Keeping it real..

In an effort to keep this blog real and honest, I need to vent.  The last 18 hours as a parent of a soon-to-be 2-year old have been a challenge.  Delaney has exhibited some of her worst behavior to date, and my patience is definitely waning.  After a remarkably peaceful and successful week of potty training at home last week with lots of quality, fun time, she has taken a turn for the worse.  We had a few neighbors over for the Super Bowl Sunday night, so D was up about an hour later than normal.  I am assuming this is the root of this crazy behavior, if it's not I'm really in trouble. 

Delaney went back to Holly's yesterday, which obviously presented her with new potty training challenges.  She did all right, better than Craig & Holly expected and a little worse than I hoped for with 2 accidents.  All in all, we'll call it a wash and try to more success today.  I don't know if the excitement of being back with her friends at Holly's or the lack of sleep from the night before finally caught up with her, but last night (from 5:30-8:30 and this morning from 8 until 8:30 have been some of the most frustrating hours of being a parent). 

I'm trying to look at it with perspective, but in the heat of the moment it's been a nightmare.  She doesn't listen to a word coming out of my mouth.  One minute she's putting goldfish crackers in my clean crock pot while sitting in the middle of the kitchen table, and the next she's throwing a cup of water at me (that she had just requested!).  She didn't want to eat, go potty, or stay away from the hot stove.  She screamed all through her bath, refused pajamas, and demanded "Tinkle, Tinkle" a.k.a. "Twinkle, Twinkle" while running around naked as if her hair was on fire. This morning, she didn't want her hair done, her coat on before her hat, or her hat on without her coat.  She wanted her Mickey Mouse book in the car, not the Puppy book.  She didn't want Cheerios in her cup, she wanted Goldfish.  She wanted her Goldfish in a bowl, not the snack cup with the lid.  ALL of this is worthy of crying, stomping, and full on tantrum throwing.  She's even putting herself in Time-Out--might be a sign that we need a new method of discipline?!?

By the time she went to bed last night(meaning we put in her bed, kissed her good night, and walked out of the room), we were both in tears and beyond frustrated.  I was at my wits end with exhaustion, frustration, and guilt.  Craig didn't know what to do with either of us...poor guy, stuck in a house full of estrogen!  I feel like a horrible mother on days like this...it's the worst feeling in the world.  I love that little girl more than life itself, but she's definitely testing me...  Thankfully, it seems as though so far she is saving all this behavior for me.

I've been praying for patience and wisdom to handle these situations better.  I can only guess we will have more and more of these nights as we inch closer to age 2 let alone the teenage years.  I just hope that I can handle them with more grace sooner rather than later.  I know how many people out there would kill for a chance to be a parent, and I know that there are many parents out there dealing with far more serious issues than the "Terrible 2s".  Don't get me wrong I see the big picture, but the small screen is kicking my butt!  I still can't help but love that little stinker!

Advertures in Potty Training

Disclaimer...I'm sure you all don't care about Delaney's bathroom habits, but I wanted to record this for future reference for myself.  I threw in the pictures to keep you entertained while I ramble on.

Well, we did it.  We have officially started the potty training process.  Last Saturday morning, Delaney said "Good-bye" to her diapers and opened three fun new sets of "Big Girl Pants".  Of course, she had no idea of what any of this meant, but we went with it.  I broke out my old running watch that has a nice little timer feature, and we went to work.  The words, "Delaney, do you need to go potty?" have become my new catch phrase.  I probably have asked her this 1,000 times in the last 4 days.  I'm sure she's just as tired of hearing it as I am of asking it.  She almost always replies, "No, Mommy!"  So, whenever we are nearing the 20-30 minute mark, I make her go sit and try.  She inevitably has to go every time.  Seriously, this girl is like a never ending fountain!  We made 25 successful trips to the Big Girl Potty yesterday alone...25, translation 50 M&Ms.

