Potty Training 101

Our talented baby attempting the splits while holding onto her toy stroller

I bought a potty last week, mostly on a whim. I had read a little on the topic of potty training, and while most experts say that there is no perfect age to start the training (if at all), they agree that the majority of toddlers are not ready to consistently use a potty or a toilet until the age of 3.

Our baby likes everything new, and the potty was no exception. She played with it for a good half hour when she first set eyes on it, and would have no doubt continued longer had we not dragged her away to begin her bedtime routine.

We started our training almost immediately. We took off her diaper, and asked her to sit on the potty. We urged her to urinate an defecate. She willingly sat on the potty, but did not pick up on the latter suggestion. However, she did seem amused. Since the purchase, we have encouraged her to sit often, which she thoroughly enjoys. She has even started reading a few of her books whilst on her potty. I assumed that the timing was just not right for the expected results.

Then yesterday, something very unexpected happened. We had just returned from the park, and my pregnant bladder could not wait very long. However, I did have a chance to quickly remove her sandy pants and diaper. I was surprised that her diaper, changed a few hours earlier, was very dry. As I sat down to relieve my bladder, my lovely baby simultaneously sat on her potty. She made a brief pushing sound, and lo and behold, her potty now held urine. I was so excited, and she seemed equally proud of herself.

Was it really that easy? Or was it just a matter of her being in the right place at the right time? Now if only her language skills would improve, and she could indicate her need for a potty with a few simple sounds...

Monkey See Monkey Do

Baby sticking out her tongue

A few days ago in the park, our baby fell, and got a mouth-full of sand. She was not hurt. My husband, who was with her at the time, decided to teach her a little trick to clean out her mouth. He showed her how to fill her mouth with water from her water bottle, then to spit. It worked. Within a few seconds, she had cleaned all of the sand out of her mouth. When they returned home from the park, my husband described the sand-in-the mouth incident, and I knew we were in trouble.

Now each time she drinks water, once she has had her fill, she leans forward, and spits on the ground. And then she laughs hysterically. For now I have decided that the best way to extinguish this behaviour is to ignore it. Only time will tell if this is a good strategy.

In other news, the Brat's sleep schedule is on course. In my last post, I wrote about how we had decided to discontinue her middle-of-the-night feed. She had slept through the night on the third try. Since publishing that post, she returned to her once-nightly wake-ups. But we persisted. And for three nights in a row this week, she made it through the night without waking up. More than one night in a row for the first time in her life! We were very proud...then the inevitable happened, and cold # 10 halted her streak. She must have woken up a dozen times last night. And so too was our bliss aborted...

Wish List

CC relaxes in the park

I have an extensive wish list. It is a list of things that I would like to get accomplished prior to baby #2's arrival. Although there are still 5 or 6 months to go, the wish list is long. Most of the items deal with baby #1. For instance, potty training is one of the items. However, my husband and I deemed the most important to be sleeping through the night. Because the only thing worse than one baby not sleeping through the night would be two babies not sleeping through the night.

We had planned on starting last month, but decided to delay the training until after our NYC trip. We aren't letting her cry it out, or anything that I deemed too unethical. We have simply decided to remove the nighttime feeding. Most of my friends are surprised that I still feed her in the middle of the night. The way I explain it it that it was simply a natural extension of her feeding schedule. Approximately 3 months ago, she herself started waking up less often (once instead of three times). It was a relief that she was only waking up once, and she would immediately fall asleep after drinking a bottle of milk. One wake-up, I could handle, so we continued this way.

Yet the prospect of two babies waking up in the middle of the night to be fed drove us to action. I fully realized that by feeding her in the middle of the night, I was rewarding her, and thus encouraging her to wake up. However, just as she had cut out the other nighttime feeds, I was hoping she would naturally cut this one out on her own. I have been waiting over three months...

Night # 1 went not so badly. She fell asleep around 9PM, woke up a little before 4 AM. My husband tried offering her some water, whereupon she shed a few tears (not more than 10 seconds) and then allowed herself to be slowly rocked back to sleep in my husbands arms. This took approximately 1.5 hours. She then woke up for good a little before 7AM.

Night # 2 was a slight improvement. She fell asleep shortly after 8PM, woke up a little after 1AM, and was rocked back to sleep after 1.5 hours. She did not cry. She then woke up at 6:30AM for good.

Night # 3 was what we were hoping for. She fell asleep at 8:40PM, and made it to 6:20AM the next morning without a peep. There was one false alarm in the middle of the night, but she must have been dreaming because she was sound asleep when I went to check on her.

I was shocked that it had been this easy. Had I known, I would have started the training months ago. Now if only she could keep this up... I am half expecting her to catch another cold virus any day now, and disrupt our new-found bliss.

Greetings from NYC

CC tries on mama's heels in a photo taken just prior to departing for NYC

I write these words from the business center in our New York City hotel lobby. The baby is back in Montreal, with her grandmother and her aunt. I was certainly less anxious this time around about leaving her behind. She had such a great time in May when my husband and I had attended a wedding in Toronto without her, so I knew she would be in good hands, and in a familiar environment. We have been coming to NYC over Labour Day weekend for three years now. Partially to attend the US Tennis Open, and in part to visit with some of our NY-based friends.

Last year, we had brought along the Brat. She was 6 months old, and leaving her behind was not a consideration as her main source of nourishment was breast milk. This year, we considered bringing her along. I found a kid-friendly hotel, and even mapped out all of our kid-centred activities; Central Park, the zoo, and various museums. And then I remembered what NYC was like...the crowds, the noisy, smoke-filled streets, and came to the conclusion that NYC is simply not toddler-friendly.

We have barely spent a full day here, and although NYC is vibrant, and very unique, I do not regret leaving our daughter in Montreal. She will doubtless enjoy her mini-visit with her relatives; and as for us, we have already gotten some much-needed rest. I started reading a new book on the flight over, something that I have not done in over a year and a half; my husband and I are once again having conversations not involving the baby; we slept in until almost 9 AM this morning! While I still constantly think of her, I am trying to take full advantage of what will probably be our last mini-vacation before Brat #2 comes along...And then realistically I can't imagine leaving two babies behind, so this will probably be our last mini-break in a very long time...