And the potty returns...

I have been a little quiet on the potty front... we started our "Potty Diaries" back in January when we began with a laid-back approach... plonking the little lady on the potty at the start of the day and the end, and letting her figure out what to do with it. She did so well, but it became clear she wasn't quite ready! (She was only 16 months!)

The past 6 months we have just put her on the potty whenever she has asked for it, but it has very much been on her terms... and then Wednesday happened. She just started asking every time she needed to go... and suddenly I found she had gone the whole morning with a dry nappy. I was slightly in shock, but decided to go with the flow, and put her in pants for the rest of the day. We had 2 accidents, but lots of success stories as the potty started getting covered in sticker after sticker!

Yesterday morning, Ava woke up at 5.30am crying for the toilet. It was NOT a particularly welcome early wake-up call, until we discovered her nappy was dry (for probably the first time ever). She had gone the whole night dry, and obviously woken up early needing the toilet...

She then proceeded to spend the entire day totally dry and did not have one single accident...

I must admit, I am in total and utter shock... I don't want to jump the gun, but seriously?!

Who's ever heard of a self-potty training toddler?!?

I have only my mother-in-law to thank for this! She insisted we start early with the potty (16 months seemed a bit ridiculous to me!), and although its taken 6 months of "potty-training", its been totally pain-free and without argument.

I was intending on doing it this summer, once we got to Norway, but she's beaten me to it, and I'm certainly not complaining! This hot weather is perfect for potty-training...

What are your potty training experiences? Do you think there's an ideal time? An ideal age? An ideal way? Drop a line in the comments below!

#GetGoodSummer for kids!

I am feeling quite proud of my #GetGoodSummer this year. For once, I am actually managing to stick to my goals a bit, though I realise this self-congratulation could be a bit premature! I still have 7 and a half weeks to go!!

I was thinking the other day, though, that I would like to make some goals for Ava M this summer too... things for us to work together on for her to achieve. The summer is meant to be a time for us all to relax as a family and enjoy spending time together, but it is nice if you can look back and see what you've done. For Ava, I basically have one MAJOR intention, and four others that I would like to have a go at with her!

#1: Get potty trained! This is the biggy! We have been on the potty training journey for quite a while now. Our adventure started back in January when we gave it a good go. Ava was pretty good, but it became evident that she  wasn't quite ready. With the arrival of little sister, we decided to stall until the Summer.

This summer in Norway should be the perfect opportunity... I'm hoping the weather will be good, so she can wander around the fjordside without a nappy and clearing up accidents therefore won't be disastrous!

Wish us luck!

#2: Learn her colours: I was looking up the other day when children are supposed to be able to do this... at the moment, everything is pink or green to Ava. She's impressed some people with her colour ability, only for them later to discover that her answer of "green!" was a pure shot in the dark! Lol... I've gathered a collection of items to help me with my latest scheme - books and puzzles on the theme of colour, crayons and playdough, as well as just random everyday objects, will all play their part! We'll see...

#3: Join German-speaking playgroup: This was on my to-do list for Ava, and I'm pleased to say we bit the bullet on this one on Monday and headed to our local German-speaking Mum's and Tots group. It was a lovely morning, brilliant for me to get the chance to speak some adult German, and great for Ava to mix, for the first time, with other German-speaking children. It was fascinating to watch her thought process as she registered that these children were speaking the same language as Mama, and I'm so excited to see how this weekly/fortnightly trip enhances her language! (Our multilingual story is here!)

#4: Start to learn the children's catechism: On Sunday, one of the Pastors at our church introduced a memory verse for the children to learn... it went like this (see if you can guess the nursery rhyme tune!)

Ro-Ro-Ro-mans 8, 

and verse 39

Nothing can separate

us from the love of God

Well, needless to say, Ava M has been singing it all week, on repeat and basically hasn't stopped. How wonderful that at less than 2 years old, she has learnt this incredible truth! With this in mind, I spent an hour last week, translating the children's cateschism into German and we have started on the first two questions... she has mastered them with ease - oh to have the memory of a one-year-old! I have planned out some little activities to do alongside each question, and we will attempt one new question every week... so far we've covered...

