From disposables to cloth to elimination communication.
Julia is doing well at holding it more. We did the groceries in cloth and she was fine to and fro but then peed when I was putting foo dup in the fridge. I wanted to give her the chance to go but I didn't want milk out in the car in this heat.
This morning she held it while I go ther on the potty -- quite a lot!
So we're getting there.
Weekend away at in-laws. Julia did GREAT. All poops in the potty and almost all Sat. in the same cloth diaper. Dry, dry, dry! I'd taken the same amount of diapers as last time -- one dozen per day. We came back with so many extras it was excellent. Paul pitched in Sunday after he was back from fishing and while he wasn't as vigilant as me about it, he did well.
The effort to keep her super dry is paying off.
Julia screamed in the car on the way home. She had peed in her disposable and did not stop crying until we changed it. A bit of a drag since we had to find a safe spot to pull over to do it in but good progress overall. She is getting to where she cannot STAND to be in a dirty diaper, cloth or disposable. She used to not be able to tell in disposable that she wet herself but I think she can tell better now.
We let her be naked in her room for a bit before bath -- no accidents either.
Woke up dry in the mornings too --- even when I took too long getting her to the potty... she managed to hold it.
Exciting!
My MIL commented how she didn't start potty training til 9 mos and not serious til 1 year. She also said she wouldn't have the patience to be doing infant training like we are -- pretty much what my mother said. It's just a different approach.
Last couple poo catches have bene partials but this most recetn one was a complete catch in the potty with a pee. It was post nap, and she farted so I kept her on there and waited. Julia complied pretty quickly -- I knew it was in there somewhere since we hadn't had a morning or evening poo.
Hooray! No poo diaper to wash!
Doing a mix of time based checked and expected potty events. Cue based isn't working right now because she is too absorbed in play to cue clearly enough for me to understand.
Next check at 9:15.
Having a hard time remembering to check her diaper when we go places (ex: stores.) We may just have to learn to check when getting in and out of the car becuase while the destinations change, the car is the same.
On the way home from Home Depot Julia started to yell in her car seat and we didn't realize it was a poo diaper til we got home. She'd probably done it before we left the store so we should have looked.
On the bright side... poo once or twice a day for the last bit so things are moving along well.
And good thing I was keeping her in a cover with this new L size of disposable. It leaked some.
She made another in the office whiel Paul was the primary parent. She was fussing and he put it to not wanting to be in her chair but discovered a poo. I didn't say anything about it but he himself brought up the missed cue and how he needs to try to be more on the ball with it.
I'm glad he's trying and I'm glad I don't have to nag. He's aware enough to realize things on his own.
And he was a huuuuuge help with her this weekend with me not feeling all there. I know he feels sick himself.
Julia started to say "Dada" sounds -- very sweet for Paul. I remember how it felt when she started the "Mama" ones.
Missed a poo last night. Julia was crying and I ignored her for a bit and when I came to check she was sitting forlornly in her crib, no longer crying but still upset and she was sitting in a big poo. I felt bad about that.
She's doing so many new things (standing, crusing, etc) and struggling with new developments (separation anxiety) that I have a hard time interpretting her for potty cues or helping her overcome frustrations.
It gets ME frustrated.
And then I just have to set her down, set the timer for 5-10 minutes and walk away even if it means ignoring her fussing. I refuse to handle her when my temper is starting to go... I never want to touch my kid in anger.
More stinky farts from Julia today. Juts now she woke up and I took her to the toilet to try to pee. No dice. So I diapered her back up and tried to lay her down only she ended up peeing in her diaper. I suppose it just took her a while to fully wake up -- more than I expected.
While changing the diaper I noticed her anus was open so I put her back on the toilet and managed to catch a good poo in there. She was awake and wriggly so she was hard to hold and she ended up getting a little poo on my leg but overall -- way better than going out to the garage to wash out a diaper at this time of night.
(I'm still at my parent's house post hurricane.)
Mom has been doing really great at trying to get Julia to use the toilet. Karen isn't at that point but is willing to change a diaper. Dad still runs away any time any diapering is going on. Yet he hovers around telling me to make her look in the toilet at what she did or asking me if she's eaten or peed or pooed... like he wants to know but at the saem time doesn't want to know.
I have to start taking the shivery shakey thing Julia does as a cue. I've grown used to it as a post-pee thing but today she did it and I checked and she was dry. Then she did it again and she was mid poo. I rushed her to the toilet but we didn't get to make a partial catch -- she'd finished by that time. I was caught compleltey off guard -- I wasn't expecting another poo at least until this afternoon. That's the power of baby prunes for you.
So ... 3 pee ctaches, one by my mom, 2 pee misses, and a poo miss so far.
