Hello! Long time no blog. Don't think I need to tell you how crazy life has been nowadays. Blogging ultimately has taken a back ride although there were times that my fingers were itching to tap on the keyboard. Guess today is one of those days! Can't contain the excitement as it has been over a year since our intention to potty train che-che O. I can now declare that she is officially nappy free!! Yay!!!!
Well, we had been really good with the pee-pee. Not even wearing nappies during naps and at night. She would wake up in the morning and go to the toilet herself. Not 100% accident free. Like last night, we were out and she had announced that she needed the loo but fell asleep on the way home. We completely forgot about waking her up to empty her bladder first. Aiyaiyai... messy... just when I needed my sleep... Anyway, still very proud of her.
Then came the poo-poo bit. She just for some reason would refuse to poo in the toilet or potty. Maybe it's the sight? The smell? On and off I would throw her the question of poo-ing in the toilet or nappy again and it had always been nappy. Then a few weeks back, we had two last nappies and I had prompted her and asked her what is she going to do after the last nappy has been used up. She replied to poo in the toilet. This scenario is actually not new. It happened before and she just ended up not wanting to poo at all or throw a fuss and cry for nappies! This time round, D-(poo)-day arrived and I asked her where would she want to do it and she again replied at the toilet. So I calmly brought her to the toilet and stayed with her holding her hands (and my breathe) till she did it! I couldn't believe it at first! She actually did it! I just kept praising her and reminded her how clean it is to poo in the toilet and not get your bum all smeared in poo. She was of course feeling chuffed herself. And we of course had to call Papa to tell him about the business. And I of course had to reward her with lots of stickers. Low and behold, she went about the poo business that same night again! *Doing a little dance*
I guess this potty training thing can't be rushed and when the little one is ready, it will just happen one day. I'm just glad that day came before her 21st birthday! ;-D
Showing posts with label {potty training}. Show all posts
Showing posts with label {potty training}. Show all posts
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Potty Re-training Day ??
I just realised that we have been travelling and having visitors non-stop since the beginning of August till about an hour ago. What brilliant timing This Mama has to start potty training. Nappies were more on than off during this period of time. However, since we came back home from breakfast this morning, I was surprised by the request of wearing panties instead of a nappy as well as pee-ing and poo-ing in the potty without being asked at all!!!! I was really chuffed that Baby O actually told me that she wanted to pang-sai in the potty and willingly sat for a good 10 or so minutes before poo-ing in the potty! If you know her, she usually hides and does her 'business' and tells you that she has done it later if she has her nappy on. She has also been so used to doing it standing up (Yes, I know!) that it was previously difficult to convince her to sit and do it in the potty. So I think this is a real achievement! She was also so proud of herself that she wanted to call her Po-po (grandma) and Gung-gung (grandpa) what she did! Lol. Certainly hope that we will be nappy-free really soon! Although I must admit that I do miss the convenience of the nappy sometimes! ;-P Especially now that I am carrying a huge bump along everywhere I go!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Potty Re-training Day 9-11
Have still been putting on the nappy for Baby O at night. She still wakes up with a wet nappy so have not dared try to go nappy-less yet.
Today we went to a friends house with pull-up pants on but she still did her shee-shee in the toilet. Yay!! After her afternoon nap, my in-laws arrived and the next few days was again back on a mixture of panties at home and nappies outside (which was most of the time).
Next week is a long holiday and we will be back in our hometown. Expecting on and off nappy days again. Hmm... guess going completely nappy-less will take a little longer as I have cleverly chosen these few weeks with the maximum disruption to our routine to start potty training off! Nevertheless, I am still really proud of the progress we have made even with all these disruptions in the way! Way to go, girl!
Today we went to a friends house with pull-up pants on but she still did her shee-shee in the toilet. Yay!! After her afternoon nap, my in-laws arrived and the next few days was again back on a mixture of panties at home and nappies outside (which was most of the time).