Yes, I am following a reward system.  After taking a poll of the best Moms I know and reading a lot on the subject online, I decided rewards were the way to go.  Positive reinforcement+the least amount of negativity (meaning, not screaming at her for an accident)=SUCCESS!  I know my kid loves her sweets, so I thought M&Ms would be a good choice...simple, low-mess, cheap, etc.  (The hardest part is keeping Craig out of the bowl!)  Anyway for every successful #1, she gets two M&Ms.  They are the Valentine's variety, so they are all pink and red...so very girly!  She also gets one Elmo sticker to put on her board.  I bought this Elmo Potty coloring book for $2 at Target last week, and it came with this little poster tracking system, so I figured we'd give that a whirl too.  It also gives us something to talk about while she's "trying".  Most of the time I am reminder her of the rewards, she is not asking for them.

Successful #2 trips trigger a full on fiesta at our house.  There is singing, dancing, and lots of rewards!  She gets a small Sesame Street little toy figurine, 6 Smarties candies, One big punching balloon (6-pack out of the $1 section at Target), and a big Sesame Street sticker.  She is having lots of fun with all her new stuff.  Of course, Izzy HATES all the balloons, but the rest of us like them.  Delaney is understanding that she gets rewards for successes and nothing for the failures, but I don't think we are the point where she is just going for the candy...YET!  When we get there, we will stop the excessive rewards!

Generally speaking, we have had very few accidents since we began the process.  Four times each of the first three days, and then absolutely NONE yesterday!   Yesterday, she even started telling me when she needed to go BEFORE she was going.  PROGRESS!!!  We've been taking it one step at a time, so now we are working on the logistics.  Next up, pulling down her own pants.  I already know that as soon as she figures this out, it will backfire and we'll have a streaker running down the street!  Unfortunately, it's a risk we will have to take as sooner or later she has to be able to do this process on her own.  My little girl is growing up!

So, I initially though that I was wasting my time.  Holly is closed this week, and Delaney had some signs of readiness, so I thought we'd give it a try.  I didn't have high hopes or expectations.  We showed no improvement from Day 1-Day 3, and she showed really no interest in the process.  She didn't get mad when she had the accidents in her new pants.  She didn't care when I told her "we don't go potty in our pants".  She showed no inkling of understanding what we were trying to do!  She immediately recognized when she had an accident and told us, but she wasn't completely upset about it like I thought she might be.  She has also requested her "Dora pants" a few times, which I didn't think was a good sign!

Delaney is not ready for sleepy time potty training!  She just isn't!  She's too young, she sleeps too hard, she doesn't have enough control etc.  The first day I tried nap time with just "Big Girl Pants" and towels, and that was an epic fail.  We have been using Pull-ups for naps and overnight since, and so far it is working fine.  There is no regression between the two.  I'm completely fine with this system for a while.  She isn't even 2 yet, so I feel like there is no reason to push our luck.  She has even been waking up drier (not completely dry, but not soaked like normal) in the morning, so maybe we are making progress there too!  

So, we aren't there yet, but we have made some huge strides in the last few days.  We have 4 more days at home until life returns to normal, and Delaney goes back to Holly's.  I hope by then we are making less trips to the bathroom every day, and Delaney is able to handle more of the process for herself so she doesn't completely monopolize Holly's time.  I expected far more stress with this, so I am pleasantly surprised thus far.  The process of this is absolutely exhausting, but the thought of never having to buy diapers again (for Delaney at least) is amazing!  I'm so proud of my little, BIG girl!

Picture Post

Delaney has been nurturing her shoe fetish by modeling some of my more fun options around the house!  She loves these teal, sparkle numbers from my "O" Street, college days!

We started swimming again a couple weeks ago!  Delaney had a little 4 week period when she wasn't into the swimming thing so much, but thankfully that has subsided and she's had a lot of fun that last couple weeks.  She is really, really close to back floating all by herself...like "Look, Mom, no hands--by herself!"

