Amazing that we were early enough to church today to snatch someone to take a family picture! We had a wonderful Sabbath, visiting a new ward and spending the day together as a family and talking about why we have Easter. I love that my older kids are finally getting old enough to remember things like that!
I’ve learned not to have huge expectations when it come to taking pictures. Instead of trying to convince my kids to give me forced smiles (when really they just can’t wait until we are done), I’ve accepted silly over the previous option.
Today’s option? Dad playing simon says!
Yup
And then sometimes we get real smiles out of it!
And if I really wanted a perfect picture? I could probably do enough head swapping to make it happen.
But I don’t have that much time. So instead? You get the REAL genuine, honest to goodness…Duckworth kids!
Jamie spent part of the weekend with us and these two had a blast. They love being together, have fights like brothers and make up like best friend. Love it!
Okay….now to the rest of just fun stuff this week!
Jayden finished off his session of swim. He is SO close to swimming across the pool!
This week we potty Trained. It was so great! I went into it a bit nervous. Not because POtty Training scares me, but because I didn’t have time to waste if it didn’t go over well. I HATE wasting my time. Emma is a super smart little turkey, smart enough that I knew it could either go really well, or really bad!
We decided to give it a go and it went awesome! I loved all the time I got to spend with her, my current method proved for the 3rd time to work well, and we only had to deal with 3 REAL accidents the whole week!
This is her new favorite toilet seat
We didn’t count this as an ‘accident’ She was sitting on the toilet….but the bowl was sitting just a few inches off (okay well across the bed on the dresser!) Silly girl (Dang washing of the bed sheets AGAIN!!)
(OKay, the real story? she was watching TV on my bed and didn’t want to leave to go potty. So I brought the tiny toilet into my room on the bed. Later I walked in and saw her sitting on the potty. With the seat up and the bowl on the dresser. At least she went on the toilet like I tell her!)
What Potty Training looks like at our house:
We learn on the Tiny Toilet, and then introduce the Dora Seat on the big Toilet. Emma LOVES the big toilet on ‘Backpack’ as she calls it.
A few friends wanted to know my method. Nothing super scientific, but it’s worked great for three in a row…so something is worth sharing right?
Here’s the run down: (IF you aren’t interested in detailed potty training method….skip down to the next pictures!)
*I totally block out at LEAST 1 week, but better yet, 2 weeks out of my schedule, dedicated to just potty training. This depends on the age and how likely I think they are going to catch on. Savannah was nearly 3 and i knew that we were in it FOR good. So I gave myself 2 weeks, just in case it didn’t go great we had plenty of time. This way I don’t stress about things I need to get done, but I can focus just on the potty training.
*Keep a positive attitude. Getting angry does NO good. It actually turns it into a negative experience and in my opinion will just make things worse. When there is an accident I nicely, but firmly explain that’s not okay and that we need to go in the toilet, and then we try on the toilet (even though they just went…it’s still good practice). If we have success? It’s a party! Super praise, I’m so proud of you! Let them help wipe, empty the bowl, wash it out, flush the toilet, close the lid…whatever might seem exciting to them! And then of course a treat! We do 5 mini m&m’s and then later starbursts.
*Everything you need in one place. Toys, puzzles, coloring stuff, snacks, LOTS to drink, favorites (toys, blankets, etc). Tiny toilet and plastic on the floor. Lots of salty snacks to encourage drinking. And did I mention lots to drink? Find beverages that they never get, that they will love and drink LOTS of! We did apple juice and pink milk this time! LOTS
*I use those plastic table cloths you can get at walmart. Not the $1 ones, but the ones with the lining on the back. The lining keeps it from sliding all over the carpet. Works AWESOME!
*I try to keep the child entertained as much as possible in the room with the tiny toilet, but I don’t restrict them from going to other rooms or from playing with the kids. #1 is that I watch them and only them. I watch CLOSELY! Especially at the beginning I watch for signs. How they behave when they start to pee or poop. Emma for example stands still. Stops what she is doing. Ultimately though? distractions keep them from being in tune with their body, so if at all possible…kids in another play room or room watching a movie (yes my kids watched LOTS of TV this last week) while just me and the PT child hang out and play.
*Ask every 30 min if they need to go potty, pee pee or try to sit on the tiny toilet, but I don’t force. When I ask, I asked excitedly like it’s something really cool and fun! I’ll sometimes turn on a show or movie when they are sitting there with a drink of juice or snack, just to encourage longer sitting, but if they want to get up, I let them.
*As I’m following them around or playing with them, (and closely watching) if I catch them starting to pee then I quickly take them to the toilet. I do this is a nice exciting way! Keep it positive!
*As they pee I encourage them to keep going, get it all out!
*If there is negativity from them, or refusing to sit on the toilet I find ways to motivate them, bribe them, reward them, etc… If refusal is all the time and causes frustration, I might take that as a sign that we aren’t ready. Emma is a stubborn little turkey and I was prepared for that to be the case. I was going to give her 3 days to see if it was going good. If not, then I was going to hold off and wait until Summer. I used to hate that idea. If I’m going to start it, I’m going to finish it! But I also know if I was going to have that attitude, I needed to be willing to give it that 2 week effort and I knew this time I didn’t have that much time. Luckily with all my great positivity (and giving into just about everything wanted to keep things pleasant!) she was really great, and she is now officially potty trained!
*OH! Panties or underwear. We don’t do pull-ups. I don’t believe in them. My method here is not for working mom’s. You have to give it time, but once it’s done, they are done. There is no more wondering if they will go potty…they do it! If they wear pull-ups, they know there won’t be a mess if they have an accident. We do use diapers during naps or bedtime because obviously we don’t have control during that time, but I do make efforts to limit liquid and food before bed, potty right before bed and immediately upon waking. Savannah never had a problem with wetting the bed. She is a light sleeper. Emma still wakes up soaked, she is a super deep sleeper. I don’t stress over it.
*Lastly…pooping issues. Oh how we have dealt with that. My biggest advice? Same as the pee. Keep it positive. We dealt with one who was constipated till she was 4!!! It’s not worth pushing it. Savannah took a LONG time and I just dealt with having to change her panties a LOT, but I didn’t want her to be scared to poop like Maliyah was. Again I got really lucky with Emma and she hasn’t had a pooping accident yet (but I did one time forget to pull her panties down when I put her on the toilet! DANG me)
I’m sure there are a few things I’m missing here that I do, but I tried to remember as much as I could. If you have any other questions about what we do…feel free to ask!
One time as I was closely watching Emma, she started to kinda make believe with herself. What she was telling herself, the great emotions, the singsong-y voice, and the faces that she molded….just made me smile! In about 30 seconds I sat and just snapped as fast as I could catching as much of her facial expressions as I could. These are some of what I got in that 30 seconds.
Love my emma girl!
In the kids easter baskets yesterday, they each got their own package of Kool-aid. Each, their own color. The intent? To make play dough together! So today after lunch they each got a turn to help me make their yummy smelling and super brightly colored play dough!!
They played for nearly 2 hours!!!
They also each got one of these plastic scrapers. The kids love using them with their play dough and when I saw colorful ones at walmart, I couldn’t help myself!
This is how my little girlies roll.
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