Next week is a long holiday and we will be back in our hometown. Expecting on and off nappy days again. Hmm... guess going completely nappy-less will take a little longer as I have cleverly chosen these few weeks with the maximum disruption to our routine to start potty training off! Nevertheless, I am still really proud of the progress we have made even with all these disruptions in the way! Way to go, girl!
Potty Re-training Day 8
Hmm.. Baby O managed to shee-shee in the potty today but... she poo-ed in her pants as she did not want to poo in the potty. Then she had a loooong nap. More than three hours to be precised and I found her all wet in her pee.... Other than that, I guess she still did very well overall!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Potty Re-training Day 7
Today is actually the day we tried to put on training pants again after Baby O's grandparents left. Surprisingly Baby O was willing to do so. Again I had to remind her to tell me if she needs a wee so that she will not wet her 'trains' (on the pants). The morning was slow until after some water intake in the late morning. She actually told me that she wanted to shee-shee in the potty and she did! In fact, she did all her pee in the potty as well as the toilet when we were upstairs without the potty! So proud of her. I even left her in her training pants during nap time this time.
We were out post-nap so the pull-up pants went back on again. Overall, still chuffed that we had a zero accident first half of the day.
We were out post-nap so the pull-up pants went back on again. Overall, still chuffed that we had a zero accident first half of the day.
Potty Re-training Day 2-6
Baby O's grandparents arrived yesterday. I know we are supposed to potty train when there are not much changes to baby/toddler's routine but there is just not much time left with! With all the going outs, and just one day of training, I did not take the risk and got her back on pull-up pants (and nappies) from the time her grandparents arrived till yesterday when they left. Even when at home when we asked if she wants to shee-shee in the potty, she just went 'No'. Hrmph....
Potty Re-training Day 1
There's so much to prepare before the arrival of our little prince! One would have thought that having a second one would be much easier but...
Anyway, one of the 'projects' we have to embark on is Mission Potty Train! We have tried to potty train Baby O before with well, no success and I am determined to get it out of the way before little di-di arrives (and to achieve my Act of Green pledge from last year!). A friend who knows that I am trying to train Baby O has very generously loaned me tonnes of these re-usable training pants. (She has four boys. That explains the colours and the trains...) Since we were running out of nappies, I used it as an excuse to start training her. I told her that we had no more nappies but I got her some 'new panties' and they have trains on them! That kinda got her excited to wear them. So she had on 'panties' and I reminded her what felt like every five minutes or so that she had to shee-shee (slang for pee) in the potty so that she doesn't wet the trains on her panties. We had about four accidents in maybe two hours. Baby O must have forgotten that she was without nappies.
I left the potty in the living room for easier access and during one of those times when she wanted to sit and wee, I gave her a little book and read together and waited and then... she did it! You should have seen her beaming face. I praised her and we gave each other high-fives. We were both so proud.
She even did a poo while I was cooking lunch! She told me she wanted to shee-shee again so we got her 'panty' off. While sitting there, she said she was gonna pang-sai (slang for poo) instead! She got a little panicky but I told her to sit there and wait for me and she finished before I could get to her. I again showered her with praises and high-fives and made a big fuss of what she had done while she kept asking me to quickly wash the potty. Haha...
Anyway, I didn't dare to attempt to let her continue to be nappy-less during nap time so I dug out some pull-up pants for her before nap time. When she saw them, she went 'Yay!!! Nappy!!!'. That was hilarious. I didn't want her to think that we still have nappies so I pretended to take out a pack of swim nappies and told her that those were swim nappies. Then I quickly hid the pull-up nappy pants together with the pile of training pants. When I changed her into the pull-up pants, she then said that she wanted to go swimming as she thought that I was wearing a swim nappy for her. Hmm... Mental note: Can't lie to toddler anymore.
These all happened before Baby O's grandparents arrived for the week..... Now, what next?
