Diagnosis: The Sniffies

My daughter loves Doc McStuffins.  She often pretends she's the doc and loves calling me her "Lambsey".  If you've never watched Doc Mcstuffins it's about a little girl who plays doctor to all her toys.  A toy usually breaks and Doc McStuffins takes them to her little clinic (outdoor clubhouse), sings the theme song and gives a cute diagnosis.  One of the main stuff animals is Lambsey (a stuffed lamb that loves cuddling) which is what my little one calls me. 

 

Yesterday I was feeling a bit under the weather and my little Doc McStuffins sang the theme song followed by her diagnosis for me,

Olivia: I have a diagnosis
Me: What is it doc?
Olivia: Lamsey you have THE SNIFFIES
Me: Oh no, what shall we do, doc? *sniff, sniff*
Olivia: Stay home and sleep the SNIFFIES away...

I attempted going to work despite the doc's orders and made it through only part of the day. Maybe my little Doc McStuffins really knew what she was talking about because it was really starting to sound like a good idea.  I went home and went straight to bed to sleep the sniffies away. 

Today I woke up thinking I was all better (sniffies were almost non-existant) and went to work.  An hour into work and my body began to fail me-seriously?!  I guess I'm not exactly in the clear yet.  So here I am at home with the sniffies full blown-seriously?!  So not cool, when I have sooo much I could be doing right now.  But maybe my little doc is right maybe I need to stay in bed and sleep the sniffies away completely *gah* if only relaxing was in my strengths of personal characteristics, lol. 

Well, here's to good health...

~XO

The Division and Multiplication of a 3 Year Old Smarty Pants

While Olivia and I were waiting to pay at our local craft store Olivia asked for a candy.  I swapped it for a king size KitKat and said that we can share it.  In the car I divided the bar by giving her some, held some for me and folded the wrapper around the last two for daddy. As I was driving Olivia pleaded with me to hold "daddy's pieces".   After reiterating "it's for daddy" I foolishly handed it back to her. 

 

5 minutes into the ride I came to a red light when I heard her say, "hmmm, that's two" and a few moments later "and that's still two" I assumed she was counting "daddy's pieces" but when we reached home daddy only had one piece broken in half.

Me: Olivia you ate daddy's piece now he only has one
Olivia: Noooo, he has TWO pieces *big smile* (holds up the one piece broken in 1/2)
Me: *speechless*

So while I divided the bar Olivia was cleverly thinking ways to multiply her snack. 

Tougas Farm

What a wonderful and inexpensive outing this turned out to be.  We left around noon for Tougas Farm and returned around 4:30pm. 

We started with the petting area but Olivia is still pretty traumatized from the sheep that "BAAAA" her at David's Farm that she kept her distance.  We then went to the playground area where Olivia just went wild.  She mastered the rock climbing and overcame her fear of the tunnel slide.  I found a comfy little spot in the playhouse to pull her/guide her up the final rocks and direct her to the slide.  The other children were abundent but all well mannered.  I had extended my hand across the slide so Livi won't get trampled in the chase and the kids dinged my hand as a toll booth and when I let them by they said they will call "when" to let me know it was clear.  I thought they were cute.  

I tried to get a picture with me and Livi on the tractor but Livi didn't like the idea of me being in the seat that she was previously enjoying.  I have a picture of her pushing me off, lol. 

After a good while at the playground we went aboard the tractor wagon to pick apples.  Ginger Golds, Mcintosh, and Honeycrisp were ready for picking.  Olivia's first reaction was, "mum, apples...eat?" meaing she was asking if she could eat an apple.  I didn't think so but the hubby said it was fine.  After seeing the apple cores on the ground I realize they weren't the first or the last to eat the apples.  As we were passing another family, hubby says to the teenage girl eating an apple, "you're the taste tester like us" and she smiled and said yes.  And another family was also "taste testing" the apples.  Some people were really intense like bite and throw intense and commenting "too sour, too sweet..." I felt like Goldie Locks and the 3 bears.  I didn't really have a clue how to pick apples and kinda kept circling in and out the groves.  The hubby decided to finally take charge and started aiding in determining which apples were best.  Near the end Olivia was getting tired and so wasn't the hubby who offered to hold the bag if I hold Livi....hmmmm.

