Last Post, Emilie's 1st day of training: Here
Emilie has had tremendous success on her second day today with an incredible leap. Waking up, I put her on the potty, and ever since then Emilie has done gone all by herself without any alarms or prompts! I’ve asked her if she’s needed to go of course, completely shocked, but she’s said no most times (of course) and just goes when she’s ready. We had to do a Walmart trip today and get Scott’s blood drawn for testing, and she had no accidents on the hour drive down, even with a nap! We made sure she had no liquid starting an hour before going, and left with a pee break before we went! We only had to pull over twice on the when she needed to pee (but not really it turned out!). I’m really shocked with after how much work I did yesterday with three minute timers, and now with today, without really having to do anything! It’s safe to say Emilie is potty trained, and now it’s just for the follow through and the rest is on me! No accidents, two poops in the potty... Girls really are easier to train! I’m sure it has to do with the child too, but goodness gracious! Here’s for Emilie, our 25 month old girl trained! Great job Emilie!
Last Post, Emilie's 1st day of training: Here
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It’s potty training time! George had three rounds of tries before we really got there, and Emilie had a really short try long ago when I found out I really wasn’t ready. Well, we’re ready this time, and so is Emilie it appears. Emilie seems adamant on keeping her diapers off, despite relentless tries on our part of putting her pants back on with a clean diaper! I would have liked to have waited more, but with her determination to be butt-naked and diaper-less (which resulted with pee on the floor anyway) it seemed the only choices left, was to either potty train or put on a metal chastity belt over the diaper (like Maid Marian had in Robin Hood, the spoof ;))! Emilie's done pretty well today, and I’m very impressed on her accomplishments with being so young! Yes, there has been poop and pee on the floor everywhere, but the successes outnumber and outweigh the accidents.
Emilie has never been a drinker, but I’ve been able to entice her with orange juice and diluted diet Root Beer, and have gotten her and George to snack on salty popcorn (which they absolutely love). Peeing a lot is pretty necessary for the three day method to work, so that's what I've been really working at, getting her to drink! I’ve set the phone timer for 3 minutes when she’s actively drinking (any longer she’ll have an accident... you set the timer as short as you need to), and she’s been going like a charm (as she sees if she waits she’ll pee all over the floor). When she had her poop accident, I just scooped up the poop, put in in her toddler potty, then set her on it. Accidents are fine and will happen, but it’s just important to cheerfully emphasize the pee/poop goes in the potty (anger and resentment will cause a a diaper relapse, and really not necessary or helpful!). For nap time and bedtime, we’ll just put diapers on. George still occasionally has accidents even though he's trained, and kids won’t relapse in traning if they’re wearing a diaper while asleep (for car rides they will though... I learned.). For trips down the hill, we're going to have her wear a dress without anything underneath, and for her car seat, put a towel layered with plastic underneath. The first 3 days are always the most intense, so I'm looking forward for the first 3 to be over... in just two more days! I’m also happy we’ll have a full week at home (Scott’s working from home all week), because that’s how much time you need to get a solid start. So, it’s basically 3 days of craziness, a week of concentration/dedication, and then 3-6 months of persistent follow through! If the first three days go well, we’ll continue, if not, she simply isn't ready, and we'll just have to figure out a way to get her to keep her diaper on! We'll try again if it isn't the time for her. With all the craziness in the change of schedule and attention so focused on her going potty, it’s pretty stressful for both the kids, and even now Emilie is having a second nap! There’s payoff though for participating in potty training though, and George and Emilie are appreciating the diet soda, juice and popcorn! This year has been fabulous and it has been an amazing and relaxing Christmas (even with our energetic kids)! We were even able to get our family picture taken by my mom instead of going to JCPenny's (see her in the photo above?). Scott was much more supportive of my cause after I told him we wouldn't have to go to JCPenny's!... that just saved us $100+ CD of photos (I've never been able to pick just a few photos before... until that one time we took pictures of all the neices and nephues... that was a mistake! Four children, three under the age of three was not the easiest).
