Potty Training Woes

Hey Humble Readers...

I am a very frustrated hobbit. 

I'm frustrated primarily with myself.  And with all the people who I have listened to about how Ginny should be potty trained by now. 

(and yes, I admit, I am a tad frustrated with Ginny.)

This was our third go round of trying to get potty training started.  And again we crashed and burned. 

It's likely that I'm the one doing something wrong here, but honestly, I'm stuck for ideas.  Here's what I'm doing right now.

• I refuse to use pull-ups because they just don't make sense.  I have a bunch of the quilted, thick training pants for her. 
• I put her in her training pants right after breakfast.  She sits on the potty right away, and then every fifteen minutes thereafter, until after lunch (naptime).  She doesn't wear any jeans or shorts. 
• I push the salty snacks and fluids to make it so that she has to pee more often.
• I have moved the potty from the bathroom to the kitchen, so that she doesn't have as far to go.  This also helps as I need to be able to keep an eye on Pip. 
• I took her shopping for pretty 'big girl undies'.  She knows that she will get to wear them when she learns to go pee in the potty. 
• I printed off a couple of different charts and got some Hello Kitty stickers for her to use when she actually goes on the potty. 
• I give her a Smartie (like an m&m... it's a Canadian thing) every time she sits on the potty.  I've told her that she will get two smarties when she goes pee on the potty and three when she goes poop. 
• We sing songs and read stories while she's on the potty to keep her seated and relaxed. 
• We have tried "teaching" her stuffed puppy, Stanley, to go on the potty so that we can celebrate and go through the whole process.

And still... NOTHING.  Not a single drop in the potty. 

Repeatedly, she will sit on the potty for a while, then get up without doing anything.  Then, later, she will pee in her pants without even noticing.  Seriously, she doesn't notice that she's wet.

I'm getting really sick of cleaning up puddles.  And we don't have laminate or hard wood.  Just linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom, but we live in the living room.  Carpet.  *sigh*

I'm so angry with myself for being pushed into trying to start training her last summer.  It was ridiculous, but it's now set us up for this cycle of frustration and feeling like a failure (yeah, that's totally on me.  She seems oblivious, except for being irritated with having to interrupt playtime to go sit on the potty). 

I know that she's feeling my frustration.  How can she not?  A big part of me wants to pack it in until her birthday next November. 

Someone, anyone, please... tell me that this will happen.  That she won't be the only kindergartener still in diapers. 

(And I swear to heaven above, I won't even bother trying to start training Pip until he's 3!)

Random Parenting Ponderings

Hey Humble Readers...

I hope you're all well, cozy in your homes.  It snowed here in the Shire for more than 24 hours and we are hanging out at around -5C for a daytime high.  I finally caved yesterday and turned on the furnace.  Last year I made it until November 5th.  *sigh*  Oh well... at least we have a furnace to turn on, right?

So, I've had some parenting stuff wander through my head recently, and I'm wondering where you all stand on these things.

Potty Training - When did the word training become verboten?  Bathroom education... toilet learning... heck I've even read the term 'personal waste management' used.  Why is 'training' a bad word?  We hire personal trainers, train for marathons, and we even play games to train our brains to keep them sharp.  Why is it wrong to call learning to use the toilet potty training?  It really is training... Ginny is having to train her brain to recognize the messages her body is sending.  Is this just a case of political correctness run amok, or am I completely missing the boat?

Sleep - I hesitate to bring this up, simply because I know we have gotten off sooooooo easy in this department.  Many of my friends have gone for months, even years without a complete night's sleep on account of wee-lings that won't sleep when the rest of the world does.  We have a situation with two wee-lings who go to bed at different times, in the same room.  Ginny goes to bed at 7:30pm and Pippin is adjusting to sleeping through the night without his 11pm feeding.  It's time for him to be sleeping in the nursery all night rather than starting the night in the living room and then being moved to his crib much later.  Ginny is a good sleeper, but she's a light sleeper, and I don't want to wreck her great sleep routine by introducing a squawking little man into the situation.  How do those of you with twins or more than one wee-ling handle them sleeping in the same room?  Any advice to share?

