Day 6 and a sick little bunny..........

...... but no misses!!!!
Yep, that's right!! Though, I don't think he peed as much as usual being sick. That might have helped.
I also won against the elusive poo. :) It took some coaxing to get Ryden to let go of it on the potty, bu the did. He said his 'no no no' a couple of times. It made me wonder if he thought poo = no. So, I had to let him know that it is ok on the potty, just no in his underwear.

Definitely a quickie update. We went on one errand to the store, and I took him to the potty there.
He also stopped peeing every time I put him on the potty, which I think is good. Just when he really needs to. :)

have a good night all-

love,
us

Oh, Day 5.... The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

3 misses, today!!! and all in all, I should be happy.

One pee miss during breakfast this morning, one on the way back from the ZOO and the DOOZY was missing his poo this evening. After the last day of missing it, I really wanted to catch this one. Probably more of me wanting to win over that dang poop, and not as much for training reasons. I feel like the poo is taunting me, and it's killing me!!

haha... kind of, but not really.

As for the big win today, Ryden wore his undies all day, again. And this was even at the Zoo this afternoon. The entire trip was around 6 1/2 hours and there was only one accident at the very end of the day on the way back. I should have know, not to let him keep chugging that water when he was going to be stuck in his car seat for an hour.
At the park, I took him to the potty two times and Eric took him once. I think he is also starting to like going in public restrooms. For now, I just hold him over the seat. Not sure about setting him on it (even with paper on it). Heck, I don't even sit on it.
I think the Zoo win is so big it should trump the elusive poo, but sadly, in my head, it doesn't.

The rest of the day, was sort of business as usual. :)

and Ryden is also getting sick, so, I am going to go easy on him. I don't want his frustrations from being sick turn to potty.
We'll see how these next couple of days go.

Michele

Day 4..... was a dance.

3 misses for the day. Not quite one step forward and two steps back... just kind of an awkward circle.

One was during our trip to Target. I knew I should have taken him to the potty there, but I was kind of testing his "holding" skills. I learned to never second guess my gut.

The second one was his big morning poopy. Something about the weekend and Eric being home, kind of made me lazy with my timing. Again, I was also kind of playing with the holding part, and seeing if he is getting any of this on his own. I caught him mid-action and said, "no, no, no- poopy goes in the potty!" and rushed him there where he finished.

The third was a surprise poopy that he had late this evening. This one wasn't a total miss in my book, because we were sitting in the living room, and I caught Ryden going to sit on his potty. Eric helped him with his pants and he peed right away (as he always does on the potty now. Every time, RIGHT away). Then he got up immediately, and Eric mentioned how he smelled like he farted. WEll, about a minute later, I heard Ryden over in the corner saying, "no! no! no!".
It was only after I checked him, that I realized why he was saying that... hahaha!
He tried the potty, but since it didn't come out right away (just pee), I think that is why he got up. Plus, we were only watching for pee. Surprise poops always throws everyone off. heh!

All this tells me that he is getting that poopy doesn't go in his undies, he's just a little in limbo about what to do. With time, we will help him and he will learn. This I am sure about.
I will also add that this was the first time Eric saw him go to the potty on his own will. I think he was very impressed with his progress.
I can still here him saying the no no no. :)

The reason why I said today was a dance is because there were quite a few highlights to balance out the misses.

This morning when he woke up, I took him to the potty right away. When I took off his diaper, I noticed it was wet, so, I thought I had already missed his morning pee. Well, I didn't. :) So, the wetness must have been from some time during the night, or really early morning. This was good info, because I didn't know if he was going the whole night dry and just peeing in the morning, or what. Now, I do.

We went to Target and bought his first pairs of little boy undies. And to all of you mamas that cloth diaper, in my opinion, they don't compare to the cuteness of toddler undies!!! I fell in love. WE got him Mickey Mouse ones, Super Y Super Reader (not sure the name, a show on PBS) and Yo Gabba Gabba ones.
That is all he wore after he woke up from his nap for the rest of the day.

