Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Ellie taking control
This morning, Ellie and I followed the same routine. After she woke up, we went into the bathroom and I removed her diaper. She played for a little bit, then started to make her "uh, uh!" sound that she makes if she want something. She walked right over to the potty, sat down, and did a big poop. I made sure the potty was in the right place, but I didn't prompt her or anything. She did it totally ON HER OWN! Amazing!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Update on Ellie
Ellie moved from "mobile" to walking very quickly. She was walking as her main mode of transportation by the time she was 10 months old, so potty training took a backseat to exploring.
Between her walking and general business in our family, I hadn't spent too much effort on Ellie's potty training. Basically, I took her to the potty every time she woke up. Since she napped twice a day, this was three times a day. Sometimes she went, sometimes she didn't. No big deal.
Right around when Ellie turned 13 months old, life settled down, so I began thinking about her training again. She generally wakes up a couple hours earlier than Katie, so we have a nice block of time in the morning with just the two of us. So we've been going into the bathroom and I've been letting her run around naked. I got her some bath crayons, and she has a ball writing all over the tub. The first few days we did this, she would release an entire pee on the floor. I said "oops!" in a happy tone, and set her on the potty. The next day, she really learned what was going on. She would start to pee, and then stop herself. I would set her on the potty and she would go a little more, but not the whole thing. She would stand up and play for a while, then this would repeat. It repeated half a dozen times until she let out the whole pee into the potty! From then on, she's been able to release her whole pee into the potty. She still usually does a little dribble first, and then I move her on, but most of her pee goes in the potty. I've taken some days off here and there, because we've all been sick back-and-forth, but we do this whenever we can.
The most amazing part has been when we're not in the bathroom. She REGULARLY goes into the main bathroom, when we're in the kitchen or family room, and looks at me. When I set her on the potty, often she will go. Other times she will have just gone in her diaper. This is happening at least once a day. Today I was helping Katie on the toilet and I looked over and Ellie was sitting on her potty!
One of her favorite games right now is to go into the bathroom and wait. When I ask her if she needs to go potty, she will look at me with glee, and then start running and squealing. She loves "get you"!
It's just amazing how she has been learning with absolutely no pressure or stress on my part. I guess I'll judge when she's "graduated," but right now I am in awe of this potty training method!
Between her walking and general business in our family, I hadn't spent too much effort on Ellie's potty training. Basically, I took her to the potty every time she woke up. Since she napped twice a day, this was three times a day. Sometimes she went, sometimes she didn't. No big deal.
Right around when Ellie turned 13 months old, life settled down, so I began thinking about her training again. She generally wakes up a couple hours earlier than Katie, so we have a nice block of time in the morning with just the two of us. So we've been going into the bathroom and I've been letting her run around naked. I got her some bath crayons, and she has a ball writing all over the tub. The first few days we did this, she would release an entire pee on the floor. I said "oops!" in a happy tone, and set her on the potty. The next day, she really learned what was going on. She would start to pee, and then stop herself. I would set her on the potty and she would go a little more, but not the whole thing. She would stand up and play for a while, then this would repeat. It repeated half a dozen times until she let out the whole pee into the potty! From then on, she's been able to release her whole pee into the potty. She still usually does a little dribble first, and then I move her on, but most of her pee goes in the potty. I've taken some days off here and there, because we've all been sick back-and-forth, but we do this whenever we can.
The most amazing part has been when we're not in the bathroom. She REGULARLY goes into the main bathroom, when we're in the kitchen or family room, and looks at me. When I set her on the potty, often she will go. Other times she will have just gone in her diaper. This is happening at least once a day. Today I was helping Katie on the toilet and I looked over and Ellie was sitting on her potty!
One of her favorite games right now is to go into the bathroom and wait. When I ask her if she needs to go potty, she will look at me with glee, and then start running and squealing. She loves "get you"!
It's just amazing how she has been learning with absolutely no pressure or stress on my part. I guess I'll judge when she's "graduated," but right now I am in awe of this potty training method!
Update on Katie
Right around her 2-1/2 year birthday (November), Katie decided she was ready. She began to keep her pull-up clean and dry all day, and asked for "big kid" underwear. Since then, she has only had a few daytime accidents - mostly when she's been sick. A few weeks ago, she decided she was ready for nighttime, too. She has had a couple accidents, again, mostly when she's been sick. There's a waterproof mattress on her bed, so it's not too hard to clean up. So hooray! Katie is completely potty-trained.
It was a long, hard journey. It took six months to achieve daytime dryness, and nine months for nighttime.
It was a long, hard journey. It took six months to achieve daytime dryness, and nine months for nighttime.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Waterproof training pants
After the September 24th post, I did some more research and was able to find some waterproof training pants at a VERY reasonable price. Dappi Vinyl training pants are $1.25 each at BabyBestBuy. They are plain white, but with a $1 variety pack of permanent markers from Target we were able to make reasonable approximations of Katie, Mommy, and Daddy. She loves wearing them! I am on the fence about them. They are still quite bulky, and they still leak. But they hold most of a miss, and that's what they're designed to do.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Ellie on the move
Well, Ellie has become a master "mover" over the past few weeks, so I have been holding her less and less. Since most of her potty cues have been physical, a specific squirming, it's been harder to get her to the potty at the right times. We've even had some poop misses in the last couple days. It's been a little discouraging. From what I've read, this "newly mobile" time period in a baby's life often brings an interruption in the potty process. Hopefully it will straighten out as she becomes adjusted to her mobility.