Ginny's Birthday - Our wee sweet girl will be two sooner rather than I care to admit, and I'm having some difficulties with my plans for her birthday party.  First, I decided back in the summer that I wanted to do a "Build Her Library" birthday party (using library cards as invitations, and encouraging her guests to bring books rather than toys because her birthday is so close to Christmas).  My MIL has questioned this idea whenever I bring it up, implying that Ginny is too young to be given a lot of 'nice' storybooks.  Yes, Ginny has recently been hard on some of her books, loving them to death as some little ones do with their stuffies or blankies.  But she so loves having stories read to her, and I want to increase the variety of stories she has to choose from.  Second, I'm struggling with who to invite to the party.  Ginny only has one real little friend, from church.  I want to invite the aunts and uncles, but I don't want it to seem like a gift grab kind of situation.  A second birthday doesn't strike me as much of a milestone birthday as the first... or rather I'm afraid they won't see it as such.  I want her to have a nice celebration of her, but I don't want anyone to feel obligated.  Does that make any sense at all?? 

I have other things rattling around in my brain, but I think I'll stop here for now.  Looking forward to hearing your input... :)

Memorable Moment Mondays: Potty Time!

Howdy Humble Readers...

Well here we are... Twenty and a half months into this whole Mummy-gig, and I'm facing one of my biggest fears. 

POTTY TRAINING!

We started this morning after breakfast, and so far I think things are going pretty good.  We're at about a 50-50 success rate.  Ginny is getting used to the pavlovian response thing... I've got the alarm set on my cell to remind us every 25-30 minutes to go take a potty break. 

One lesson already learned... Do not assume she doesn't get it.  She was sitting in her high chair at lunch, and saying "Potty!  Potty!" at the top of her lungs.  I thought she was just repeating the word... When we went to get her out of her chair, she had wet through her training pants.  Big oops on Mummy's part.

It is a big step for our wee sweet girl, and I'm so proud of her for just going with the flow.  ummmm.... no pun intended. :)

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Posted as a part of PAIL Bloggers' Memorable Monday Series.  Click over and check out what everyone else is sharing today!

Hobbit-ish Potpurri: A Summer Night's Ramblings

Howdy Humble Readers,

I apologize for my prolonged absence from the blogosphere.  Honestly, the crap going on in my extended family is taking its toll on my creativity and desire to write.  I have made the decision that for the time being I am not going to blog details what's going on with my parents.  It's enough to say that my sister and I have pondered several times in the past week about just when we became fodder for the Je.rry Sp.ring.er show.  It's sad, gut-wrenching, and I honestly have never been so angry in my whole life. 

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I have a project in the works that I hope turns out well for my Beloved's Father's Day gift.  It's not anything spectacular, but it's fun.  Of course, I got the idea off Pinterest.  We'll see if it turns into a success or a big ol' Pin-fail.  On a related note, I can attest to the calming effect of perusing pins.  I think I have added more pins to my boards in the last week than I have since I started. 

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I ended up going to see Snow White & The Huntsman with a couple of my girlfriends (thank heaven for a night out of the asylum!).  It was just as I was expecting.  So long as Kristin Stewart wasn't talking or the primary focus on the screen, it was an okay movie.  Her performance was as dull as can be expected, and the only remarkable thing about it was that it was obvious that she was trying to copy Emma Watson's accent, when she remembered to use a British accent.  I can see it being nominated for art direction, costumes, or special effects in the next award season.  The main thing that stood out to me and my friends was that it ripped off a lot of other fantasy movies.  There were some serious LOTR and Harry Potter moments, along with other movies.  BTW, the guy who plays the Huntsman (I can't recall his name) is super yummy!

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Ginny has developed a new, very annoying habit that we are at a loss as to how to fix.  She is fixated on her diaper, particularly with taking it off when she's in her crib.  I'm honestly not sure if it's an attention getting thing, if it's because she's no longer in onesie shirts so she has more access to her diaper, if it's because they have Elmo on them (her new obsession), or if it's because she's ready for potty training.  It's most likely all of the above.  It means we're doing a lot of laundry, and it's just icky. 

I'm not ready to start potty training yet, because we are going to be travelling next month, and that would just be too stressful.  I'm also wondering if it's in response to Pip's arrival, and she'll just grow out of it.  I've been given a couple of suggestions, but I'm wondering if any of my bloggy friends have any other insights. 

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I have purchased a tomato plant.  It's out on our balcony and I'm hoping that I might improve my black-thumb status by getting at least one good tomato off the silly thing.  If that works, maybe next year I'll branch out and try peppers too.

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I'm definitely dealing with some serious hormonal changes this week.  My post-baby bleeding has almost completely stopped (finally!) and my milk supply has already begun to diminish even though I pump every 3-4 hours during the day and whenever little man wakes up at night.  I have Mt. Vesuvius erupting on my cheek, along with a flock of whiteheads around my nose.  Why oh why must I have zits and fine lines at the same time?