Potty Training Gemma Jams!

It has begun...I have delved in to the world of potty training, hopefully for the last time! I just love looking at the big girls on my big girl. I remember for Micah the first time he started potty training, and then again for Reid and now Gemma...they just seem like such big kids in real undies vs a diaper! So far, she's done pretty good. We haven't had a ton of accidents, and pooping isn't coming very easily, but I'm not giving up yet. This is probably one of my least dreaded things in the early parenting years and I know I'm *almost* over this. While there are many things that make me sad thinking about my babies growing up, this is not one of them 😉.

Random July

Here is the rest of our July. We had a great time hanging out at the splash pad with Aunt Kari, and just being together with friends at various places. Gemma even sat on the potty for the first time and looked like such a big girl! I don't have high hopes that will result in anything but it was kinda crazy to see her on there. Life is flying by and we are trying to soak in as much as we can!

 

 

Random March

A fun tower building, lego building, free ice cream and chick fil a kinda month (with a little Reid scrapes and bruises mixed in!) We also had some random dogs end up in our back yard one morning which had me quite freaked out, until I realized it was our neighbors dogs and they got in through our broken fence! Up next month, a new fence :)

Big boy for real...

It's happened.  My baby is officially a big boy.  At least in the potty training department, that is :)  Tonight is Micah's first night going to bed in big boys versus a pull-up.  While he's stayed clean and dry at night for months now (it seems, anyways!) this it the first night I've officially been brave enough to keep him out of the pull-up.  A few months back I had done it at nap time only to have 3-4 accidents in a week's timeframe.  It made me gun shy about sleeping and big boys.  And while he's been pull-up free for his nap for a long time now, nighttime was another story.  Not because he would wake up wet...but just due to my desire to not change sheets in the middle of the night.

While I'm confident he's more than ready (and has been for awhile now!) I'm also holding my breath that he's dry come morning :)  Way to go, Micah.  I'm so proud of all the accomplishments you are making.  You are becoming such a big boy, right in front of my very eyes, and I couldn't be happier.  I love you, buddy!

Potty Success

Finally, finally, finally we are really making headway on the potty!  And by making headway, I mean specifically with regards to pooping :)  When we started potty training back in January, Micah picked up the pee part within 3 days.  And we've had very few accidents.  The pooping, on the other hand, has taken some time.  I think he had one instance where he got scared or it hurt a little while pushing early on, and he just shut down in that department.  I still put pull-ups on him for naps and night, so some days he would just wait for that time.  Other days, he would say he had to go, but then sit for 2 seconds.  It has been a trying couple of months.

My parents got a taste of it when we visited them in February while Christian was in Australia.  My mom even made up a song in order to try and encourage Micah and give him something to relate to.  It goes a little like this:  "Poo-poos on the potty is g-o-o-d.  But poo-poos in the pull-ups is b-a-d.  And poo-poos in the big boys is b-a-d.  But poo-poos on the potty is g-o-o-d." Micah knows it well, as we've sang it often to try and get this thing going to no avail.

Prior to us coming down, my mom had picked up a birthday card for me.  After seeing what I was going through, she discovered she couldn't hold out until July.  Take a look, and you'll see why:

 

I have literally been at my wits end trying to get the pooping thing to happen, and a month or so ago basically gave up.  Clearly he's not going to be in a diaper in kindergarten, so I just let it go.  He's not even 3 yet, and at least he's pee trained, right?  I had started a rewards chart for staying clean and dry at nap/bed times as well as a poop chart to try and help bring incentives for Micah with "mini-prizes' and "big prizes" at the very end.  It didn't really seem to matter, and we went 2 months with 0 stars on the poop chart, and only a handful of stamps on the clean and dry chart.  

Until 2 1/2 weeks ago.  Something changed and suddenly started clicking with Micah.  The first 2-3 poops he whimpered and essentially had a freak-out on the potty, with me encouraging him, door closed and finger under the door so he knew I was still there, every 2-4 seconds saying "You got this Micah."  "Let the poo-poos go to his home." "The poo-poos will be so happy in his home." "Don't get off the potty Micah!  Relax and let it come."  And on and on.  No joke.  For at least 5 minutes.

After those first 2-3 sessions though, we were done, and I am finally experiencing the freedom of having a potty trained child.  It's not 100% through naps/night time yet, but it's getting there.  He's getting almost too good at waking up in the middle of the night to go potty.  I have to remind myself on some mornings that I did want a potty trained boy, right? :)  Seeing my sleep being compromised again after Reid has been on track for 4-5 months is not awesome, but I am so proud of my big boy and what he's done.  He's now raking in mini-prizes, stars and stamps left and right. 

