Stuck at home...

Alice and I have been homebound the last couple days in an effort to increase the likelihood of potty success. Yesterday was the first day I've been trapped at home in a long time, and I actually enjoyed the excuse to experience the day at Alice's pace. Today has been a little more tedious, but I'm still enjoying the break. Here's a summary in the form of a song (perhaps this is cabin fever??). To the tune of Love at Home:

Alice goes through piles of clothes, when we're stuck at home.

Breathe through mouth now, not my nose, when we're stuck at home.

Dinner promptly served at 5, all the houseplants stay alive,

Wondering how I would get by, through a week at home.

Stuck at home, stuck at home,

Sweet and bitter in this sigh, "Now I'm stuck at home."

Alice snuggles me real close, when we're stuck at home.

Making progress, her pride shows, when we're stuck at home.

Pictures taken of our day, Mommy stops work just to play,

Maybe life won't fly away, while I'm stuck at home.

Stuck at home, stuck at home.

Maybe in one week we'll say, "Glad we stuck at home!"

The babe dons her bathing suit, Sunday shoes, and a coat to hunt for birds in the back yard.

Playdate chez-nous

Alice has a a handful of friends that she really likes to play with. Justin and Esther are a couple of them. Here are a few picts from their playdate yesterday. Note: she's hangin' out in her underwear to simplify the whole potty training process.

Baby Esther

I gave them a couple spins on the pilot chair.

When one would laugh, the other couldn't resist.

Alice has a rocking chair that comes together like a puzzle. Justin was playing with it almost the whole time, but Alice was able to snag this piece for a few moments. She said she was riding a chicken.

Potty Training?!?

A week ago, Alice was being particularly defiant during her morning diaper change when the idea occurred to me that she might like to try underwear instead. I had inherited a clean pair of training pants from a friend and showed Alice how to wear them. She was thrilled! And so it began...waaaaay earlier than I had planned. Way, way, way before I had thought it out properly. We literally just stopped using the pacifier AND moved her to a toddler bed within a week of her 2nd birthday. I thought that was enough stress for the poor girl. Guess not.

I'm glad that SHE initiated the process, though. What a load off my mind! She seemed to have a good understanding of the mechanism right from the start: asking for "potty turns" since she saw her friend do it, telling me when her diaper is wet or dirty, removing clothes willy-nilly, staying dry for hours at a time, stopping urine midstream when caught having an accident. I could tell she was aware of what was going on, but I was totally surprised by her timing and a little scared to proceed.

The whole first day, she pretty much played naked (or scantily clad) in and around the bathroom. She loved playing the steps of the process: getting dressed and undressed, moving the stool around, climbing up onto the seat, flushing the toilet, and washing her hands. I tried not to get my hopes up. I know this process can be particularly tricky and stressful for kids. She was happy, though, and motivated to play this new game.

It has been a week. A week of MUCH learning for both of us, but mostly for me. She still has as many accidents as successes every day (3 and 3 today), but I'm learning to cool my jets. She doesn't need or want reminders from me anymore. In fact, if I offer any help, she runs into the bathroom even *faster* and shuts the door behind her. If I help her with any clothing, she undoes my work and does it herself again. This is fine with me. The sooner she learns to do it herself, the better. I hate the "task master" role. And she does a perfectly good job of it all by herself...as long as she gets there in time. When she does have an accident, she tells me she needs a "potty turn" and lets me follow her into the bathroom where I clean her up. She then runs to her dresser drawer to select a clean pair of underwear and put it on all by herself.

She's still in diapers (over her underwear, at her insistence) for quiet time and bed time with the promise that when she can stay dry during those times then the diaper will come off.

Here are a few things I don't want to forget for later, or next time:

• It took several days for her to learn the reward system. There were many, many tears associated with misunderstandings.


• Staying at home means less distraction.


• Accidents occur when she is engrossed in an activity or particularly resentful of my frequent reminders.


• Bring extra clothes and underwear everywhere. Several changes. Extra wipes, too, for those messy accidents. Don't forget the potty treats, either.


• Keep the reward system simple, small, and frequent. Reward every "try" as well as real successes, but don't make it complicated.


• Use rewards that appeal to her, not me (i.e. jelly beans, not pennies).


• When she only pees a little, don't be afraid to ask her to let more out. I think this is something she needed to learn...that you let it out until it's all gone.


• Even with several accidents a day, it's still way less laundry than cloth diapers full time  :)

Alice's Conference Experience

Alice did understand at least four phrases of Conference. I know this because she either repeated them with a giggle (like when we help her with prayers) or she followed the command directly. Here's what Alice learned from Conference:

Heavenly Father
Jesus Christ
right and wrong
open your mouth

Bobby's Sunday Summary

I did not have too much happen to me this week, but Susan had a lot happen.  I don’t really want to steal from Susan’s thunder, but the score so far is potty 7 everywhere else 10.

My time at work has been preparing for our next big project, so it is a lot of meetings trying to decide what we are going to do and how we are going to do it.

Saturday was long.  I was in the family history library from 9 to 11.   Then I attended conference with Susan and Alice until 1.  After that we went to a potluck bar-b-queue for lunch.  It was a lot of fun, but we learned that a large number of people had not been able to get conference at home.  Apparently it was restricted to Winfield Village.  I would say that about 15% of the population there is LDS and I guess all of them trying to watch conference over the Internet at once bogged down the system so none of them could get through.  We watched the afternoon session at home and it was crystal clear with only one very minor blip near the end.  It was quite enjoyable.  We cleaned the house/car after that, and there was just enough time to eat dinner before I had to run off to priesthood session.  It was long but good.