Potty Training for Two

So we have our niece living with us and she had an interest in potty training at one time. Then she was moved to our house and she regressed a bit. So when I tried to potty train her she acted as if I was punishing her. That is when I backed off (completely).
Now Sammi comes to me when she needs her diaper changed (something I would like Khole to recognize and do). So we bought a new potty (we lost the other one in our move) and I have been letting her get used to sitting on it. She has gotten to the point where she comes to me and says, "Potty" while pulling at her diaper. After taking off her pants and diaper I sit her on the potty. I really was beginning to think she was using it as an excuse to get undressed. She very well could be. Then one day I was cleaning up the bathroom after I got the kids in bed. I noticed that there was a little liquid in the bottom. I was so excited. I didn't clean it out so I could show Les. He got home so late that I forgot to show him. Then a couple of days latter she did pee in the potty again and that time Les was home. We were both so excited. Sadly, she hasn't done it again. On the brighter side her enthusiasm hasn't dimmed yet.
Now we come back to Khole. I have been trying to get her to recognize the difference between a clean and dirty diaper. It has been very trying. So just today I decided I needed to take it all into my own hands. It is stressful and keeps me busy. After I changed her into clean clothes and a new diaper I set a timer for an hour. When it went off I took her to the bathroom and sat her on our little potty. I sat with her for about 5 mins trying to encourage her to relax and let it all go. Sammi started crying in another room so I went to her. Five minutes later I got back to Khole. I had decided that 10 minutes was long enough for her to sit on the potty. I asked her if she was ready to get off. She nodded and stood up. I put her diaper back on and looked into the potty. Low and behold there was pee in it. I showed her how happy it made me (get her more incentive to do it more). I repeated this every hour for 10 minutes. She did it one more time before I had to go pick up Les and get some shopping done. I set the timer on my phone so that while we were out I could take her to the bathroom in the store. She did go one more time while we were out. She has been in the same diaper all day because it has been DRY! I think we are well on our way but time will only tell.
Khole was actually on the potty as I was writting this. When the timer went off I went to get her. She had once again went pee in the potty! Oh I learned one other thing today. I either intimidate or make her too nervous. She is so tense while I am in there. The first time she went it was while I was gone. So now I leave her to sit in private. She does much better that way. Of couse, I don't expect results everytime she I put her on the potty since I have observed that she has only gone 4 times today. After she gets used to the routine I will lenghten out the time in between visits.
Eventually I will do the same for Sammi. Right now she is showing me when she is ready. One day after Khole has settled into a routine I will take more control and get her on a schedule too.
Wish us luck as we all embark on this new journey. Emma kept regressing everytime I thought I had her potty trained. One was stressful. Now I am doing two. I must be crazy.

Emma's Birthday Party (also potty training update)

Emma doesn't actually turn 2 until next Monday. However, starting Thursday Les is supposed to be gone for 6 days for conferences on his research. That means he won't be here for Emma's birthday or the weekend before. Also, I am due the weekend after Emma's birthday and I really didn't want to be hauled to the hospital right before or even in the middle of her party. So for those reasons we decided that we needed to throw her party before Les leaves. Yesterday was the day. The weather was great and we had a lot of people come to support us. We would like to thank all of those people for coming.

The party went great as far as I could tell. We ate dinner, opened presents, had dessert, and Les made crafts with the kids. Also because the weather was great the kids got to go outside and run around. There of course was still snow so they got into this big snow ball fight. Here are some pictures from the big day.

Here is Emma's cake!

I think I did a pretty good job on the decorating for my first real attempt.

Les' family

Melanie's family

Blowing out the candle!

Emma in her Cinderella Dress!

Potty Training Update: It is day 8 and I think we have made a lot of progress. Emma is going #1 in the potty more often than not. Even when we went to the store! We are working on #2 now. One tip I would give to parents yet to experience this "joyful" time is to find something that your child really likes or enjoys and then use it to help modivate your child. For Emma it is certain dresses. I was pulling out her 24 month clothing and she saw this cute dress with butterflies. From the moment her eyes spotted it she wanted it on and had no intention of taking it off. However, when she had an accident in it we had to take it off to clean it. She cried for over an hour. It did teach her that if she wants to wear the dress she needs to make sure she does not have an accident in it.

Potty Training Day Two

So today started out much better than yesterday. I think part of the problem was that she didn't take a nap. In fact, she fell asleep at about a quarter to 8 and slept until after 9 this morning. She was in such a good mood when she got up. Our trips to the potty were happy ones. At about 11 she went #1 in the potty. We were so excited! Emma got a sucker for her efforts. She even seemed pleased about what had happened. However, when daddy came home from his appointment at the VA she suddenly didn't want to go anymore. After that it was hit and miss on when she would be willing to sit on the potty. She went #1 one more time but not on the potty. As I have been writing this she was acting funny so I asked her if she wanted to go sit on the potty. She said yes so I put her on it. She had started #2 in her underware and stopped it as soon as I put her on the potty. I haven't been able to get her to continue. I am not sure what to do. I don't want potty time to be a punishment but I don't want her to think that going in her underware is the way to go. I'll be praying about this being the right time to be taking this course.

