Category: Parenting

Toilet Training Take Two

As I have this week off I thought I’d have another go at potty training.  We tried a couple of months ago but didn’t have any luck.  I did loads of reading, completed online readiness tests and Madame showed most of the signs of being ready:

  • She’s 2 and a half
  • She can undress herself, which she has a habit of doing in public
  • She goes into the bathroom and closes the door or hides behind the curtains when she has a ‘poo’
  • She was familiar with the potty as we had it kicking around for awhile
  • She can go for a couple of hours with a dry nappy.

So, armed with loads of knickers, a mop and 1001 Spot Stain Remover we had a go.  My basic approach was to put her in knickers, wait for the first accident and go from there.  In hindsight that was a bit naïve.

Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate she could be a camel when it comes to peeing.  She went 5 days without peeing during the day.  I started to worry about urinary tract infections, etc so I resorted to using chocolate buttons.  It did seem to help a bit and we carried on for two weeks but when there was no visible sign of any improvement, it was sheer luck when she went on the potty, we gave up.

I’m not a fan of Gina Ford as I don’t believe babies/children are little machines but I’d heard good things about her book ‘Potty Training in One Week’ so I borrowed it from a friend (@annieqpr) and had a quick read last night. I was quite surprised that what she suggested was similar to what I had tried the first time.

On the first day, straight after breakfast, put them in Big Girl Knickers, and then encourage them to sit on the potty for 5-10 minutes every 15 minutes……

This was all very well, but what if they won’t sit on the potty?  Forcing her would only exacerbate the problem.  So, I quickly flipped to the Problem Solving Section for ‘The Stubborn Child’.  Surprisingly, Gina is all up for a bit of bribery.  So I’ve printed off a Dora Star Chart and loaded up on chocolate buttons.  I didn’t want to go down that road, but for an easy life I’ll try anything.  For every wee she does on the toilet she gets a star and a chocolate button.  Once she starts having success I’ll stretch out the amount of time between treats until there are no more treats left.

We’re still not having any luck.  She’ll sit on the potty, but come hell or high water she’s not going to wee on it.  I’ve tried everything from reading stories, TV, singing, rubbing her back, tickling her, pulling silly faces and giving her copious amounts of liquid in an effort to break the dam.

I know it’s only early days and I’m in it for the long haul but would be grateful for any advice.

Chicken Scratch

I was doing a bit of crafts or ‘craps’ as Madame calls it this afternoon while husband was catching some zzz’s. Art is not my forte but I do enjoy doing it.  I was painstakingly cutting out some circles for flower petals.  We glued them onto the paper and added a stem and some butterfly stickers.  Then hubby strolled in and scribbled on the petals!  Grrr!  I can’t believe how upset I got.  He ruined our masterpiece I felt deflated.  It reminded me that I’ll need to be sensitive with Madame about her artwork.

He did make amends by doing a couple more pictures with her and no, I didn’t scribble on them.

Under the sea!

In the Jungle!

A question for you:  When doing artwork with my 2 year old I tend to draw (badly) houses, cars, bicycles, butterflies, etc but she’s only at the stage of doing scribbles, very good ones I might add.  But, on a couple of occasions after I’ve drawn something she says ‘I can’t draw’ and insists that I do it….should we stick to doing scribbles as well?

Different isn’t wrong

As a first time mum I’m sure I’m making loads of mistakes, but there is one thing that I think I got right!  I gave my husband the opportunity to find his own feet. I had to go through a huge learning curve and there was the danger of me swooping in and elbowing him to the side as ‘mummy knows best’ (not an expression I’ve ever used)

This wasn’t an altruistic act, but in fact very selfish:  the more confident he became with looking after Madame the more freedom I could have.  I can go out with my mates if I want, he takes her cycling on a Saturday morning so I get some ‘me’ time and I can go away for a weekend and not worry, which will come in handy when I’m away in June for the Gower Challenge.

This didn’t happen immediately and took me awhile to figure it out.   I had to teach myself that he does things ‘differently’ not ‘wrong’. A mantra I have to repeat to myself often.  Yes, he dresses her in ghastly outfits; he can’t predict dangerous situations and feeds her crap.

We’ve had a discussion about the clothes; I’ve given him one simple rule:  you can either have patterns on the top or the bottom not both!  I stop myself from even thinking about the dangers as I know he loves her dearly and will do his best to keep her safe.  And for bacon sandwiches, it’s not going to kill her and she’s spending quality time with daddy.

I know I give him a lot of grief, but he really is a brilliant dad and I’m very lucky.  Shh!  Don’t tell him I said that.

I came across these images when writing this post and they had me in stitches.  They originally came from David and Kelly’s Safe Baby Handling Tips, which can be purchased from Amazon.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp5ViGE7p_I]

Using up Supplies

This week I decided not to go grocery shopping and try to use up some of the ingredients I had in the kitchen.  Click here to see previous post.  This is a record of what I managed to create:

Monday

Sausage Casserole

What I used:

  • 1 Coleman Packet sauce
  • 6 sausage
  • 1 onion
  • 175 g mushrooms (looked slightly dodgy)
  • 4-6 potatoes for mash

Tuesday

Pasta with  5 minute Tomato Sauce (hubby loved the lemony zing of sauce)

What I used:

  • Virgin Olive Oil
  • Crushed Red Chili Pepper Flakes
  • Sea Salt
  • Garlic Powder as I didn’t have any garlic
  • Tinned chopped Tomatoes
  • Zest of one slightly squishy lemon
  • Penne Pasta
  • Bagged Salad that was 2 days past sell by date

Wednesday

Pork Chops in Mushroom Sauce, Rice and Carrots

What I used:

  • Vegetable Oil
  • 4 pork chops
  • 2 cans of Campbells’ Cream of Mushroom Soup (must have ingredient for all chefs)
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Water
  • Milk
  • Carrots
  • Rice

Thursday

Steak, Chips and Salad Gordon Ramsay Style (well kind of!)

What I used:

  • 2 Prime Rump Steaks
  • Butter
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • McCain Frozen Oven Chips as we didn’t have any Desiree Potatoes
  • 4 Tomatoes (grilled) with a sell by date of the 28th of January instead of Rocket Salad with Vinaigrette

Friday

McDonald’s

  • Quarter Pounder with Cheese Meal and a diet coke! ;-)

What’s in My Fridge

I’ve decided not to go grocery shopping this week!  I know it sounds crazy, but I can’t be bothered dragging Madame around Morrison’s and I’ve just had a look in my cupboards/fridge. I have over 25 tins (everything from tomatoes to coconut milk), pasta, rice, packet sauces and the freezer is stocked with a reasonable amount of meat.  I normally prefer to cook with fresh ingredients, as it’s the healthier option, but it seems wasteful and ludicrous to spend money when we don’t need to.

I’m not sure if this was inspired by Heather @notesfromlapland’s blog about eating out of date food but it did spring to mind when I wrote this.

I should be okay for the first couple of days, but when all else fails I’ll just pop what ingredients I do have into Google and add the word recipe!  I may also try Meals in My Fridge, a site where you enter what you have in the fridge and it finds a recipe for you

Tonight we’ll be having a sausage casserole courtesy of Coleman’s Packet Sauces.  I dread to think of the e-numbers so I’m not even going to look.  All I need is sausages, onion, mushrooms, and potatoes.  All of which I have.

Wish me luck