 

 

We celebrated Delaney's boyfriend, Reed's 2nd Birthday Party!  It's so hard to believe that these little babies are all of a sudden TWO!  Oh, my!

We also celebrated our niece, Sydney's, 9th birthday!  We still can't get over the fact that she's 9...when did that happen!  Delaney also got some quality time in with her family that day!

 

Do you know what this pile of stuff means?  We are going to attempt potty-training starting Saturday morning?!?  Delaney is showing some of the "Signs of Readiness", and our daycare is closed next week so I thought I'd give it a whirl!  We will see what happens, wish us luck...and PATIENCE!

Delaney's First Battle Wound

Yesterday when I picked Delaney up from Holly's with a report I hadn't ever gotten from Holly..."Delaney got hurt today."  Sure she's had some minor scrapes and bruises, but this is definitely the first real "accident".  In typically Delaney style, she was running around being silly and fell (possibly tripped over a toy) and crashed into the corner of one of Holly's walls.  Her face took the brunt of the fall as you can see.  The picture isn't the greatest, as it was with my phone and she was so wound up when I tried to take it.  Holly said that Delaney barely cried, which is exactly what we would expect out of hour indestructible little brute.  Today her eye was a little puffy and the redness is changing over to a nice purple bruise when she woke up.  Her eyelid is a little black.  I'd say considering how rough and tough Delaney is, we're pretty lucky this is her first "injury"...and a totally minor one at that!  I think we may have to do some touch up work on Holly's wall since D's head is pretty hard! 

In other Delaney news, she has been spending a lot of time in "time out" at home.  Her ornery streak is shining brightly these days.  She has also figured out that she must say she's sorry (in the form of a hug) after time out, so how she will try to stand up immediately and give me hug to avoid a timeout.  She's too smart for her own good!  I have a hard time not laughing at her sometimes when she's being naughty!  Holly and I have decided that Delaney is starting the "Terrible 2s" a little early as her ornery behavior is becoming more of the norm.  Lord give me patience as I have a feeling this is going to get worse before it gets better! 

She is also having some more "flukes" with the big girl potty.  She has had success probably over a handful of times now.  I'm still not convinced she really gets it, but she does seem to talk about "potty" & "poop" more now, and has even asked to go potty and gone on at least one occasion!  We are still not pushing the issue as she is so young, but she gets the opportunity to go every night before bath and any other time she asks which isn't all that often right now.  Could we be so lucky that she will potty train herself before the age of 2?  We shall see...

Big Girl Potty Success

This is a post mainly for my own reference, but it's a pretty big deal.  Delaney successfully used the big girl potty for the very first time last night.  We had a rough evening with a lot of tantrums, crying, and screaming.  She was tired and getting more tired every minute, so we decided on a early bath.  For the last couple weeks we have been sitting her on the "potty" right before bath.  We aren't pushing the potty training yet, but we figured we'd get her used to the idea.  She is also very into sitting on chairs and things, so it's "fun" for her right now. 

Last night was just like any other (except Craig was working late, so it was just us girls).  Daddy typically does bathtime with D, it's one of  "their things".  I stripped her down and set her up on the throne, and said "Go potty D".  I was putting my hair in a ponytail when I heard a little tinkle.  Of course, I freaked out and we clapped and cheered!  Delaney enjoyed this thoroughly and joined in with a big grin and lots of clapping.  I'm sure she had no idea what the big deal was, but we will take it.  It's a start! 

I don't plan to actively potty train her for a while yet, unless this is the start of some crazy new occurrence!  So far in the 18 months of Delaney's life, she has achieved all of the "milestones" at her own pace.  She could have crawled, walked, talked, etc. long before she actually did.  She's stubborn and independent, so she does things when she's good and ready.  I'm not expecting anything different when it comes to potty training.  She will have to decide when she wants to do it, and that will be it!  Last night was a tiny first step in that direction!  Way to go Delaney, Mommy is so proud of you!  (Although, it does make Mommy a little sad to see you growing up so fast!)