Thought-filled Thursday: Training Day Part 4-the Final Chapter

I didn't know I had so much to say about poop.  But here we are again, reading about my last potty training adventure with my only girl.

Sadly (fortunately?), I don't have a picture of Ivy potty training.  Because once again, it went so fast.  The reason I have a picture of Tinkerbell was Ivy got to have a Tinkerbell sticker if she went poop in the toilet.  And she loves Tinkerbell.

Let me start from the beginning.  I got an awesome book from my friend Chelsey, who used it while training her triplets.  She said it worked like a charm.  It's called Potty Training in Three Days, or something like that.  You're supposed to train your child when he/she is 22 months old, which would have been super awesome.  But that time came and went for me, and I had just trained Troy, so I was ready for a break, and I didn't feel like Ivy was ready to train.

However, she started doing the same thing Troy had done, and sat on the little toilet before bath time, and went pee almost every time.  So that was good.  That meant she knew how to let go when she wanted.  She did that for a few months, at least.

I tried to start taking her in the mornings during the summer, but she would just sit on the toilet and cry and whine.  She was so miserable, so I gave up on that one after just a couple of days.

Then she started showing more signs, like wanting to sit on the toilet, and going and getting a diaper when hers was wet.  One day in September or October, I asked her if she wanted to go pee in the toilet all the time, and wear big girl undies, and she said yes and seemed super excited.  So one morning I had her go pee and we put the big girl undies on her.  A half hour later, she had peed in them, but didn't tell me or even react to it.  So we cleaned it up, and put new undies on her.  Which she peed in them about an hour later.

After I cleaned her up, I asked if she wanted to wear big girl undies still or if she wanted a diaper, and she tearfully asked for the diaper.  She wasn't quite ready, and neither was I.  And I really do think that the mom has to be ready as well as the child, because the mom has to deal with cleaning the accidents and helping that child run to the bathroom and all that jazz.

For the next couple of months, I could tell that Ivy was becoming very aware of her diaper and its contents.  She would poop and get this really squirmy uncomfortable look on her face and ask to be changed immediately.  She would even bring me a diaper after peeing.  She's always been a great talker, so I knew that we would be able to communicate about going potty, which is also a great help.  Not necessary, but nice.

I knew we'd have a week off of school and all our activities between Christmas and New Year's, so I decided that that would be our potty training time.  I made a little sticker chart for her, and we started the Monday after Christmas.  She had little rainbow stickers for peeing, and Tinkerbell for pooping. 

It's sad that I can't think of any crazy mishaps that happened on our first day, but maybe that's because we really didn't have any.  I know she's had accidents, but really, we worked on it that week and that's about all it took.  She would have good days with no accidents, and then days with four accidents.  But overall, she did really well, and started taking herself to the bathroom by the end of the week.

I think it helped while we were potty training to have both me and Pete around.  Because when I had to run an errand, Pete could be home with her, and vice versa.  For the first few days, we would ask her almost nonstop if she had to go pee or poop.  I'm sure she got sick of hearing us ask, but then I think it helped to keep the subject in the forefront of her mind.  Also, it helped that we didn't have to drive to preschool, or gym, or wherever else, and I didn't have piano lessons.  We could concentrate on her instead of being pulled in 50 directions.

I do remember when we started back into our daily grind, we drove Troy to preschool.  I dropped him off, and got back to the car, and Ivy was scream-crying.  I asked her what was wrong, and she cried, "I go PEEEE!!!"  I was like, oh great, she just had an accident in the car.  I felt her bum, though, and she was dry.  So I asked, "Ivy, do you need to go pee?"  And she was all "YEEEEEESSSSS!!!"  So I took her out of the car and asked Troy's preschool teacher if we could use the bathroom.  She held it all the way in to the house, which was awesome, and then went pee there.

Also, I didn't think that aiming for girls was a big deal.  They just sit, right?  Wrong.  Well, wrong for Ivy, anyway.  Because when she sat straight up, the pee would go in the gap between the seat and the bowl, and get all over the back of her pants, or the floor.  So then I had to work on having her bum hang down lower into the bowl, and lean her clear forward.  And now that's kind of how she sits by herself, which is nice.

Another time, like a Saturday night, I noticed the bathroom door was shut, and the light was on (this is after the kids were in bed).  I opened the door to smell that really yummy smell.  There were some undies in the sink, with poop in them, and the toilet was filled with toilet paper and kleenex, so much so that they were sitting in there dry.  So poor little Ivy was trying to take care of her poop all by herself, and tried cleaning it up and stuff, and had apparently run out of toilet paper-hence the kleenex.  The next day I told her that kleenex is for noses and toilet paper is for bums, and if she runs out of toilet paper to come get me and I can get her more.

