Weaning Off the Stickers

Baby A started potty-training last April, when she was about 27 months old.  While those first couple of weeks were very “hands on”, she only had a handful of accidents.  After a couple of months, though, she started to have little mishaps here and there…just enough to wet the seat of her panties…but the “regression” felt very frustrating.  And she never seemed upset with herself (like I later experienced with Baby B).

Baby A is a go-er and a do-er.  My gut was that she just didn’t want to take the time away from play to go to the potty…until she realized it was too late.

Whereas I hadn’t used any type of reward system during her training (other than the lure of the “big girl privilege” of getting to flush the potty), I decided to try a sticker card.

At the end of every day, if she’d stayed clean and dry, she could pick out a sticker to put on a card that was hanging on the refrigerator.

Viola! 

Once she finally earned her first sticker, she was hooked.

And Baby B was so proud to begin earning stickers herself a few months later.

We’ve been using our sticker cards for about a year now.  I won’t say we never have accidents…it’s still the same issue (I think) as we were having a year ago…a certain someone who is occasionally having too much fun doing other things to address her business on time…but all in all, we’re doing well.

It’s time to wean off the sticker cards.

I told the girls a few weeks ago that we would earn stickers until their half-birthday, on July 5.  At that point, they’ll officially be “big girls”. 

“Keeping clean and dry all day is just what big girls do.  Mommy and Daddy stay clean and dry, and we don’t get stickers at night.”

The girls seem to understand what’s coming, and they haven’t launched any formal protests.

A couple of days ago, I thought I’d offer something to mark the retirement of the sticker cards.  I proposed we’d go buy some new panties.  “Won’t that be exciting???”

“Yeah!!!” Baby A agreed.  “Will they be BIG panties???” she asked.  “BBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIGGGG???”

Daddy and I couldn’t help but cackle.

I guess she’s taking my emphasis on being a “big” girl very seriously!

Fab 8 Friday!

We returned from our mini-vacation late Saturday, to many fun adventures on the home front…plenty of things to make this week fabulous!

1)      While the girls (and Hubby) were napping on Sunday, I made Fudgy Brownie cookies.  I gave the girls each a cookie for snack.  They are super ooey-gooey (especially when they’re still warm!), and I have never seen two messier girls!  They were in absolute heaven with their chocolate confection, which made the fact that we almost needed a bath afterwards, worth the cleanup effort.

2)      As part of our Father’s Day tradition, I broke out the finger paints for the girls to make handprints this week.  I was super brave, allowing them to paint at the table, whereas before I’ve always strapped them into their highchairs for finger painting expeditions.  We came away with some excellent handprints, and they had fun doing some free-form painting.  And…Mama survived the mess with [relatively] minimal stress!

3)      I bought a new bookshelf to corral the girls’ books in the den / kitchen area, which I hope will cut down on some of the strewing of toys and books from the den to the living room.  I usually assemble things once the girls are in bed…but I decided to be adventurous and ask if they wanted to “help” Daddy and me put it together.  Of course they were game.  They did a pretty good job of following directions, and they were so proud to be able to hand me a screw or hold something in place.

4)      Baby B has been a vehement thumb-sucker since she was about six months old, but only when she sleeps.  We’ve been talking to her for months and months about trying to stop.  She recognizes that her right thumb is not “smooth” like her left one, and she seems to want to stop…but it’s such a habit that she always succumbs to it overnight.  I asked her this week if she’d like for me to put a sock on her hand for bedtime, and she was so excited!  And I am SO proud that B has woken up with her sock still on for the past two nights!

5)      B is also so proud of her accomplishment.  The first morning, I told her she was due a celebration.  I asked what she wanted, and she immediately said, “Bagels!”  And she requested to go with Daddy to pick them up by herself.  She and Daddy loaded up – B, still wearing her pajamas – and off they went.  Her smile was priceless!

6)      While Daddy and B went to pick up bagels, I let Baby A help me unload the dishwasher.  She was such a good helper!  She put away the silverware, and a few bowls and utensils in lower cabinets.  I could tell she felt like such a big girl.

7)      Our swim lesson on Wednesday got cut very short (due to no fault of our own).  The girls and I were dressed in our swimsuits, so we decided to do something else before heading home.  We went to the water park, our first visit.  We only stayed about 45 minutes, but the girls had a BLAST!!!  There is a huge kiddy area that is about 2 ½’ deep, with sprinklers and a small waterslide.  It was too funny, that the girls could walk, but they didn’t seem to realize it.  They were laughing hysterically as I kept trying to coax them to put their feet down.  I took them down the waterslide a couple of times each, and then I asked if they wanted to go themselves.  Daddy (who wasn’t dressed to swim) made sure they got up the slide, and I waited at the bottom.  They were SCARED to sit down, but once they did, they were SO PROUD at coming down themselves.  And…don’t tell their swim coach…but they actually got their faces wet at the bottom of the slide.  Woo hoo!!!  We’ll definitely be going back to the water park one day, and it will be even more fun when Daddy gets in so we can each man a baby.

8)      Daddy has been practicing counting with the girls over the past couple of weeks.  Together, they count to 100 several times a day.  I was so thrilled, listening to B count by herself one morning.  She made it all the way to 39 without flaw, and then shouted, “80!”  Oh, well…I’ll take 39, I guess.  :)

So thankful for lots of fabulousness this and every week!

Finally Considering a Reward System

So Baby A has been wearing undies just more than five months now. Save those first couple of days, she’s not had one major accident.

But…she continues to have little “leaks”…just enough to wet the seat of her undies, not usually even seeping through to her pants…but…ugh. Some days she might not have any, and then some days, it might happen three or four times.

My gut is that she’s too busy playing to want to bother with going to the potty until it’s almost too late. And several friends have said this is perfectly normal, given her young age. But…ugh.

Yesterday morning, I decided to take a new approach. I never implemented any type of reward system during the potty-training process (other than making a very big deal of getting to flush the potty). I thought maybe it was time.

I told A if she kept her panties nice and clean and dry ALL DAY, she’d get a very special treat at the end of the day.

What’s the treat? you ask. Um, yeah, I don’t know.

The first thing that came to mind was a marshmallow, or some M&Ms…what seem like common rewards for using the potty. And please know that I don’t mean to judge those many families who take such an approach (!!!), but that just didn’t feel right to me. I struggle with the idea of using food as a reward.

Unfortunately [or fortunately, since it bought me a little more time!], I didn’t get to test my system yesterday, as Baby A had an indiscretion mid-afternoon.

My plan is to get some super-duper-extra-shiny-and-cool stickers – sometime before the end of the day – and set up a sticker chart. I just hope that A is as excited about it as I need her to be!

Meanwhile…Baby B heard all the hullabaloo about a very special treat that Sissy was to receive. Although it hurt my heart a little bit, I stuck to my conviction that the very special treat was only for Big Girls With Clean Panties at the End of the Day. I took the opportunity to remind B of the very special celebration we’re going to have when she goes on the potty.

So what did B do? She took off her diaper and asked to wear panties. OK, Sister! Here ya go!

I was hopeful that Baby B would magically train herself, much as her sister had, five months ago. My hopefulness was dashed about three minutes later, though.

B had two major accidents yesterday (messy carpet, messy hardwoods, wringing wet clothes, and not a drop of tee-tee in the potty). I just matter-of-factly put her back in diapers and told her we’d try again another time.

We’ll see what happens tonight when Baby A [HOPEFULLY] gets her super-duper-extra-shiny-and-cool sticker, about which I hope she’ll be super-duper excited.

This mommy gig is hard, y’all.