The Lord Likes A Cheerful Giver...

This Sunday we went to church with my Mother-in-Law.

I gave Aidan and Reese a dollar each to put in the offering plate.  Aidan eagerly tried to give his dollar to any old man in a suit that walked by our row. Reese looked at her dollar, gave a sigh/tilted her head and put it in her sequined purse. I removed the dollar and tried to explain the concept of the offering to Reese. The dollar returned to her purse two more times until the gold plate made its way to our row. She reluctantly put her dollar in the plate, I was expecting her to take the other dollars (or the bigger bills), but she was proud that she was a big girl and participating in church.

Aidan and his dollar. Yes, the photo is blurry (kids move around too much and I used my iPhone), but yes, he does have a black eye. He fell at the YMCA on Friday. Believe me, the metal post that he hit with his face looks much worse.

This photo is also blurry (see reason above). Even though it is blurry, you can clearly see that Reese is shoving the dollar into her purse, hoping no one will notice or forgive her because she's so cute.

Reese was later removed from the service because she was loudly announcing to my Mother-in-Law that she had gone to the potty. I tried to cover her mouth to keep her quiet, but she kept getting louder and then started giggling. She didn't actually go, she just sat on the toilet. I guess the joke's on me. HA! HA!

The Potty Party Princess

Well, here I go again with another attempt to potty train Reese. This time I bought the book, studied and took notes. I prepared for this like it was the S.A.T.s. Unfortunately, I think I did better on the S.A.T.s.

I bought the book, "Potty Train Your Child In Just One Day." The Cliffs Notes are basically this...your child has no incentive to go in the toilet because it's been okay for them to go in their diaper for the past few years, you need to make it fun and custom fit for them.  You throw a party with a theme that fits your child (i.e. Thomas the Train, Pirate, Dora, etc.), in our case a Disney Princess theme was just the ticket. You give them presents for their successes (staying dry, sitting on the toilet, and making a deposit).

You and the child also "train" a peeing doll how to use the potty for the first half of the day. This gives you and child a chance to reprimand the doll about how it is not okay to pee in your pants, on the floor, etc. You keep it fun and it avoids you yelling at your child for peeing in their pants or on the floor.

The doll graduates and becomes a "big girl" around lunch time and then you start working with your child. You are supposed to have a fun evening out to celebrate and give your child a chance to try out his/her skills in a public toilet. Voila! Your kid is potty trained. Voila? More like HA, HA!

I did something similar when I potty trained Aidan, but it wasn't as detailed. This time around I decorated the house with balloons, I wrapped about a bazillion little dollar-store presents, and I hand-sewed underwear for the doll. The doll peed in the toilet and the doll had accidents (Tootsie Rolls came in to play here). The book also recommends having a special drink for the day to entice the child to drink (water and milk aren't as special as Princess Punch).

I borrowed books from friends, rented them from the library and I've started my own little library.

We alternated watching Potty Videos and Princess Videos. The best on we watched was the Once Upon a Potty DVD.

Enjoying the Princess Punch (aka the infamous Fruit Punch, 7up, Sherbet concoction).

Reese showing her doll, who's name is Charlie, how to put her underwear on.

Encouragement is also supposed to help, so I rounded up my team of grandmothers, one dad and almost a dozen Princesses (my friends) to leave messages for Reese on my mobile about her potty party. Throughout the day we listened to our messages and I couldn't help but laugh and smile, I have the greatest friends ever! Thank you Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Giselle, Snow White, Tiana, and Jasmine - you all know who you are.

We had great success until it came time to go to our special dinner at Red Robin. When I tried to put her on the toilet at Red Robin she screamed bloody murder and nearly choked me trying to get off the toilet. I didn't feel like I had enough time with her at home to practice and I felt like the dinner out derailed all of our hard work from earlier in the day.

It felt like the day was a good kick off to the potty training, but there was no VOILA. We are still a work in progress. If I could do it all over again, I would 86 the dinner out so that I would have more time to keep the momentum going. I would also wait to give her the special drink until lunch time to ensure more chances to practice with her. I gave her the punch in the morning, but we didn't start training her until after lunch, so she filled two diapers before lunch and towards the end of the day the novelty of the special drink wore off.

I'm proud of her accomplishments for the day, but we have a long way to go and I know I have a lot of laundry in my future. Since the potty party, we got a Potty Watch to help Reese remember when to go and she no longer terrified to sit on public toilets. We threw out all of our remaining diapers (really they are in a bag for our friend Noah) and there's no turning back now.