On Christmas Eve, we had an amazing dinner of mashed potatoes and gravey, ham and green bean cassarole with Sparkling Cider on the side! It was followed with the singing of hymns and a teaching from Scott on the meaning of Christmas and the greatest gift of all, the Savior, Jesus Christ and how because of him we can all be saved (We had a big golden wrapped present, the biggest of all, to represent that gift and reuse it every year). We also read the nativity from the Bible. Aftarward, we each opened a present (that was set out before-hand on our big teddy bear. All other presents hidden in our room!!!) and then set out our shoes, pointing them to a picture of Christ and said that by following him comes wonderful blessings and how the treats in the morning represent them (we put little games and toys in the shoes, with some candy each). We closed the evening with a family movie upstairs with the big projector. Once the kids were out and put to bed, all three of us (mom, hubby and I) filled the shoes pointed to Christ with toys and treats, and set out all the presents under the empty tree! It was pretty fun and exciting doing all this, especially me setting up Emilie's little tent and Scott setting up the race track! Christmas morning, George and Emilie were so excited to see the little presents, toys and games in their shoes, and gifts from the Wisemen / Mommy and Daddy set all out. Instead of the shoes pointed to a picture of Christ though, I put out my computer in front of them with a picture of the nativity and with Christmas music playing. We let them play with the toys/games in their shoes, had breakfast, and then had present opening. Reading the Berenstain Bears book about Christmas and present giving really helped George with focusing some of the time present time with giving and getting joy from it. It was really heartwarming to see how sweet he was to Emilie, and also how he helped her during present opening. At first, present opening was pretty relaxing. The kids would open one and play with it and ignore the rest, then gradually move on to another one handed to them, or hand one to someone else at request. Eventually it did get crazy once Emilie learned about how cool present opening was, but the whole present opening experience was still awesome and we all had a lot of fun! Scott's in the process of having family calls and videos now so we can connect with his side around the country (video calls are awesome!), and then we'll eventually have our second Christmas dinner (amazing leftovers) and probably one more family movie this evening (we've figured out classic and other Disney movies are our pick for movies on Christmas). Anyway, I'm more writing all this for posterity and to remember all what we did for next Christmas! We've had such a fun time all together with lighting the tree (aka, the tree of life), singing and playing together. Scott and I had an awesome time playing the Oregan trail card game too while George was playing with his new Tinker Toys and Emilie napping. It's been so nice and happy and pretty relaxing this Sunday (yesterday was the stressful day with trying to get the house decently clean and cooking). We wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope it's been a peaceful and happy time! Love, Mary and Family Ok, so it’s been 4 months since my last post… I’ve been a naughty girl and will probably get coal along with the chocolate in my stocking. It’s pretty depressing that so many blogs could have been written but haven’t, but I guess I can only look forward I just choose to get in another blogging habit! I also found google gives unlimited storage if you have their app, so I’m finally unloading my phone of 64GB and going to take a lot more pictures now!… since I’ve filled up my phone… twice.
Life has been pretty hard with our own challenges, but we’re keeping our chin’s up and a lot of good things are happening. My mom has agreed to baby sit 1-2 times a month up here so Scott and I can get a date in which is a huge blessing! Scott and I are actually taking time for ourselves too. Once a month he’ll be going shooting with buddies and I’ll be getting my nails done and going for tea weekly. It seems pretty important to take care of yourself and taking some breaks, especially when life seems challenging. I've noticed the stress lift as I've given myself a little love. Heavenly Father is really looking out for us and I’m feeling his help and support, which I’m ever thankful for! For Christmas, we have a lot to look forward to. My mom will be coming up to spend Christmas with us, which we’re all excited for. It’s been pretty hard to balance Santa and Jesus though. I really feel like Santa is a major distraction for Christmas and a horrible way to manipulate kids into submission (ex. Santa will know wither you’re naughty or nice). All of the Christmas movies we’ve watched have had NOTHING to do with the Savior, but all about Santa Clause, elves and Rodolf the Rednose Reindeer! It's pretty lame they don't have any real Christmas movies for kids on Netflix or Amazon. At the same time, in my heart, I love the magic, you know? I always have. But can’t we make Christmas exciting by centering it on the Savior? Just a thought. Well, I’ll post more pictures and stories after Christmas. I send my love to all! Love, Mary, Scott, George and Emilie. P.S. Don't you just love the pictures of Scott and the kids?! We'll get a family photo in of us all one day, but for now, my heart will just have to be content melting seeing Scott and the kids in love. <3 |
Ms. MaryJust one of those average amazing moms... Cause you know, mommy = amazing. Archives
January 2017
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