Dress For Success

I didn't know the term "Dress for Success" applied to toddlers until today.

Ada's in her toddler bed now and didn't want to go down for a nap. I was late putting her down so part of that is my fault. After a bit of a struggle, I forced her to lay down while I changed her diaper. Then I just shut the door and let her cry it out until she was ready to nap. It didn't take long since she missed a nap yesterday and was up late this weekend.

Three hours later, she woke up and called for me to come get her. I delayed so I could finish what I was working on and went in about five minutes after her initial cry when she started knocking on the door to be released. As I opened the door, she ran away as she always does. Looking after her, I noticed her pillows and diapers and a blanket strewn across the floor with the diaper drawer hanging wide open. At first I thought she had moved her nap to the floor of her room and made a fort. I picked up the diapers, put them away and as I was shuffling around on my knees, I noticed my pants were suddenly wet. Hmmm... that's odd. Then I started to really look around and noticed a diaper on the floor that I had missed. It was wet to the touch. Then I looked at Ada and she wasn't wearing a diaper. That's funny, she had one on at the beginning of her nap.

As far as I can tell, she stood up after her nap, thew the pillows on the floor, took off her diaper, peed on the floor, and then danced around until I came to get her. Completely my fault for delaying her release, and even more so for not putting pants on her after I changed her for her nap. Turns out, that layer of pants can be a major delay tactic for children who want to remove their diaper. Pants can also cause accidents during potty training due to that same delay so be sure to dress for success.

Moral of the story: Always put your child to bed with pants on so they can't easily unhook their diapers and pee all over their rooms -- unless that's what you're going for.

The Path to Potty Training

We are one step closer. Ada can now say "Poop" and "Pee". She can't tell us when she needs to do either, but that's something we are working toward. She also can't tell me when she has a poopy diaper, which would have been REALLY helpful this week when I made her walk home from Alison's house after work. She normally enjoys the walk as it tends to be uneventful. This time she was screaming her head off and wanting to be carried. I'm not carrying her (or at least trying my best not to) at this point since she's 35 lbs and I'm 17 weeks pregnant--not a good combination.

What I thought was her whining in order to be carried, later turned out to be her screaming at me because her poopy diaper was causing a rash on her leg due to it's acidic content. Oops! Bad mom points for me. At least now I'll know for next time.

On a positive note, she does like to sit on the potty. She also likes to play a game where she sits down on the potty, then stands up, then sits down, then stands up, all the while laughing. I take that as a good sign since she seems to like the potty. Now if only we could get her to connect the idea that the poop and pee go into the potty, we'd be all set. Wish us luck with that.

Moral of the story: If your kid is screaming at you, it's a good idea to check their diaper before assuming the are just being needy.

Potty Time, Excellent!

Mmmmm.... maybe not quite yet. I've been trying to get Ada interested in the potty and the other day I got her to pee a whole 6 drops of urine into the potty. I celebrated by singing and danceing and clapping and congratulating her like we just won the potty lotto. For a moment I was so excited thinking, "Yeah. We made it. She's ready! No more diapers." Then reality stepped in.

No she's not. Not even close to ready. Keep dreaming momma.

As it turns out, she needs to care that she has a poopy diaper and want it changed. Ada could sit in that mushy diaper for hours and not be bothered.

It would help if she could say "Poop" or "Pee" so that she can communicate that she needs to go. I can't get her to even say her name yet so those might take a bit longer.

On the upside, I can get her to sit naked on the potty and read books. At least there is that. I'll keep hoping that she's an early trainer... but I'm not holding my breath or selling my stock in diapers just yet.

Moral of the story: Potty training must be 100% on their terms. Keep suggesting it as an option and hopefully, someday, eventually, it will stick.