I told Annie I'm going to write on my blog how well she's been doing with potty training . . . she stood next to me as I pulled up my blog and was saying, "Mom, now type A-N-N-I-E . . . type it Mommy, A-N-N-I-E." She's pretty please with herself :-)
Anyway, we did not have a single accident yesterday!! And my daughter's fiercely independent streak is even coming in handy . . . she went into the bathroom this morning, I heard her "as she pee-peed in the potty," (Annie is narrating this for me, so if it's in quotes, it's her exact words), "As she went to the bathroom one more time." Then I heard a small "splash in the toilet, then I know, uh, to bath my hands because they are dirty. With peanut butter." (That last part actually has to do more with breakfast, she went off track while telling her story when it reminded her of her messy hands). Anyway, my words, more directly . . . then I heard the bathtub turn on as Annie washed out her own potty. Then I heard the toilet flush. Then I heard her drag her step stool over to the sink, wash her hands, and then she came out of the bathroom drying her hands off on a hand towel. Then she walked back over to her computer and started playing her letter game. Not a word of encouragement, advice, instruction, anything from her Mom, all this went on while I was feeding Ellie in my room, just listening in.
Of course, the flip side of that independent spirit is if I even mention the word 'potty' when she wasn't already thinking of it, I'm met with shrieks and tantrums. It's kind of a miracle we're doing as well as we are, since all the books I've read are all, "And have them sit on the potty once every 20/30/60 minutes for at least 5/10/15 minutes until they produce something." Annie would freak out if I tried to show anywhere near that much control. Not one single time have I been able to 'talk' Annie into using or sitting on her potty. I guess this is karma or payback or whatever, being that I was the two year old who notoriously told her parents, "I can poop in my diaper if I want to, you can't make me use the potty. I get to choose, you can't make those decisions for me." Any wonder I have a bit of a stubborn, my-way-or-the-highway kinda kid? Didn't think so.
I just asked Annie if there was anything I should add to this post.
"A-N-N-I-E," she responded. Then asked in a whisper, "Mom, did you get that, A-N-N-I-E?"
Oh, "Add M-O-M, and H for Hilary."
Unrelated to bodily functions or letters, Annie was singing "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" yesterday. For like the fortieth time. (And I'm using fortieth in a biblical kinda way, when it just means a whole lot, possibly WAY more than 40. According to the all knowing internet, "A 40-something time period, whether days, months, or years is ALWAYS a period of testing." True of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" singing as well.) After the umpteenth singing of the line, "Who lives on Drury Lane," Annie got a small grin on her face and belted out the words, "Who lives on HILARY Lane!" (In Annie-ese, Drury and Hil-rry rhyme quite nicely.) She laughed for like five minutes.
Edited to add:
I start getting my hopes up, then Annie poops in her pants, about one minute after I'd read her books while she sat on her potty for 15 minutes or so. How do you keep potty training setbacks (which will be many and often, I'm sure. It's all part of the process) from demoralizing the both of you? Any advice you veteran trainers?
6 comments:
That is so great that Annie is doing so well. I love having Hailie be potty trained!! Keep up the good work.
Annette
Your post is so funny. Man, potty training sucks. Have you tried good old fashioned bribery? That worked pretty well for us. We bribed Weston with getting to pick a prize (at the dollar store) every time he pooped in the potty. Or you can do a chart where she gets a prize when she fills up the chart with successful trips to the potty. As for setbacks. Weston still has accidents (3 yesterday!), but today none because I took away his Superman cape (since Superman doesn't pee in his underwear) until he could go the whole day dry. Anyway, I think you just do whatever works for you. Good luck!
We've become experts at bribery, and she's become an expert at working the system . . . the kid has excellent bladder control, since she can make herself use the potty about 8 or 9 times in about 2 hours, all the while happily collecting chocolate chips and various princess dress up gear for her efforts. I can't get her to look to the long term though . . . the giant tea party set we got that she gets when she goes 3 days without an accident. We'll see how it goes . . . :-)
I think the key is just... they'll figure it out when they're ready. Annie's still fairly young. Our first pediatrician told us most girls don't really grasp it until three years old, so we haven't really pushed potty training on either of them until they were close to three years old. In the last week, Monk has figured it out and completely filled-up her sticker chart in a few days. Yay! The secret to our success... pink candy corns! Whatever works, huh? :-)
Two questions hilary. One: How do you find the time to blog so much? I'd love to, but it just doesn't happen. Two: How in the freak did you get Annie to spell and know what word begins with which letter. Claire is not interested in learning anything beyond which letter is which. Do share your secrets!
I love to read your blog. It's funny how often you express thoughts that I have had.
Jackie, I hope you check this comment section again, 'cause I've been meaning to tell you that I can't leave comments on your blog (for the last two entries), it just seems like the function's been turned off.
Anyway, to answer your questions. I almost always blog at night, after both girls have gone to bed, and Greg gives me about 20-30 minutes of uninterrupted unwinding computer time, it's checking email, blogs or writing (If you see a blog entry posted during the day, a LOT of times it's a second entry I wrote form the night before and just scheduled it to post the next day). Before I blogged, I used to write in my journal that I keep for my girls (it's a huge three ring binder now). Now that I blog I print off the relevant entries, add notes, and write a couple things that only go into their book. It's kind of how I unwind at the end of the day!
Second, I completely blame my Mom for the spelling thing :-) . . . we lived across the street from my parents, and went to Church with them for over two years, and I think every time I looked over at them during Sacrament, the two of them would be huddled over some magnadoodle or a notebook, and my Mom would be writing everyone in the family's name. Then it just grew to where we'd be driving and she'd see a Dillard's sign or something and be like, "D! Like Daddy!" (At first the only letters she cared about were the first letters of all of our family and my siblings names.) It kinda just kept going from there, and now she likes playing on starfall.com and it has her running around singing phonics songs all day.
I honestly don't think I would've even thought about teaching Annie half the stuff my Mom got her started on! I just didn't even think she'd get it/be interested/or was even capable of learning things that my parents have taught her!
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