Wow! Is it Sunday already?

I ain't gonna lie, it has been a tough one today, but for fear of sounding repetitive (Everyone's shouting at everyone else round here! Argh!!) i'm gonna go ahead and say it wasn't all bad news...

It's fast becoming tradition that when Daddy leaves for football Baby E.M plays up. BIGTIME.

That child really is the original little terror when her Daddy isn't around.

She runs from me, points her finger at me and tells me no, or just ignores me altogether! And she loves to wind her big sister up. So it's become mandatory that she takes some time out - on her own - in her room, every sunday afternoon. Mostly i've found that she gets her toys out for a bit but then goes for a nap during this time. Either way, I get some peace at last.

Meanwhile, J.R (following a stern talking to from both me and Daddy yesterday afternoon) has shown a vast improvement in her potty training today.

Whereas before she used to be uninterested and just generally too lazy. I was angry because it's a complete waste of money buying expensive Pull-Up pants for a child who can feel she is very wet, or even dirty but doesn't care!

She even got to the point of lying to us about being dirty when we asked her, just so that she didn't have to stop what she was doing and get cleaned up.

But as I said, today we've seen some really good improvement.

She's been wearing real knickers all day, is willing to tell me when she needs to go and has been for a wee on the toilet four times today, with only one accident. What a brilliant effort!

I hope you enjoyed the recipe posts this week, all for National Baking Week 2009, and maybe even tried your hand at a little baking yourself? If not, don't worry 'cos we resume normal posting again tomorrow - no more of this baking talk! (Well, not every day anyway.)

And last but not least - although this only applies if you live in the UK - I trust you turned your clocks back an hour today?

If not, I hope for your sake you didn't turn up for work an hour early this morning LOL

I'm one to talk though, I was NOT about to get up at 2am on a sunday to turn all our clocks back an hour...but then I came downstairs this morning and freaked out thinking i'd woken up at lunchtime!

We Are OFFICIALLY Out Of Nappies!

And into pull-up pants.

(Or big-girl pants as we call them in this house!)

For two whole days now.

E.M has made the transition easily...i'm so lucky.

We're still trying to teach her how to pull them down effectively, but that's nothing really. Most of the pull-up pants you can buy nowadays have the little indicators on the front, a little blue pattern which shows up when dry but disappears the first time your child wets themselves, supposedly this makes it easier for them to understand?

So anyway, i've noticed E.M has been keeping completely dry between sessions on the potty - and she's been for a wee three times today!

What E.M Did.

Today my littlest girl did a wee on the potty for the first time. E.M's been showing an interest in using the potty for a while now, even before her 2nd birthday. She used to pick it up, move it around the room, sit on it, pick it up and do it all over again. But always fully clothed - she's never sat on it without a nappy on. So since J.R started back at pre-school i've been using some of the time to get E.M started on potty training...

A lot earlier than J.R I know, but then younger siblings tend to show interest in potty training at an younger age having seen their older brother or sister go through it.

So E.M spent her afternoons, sitting nappy-less on a pink potty in my front room, watching TV. But nothing happened. So I started on the books.

I gave her a couple, we read them together, talked about them, then I left them with her and she would quite happily sit there - reading on the potty. And tonight, after about 15 minutes we finally got a result, a wee wee! We went crazy with praise for her, you should've seen her face when she saw what she'd done. She looked as surprised as we did!

J.R's Potty Training: An Update

Forget the little potty...

Since monday (20th), i've been helping and encouraging J.R to use the "Big Potty" aka the toilet, by lifting her up and holding her there, she still seemed quite worried that she'd fall down the hole! But yesterday I went into Mothercare and bought one of those toilet seat - adaptor things, basically a normal potty-sized seat that fits under the adult toilet seat, allowing the child to sit there unaided. You know what I mean! And wow, it's been a hit with J.R. First of all there's the thrill of actually sitting on the grown ups toilet without my help, then add to that she has her own special toilet wipes (I can do it too with Kandoo!) she's loving every minute of it...and the attention of course. And we've had no accidents yet either!

Success At Last!!

This afternoon the four of us went into town for a bit of shopping and some lunch. When after about two hours we found we'd run out of pull-ups for J.R.

She was err, sagging a bit, shall we say. So I decided i'd have to pop into Boots to buy some to use now, in the meantime we were walking past BHS and I had a thought. Maybe if J.R needed to go wee enough she'd use the proper toilet (when she had no choice)?

So I took her into their baby-change toilets and sat her down on a child size toilet to do her business. And she did!

I was so happy, I showered her with praise. There was our own mini celebration going on in that tiny cubicle. Then we got sorted, I showed her how to wash hands and we made our way out to tell Daddy the good news.

Potty Training: Revisited

I know, I know, i've been down this road before (LOL)

But i've been practicing this with J.R and it seems to be working.

As part of the bedtime routine, ask her if she needs to go.

Before we go downstairs in the morning, again, ask her if she needs to go. So it can be done!!

But the problem is still getting her to go during the day. If it's gonna interrupt her doing anything she wont do it. And to be honest I don't know how to get around it.

She has her 3 Year Check on the 30th and the health visitor is bound to have something to say about that.

I don't care!

Besides, 90% of the advice i've been given is "She'll do it when she's ready. " So there :P

Things Little Ones Do

J.R has found a new use for her step stool. A front row seat and replacement for the sofas in the living room. She wasn't too keen on sitting on the sofa anyway and most of the time would rather stand up to watch tv. And to think I was going to buy her one of those expensive kiddy beanbags! Problem solved.

Potty Progress!

Yesterday Daddy bought J.R a 2nd potty and matching step stool. I'm working to what i've read when it comes to potty training, "you should have 1 potty upstairs and 1 downstairs" and the step stool is for the bathroom to encourage her to wash her hands herself. Does it work? Yes it does! (Well so far anyway.) She seems to have taken to the idea straight away and loves the independence of turning on the bathroom light herself, turning the tap on etc. Plus she's christened the new potty 3 times already, and it's only 10.30am!

I Hate Potty Training

I've been on about this for days now... J.R is in size 5 nappies and really needs to be potty trained. She does go for a wee in the potty and can also tell me when she needs to go. But, only when she's in the mood. And for some unknown reason, she refuses to poop in the potty. She would rather walk round with a dirty heavy nappy, than sit on the potty. And what she's been doing recently is taking her nappy off to poop. On the floor. Then try to clean it up - with her hands. All the while she never says a word, just quietly carries out the disgusting deed and smears it all over my carpet, her toys and sometimes even onto her sister. She's done this 3 times in the last month now and i've lost my patience with it. When I complain to Daddy (and almost in tears for the frustration) he sniggers, smiles and shakes his head. Wtf?! Well that helps, thanks a lot! He has never ever had to clean it up, nor has he even seen the extent of the mess she makes. He gets to go to work all day, chat to his work mates while i'm on my hands and knees scrubbing some stinkin' mess out the carpet.

Now thats teamwork.