Adventures in Potty Training

Axel just turned two in April, so I have had no plans to potty train him, and thought I wouldn't until he was at least three years old. But since I decided to go back to work, we decided to put him in a preschool near our house that we love. The only stipulation: All kids are required to be potty trained before they start. Yikes! I had a wee bit of hope for Axel, because he has shown some interest, so I figured we should give it a try.

I read a book my friend gave me called Toilet Training in Less Than A Day, by Azrin and Foxx. And they said you know if your child is ready based on these criteria:

1. Child should be at least 20 months old
2. Child should pee at intervals during the day, not be constantly dribbling pee.
3. Child should be able to walk without help and have sufficient hand eye coordination to pick up and carry objects.
4. Should be able to understand and follow your instructions.
5. Finally, my favorite one, in so many words they say your child should not be too stubborn. Ha ha, whose kid isn't?

Here is how our days went:

Day 1: I was very excited because I had high hopes that Axel would meet all of my expectations above and beyond. We started off with a peeing doll. I showed him how the doll drank, then took her to the potty and showed him that she peed. Then I taught him how to empty her pot into the toilet, flush, replace the potty, then he got a treat. He learned this in about 1/2 hour.

Then we said bye bye to the diapers and threw them in the trash. I said it was Axels turn to go potty like the doll. He sat on the potty willingly because I promised him juice and candy. But he never peed. We repeated this every 15 minutes, and towards the end of the day he refused to sit on the potty because he would rather play and pee his pants. He went through about a dozen pairs of underwear and marked about six spots around the house. If he peed his pants I wouldn't scold, I would just tell him that big boys pee in the potty and big boys keep their pants dry, they don't pee in their pants. He didn't seem to care. Meanwhile, I was absolutely exhausted from cleaning up after him and trying to convince him to sit on the potty, and our house was a wreck. I considered aborting the potty mission.

Day 2: We tried again. I put on his training pants, which he wet numerous times. Then we decided to go to the park to meet Nese and Aydin. At the park, I told him he could pee in the bushes. He loved this, and he peed every 15 minutes. Aydin helped too by peeing first to inspire him. Very good morning! He wet himself once. That afternoon at home was still very difficult.

Day 3: Still challenging, he would sit but not pee. However, when Johan got home, I asked Axel if he wanted to try peeing like Pappa, and he stood next to Johan and peed standing up in his potty!! So we realized he wasn't comfortable peeing sitting down. But BIG celebration, pee in the potty!

Days 4, 5: Kept him in training pants, and had to keep reminding him to pee in the potty. Wet his pants several times, but improving. Not always willing to sit on the potty unless we promised him something good. We were running out of things to promise him.

Day 6: Axel and I went over to co-potty train with my friend, Courtney, and her daughter, Malia. I had decided to give Axel a huge incentive for peeing: I had gone and bought a bunch of dollar toys at Target and had wrapped them up as presents. I told him that he would get to open a present every time he went pee. Malia was a huge help in him being willing to go to the bathroom, and he went pee in the potty right away, and did it sitting down! I couldn't believe it. He did this all day long. When he pees, he looks up at me and smiles because he is so proud of himself. When we got home that night, I told Johan how well he did, and Axel then pulled his potty put into the kitchen by himself, sat down, and peed, to show Johan how good he was. He can also take the potty and dump it in the toilet, flush, and wash his hands.

So about six days to get non-reluctant pee in the potty! Granted, he is an extremely active boy, so it was difficult to find something that would draw him away from playing to sit on the potty. The gifts worked like a charm. Now we are one week in, and he still needs to be reminded to go, but sometimes he will also tell me. He has gone in public big toilets also, so that is great! He also doesn't need a present every time he pees, he is so proud of himself that he doesn't seem to care. So, he is not fully potty trained since he needs a little reminding, but he is also only two. And all that matters is that now he can go to preschool!!

Spring 2013. Life is Wonderful

The first day we got home from Belgium, we thought we had died and gone to heaven. We didn't realize how good and beautiful the San Diego weather was until we left it for 2 1/2 months. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful climate. Not to downplay Belgium's beauty, because we absolutely loved it there too. However, we loved it for reasons other than the weather!