Another great moment was going to the beach. After an hour of getting down there, playing and running around, we went to clean up and leave. I rinsed him off at the little beach showers, took him to the restroom- he peed!!!!!! and I changed his clothes and we set off home. And this was a big pee, so, he must have practiced some type of holding it.
He, however, did not like it when he I tried to potty him behind a bush at the beach. Probably because I took his shovel away to do so. haah!!
Our first trip out in undies and no accidents!!

I feel my next job is backing off a little and letting him make some more mistakes. At this point he is peeing EVERY time we put him on the potty, even if it is only a few drops. I think it is great that he knows what the potty is for, but I don't think it is helping him to problem solve on his own when he feels the urge to pee. He needs to be caught a couple of times mid-pee, so, I can rush him to the potty for him to realize the ONLY place you pee is the potty. Not as well. Am I being silly, or does that make since?
So, I think I am going take a backseat to all of this and see how things go. I will still offer the potty, but not as often. I will also not offer and take him anyways, unless I know it has been a while, and he is distracted.

I'm sure we will get more misses, but I think we will gain more progress in the end.

I also found this blog entry from someone else yesterday when I was googling toddler potty training and found it interesting. It confirmed a few things I have already been thinking. It also gave me an extra boost of encouragement to keep this going.

My goal is still to have him diaperless and in undies by 2. I would love for him to be diaperless at night as well, but I am not going to hold my breath on that one.

mama to a little boy in awesome undies,
me

Day 3 and Ryden is amazing!!!!!

1 miss.... and no, I'm not kidding. You read that right, we had 1 miss today, and I can't tell you how delighted that makes me.

Ryden woke up with his typical soiled diaper, plus a little added bonus... eww. We changed him and went about our morning. Everything went great, until somewhere around 11am when he had his first and only miss.
The highlight of this miss, was me walking into the living room hearing Ryden saying, "bye bye" while he was looking sown at his feet. Back story- for the past couple of months, as we flush his potties down the toilet, I would say, Bye bye to them, which he began to chime in with. I also always let him do the flushing, so, that he could be involved. Well, since he was only wearing pants, and no diaper, I knew why he was looking at he floor. :)
It honestly cracked me up!!

We continued on with our day. After his nap, I got him dressed, and put on his first diaper for the day. We were heading out for lunch. We had to run to the grocery store after lunch, so, I took him to the restroom there before we left. Well, low and behold, I held him over the potty and he peed!!! This is the first time he has peed in a public restroom since he was a wee little baby. I was so happy!!

We came home after the grocery store and he was dry. He then peed on the potty. My next highlight of the day happened a little bit later.

We now have two potties. The original one I bought about a year ago, and that has been our only potty. Just last week, I had Eric pick up one of those little toilet seats that sit on the regular one. Well, since we got the new one for the bathroom, I decided to bring his old one out into the family room. This would allow him to have more options, and have one nearby. Well, I heard something at one point, while I was cooking, and looked to see him sitting on the potty. I came to him and stood him up, pulled down his pants (since he can't do this and was sitting with them on :)) and helped him back on. I went back to cooking, and heard him doing something else. I went to check, and he was nowhere to be found. I heard something coming from the bathroom. When I walked in, I saw him dumping the pee from his little potty into the toilet. EXACTLY how I normally have done it. I truly started cracking up. I mean, come on, are you really that hilarious and on board with all of this? I guess so. And to top it off, he had only spilled a couple of drops on the toilet seat.

He is a boy... men can't even spare a couple of drops from the seat. haha!!

There was also another highlight of the day, when I heard him say, "pee" in the living room. Helped him onto the potty... and ta da- he peed!!

We went on another outing to the beach, and later on went by my mom's house to drop off some soup. He stayed dry both of those times.

I still don't know where this is leading us, but I think I need to by some cloth trainers for outings and little boy undies for home. He can't free ball it all the time, right? :)

I don't know why I am writing about this every day, but if things end as positive as I hope they will, maybe this will help someone else when they are going through it.

