It feels like the kids are in cahoots with each other to make sure Mommy doesn't get to sleep. On Tuesday Nadia's nap was about 2.5 hours long. As soon as I put her down yesterday, I started trying to get Ian down. It took me a little longer than I hoped, but within 45 minutes of getting her down, he was asleep in his Nap Nanny. I went upstairs to brush my teeth and wash my face for the first time that day. Forget a shower...I was just hoping to at least brush my teeth. I'm not asking for much, right? I then laid down in the hopes of sleeping for an hour, but 5 minutes later Nadia woke up. She hadn't even been down one hour. I traded my nap for outside time with Nadia. I took a monitor outside so I could hear Ian if he woke up. He slept for 2 hours; so if Nadia had taken as long of a nap as she had the previous day, I could have slept 90 minutes. I'll try again today. Unfortunately we got off to a bad start last night as again his first stretch was only 2.5 hours (8:30-11:00pm). At least this time I woke up on my own at 11pm when he started crying. His second stretch was only 2 hours (12-2am), and his third stretch was about 1.5 hours (2:50-4:25).
The good news was that Nadia, who was wearing underwear in the crib for the first time ever, woke up dry! I brought the potty outside, but she wasn't on it much. Mostly she was on the swing and slide. After playing outside for one hour, I brought her inside as at that point it had been 3 hours since she peed. I thought that she would certainly have to go in the near future, so I put her on the potty, turned on VeggieTales, gave her a snack, and went in the kitchen to get the beef stew going in the crockpot. I finished cooking by the time the DVD was done, and Ian was still sleeping so I took her into the bathroom and let her give her doll a bath in a basin of water while she sat on the potty. During that time Ian woke up. I brought Nadia back out to the kitchen. While I was nursing Ian, she got off the potty (which she had been on for about an hour) and as soon as she stood up (on the linolium in front of her toybox) she peed. I wasn't aware of it, but she walked over to me, pointed to the floor, and told me "I peed." I can't believe she was able to hold it 4 hours. I can't do that, LOL! It was very frustrating though that she had just been on the potty for an hour and then 30 seconds later peed on the floor. I didn't have her sit on the potty much the rest of the day, and she had one more accident (about 2 hours later).
So she was out of a diaper for 12.5 hours today (most ever) and during that time she went in the potty twice (peed once, pooped once) and had 6 accidents. I called Paul on the way home and asked him to buy her a big bag of M&Ms as her reward for peeing on the potty (one M&M for each success) and lollipops (she loves the ones they give her at the bank and doctor's office) for when she poops on the potty. He was able to get some M&Ms at CVS but couldn't find lollipops (except he saw DumDums at the grocery store but I was afraid those might be a choking hazard). In some ways it feels like we're making great progress in that she can hold it for long periods of time including while sleeping at nap time, and she's definitely aware of what's going on and can verbalize it. However, in other ways it feels like we're so far away as she seems to prefer going on the floor to the potty. I keep wrestling with whether this is just how potty training goes and I should just persevere for a few more days OR if I should stop and start again in two months. Tomorrow I'm not going to have her sit on the potty for extended periods of time. That isn't working. Hopefully the M&M's will be a good incentive. I'm open to ideas if anyone has experienced something similar with their child!
The last picture in today's post was taken on April 27, 2009. I posted it again to show how much she's grown in the past 10.5 months! Kids just grow up WAY too fast!!!
The Money Saving Mom website is a goldmine. She's going to add a feature where you can just receive certain posts (such as just for certain stores like Kroger or CVS or Walmart). Of the many she posted yesterday I thought the one on
stocking up on food and toiletries was good. It's how I've always shopped although in my case on a much smaller scale. One problem I've had the last several years is that we stopped getting a newspaper so I don't get coupons as regularly, which is why I took advantage of one of her offers yesterday for the magazine,
All You. I've never heard of it before, but evidently it has TONS of coupons in each issue and her "deal" was to get 40 issues for $28. So I'm giving it a whirl. Hopefully I will be able to use a lot of the coupons in it. I also signed up
for the $10 credit at bTrendie. I might use it to get Nadia a Kidorable umbrella. I also signed up for
Kraft First Taste, which means I'll now receive coupons from Kraft for new products. Finally, I think I'll take advantage of the
free photo book from Picaboo. You have to order it by the end of this month, but you get a 20 page (8.5x11) hardcover photo book (regularly $39.99) for free. All you pay is the shipping ($8.99). I've never made a photo book before, but it looks like a cheaper and faster way of scrapbooking or creating a traditional photo album.
3 comments:
I don't know how much advice you've gotten about potty-training or if you're sick to death of it yet, but here's what we did FWIW.
I started training Noah about the same time you are starting with Nadia. I didn't ever have him sit on the potty for extended lengths of time (I don't think that would have been possible--he was ALWAYS on the move!). What I DID do was try not to go anywhere for the first week. I took his pants off (naked from the waist down) and I would push the liquids/fruits and we would take a potty run every 30 mins. I set the kitchen timer so I wouldn't forget. If he didn't "go", I didn't stress, we just tried again in 30 mins. If he had an accident, I would tell him again that pee or poop goes in the potty. If he succeeded, he got M&Ms, huge high-fives, and big celebration.
After awhile, I started taking him every hour, and then eventually only if it had been too long since he had gone, or if we were about to go somewhere, just got up from a nap, etc. If we were to go out of the house, we went potty before we left, then about an hour later, etc until we got home.
I have to say that the church nursery was the hardest and the place where I always felt like we were going backwards in training. I would tell the ladies he needed to be taken potty every 45 mins or so, but he usually had an accident in there for whatever reason (either they weren't taking him, or he couldn't go in such unusual circumstances). I just learned to pack an extra pull-up/underpants and keep a light spirit. He eventually got better about that.
It didn't take long before he got the idea of potty training in general, but it still took A LONG TIME before he actually told me he needed to go before he went.
Don't know if any of that will help, but it's what we did with Noah. I think with Nadia's other readiness signs, that she probably really is ready, but it just takes time. Don't know if this next thing will encourage you or not, but it's a fact nonetheless: It took Noah almost 6 months to be completely trained during the day (by that I mean wearing underpants full time, VERY rarely having accidents, and telling me when he needed to go to the potty) and another few months after that before he was completely trained at night.
IMHO, the earlier you start, the longer the actual training time takes, BUT also the earlier you can get out of diapers for good, which is your whole goal! Many of Noah's friends his age are still wearing diapers or pull-ups. Sure when their parents decide to train them, it probably won't take 6 months, but look how much longer overall they're still not trained!!
For anyone else reading this, I am NOT intending to spark a debate. Please know everything I'm saying is just my own opinion and what worked for us. I know there are other differing opinions out there! :)
I think the twins are working against me also. We had 4 nights where they slept from 9PM to 6AM (most of those nights Lee was on the couch with them lucky dog) and now they are back to getting up between 3-5 to eat. I do put them back down to sleep again. Do you let him cry and whine a little before you go get him so you can see if he really needs to get up? The twins cry in their sleep a lot.
I don't EVEN want to think about potty training two at one time. I will say that with Brianne we carried the potty with us when we went places. Yes she tinkled in the car at several parking lots. LOL
Adorable pics on Nadia on the swing!
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