Pregnancy, Heartburn and Potty training

Yeah, so as soon as I walked away from the computer from posting my last entry yesterday, Punky had peed in her pull up.  The turkey.  Did I call it or what?  The good news is, still no poop accidents YET.  YET YET YET.  Today marks all week with only one poop accident and I told her when Hubby gets home we'll go to the bookstore and pick out a brand new book.  She's been doing great and despite how well she does today, she still deserves recognition for her accomplishments.  She's excited about it or seems to be.

Sooo, on the pregnancy front, heartburn is kicking it up a notch.  Yesterday and today I've had to take a nexium in the morning and at night.  It's not bad, but this morning when I sat down to drink my morning cup of tea, it burned my throat.  I knew then it didn't bode well for the rest of the day if I didn't pop a pill.  I hate doing it, but heartburn is one of those things I consider unbearable.  I'd almost rather have a kidney stone!

I also got to order the changing table for New Baby and wall prints that I will have to frame when they arrive.  All that's left is a lamp, hamper, a crib mattress and my mom to make the baby bedding and possibly paint the room pink (not decided on that one yet).  We decided on a black, white and pink french theme.  Hobby Lobby has a ton of cute accessories so as the Hubby allows it, I'm going to buy a few little things to accent it.  I'm excited to see how it all pulls together.  With 8-10 weeks to go I MUST finish this soon or my nesting instincts are going to cause a mental breakdown.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Potty Training Success!

So Punky is definitely my daughter.  A little chocolate, a little encouragement, a LOT of praise, and some new toys and we've been accident free for two days now.  I do realize now that I've written that, she'll poop in her pants in a matter of minutes, but I'm so proud of her.

She seems to like pooping in the potty now and has made a habit of taking a 45 minute two flusher before bed every night.  Which is fine with me.  It's way less poop I have to clean up since chicken is down to once or twice a day.

She still needs to be reminded of pee pee but she seems to be able to hold it a lot longer this week alone and does tell me if she needs to go most of the time.  I told her if she can remain accident free until tomorrow she can go pick out a new book, which she's way excited about.  I figure books are far more productive than toys.  And she does love to read, so it's a win win situation, right?  

The teenager returns

So Punky is sitting on the potty.  She's gotten into the habit of flushing the toilet whenever she feels the need and this time was no exception as soon as she sat down.  So I couldn't hear whether or not she was actually peeing.  I gave her a minute and she said, "I'm all done."

"Did you go pee pee?"

She didn't really answer me, but rather gave me the look that said she wasn't sure.

"Did you go pee pee?"

Again, a blank stare.

"Are you all done?"  (Sometimes we have to ask several times before she actually is.)

Her eyes round at me and she cocks her head to the side and says in her sweetest, matter of fact voice, "I told you once I'm all done."

Adoption is definitely in her future.

Taking the plunge: Toddler style

My kids have always been an endless source of amusement for me.  The latest being Punky and Chicken fighting over their toys and while each tugging in their direction, they will squeal like stuck pigs until one or both let go.  I'm waiting for the day they both let go and go sailing across the room.  It's coming and I can only pray I have the video camera.

Then there's Chicken's fear of grass.  Yes, he refuses to step in it and when we put him in it on purpose and he falls, he acts like a girly-man and cries, holding his hands up as if he's been contaminated.  I will say he's getting better about it and actually played for some time in it on Saturday.

Let's not forget Punky's fear of bugs.  She found a miniscule lady bug on the window seal in her playroom not long ago and requested I kill it.  She STILL talks about the stinkin' lady bug.  I tried to force her to help me smoosh it, and I found out the extent of her fear.  She shook, screamed and pulled away from me until I was convinced that she had decided the sprained wrist was well worth getting away from the lady bug who was threatening her well-being.  Of course, I let her go and killed it.

I honestly don't know where my kids get these things from.  I consider myself a very introspective person who is quite objective about my kids.  I don't start anything with them (like telling them bugs are bad) that I think might lead to something bigger.  The only thing I can figure out is Hubby's mom saying "eww" when she was little and saw a bug or something in her books.

