Category: Potty training

Moving Up . . . and Moving Out

Posted on by Becky

Moving Up!

This week we were given a twin bed (gotta love FreeCycle!), so Mara has officially moved out of her toddler bed.

I’ll admit feeling a bit sentimentally nostalgic about my little Mara moving up. But with Carissa learning to roll over and nearly stretching from end to end of the cradle, she really needs the crib (and Mara’s mattress) very soon. So it’s really a matter of practicality.

For Mara, however, this took a little convincing. Initially, she told me she wasn’t old enough for the big bed. “I’m not four yet!” she said, and then she lay down to demonstrate that her feet only went halfway down her toddler bed. So I lay down on the big bed and showed her that my feet only went halfway too. (Occasionally being short comes in handy.)

Ironically, then she began wondering out loud, what she would do when she grew out of her twin bed, and immediately decided, “I guess I will just have to sleep in Mommy and Daddy’s bed when I grow out of this one!”

I assured her it would be a long time, if ever, before she grew out of this bed.

We put the toddler mattress on the floor in front of her bed, just in case she fell off. She didn’t.

We talked about working towards keeping her Easy-Ups dry and going all night. And Friday night she did it. She was so excited Saturday morning when she came in our room and announced, “My Pull-Ups are dry! because I got up and went potty four times!”

I’m proud of her. She’s growing up!

Moving Out?

Over the past few months, Scary Things have appeared in Mara’s room after dark. She never gets out of bed at night to tell us about them, but she will tell us in the morning.

So I will go with her into her room and ask her: “What things in your room are scary?”

“Well,” she’ll begin. “Like this basket.”

“That’s not a scary thing,” I’ll say. “See? Just a basket with some cute little [stuffed] animals in it.”

“Nooooo,” she’ll say (as if I just don’t get it). “They’re not scary now. They turn into scary things!”

But good news! Those scary things may be on their way out! On Monday night she slept in the big girl bed for the first time.

Tuesday morning, she reported: “You know what?! There were NO scary things in my room last night! . . . I think the scary things knowed I had a new bed, so they ran away outside!”

The power of a new bed!

Potty Training . . . Again??

Posted on by Becky

I really don’t want to start potty training Micah yet. Being 37 weeks pregnant, coming off two months of bedrest this week, preparing for a new baby (anytime now!!! or. . . mid-March???) and planning to go to my sister’s wedding in Florida the first week of May (I’m the maid of honor, Mara is a flower girl)–well, I just have plenty of other things to deal with right now!

But part of me feels guilty.

Micah is now 20-months old and showing a great deal of interest in going potty and major awareness of needing to be changed. In fact, when he’s wet or dirty, you better be paying attention! or he’ll take matters into his own hands.

Mara had already started at this age, because she absolutely hated having a dirty diaper, and would run around like crazy as if trying to escape it. . . In hindsight, I feel like I let Mara start potty training too early, and that caused the whole process to be a lot worse than it needed to be. Her constipation issues also complicated things, but probably if we’d waited she would have done better. And I don’t want to make the same mistakes with Micah.

Besides, he still seems so much younger! Today, for the first time, I heard him say the colors “pur-pur [purple],” “lah-lah [yellow],” and “reh [red].” He just seems so much younger than Mara did as this age–I’m sure it’s just a boy/girl, verbal/nonverbal thing. . . but back to signs of “potty readiness”. . .

I laugh when he pulls his pants down (or off) and lays on the floor to be changed. If that’s not trying to communicate, I don’t know what is! He will stand in the bathroom, while Mara’s on the potty, unrolling toilet paper for her and handing it to her (and yes, I know that’s not a sign, but it makes me laugh too!). Before he goes in his diaper, he will walk around pulling on the front of his pants–he knows it’s coming–then afterwards, he will say ‘diaper, diaper’ and try to go up the stairs to his room to be changed.

This morning, he was walking around, saying, “Poop! Poop! Poop!” and pulling down his pants and his diaper.

For awhile (over the last couple of months), I ignored this kind of behavior, because I figured he was just mimicking things he heard Mara say or do.

But I’m starting to realize: he knows what he’s doing. And he’s trying to tell me something!

I did bring the little potty back up from the basement again–just for these occasions. I figure it doesn’t hurt to at least familiarize him with the little potty concept, if he’s going to be sooo insistent that he needs to go!

So I sat him on the potty for about five minutes, while he beckoned for me to bring him various toys. (Ha ha!) But nothing happened, so I just decided that he didn’t really need to go, and I put his diaper back on and sent him back to play.

About ten minutes later, Daniel walked in the house, pointed at the kids in the living room and said, “One of them reeks!”

Sure enough, it was Micah with a major MAJOR poopy diaper! (Thanks to my dear husband for changing that one!!!!)

Micah really is beginning to understand, but Mom is not ready.

So I can plan to add potty training to this summer’s activities, after my sister’s wedding in May. . .

woo-HOO!

Saving $$: Potty Training!!

Posted on by Becky

One of my money-saving goals for the next two months is to get Mara potty trained.

Mara Carrying Her New Underwear in a Bucket
Carrying Her New Underwear in a Bucket

That alone will save us about $40/month in diapers (not to mention the space in the landfills). She has been doing great!

We have . . . (and, by the way, this list also doubles as “Things I Thought I Would Never Do . . .”)

Well, it’s finally starting to pay off!

It is Friday afternoon, and we have not had an accident or a wet or dirty diaper since Wednesday afternoon! That includes 2 nights and 2 naps!

Mara runs around the house waving her hands in the air and singing, “No more biapers any more! No more biapers any more!”  (I think that’s from Potty Power, but I’m not sure, since I never watched the DVD all the way through.)

I’m not expecting perfection. I know there will be more accidents. 🙂 But I’m thinking: we’re on our way to saving $40 a month!

I never thought I would blog about potty training

Posted on by Becky

Funny how having children changes you. This morning as I came upstairs from the basement carrying a basket of laundry, my 2-year-old ran toward me wearing shoes and socks, but no pants or underwear. ??

“Lop-a-lop!” she announced with a smug grin, hands clasped behind her back. (Lollipops are the reward for going #2.)

“Did you go potty?” I asked, looking into her little potty. “No,” I answered my own question emphatically. “No lollipop.–There’s nothing in there.”

“I fushed it,” she explained.

First of all, her potty doesn’t flush. Second, if she had gone #2, she would be calling for me to wipe her.

But she insisted, pointing to a random piece of plastic protruding from the potty seat. “See? I fushed it right there!”

Oh, my . . . you’re not convincing me, little girl. NO lop-a-lop!

Potty Power

Posted on by Becky

Our friend loaned us a DVD called “Potty Power,” and Mara has been watching it the past couple of days. I don’t know how long it will last, but she went in the potty three times this afternoon, after watching the DVD. She would say, “Mara go potty! Mara big kid!”

When Daniel came home from work, Mara strutted around the house, arms over her head, shouting, “Power! Power!”

“What’s she saying?” he asked.

“Power,” I translated. “Potty power.”

“Mara,” Daniel said, shaking his head. “That is not power. If you have power when you’re going potty, you need to see a doctor.”

And Mara, who has begun the endless “why” stage, came to me, “Why, Mommy? Why Daddy say ‘not power’?”