Friday, April 22, 2011
Earth Day 2011
Been away and will blog about it later. It's Earth Day today. I may not be an award winning environmentalist but preserving the Earth for our future generations and teaching our kids to love the world they live in is important to me so I'm stealing some time to write just a little about it.
Last year I pledged to:
1. Potty train Baby O. Failed big time. Well, at least we tried. Numerous times. Unfortunately I think she is now traumatised by the whole experience and may take her even longer to be trained! Yikes!
2. Switch off all electrical items when not in use and not leave on standby. Quite a success except for the Astro decoder which they want us to leave on standby mode for updates. Hmm...
3. Use a tiffin carrier or own containers for taking away food. Done whenever we know that we are going to take away. Other times still rely on the containers provided by the food seller. I must comment though that a lot of them have actually switched to recyclable paper boxes or plastic wares which we can reuse and not polystyrene anymore. Bravo to them!
Other things that we have been doing:
recycle our milk cartons, egg trays, glass bottles, cereal boxes, etc.
compost though we have unfortunately stopped doing so due to space constrain.
planted own veg though not every plant was successful as everytime we are away even for just the weekend, our poor plants succumb to the heat and lack of water :( We still have sweet potato, ginger, chilli and pandan to harvest from now.
use only one car and public transportation while we still can and don't need a second car.
use our own bags during shopping. I've in fact sometimes swapped a recyclable shopping for my handbag! One size fits all!
This year I pledge to:
1. Continue to try to potty train Baby O.
2. Make my own organic cleaning agent of some sort which does not contain as many harmful chemicals for us and the environment. Am keen to try a soap or shampoo but will have to source the ingredients.
3. Refashion! Dug out some old t-shirts and hoping to have a chance to make them into something else that can be worn by someone to extend the life of the materials! Very excited about this but just don't know if I'll get a chance to do so. But will pledge to anyway!
Do you have an Act of Green that you want to share with us? Remember it doesn't have to be something big! Just one small action makes a big difference! Here are some suggestions to get you going:
- Extend the life cycle of a product - re-use bags/ wrapping papers/ use both sides of the paper etc.
- Grow your own fruits and vegetables
- Reduce food waste - buy only what you need/ clear refrigerator before buying more food/ ask for less (rice/ noodles etc.) when ordering if you know you can't finish it
- Reduce use of air-conditioner by drawing the curtains to keep hot air out
- Recycle old cell phones and electronics
- Collect rain water to wash the car, water plants, etc.
- Car pool instead of driving alone
- Pay bills online
- Ask more people to join in the pledge!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Potty Training
Now that we have a potty, are we ready for potty training?? Somehow, my relatives (including) mom makes it sound really easy to potty train a child. Just put her on the potty every half hour or so and she will get the idea sooner or later. You mean I have to get her nappy off, put her on the potty for about five minutes or so, do up her nappy again and repeat the procedure in about 20 minutes' time? I don't know but I am already tired just thinking of it.
I think potty training needs some PEE, literally. Which is why I am spending some time Planing & preparing, getting the right Equipment & education and Evaluate.
PLANNING AND PREPARING
Most books from the West says that the best starting age to potty train a child is from 18 months. Some children still have accidents until they are four years of age. Amazingly, the Eastern part of the world start potty training as young as from birth! Anyway, there is probably no right age for potty training. Different ages present different pros and cons. Just do it when you and baby are ready. If you are interested, you can read more on researched-based potty training.
Anyway, the plan has been to stop buying more disposable nappies soonest possible since she was about a year old. We are now 4 months over due! It is also best to potty train a child during a time where there are minimal disturbances in her routine eg. teething, weaning, travelling, new environment, etc. Hmm... her lower molars are erupting anytime and we are thinking of weaning off the breast... However, we are not planing any travelling these coming few weeks so we can maybe start with some pre-potty training!
EQUIPMENT AND EDUCATE
A potty, some pull-up nappies and/or a dozen undies should suffice. I also bought this book at a second hand store previously in the UK but to be honest, I wonder if it will help. Every time I read this book with Baby O, she just goes pointing at all the familiar objects and naming them instead of focusing on the subject.
