Potty Training Update

I guess it's about time I give an update on how Meredith is doing with her potty training.  This will also help serve as a reminder for me when I train Luke in the future :)  I started the process back in July (refer to my prior post here) and I think things are really sinking in now.  It's been a long few months!  I tried to do a one-day method and it was a total failure.  People have told me that when they are ready to be potty trained, you will know.  Boy, were they right!  After several months of keeping her in a diaper, yet still taking her to the potty all throughout the day, I was totally exhausted!  I knew I had to keep her in panties and deal with some accidents in order for her to really understand, but I was still reluctant.  I didn't want to deal with the mess!  She seemed to do okay with poops on the potty, but wasn't consistent at all with pees and would tell me right after she went (or sometimes we would just discover the mess).  I finally went out and bought some training pants, which was essentially plastic panties that you put over her panties that is supposed to contain the mess.  Well, it definitely helped but certainly didn't contain the mess.  I lost my temper so much with Meredith with all the accidents she had and have so many regrets with how I acted towards her during this time.  I am a work in progress with my patience, that's for sure!  Ironically, once Chad and I started praying about it, the better she did.

About two weeks ago was when things really clicked for Meredith.  Chad was in the bathroom downstairs and Meredith apparently needed to get in and potty.  She didn't make it in time and there was a small mess right outside the bathroom door.  She felt really bad, almost in tears, about it.  This was when we think it clicked - she never used to get that upset about having an accident before (she would tell us she was sorry, but it wasn't very heartfelt) and never would be close to the bathroom door when it happened.  It's almost as if she was telling us, "I was trying to get to the bathroom and I'm so sorry that I had an accident."  From that moment on, she has been doing great!  We still have accidents here and there, but nothing like before.  I still need to remind her to go potty, but she does often initiate it.  Right around this time, she also started staying dry for her naps and at nighttime.  I would say that 5 out of 7 nights during the week she is completely dry after 12-13 hours.  Amazing!  Ironically, we just got Luke sleeping through the night and then Meredith calls out to us at all hours of the night (anywhere from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.) telling us she has to potty.  We are still trying to figure out how to handle that - do we teach her to go in the middle of the night with little to no lighting and getting up and down off a tall bed herself or just have her go in her diaper?  She does pretty well with the logistics (getting up on the potty herself, wiping, etc.), but still struggles with getting certain pants on and off.  One day, both kids will sleep through the night at the same time :)

One thing that helped us was getting rid of her little potty chair.  I bought a toilet training seat and just have her step up to it.  It's less messy and I think it empowers her too.  She wants to be just like mommy and daddy.

I really have never figured out a good reward system.  For a while, I was using her library books as a reward.  If she had a good day, she could read her books.  If she had an accident, they were taken away for the day.  What seemed to help was when I made up a potty chart that gave her a reward after "x" number of potties.  After 7 successful pees on the potty, she would get a reward.  These rewards consisted of Dollar Tree items such as Winnie the Pooh matching cards, Sesame Street books, coloring books, etc.  It was a real hit!  I would take away one sticker for every accident she had.  For poops in the potty, I would give her a little piece of chocolate (I bought a bag of chocolates that you put in chocolate chip cookies).  This method seemed to work pretty good.  I found that as she got better, she was getting rewards every few days.  I wanted to stretch out the rewards, so I eventually only gave her stickers when she told me she had to go and she went in and finished the process from start to finish with little to no help from me.  As you can see, she eventually got stickers for this and I let her put them wherever she wanted to on the chart.  Because of this, she never asks for rewards anymore, so I simply give her a sticker when she potties and she either puts it on her shirt or on the chart.  I still give her chocolate for poops, but eventually need to phase this out too or else she will have a mouth full of cavities at her first dentist visit next year.

All of the stickers she can choose from!

I am just now getting to the point of letting her go out in public in panties.  This past Sunday she asked if she could go to church in panties and we said yes.  She stayed dry!  I'm not sure when we will be brave enough to let her go all night without a diaper.  We still have a ways to go on this whole process, but I feel like the worst is behind us (for now!).

Haircut

So, this is what 4 inches looks like.  I keep thinking I want to get an entirely new hairstyle, maybe shorter with bangs, but I always go back to the same ole thing....just getting a few inches cut off and no bangs.  Maybe one day I'll be more adventurous :)

Since Luke's been here, the chances of me straightening my hair are slim to none.  Maybe once a month if I'm lucky.  Since it's naturally wavy, I usually just gel or mousse it and I'm good to go.  I just can't find the time to blow dry it and then straighten it, especially with our hectic mornings.  So, I was really surprised when I straightened it yesterday and saw how long it really was!

Before

After

Halloween Time

We had a great Halloween with both kiddos!  Luke reminded us of how Meredith was that first year - very unaware of what was going on.  I took the kids to the library in the morning, then we went to the mall and around our neighborhood later that evening.  By far, the most fun was walking around the neighborhood.  Thankfully, the rain held off just long enough for us to hit most houses on our street.  It was so fun to see Meredith knock on the door and say trick or treat.  She, of course, wanted to grab lots of candy when the neighbors just handed her the bucket and let her choose.  Our next door neighbor was so sweet and in addition to candy, gave Meredith a puzzle and Luke a football.  So kind!

I planned to have them go as Pebbles and Bam-Bam, but I never got the costumes made and it probably would have been too chilly in Illinois to make it work.  Here are some pictures of our little owl and tigger:

You can even see Tigger's tail in this picture :)

Luke was finished at this point.

A little blurry, but this was taken at the mall.  Luke was so tired!

Trip to the Apple Orchard

Late last month we planned to take a "mini vacation" to see my brother in Carbondale.  We strive to take a vacation (however big or small) each year with the kids.  Last year we went to Wisconsin and Minnesota, but we wanted to do something on a much smaller scale this time.  It's a good way to also let us unwind and make sure Chad takes vacation from work, since it's so hard to get in the Monday through Friday routine and never feel like you can miss a meeting.  Our plans were to go to Flora for the Halloween parade/Fall festival and then head to Carbondale and spend time with my brother while also allowing the kids to "swim" at a hotel.  Well, after two really rough nights of sleep for Luke in Flora, we decided that all four of us trying to sleep in a hotel room may just make us crazy....okay, may make mommy crazy!

So, instead we stopped off at Curtis Orchard in Champaign on the way back home and had a blast!  I'm really happy we didn't end up in Carbondale because we may have missed out on this impromptu experience.

Meredith entertaining herself on the drive down to Flora.

Chad's handiwork at getting a picture of Luke while we're driving (he is directly behind Chad in the passenger seat, rear facing).

The kids with Great-Grandma Reed.  I found it creepy that I don't know who's hands are on Meredith in this picture!

Hanging out with Great-Grandma Perry.

Luke and Grandma Perry at the parade.

Meredith with Great-Aunt Carolyn and Casey.  She LOVED that dog!

Luke getting a sink bath.

Our little piggy.

Meredith looked at this picture and said, "Mom's a cow; I'm a pig".  Gee, thanks!

We weren't sure how she would do riding a pony, since she tends to scare pretty easy, but she loved it!

My big girl!

This chair is just the right size for Chad :)

We decided to splurge (I would never spend that much for apples) and pick our own apples to take home.  To say Meredith was crazy excited would be an understatement.

Showing off her apple.

Good thing Daddy is tall!

She was fearless walking over the apples on the ground.

Now we have apples for homemade apple sauce and apple pie!

Luke was indifferent to the experience! :)