The Potty Training Post

 Ok, so this post is a long time in the making, and it may not help anyone, but whatever, I figured I would write it any way.


Prior to the actual potty training, I:

• stocked up on M&Ms
• Got a bunch of cheapo potty prizes for Rory to pick from when she went potty
• Got lots of cute toddler panties
• I also put an old shower curtain liner over the couch with a quilt over it
• Made sure that we had lots of clean towels  
• The froggy potty was in the middle of the living room in the middle of a few layers of beach towel
• Had a lot of high water content snacks and of course her regular 50/50 water/juice 

 

 (ignore my streaky mirror, this was taken the night before potty training bootcamp, the flash makes it look really bad!)

We talked up potty training all week.  Every time I would change her diaper, I would make a big deal about there only being a few diapers left.  On Thursday and Friday we counted down until her diapers were going to be all gone.  I told her (a lot) what a big girl she is and how little babies wear diapers, but now she is a big girl so she was going to get to wear big girl panties beginning Saturday.

We also bought a new toilet seat for the hall bathroom.  We were going to buy one anyway, but I found (at Home Depot) a toilet seat that has a toddler sized seat that flips down and stores in the lid.  It is awesome by the way!
DAY 1
Saturday Rory got up and we took her diaper off and put her in big girl undies.  I told her that when she needed to go potty, to tell me.  Then I gave her orange juice instead of milk for breakfast.  For the rest of the morning, I sat her on the Froggy Potty about every 15 minutes and had her sit there until she asked to get up. When she got up, I would reset the kitchen timer for 15 minutes.  This seems extreme I know, but I had to get her to go once on there so that we could make a big deal of it and she could get the 1st prize.  We had a lot of "HOLD IT! RUN RUN RUN..." moments, but finally, she peed.  I made a big deal of it, let her choose which M&M she wanted and pick out a prize. (Of course I took a pic...that's right, I took a pic of her sitting next to a potty with pee in it)

 After she went the first time, it seemed to register with her that she needed to go in the potty.  She did really well the rest of the day, we did have accidents, but she was trying, which was all that counts.
DAY 2
I had prepared myself for regression on Day 2.  It didn't prepare me though.  The morning of Day 2 was horrible.  You would have thought that it was the 1st and she had never heard of a potty.  This lasted for about a couple of hours or so and then she picked it up.
The rest of the day went pretty well.  She had some accidents, but nothing major and she decided that she didn't like the Froggy Potty and would rather use the big potty.  Fine with me!  I hated cleaning it out anyway!  We kept it in the living room anyway, just in case she wanted to use it, or she was near it and couldn't hold it to get to the big potty.  For the most part though, she went to the hall bathroom.
 

DAY 3
Day 3 was pretty good.  We even took a little trip to Target in big girl panties.  I figured that it was some place that R was comfortable, they have tile floors and we know where the bathrooms are.  I stressed the fact that if she went in her undies that we would have to come home, so she needed to let me know if she needed to go.  She did and we hurried to the bathroom and she went.  She was so glad to finally get out of the house, I think that me saying that if she went in her pants we would have to go home, was a bit of motivation.  We kept the trip short, and she got to pick a prize for not going at Target, so that was good too.

She does have a bit of fear in public restrooms on the giant seats with the open fronts.  I remedy that by me sitting on the potty, all the way towards the back (I am fully clothed, sounds gross...whatever) and she sits between my legs at the front. Sounds gross, but it works and she doesn't feel like she is going to fall in since she can hold on to my legs and her back is against me.  For a week or 2 if we went some where, I put the Froggy Potty in the car and we did have to use it once or twice, but now just reminding her not to go in her pants and to tell me so that we don't have to go home has worked.

I did put her in a pull up at bedtime, some theories say not to put them in a pull up at all, but I did and still continue to.  She doesn't have night time control yet, and I don't stress over that.  Night time control will come with time.  Poop was a bit more challenging and we still struggle a bit with it.

That is it...if there is something that I have forgotten, let me know and I will fill you in. 

Friday Quickee - Conversations with Rory

This will be a quick one, but she has been SUPER funny lately!

In the car on the way to eat with some friends of ours.  I called Kevin to tell him that we were going to O'Charleys (Hello, kids eat free!).
R: We are not going to O'Charley's, we are going to Ruby Tuesdays.
L: We are going to O'Charley's Rory, maybe we will go to Ruby Tuesdays another time
R: I am not going to O'Charleys
L: Okay
R: Wets go to Nellie Friday's
(***get it, RUBY and NELLIE...our dogs!)