I read about some babies actually crawling to their potties to use them, so I brought her potty to the tile floor in the kitchen and let Ellie play without a diaper. Well, she looked at the potty for a little while, pulled up to a stand on the stove, and peed. So much for that. We'll have to get a bit more creative. Or just wait a while longer.
We did have a successful first "diaper-free" outing, though. Well, not totally diaper-free. I had her in a cloth diaper without a cover and carried her the whole time. We walked up the the post office (about a block and a half) and back, then we stayed in our backyard for a few minutes. I call my mom, and while I was talking to her, I got the feeling that Ellie had to go. So I took off Ellie's pants and diaper and let her pee in the rocks under the gutter drain, then put everything back on. All without my mom noticing! That was a thrilling success!
I read about some babies actually crawling to their potties to use them, so I brought her potty to the tile floor in the kitchen and let Ellie play without a diaper. Well, she looked at the potty for a little while, pulled up to a stand on the stove, and peed. So much for that. We'll have to get a bit more creative. Or just wait a while longer.
We did have a successful first "diaper-free" outing, though. Well, not totally diaper-free. I had her in a cloth diaper without a cover and carried her the whole time. We walked up the the post office (about a block and a half) and back, then we stayed in our backyard for a few minutes. I call my mom, and while I was talking to her, I got the feeling that Ellie had to go. So I took off Ellie's pants and diaper and let her pee in the rocks under the gutter drain, then put everything back on. All without my mom noticing! That was a thrilling success!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Where have I been?
Traveling, the home, busily slogging though each day, but most of all I haven't written because I've had nothing to write. What do I say? Not much has changed in the past three weeks.
Katie's attempted potty-training is still mom-directed. Her potty dance that I was so excited about never occurred again. She had numerous accidents, including poop accidents. It's rare to get through a day without an accident. We're still using pull-ups, and again, maybe that's the trouble. But I'm not willing right now to switch to panties. Maybe actual training pants would work, but I haven't seen them for less than $17.00, which is 40 pull-ups at the grocery store. That's a big stretch. Maybe if I can find some new ones on E-bay I'll give it a try.
Ellie, too, is still doing about the same. She is much more mobile now, so I think it's a bit trickier at this stage. She's crawling quickly and pulling up on everything, and doesn't seem to think as much about her elimination. In the last few days she's begun to do something with her hand that looks to me like the "potty" sign I've been making for her, but when I respond to it she doesn't need to go. She could be learning it, though. That would be very exciting. I just take her to the potty every once in a while and she often goes. As the days are getting colder, I am a little worried about continuing her potty usage, because it takes so long to get winter clothes off. I've had a couple of instances lately where it's taken me too long to get her on the potty, and she's peed all over me as I'm taking off her diaper. Not cool. Maybe it's time to switch HER to training pants.
Katie's attempted potty-training is still mom-directed. Her potty dance that I was so excited about never occurred again. She had numerous accidents, including poop accidents. It's rare to get through a day without an accident. We're still using pull-ups, and again, maybe that's the trouble. But I'm not willing right now to switch to panties. Maybe actual training pants would work, but I haven't seen them for less than $17.00, which is 40 pull-ups at the grocery store. That's a big stretch. Maybe if I can find some new ones on E-bay I'll give it a try.
Ellie, too, is still doing about the same. She is much more mobile now, so I think it's a bit trickier at this stage. She's crawling quickly and pulling up on everything, and doesn't seem to think as much about her elimination. In the last few days she's begun to do something with her hand that looks to me like the "potty" sign I've been making for her, but when I respond to it she doesn't need to go. She could be learning it, though. That would be very exciting. I just take her to the potty every once in a while and she often goes. As the days are getting colder, I am a little worried about continuing her potty usage, because it takes so long to get winter clothes off. I've had a couple of instances lately where it's taken me too long to get her on the potty, and she's peed all over me as I'm taking off her diaper. Not cool. Maybe it's time to switch HER to training pants.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Travel Successes and Vacation Regressions
Both girls do very well with potting while traveling, but I was particularly amazed with Ellie this time. When we arrived at our destination, she was wearing the same dry diaper that she had put on that morning - two airplanes and 7 hours earlier! We just took advatage of the opportunities that we had to bring her to a potty, and she did the rest.
Happily my husband took charge of Katie during the longer of the flights. She asked for 6 trips to the airplane bathroom and was successful once. She did make it dry to the other side, though, and that's what counts! Since we've been here the schedule is pretty messed up and she's not been doing so well. We're back to full-time pull-ups, and we'll have to decide when we get home if we'll go back to panties right away.
Happily my husband took charge of Katie during the longer of the flights. She asked for 6 trips to the airplane bathroom and was successful once. She did make it dry to the other side, though, and that's what counts! Since we've been here the schedule is pretty messed up and she's not been doing so well. We're back to full-time pull-ups, and we'll have to decide when we get home if we'll go back to panties right away.
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