No, my almost 2.5 year old is not potty trained yet but we're finally having some success. I was hoping that since she has always been a relatively easy child (not overly fussy as a baby, good eater and sleeper, easy to wean, no problems transitioning to a big girl bed, etc) that this would also be a piece of cake. I should have realized that that's not how these things work. We purchased a potty seat at 18 months and had success pretty quickly. She was going occasionally by 21 months and showing all the signs of "readiness" that I had read about, so I decided to give it a go and we tried taking away the diapers for a day. Big mistake. I did everything "right" - made no big deal of accidents, rewarded success, etc but by the end of the day, she wouldn't go near the potty again. For 3 months. Seriously. I didn't believe those who said trying to early was a bad idea but boy was it a bad idea. I was bummed but decided that obviously, even if she is showing signs, she wasn't ready. So we left it alone and she started to come around to the idea again. We tried once or twice throughout the summer with no real luck and then about a month ago, we decided to give up the diapers again for a day. My thought was that she speaks in complete sentences, she knows what's going on, certainly I could just explain it to her, tell her what she gets from the deal (a piece of candy and a sticker) and she would jump at the chance. Ha! Fat chance. Let me just say that I don't think I could hold it for 5 hours so I find her persistence admirable but it got us no closer to potty training. So I thought "fine, I'm done until something drastic changes." Well that happened last week and although I won't say it was a drastic change, it was her choice and maybe that is what has made the difference. She suddenly just started saying "Mommy I have to go pee-pee on the potty." Shocking at first, but what was even more shocking was that she would actually go when she said this. Now, for the past 3 days, she has asked to sit on the potty 3-5 times a day. Woohoo! I don't push, I don't ask (because if I do she just says "no I'm fine"), I just wait until she says she has to go. She still has dirty diapers and she also still has a wet diaper or two during the day so she's not telling me every single time but this is such leaps and bounds from what it has been that I am fine with whatever pace we need to go.
I don't want to jinx myself, but I have to admit that I'm so excited at the thought of having her out of diapers before this next little one is born!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
The Great Pumpkin Patch
Rob had the day off on Columbus day, so we decided to venture out and pick our pumpkins for Halloween. Last year, Hannah and I went with Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa. I didn't want Rob to miss out on the fun again this year since Hannah would probably actually know what was going so we waited until he could go too . Unfortunately that meant Mom and Dad couldn't go since that was the day they were leaving to visit Matthew but we still got to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa and had a lot fun. Here are some pictures from our adventures:
Practicing driving skills on a tractor.
We decided to try the corn maze. Hannah was fearless and often Rob had to jog to keep up with her as she ran down the path ahead of everyone.
We made it out of the maze!
A love for riding horses begins.
Practicing driving skills on a tractor.
That looks like a good pumpkin! 
Our family!
This farm also had trikes to ride, inflatable slides, a bouncing house, a hay pile to run up, animals to look at, and a dinosaur who ate pumpkins, all of which Hannah thoroughly enjoyed and we had a hard time keeping up with her as she ran from one area to the next. We also got to take a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch (which was a lot bumpier than I remembered!) and they let us try fresh sweet corn off fresh off the stalk. Hannah loved the corn and after she ate every last kernel off the cob, I had to convince her to give me the cob before she started eating that. As a treat, before we left, Grandma and Grandpa bought her a basket of fresh cherry tomatoes (you will never meet a kid who loves tomatoes more than Hannah) and we bought her a few honey sticks for the drive home.
We had a great time and look forward to doing it again next year!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Cutest Thing Ever
Hannah: Mommy where's baby?
Me: Right here (points to belly)
Hannah (in high pitch voice that she uses to talk to babies): Hi baby! (pats belly) How you doing baby? I love you! (kisses belly)
Makes a mama's heart melt... :)
Me: Right here (points to belly)
Hannah (in high pitch voice that she uses to talk to babies): Hi baby! (pats belly) How you doing baby? I love you! (kisses belly)
Makes a mama's heart melt... :)
Monday, October 13, 2008
16 Weeks
Okay I'm not quite 16 weeks (will be on Friday) but I had my 16 week appointment today. Everything looks good but baby does not like the doppler. He/she kept moving away as the doctor tried again and again to pin down the heartbeat. Since I can feel baby pretty well now, I was able to help by saying "baby just moved over there", "now baby is over there", etc but it wasn't really helping since baby just moved the second the doppler went over him/her. Finally the doctor found the heartbeat, which was 160 beats per minute, and I got to feel and hear lots of movement from baby so that was pretty neat. Rob and I tried to get Hannah to pay attention to the heartbeat but she was busy drawing and decently unimpressed. I thought maybe she would be interested since she loves to pat baby, kiss mommy's belly, and is constantly asking for me to "open baby", but she was busy writing her name (obviously she can't actually write her name, that's just what she told us she was doing) and playing with the little barbie doll she got from McDonalds.
I made my 20 week appointment and ultrasound for Nov 10 at 9am. Very exciting!