It took us a while to adjust to being back home after Europe. For about a week Axel would wake up at 2:00 and be up for 3-4 hours, then go back to sleep, agh! But day after day the wake up time got later and later, and eventually, no more night wake ups. However, he has also been climbing out of his crib. I read my sleep training book, and it recommends keeping them in a crib until they ask for a big kid bed, unless you think climbing out of the crib is dangerous or you really think they'd be fine in a big kid bed. My brother told me that for each if his three kids, when they put them in a big kid bed, he had to sleep outside their bedroom door and all night long would return them to their bed each time they climbed out. Obviously, this is advice for parents who don't want to share a bed with their toddler, which I definitely am. I just wasn't ready for camping outside his bedroom yet, so I started scheming. I decided to take apart the bottom of his crib and drop it to the floor.  This lasted for one day, until he figured out how to use the corner of the crib to hoist himself out. Then I researched the Internet and found...the toddler sleep sack! It's genius. They are pajamas that zip up as a blanket. This way, they have room to sleep, they don't get cold since they can't throw their blanket off, and best of all, they can't get that leg over the side of the crib. Johan thought I was crazy, until he got to sleep in the next day until 7:30 because Axel stayed in his crib and slept! I know that some day soon we will have to sleep outside his bedroom door and lose several nights of sleep returning him to his bed, but I'm going to rely on the sleep sack to buy us some more time.

Axel still doesn't speak in more than two word sentences, but it seems he learns a new word every day. He also says words in all three languages, English, Swedish, and Spanish. His favorite English words: cheese (as in smile! Which he will do while saying it), and doggy. Favorite Spanish word is queque (cake/cookie), and favorite Swedish word is bajs (poop).

Since we left Belgium, he is an absolute daddy's boy. It's kind of getting to the point where Johan is starting to have to put his foot down because he is wanting Johan to hold him almost all day long. Oh, isn't it hard for daddy to say "no"? It sure is.

Some new things, Axel loves Stephanie and Olivia's pool. He will jump off the edge and go underwater (with his floaties on), then will kick as we push him to the steps. He could swim all day long.

Also, he will be starting preschool in September because I got a new job! I will be working as a principle design water resources engineer at Rick Engineering. I'm really excited because I've wanted to work there for a really long time. I think they are a great company, and a good fit for me.

For Mother's Day, we went to visit our bff's the Kellers in Nipomo. Johan had to go to Philadelphia that following week, so he flew out from Santa Barbara while Axel and I stayed at the Keller compound and helped increase the chaos. Actually, it was really fun. He loves playing with Brielle and Gavin, and they have such a big, fun, free house that the kids were all so happy. They basically ran around naked all day and ate whatever was lying on the kitchen counter. Toddler heaven.

For my Mother's Day present, Johan got me a super cute mug from Anthropologie, and a cookbook called What Katie Ate. It's a foodie cookbook, and I'm obsessed with it. Last week, I think I made a new recipe of hers 4 out of 5 days. Tonight I made Raspberry Friands, which are fancy raspberry cake muffins made with almond meal. They were really easy to make, and so good! Here is the recipe: http://www.whatkatieate.com/recipes/raspberry-friands/

 

I also made her Guiness Beef Pie, which was amazing, as well as some salads, and her Jill's Veggie Roll, which was also delicious. Here is a link to the recipe, it is super easy as well: http://www.whatkatieate.com/recipes/jills-veggie-roll/

I was telling my friend Holly, that it sounds silly, but the photography in the book completely inspires me to want to cook everything. I want to create something that looks as delicious and beautiful as what she has in her pictures. But in general, I really love to cook, and this has just made cooking more exciting. Thanks, darling husband!

Johan has been playing a lot with the worship band at church. Last Saturday, our friend Tyson really wanted to play at an event called Burn, where they would play worship music for 24 hours straight. He asked Johan to play as well as Olivia, Steph, and Crystal. Different bands would come in every 1 1/2 hours and switch, without stopping the music. It was so, so good. A lot of friends came, and all the kids just played at our feet, it was wonderful.

One last thing, I just had to include this picture. Johan, at London Heathrow Airport on our way back from Belgium, Axel asleep on his back in the Ergo (because we had no stroller), while taking tequila shot samples. This photo's a keeper!