Potty Training Boot Camp Complete

She did it! We started on Thursday with the goal of sending Anna to school on Monday diaperless. Mission accomplished with not one accident. She even exceeded my expectations.

Tips you ask? I have none, except to say it isn't easy. Here was our schedule:

Tuesday: Found Anna changing her own diaper. Decided it was time to get serious.

Wednesday evening: Brought potty out into the living room where Anna could be with us still. Made her sit and sit and sit. She cried and fussed and finally relented. First EVER pee pee in the potty. We had two successes.

Thursday: Went to school and talked about it with her teacher. Thursday afternoon continued with making her go every hour. Many tears were shed by both Anna and me. Alex was a big help in this by encouraging her. And ultimately, it was he who got her excited about it.

Friday: Husband returns from overseas trip and is super jet lagged. Use this as excuse to stay home and potty training. Success continues. We don't leave the house with her. Two accidents.

Saturday: Spend all day in the house with Anna. Many tears from her. We can tell she's frustrated. So am I. Success many times. Attend evening gathering with neighbors and Anna goes in first foreign potty. One accident.

Sunday: No accidents at all. Goes all day. Tells us when. Learns to pull up pants.

Monday: Attends school with big girl panties. No accidents.

We haven't even addressed nighttime potty training yet, but I do remember this being a big deal with Alex. It took us a full week to get him trained at night and it was about two months after he was trained for daytime. This will require moving her into a big girl bed. Ugh. Not sure I'm ready for that so we might wait a while before we go on to nighttime training.

Whew....glad the bulk of it is over.

What I forgot about potty training

Anna has been doing awesome on the potty training. We just jumped in and she took off. But you'd think since I just did this 16 months ago, it would be fresh in my mind. Well, let me tell you, it's not.

This is what I forgot from the first round with my son:

-How potty training is an all day, everyday activity until it's done, really done.

-How you can't leave the house unless you bring 4 changes of clothes, the potty, diapers, wipes and a towel with you.

-How during potty training bribing doesn't even make you think twice--you can read that book; eat that cookies; do that puzzle; have a piece of chocolate; play with that toy AFTER you use the potty.

-How setbacks and accidents can make you want to throw in the towel and just put a diaper back on.

-That as proud as you are at your kid for going potty no one else in the world really cares.

Name calling

When I was a kid, we called people by their last names. My neighbors were Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Carter. Seriously. Somewhere along the way people switched to calling adults Ms. Jane or Ms. Sarah. So, when my kids were little we used the first name, preceded by the necessary Ms. or Mr. to make it polite.

Now that my kids are getting older and their teachers are called by their last names, do we enter into that agreement with friends' moms and dads as well? Do we go back to Mrs. Fox or Mrs. Smith after they were previously something else? Are there certain people that need to be identified by their last name instead of their first?

I noticed this when my friend came over this week, and she called me Mrs. Kerr. I looked around and thought, 'who is that?' Even my son looked a bit taken aback by that. That was when I realized, perhaps she preferred to be Mrs. Smith.

What is the proper way for preschool-aged children to identify adults these days?

Potty success!!!

I must amend my post from yesterday. I changed the potty strategy a bit after my husband asked again repeatedly from the opposite side of the world if Anna was potty trained. (Is this really necessary? To have pressure from abroad?)

Yesterday, I moved the potty into the living room so she could be part of the activities. She didn't cry and didn't protest. But sat for an extended period of time. Nothing. But the mood was better. This evening, we gave it another go keeping the potty in the middle of everything and we had two successes. Not only was she super surprised at the reaction and praise from me, but she received a 'high five,' good job and hug from her big brother. Oh please let this be the beginning of the end of diapers. This morning we had yet another success after Alex convinced her to come in and go with him. Perhaps the key is having your almost-four-year-old potty train the little one.

Potty woes

I feel I must start a discussion on this. My daughter is now 2 and a half. She is so ready to be pottying on the potty. Today I walked upstairs and found her changing her own diaper because she had peed in it. What does that tell us?