I made my 20 week appointment and ultrasound for Nov 10 at 9am. Very exciting!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
6 Introspective Questions
Okay I'm hopping on board with all you deep-thinkers but I can't promise my brain won't hurt after this! ;)
1. What surprised you most about yourself once you became a mother? I guess the thing that surprised me the most was how much patience I suddenly had. I am not a patient person and I'll be the first to admit my shortcoming in that area. I was truly terrified at the thought of a baby who cried constantly or a toddler who worked on my last nerve and it hasn't been like that at all. I am extremely patient and even enjoy seeing some of the harder things (like getting rid of the hitting/pushing habit) pay off. I was also afraid that I wouldn't know what to do and not all of it has been exactly instinct, but I'm surprised how much of it is. I didn't even know I had "mommy" instincts. Amazing! I had also heard a lot of people say things like "well don't worry if you don't fall instantly in love - it's just not like that for everyone." I was really worried that that's how I would feel and it so was not. I feel in love the second I saw that little face. I remember when Hannah was home for about a week, I was nursing her in bed and Rob was getting ready to go to the store, and I looked at him and said "I know people love their kids, but did you ever think you'd love her this much this quickly?" It was just like a light for me - it was like she was a part of me that I didn't know I was missing.
2.Did you find that people looked at you differently than before you were a mother? Yes of course. Rob saw the struggles of pregnancy for me so I think that had a big impression on him and certainly our families also look at both of us differently. We aren't just their kids anymore, we have kids of our own. I also met many great and interesting friends that I would not know without being a mom.
3.How do you feel you have changed since motherhood? Well I feel like I have somewhat answered that in question 1. I think I am more patient, less selfish, and more understanding. I also have much more sympathy for other mothers and am less judgemental. Being a mom is hard and we're all doing the best we can for our family. How can you argue with that?
4. Are there parts of yourself you feel you've lost and you deeply desire to regain? At first, yes. I am an extrovert and even though I was the one who wanted to stay home, the transition to a stay at home mom was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Once I found things to do (playgroups, errands, etc) where I could get the adult interaction I craved and was able to pin down a routine, things got much much better. Now I couldn't imagine things being different, although I do desire to rejoin the workforce at least part time at some point.
5. How do you define your Identity? By your kids? Spouse? Career? Well I am all those things. Aren't we all? I think defining yourself by just one of those aspects limits your true self. I am me. I am a mom. I am a wife. I had and will one day have a career. I am all those things and taking any one of those things away makes me, well, not me. I guess what I'm saying is that I define myself by all those things and I think that's okay.
6. Can you believe that you were created with amazing potential and with gifts that only you can bring to the table? If not, what's holding you back from embracing this truth? I think it is amazing how well suited we are for the gifts we have been given. And I think the gifts can have a place - you don't have to utilize every single gift every single day of your entire life. I think gifts can have a shelf-life, so to speak. I was always a good student. Well, my student days are over right now and although I can take aspects of what made me a good student and apply them to other areas, I don't feel like being a good student means that I was destined to be a student for the rest of my life. Some gifts are meant to hone in on other gifts or show us potential we didn't know we had. I also think some gifts are meant to take us to a specific place and then it's time to move on and discover other gifts.
1. What surprised you most about yourself once you became a mother? I guess the thing that surprised me the most was how much patience I suddenly had. I am not a patient person and I'll be the first to admit my shortcoming in that area. I was truly terrified at the thought of a baby who cried constantly or a toddler who worked on my last nerve and it hasn't been like that at all. I am extremely patient and even enjoy seeing some of the harder things (like getting rid of the hitting/pushing habit) pay off. I was also afraid that I wouldn't know what to do and not all of it has been exactly instinct, but I'm surprised how much of it is. I didn't even know I had "mommy" instincts. Amazing! I had also heard a lot of people say things like "well don't worry if you don't fall instantly in love - it's just not like that for everyone." I was really worried that that's how I would feel and it so was not. I feel in love the second I saw that little face. I remember when Hannah was home for about a week, I was nursing her in bed and Rob was getting ready to go to the store, and I looked at him and said "I know people love their kids, but did you ever think you'd love her this much this quickly?" It was just like a light for me - it was like she was a part of me that I didn't know I was missing.
2.Did you find that people looked at you differently than before you were a mother? Yes of course. Rob saw the struggles of pregnancy for me so I think that had a big impression on him and certainly our families also look at both of us differently. We aren't just their kids anymore, we have kids of our own. I also met many great and interesting friends that I would not know without being a mom.
3.How do you feel you have changed since motherhood? Well I feel like I have somewhat answered that in question 1. I think I am more patient, less selfish, and more understanding. I also have much more sympathy for other mothers and am less judgemental. Being a mom is hard and we're all doing the best we can for our family. How can you argue with that?
4. Are there parts of yourself you feel you've lost and you deeply desire to regain? At first, yes. I am an extrovert and even though I was the one who wanted to stay home, the transition to a stay at home mom was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Once I found things to do (playgroups, errands, etc) where I could get the adult interaction I craved and was able to pin down a routine, things got much much better. Now I couldn't imagine things being different, although I do desire to rejoin the workforce at least part time at some point.
5. How do you define your Identity? By your kids? Spouse? Career? Well I am all those things. Aren't we all? I think defining yourself by just one of those aspects limits your true self. I am me. I am a mom. I am a wife. I had and will one day have a career. I am all those things and taking any one of those things away makes me, well, not me. I guess what I'm saying is that I define myself by all those things and I think that's okay.
6. Can you believe that you were created with amazing potential and with gifts that only you can bring to the table? If not, what's holding you back from embracing this truth? I think it is amazing how well suited we are for the gifts we have been given. And I think the gifts can have a place - you don't have to utilize every single gift every single day of your entire life. I think gifts can have a shelf-life, so to speak. I was always a good student. Well, my student days are over right now and although I can take aspects of what made me a good student and apply them to other areas, I don't feel like being a good student means that I was destined to be a student for the rest of my life. Some gifts are meant to hone in on other gifts or show us potential we didn't know we had. I also think some gifts are meant to take us to a specific place and then it's time to move on and discover other gifts.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)