We are trying to get her to go Poop in the potty...it is our last hang up that she isn't really consistent with.  For whatever reason, this is her thought process on Pooping.
R: Mommy, those fishies are hungry
L: What fishies Rory?
R: Those fishies in the Ow-Shun
L:O, OK.
R: I have to Poop in the potty to feed the fishies, they are so hungry
L: Rory, do you need to go potty
R: Yes, let's hurry!
-----She goes, and hops off the potty
R: YAY!  Mommy, those fish are so happy...they aren't hungry anymore!
L: Super!
(This is totally gross, but if it gets her to go, I don't care what she calls it and we have since aquired a new "Code Phrase"...I need to go 'Feed the Fish' has a whole new meaning)

Rory has gotten 2 of the Llama Llama books, they are SO cute, if you have toddlers, RUN and get them. 
Rory knows all of LLama Llama Red Pajama and 'reads' it to her self all of the time! 
I was fussing at her the other day and she busts out with this one:
R: Mommy, you listen to me...you stop all this Llama Drama and be patient for your Mama
(I almost lost it by the way...hard to scold her when she is being super cute)

After getting out of the tub the other night, she is following me into her room, all wrapped in her towel.  I turn around when I get to the bed and she is not there.
L: Rory...where are you?
---Silence
L: Rory, come here please
---Silence
L: RORY
R: (from far away) Rory is not here right now
L: Where is Rory and who is that talking?
R: This is Princess Belle, call me sweetly pweese
L: Princess Belle, where are you, come here please
-Rory tip toes in
R: Oh dear, I seemed to have gotten wost (lost), and I am naked...oh my

R drops juice sippy and a little spills out
R: Uh Oh, well that was unfort-nat (unfortunate)

Rory talks to Baby James

My cousin Caroline had her baby today.  Welcome sweet boy!  J@mes Edw@rd Klingler arrived weighing a hefty 8lbs, 5oz and was 19" long.  He is a cutie and Rory is excited to see him.  She told me tonight that she wanted to talk to him, so I recorded this on my phone for her.  I have no idea why it is sideways!

Wordless Friday

Quick Update

We are still around.  I have a lot of posts floating around in my head, but this one will likely be short.  I have taken a little break from the ole' blog for a few reasons.  First of all, I just needed a break and since it is within my power to impose such "breakness" I decided to do so.  Secondly, I spend most of my time at home, reminding Rory to go potty.  Haha! 

Here is a quick 5 for you to give you a quick update on what has been happening in our house lately. 

1.  We did 3 day potty training over July 4th weekend.  I didn't buy the book, but read a lot online about how to do it and read what other Moms had said about it.  I wound up using a hybrid of a bunch of different methods and also just going with what I felt would work best for Rory. It was rough, but it worked.  Rory still has accidents, but luckily, she is pretty good with it.  I bought a bunch of prizes for her to get to pick from, this was one of them...

I swore I would not buy this licensed, character crap...but it got her excited to go potty, so I did it...once.  She gets really mad if I tell her that it is a night gown and suggest that she wear it to bed.  Like REALLY mad!  To her, it is a dress...only a dress...no sleeping involved. I will do a detailed post on Potty Training, and how I did it, soon. (sorry for the fuzzyness, excited toddler+camera phone = blurry pics)

2.  Rory is crazy talkative...like comes out with stuff at the craziest times.  The other night, we were in Decatur for a Memorial Svc and my cousin Caroline's baby shower, and Mom and I were trying to get her to go to sleep.  She is laying in the bed, just chatting away and all the sudden, she sits up and says "Mommy, I am medium done with this sleeping."  Mom and I about lost it. 

3.  Kevin and I had been looking at bike trailers for a while, but wow...they are expensive.  We were at Target about 3 weeks ago (one of our tester trips after Potty Training where we knew where the bathroom was and if she had an accident, not that big of a deal) and found a Schwinn trailer on clearance for a steal.  It converts to a jogging stroller too.  It is awesome and Rory LOVES it...it is quite a work out!

Of course, Gymbo and Baby Meredith and the juice sippy had to go too.  Look at her little beat up toddler legs, bless her heart.

 4.  We are gearing up for our trip to the beach in September.  Rory asks every day if we are going to the beach today.  Sweet girl...she has no concept of tomorrow, let alone September.

5.  I have started looking at stuff and trying to get ideas for stuff for Rory's 3rd Birthday Party in December.  I have it narrowed down to 2-3 themes to choose from.  I know that my years of getting pick a cutsie theme are numbered and before long, she will be in full on 'licensed character theme' parties.  So I am enjoying it while I can.

For Dad

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
 

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made from what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

I have been changed for good.

This is the best recording I could find of it.  Ignore the video...just go with the words.  I think that it is so appropriate that it is from Wicked...

Dad,

I can't believe that it has been 4 years. This has been the strangest journey.  One I didn't think that I had it in me to make when we began 4 years ago.  Every moment, of every day, I love you so much. 

All my love,

Fritz.

Conversations with Rory

Here are few from lately.