- Who made you? God made me!

- What else did God make? God made everything!

Watch this space!
(The catechism we are using can be bought here!)

#5: Swim in the fjord: Ha! This could be a fun one. Ava is a funny one when it comes to new experiences. She will fearlessly climb a huge climbing frame, but will scream if you push her, even just gently, on a swing!! Bizarre! Getting my daughter into the cold water of the Norwegian fjords could be fun, but with the help of her Minnie Mouse swimming costume, a life jacket and a rubber dinghy that her Grandparents have bought her, I'm hopeful that she'll make her Sognefjord debut. Last year she made it as far as paddling... we'll see what this year holds!

So that's Ava's #GetGoodSummer... why not sit down with your kids and ask them what they'd like to achieve this summer?

Bucket lists aren't just for adults!

The potty diaries: part 2

I have been questioned and questioned over the past week about our potty training fun! And seeing as I'm busy working on Ava's new room, but not in a place to show you all yet, I thought I'd give you a little Friday update before the weekend!

We have the number 2 department nailed. With the exception of one incident (which was TOTALLY my fault - she told me she needed the potty and I ignored her... convinced she couldn't possibly need it again! I felt AWful...) As I was saying, with the exception of that incident, I have not had a dirty nappy in over a week. Tell you what, it is SO nice not to be dealing with those nappies anymore (I know, I'll be back to square one with the next one in less than 8 weeks! I'm making the most of it!)

However, we're still a long way from nailing the number one department.... It seems at 16 months, Ava doesn't quite have the control to communicate she needs to go and let me get her there in time. Resulting in a lot of "oh no!", "oh dears!" and "uh-oh's", a huge pile of wet washing and a rather frazzled Mama. So we have decided to step back from the intensive training, keep the positive relationship with the potty and put it on the back burner for a few months before we try again in the summer... I'm not giving up entirely. I will still put her on the potty every time she tells me she wants to go, and I'll still stick her on it first thing and last thing (which are generally our successful times.) The intensive training was getting a little much, especially when I'm just not sure her little body is physically capable yet.

Still, I have NO regrets about giving it a go. We are now totally clean, if not dry, and Ava loves the potty so it's been a really positive experience that I would definitely do early with the next one too.

Thanks for all your encouragement and cheering on... We're going for a more relaxed approach now, but the potty will still be a part of our daily life whenever she asks for it!

PS - after posting this, this morning, our previous Pastor, John, forwarded me this article he discovered... apparently it will solve all our potty problems!!

Introducing the new iPotty! Click on the picture to read Apple's latest invention!!

Thanks John!!

The potty diaries...

Everyone I've seen over the past couple of days has been asking me how "the potty training's going?" so I felt I'd better give an update on the latest developments in the potty department!

I am not doing it by the book... I feel the need to say that now. If you want to get it to work in a short space of time, you literally have to cancel all appointments and be housebound... (this guy has some great tips here!) I haven't been able to do that (/been willing to do that!), and since Ava is still so young, I'm seeing what we're doing as a kind of "try it out" approach as opposed to a "we must master this" approach. In other words, I'm doing it whenever we're at home, but the nappy is going back on for naps and trips out.

We started Wednesday at 7am... by 8.30am, we had had 3 successful potty trips and 2 wet accidents. That's when it hit me what a big deal this was. I had visions of me literally changing her 20 times that day, but just when the lid of despair was about to shut down, she suddenly seemed to "get" it. From 8.30am, we had no more accidents. She told me clearly when she needed a number 2 but seems, as yet, to be unable to give me advance warning on the wee department. I guess it must be harder to distinguish. The day continued with me asking her every 15 minutes if she needed to go "aufs Toepfchen" (on the potty) and it seemed to be a roaring success! Nappy on for afternoon nap at 1pm (clean and dry knickers for 4 and a half hours!) and that's when it went to pot...

