Arwen potty training day 1

Potty Time Day 1
Arwen has been talking about her poop for quite some time now, so back in December I decided to buy her a Royal Potty. As soon as I sat her on it she cried. Santa was on his way, so we decided to give her a break with the potty and wait until after the new year to introduce it to her. For a few weeks I asked her about her potty, she'd get real excited and run over to it, put one foot in the bowl and stand in it. This isn't going to be easy, is it?

Time for another try. I start by telling her when I am going to the potty. I sang songs, I did the potty dance and get her attention enough to come into the bathroom with me when I went. Once she was in the bathroom, it became a different story. Suddenly, the cat food or the tower of toilet paper was more exciting than watching Mommy pee.

So I decided I would wake up bright and early today, get showered before she woke up and the moment I heard her awake, I would begin Operation Potty. I bought a training seat to go over the toilet in her room since the Royal Potty is only good for standing. Promptly at 6am, my alarm clock went off and then again at 6:07am...like clockwork. And like a woman that hasn't depended on an alarm clock in almost 2 years, I rolled over again telling myself five more minutes never hurt anyone. Somewhere around 6:30am, I heard Arwen playing. I had two options. Get up, shower and just let her pee in her diaper, or get her up, and sit her on the potty with both of us only half awake. I opted to wait until I had at least one cup of coffee and she was a bit happier.

Somewhere around 9am, I was feeling a bit awake and had to pee a bit myself, so we came up stairs and talked about the potty. I asked her if she had to pee in the potty. And she emphatically said "YES!"

Well, this is going to be easier than I thought. So I brought her favorite potty book into the bathroom, took her sleeper and diaper off and sat her on the potty. She didn't try to put her foot in it and stand up, but she did want "Down-da" a few times before she got really comfortable. I read "The New Potty" to her about five times and then asked if she needed to pee in the potty. Again a very
enthusiastic "Yes!"

Now she was reading the book and I was telling a story about a little girl names Arwen that relaxed, read a book and then peed on the potty. A couple of minutes later, she was ready to get down. When I asked if she needed to pee on the potty, she said "no"

I'm not going to push it and at this point I was hoping for a bit more coffee. Note to self, bring more than one book into the bathroom with you next time.

So she goes down for a nap. And when she wakes up, I rush into her room, thinking I will strip her down, put her on the potty and she will pee!
As soon as I picked her up, I felt the warmth spreading across her diaper. Too late. Off to lunch.

In the afternoon, I reintroduced her to the Royal Potty. Every time she stepped in it and stood there like king of the throne, I picked her up and played a game called let's sit on the potty. I kept her naked for about an hour and decided that it might be best to go back upstairs where the potty is on the toilet. She can't climb that and seems to enjoy sitting on it.

Upstairs, she sat on the potty, we read a book, played with a duck and she told me YES a few times when I asked if she needed to pee and then she wanted her milk. Immediately thoughts of liquid producing pee ran through my head. "Let's go get your milk," I said; and off we went. I was going to give her about ten minutes of holding her milk cup, drinking it and playing before I asked the question again. A few more sips and the question would be flying out of my mouth.

That's when Arwen said "Pee pee potty!" and peed on my bedroom floor!

We got dressed and went on a few errands. There will be a day two!

ABCs

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Arwen now knows the entire alphabet! She started learning in back in August and now I am so proud to say she knows the whole thing. It's become a game now to draw letters on the magna doodle and have her say what letter it is. I have to say Dubba (W) is my favorite letter to hear her repeat.

It's amazing every day there is something brand new.
Proud mom signing off...

A Day in the Life...

