Notice anything different about that picture? Granted, it is mostly hidden. If you take a peek beside her right foot you might notice that there is no thick padded absorbent item where one would normally be. Oh, no my friends, those are UNDERPANTS! of a Minnie variety.
Yup, I'm going to talk about it. If you don't want to know, then please feel free to not read. I will tell you that there are some funnies at the end, but you could even skip to those if you like.
So...here goes.
About a week before our sea shipment arrived I tried for real...at quite possibly the worst time ever. We were having a few sleeping issues, for one. Either she'd get us both up early or I would be unable to fall asleep until the wee hours and therefore I was not in a great mood for something that requires a lot of patience. You know, like training a little one to put the proper things in the pot. Added to this was the fact that Rocket Man was out of town for a week...and basically the worst time ever.
I only tried for a day. It was very clear that she wasn't ready: she could not get her own pants off, for one, which can impede the process. Also, she absolutely knew what was expected and also that she wasn't/couldn't do it and so basically she was just really upset and frustrated all day. It was not a good thing. I put the potty away completely and decided that I'd wait until our sea shipment arrived and we had put it all away. I also wanted Rocket Man to be in town before we tried again.
This brings us to last Monday. I have an Elmo video that talks all about potty-related things. Now, my child was only exposed to the little red squeaker a very tiny bit before we came overseas...and I've only seen him on the television a few times here. Mostly she liked Mr. Noodle.
That Mr. Noodle...he is so SILLY!
The fact that Mr. Noodle is nowhere to be found did not bother her a bit. Oh, no, there is someone even better in this video: Elmo's Daddy.
She LOVES him. I referred to him many times this past week and there may have been a couple of days where we watched Elmo's Potty Time...well, enough that I had the songs stuck in my head when I tried to go to sleep.
Anyway.
Monday morning we watched the video together and I explained/reiterated things taught on it. Then we put on some training underpants and began. After about 3 wet underpants, I decided to just take them off for a bit. The morning was not very successful. That afternoon, after her nap, we had some success. Finally she stopped going on the floor mid-stream, ran to the potty and 'finished' on there. That was all I needed for the reward.
What, you might ask, is the reward?
Well, for my child, it is a 'teddy-bear treat' - A.K.A. Gummy Bear.
People, it is all about the reward. It must be something they want. A lot. Muchissimo. Also, it is different for each kid. I have a friend whose son only found interest in all things potty-related once she told him he could blow bubbles in the house if he got it in the pot.
Moving along...later she had an actual success on the potty with no accident precluding it. As soon as I gave her a treat she said "Let's do it again!", ran to the potty and put the rest of what she had in there.
Methinks she was ready.
Day by day we got better and by Saturday she was going to the potty all on her own, pulling her own pants down, etc. without any prodding from us. Things have only gotten better since and we no longer get treats for liquid. I can even report that today, finally, she went poo in the pot as well.
Obviously this does not mean that there are not any more accidents or that we are done learning. Overall, though, she'll just announce "I need to go potty." or not, and then head off to take care of things. Today she even impressed the nanny, who was clearly surprised that she went all day with no accidents.
Good times.
Now that you've read through all of that...JUST what you wanted to read about today...I shall share a few of the more interesting moments:
I have shown her what to do, we have had a mini-sit on the pot with no...production...and we've watched the video, etc. She is playing and gets into a little house (you know, the ones that are made of fabric and pop open?) and is playing when suddenly she shouts "I need to go potty!!!" (while already going of course) and stands up and tries to RUN to the potty.
She is moving fast...
...and so is the house.
While number one is going quite well, there is no number two success. We're talking on the webcam with Guga and Papa Jim and Miss Thing has again entered the little house. She's talking and playing and then comes out to tell me "Pee-pee in my pants."
Except it isn't exactly a liquid.
I don't know this of course, and tell her to hurry and take her underpants off and then go sit on the potty. She yanks and pulls and finally gets them off and PLOP.
Oh, yes.
Right there on the floor.
Just what her proud grandparents wanted to witness.
We've just finished dinner and are cleaning everything up. Chica announces to the household that she needs to go and does her thing.
About five minutes later I notice that the underpants are still off. I mention this to Rocket Man and he heads over to take care of it and takes a peek into the potty...
...where there is no receptacle for 'catching' the business.
That's right people, I forgot to replace the bucket.
Not that it stopped her, of course.
Thankfully this particular potty does not open up to the floor, so it was easy to clean.
Throughout the week of training:
Miss Thing: "Let's go GET that teddy-bear treat!"
Rocket Man: "I don't think I've ever seen her butt-cheeks as much as I have this week."
Me: "All that tells me is that you haven't changed nearly enough diapers."
Perhaps we can begin to remedy that with little being number two in a few months.
Yup, I'm going to talk about it. If you don't want to know, then please feel free to not read. I will tell you that there are some funnies at the end, but you could even skip to those if you like.
So...here goes.