Post nap, it seemed she had unlearned everything she had learnt in the morning!! I had had to pop out to help out a friend, and so Dave was on duty, and I think the combo of post-nap, a different adult and a different language probably threw everything to the wind. In Dave's words "she wet herself the only three times she's been off the potty this afternoon!".

Yesterday, we lost the nappy for a little while in the morning and had a successful potty trip, but I was insistent that I wasn't going to attempt IKEA with a potty in tow, so the nappy has been firmly on for most of the day. Today, we will start the fun over again.

At this stage, my aim is that Ava learns to recognize when she needs to go. She's had that nailed for a while in one department, but is finding the other a little more difficult to master. She pretty much wee's every time she sits on the potty, so clearly understands what its for and how to do it, but hasn't figured out how to hold it so she has time to tell me yet!

Oh the joys!

We will persevere however and will keep you posted!

Let the games commence...!

This is going to be one of those posts that, in years to come, I know I will probably live to regret... one of those ones where my teenage daughter will cry out...

"Mum!!! Seriously!!! Did you HAVE to write about that?!"

But given that this blog is a place for offloading the bizarre thought-processes of my brain, as well as being some form of record life in our family and our children's growing up years, I couldn't really avoid this fairly major issue...

We are attempting to begin potty training.

Yes. I know its madness. I know its early. I know it seems ridiculous. I thought EXACTLY the same thing when my mother-in-law kept insisting we get the ball rolling on it, but after trialling the "prep" stage for the last few weeks, very casually, I have come to the conclusion that Ava is at least up for giving it a go... so giving it a go we are...

About a month ago, when Ava was just over 15 months, we starting whipping out the potty occasionally, and we were EXTREMELY lucky in that Ava just happened to wee on the potty the very first time we put her on it. It was first thing in the morning, I had just got up and was heading into the bathroom and thought I may as well stick her on it at the same time. Lo and behold... 2 minutes later there was joyous dancing in the bathroom, shouts of "Dave, Dave... come look" and Ava looking a confused mixture of great joy and pride at whatever she had done that had pleased Mama so much, and slight fear at this bizarre display of celebration! We were lucky, because it was chance - and although it probably did help that I had told her what to do, and she was there at the same time as me - I can't deny that it was just very fortunate on our part. The great thing about that "pure chance" was that Ava  therefore knew what the potty was for, and what we wanted her to do on it.

Fast forward a month, and I've been sporadically trying her out on it, plonking her on whenever Dave or I use the bathroom, and sitting her on it first thing it the morning. While she's on it, she's surrounded by books, a couple of which are board books about using the potty, and its been pretty successful. She hasn't performed every time, but has been not far off. She still looks with wonder at the puddle in the potty every time, perhaps wondering how on earth it got there!

Ava has been telling me for a couple of months when she needs a number two, so I knew that we had to bite the bullet with that one, and this weekend we had our first success story. She looked so chuffed with herself, bless her. And I was literally dancing for joy... the thought that she could perhaps be trained before the arrival of number two seems too good to be true (and I'm not holding out on it - if she has a positive relationship with the potty, thats enough for me)

These next couple of days are pretty manic with new years etc, so I've decided to hold on to our relaxed "prep" phase for a couple more days and then attempt to bite the bullet on Wednesday... we'll see how it goes. I don't want to pressure her, or force her into a negative view of the potty. She's been really positive about it so far and I definitely don't want that to change... but come Wednesday we'll give it a go. If it doesn't work, I've not lost anything, and if it does? Well... that would be utterly amazing! But I'm convinced she's ready mentally. We just have to see if she's physically able with the whole control thing yet. At 16 months, she's pretty young, but certainly on the continent its not abnormal to have them trained by 18 months. All I know is if I leave it til after Bubba 2 arrives, it will get shelved for another six months at least... and part of me thinks if she's up for it and is able to communicate, follow instructions and wants to please, then surely its worth having a go???

Well, its remains to be seen....

I'll keep you posted!