Toilet Training Update

It's going pretty good. A week ago Sunday I decided enough was enough with pull-ups that she was content to pee in all day long. There have been many puddles - which I anticipated, but within a week she was doing really well. She was still starting to pee, but would catch herself and we'd finish in the potty. Nine days later I am still doing a lot of watching and listening for her cues - she isn't running to the potty just yet, but as soon as she starts talking about the potty or her panties (as in "Amelia is still wearing panties") I know it's time to get her to the potty. We've been able to run errands, go to the park and have playdates - all in panties. She only does pull-ups for naptime and bedtime.

I am really proud of her progress and our ability to both work at this in a productive way. There hasn't been any harsh disciplining, just me telling her firmly for the first five days or so that big girls don't pee in their panties. And she doesn't resist going to the bathroom like she had begun doing before we started on the all-panties project. She also doesn't sit there for long most of the time - she does her business and gets her sticker. We did add a mini-marshmallow as an added incentive, but she doesn't always ask for it. The sticker - she always asks for it.

She starts pre-school next month and there's supposed to be an Open House sometime this month. I haven't heard anything yet, but I feel a lot more prepared now that she is so far along with her potty training.

My poison ivy is almost all gone. Yippee! Seriously.

Amelia will randomly recite sentences from her various books. This morning while climbing up the rope ladder at the park she suddenly says, "No, no, said Rabbit. That's for bessert!" I tried to tell her she meant dessert with a "d" but she insisted it was bessert. I thought it was cute.

During breakfast we were reading one of her books and she was insisting that something started with a wrong letter. (We've been working a little with her to notice how letters and sounds correlate as in B, buh buh, is for baby, D, duh duh, is for daddy.) I don't remember the specific issue this morning but she was, as usual, insistent about her take on things. I suddenly heard my father's voice in my head saying, "See, she's just like you already. She thinks she knows everything."

But she does catch on. She has a good friend named Livia and last week we visited a new baby named Lydia. I explained to her that the baby was Lydia with a 'd', duh duh, not like Livia with a 'v', vuh vuh. Halfway through the visit she suddenly started calling the baby by the right name and as we left she said, "Had fun with baby Lydia."

We've spent a good amount of time lately playing in the driveway, blowing bubbles and drawing with chalk. She also likes to walk along the dividing lines in the pavement like she's on a balance beam.

[pictures dated 8/11 and 8/10/08]