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Thursday, January 29, 2009

beaming with pride

There has been a big development in the Menor household as of late! I am proud to say that Olivia is potty trained!!!! Yes, it is true...she has gone without an accident for over a week now and we are so very proud of her. Well, I think she is just as proud of herself as we are of her. It all started a few weeks ago. We stayed in most of the weekend and thought it would be a good idea to let her run around in underpants. We tried this a few months ago and I spent most of the weekend cleaning up puddles of pee on the floor. I think that was her way of telling us that she just wasn't ready. Well something must have just clicked in her head because this time around it worked and she went in the potty multiple times.

We have actually been working with her on potty training since she was 18 months old. She showed a great deal of interest at first and was actually using the potty pretty regularly at 18 months. Since that time her desire to use the potty has only gone downhill. Getting her to sit on the potty was a struggle and she was completely content to do her business in her diaper...making sure to tell us as soon as she was finished, of course. I finally realized that I was not going to persuade her to use the potty before she was actually ready. And after thinking about it I also realized that it seemed she did not have the muscle control to be able to decide when she needed to go. I read over and over again how they will decide when they are ready. I found that hard to believe and I may have pushed it more than I should have (I am a first time parent, ya know). She clearly decided when she was ready and now she has it mastered. So for any new parents out there that are getting to that stage, just remember that they will go when they are ready. Believe me, I found that advice hard to take, but it really is true.

Now nighttime training is still probably a little ways off. I don't think we can expect much until she is in a big girl bed. It is kind of hard to go potty at night when you are within the confines of a crib. And I have no intentions of moving her to a big girl bed until this spring/summer, so that part will just have to wait. (Yes, I am trying to hold onto my baby as long as possible.) I think the fact that she is learning to go during the day is good enough for now. I fully expect for us to have a set back, or two. I know that often happens. But we are continuing to encourage her and the fact that she gets to wear big girl underpants is all the encouragement Olivia seems to need right now. I am really fortunate that Olivia's babysitter and her teachers have been so supportive during this time. They have helped Olivia stay on track and feel good about her accomplishment. We are so lucky to have so many great people helping us with our sweet girl.

That is really all that has been going on with us right now. It is a pretty big deal and has been taking up a great deal of our time. I am doing my best not to talk about the fact that our winter just keeps dragging on and on. I am also trying not to complain about how all of the recent snow caused my car to get stuck and as result I did over a thousand dollars worth of mechanical damage as I frantically tried to escape. Yes, I am still wallowing in the bad news from my mechanic today. Spring cannot come soon enough as far as I am concerned, and if I never have to drive in this snow again I will be happy. So instead of focusing on all of that yucky stuff I am going to state once again how proud of Olivia I am, for mastering one of the most important tasks a human being must learn to do. I never thought I would get so excited about another person going to the bathroom, but it is hard to contain your excitement when you witness your child learning something new. I will leave you with a few pictures from a recent bubble bath. Goodness, that child loves the bath. Looking at this face always seems to make all of life's silly little problems melt away (or at least seem less important). Thank you, Olivia!


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I adore the many faces of Olivia. I think she has done amazingly well for just a little over 2.
Nana

Kim said...

Good Job Livie!!! Do you still use monitors? If so, even though she is still in crib, you might train her to ask you to take her potty in the night. She can maintain her continence at night as well as learn it is OK to get up in the night to pee. Just because she is in a crib doesnt mean she cant be night trained, you just might have to break out the monitors again. You might remind her to "not get elmo wet" at night and to ask mommy to come take you potty. As smart as she is she will master it! This advice coming from a mama with two untrained 3 year-olds,LOL. But it does work, as an entire panel of moms could tell you at my message board.:) Good luck!!!WE are proud of you Livie!!!!

Wormie said...

Yay Livie!!!

With all the amazing things she does, who would thing that pee-pee on the pottie would make you this happy!! She's precious, and I'm so glad she's proud of herself.

Sorry about your car. Nobody was hurt -that's all that matters!

Love you!
Delia