I am always proud of my little man, but he has really surprised me lately. I think children are capable of a lot of things, and luckily, being a stay at home mom, I can devote the time to this. I don't think you have to wait until they are "ready". I think that is something a few psychologist came up with in the 70's and the diposable diaper companies ran with it. I feel that in our case, using cloth diapers have been a wonderful incentive to start when they "get it". No matter how young.
Just like training a puppy, they don't get it overnight. But you don't give up and put a diaper on them. I think it took 4-5 months to successfully train Ilsa. I guess she was a bit stubborn, but she came around. :)

I know I will have a set-back post eventually, but for now.... I have nothing but pure bliss to write about!!!!!!

again,
one happy mama and one dry baby :)

Day 2 and still walking forward.... :)

3 slip ups on the floor first thing this morning, and the rest was history!! :)

Well, not history, but that was it in the miss department. Today was the second day, in a row, that Ryden used the potty for pooping (this one has been tuff since he started walking). I even made sure he had a lot to drink to keep him nice and hydrated and full of pee. He woke up from his nap, dry, as he usually does.
We also went on one outing, this evening, in which I was just sure that he would have an accident. Nope! Right when we got home, we went straight to the bathroom, and he peed immediately when he sat on the potty. I was so proud of him.

We are still only working off of timing and prompting, and maybe a pinch of holding it. The day that he continuously informs me of his urges to go, I will be through the moon. Not planning on it happening anytime soon, but a girl can dream. I also thought that we wouldn't go the entire day without a miss after his misses this morning. I guess I wasn't aware of how full he is so early on.

I was never sure when he would be ready, or when I would really start to tackle this full on. Apparently, now is the time. I am hopeful that this will happen smoothly and maybe even quickly, but I won't hold my breath. At this rate, I am shooting for undies by 2 years old.

And any of you that have already potty trained your kids, when did they go from being prompted to telling you they needed to go?

Mchele

1 step forward... 2 steps back... I presume.

2 wet diapers is all that Ryden had today. The rest of it went in the potty and one time on the floor. I know this probably means nothing, because it usually takes a LONG time for children to potty learm. I also know that he is much younger than most when it comes to potty learning.
However, unlike most others, I have been working with Ryden and the potty since he was a little over a month old. Never all the time, just some of the time. Well, now I am wondering if some of that is actually paying off.
Most of his wins have been because of me and timing. That is how it has always been. But as of the past couple of days and maybe a few weeks, I have noticed a couple of changes.

1) He has started to say pee pee at times, although it is usually after he pees. There was one day last week when he said it, I rushed him to the potty and he pooped. I flooded him with cookies (which only live in the bathroom) and he was quite delighted.
2) I think he is starting to hold it. Which if this is the case, I am beyond excited. The only diapers he peed in today, was the one I put on him right after he woke up and the other was at my mom's house. I tried to give him a pottytunity there, which he was having none of because we had just walked in and he wanted to play with all of his toys at grandmas. I also gave him a pottytunity at Publix. :) The other time he peed was right before his bath and it was immediately after Eric took his diaper off. It had been a couple of hours since his last pee, so, I think he waited. Even if it was on the floor, that is fine by me. :)
3) Lastly, he knows what it is and whenever I put him on the potty he tries. Even if he doesn't have to go- he still tries. It is so cute.

I know better and am not getting my hopes up. But each day I take off dry diapers and he pees in the toilet, I feel we are progressing. I also think this is an optimal learning time, because he still is in to pleasing us and hasn't become the ultra negative two year old!!!

No matter where this gets us, I will run with it!!!!!!!!!

love,
one super happy mama

it's official.... STTN!!!