*****************************************************************
Last Monday I decided to start potty-training. We'd introduced the potty before, mostly because it arrived in our air shipment and she saw it and wanted to know what it was. She would sit on it and go, but it wasn't real so much as it was luck (I had her sit on it after naps and in the morning when she would naturally need to use it).About a week before our sea shipment arrived I tried for real...at quite possibly the worst time ever. We were having a few sleeping issues, for one. Either she'd get us both up early or I would be unable to fall asleep until the wee hours and therefore I was not in a great mood for something that requires a lot of patience. You know, like training a little one to put the proper things in the pot. Added to this was the fact that Rocket Man was out of town for a week...and basically the worst time ever.
I only tried for a day. It was very clear that she wasn't ready: she could not get her own pants off, for one, which can impede the process. Also, she absolutely knew what was expected and also that she wasn't/couldn't do it and so basically she was just really upset and frustrated all day. It was not a good thing. I put the potty away completely and decided that I'd wait until our sea shipment arrived and we had put it all away. I also wanted Rocket Man to be in town before we tried again.
This brings us to last Monday. I have an Elmo video that talks all about potty-related things. Now, my child was only exposed to the little red squeaker a very tiny bit before we came overseas...and I've only seen him on the television a few times here. Mostly she liked Mr. Noodle.
That Mr. Noodle...he is so SILLY!
The fact that Mr. Noodle is nowhere to be found did not bother her a bit. Oh, no, there is someone even better in this video: Elmo's Daddy.
She LOVES him. I referred to him many times this past week and there may have been a couple of days where we watched Elmo's Potty Time...well, enough that I had the songs stuck in my head when I tried to go to sleep.
Anyway.
Monday morning we watched the video together and I explained/reiterated things taught on it. Then we put on some training underpants and began. After about 3 wet underpants, I decided to just take them off for a bit. The morning was not very successful. That afternoon, after her nap, we had some success. Finally she stopped going on the floor mid-stream, ran to the potty and 'finished' on there. That was all I needed for the reward.
What, you might ask, is the reward?
Well, for my child, it is a 'teddy-bear treat' - A.K.A. Gummy Bear.
People, it is all about the reward. It must be something they want. A lot. Muchissimo. Also, it is different for each kid. I have a friend whose son only found interest in all things potty-related once she told him he could blow bubbles in the house if he got it in the pot.
Moving along...later she had an actual success on the potty with no accident precluding it. As soon as I gave her a treat she said "Let's do it again!", ran to the potty and put the rest of what she had in there.
Methinks she was ready.
Day by day we got better and by Saturday she was going to the potty all on her own, pulling her own pants down, etc. without any prodding from us. Things have only gotten better since and we no longer get treats for liquid. I can even report that today, finally, she went poo in the pot as well.
Obviously this does not mean that there are not any more accidents or that we are done learning. Overall, though, she'll just announce "I need to go potty." or not, and then head off to take care of things. Today she even impressed the nanny, who was clearly surprised that she went all day with no accidents.
Good times.
Now that you've read through all of that...JUST what you wanted to read about today...I shall share a few of the more interesting moments:
*****************************************************************
Day One:I have shown her what to do, we have had a mini-sit on the pot with no...production...and we've watched the video, etc. She is playing and gets into a little house (you know, the ones that are made of fabric and pop open?) and is playing when suddenly she shouts "I need to go potty!!!" (while already going of course) and stands up and tries to RUN to the potty.
She is moving fast...
...and so is the house.
*****************************************************************
Day Five:While number one is going quite well, there is no number two success. We're talking on the webcam with Guga and Papa Jim and Miss Thing has again entered the little house. She's talking and playing and then comes out to tell me "Pee-pee in my pants."
Except it isn't exactly a liquid.
I don't know this of course, and tell her to hurry and take her underpants off and then go sit on the potty. She yanks and pulls and finally gets them off and PLOP.
Oh, yes.
Right there on the floor.
Just what her proud grandparents wanted to witness.
*****************************************************************
Today:We've just finished dinner and are cleaning everything up. Chica announces to the household that she needs to go and does her thing.
About five minutes later I notice that the underpants are still off. I mention this to Rocket Man and he heads over to take care of it and takes a peek into the potty...
...where there is no receptacle for 'catching' the business.
That's right people, I forgot to replace the bucket.
Not that it stopped her, of course.
Thankfully this particular potty does not open up to the floor, so it was easy to clean.
*****************************************************************
Throughout the week of training:
Miss Thing: "Let's go GET that teddy-bear treat!"
****
Me: "All that tells me is that you haven't changed nearly enough diapers."
Perhaps we can begin to remedy that with little being number two in a few months.
*****************************************************************
Thanks for reading. Apologies if you really didn't want to know. I hope you could chuckle at a few of the stories at the least! Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I'll have some new photos of Miss Thing and I can tell you some more about some of the other things she's been learning/doing.
3 comments:
Hooray! I (and Nadia seems to as well since she randomly starts saying "accidents happen" sometimes) get one of the songs from the Elmo video stuck in my head all the time too. She gets one video a day and yesterday she chose the Elmo potty video. It's a great thing, though kind of annoying to adults!
Awesome post! Potty training sounds stressful, but I hope having a great sense of humor makes it easier. Sounds like she's doing great!
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