At the end of our picking we went to the kitchen where there was a lot of yummy treats.  I bought a jar of pickles $5.99 a blueberry pie $12.99, 2 apple ciders $1.50 each.  Really wasn't a bad day at all BUT I could have gone WITHOUT the allergies.  I think we'll go back again before winter.

Apple of Mummy's Eye

Just When You're About To Throw The Potty Out The Window

After the disastrous potty training weekend I was about ready to throw the potty out the window.  I was entertaining several ideas but mainly the idea that maybe Olivia just wasn't ready.  I received some positive reinforcement from friends after my last blog which couldn't have come at a better time.  I took some time to digest what they were saying:

• Patience
• Positive reinforcement
• Consistency
• Make potty training fun and exciting give incentives candy, stickers, coloring books
• Let Olivia decide when she is ready

I had to take some time and reflect.  I wasn't ready to step away completely but I did realize that I needed to back off and do a self assessment.  Patience-it was dwindling and that wasn't fair to Olivia.  Positive reinforcement and consistency (aside from daycare), I nailed it.  But, somewhere along the line potty training became a c'mon, c'mon, c'mon process and the fun was sucked right out of it. I felt awful so I decided to let Olivia decide when she is ready. 

Yesterday I asked her if she would like to go potty and finger paint.  At first she was resistant even after getting the supplies.  I then decided to do a buddy system we'll both go potty and finger paint and yup it worked.  I was basically just sitting there but when I heard her tinkle we both looked up at each other and laughed. 

Later on that day when I was cooking dinner I placed the potty in the living room.  She said, "no, no...not yet" and I explained I was just putting it there "JUST IN CASE" and walked out the living room.  Mid way through my dinner preparation I felt little eyes on me and looked up.  To my surprise there was my little girl pulling her big girl panties down, backing up onto the potty looking at me.  I smiled and quickly looked away.  That potty stayed in the living room the rest of the night and she kept going on her own.  Isn't that something? And when her daddy came home she was so excited to share the news that she went potty.  As for the hubby he thought it was odd to see the potty in the living room and felt it should be in the bathroom. 

As for me, I'm tired cleaning up pee and I'll move the potty little by little back to the bathroom but for now if this is what it takes then I'm game.  Heading to the dollar store after work to pick up some coloring books. 

It's yellow, Wet and Stops at 2 Little Feet...

I have spent this weekend stepping in trails and wiping puddles of pee that lead up to 2 little feet of a mortified 2 year old.  I don't quite understand what is going on and find myself feeling very frustrated with this potty training relapse.  In less than 2 hours we have gone through 4 big girl panties.  Olivia is becoming resistant to sitting on the potty and has begun demanding a pamper to be put on her.  Thus far, I have been able to distract her from the situation (tickles and playing) and manage putting a big girl panty on her but it's usually a short lived victory. 

I'm wondering if the use of pampers at the daycare combined with having such a strong headed/ stubborn child has something to do with the newly encountered Resistance.   It's moments like these I wish she came with a manual to eliminate some of the guess work and both our frustrations. 

The way things are looking I may need to buy another box of pampers and suck up the $25 hit to my wallet. 

If there is ANYONE out there with some ideas/suggestions PLEASE share.  I don't know who is winning at this point...I know I sure feel like I'm losing this challenge but I also believe Olivia may share similar sentiments :(

She has just fallen asleep....poor thing. 

Potty Training Continues and Laundry Too

Potty training continues at grandma's house aka Lela.  I wanted to know how she alerts others that she had to go potty.  I called my mom last night and made sure she was up for the challenge and to my surprise she was willing and ready. 

This morning, I made sure to pack a bag full of extra clothes and put her plastic jelly sandals just in case an accident occurred.  The ride went well and as soon as we reached Lela's house we went straight to the bathroom.  She bragged to Lela how she just went potty and Lela chimed in on cue with praise. 

Mid day I called my mom to see how Olivia was doing and she said it was going well.  She had taken Olivia to the park and the only accident she had was going down the slide and in one swoop drying all the rainwater with her bottom.  I was impressed and when I went to pick her up she was just getting off the potty.  Wow.  I was going to put her in pampers for her eye doctor's appointment but I didn't.  My mother had suggested that I bring her potty in the car and see how she does.  Hmmm...okay. 