Reading up on the subject doesn't hurt too. I know now that most toddlers urinate averagely every two hours, about four to eight times a day. This means I need not put Baby O at the potty every half hour!
A friend gave me the Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day book by Teri Crane (the acclaimed Potty Pro). Sounds good eh? Read a few pages and found that this book is more suited for training older toddlers two years and beyond. It also involves having a Potty Party and having lots of rewards. I might come back to this if I still cannot manage to get Baby O to pee-pee in her potty when she hits 2 years of age!
Other sites I relied on are Babycenter, What To Expect, and Elizabeth Pantley's No-Cry Potty Training Solution.
EVALUATE
I did the Potty Training Readiness Quiz by Elizabeth Pantley (author of The No-Cry Potty Training Solution and other No-Cry books) and feel that we are probably at the pre-potty training stage. I can tell when Baby O does a pee or a poo but I will need her to start telling me when she wants to go. I often ask Baby O if she had done a poo-poo right after and to my dismay, she shakes her head and says 'No'!! I also need to introduce her to her potty and let her feel comfortable sitting on it. She currently probably views it as a toy and refuses to sit on it. This probably means that I will have to continue my groundwork and keep evaluating for a sign of readiness.
I can't believe that potty training is like a course on its own! Hopefully in a few month's time, both Baby O and I will be able to receive our full PT cert passed with flying colours!
I think potty training needs some PEE, literally. Which is why I am spending some time Planing & preparing, getting the right Equipment & education and Evaluate.
PLANNING AND PREPARING
Most books from the West says that the best starting age to potty train a child is from 18 months. Some children still have accidents until they are four years of age. Amazingly, the Eastern part of the world start potty training as young as from birth! Anyway, there is probably no right age for potty training. Different ages present different pros and cons. Just do it when you and baby are ready. If you are interested, you can read more on researched-based potty training.
Anyway, the plan has been to stop buying more disposable nappies soonest possible since she was about a year old. We are now 4 months over due! It is also best to potty train a child during a time where there are minimal disturbances in her routine eg. teething, weaning, travelling, new environment, etc. Hmm... her lower molars are erupting anytime and we are thinking of weaning off the breast... However, we are not planing any travelling these coming few weeks so we can maybe start with some pre-potty training!
EQUIPMENT AND EDUCATE
Reading up on the subject doesn't hurt too. I know now that most toddlers urinate averagely every two hours, about four to eight times a day. This means I need not put Baby O at the potty every half hour!A friend gave me the Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day book by Teri Crane (the acclaimed Potty Pro). Sounds good eh? Read a few pages and found that this book is more suited for training older toddlers two years and beyond. It also involves having a Potty Party and having lots of rewards. I might come back to this if I still cannot manage to get Baby O to pee-pee in her potty when she hits 2 years of age!
Other sites I relied on are Babycenter, What To Expect, and Elizabeth Pantley's No-Cry Potty Training Solution.
EVALUATE
I did the Potty Training Readiness Quiz by Elizabeth Pantley (author of The No-Cry Potty Training Solution and other No-Cry books) and feel that we are probably at the pre-potty training stage. I can tell when Baby O does a pee or a poo but I will need her to start telling me when she wants to go. I often ask Baby O if she had done a poo-poo right after and to my dismay, she shakes her head and says 'No'!! I also need to introduce her to her potty and let her feel comfortable sitting on it. She currently probably views it as a toy and refuses to sit on it. This probably means that I will have to continue my groundwork and keep evaluating for a sign of readiness.
I can't believe that potty training is like a course on its own! Hopefully in a few month's time, both Baby O and I will be able to receive our full PT cert passed with flying colours!
We Found Our Potty!
