Yesterday marked 4 weeks into my journey with two little ones and things are going really well.
Thanks to wonderful friends and family for the meals they brought that helped me get into a groove before having to worry about dinner every night. Thanks also to Baby Wise for helping me get my groove back.
Avery is doing great! She’s eating like a champ, taking regular naps and even sleeping decent stretches at night. Praise the Lord for giving mama sleep! :)
Grace has totally embraced her new role as big sister. Aside from some tantrums early on girlfriend has seemed to grow up over night! She’s talking more than ever and using new words every day. She takes after me in that she’s very observant and notices every little thing.
The other night at dinner she asked Andy if he got a haircut. He HAD gotten a haircut the night before, but he got home after she went to bed, so she hadn’t seen him since before his appointment! I don’t always notice his haircuts right away, so we were shocked that she noticed!
She always notices when I get dressed up (probably because I’m in lounge wear 97% of the time) and she’ll gently caress my necklace and tell me how much she loves my earrings. I’d also be hard-pressed to paint my toenails without her getting all excited and begging me to paint hers too.
I love her vibrant little spirit and it’s been fun to see her develop into a little girl before our eyes.
Not so fun have been her “big girl” messy diapers. YUCK!
With a capital Y!
I was hopeful that she’s be interested in potty training this summer after she turned 2, but even with a cool new potty, pretty big girl undies and the promise of M&M’s (a.k.a. chocolate treats) she wanted nothing to do with it. She’d cry when I suggested trying the potty and if I ever did get her to have a seat on it, she’s freak out before letting herself actually go.
I wasn’t in a huge hurry to train her because diapers are easier for the most part…no accidents or rushing to find a potty. But lately when her diapers have gotten particularly gross and have been leaking on her clothes and pajamas, I decided enough was enough. I was ready and I think she was too.
For a couple of days I told her that she was a big girl now and that big girls used the potty. I emphasized that Avery is a baby and that’s why she wears diapers, but Grace was a big girl and they wear big girl undies.
I also decided to invest in a little “motivation”. I’m not one for bribing kids to do things that they ought to just do, but I thought the potty process might benefit from a little incentive. At Target the other day we picked out another pack of big girl undies that were Disney Princess themed and we also grabbed a Cinderella Barbie.
Grace LOOOVES Cinderella and is practically obsessed with her glass slippers and crown so I knew this Barbie would be something she’d really love. I told her that Cinderella Barbie was going to stay in the box and live in our bathroom until Grace used the potty 3 times in a row.
The next morning we got started with the 3 potty use countdown. I took Grace’s diaper off and was about to suit her up in a new pair of Cinderella big girl undies, but she stopped me from putting them on and asked to use the potty first.
I obliged and what do you know, she sat down and went poop and pee immediately!
I was blown away!
All those months of being afraid of the potty, not wanting to sit on it, peeing in her pants when we tried them on and here she was, the first morning after Cinderella Barbie moved into the bathroom and she was going on the potty!
Since it’s hard for a two and a half year old to understand how many times she has to do something before getting her reward, I wrote up a simple chart showing her that the 1st time she used the potty she’d get M&M’s, the 2nd time she she’d get more M&M’s and the 3rd time she’d get the Barbie.
After jumping around and praising her, we texted Daddy and called Grandma to brag about the good news. Grace loved her M&M’s and was excited to get a check mark on her potty sheet.
A little while later, she used the potty again, got more M&M’s and another check on her sheet!
After that was nap time so we used a diaper for that (I’m not ready to change sheets all the time yet) and then we had a playdate with some friends so we used a diaper for that too.
Last night she didn’t have to go before bed, so we just diapered her up and tucked her in. This morning her diaper was pretty wet, but didn’t leak. We got her into a pair of big girl undies right when she woke up and later this morning she went potty for the 3rd time and got to open her Cinderella!
She’s so excited about the doll and I can tell that she loves the feeling of her new undies as opposed to the bulky diapers which have been bothering her for a while.
We haven’t had any accidents yet, but I know they are inevitable and just part of the process. I’m really excited that we’ve made some progress and I’m looking forward to being able to flush her yucky messes rather than having to deal with gross diapers!
Avery turned 4 weeks old yesterday! I can’t believe how fast the weeks have passed, but in many ways it also feels like she’s always been a part of our family.
I can’t exactly figure out her temperament just yet, but so far she seems kind of easy going. She doesn’t get too bent out of shape about messy diapers, she lets Grace hug and squeeze her without putting up much of a fuss and as long as she’s not tired or hungry, she’s pretty content to chill out just about anywhere.
When Grace was 2 months old I took a few pictures of her in this cute black and white dress my friend Kortney bought so I thought I’d so the same thing with little Miss Avery when I saw the dress in her closet this morning :)