So at the doctor's after signing in I asked for the bathroom key and put her on the potty.  She does a little pee and then upon returning to the waiting room Olivia notices a bubbler--uhoh! I foolishly allow her to drink for the bubbler.  Now, Olivia knows that it works and wants more, more, and more.  So I fill her cup--mommy mistake #2.  The visit took much longer than I anticipated and as we were in the waiting room she ask to go potty--oh no the doctor will  be in shortly.  So, I sent hubby to the car to grab her pamper--I know I panicked mistake #3 but what would you have done? And guess what? Turns out that she held it her pamper was dry. 

I was really proud of her and even after lunch in the park she was still dry.  At home she went to the potty twice first to pee and then to poop and came seeking praise which she did receive.  But then the bomb dropped.  She had an accident.  I saw her cute face turn to a look of mortification--yup she peed and was in a frozen state.  I whisked her up and ran her to the bathroom, no big deal.  Then a couple minutes later she was talking and went to get paper to color and the look I saw earlier returned.  I whisked her up again.  At this point I wondered what was going on...was she going through a relapse or was it because she drank more than she should have at lunch and it was catching up to her?

I bathed her and put her in a pamper for bed.  I can't believe this near successful day took such a horrible turn leaving me with a load of some seriously stinky pee pee clothes.  Laundry and dishes are 2 things I really don't like doing.  But if I had a choice I would definitely choose dishes over handling these gross wet pee pee smelling clothes.  *sigh*

House of Pee

Sunday Recap:

Continued Operation Potty Trained with Olivia as soon as she woke up in the morning.  Used same methods used; "run, run, run" and praise in the form of high five when she pees and/or poops in the potty.  Through out the day she exhibited some resistance; crying for a pamper and actually running and getting a pamper for me to put on (as if I didn't understand she wanted to to get the message across that she wanted her pamper aka mobile toilet).  These encounters were best handle with distraction; a tickle, a playful chase and then I'd hold up 2 big girl panties and let her choose.  This method worked well. 

Since I was doing a chili coke roast beef in the slow cooker for dinner I needed to go to the store to buy a can of coke.  Olivia wanted to come with me which made for a perfect trial outing without pampers.  We went potty before going out the door and played with our umbrellas as we walked in the rain to the neighborhood store.  She loved it.  I bought her an aloe juice as a treat and when we reached home she was still dry--high five, happy dance and finally some juice and crackers.  I was really impressed with my little trainee. 

At the end of the day she peed 6 times, ran to the bathroom 10 times and pooped 2 times and received 7 high fives.  Aside from the occasional pee on my hand from failing to remain seated for the entire performance she only had 1 real accident.  But in her defense, I had gone to throw the last load of laundry in the wash and left her with her father.  I told hubby to pay attention to the signs that she had to go potty and also ask in 20 minutes.  He was absolutely clueless to understanding what Olivia had been trying to tell him.   When she stopped talking and asking for mommy he noticed she peed herself.  Hmmm, so who's to blame for this accident?

I must admit I was frustrated with the hubby when I came back from throwing the last load to be washed only to discover it wasn't exactly my LAST load.  Tried hard not to let my frustration get the better of me but I had a small break and explained how I would appreciate a more active partnership.  He explained with great sincerity he doesn't understand the potty training thing and I realized that he was a total fish out of water.  I guess just because men know the female anatomy doesn't mean they know how females wipe themselves after they go pee :-/  There is one of my biggest flaws: I assume he knows when in reality he is absolutely oblivious especially when it comes to potty training our daughter.  So, Operation Potty trained is just me and my trainee, *sigh*.

Today:

We had a slightly different routine since she goes to the daycare today.  We ran to the potty first thing after she had waken up but rather than putting on her big girl panties we put on a pamper.  As soon as she got home I put her in big girl panties.  She did really well.  I asked her every 20 minutes or so and she gave me her long drawn out "nooooooo" and once in a while I felt I got an annoying "No" but when she had to go she let me know and guess what? No accidents.  Tomorrow I'll try to not prod her as much and see how she does.  I'll try this for 2 weeks and then if all goes well give the green flag to begin potty training at day care. 

I'm soooo tired.  A really busy day; work, cooked a really delish from scratch meal (pasta with smoked mozzarella, asparagus and prosciutto), did another pee pee load and finally solved the puzzle of which classes I should register for keeping in mind prereqs and credit minimum for financial aid.  I am totally spent at this point and yet Livi is STILL up.  What ever happened to 8pm bedtime? It's such a haze but REALLY it's time to bring that back.

Good night!