Say Adios to Diapers - Part 2

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As promised, I am back with a second potty training related post. In the first Say Adios to Diapers post, I touched on some potty training tips that I think helped get Veronica potty trained. This post will be all about what we plan to do differently when it comes to Adriana.

I’ve mentioned several times before that Adri is in cloth diapers. It’s sort of my practice run for when Juliana gets here. Even though she is in cloth diapers, we keep a pack of Pull-Ups around the house for several different reasons. Many parents prefer to use disposables such as Pull-Ups instead of cloth at night to avoid any leakage issues. They're much easier to travel in, and when rashes happen, its safe to use diaper cream in Pull-Ups.

When it comes to potty training this time around, I feel like we’ll be taking a more relaxed approach. V wasn’t even two yet when we started practicing going potty on the toilet. It took until she was three and a half before she was fully potty trained. I have no desire to deal with that again. Adri has shown some interest, but it hasn’t been consistent, so I’m not going to force it.

We still have the toddler-sized potty, which is housed in the girls’ bathroom. Anytime Adri does use the toilet, she receives a mini celebration. No candy rewards this time although we have added some fun incentives to the mix.

Through the Pull-Ups website, we’re able to include fun activities into the potty training routine. Even though V is potty trained, she gets a kick out of some of these such as FaceTime with Cinderella. If you need progress chart, there is a free printable one that allows you to include your child’s name and your own customizable accomplishments. I can’t forget about the Big Kid App, which allows your toddler to enjoy Pull-Ups fun on the go.  

If you’re currently in the potty training phase, I encourage you to visit the Pull-Ups website. Along with a variety of activities for your little one, they offer resources to help you as a parent with potty training. You can also click for a Pull-Ups coupon. Potty training can be a challenge, but with Pull-Ups helping along the way, the journey doesn’t seem so tough.

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Say Adios to Diapers - Part 1

This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with Pull-Ups® Training Pants and Latina Bloggers Connect.

As a parent, potty training has been one of those most frustrating experiences that I’ve had to deal with, by far. It took several attempts at potty training before it finally stuck with Veronica. Soon it will be Adri’s turn to start potty training. While I’m dreading having to go through the process again, I learned a lot the first time around that I’m hoping will assist this time.

For the first part of this Say Adios to Diapers series, I’ll be sharing some of the insight gathered from round one of potty training with V. In the second post, I’ll be talking about what we plan to do with Adri and what we’ll be doing differently from the first time.

Get the gear. When potty training Veronica, we started off by buying two things. She got a miniature potty that doubled as a stool and had a removable seat, which could be attached to the toilet, as well as “big girl pants,” aka Pull-Ups. The toddler-sized potty made it easy for her to go on her own and being able to use the seat to make the big toilet child friendly helped a bunch too.

Being in Pull-Ups versus diapers has been proven to deliver more potty training success. Not only did V feel less like a baby with wearing big girl pants, but they made it possible for her to remove them on her own when it came time to use the toilet. With Pull-Ups’ partnership with The First Years, parents can purchase a specialty potty seat for her toddler featuring a free sample pack of Pull-Ups® Training Pants.

Consistency. Continually repeating the same routine helps it to become a habit. For that reason, a trip to the potty was something that happened first thing every morning. I have to pee when I first wake up, so why wouldn’t she? I believe that getting Veronica accustomed to this first trip, made it easier for her to recognize what I felt like to have to go. And even if she didn’t use the potty for the rest of the day, this first trip was always something that happened.

Positive Reinforcement. Since the very beginning, we’ve made a big deal out of every potty occurrence that actually happened on the toilet. Celebrate the Every Flush is a ritual designed to celebrate successes in potty training. In our home, each flush was accompanied by lots of cheering and clapping. For a while, Veronica was rewarded for going on the potty with a treat, usually a piece of candy. After a while, she was getting too much candy, so we stopped that. Some parent’s choose the healthier alternative of stickers or reward charts.

The main thing that I learned with Veronica is that potty training takes some serious commitment. It didn't happen right away, and it actually took several separate attempts with breaks in between for it to catch on. For that reason, I'm not in a huge rush with Adri, yet. But I do have plans that I'll discuss next time.

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We Are Potty Trained!

Just last week I was typing up a post about how frustrating potty training was becoming. No matter what I tried, we weren't getting anywhere. We started when V was right around 20 months and she is now well over three years old. Lately we've been trying harder than usual to try to get her to go on her own, because most of the kids in her daycare are potty trained, and she's the only one in her gymnastics class that still wears a Pull-Up.

I don't know how or why, but last week, it suddenly just happened! Completely on her own, without me having to ask, she started going to the bathroom all on her own last week! Since we were gone over the weekend, it was probably a little harder for her to stay on track, but she did it. If we were away from the hotel, she'd ask an adult to take her to the restroom.