 

Almost at that "Big Prize!"

 

And not too far away here, either. 

Let's just hope he continues to pee and poop once the charts are gone, lol.

Up at the crack of dawn...

Argh!!  My boys are waking up more and more consistently at pre-6am hours.  I'll tell you, the last couple of days, coming off of a grueling marathon and sickness that has built up, I'm not making up much for the exhaustion I'm feeling.

In addition to the early wake up times, I will say that Micah has truly started to figure out this potty training thing.  He figured out the pee part within the first week back in January...the pooping and staying clean and dry and definitely taken time though.  Finally 3 1/2 months later, we are getting there.  I haven't changed a poopy diaper in over 2 weeks now, and he's staying clean and dry more and more throughout the night and nap time.  Over the course of the 3 1/2 months, we've had maybe 2-3 accidents during the day, and the other times only come with a pull-up or diaper on that were during nap time or night time.  With that being said, however, he's now waking up in the middle of the night - sometimes multiple times! - and still getting up uber early due to his need to go potty.  I have to remind myself, at times, that I did want this :)  I did want a little boy potty trained, right?

So - all that to say that this morning both Micah and Reid were up by 5:40am, and I decided that I was going out for a run.  It was a real feel of 60 degrees, so the boys wouldn't get too cold, and I needed to get my first post-marathon run in.  Christian and I both have a half marathon coming up in 2 1/2 weeks, so training is not quite done yet!  What a beautiful morning, and since we were out so early, we even made a stop at the park on the way home.

I'm pretty sure both boys were having just a bit of fun!  :)  Love their smiles!!

Big Boys

Micah has been doing great with his potty training.  He's completely out of diapers, and wearing pull-ups at nap and bed time, though most days I feel we could take those away too.  That is, of course, until he has a pooping episode in his pull-up after numerous attempts to go on the potty.  One day while getting him dressed, however, he insisted on putting his big boys over his pants.  While I tried to discourage him, I thought, what would it hurt?  So I let Mr. Independent have his way.  Silly little boy :)

 

And because he's been doing so awesome, he got a present for his success on the potty...a new set of fireman raincoat and rain boots.  So proud of my boy!  Now, if only the #2 part of training could come along a little bit easier for him...

All on his own!

Micah went poop!  It's amazing the things that this blog has become this month, but I guess potty training a kid kinda does that, huh.  :)  But Micah came to me, told me he had to go poop, and then proceeded to do it!  Huge progress and I know that, given time, he'll be using the potty like a pro.  And then we can finally say "bye-bye diapers".  What a momentous day that will be. 

Maybe 90% there?

It's been 2 weeks since I first started training Micah, and 9 days since I officially quit training him, lol.  Well, Micah decided he wasn't ready for me to quit, so he has continued going on the potty even though I put him back in diapers.  I would say over the 9 days that he's been doing this, he's clean and dry about 90% of the time.  So much so, that his wake up time has shifted about an hour (now at 6am vs. 7am) because he's aware he has to go potty and is calling or me...ugh!  I had to remind myself that I wanted this :).

Our biggest issue has become pooping, and I'm realizing that's not too uncommon.  He's gone 2 times so far on the potty, once in the bathtub (apparently his birthday gift for Christian, haha) and a couple of time in his diaper.  I think there's some fear to doing it on the potty, for whatever reason, so he's holding it in at times and therefore causing him to become constipated...so when he does try and go is starts to hurt him.  I'm sure he'll get over this sooner than later, but it makes me concerned about going back to his big boys until there's a little more regularity.  I did think of picking up some training pants because I think he's done with diapers at this point.

I'm so proud of how well he's done through this process and have to remind myself of that when he does happen to have an accident.  We will get there and pretty soon I'll be asking where's my little boy that needed my help a lot more than he does now?

Say it Ain't So

Could it be possible that I gave up too soon?

And what are the chances that Micah's 2 year molars came in this week?  The same week I decided to try and potty train.  That would explain the fever, the disrupted sleep, the lack of appetite, the dehydration, the hands in the mouth and the overall crankiness the second half of the week.  Seriously, the timing is just uncanny.

Lo and behold, after I gave up yesterday and put him in diapers, he wakes up this morning dry.  He then proceeds to tell Christian (as I was gone running already) that he needed to go potty.  Christian was fixing breakfast and told him just a minute, and he even had to wait a little longer.  And then he went.  For a long time.  Then before lunch he runs up to me and says the same thing, and he went again (all the while maintaining a dry diaper).  He slightly resisted before nap time (probably because it was my prompted versus his) but he did end up going, again.