Potty Training Day One

This has been one of the longest days I've ever had. To start it off I looked out the window to see that what had been grass yesterday was covered in several inches of snow. Once Emma awoke we placed her in her new training underware. She was not happy that there wasn't a diaper on as well. Every half an hour for 5 to 10 minutes we put her on the potty. It is amazing what you don't get done when you run a schedule like that. For all our effort she went #1 twice and #2 once. All three were not into the potty. By about five this evening she'd had enough. At the mention of her sitting on her potty she would shout NO and run away. I knew potty training would be hard but it pulls at my heart to have her struggling and afraid. I could use any tips that you have to share. Pray for us.
Oh as for the snow it is still coming down. Les spent about two hours clearing our driveway as well as driveways for four of our neighbors. By the time he finished he was soaked and our driveway was covered again. Oh well. We need all the moisture we can get.

Emma vs. The Potty

For those of you who I haven't discussed this with here in the news. Several months ago we set a goal for Emma with her Early Head Start Educator to introduce her to The Potty and work on getting her comfortable with it. Much to our amazement she liked it immediately. She loves to sit on it but more so she likes toilet paper and getting to wash her hands afterward. She likes it so much that she will tell me, "pee" and then run to her potty. I have been told that is a good sign that she is ready to start actual potty training. Then there was Christmas Eve . . . Emma had asked to sit on the potty (we were at my parents house and didn't have her potty so we used a portable toilet seat adapter - makes the whole small enough that little bums don't fall in). After she sat there for a minute she started to wine and try to get down. To me it looked like she was struggling to hold something in so I didn't let her down. A couple of minutes later she finally did go number one into the toilet! I was so proud of her and I let her know it. However, she acted like she had done something wrong. So a while after that she wouldn't ask to go onto the potty. She has been warming up to it again over the last couple of weeks. Then yesterday morning Les brought her into to sit on it while I was showering. They sat there for a few minutes and then Emma got off and what did we see . . . Emma had gone number one! We were so excited and we let Emma know she had done a great job. She didn't ask to sit on the potty again due to running around town and me needing to be in class. Then that evening she asked again. Shortly after putting her onto the potty she started to squirm and tried to get off. Les told her to stay there until he could get her a diaper to put her in. When he got back he lifted her off and once again we were surprised by what we saw. Emma went number two! I know this isn't the greatest topic but I am so proud of her. I hope that I can convey that to her so that she realizes that she is doing a good thing. The one problem we are running into with this recent developement is that we were planning to do some hard core potty training over spring break (which isn't until March) when we would be able to stay home day after day while she ran around in underware. Now she has moved the time table up. So we will see how things go from here.

Other semi related news . . .
I finally got into a Chiropractor! Hopefully the pain I have been experiencing will start to be alleviated. It is nice to know what is going on and how I can help it get better while I am at home. The only problem is that he wants to see me 3 times a week for 4 weeks. The only thing wrong with it is that he is only open on Mon, Wed, and Fri. I can do Wed and Fri because Les will be able to take Emma while I am there. On mondays though he is either working as a Engineering Ambassidor or in class from 8:30 to 4:30. I am not sure what I will do yet but we will try to work it out.
We have started to work out plans for Emma's birthday. I know it is still 2 months away but there are some obsticles to work around. I am due 4 days after her birthday. I want to be there for it so I want to move her party earlier in the month. The other obsticle is that Les will spend 3 days in California for a Conference for his research starting on the 19th of March. When he returns he will be attending another Conference in Salt lake for another 3 days. Which means not only will be be gone for 6 days straight but he will also be gone for Emma's birthday. So we have been thinking this through very carefully. We will let you know what is going on as soon as we figure it out.
With Les in school, working, and going to Conferences we (mostly me) have been worried about when I will go into labor. Since I spend most of the my day with Emma I have the Jeep. Know that I have wondered how I am supposed to drive myself to get Les so we can go to the hospital while I am in labor. I just don't think it will work. My sister-in-law Jana told be that starting the week before I am due she will be calling me every couple of hours to check on me. When I told her all the scenerios that were going through my head she told me that if I am home when I start that all I need to do is call her and she will come get us. She will drive me to the hospital and if Les hasn't already gotten on a bus she would probably go get him. I asked Les if he would come back from California early if I went into labor while he was there. He told that of course he would. He is so good to me.
Last bit of news we have finally been approved for housing assistance. As of the first of Feb. all but $19 of our rent will be paid. We are so excited! We have been on the waiting list for a year. Of course when we first applied we were still in the Townhouse which was more in rent and we hadn't even thought of applying to get in here yet. Our lives have changed so much in the last year. And to think we have only been here in Logan for a year and a half. Seems like longer than that. After many trials and challenges Heavenly Father is rewarding us for our faith. Thank you so very much.