Potty Training Boot Camp

Instead of listing all the many, many, many things we got for christmas, or posting about how I lasted until the late party hour of 9 on new years- I think i'll post about the thing that has taken up soooo much more of my time lately.

For the past couple of weeks Kenley has been showing tons of signs that she is ready for potty training; Telling me when she pees or poops, tries to sit on the little potty chair, tries to pull her pants down to pee in potty, watching me very interested when I pee (a little creepy, but i hear it helps?) Etc, Etc...
And somebody at every turn lending me advice (well meaning, albeit unsolicited) about how she's ready and "You know what you should do...." and "The sooner the better..."
So naturally I started feeling like a terrible mom for not potty training her sooner! How could I miss the signs!!
So I read up on the best techniques and asked friends, and decided to set the potty date!
I had the week after christmas off work so the timing was perfect!
I started by introducing the potty, having her sit on it clothed and get excited about it, reading books about the potty and watching movies about the potty.
A few days of this and we were all set with the regimen.

Day one-
We hunkered down in the kitchen so I could leave her bare bottomed to learn to notice when she pees.
This day sucked.
A lot.
I didn't even have time to shower.
But I had high hopes of progress!

Day two-
Still bare bottomed, we ventured hand in hand out of the kitchen to the bathroom.
She seemed to be understanding that Pee-pee doesn't go on the floor, although she couldn't quite hold it, but would just say "Uh ooooh" right before the warm yellow stream made its appearance.
I was able to trick her several times into going pee with the potty chair on the counter in the bathroom, the water running, while she played with the water.
We would scream, dance, clap, brush our teeth (she loves it) every time she pottied.
She's gonna get it!
The trip in the afternoon to see if she would keep her pants dry was a bust, but I still felt pretty good about it.

Day three-
About the same as day 2.
Only she would say "Pee pee!" So we'd rush to the potty she would plop down for 30 seconds, sing a song, then jump up clapping and shouting "Yaaayy!" as the dribble she just began pours all over the floor.
So in my mind, she's getting it right? (even though i'm slowly losing my mind, and have you noticed the word "Potty" has lost all meaning?)

Day four-
Better!
She even tells me when she needs to poop.
I have by this time learned the subtle body language telling me she's ready to potty.

Day five-
Same as day four, but i've realized there's no helping the little dribble preceding each pee.
Our trips come back with dry pants, HOORAY!
Uses the potty happily and tells me about 70% of the time when she needs to.
But I cave and buy pull-ups since she'll be going back to daycare and I don't want poor Tiffany to deal with pee all over her floors.

Day six-
Potty training... what potty training???
She refuses to use the potty or even sit on it clothed!!
She went back to daycare and (I guess) decided the big girl potty is not cool.
I don't blame Tiffany at all, there are just too many fun things to play with.

Since its counterproductive, we're not fighting Kenley on this. It frustrates me so much to have gotten so good, only to lose all momentum!
But we'll give it a bit, not push it, and try again when she starts asking to again.

Sigh... so close
By the way, I will be shampooing all the carpeted areas in our home.

Tis the season

I haven't been very good at updating the blog lately, so let me try to catch up a little bit.
We went to see Santa at the festival of trees. I was a little worried that Kenley wouldn't want anything to do with him so I warmed her up to the idea by showing her Santa on the computer and we practiced telling him that she wanted a Dolly.
She LOVED him!! She was all smiles and even giggled when she saw him.
When Santa asked her what she wanted she said "Dawee puhweez!" and when she was given a candy cane -"Dank-oo".
I was so proud!!
Then she proceeded to destroy said candy cane, as well as her white top. (Thank goodness for Shout)




She's growing up so fast! It's so much fun!
She's reaching her "Terrible twos" and is becoming more independent.
Sassy pants tells me "No!" and "Top!" (Stop) regularly.
She's a really good eater, i'm amazed at the amount of food this dainty girl can put away.
She rambles on and on with stories that must be amazing, i just cant understand her. (I think she's speaking Chinese, yep that must be it)
She's learned to open and start the dishwasher.
She'll throw her toys out of their basket only to sing the clean-up song and put them back. She bobs around singing "Mean-up, mean-up, mean-up".
Elmo is her most favorite thing. She will dance around excitedly when he's on TV and yell "EHMOO! EHMOO!"
I'm amazed when she recognizes that little monster character everywhere. Even in the most abstract displays of him!
She's in a "baby-loving" stage, she wants to hug and kiss all the babies she sees :) Which naturally prompts many a cheek smooch from me, she puts up with it.

I will be posting again soon about all the toys she will be spoiled with this christmas! We actually have to move around some furniture to make room for all of it!
Lucky girl :)

Giving Thanks

I feel like a blog post isn't complete without a picture, so here's Kenley playing in the snow for the first time this year:

She calls it "Nooowuh" in a reverent sort of way.

Isn't she beautiful?!

It's that time of year again when I really need to acknowledge all of my many blessings.

And there are a LOT to mention:

Discovering the cause of my migraines, and fixing it!

Boots

The fact that our cars have lasted as long as they have

Elmo

Discount supplements

Having so much family living so close

Heated seats

Part time work!

Awesome day care

Big hugs and kisses from Kenley

Time for my projects

Learning new and convenient technology

Temples all around

My sweet baby to share everything with

My man-child to make things more fun

Now i'm going to go eat my weight in mashed potatoes and then pass out in a turkey coma.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Pa-weees!

This Halloween, we took Kenley trick-or-treating for the first time. She still didn't quite understand what was going on, so we only took her to about 5 houses.

She insisted on holding onto a piece of candy in one hand, and one of our hands in the other.

We practiced ahead of time saying "Trick or treat" and "Thank you".

She was really good about saying "Pa-weees!" every time.

But once that door would open, she would freeze up, and say "Thank you" when the door was safely closed again.

Kenley thought each time she had to trade her candy for a new piece, so she would put the piece that was in her hand in the dish before picking a new one.

My dad came over to take Kenley around his office and he had white paint all over his bald head and face. Kenley heard her "Buhpa" and got excited, but once she saw him she refused to leave the safety of my legs.

She was totally fearless with all the scary stuff going on and would only look a little confused.

I think we had more fun showing off our cute baby rainbow bear than it was for Kenley.

She was the cutest plush-cheeked baby girl i've ever seen!