of a stay at home mom...
My day.
Goals: 3 mile walk in the morning
3:15pm doctor's appointment in Thornton (leave at 2pm to arrive
early enough to feed Arwen before appointment)
We get out of bed at 9am after about 4 hours of sleep total between midnight
and 9am.
Feed Arwen - that takes about 30 minutes. Get dressed in walking clothes &
change her from a sleeper to a onesie.
We leave the house at 9:50am for our walk....she will be hungry again at
11am.
Return from walk at 10:45am.
She is happily sitting in her carseat attached to her stroller, so I leave
her there and make breakfast for myself - a rare occasion.
While I make breakfast, she begins the pooping session. I am
happy....singing a little song about her pooping and Mommy eating breakfast.
When I get the eggs and toast on a plate, she begins to cry. Ok, I can
eat one handed. So I pile my food, milk, and vitamins on the table in the
living room and prepare ti get her ready to eat too.
Here we go. It's now 11am (we have to leave the house in 3 hours). I
pull her out of the carseat to find her covered in POOP! Yep! Poop. And
let me tell you, it's not pretty. It's all over her onsie, on her legs, on
her hands, her arms..and you guessed it, in a little puddle in the bottom of
her carseat. And she is screaming.
So Super Mommy kicks into action. I get her cleaned up, a clean diaper,
attach her to the boob to eat and I begin to eat my now cold eggs and toast.
11:15am. I must now take apart her carseat and clean it up because we
will need it in just under 3 hours to drive to Thornton. So it begins, but
I don't know how to get the seatbelt out, so I have to call Jeff (who is in
Atlanta) and ask him. In ten minutes, I have the fabric in the washing
machine and I am rinsing out the shell in the sink. Arwen is happy in her
bouncy seat.
Perfect time for a shower....maybe she will sleep. So we take her bouncy
chair upstairs, rock her to sleep, hop into shower. Before I get out of the
shower, she is crying.
Get out of shower, soothe baby, throw on clothes, dab on a bit of
make-up so I don't look like the walking dead, and Arwen is crying again.
Run downstairs to throw carseat fabric in dryer. Back upstairs.... Turn on
hairdryer (remember this...hairdryers, vacuums, and fans create white noise
that will quiet a baby in seconds) Dry hair half way before she begins
crying again...(no amount of white noise will quiet a hungry baby.) It's
now 12:45pm and it's time for her lunch. Feed her....rushing through it.
We now have an hour to dry the carseat fabric, the seatbelts, and the shell,
put it all back together (how do you do that - note to self, may have to
call Jeff again), give her a bath...because baby wipes don't really
hygienically clean up poop, dress her, gather items for diaper bag, hit the
road.
1pm....She's eaten, but maybe not enough to make her happy for very long.
Take the bouncy seat back downstairs, put her in it and try to reassemble
the carseat. Wait...the seatbelts are still wet. Back upstairs to get
hairdryer. Arwen is crying. Pick her up, turn on hairdryer, and dry
seatbelts. Pull fabric out of dryer. Reassemble. Not too difficult, but
she is now screaming...so loudly, I am quite surprised that social services
didn't knock on my door.
Put screaming Arwen in carseat to see if it's all correct. Nope...one
belt is backwards. Try again. Hummm....how did I do the same thing twice?
Oh well, we have to move.
Bath time. Get baby bath tub from downstairs bathroom. oops, last time
I was upstairs, I remembered to get her clothes but forgot the towel and
washcloth. Go get those things. (Trip one up the stairs) Oops, where's
her body wash? Oh, yeah...in my bathroom. Trip two up the stairs. Wash
baby. This she likes...until it's time to get out....buuurrr. It's cold.
So she cries. All through drying her off, diapering and dressing.
hummmm....this new outfit is still a bit too big. Trip three back up
stairs. Get duck dress. Dress screaming baby. oops, forgot duck
socks....what trip is this again...up those stairs...with Arwen in my arms?
I will lose this extra weight in no time.
So she is too upset to leave. At 1:50pm, I sit down with a clean baby,
a clean carseat and rock her to sleep. At 2pm, she is sound asleep in her
carseat ready to go. Now I need, watch, shoes, and a diaper bag ready to
go. At 2:15pm, we are out the door.
A little late, but we did it. We pull into the doctor's parking lot at
3pm and I feed her. But she wants to play and doesn't eat very long. We
have to go inside, so change her diaper, back in the carseat, refill diaper
bag, and inside we go.
10 minute appointment....doc says I look exhausted. No kidding. He
clears me for normal activity. (If he only knew how much activity I have
been getting....should I have not made 20 trips up and down the stairs in
one morning with a 10 pound baby in my arms.) And get this he releases my
restrictions on sex....like I want to do that again. If I get an
hour.....or even 20 minutes...I am napping. Note to self, tell Jeff I need
another 6 weeks....doc's orders.
All of that worry to get to a 3:15 appointment on time...and at 3:35 we
are out the door.
On our way to Kim's house to see Kim and Kendall. And to feed since Arwen
didn't eat enough and was crying in doc's office. Drive 10 minutes. Get
there and Arwen wants to sleep for an hour!!!
now????? not when I needed her to sleep, not when she was screaming
while I was trying to get her carseat back together....not when we can sleep
at the same time. No, she wants to sleep when we are at a friends house an
hour away from home.
So, an hour later, se eats a little bit...and sleeps again. Kim holds
her while I take her carseat apart again and finally fix the belt that I
backwards. And she sleeps again. Just before 6pm, we drive home. She
eats....and I think she'll go to sleep since I haven't eaten since
breakfast, but she wants to be held...and she wants to cry.
So I nuke the chili I slow cooked all day Monday and eat standing at the
counter with her in one arm and the hairdryer on to soothe her.
Now it's almost 3am...I should be sleeping, but she just ate and needs to
be rocked back to sleep....I am waiting for her swing to do that.
Oh....and the chili, by the way. It was very good - I make good chili.
But after cooking it for 8 hours yesterday, I realized last night that I
didn't put any spices in it. After I ate my first bowl, I was on the phone
with Jeff and I told him it was good, but not as spicy as usual. But I was
happy about that because I didn't want anything too spicy that might upset
Arwen's tummy. While on the phone, I open the pantry to see all of my
spices, chili powder, etc...sitting right in from of me, unopened!
So basically, my chili was meat, beans, rotel and spicy V8.
Don't let anyone tell you being a mother is easy.
I hope to see you soon, but I want to be sane when I do. Tomorrow is a
break day. I plan on taking a walk and nothing else. Thursday is zoo day.
So maybe next week.

Stephanie