Cookies and Cream

Benjamin got ice cream last night.  And if you read this post, you know why.

After discussing the various kinds of ice cream, he decided he wanted to have Cookies and Cream.  Good choice, Little P!

Potty Training in The Pod

We're getting there. We started getting "serious" (if what we do qualifies as serious) a few months ago when Little P began a several-weeks-long campaign of bare bottomed-ness. He is now (mostly) in underwear. If you care to read about our journey, here it is.  If you have better things to do than to dwell upon the waste removal habits of a two-and-a-half-year-old, just skip this post.

To start off, some mamas are very good at setting goals and, with laser-like focus, meeting them.  Others are very good at doing things the way they are "supposed" to, as described by an expert or in a book.  I am neither of these. I can take those approaches, on occasion, when motivated to, but mostly I read up on my options and then see how things go once I jump into it. I'm the intuitive sort. (A total NF on the personality scale.) So it went with potty training.

I have heard of mamas who take a week to focus intensely on potty training. Some books claim that a child can be fully trained in that amount of time. (I question how "fully trained" would be defined...#1 and #2? Able to take naps in their undies? Trustworthy at the grocery store in undies? In a week?!)

I did not even attempt this method because I know myself well enough to see that this would be a dangerous way to go about it in The P-Pod. Here's why: I don't like to fail. I don't like doing things that I'm failing at. I am trying to get over this, but even the consciousness I have of my neurosis is not enough to prevent the feelings of frustration from arising.  I also have the habit of resenting the people or things that did not perform as expected.  By this I mean that, if I work hard and do everything I'm supposed to do and the result is not the one we were seeking, I feel annoyed and cheated and very, very irritable. (This will go away eventually, but still...)

I knew that if I set a deadline (one week, two weeks, by the end of the month) for Little P to be fully potty trained, I would be frustrated with him if we didn't make it. He doesn't need that kind of pressure. He doesn't need Mama's neurosis weighing him down like that.

I also knew that I did not feel like putting that much effort into it. Seriously...do you know how annoying it is to pull pants and undies and shoes off every thirty minutes, only to find that nothing comes out? That's nearly 30 trips to the toilet every day! Egads. Props to you mothers who actually did it that way. 

there's lots more...to keep reading, click the link

Potty Training Editorial

This is a good little reminder of an alternative perspective. I think, as a mama in the throes of potty training a two-and-a-half year old, I would like to work on having child #2 using a toilet much earlier. I did not get really serious until a month or two ago, and I am so over poopy diapers.

THE ARTICLE

Potty Training: Day 1

We have officially (sort of) started potty training here at The P-Pod. You might remember that some months ago Mama brought home a kid-sized toilet. Though Little P did sit on it once a day and occasionally pee in it due to sheer luck, Mama did not take the training seriously. Until yesterday (sort of).

For all of his waking hours, Little P was naked as a jaybird. (It helped that the weather was a balmy 102 degrees and The P-Pod is not using air conditioning because we are choosing to live below our means in order to save aggressively for a while...that's another entry.) What Mama means is that it was a yucky, sweaty day (week! in fact) and Little P was probably very happy to have nothing but his own heiny between him and the paltry breeze.

I digress. He was naked. The little toilet was positioned in the kitchen for easy access. Mama read the Potty Time book with him and there was much playing with the toilet in anticipation of using it. Inn fact, the cool thing about this book is that it has photographs of human children doing potty activities. Sooooo much better than cartoons and drawings found in other books. Little P actually looked at the little boy on the potty and then got on his toilet and sat the same way.

This book also contains a magnetic chart with colorful, fun magnets that can be stuck on the day of the week whenever a child successfully does business in the toilet. Little P's eyes lit up over this. Though Mama knows she could do the same thing herself with stickers, for $12.95 and no further effort, this sounded like a good value. Let us emphasize no further effort. Mama needs these kinds of options lately.

DAY 1 STATS

# of hits: 1

# of misses on wood floor: 4

# of misses on carpet: 1

These statistics may look daunting, but Mama found that cleaning up a few ounces of pee off the floor in order to not have a piles of diapers to wash at the end of the day was so much easier! The misses also teach Mama about when Little P tends to need to go. Mama cannot for the life of her figure out what cues he gives prior to needing a toilet. Mama also learned that if Little P comes into the room saying "diaper" that's a sign that the need for a toilet already passed, and Mama needs to go look for a small puddle and possibly some track marks somewhere. Also, periodically sitting him on the toilet and reading a book has not yet produced any results.

So we're off and running. Mama will refrain from giving you daily updates and further gruesome details, mostly because she doesn't have time, and partially because it might be TMI. But you may hear if any significant challenges or progress are encountered.

Question: How have you all potty trained your children? Do tell!

And, just to make you cringe and laugh at the same time, here is an atrocious potty training video. Just don't show it to your kids. They might not ever be the same.