For those of you who are parents, are very familiar with the abbreviation... STTN. It is actually a bit of a dirty word, if you ask me. It is something that is thrown around to new mommies way too often when their babes are oh, so young!!
It is something that causes a lot of moms unneeded stress when they are already sleep deprived because, no- their little one is NOT sleeping through the night. It even causes some mommies to go against their mommy instinct and allow their little one to cry for long periods of time, because they are told this is the ONLY way a baby will sleep through the night.
Well, I have been looking forward to the day where Ryden did this, though I have let him fuss at times at night, I have never left him to cry for long periods. And here we are, STTN- even if it is at 17+ months. I know some of you might laugh at me, since he is SO old and finally doing this. But I think everything comes with time, and this was his pace and his time to do so.
I have been thinking he was there and even mentioned it slightly in passing, but Eric and I actually had a conversation, this morning, that we believe it is FACT now. And safe to talk about, for that matter, without worrying about jinxing it. :)
I am so happy about this!!! :) and now, I am finally starting to sleep all the night through, which is pretty fantastic since it has probably been almost 2 years since I have gotten a good night's sleep.
If any of you are where we were, there is light at the end of the tunnel. :)

Lost in Florida......

..... or it seems like something of that liking. Not really, but I have sure seemed to have fallen off the map when it comes to blogging about a toddler. It might be because "said toddler" keeps me so busy, I don't have the time. I do miss writing here ever so dearly, though. It had become a sort of journal or diary about our whole pregnancy and child rearing experience. It was a place I could share my joy, frustrations and even some things I had learned along the way. I think I want that again. So, here I am. Or shall I say, here we are..... :)

We have been in Florida now for almost 4 months. And I feel like Ryden has grown a whole year or something. It's amazing, still, that one week or even one DAY can make such a difference in his development. It's also nice that Eric gets to see him not only in the mornings, but at night time now, too!! :)

Ryden will be 18 months on the 25th, and I assure you, he is quite the handful. He is clever, active, sneaky, adorable, sweet and everything else you could ask for in an 18 month old. Reminds me of Ilsa a couple of years ago... haha!!!

Here are 10 things that are going on the world of Ryden......

1. He is at least 27 lbs. and probably pushing a little more

2. Can't remember how tall he was at his last appt. but he is tall!!

3. He still has a good relationship with food- eats pretty healthy for a toddler
- I am happy to say, he StiLL has not met candy, soda, copious amounts of junk food, processed foods or even a JUICE BOX (other than the sips he has stolen from cousins:)) He also has never had a jar of food or been supplemented with any type of formula. Not that those last two are entirely bad, but they weren't the right choice for us. It has been hard work maintaining this, especially when I was back at work, so, it is something I am proud of.

4. He has a pretty wide vocabulary, though he has only put several words together.

5. He and I found a fascination of playing with letters, and at this point, he can identify about half of them. :)

6. He has just started to climb into chairs and loves to sit like a big boy

7. Progress on the potty is back and forth. He often tells me when he pees (just usually after) and has one time told me before he has pooped!!!

8. and now I am working on sleeping through the night, because for the past several weeks, Ryden has been!!! This is a big YAY after many many months of getting up several times a night. A true blessing.

9. He loves all of his family (outside of mama and dada) and this is an awesome thing to watch. He even recognizes his cousin Allen in pictures and says his name.

10. And Ryden still nurses 3 times a day. When he wakes up, before his nap and before bed. This might surprise some of you, unless you know me well enough, but that is why I love my blog- because I don't care what someone my think. I was hoping to get past all of his teeth coming in (help with the pain) and making it to 2 or close to that. That's not too far away, and this makes me both really happy and a little sad. and anyone wondering if nursing is still even necessary.... here ya go
* I only mention all of this, because I never knew this before I got pregnant, and now that I do, I feel it is important to spread this info for other moms and soon-to-be moms to know.

ans lastly, lately I have been looking at pics of Ryden as a little baby. It is just heartbreaking!! I absolutely love the little man that he is today, but I already miss the sweet little baby he use to be. :(


and even though I love it here and am so happy to be back, I do miss our life in California.

With love- from the East Coast,
us