Potty Training Progress

Jaydra is ready to graduate to big girl panties! We've been doing a gradual switch from diapers to pullups to panties instead of the crash course jump straight to panties that some parents do. I thought about doing the crash course 3 day potty training plan, but this is working for us. She's telling me when she needs to go, and is able to use the big toilet with her seat on it all by herself. It's such a relief to be able to just take her to the bathroom and let her do her thing! When she's done she's so excited to ask me to look at her pee or poo, and I try not to laugh to much. It is so hard not to crack up when she says, "Do you want to see my pee pee mommy?" She really resisted pulling up her own pants and pullups, and I had to refuse to help her until she at least tried to do it herself. She used the potty at the Y kidzone (something she'd been resisting so yay) and the lady working there said she walked out of the bathroom with her pants down. She's still got some learning to do but she's getting there.

Alicia is a little over a year younger than Jaydra and is going through a phase where she's really resisting using the potty to the point that she won't even tell me that she's wet herself. I'm continuing to encourage her, and I'm not freaking out about this like I did when Jaydra went through the same thing. I also have a trick up my sleeve: I'm getting Elmo's Potty Time from Netflix. The nice thing about going through things like this with her is that I don't stress about it as much because I know we'll get through it and have more experience so I know what to do. Truth be told, not everything works the same way it did with Jaydra because their personalities are so different but at least I have a clue about what to try this time.

Combating Laziness

Well, it's been a while since I've written so I've got a lot to talk about, so I'll probably do a few different posts. The girls are doing pretty well, but I haven't been doing as many activities with them as I would like. Blame the heat of the summer, blame lack of funds in our budget, blame whatever I like but the main culprit lies within me: laziness. I have a ton of reasonable excuses, the neighbors pit bull is never in their yard and always in our front yard, the girls need their nap time, when we go out it disrupts the potty schedule. The reality is that I don't seem to have any motivation to do anything but  take care of the girls, exercise and do the cleaning and cooking. I'm even falling behind on the laundry all the time. I'd like to do more with the girls and just more in general but lately everything seems so hard. How to find more inspiration and motivation? I just want to get away on a vacation, or even have one day that someone else is responsible for the girls and I can just recharge. Keep dreaming Jessie!   

Fun with tents

We have a megaland play tent that includes three tents and a couple of mini tunnels that can be connected in a variety of different ways and came with a bunch of balls and a storage bag. This was only fourty dollars and the girls love to play with it. It's got a basketball hoop, soccer goal and a beanbag throw/ball toss. It's super easy to set up because the tents just spring open and twist flat when we're done with it. The only hard part about cleaning up is finding all the balls because they go everywhere. It's a great way for the girls to be active when we can't (or just don't want to) go to the park.
In these pics I set up one tent with their music stuff, which is so cool I'll probably write a blog about just that. The biggest tent got filled with stuffed animals for them to roll around in. I even got in there with them for a bit, and they laughed and crawled all over me. They also gave me their favorite stuffed animals to play with. It makes me smile just thinking about it. So worth squeezing into a little tent.

Activities With The Girls

I mentioned the dry erase crayons in an earlier blog and found another activity to do with them that the girls absolutely loved! After making sure that the curtains were out of the way we decorated the windows with the crayons. Maybe it was the novelty of drawing on something other than paper but both girls were enthralled with this and clean up was a snap. This would be even better if you had glass patio doors, which would make a much bigger canvas.

Potty Training

Jaydra's almost three, and she's finally starting to get the hang of using the potty. She was initially reluctant to try it, and she still needs a lot of encouragement to stop what she's doing and use it. I've started using a few different rewards because when I was using just one she'd get bored with it and start resisting again. I got her a book that came with a princess crown and stickers. We let her wear her princess potty crown when she's sitting on the potty and when she goes in the potty she gets another jewel sticker to stick on her crown. Also I got her some kandoo flushable wipes and she likes to open it herself and wipe, then throw it in the potty. This is a BIG DEAL because she loves to do things for herself.

