What We've Been Up To

Fair Warning: This post is all about the exciting, glamorous, life of a stay-at-home Mommy and her 2 year old's achievement with potty training and all the wonderful verbiage that comes with it. While you may not find this as riveting as we do, we must still document it for posterity's sake so Addison will remember all the exciting details of her voyage into "Big-Girl-Hood". So proceed at your own risk!

Yep, we are still alive and kickin' here at the Hufford house. We've just been a bit preoccupied as of late. We've spent the last week or so hanging out in the bathroom. I know, exciting eh? Apparently this girl is VERY excited about it:



And frankly, as quickly as she's taken to the potty training process....it makes this Mommy VERY excited as well.

I've prepared for this day in the back of my mind for quite some time. I knew she was still a little young but figured we'd give it a go before baby brother comes along just to see how interested she is with it all. If it was a fail, we'd shelf it until baby brother got nicely settled into the family. After all, visions of me running to the potty w/one child while trying to carry a newborn were not leaving me with warm fuzzies.

I'll admit, I had reservations with actually beginning the potty training process. Most (okay all) were my own hesitations. For one, she is growing up! Sniff sniff! And that is a hard adjustment for a Mommy to make amongst all the others that seem to be flooding into our lives lately. For two, I was intimidated with the whole process. My first child, my first potty training experience, yadda yadda, etc. It's sooooo complicated and scary! I think that is what kept me dragging my feet in the beginning. I kept trying to make it this huge, official, process including some elaborate opening ceremony and commencement of events when I finally just realized that it wasn't rocket science and she was a smart girl and I'd catch on eventually. So, one random Friday morning a week ago we decided to call it "Potty Day #1!"

We jumped right in and talked about big girl panties most of the morning and then put them on her. It was a very exciting moment but all along I was mentally preparing myself for the messes that would ensue at least in the beginning. And ensue they did. Three pee pee accidents all within 5 minutes. I didn't last long after that. I decided she wasn't ready (okay I wasn't ready) and decided to diaper her up and quit. Then as I was strapping on the diaper I realized I really didn't give her much of a chance to try simply because I didn't want to clean up messes. So, off came the diaper, and off came the panties for that matter. We spent the next week bare-bumming it around the house and THAT has been the cure. I'm not saying we haven't had our fair share of accidents but luckily she really panics when she feels the urge come on and nothing is there to catch it. Which makes me think she thought the panties were just a pretty diaper alternative. And of course we've instituted the candy reward system. A skittle for a pee-pee and a starburst for a poopy. And of course, Mommy and Daddy reserve the right to dip into the treats as reward for their hard work as well. Which means we've had to replenish the stock quite frequently.

My little princess bare-bumming it around the house.

So, to update...things have been going great! We reserve pull-ups for naps and diapers for night time but during the day it's nothing but bickies! (Hufford-ese for "Po-po" which is Bell-ese for the chubby little behind - yes we have LOTS of languages in this house ;-) And don't get me wrong, I have NO complaints about watching her chubby little bum run around the house all day long. I even manage to get in a few squeezes here and there for payment for all my hard work! ;-)

So, here we are in our 2nd week and I think we'll keep trucking. She hasn't "mastered" it by any means but we've drastically cut down on diapers and wipes and pull-ups and messes so I'm going with it. I have a silent celebration each time she drops a poopy in the toilet since that is one less poopy I have to wipe off her bum. Woohoo! And she is surprisingly better about the poopys than the pee pee's. She hasn't had any accidents with those (except a few in the diaper-which could have been my fault b/c I was being lazy or preoccupied). It also doesn't hurt that you can literally set your watch by how often and when she poops during the day. I've always secretly LOVED that she's a "regular" type of girly. We've progressed from running to the potty by reading her signs to now actually hearing her say: "Pee pee in da potty? Pee pee in da potty?" Plus, she's learning to hold it more and go less. Not in an unhealthy way. In a "we don't have to go pee pee every five minutes and one tablespoon at a time way." I'm loving that too. The bathroom isn't the most exciting place to hang out ya know. Luckily she will sit forever drawing "circles" on her pad of paper or reading her books while we wait it out.

And now into week 2 we've come a long way. Even though she all the sudden seems scared of the potty, or at least hesitant to go sit on it, once she's on it and reading her book she refuses to get off. I've actually had to bribe her to LEAVE the bathroom so we can get other things done. And we've also graduated back to the Mickey & Yo Gabba Gabba panties. She has finally started realizing they don't hold squat. Of course I have yet to muster the courage to leave home w/only big girl panties on her little bum. I'm sure that will come in time but right now we'll take what we can get.

So, overall, I'd give Addison 5 stars out of 5 stars for acheiving such a huge milestone at such a young age (2 years and 3 months-but whose counting? ;-). She's such a smart girly and YET again she has proved this Mommy's predictions and hesitations wrong. One of these days I'll catch on to her amazing abilities and never ever doubt again.

Getting into messes (aka Mommy's make-up) while we have been sitting bored at home waiting for potty successes. It's amazing what a little boredom will create.

So, signing off from our current throne! Wish us luck in the remainder of our journey. I'm hoping she'll have this ALL figured out by the time baby brother comes along. I'm sure she'll be excited to tell him of her latest journey into Big-Girl-Hood. :D