After a tip off from a friend, Baby O and I ventured into the city on our own. We drove ourselves to Lebuh Kimberley, Penang. Our friend mentioned this shop sells all things plastic and baby/ toddler related and we wouldn't miss it. That is absolutely true! As we drove past Syarikat Teik Seng looking for a parking lot, we saw lots of tricycles hanging around the double shop lot entrance, plastic chairs stacked up high, baby bouncers and so on.
I was hoping to get a potty similar to my friend's son's. The lady owner showed me a number of potties. Basic round potties, one shaped like a giraffe with handles, one with music which kept Baby O fascinated while I continued evaluating the others. I ended up with what they call a closestool potty. This potty has a cover and a removable container for the discharge. The colour and design weren't fantastic but I chose it because it is not too bad looking, affordable at RM40 (after some bargaining. Saw the same one selling online for RM49.90 excluding delivery.), looks sturdy so the contents will hopefully not spill easily, and most importantly, Baby O looks like she is able to sit comfortably on it to do what she is meant to do on it.
Well, the manufacturer of the potty claims that this closestool is comfortable, beautiful, coMvenient and safe. On the side panel, you are warned to clean the ordure with a soft wiping cloth after washing it. I had to check what 'ordure' meant and the result was 'excrement, dung'. Hmm... I don't intend to keep any ordure around...
2. Don't place the potty on the surface of hot objects or use it near the stove... (Sounds like people might mistakenly do some cooking with the contents??? Wonder who puts a potty near a stove...???)
3. Avoid strong collision. *chuckle*
Ok, we have our potty. Now what??????
I was hoping to get a potty similar to my friend's son's. The lady owner showed me a number of potties. Basic round potties, one shaped like a giraffe with handles, one with music which kept Baby O fascinated while I continued evaluating the others. I ended up with what they call a closestool potty. This potty has a cover and a removable container for the discharge. The colour and design weren't fantastic but I chose it because it is not too bad looking, affordable at RM40 (after some bargaining. Saw the same one selling online for RM49.90 excluding delivery.), looks sturdy so the contents will hopefully not spill easily, and most importantly, Baby O looks like she is able to sit comfortably on it to do what she is meant to do on it.
Well, the manufacturer of the potty claims that this closestool is comfortable, beautiful, coMvenient and safe. On the side panel, you are warned to clean the ordure with a soft wiping cloth after washing it. I had to check what 'ordure' meant and the result was 'excrement, dung'. Hmm... I don't intend to keep any ordure around...
2. Don't place the potty on the surface of hot objects or use it near the stove... (Sounds like people might mistakenly do some cooking with the contents??? Wonder who puts a potty near a stove...???)
3. Avoid strong collision. *chuckle*
Ok, we have our potty. Now what??????
Monday, July 26, 2010
Potty Training 101
While trying to get some reviews online and hopefully direction to where to get a decent potty, I found out that Mummy's Reviews™ is currently doing a giveaway. And it comes as Bouncy Baby One Size Cloth Diaper! This cloth diaper is proudly made locally in Malaysia by Tiny Tapir - a company that promotes eco-friendly lifestyle changes! You've got that right! Made locally, cloth diapers = GREEN! I have never used cloth diapers before but using all those disposable diapers really made me feel guilty about contributing to the landfills. So I am hoping that I win this giveaway to try out cloth diapers while reducing the number of disposable nappies used as I trying to get Baby O potty trained! Fingers-crossed!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Research-Based Potty Training
It's been a constant struggle to balance whatever time I have when Baby O naps/sleeps to do a little bit of replying emails, laundry, read, planning for a party which is fast approaching... (Yikes!) Anyway, have been thinking of potty training Baby O soon to save some $$ spent on diapers (price to pay for not using cloth diapers!) & play my part in being green to save the environment... Came across this site recommended in the BabyCentre UK forums - Parenting Science that tells you when to do it, how to do it, and why you do it, all based on scientific research! Didn't know they are so many people out there who'll be so interested in studying the art of pooping. It is quite good toilet reading material but if you're like me fighting for time to read, you might end up training the little one when he/she is 18!! (!?!?!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
