April 29, 2009

  • Potty Training.

    They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Soooo…

    IMG_5977

    …need I say more? :)

    [These little undies were robbed from little dresses. I went into the store to actually buy  some training undies, and much to my shock, a pack of 3 Strawberry Shortcake undies were $8!! I thought to myself that there is surely another thing I can use... so the little dresses with pantaloons have been put to much use.]

    I’ve been in one of those what-else-can-I-get-done-before-the-baby-comes sort of mindsets recently. There are all sorts of things that have been wondrously checked off my lists (checking things off lists just thrills me to pieces, in case you don’t know. If I do something noteworthy that wasn’t on my list, I will actually write it down just to get the satisfaction of immediately crossing it off! Silly, I know, but oh the wonderful feeling! :) ).

    Soo, when I was talking with my friend, Shelly, a few weeks ago, and she was telling me about potty-training her then-20-month-old, I was inspired.  I had been thinking that it would be nice to have Zoe’ trained before the baby comes, it would be one less thing to try to change later on, but I hadn’t attempted it yet. The talk with Shelly was all I needed. :)

    When Zoe’ awoke from her nap that afternoon, I excitedly told her that from now on we are going to wear panties!!  I explained to her that we do not want to make the panties wet, no no, we certainly do not! They are sooo prettttyy and we want to keep them nice and dry! So she needs to tell mommy when she has to go potty.

    She looked at me with her gorgeous blue eyes and seemed to understand all that I was saying. I was tickled pink. It seemed as if she was already trained, such a smart little girl I have. She already understood!

    Two soaked pairs of underwear and two wet spots on the carpet later, and no successful potty stops, I decided to call it a day. Hey, there’s always tomorrow, you know?!

    Well, “tomorrow” came the following week. Or was it the next? One of those weeks when I was just at home for most of the time. And wow, I found that my days were suddenly soooo long and sooo short at the same time! Setting the timer every 15 minutes for the first day made it seem like we had an eternal timer beeping. Spending my entire day at the toilet, is all I can remember. You just can’t get much done in little minute segments! The following day was a little better, 30 minute intervals, which gave us both a little more, um, space?!

    She did very well with it, considering that her mama suddenly started making her pee in the pot all the time, without much warning. We pulled all kinds of tricks out of our bag, since the every-few-minute segments seemed to bore her to death. We saaaaaang sooooooongs, we read booooooooks, we giggled and ticked and laughed, we said flashcard verses, we cheeeeeered and claaaaaapped and shouted “HURRAY!!!!” when the right thing was deposited in the right place. Oh yes, we were very dramatic, we were. That seemed to help things a lot.

    And now, several weeks later, our little girl is potty-trained. Well, if you take out the nap-times and night-times. We still wear more securely waterproof things on her then. But she has been doing so well, and will come frantically running to me for every little potty break! :) So very cute, but makes her seem so grown up already…

    Hopefully all the training sessions won’t have been in vain when the baby arrives. :) I’m holding my breath a bit on that one! But for now, we enjoy dry undies, less money spent on pampers, and a happy little family… :)

    -clarita

     

Comments (19)

  • yeah..good for you and good for Zoe! :)

  • Yay – way to go! I still have my 3rd born to train – oh I’m procrastinating something fierce!!!
    If you still have the what-else-can-I-get-done feeling, I could send him your way for a week! ( :
    Hope to hear some news soon! Mj

  • erghhh!! How’s come I always get you and others inspired with my wonderful ideas, but then have YOU tell the success stories while I lament and give up before I should!!?? i’ve been wanting to call and talk, but have been too scared that you were going to tell me how well your potty training was going, and I was too sheepish to tell you that I quit [for now, of course]. But, you are rather inspiring with your success story, so maybe i’ll set my mind to it again one of these days. Honestly, the reason I quit was ’cause my little boy and I started feeling like enemies and our usually happy mornings like big crying sessions–HIM because his mom was making him sit on the potty all the time and ME because in the few minutes he’d be off of the potty, he’d pee his expensive little panty-shorts from Target [we, unfortunately didn't have pantaloons to "rob" from little dresses], and before I’d know it, the 3-pack, plus 2 more that I scrounged up somewhere would all be soakin’ wet . . . and he was just *thrilled* to put on a pamper and be done with that torture session for the day.

    But of course, I AM very HAPPY for YOU. =) Seeing as your baby is due any day now . . . maybe I still have time to train him before our baby arrives. =)

    Yes, you may link to my site.

    Yes, we did have a lovely evening last night. =)

    And about where I order pics . . . I have ordered from Snapfish some [but not recently, so haven't noticed the problem you mentioned], but my all-time favorite, good-quality pictures are from Creative Memories. It definitely makes a difference WHERE you get your printing done!! I had some free prints available to me from CVS, so I was pumped about that–until the pics came back. Can you say TERRIBLE?? I won’t be using the rest of the free prints that I had coming to me there.