On our way home from church 2 Sundays ago
L: Rory, did you have a good time at church?
R: Yes, I did
L: What did you learn in Sunday School?
R: God made pizza
L: He did?  What else?
R: AND CHEESEBURGERS!!!!
---
Same day, at the table, during lunch.
R: Daddy, what is God doing?
K: I don't know, what is God doing Rory?
R: He is outside mowing the grass.
K: (to me) I think that we need to take her to church more she thinks that God is the Pizza man who mows our yard.
---
In discssing her new big girl bed
L: Rory, I love your new big girl bed, are you going to sleep in it tonight?
R: No I am not.  I am too little, I am just a little tiny baby.
L: You are a big girl, in your own big girl bed.  It is going to be so fun!
R: No Mommy, I want the stripes back on my bed. (that would be the slats...aka the other side of the crib).
---
Yesterday at nap time.
L: Rory it is time to take a nap.
R: No, it is not, I am not taking a nap.
L: Yes, you are, let's go get in your bed.
R: (while getting in her bed) I am not tired Mommy, I am just really grumpy.
L: Well, taking a nap will solve that too.
---
L: Rory, lets clean up a little bit, take all your books and put them back on the bookshelf in your room please.
R: (looking at me like I am crazy) Seriously, Mommy that is a lot of books.
---
Yesterday while sitting on the couch watching Sleeping Beauty.
R: Mommy, that is Sleeping Beauty
L: Yes, Rory, it is.
R: Sleeping Beauty is very pretty, like me.
L: Yes, she is very pretty, just like you.  Do you know Sleeping Beauty's name?
R: Yes...I do
L: Well, what is it?
R: A-Rory, see just like me, we are the same
---
Overheard while I was in the kitchen loading the dishwasher.
R: Nellie, come here
(few seconds later, more loudly)
R: Nellie, come here...just be still...this won't hurt a bit.
(I knew this might not be good...I inch to the edge of the kitchen to look around the corner - Nellie is sitting looking at Rory and Rory has the handle to her broom in her hand)
Rory bops Nellie on the head
R: Abra Dabra-you are Nellie the frog.
(perplexed look)
R: Nellie you are a funny looking frog...lets try Ruby...
---
Last weeks lesson at church was on Noah.  She came home with the little worksheet that they had done on Noah...complete with illustrations showing Noah with a full white beard and robes.
L: Rory, who is this on your worksheet from church?
R: That is Ga-Noah-e-o, he rode in a boat
(Clearly, she is confusing the pronunciation of Noah with Gnomeo from Gnomeo and Juliet)
L: That is Noah, God told him to build an ark.  Do you remember who else was on the ark with Noah?
R: ....(thinking)....Mommy and Daddy aminals and his wife Juliet.
L: Rory, I don't think his wife's name was Juliet, wrong story.

Some pics

(I haven't edited any of these, it is too late for me to trudge through them now, so you are getting them Sooc, flaws and all-be warned!) As I mentioned in my post earlier today, Little Miss climbed out of her crib  instead of taking her nap.  Truthfully, we are lucky that she has slept in a crib and not climbed out and she is 2.5.  Sooo...today, when I got home, I converted her crib to a toddler bed.  After a quick trip to Target to get a pool noodle to keep her from rolling out, we are 2 hours into her first night in her big girl bed.

Hopefully, all will go well.  She was pretty excited to be in her big girl bed.

I got the bin of my old dance costumes out the other weekend,  They were a BIG hit.  Now if we can just get her potty trained, we can enroll her and she can get her OWN costumes.

We played in the pool the weekend between the 2 weeks of sickness.  So cute!

That is all for tonight.  Goodnight everyone!

Breaking News

News Flash...Guess who climbed out of the crib during her nap today?  Yep...little Miss Sassy Britches!  This should get interesting!

10 on Tuesday

We are still alive, it has been a wild few weeks, but hopefully everything is getting back to normal and I can begin blogging more again.

1. Rory had a fever virus for a week.  SHe was pitiful and it concluded with a wicked awesome rash...not fun, but short lived thank goodness.
2. The week AFTER the fever virus.  We wound up in the ER because Rory had a UTI.  If you haven't ever had to hold your 2 year old down for them to put a catheter in, you aren't missing anything....trust me.
3. I had a great birthday!  I am officially 31...crazy!  I got a new washer and dryer... You know you are old when a washer and dryer is an appropriate bday present! 
4. Rory is full on in the 2 year old attitute at the moment.
5. I asked R what she learned at church on Sunday and she said "God made pizza." 
6. We have been doing some minor home improvement projects around the Humphrey house, more to come this weekend. 
7. Tinkerbell brought Rory a pouch of pixie dust in exhange for her pacies...PLEASE let this one stick! So far, so good.
8. I need a vacation!  We are SLAMMED at work!
9. Having trouble getting 10.
10. I haven't taken any pics in a week or two.  That is the longest that R has gone with no pics being taken!  Poor kid...right?