Today we start the exciting journey of big girl undies! I bought a package of Hello Kitty undies way back when I thought we were actually serious about potty training. After far too many accidents, I thought it would be best to go back to Pull-Ups for a little. Because of the awesome job that she's been doing, I'm pretty confident that I won't have to deal with any soaked clothing or puddles on the floor. We won't be heading out anywhere today so I won't have to worry about accidents in public.

I seriously can't tell you how ecstatic I am that this day is finally here! I was beginning to get worried about preschool and her having to be trained for that. Not only that, but diapers for two kids are freaking expensive!! I'm thinking I'll probably wait a little longer to start trying to potty train Adri. I just hope it'll be easier with V as an example for her.

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Challenges

These past few days have been interesting, to say the least. Having our family readjust to each other definitely has been and will be a challenge. I can't even count how many times I've wanted to stab a certain spouse of mine for stupid little things such as a two hour trip to the grocery store or taking the four of us twice as long as it normally took me to get us all out the door in the morning. I guess I was hoping that with another adult's help, all of our tasks would be accomplished much quicker. Ehh.. We'll get into a good routine eventually.

Yesterday we had a family reintegration brief as part of Hubs' reintegration training. They had bits and pieces of good information, but there wasn't much that I didn't already know. I was tweeting with another Army wife about how those briefs are always so pointless, but then I thought about it for a minute. The information that they give could actually be extremely beneficial to some families, however those are the same families that also resent the Army and refuse to come to anything like that anyway.

V has been relatively difficult to deal with lately as well. Her tantrums actually aren't too bad, but potty training has hit a brick wall. The ladies at her daycare say that she is fantastic when it comes to using the potty there, but at home we might as well not even have toilets. After sleeping with me for the entire year, she also refuses to sleep in her own bed at night. Leading up to his arrival, I continually reminded V that once dad was home, she was going to have to sleep in her own bed. She completely understood, however when it came down to actually having to happen, she refused. We've tried a gazillion ways to try to keep her in her bed. Last night I reversed the doorknob since she learned to unlock it and she kept breaking off the child safety lock. I probably sleep better with her kicking me in the chest that I did with her throwing herself into the door all night. 

Between staying up late for that horrid BCS Championship Bowl and toddler issues, we didn't get much rest last night, but I'm hoping to be at least slightly productive today. I've got to get our Christmas lights off of the exterior of the house. We're the only house that still has them up. That's not surprising though, considering just about everyone was a Grinch in this area and didn't even put up lights to begin with. Some cleaning up is also on the to-do list for today in order to get this place ready to rent when we PCS in a couple of months. I've also got to finalize preparations for Baby A's baptism. I just hate calling the churches, because the people that they have working/volunteering there are always so rude. I'm praying for better luck today!

Hope everyone has a great day today!

I Finally Met My Neighbor

We've been living in our house for close to two years. Our next door neighbors have been there about a year and a half. Yesterday was the first time that I've ever had an actual conversation with either of them. Yes. The first time I've ever spoken to my next door neighbor. You see, I'm not exactly the most outgoing person and according to her, neither is she.

What happened is that my monster of a dog climbed over the fence when he heard her mowing her lawn. I've seen him literally climb chain link fences, but we have a six foot wooden fence. I guess that's what happens when you combine an energetic lab with the muscle of a pitbull. She came to let me know that he had escaped, but was confused as to how he got out since the gate was locked shut. Crazy doggy!

My baby eater

We ended up chatting a bit. Her husband is also deployed, which I could tell by the fact that she has recently started mowing the lawn and taking out the trash herself. She has boys that are about the same age as our girls so hopefully we'll be getting together for play dates. I'd like to invite them over for dinner some time, but I hate cooking and I never know what to make anyway.

I'm hoping that the next time we PCS something will push me to go meet the neighbors within a couple of months at least.

Side note: I hate potty training!

Her Sh*t Don't Stink

There are a ton of things that I absolutely love about exclusively breastfeeding my littlest one. One of my favorites though, has to be the fact that I don't have to hold my breath when changing her diapers. I can't say that cleaning up her little butt smells like a walk in a rose garden, but it is nowhere near as foul as the stench of her older sister's diapers. Not yet anyway..

My sweet pea turned 5 months old yesterday which means that in just a couple of weeks, I'll be busting out the Baby Bullet and introducing her to solids (including sweet peas). Although I can't wait to start feeding her my very own homemade concoctions, I'm not sure I'm ready for the Diaper Genie to start pulling double duty. Until then, I'll continue to appreciate the scent of buttered popcorn coming from A's diapers, while working on potty training V.