You would think after doing this once before I'd be better prepared, but Anna is a different child. With Alex, I bribed him and three days later we were done. Almost completely potty trained. What can I say except he loves his M&Ms? Anna on the other hand will not be bribed for anything. She doesn't care about the reward. She will sit on the potty and cry and scream until my ears burn with pain. If you know my daughter, you know I'm not joking. She will hold it in as long as she can just to prove that she doesn't need the potty.

I find it endearing that even Alex has tried to get her trained. He will tell her she needs to do it, get her books and even sit with and read with her. He, too, walks out of the bathroom frustrated.

I'm looking for any suggestions beyond stickers and bribes since that route obviously isn't working. I could go cold turkey, which is probably what I need to do, but I still haven't seen her pee in the potty at all so until I do that I'm not sure that will work either. Any thoughts from readers out there?

Graco's latest swing may soothe your baby but not your wallet

Sometimes I'm sad when I see new baby gear out there that I missed with my kids. I was a total "gear girl" and love, love, loved colorful crap to fill my living room. Today, however, my focus is on getting it out of my living.

But last night at a DC Metro Mom's event I had an chance to see Graco's latest piece of gear for new moms. Hot off the assembly line, Graco's new Sweetpeace Soothing Center is the latest and greatest. If I was a first-time mom, this would be on a registry as a "nice to have" because there is NO WAY I would pay the $169 for this. If I was a second-time mom, I might pay it so that it would keep my baby busy while I managed a toddler. If I was about to be a third-time mom, I would probably let this gadget slide because it's big and with three kids, you already have enough junk.

Graco's taken Dr. Harvey Karp's Happiest Baby on the Block and made a piece of gear to do a new kind of swinging you. (You know part Dr. Karp's Five S's of Swaddle, Swing, Side, Shushing, Sucking.) For all those babies who don't like the baby swing, this machine will turn it into swaying. The Soothing Center actually mimicks the mother's side-to-side rocking/swaying a of a baby. And with the Soothing Center it has a few different directions you can turn it to suit how your baby likes to be rocked--whether it's the traditional baby rock side-to-side, one facing front or one facing you.

When I first checked it out, I rolled my eyes. Do we moms need something else to hold our kids? I can hear my mother in law cheering me on for saying this. We have swings, bouncy seats, car seats, strollers, Baby Bjorns, slings. All of these do the work of Karp's "swing" to soothe the baby. Plus, the Soothing Center takes up a lot of room. But new moms often have trouble transitioning into mommyhood during the first few months and something like this would give some relief. I got sleepy just watching it rock back and forth. Do they make them from grown ups too? I also think that when I had my second baby (my son was only 16 months old) I would have paid money for this. My daughter wanted to be held all the time and rocked as much as possible. She would have lived in this thing.

The one thing to note is that babies don't sit in swings for more than a few months so while this investment might be good, by five months I think you'll find many babies will be ready to graduate on to the other giant structure in the living room--the Megasaucer (which you can find from friends for free). Someone is always willing to clear the Megasaucer from their living room.

My opinion on this: Big, expensive and a bit silly. But if you have a fussy baby you will do anything to sleep or get him/her to sleep. Ask your rich aunt to buy it and then pass it along to your best friend who's next in line for all the cool gear.

Spring fever. . . in January

We in the DC area have been hit with wonderful spring-like temperatures this week and as a result my new years has turned around. It's as if the weather hit my reset button and we're ready to give the new year a new try.

With temperatures close to 70 degrees, which is very unusual for this part of the country when January and February seem to be our snowy months, the neighborhood has come alive. So much alive that I don't mind the fact that my husband is on a different continent right now. In two days, we've hit 3 playgrounds, played soccer, baseball, basketball, raked and jumped in the leaf piles. My kids dragged out their sandals and short-sleeved shirts. The bikes, scooters and wagons were cleaned off and set to rolling again.

Even I had sparks of energy for cleaning and organizing. False sense of spring cleaning, perhaps. I wish every year we were promised a break in the cold for a bit of warm temperatures and sunny days. It helps air out the kids from being cooped up inside and it helps me readjust my attitude to get in gear for 2008! Thank you mother nature for this beautiful day.