And...that's about it.  I think she had an accident on Saturday, but before that it had been...who knows how long since the last one.

So hopefully my potty training stories were interesting, or helpful, or...something.  If not, at least I have them written down.  Because you can never type too much about this subject, apparently.

Non-Forgetting Friday: Training Day Part 3

This is the only picture I have from Troy's potty training experience, because his training time was so stinking fast.  Well, kind of.

Our little potty was pretty much a permanent fixture in our upstairs bathroom by this time.  Once trained, all of my kids have wanted to use the "big tow-wet" (big toilet), but have all trained on the little one.  So, for a long time, Troy would use the little potty before baths at night, and actually go in it (just #1).  But I couldn't get him to use it any other time.  I didn't try to force him into it, though.  (See?  I'd learned.)

So that went on for a couple of months.  Then I had my hysterectomy (this is Oct. 2009).  So, just so I have it straight in my head, Jake trained in 2006, Brock in 2008, Troy in 2009, Ivy in 2010.  While I was healing from surgery, my mom came over a lot and helped me out with things.  And Troy LOVES my mom.  He loves cuddling with her, and he'd do anything for her.  So she would ask him to go in the mornings, and he would.

A little over a month after I had my surgery, I went to my doctor's appointment to get checked to see how I was healing.  And Troy had preschool-just a neighborhood thing that a few ladies and I did for our 3-year-olds.  Troy was the youngest in his little group, and, incidentally, the only one not potty trained.  So I took him over to preschool and left for my appointment, leaving my mom behind.

After preschool started, Troy pooped in his diaper.  The poor mom was trying to figure out where the smell was coming from.  When she found it was Troy, I guess a few of the other kids were all, "You still wear diapers?"  And he was soooo embarrassed.  The mom called my mom, but she couldn't go get him, and by the time I got back from my appointment the preschool was almost over.  So the poor mom had to smell him the whole two hours, and Troy had to sit in it and be embarrassed for two hours.

It definitely had an effect on him.  He talked about it for a few days after.  And that's when I decided he was ready.  That was his button-being a Big Boy, and keeping up with his peers.

I made a potty chart for him.  We started December 4, apparently.  I kept him in diapers, though, because I wasn't wanting to clean up messes.  The first day he went in the toilet only in the morning and before bed.  The next day he did the same thing.  But the following day, at church, no less, Troy told me he had to use the bathroom.  I took him, and to my surprise he went. 

And...that's that.  He was good to go from then on.  I put him in undies after a couple of weeks, and he's been dry ever since.

Which takes us to...part 4, Ivy's story.  Stay tuned.  That is, if you want to hear more about poop.

Tell-It Tuesday: Training Day Part 2

And now Part 2 of the Potty Training Chronicles: Brock's turn.

(The undies on his head?  His idea, not mine.  Don't worry-they were clean.)

After our rough time potty training Jakob for six months, I was worn out, and was totally NOT ready to potty train again.  But time marches onward, so it had to be done.

Which, P.S.-poor Jake!  The first kid really is the Guinea pig, huh?  When you just don't know what to do, and so you flail around, and try all sorts of things, and then afterwards you figure it all out, and then it's a lot easier on the next kids.  If only it didn't have to be that way.
One thing I had learned is that I started Jakob on potty training too early.  He had no idea what was going on, or how to do things.  I think I started him so early because I didn't want the three kids in diapers, but then after I did it that first time, it's wasn't the worst concept in the universe to me.  So when I was pregnant with Ivy, I had zero drive to try with Brock until later.
Another thing: when I was training Jake, I brought up the fact that it was taking a million years to train him to my doctor.  He suggested having Jake clean out his own undies.  I was like, I can't do that to a 2 1/2 year old!  So I didn't ever try that with him.  But as I started contemplating training Brock, it sounded like a better idea to me.

Ivy was born in May 2008.  I started training Brock sometime in July 2008, so he was a little over 3 years old.  Hence, I did the three kids in diapers thing for a few months again.

Brock has always liked to be pampered.  He loves getting sun lotion put on him because it's like a massage.  He loves getting his back rubbed.  And, by extension, I think he really liked getting his diaper changed, because it was a form of pampering.  But I could tell he was aware of his diaper and his "system", because he'd pause while playing for a minute.  That was one of the signs I knew he was ready, but I knew I had to force his hand a little because of the pampering thing.

