbally tell me so. We just don't always make it to the potty on time! We did most of our training without a diaper/pull-up/undies on. That seemed to help Chloe identify when she was going and I certainly saw the accidents quickly. :) What's funny to me is that when I put a diaper back on her during our "break" days, she didn't talk to me at all about pottying. It was like she reverted back to diaper days thinking. Her mind was free to focus on the important toddler issues of life - namely playing.

Another negative in our training process has been Chloe's recent extremely negative attitude. Just last night she spurted out the dreaded phrase, "I don't want to". NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I thought my angel child would never say such things to me! Ok, I know I'm in parenting denial right now but that is one of my bug-a-boos. She's also discovering the beauty of the word no lately and forgetting her "no" manners (she's supposed to say "no, thank you" or "no, sir" or "no, mom").

Chloe's much maligned potty chart is pictured at left. I guess I put it too low on the fridge because she's obviously been at those stickers and one heart is missing. Toddler angst I guess!