Toddler Training

I haven't handled another baby for potty stuff other than Julia. Julia and I have had months to work on our potty skills so it was a real change to start with a baby who is a blank slate.

Baby sat our 1 yr old niece today. She hasn't really started potty training yet but while with us we tried to do the same as with Julia since she kept following Julia to the bathroom when Julia would go.

Checked/changed our niece's diapers often to keep her super dry and tried to understand her body language to get her on the potty. I knew she was going -- that spaced out look -- I just wasn't quick enough to get a catch though. Much like when I was first starting with Julia... lots of misses while learning her body language.

I did use our smallest potty since I figured that would be easiest. My niece was totally distracted, not used to it, wanting to get up and wander around, look at Julia over on the toddler ring insert who was peeing with Paul's help, etc. It's been so long that we had to have potty toys for distraction that I simply forgot to offer our niece one to get her to sit a little bit. She's also very strong. Kept scrooching the potty around on the floor with her legs playing.

Julia's also strong but he doesn't doesn't fight it like our niece because she already knows what's expected of her -- go if she had to go and say "done!" if she doesn't.

Now that I got a little taste of it on the toddler side... what it would be like to go through the first steps to toilet training with an active, distractible, stronger, more willfull baby... I can appreciate more what the toddler parents go through to teach it.

And we're more convinced that EC is the way to go and will be doing it from birth with our second child. It's waaaaay easier!

Emptying by herself!

Guess what? This weekend will be a year since we started with the elimination communication/infant potty training thing.

Guess what else? Today I was folding clean clothes on Julia's bed with Julia running around the floor playing naked before her bath.

I went to take a stack of my shirts to my closet and when I came back I found Julia walking from her room to the bathroom holding the red potty and it had pee in it.

!!!!!!

While I was gone in those few moments, she decided to take a pee, put it in the potty neatly, picked up the potty without spilling, and was in the middle of carefully walking to the green bathroom to try to pour the contents of the potty into the regular toilet like she's seen me do a zillion times. Imagine! Going to empty the potty by herself!

I have a feeling that as soon as Julia figures out how to cope with her clothign fastenings (buckles, snaps, buttons, etc.) I'm going to have a potty graduate.

I'm so excited! :)

15.5 mos Old

Not quite 15.5 mos.

Down to 2 cloth diapers in pack, and really not needed for her. More for ME and my peace of mind. Not sure when my confidence for panties only out and about town will be but we sometimes try it.

She is carrying the potty around the house, taking herself to potty at home and at my parents', and cueing very clearly about wanting to go if potty is not available.

Can't tell the difference between the urge to pee or poo, but knows they both go in the potty. She recognizes pee and poo as objects in the potty but calls them both "pee" and "poo." Don't knwo when she will call pee "pee" and poo "poo
correctly. Don't really care about that... I'm satisfied they are both going inthe potty. More like an observation.

Got confused about a fart this week. Ran around frantic convinced she had to poo, sat on the potty, let a big ol' fart rip, jumped up to look int he potty and with a perplexed look held her arms out in the "Where did it go?" shrug and turned to me for explanation. Pointed and said "Poo?" Very amusing to try to explain that there was no poo there because she didn't make one.

Tonight she took herself to potty in the blue potty with a potty bucket insert. She peed, got up to inspect results, clapped when found pee in bucket, then tried to take the bucket to empty into the bathroom toilet as she's seen me do. Had to follow her to make sure she wasn't going to spill pee around, but very pleased she's trying to pour it to the toilet herself. That's a new one.

Started hissing LOUDER today from the crib so I could actually hear her that time. Another new one.

She's figured out how to put panties back on, although she often gets both legs in the same hole. Still needs help pulling them down past her butt. Perhaps looser panties would help?

Has trouble realizing she needs to hike dress up to potty -- sometimes accidentally pees on back of dress because she sat on it.

So... more practice with panties and other clothing.

Chugging right along.... :)