So, we started, and we did cold turkey, meaning just straight into undies.  I think because he was older, he did a lot better than Jake did at first.  I still had him sit on the toilet often, but I didn't do the hand in the warm water thing or the sticker chart.

I did, however, have him clean out his undies whenever he had a poop accident.  And he HATED it.  I'm sure most kids would, but he especially did because of wanting to be pampered and clean.  We would have him take off his undies, and put them in the sink, and rinse them out really good. 

There was one time I took him to clean them out, and he was shaking, and he just reached one little finger out and just...touched the poop.  I'm like, no, you don't have to touch the poop part, just the undies, but we need to make sure the poop gets rinsed out.

He did really great-it took about 3 weeks for him to be trained.  But after no accidents for a while, he pooped in his undies at my parents' house, on my birthday at the end of July.  I played the birthday card, so Pete ended up cleaning him up.  And to do it, he had Brock stand outside naked while he hosed him off.  A little cruel?  Yes.  Effective?  VERY.

A couple of weeks after that Brock had a pee accident, then two the following day.  I was like, dude, no WAY are we going to regress.  So I told him, "Well, we need to get you cleaned off because you peed in your undies."  I put him in the tub, turned the water on super cold, and started dumping it on him.  He totally HATED that, but while I was doing it, I said, "No peeing in your undies."  He was like, okay okay okay!  He's been great ever since.

Lessons learned this time around: making the kid clean it up works very well, wait until you see some signs (like that they are aware of their diaper and their poop) works, and kids hate cold water.

Memory Monday: Training Day Part 1

Now that I am TOTALLY COMPLETELY DONE with potty training, I'm ready to document my diaper days.  These are the stories of my adventures in potty training.  We'll start with the oldest, which I should probably title "How NOT to Potty Train Your Child", or "First is Worst".

Here is a picture of me, pregnant with Troy, and CRAZY to boot.  And yes, that would be Jakob, asleep on the toilet.  Isn't he just so stinking cute?

So.  I started potty training Jakob the day after Easter, when he was a little over 2 1/2 years old.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I had heard, "Oh, you'll know when they're ready", and "Just wait until they show interest", and "Bribe them and celebrate any time anything goes in the toilet!"  Okay, then.

We bought the little toilet, and some cool superhero undies so that he would get excited.  Then I put the little toilet in my kitchen, and vowed that we'd spend the day(s) in there until he got it down.  Oh, and I only bought a 6-pack of undies.  Little did I know.  Or maybe I was being optimistic.  Either way, I definitely was not prepared.

The first day he went through all 6 pairs in the first two hours.  He would just go a tiny bit, and would always get this look on his face like "What in the world is traveling down my leg?"  After that, I put him back in a diaper for the rest of the day, until I could clean the undies and try again the next day.

The next day was a little better, but not by much.  But, I was also sick of spending time in the kitchen.  I tried giving him a lot to drink, but the kid could only take in so much fluid.  After a couple of days I got the brilliant idea to put his hand in warm water, to see if that would help him get going.  We did the sticker chart, which he cared about for the first 3 stickers.

One day (I have no idea where I was, but I was gone, or downstairs doing laundry or something), Jake went poop, and it ended up EVERYWHERE.  I think he was trying to get to the toilet, but didn't quite make it, so then he was trying to clean it up himself, but it got all over the floor in the bathroom, and of course all down his legs, and he stepped in it and ran down our carpeted hall...just, everywhere.

Eventually, he got pretty good at peeing in the toilet, but pooping was a different story.  We bought a toy for him that he had picked out and said if he went poop 10 times in the toilet (not even in a row, but just 10 times), then he could have that toy.  It took him, like, three weeks to finally "earn" it.

There was a day, after months of cleaning poop out of undies, that I just lost it.  Now remember, I was pregnant with Troy, which was my crazy pregnancy.  Not that I'm trying to make excuses for myself, but I had just had it.  Everyone always says not to punish kids when they have accidents, but Jakob at this point was very aware of his BMs.  He would run into a corner and stand there and poop instead of running into the bathroom.  So he had done that, and I just started yelling at him, like, crazy yelling. 

Every time I flipped out during this pregnancy, and there were a LOT of times, it's like I was watching myself be crazy.  It's like I was flipping out, and couldn't stop it from happening, but at the same time my sane brain would be like, dude, what's the big deal?  Just chill out already.  So, this was one of those times.  I was wiping Jake's butt with wipes, and...I remember just doing a lot of yelling.  And he was just so scared of his crazy mom.  Not one of my best parenting moments.

