Do The Potty Dance!

A couple of weeks ago, our friend Steph had a potty training party. It was a great time to get together with my Mommy group and start the next phase of our toddlers lives.

Dominic and Logan were pretty easy to train, especially being that they are boys. (I have heard girls are easier to train than boys many times) Dominic and Logan we introduced at 18 months, same as with Charlie. Dominic was completely trained before 3, including at night. Logan was completely trained by 2.5 and just recently started wearing undies to bed. (he does still have accidents and we do not always skip a pull up)

I will admit that I was not all into getting Charlie ready to train yet. All for selfish reasons. A-I have one toddler to take to the bathroom seven million times a day and we still only have one bathroom currently. B-I was just not ready to let go of all of her as a baby. However, Charlie is showing us more and more that she is ready to start training.

About a week and a half ago, Charlie wanted to be naked. We let her because we weren't going anywhere. Dominic happened to be home from school on a holiday. The potty chair was in the living room with them, as it always is. Dominic put Charlie on the potty and she pooped! I was in shock. I assumed it was a fluke but we made a big deal about it. We danced. We sang. We gave high fives.

Now onto Wednesday....I am still not all 'hey I need my LAST BABY to be potty training' so I just go with the flow. When Charlie wants to be Naynee, as she calls it, I let her. That is how we potty trained Logan and it is how we will train Charlie. Let her run around without anything on for a few days. Wipes, lysol and paper towels in hand. Be free child, be free! Then we will continue with just undies for a few days, eventually moving on to wearing pants. Bam, potty trained. Since Charlie wanted to be naked again today, Gary and I let her. She was coloring on her table and stopped. She ran over to her potty chair and sat down. Next thing you hear is the rush of pee!!! She did it, all on her own. No one told her to go. No one sat her on the potty.

So apparently my child is ready to start the transition of training. I am going to let her. I am sad that this is the last step in her being a full on toddler and no longer a baby. However, the money we save in not buying diapers will be well worth it!

How do you train your children? At what age did you start?

Sleep Training

I know that I have said a few times about not sleeping through the night. Logan wakes up about 2-3 times a week and comes in our room. Charlie wakes up NIGHTLY and heads into our room too. And if those two are not enough to make you get black circles under your eyes, there is also me who just cannot stay asleep because of pain/numbness etc.

Then Charlie started screaming and crying in the night without even being awake. Night terrors from what I can conclude between my Twitter Mom friends and Mr Google.

This week it hit me. I am DONE. I need to get Charlie better and sleep through the night. It is for her own good and my sanity. Maybe my husbands sanity too, maybe. And so it began. Sleep training for the seven million time with her.

Like I said, we have tried before but she just would not break. It was draining to hear her cry for hours. Draining to our spirits and my Mommy heart. So we gave up. Many times, we just let her fall asleep in the living room or with us.

Charlie had her crib made into a toddler bed but it was not working with night time. So we turned it around so that she cannot get out. Once she is completely trained, we will turn it back around again. 

Last night we started the sleep training again. We had already had a pretty normal bedtime routine. (Dinner, baths every other night, kids play time/tv time/story time, wind down and bed) We switched it up and began a slightly different routine. (Dinner, play time, baths, tv show, story time, bed) Last night was a bit hard but Charlie only cried on and off for an hour. I took that as a success and we did it again tonight. She only cried on and off for 30 minutes tonight. WIN! It is working.

We started to sleep train Logan at about this age too. He goes to bed now with his big brother since they share a room. He is usually not an issue with going straight to bed. They watch another show and chat for awhile and then go to sleep. Some nights they read, play on the Ipod and Iphone, or play a game. Whatever it takes to wind them down, they do it. And it works. No messing with them!

I will keep you all up to date on our progress but if things keep going the way they are, then I think we will be done training by the weekend! I needed this as much as Charlie did. I thrive on routine and apparently, so does she :)