After nap we were off to Monkey Joe's to play for a little bit and then out to eat at a fabulous Indian restaurant Christian has discovered.  When we got to the restaurant Micah comes up to me while I'm looking at the menu and tells me he has to go potty.  We head to the bathroom, and he went!  He also had very little wetness in the diaper that had been on him since he went down for his nap. 

All this play-by-play of the day to say, maybe he is ready?  Or at least certainly heading in the right direction fast.  And maybe he really was just dealing with 2 year molar pain, on top of trying to learn potty training and it threw everything off.  And maybe I did just give up too soon.  Whatever the case, I'm just taking his lead right now.  It seems to be the best of both worlds, if he still comes up to tell us when he has to go potty but does it wearing a diaper so as to avoid any accidents that could happen.

Ah, the joys of parenting that always leave you wondering where the next road in the journey will take you and what you'll think looking back on where you've been and where you're at.  It's a wonderful, exciting albeit frustrating ride that I wouldn't trade for anything.

I surrender, raise the white flag, give in, give up, throwing in the towel...

Whatever way you want to say it, I have officially, 5 days after beginning, decided to put the brakes on this potty training thing with Micah.  Don't know whether I'm giving up too early, but I realize I don't have the patience with it right now after 2 days in a row of complete meltdowns which caused a full bladder to explode...on our carpet!  And while those were our only accidents in 2 days, it's two days too many at this point. 

Yesterday, we went out for our first errand, and he stayed dry the entire 1 1/2 hours we were out (awesome, right?).  He also had the biggest, longest tantrum I've ever had out and about with him.  Thankfully we were in BuyBuyBaby so I think everyone was a little more understanding, lol.  To his credit, he had a fever the night before and was definitely on lack of sleep - which I have learned Micah does awful with.  Still, meltdown continued the entire drive home, getting him inside, and for 10 minutes at the bottom of the stairs while I went upstairs to get lunch going for both boys.

Sure enough, I came down to find him in a puddle (more or less) and I was just so frustrated because he had done so well out and about.  I even made him sit in it at lunch to help him understand he does not want to be wet, until about half-way through he said, "Mommy, I go to potty."  He woke up dry from his nap, but hardly went all day and I think it's because he was dehydrated.  I kept pushing liquids but he wouldn't drink.  He had yet to poop since the morning before and I didn't know what else to do.  BUT, I had said a week and going back and forth because he was seeming to start to grasp and we continued on the course.

Enter this morning.  A bit of a fight to go on the potty, but he did and did want to wear his "big boys."  He was in quite a mood though, and I am really trying to get him to work on being gentle with Reid and not taking toys away.  We had another meltdown begin and I placed him in his room to calm down.  Five minutes later I went in to find another puddle and I was so mad at this point because I know had the meltdown not begun he would have gone on the potty.  I put a diaper over his wet undies and went to get stuff to clean up, came back in and found him poopy.  In his undies which were under his diaper.  While I was actually happy he had pooped because it had been a long time for him, I just decided I'm done.  He definitely learned something this week, that I know...and he didn't want to put the diaper on, still wanted to wear "big boys", but I told him I think it's time for diapers again because he's just not ready yet.  I tried to stay calm, though I was super frustrated by what ensued (as he's been a pill the last two days, more or less). 

I said I'd give it the week, right?  I did that and I do think he did so well this week.  As I wrote in an earlier post, I just question whether he's physically able to hold it like he needs to and be able to be trained to be successful.  I'm just taking this week as a learning week and feel we will both be better prepared when we go to start again. 

Seeing that we've been cooped up in our house the whole week (aside from yesterday's 1 1/2 hour excursion) and the temps were in the high 40s/low 50s, I decided it was time to go out for a little run with the boys after Reid woke up from his nap.  Micah and I both needed to blow off a little steam, I think...and as long as Reid was bundled up, I'm sure a 3-4 mile run couldn't hurt him :) 

 

View from my run.  Not bad for being January 11th.

 

Who couldn't love this little face, seriously?  Actually reminds me a little of the below pic, which was Micah around 5 months.

 

 

Nice and warm for Momma to get some much needed exercise.  And it didn't hurt having a little chatterbox with me on my run to help pass the time :)

Writing this while the boys are sleeping, I have to say I'm feeling refreshed and relieved.  Glad to be closing the potty training door for a little bit and praying the time I decide to do it again goes over more successfully and pleased to have gotten a run in while pushing the boys outside in early January in Chicago.  Life is Good.