I am embarressed to say...

I think any mom can find fault when someone else watches their babies. I know I feel this way, especially when my husband takes charge. Please don't get me wrong, he does an amazing job, but sometimes I would do things differently. A perfect example is when I looked out the window the other day. My husband and my daughter had been in the pool swimming when suddenly I noticed them off in the corner of the property by a tree. As I watched in disbelief, my daughter with her bathing suit off, squatting and peeing in the bushes. If I had not been feeding one of the twins I would have ran outside and stopped the madness. When they both returned inside, I of course, had some choice words for my husband. He explained that she wouldn't have made it if they had come inside and did I really want them running in, soaking wet and making a mess? I knew I would not win this battle and my husband being a man would not see my side. So now, I am embarrassed to say, that skill set he taught her actually came in handy when we were going for a long walk and my daughter declared that she had to go. Alone with the twins in the stroller, no spare clothes and not a potty insight, I spotted a large shady tree. As I looked around to see if anyone was looking, fortunately the coast was clear, she was able to not have an accident. Did I ever think that I would be in that situation? Absolutely not. But I guess, as the saying goes, when you have to go, you have to go!

She's gonna blow!

Once again, my life has become a world of poop & pee. If I am not changing one of my sons diapers or getting peed on by them, I am running after my daughter to make sure she has used the potty. My daughter & I have come a long way. She has finally gotten over her strip teases, where she totally disrobes, with a diaper full of poo, smeared all over every inch of her bed, walls and herself. Gone is the duct taped diapers secured on her with the footed pajamas placed on backwards and the feet cut off. We have evolved to nighttime pull ups and no tape. The unfortunate side is, that we still have "poopy issues". The main issue is, that she typically poops while she is sleeping within the first hour of being in bed. So as each day passes with out a poop, the bedtime ritual becomes more of a fear. Is this it the night she is going to blow! My husband & I both fear the "big one" and unfortunaltely tonight was the night. After my husband & I both fed, burped & changed the boys we were both anxiously awaiting an early evening of sleep, but as we heard the voice of my daughter yelling from her room, the fanatasy of sleep quickly diminished. So it was back to changing and bathing her and washing the crib sheets. As we worked together we realized that it was almost time to feed the twins again. So yes, my life is all about poop & pee...it should end in a few years, right?!?

Yellow And Blue Make Green!

I always try to do fun and imaginative things when trying to teach my daughter new things. Lately we have been working on how you can mix colors to create another color. She loves to paint and we have been using watercolors to work on this concept. So, today while we were out, she had to use the potty. To her delight the water was blue. As she was going potty she looked down and said "look mommy, yellow and blue make green". I guess she's got it!

How does she do it?

I just can’t figure it out, but somehow my daughter has figured out how to unzip the pajamas that I have put on her. I know this may not seem like anything extraordinary, but you have to recognize that, the pajamas have the feet cut off, and are place on her backwards. Why do I do this…well, you can read an earlier blog, but basically she likes to strip off her clothes, take off her poopy diaper and then toss it around the room as well as paint the wall with the filth. She is potty trained now, but she has the tendency to poop in her sleep. So the potty training really doesn’t help. So now I just don’t know what to do. The pajamas on backwards, with her diaper taped on was working, up until today. So now what? As I hover outside her door, smelling it to see if she’s gone and my eyes are glued to the video monitor …the fear is back! At this point I just don’t know what to do. Any suggestions?

Potty Training made easy?

Is it possible to make potty training easy? I am not sure. I think I just got lucky. Several months ago, I started introducing the "potty” to my daughter. At first she thought it was a great new toy. She’d dance around the house with her pink Baby Bjorn Potty displayed proudly on her head. After that I figured she wasn’t quite ready and to be honest neither was I. Of course, I didn’t want her using the potty and then placing it on her head, so we took a break. Several weeks went by after the “potty hat” experience; I decided to introduce her to the video “Potty Power”. I had heard great things about the video, and had high hopes that after watching the video, she’d show a little more of an interest in sitting on the potty rather then wearing the potty. Well, I can see how the video would be a great learning tool, but for my daughter, it became a great dance video. She loved the songs and wanted to watch the video and dance to the music. So, again we went on to take another break. Unlike many moms, I still was not too concerned. My life is stressful enough that I figured, why get stressed over something I knew she’d get the hang of eventually. So a few more weeks went by when I came across a book called “Toilet Training in Less Than a Day” for sale on amazon.com, used for $1.50. For $1.50 how could I go wrong? Well, straight off, I could tell that the book, originally published in 1974, was a little off from what we do in the year 2009. I did find the premise of teaching a doll a good idea. So the next day, I rummaged through my daughter’s toy box and found her doll that could feed & wet, and what do you know it worked! We sat the doll on the potty, gave the doll her bottle and watched her go. So after 5 or 6 times, my daughter looked at me and said “my turn”. She sat down, took a swig out of her juice cup and looked down but couldn’t quite figure out it why the pee pee didn’t come out immediately. It didn’t stop her though, she sat & sat, and drank & drank and all of a sudden it happened. She was so proud of herself and believe it or not, that was it. I am sure the videos, and having her be my "toilet paper helper" was a big part of it as well, but I have to believe it was just timing. We are about 3 weeks into it now, with only one accident. My husband and I still look at each other with delight each time she goes. So, I am glad that I didn’t stress or fall into the pressure of what the other kids her age were doing. I am glad that I just let her be…so far, so good!

I think she's got it!

I think my daughter may have turned the corner onto bigger and brighter things! At least in my world. No wet diapers at all today. Each time on the potty. Even better yet, she called me from her crib a few minutes ago to ask to use the potty. She hoped out of the crib, stripped down and planted herself down onto the little potty and out came a poop!!!! I know it is strange but it is what I've been dreaming about...the day she could poop on the potty. Much less of a mess until I stared at the perfectly swirled brown pile on the bottom of the tiny potty. That was a little icky...thank goodness for Clorox wipes!!! Could this mean the end of the tape...dare I dream?