Two big parts of Elliette's world right about now...
She got her first "shiner" the other night..of course the night before we have a check up appointment at the doctor. She is a little daredevil! It's a combination of having no fear and trying to keep up with her big brother. She was climbing up on our ottoman in our basement; slipped and smacked her eye right on the corner of a wooden tray we keep on top of the ottoman. Needless to say she burst into tears and her poor eye was instantly swollen, almost swollen shut.
Normally she is pretty resilient but this little boo-boo had her down and out for awhile. The next day was almost worse and as it became less swollen it got more and more black and blue. People are constantly asking what happened (some people are genuinely concerned and some randoms are probably checking my "story", whatever). As of today it looks like she is wearing beautiful smokey eye make up in shades of purple, blue, and green.
On to potty training...
For being a mere 21 months old this girl is rocking the potty situation!
Let me add my disclaimer here: I know there is a lot of controversy over what age is appropriate to potty train...Ellie was showing major signs of readiness and I am not "forcing" her or "tricking" her into toilet training; if she wasn't ready, we wouldn't bother.
A couple months ago she started taking her diapers off. Sometimes she would wake up from her nap bare butt in the air, but she mostly liked to take the poopy diapers off. Once she started leaving poop smears down her leg and all over the floor I decided it was time to teach her to use the potty. For about a week she didn't was totally not interested and I was at the point where I was ready to let her be and just duct tape her diapers on her...then like magic the next few days it started clicking for her! I think its because we got her this Minnie Mouse potty chair (she is OBSESSED with "Mi-Mi").
I have found that consistency is the biggest key when potty training. When we trained Griffinn, he was just a few months over 2 years old and I used this article
Ellie didn't respond as well to going nakie from the waist down she was just pooping and peeing on the floor...but like a typical girl she took pride in her pretty new panties and didn't want to get them dirty! We used positive reinforcement techniques including doing a serious potty dance and some small treats when she actually used the potty (not just sat on it for .5 seconds)..She was thrilled about the mini marshmallow she received as her "treat"..
Basically for the first week or so I asked her like every 10 minutes if she has to go, and whether or not she said yes, I would still take her to sit on the potty at least once an hour. For that first week she didn't really ever tell me when she had to go, we were just in and around the bathroom a lot, on the potty a lot, and got lucky a lot. She would have about 2 accidents a day (sometimes more). The second week she started telling me when she had to potty and we have even been on multiple outings without accidents.. YAY! (we always make sure to go right before we leave and once we get where ever we're going).
Going #2 is a little more tricky, we are still working on that! At home, she is about 90%...otherwise she is pretty terrified to poop on any other toilet anywhere else. Our best luck so far has been to give her a book so she will relax... Stay tuned for how that all works itself out.
What potty training this time around has taught me:
1. You can never ask "do you have to potty?" enough.
2. There are not bathrooms close enough to anything for a 1 year old's training bladder.
3. Sometimes you have to "potty" just because you want a marshmallow.
4. Pooping in a toilet is scary when you're one year old.
5. "Driving" the giant double stroller into the bathroom at Target 10x isn't any fun at all.
6. "Potty!" will almost always get shouted out right when you're all loaded up in the car about to pull out of the driveway.
What are you best potty training stories?
