Sunday, May 25, 2008
I didn't think potty training would be THIS easy!
I had always kind of dreaded potty training. I don't know why but it just seemed to be one of those things that was going to be more difficult than anything else. Going from diaper to panties, relying less on a diaper while out and about, no diaper overnight...it all just seemed to be a big complicated process. You have videos, books, Dr. Phil shows, groups, etc. All of these things made it sound SO complicated. Then you have pull ups, cloth training pants (which are more bloody expensive than underwear for ADULTS!), training pants, panties, it's endless! And that's before you have to pick out the potty! And don't forget elimination communication!I had this fear that Natalie was going to be as old as I was when I finally was potty trained. My mom never really pushed it and just let me go when I was good and ready which was almost four! YIKES! Um, no, I did not want her in diapers that long. So, I think around 14/15 months, we got one of those little Bjorn potty chairs and introduced her to it. Not a huge deal. We were not trying to train her, just let her know that there was a place other than her diaper that she could go potty in. And she did go in there a few times (including poop) before losing interest (picture below)
Her next step which she was doing I think before she turned two was to let us know that she had "uckies" which was a poopy diaper. This made life much easier because then I didn't have to guess when she had a bad diaper, she would tell me and I would change her right away. Then, at some point (since she wanted nothing to do with her little potty chair--go figure) we got one of those potty inserts and she would occasionally inform us that she wanted to go potty. She was still wearing a diaper at this point but we gave her a chance to go and use the potty when she wanted to usually after she got up in the morning. Eventually, I figured out that she LOVED stickers (she would go after the stickers on bananas) so I started giving her stickers from a batch of smiley face stickers I had. When she used the potty, she got a sticker. This went a few months until I decided that maybe she was ready for underpants. This was last month so I got a package of underpants (meanwhile also looking into cloth training pants instead of pull-ups) and I gave it a try. Um, no go. She had several accidents and I just gave up. About a month later, I noticed that she was telling us when she had to go potty with her diaper on, would strip off the diaper, run to the potty and go. This gave me the idea to try with her again and I did that a couple of Saturdays ago when I knew we would be home for most of the day and ever since, Natalie has been wearing underpants and using the potty. Yes, we still use some diapers but it's been for night time or when we go out and we've used some of her pull-ups too (since John had gotten a package of those before we really got going on the panties). When she wears her pull-ups, she has been going in the potty. The pooping in the potty has been somewhat hit and miss but she's getting better at this but in all honesty, it has not been as difficult as I thought it would be, I just needed to wait until she was ready for that stage.Now, I'm hoping to get her potty trained as much as possible before we leave for South Korea but I'm a little nervous about that since 1. we have to somehow get her weaned off of the toilet insert by then (or take the insert with us) and 2. get her used to going in public restrooms. We're talking AT LEAST a 13 hour flight out there and so far, looking at plane tickets, stopover will either be in San Francisco or Japan. But I'll be honest, I'm not planning to go seeking diapers in South Korea. I have three and a half to four months before I worry about that now that we have somewhat narrowed down the date of departure (though that may change if John decides to get a job in town).
Not much else going on, just lots of planning, lots of going through stuff and deciding what to keep/not keep, and basically just lots of trying to get all of the details in place. We're still waiting on John's diploma (go figure, we get the passports first and not the diploma) and once that is in, then John has all he needs to get employment. Then it's just a matter of figuring everything else out including plane tickets and visas.
And of course, we're already dealing with the few naysayers (those who absolutely will not support what we're doing) but what those against it don't understand is that we're already really too far into this to change our minds and one way or the other, it's going to happen. Not that I don't have my worries but at this point, I have more concerns about staying in this country where the economy is getting worse and worse and our ability to survive is dropping more and more than going to a country I have never been before and trying to make a living there. At least John has done that before and once he got over the bumps he had there in the beginning did pretty darn well until June 28, 2003. Then it all went to hell. Well, not on his end, just on mine when I ended up homeless because my apartment became a crime scene.
| posted by Janeen at 12:54 PM