    Ok, I think I answered your questions. But I still have some of my own, so I’ll have to call you very soon. But don’t hold your breath. It’s not healthy for pg women. ;)

    Shelly

  • *gasp* clarita yoder, i can’t believe you’re posting such private things on such a public post!!! guess it goes along with potty training: just let it all hang out in the open! =) wowsers, i was pretty glad i didn’t have to go through that with dameon- got out of that one in the nick of time! [heh heh] i am proud of your industrious, motherly skills these days! & now if you would just inform me on the gender of “baby breech”, i could at least start prayin’ specifically, for pete’s sake!!! can’t wait to see you & your ‘wittle family’ again! *smoochez*

  • Way to go Zoe!  and mommy!  I didn’t even start mine until they turned 2.  The first one was the hardest and each one got easier, if that’s any consolation to you!

  • wow! way to go!!!!! you’re amazing.

  • Wow Clarita, that’s totally awesome!  Cheers for Zoe!!!  The “very dramatic” definitely helps (for more things then potty training too)!!  It’s amazing what we do “behind the scenes” isn’t it.  Sometimes I wonder what people would think if they saw all the shananagins that happen inside these walls…..!….and I’m not talking about the little folks either.  Yeah, drama helps! tee hee! 

    Can’t wait to hear the next exciting news!!  I pray all will go well for you!

  • I had to smile several times during your post…. you sound a little too much like me w/ those lists and adding things to the list that I already accomplished, just to cross off… funny, but such a sense of accomplishment too! =)  Congrats on the potty training! When I first saw your picture, again I had to smile at one that I had taken kind of like that w/ my daughter. Oh those days did get long, but so well worth it too! Glad that that is over for you.  Candace was trained several months before I trusted leaving her panties on her for naps and nights. 

    I was thinking about you the other day and wondering if you’re hanging in there ok w/ the last few wks coming to a close!?!?  Have a good day!

  • way to go Zoe and mommy!! :) you all are in our prayers in the coming weeks. can’t wait to hear the news!!

  • I’m so very happy for you!!!   The other day when you said you went through 9 panties in 2/3 days, I wanted to tell you how lucky you were.  That was more like one day for us.  :/  We struggled w/ the potty thing for months.  I started out w/ the bare bottom technique and he very soon started running to the potty w/o even telling me.  BUT…as soon as we were out and about or I put clothes on him, he always wet. It was quite discouraging.  We’re FINALLY officially trained!!  I think I would have taken a break, but like you, really wanted this job done before baby.  I hope Zoe keeps on doing so well!!!

    I’m sorry if I’m commenting on something that is none of my business, but I was reading the comment up there @ photoprinting and wanted to suggest Adorama.  I have started getting all my personal prints there and have been so happy!!!!  They have a $5 flat shipping fee, so I usually justify my habit of waiting to print pictures for 6 months or so. :)

  • I’m so proud of Zoe, and cheers to you on your determination in the process!  I’ll have to get some pointers from you when I get ready to get real serious with R.(: 

    I’m getting real  anxious for that baby of yours to make its appearance, and am partly glad that you haven’t told the gender.  It just makes all the more exciting!(: 

    Hope you’re having a wonderful day! 

  • @FOREVERLANE - oh my, you’re funny. i probably would not have posted had i known your take on potty training right now! :) thanks for the inspiration though! :)

  • @grandpas_gurl - oh darling, just wait ’til you have kiddos… we’ll hear all kinds of stories then! :)

  • @chuckschic - I’m still hanging in there! You too?! :) I think this stage of pregnancy seems like the longest – these last few weeks, and not knowing if the baby will come in one week or three. Looking forward to hearing your news! :)

  • @twofus_1 - thanks for the photo printing suggestion! glad you felt free to do so! :) I order twice, same order, from snapfish in the past two weeks and both times the pictures have been terrible, as in not able to even put them in frames or albums or anything. so i will definitely try your suggestion!

  • When I got to the paragraph about lists, I started smiling until I came to the part where you said if you accomplish something that wasn’t on your list  you write it down & cross it off, just for the sense of accomplish…and then I laughed.  I thought I was the only one that did that!  Kenton gives me a hard time about my lists, but he’s also seen the benefits of my “listing”, so he really doesn’t mind.  He knows too that it helps keep my mind sane, so he’s all for it :)

  • Oh you inspire me! I have been trying to get motivated to start training my 20 month old and have come up with lots of good excuses-after the baby comes ect. ect. Well baby sis is two months old and I think its time!(Aubrey get ready!!)

  • what a great idea to use the pantaloonie-things from dresses…i have a stack of them and rarely ever use them cuz of her wearing leggings, etc.! and good job on the training! =)

  • @lifeisadance - 

    Umm, if you haven’t placed an order, yet, I’m not sure I would. :( The first time I ordered I was so excited w/ the pictures I wanted to jump up and down. The colors were gorgeous, well-defined, saturated. The next time I wasn’t quite as impressed, but I thought maybe I had just set up super high expectations or was becoming pickier or something. Now, I just got an order and I am NOT impressed. So much so that I plan to contact the company to complain. I’m suspicious that they’re cutting corners. The first time I ordered, the pictures arrived in cardboard-thickness envelopes and each time the presentation has been cheaper material.

    Oh, and a pg pm coming sometime…

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