Was concerned Julia hadn't pooed so fed her baby prunes and she went tonight. Caught her starting in her diaper and we finished in the toilet. Now that I read the blog I see she had another gap of 4 days sans poo so I odn't know why this 3 day was worrying me. Perhaps because my own diet/hydration was not so great with Hurricane Charley going on and I was worried she wasn't hydrating enough via breastmilk. I also gave her a bit of water via sport bottle with a pop top and she took it well and seemed to like it.
All this fuss over bottles/sippy cups and it turns out a pop top bottle was the easiest thing to give her.
Julia seems to be pooping every 2nd day.
Last night we both missed the boat. I was eating a sandwich and noticed Julia crying so asked Paul to be with her so I could finish eating. He took her and put her in our bed to play guitar for her and when he brought her back he told me she was initially strumming and then grew really still and just seemed to listen.
That "growing still" business coupled with the faint smell of her made me realize she had been crying to be taken tot hte potty and then still while popping in her diaper.
Two great cues from Julia and we totally missed the boat and I ended up washing another hershey poo diaper. Ugh.
Paul will potty her if I ask him, but he's got to get on the ball with picking up cues himself without my help. And I need to remember to remind him instead of assuming he can pick up the cues because he's just not there yet.
Not blaming anyone for anything -- just trying to get better at reading Julia's potty language.
We also dropped the crib down to the lowest position last night now that Julia pulls up. This means we can no longer use it comfortoably as a changing table or as a place to potty. I used to let her sit on her potty in the crib while I sat on a stool and supported her.
This morning I wasn't set up yet in another location but I knew she made to make her morning pee so I took her to our bathroom.
I held her under her thighs and hovered her over the toilet and made her cue sound. She went, but since she could see into the toilet from this position she hunched over staring at pee coming out of her and making ripples in the toilet bowl water. Like... "What is that? Where is it going?"
I had to laugh.
This potty training thing sure has some funny moments.
Now I know why some people call it "peanut butter poo." It's almost the same color and texture and boy, it gets all over! I have to try microfleece liners to see if that helps with the laundry aspect.
I have to get Paul to check her diaper more often and give her more chances to go. He helps a lot but he's still not used to the frequent potty thing. Julia was crying and he got up to check and she looked fine so he came back. She kept on and I went to check and she'd been sitting in a poo.
I didn't have time to get her on the potty to see if there was more coming -- she peed all over the sheet as soon as the diaper came off. She was squirmy and wriggly and crying so she'd been trying to cue that it was coming for a little while. It upsets her to sit a soiled diaper.
We bathed everyone and started getting her dressed and she made chunkies -- I don't know if it was rom being upset or gas or what but AGAIN we changed everything and now we're all trying to wind down for the night.
Earlier today when we went to see my parents my Mom wanted her as soon as we arrived and when I todl her no because she had to try to pee she volunteered to try to get her to go. Mom is really trying hard. Granted, it's also because then she can run off with the baby but it still surprised me.
Julia just woke up and started yelling so we got her on the potty and she made two little poos in it. Paul said there was one more stuck to her butt still that he got off with a wipe while I was rinsing out the potty.
I'm glad she finally went. I can see if she was working on a more "solid" poo why it was taking so long. Normally she was a once a day pooper. I was getting worried she might be constipated since I hadn't seen anything in a few days.
Both the little poos were the usual mustard yellow brown but more firm... maybe like mashed potato texture? Soft, but holding its shape. In size it was like a squirt of toothpaste 1.5 - 2 inches long.
Since this is a new development I'm not sure if she was done or not. I've grown used to the amount of the runnier poo prior to this so it's going to take me a bit to figure out how long to leave her on the potty based on output now that things have changed.
I've noticed that Julia has been doing this shivery or shaking thing during or after a pee. Not terribly useful as a cue to get her on the potty in time to catch it, but useful for knowing it is time to change her diaper.
Hasn't made a poo in two days... we've been eating applesauce and banana lately so if a poo doesn't show soon I'm going to have to think about cutting it down.
We went to see Nana out of town this weekend. Julia only used 2 disposables the whole time -- the car trip down and the car trip back. Go us!
I brought along 2 dozen prefolds figuring on 12 per day. The first day she went through 10 -- too distracted by new surroundings and paly to cue me. The second day we used much less since she was starting to cue again once the novelty wore off. I washed the first 10 in case I'd need them but it turned out I didn't so next time I'll see if I can just skip laundry at Nana's and be ok. It's a learning process.
We took her out to eat in cloth diapers both days and she required only 1 change while out for 2 hrs... so she's holding it. I'd brought 6, just in case, but I think I could do 4 comfortably and then leave back up in the car.
I thought cloth would make for a bulkier diaper bag, but it's not so bad. We're using an Eastpak with several compartments and it may be TOO big. If I can find a mini eastpak that might be worthwhile and we'll leave the big one for overnights