At that point, I decided that if I had to clean poop out one more pair of undies, I would probably either kill my child, or kill myself.  Neither option was good.  I didn't want to go back to diapers, though.  I settled on Pull-Ups.  I still called them "undies", but if he pooped in them, I could just throw them away, and I was okay with that.  Then things felt a lot better, but Jake still had a bunch of accidents.

Well, Troy arrived in August, and we had been potty training for 4 or so months by this time.  Which sucked, but oh well.  Troy was a super easy baby (thank goodness).  We just kept on keeping on with the potty training.  One night, in October, inspiration struck.  We were getting the kids ready for bed, and we said, "Look at Troy.  He's a baby because he pees and poops in his diaper.  Jake, you must be a baby, too."  And the now 3-year-old said, "No, I'm not a baby!  I'm a big boy!"  Us: "No, Jakob, you must be a baby, because you pee and poop in your undies."  Jake: "NO!  I'm a big boy!"

It was literally the next day that Jakob had zero accidents from then on.

I think, for him, he had to really see what he was doing, and realize that he could go in the toilet.  He had to make up his mind that this is what he needed to do.  And knowing that he was a Big Boy instead of a baby was the kicker for him.

So yes, I had three kids in diapers at one time-well, technically, Jake was in a Pull-Up, but who am I fooling?  Tons of people have asked, "Wasn't that the worst thing ever, to have three kids in diapers?"  Nope, it wasn't.  And I did it again, too, after Ivy was born.  It was more like an assembly line-just line 'em all up and change them all at once.  No biggie.

Lessons from this: don't rush your child into doing it on your time table, find the little button that pushes your kid and not what has worked for others (because it's different for every kid), and you probably shouldn't potty train a cute little kid when you're pregnant and CRAZY-if you can help it.

Thus concludes part 1 of my Potty Training Chronicles.

Bits of Heaven

This is a raspberry filling cream cheese icing donut. YUM! Oh, my mouth waters just thinking about how scrumptious it is. I got them from Walmart, but they don't make them all the time. (Otherwise, I'd be buying them all the time.)

And how cute is this note that Jakob wrote to me and Pete? I think it's pretty clear-cut, so I won't translate, though I will explain that this week Jakob is the star student in his class, where he makes a poster about himself, and gets to bring something for show-and-tell.

Also, I've been actually accomplishing things on my "to-do" list. Like, actual projects. For instance, I wrapped all my Christmas gifts yesterday. Of course, then I had to hide them because the kids kept trying to sneak peeks in the ones in bags. So they won't be under the tree until, oh, probably Christmas Eve night, I imagine.

I also made these little window hangy things. Sure, it's a project that little kids could probably do, but I did 'em! And they're pretty cute. The gingerbread man looks like he has a sweat band on his head instead of frosting, but I'm okay with that. More things keep getting added on to the "to-do" list, but it's mostly things to go to rather than things to just do. It's nice to be able to actually cross stuff off.

Troy has done tremendously with potty training. He takes himself, and really doesn't care anymore about stickers or treats for going-he just likes to be able to go. I think I'm ready to move him to the real Big Boy undies.

Also, I have Coke. Ah, heaven in a bottle.

What have been your bits of heaven lately?

Fragments

Brain scattered.
Back hurting.
No drugs for three days. (Hooray!)

Ivy three stitches on chin/lip.

Bonked on couch.
Trooper.

Progress with potty.

More stickers than shown.
Very few accidents.
Still glad in Pull-Ups for now, though.

New blinds finally put up.
After 2 months.

Better late than never.
LOVE them.

Now curtain rod holes to fix.
Home ownership standard, I think.


Shopping done.
Christmas cards done.
Lots and lots to still do.
New "must do"s coming this way, every day.
Got Coke.
Should be okay, then.

Think It'll Work? (It Will Take A Miracle.)

For the last several weeks, several times a day, Troy's train of thought goes something like this:

"Mom, I'm a BIG boy, and I'm going to pee and poop in the toilet, and then Santa is going to bring me some big boy undies for Christmas. Right now I'm a little boy, because I still have a diaper, but I will be a big boy."

Yes, indeed. It is SO time to train that kid. He poops and instantly has a diaper in hand, wanting to be changed. He got all embarrassed when he pooped while at preschool, because all the other kids are potty trained, and they saw that he had a diaper on.