I have to keep saying and doing things to motivate her because she says she wants to be a baby and wear a diaper. I've tried pointing out that if she uses the potty she's DOING IT HERSELF, but apparently I just don't get it. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there with a kid that struggles with this, so I thought I'd share some other things that have worked for her:

-Telling her that it makes her potty happy when she pees or poops in it. Also that it makes Mommy and Daddy happy. When she succeeds, I make a big deal about it and how happy and proud I am. Do I feel ridiculous? Yes. Is it worth it. Oh hell yes!

-Letting her play the zoodles app on my phone while she's trying to use the potty. It keeps the kids locked in the app so they can't make calls or anything, and it has a variety of age appropriate videos and games in it for free. You can also add any apps or games you want onto the menu. *note- I have her sitting on a little potty on the floor when she plays with my phone, so don't worry my phone won't be taking a toilet bath any time soon.*

-Stickers and tattoos when she uses the potty. She likes the crown, but switching it up with a temporary tattoo now and then helps to keep things interesting for her.

-www.pull-ups.com has info and helpful tips, apps, coloring sheets and all sorts of great stuff. You can even set up a phone call for them from Cinderella or Mater to remind them to use the potty.

-I got some reusable pullups that have plastic on the outside that help to contain some of the mess, but don't absorb everything away so she can be more aware of when she's peeing. Plus they are much cheaper than buying packages of disposable pullups.  

She's just about gotten the hang of it now, and only has accidents when she's sleeping. If she's doing something extra fun like playing outside or watercolors I still have to remind her to take potty breaks, but at least we're making progress.

**My younger daughter Alicia used the potty twice today and she's not even two yet. Woo hoo!** 

Do it Yourself Play Dough

Today we got out the play dough and some plastic cookie cutters and had a ton of fun. It kept both girls busy for over an hour! To keep the mess to a minimum I put an old shower curtain on the coffee table. The dough we used was over a month old and was still soft and pliable when I pulled it out of the fridge. The recipe I used is:
No Cook Play Dough
1/2 cup salt
2 cups flour
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 to 2 cups boiling water
Food coloring
All you have to do is mix everything but the food coloring together, then knead until smooth. Add food coloring and knead until thoroughly mixed in.
If you're making more than one color, try to make sure the colors will mix well, or you might wind up with a shade like what you see in the picture. This was originally neon pink, neon green and blue when I first made it.

Honesty is the Best Policy

After getting in trouble and getting a time out, we asked Jaydra if she was ready to be good and follow the rules. Her answer was a resounding no! After a little while, we asked her the same question, and she said, "No, not yet." She might not be perfect, but at least she's honest. 

The Parent Rap

Dry Erase Crayons

The other day I found a couple of really cool Leapfrog learning games in the dollar bin at Target. I got one for ABC's and one for colors and shapes. They have a spinner on the front, with a worksheet on the back, and since they're laminated they can be used over and over. We already had some washable dry erase markers, but that means that Alicia (1) couldn't use them because she's still in that stage where everything ends up in her mouth, not to mention all over her and everything around her. Jaydra (2) loves markers, just not the part about keeping track of the lids and putting them back on when she's done. Actually she likes to stick the lids on her fingers and pretend she has rainbow nails. Needless to say, markers dry up fast in our house.I saw an ad for these dry erase crayons and thought that there was no way they could wipe off as easily as the markers, but decided to try them anyway. Nothing ventured nothing gained, right?

I bought them for about $3.50 and we tried them out. They actually work pretty well! *As a side note, crayola is not sponsoring this although if they wanted to send me any samples I'd love to try them out.* They come with 8 crayons and a cleaning cloth, which works slightly better than my dry eraser. They also have a sharpener built into the box, which confused Jaydra. She couldn't understand why mommy wanted to make her crayons sharp. To wipe them off, I had to press down a little and they were slightly harder to erase than markers. Dry erase crayons made cleaning up the inevitable collateral damage on the table much easier than it is with normal crayons. Jaydra did a sneak attack on the curtains, and they will definitely mark fabric, but the box says they're washable so I'm really hoping that's true. I'll update about that when the curtains are dry.

*Update* Curtains are as good as new.