This latest fear is one she's come up with all on her own.  Potty training has been going amazingly well.  I've thought for some time she's been ready but with the move and everything else, the timing was all off so I was never able to devote a lot of time to it until this last week.  She took to it like a duck to water!  She's been telling me when she has to go pee pee in the potty almost every time.  We have maybe 1 accident a day and on a bad day 3.  Pooping however, has been an issue.  She will cry and beg me to let her up.  "I can't push out the poo poo Mommy!"  She only tells me afterward, leaving me to clean up "goat poop" out of her panties.  Let me tell you, my fair readers, that's not an easy task.  Those little suckers roll every which way!  I have yet to perfect a technique of cleaning it without risking poo hands and don't relish the task when I see the little bulges staring back at me.

We've talked a lot about putting poo poo in the potty.  In fact, so much so I've been forced to take her along with me during my potty visits.  I would rather suffer the embarrassment than the stinky, gross clean up that comes with her lack of understanding...or stubbornness as I'm beginning to believe.  So today, we were standing at the kitchen counter, shredding chicken (or rather I shredding, Punky playing with refrigerator magnets) and she said, "I need to go poo poo!" And she grabs her hiney.  WOOHOO!  Let's go!  I throw chicken in every direction and off we go.  I pull her panties down and see skid marks instead of goat poop.  Another WOOHOO!  I plop her on the toilet and her face gets red.  Then I hear the blessed sound of poop hitting plastic.  I stand up and do a dance, I praise her, we called Daddy, we sung the potty song and amidst her sweet giggles, I go somewhere no other pregnant woman has gone.

I give her free reign to pick whatever treat she wants from my unhealthy preggo stash.  She can have a cookie, she can have chocolate milk, even a doggone bowl of sugar if she wants, she can have whatever she can find that tickles her fancy.  And what does she choose?  A sucker.  She wants a sucker.  You want a sucker, Punky?  Here, pick one out.  You want two?  FIVE?  Here, have 20.  This is what happens when you go poo poo in the potty!  Take them all.  Yes, they're all yours.

No need to be scared to poo poo in the potty.  Good things happen when you take the plunge and become a big girl!

That's not chocolate!

So far, Punky seems to be getting the potty training.  We haven't had a pee accident today yet and it's almost noon.  She's just having trouble with the poop.  I found her squatting in the playroom today and it was too late. It wound up being the roly poly kind that we refer to as "goat poop" that went every direction on my bathroom floor when her panties were off.  At least it was easy to clean.

Yesterday, however, I wasn't so lucky.  When she pooped in her pants and I was cleaning it, she said the funniest thing.  I was explaining to her that poop goes in the potty, etc, etc., and I looked at her to make sure she understood and she got a wide-eyed know-it-all look on her face, and said while shaking her head, "That's not chocolate!"

No, my dear daughter, it's certainly not.  

Potty Training

So, I was one of those mom's who foolishly believed I would stick to potty training at an early age.  My goal was to have Punky potty trained by 12 months using the methods outlined in the Baby Whisperer.  Above is a picture of Punky at 10 months old using the potty.  Believe it or not, I think this definitely aided in the process because by 11 or 12 months, she KNEW what she was doing.  She regularly peed and pooped in the potty and identified it.  Not on command mind you, but I watched her signs and took her when I thought she needed to go.  

That was over a year ago.  I'm still buying diapers and I'm still trying to convince her that BIG GIRLS pee pee in the potty.  Today, I've began the "cold turkey" technique and she's been in big girl panties all day.  So far no accidents, but she hasn't gone in over 2 hours so I know it's coming.  If she tells me, it'll be a miracle.  She's been showing signs of being ready...telling me 2 or 3 times a day she needs to go and actually going, trying to take her diaper off after she poops because she's uncomfortable.

Of course, I'm about to have three in diapers if I can't get her potty trained, so I really want to get this done before #3 comes along.  Punky is capable, I know.  She's just lazy like every other 2 year old and would rather play with her toys than waste her time sitting on the potty.  Chicken is 13 months old and been put on the potty ONCE in his entire life.  I have a feeling it's going to be bad when I have to start with him since I hear boys are much harder.  I guess we'll see.

Say a prayer for us.  Potty training isn't as easy as I imagined.  I thought once they were ready, they'd just decide to tell you and that would be that.  I didn't anticipate all the accidents, the stubbornness, or the tears.  I have, however, enlisted the help of gummy bears to keep her interested and so far so good with that.  I'm sure we'll have to change it up occasionally to make sure she maintains interest.  Here's to pee pee and poo poo in the potty!!!