While my mom was here helping me out after my surgery, she was really good about getting him to at least try to go in the morning and at about lunch time. (Since I've been on my own, though, that's kind of fallen to the wayside. It's all I can do to go through the motions of being a mom. Still. And it's been over 7 weeks. *sigh*)

So, I decided to try the sticker chart route:



I think I'll do a sticker for trying, and a treat of some sort for actually going. It goes until December 24, and honestly, I think we can do it. If I can just get him to sit on the potty and at least try to go 5 times a day, I think he'll be close to being trained, if not all the way trained. Oh, and we ran out of diapers his size, so we can do "little boy undies" (read Pull-Ups, which I totally know is a fancy diaper, but maybe I can convince him that it's a lot like undies so he'll treat them like undies).

Then, if he's close to being trained by Christmas, then maybe Santa can give him Big Boy undies for Christmas. And having him trained would be a super awesome Christmas gift for me, too.

Wish us luck! (And please, send some energy my way, because I really need it.)

Potty Training STINKS!

Yes, pun intended.

I'm now debunking the myth that if you wait until the child is older to start potty training, that it's easier. Um, totally not the case. I think either the child is easy to train or not at all.

Now, if you'll excuse me while I go clean about 5 blankets that have now been peed on, along with the bin they were sitting in, that Brock was sitting in.

Grrr.

Sharing Time

I'm so awesome and thoughtful. (And HUMBLE.)

I just wanted to let everyone in on some things that I find utterly amazing, while I wait for Brock to pee in the toilet. Yep, just started Brock for now; if Troy shows interest I'll start him, too. Yesterday was the first day, and it was hit and miss, literally. And today, well...

ANYWAY, just so you know, the pumice stone thingy that I found in the cleaning aisle worked wonders on my hard water deposits in my toilets. Just ask Pete. I think he read my quirk post about how I hate toilets, and so he used it for me. I asked him if he wanted gloves to do it, and he looked at me like I was crazy. He was like, "What? The toilets just got cleaned. This is just the hard water buildup." And I puked a little in my mouth at the thought of no gloves while sticking the hand in the toilet. Ugh.

And for your stalking pleasure, I'm pleased to bring you more blogs that I am now stalking. One is Navel Gazing at Its Finest. One of her posts, or I guess the comments on her post, you have to check out. If you're having a crappy day, read it! I guarantee you'll be laughing and feel way better about yourself. And really, any of her posts are a crack-up. The other is She Just Walks Around With It. This chick is an ultra-talented writer. You must read about her, and then read this post. I have literally laughed out loud reading her blog. Not LOL, which is I think what people write when they go "Huh, that's kinda funny" in their head, or when they say something nasty that they really mean and then don't want it to be taken so hard by the other party, like "You have stinky feet LOL". Yeah, they really do mean you have stinky feet. (Sorry, random tangent.) I have wasted multiple hours stalking her blog. But is it really wasting time when you're enjoying every minute? (Wow, I should be in advertising, or marketing, or something.)

And to share a little something about my very bright children, namely Jakob: he made a Bat mobile. Cool, huh?


Okay, I'm done sharing for now. But if you want to share anything with me (other cool products, other cool sites, things about your cool kids, etc.), feel free. But you don't have to LOL.

Please help!

I truly think I'm insane.

Or maybe I just like to torture myself.

I need to potty train Brock. Oh, it's beyond time to start doing this.

It took about 6 months until Jakob was good and trained with all the functions. I started him when he was about 2 1/2. And now Troy is almost 2. So if it takes Brock just as long, then by the time he's trained Troy will be 2 1/2, and it will be time to start him. So, the other day I was thinking, why not do him and Brock at the same time.

So...am I crazy?

BUT, if any of you have potty trained your child(ren), could you please let me know what worked for you, or didn't work for you?

We tried everything, EVERYTHING, on Jakob: chocolate bribery, toy bribery, sticker charts, the potty making a celebratory noise, calling Daddy or Grandma to tell them...and nothing worked until we told him that only babies pee and poo in their diapers, so he must be a baby still. His response was, "I'm NOT a baby! I'm a big boy!" And from then on out he was good to go. We've tried the same lines on Brock, and he gives a look of, "And why would I care about that?" And we haven't even mentioned anything to Troy yet about trying to go in the toilet.

I'm going to start trying after the baby blessing (July 6). We don't have any plans to go anywhere anytime soon. Cross your fingers for me and my sanity!