Monday, June 15, 2009

Mom Advice

So Audra has presented us with a couple of interesting situations in which some expert mommy-advice would be needed.

First, she has completely regressed out of her toddler bed. She will only sleep in her crib. We think it has to do with all of the changes, staying with Ben's parents for awhile, the madness of the house, etc. We don't know- but she won't sleep in her bed. She has not fallen out, to the best of our knowledge, she just has lost interest. Any ideas?

Then, at the same time she has regressed in that area, she has now taken a great interest in potty training. We bought her a potty for her Birthday, and for the last little while she will sit on it fully clothed when I go to the bathroom (sorry if it's TMI, but if you're a mom then I know it isn't).Today she decided she wanted to sit on the toilet without her diaper and she would say, "go potty, go potty." Of course I let her, and now she continually takes her diaper off and wants to sit on the potty. She has not gone on the potty, and I don't think she knows when she needs to go, so that is the dilemma. I have everything we need to potty train- pull-ups, plastic pants, etc. but I wasn't planning on even attempting to train her until after the baby was born- fearing a regression. What sould I do????

5 comments:

  1. My sister-in-law gave me an awesome book (which I have not yet cracked since I have no need) called Toilet Training in One Day. She swears by it and potty trained both her girls at or before age 2 with few problems - I think it's kind of about intense one-on-one training with rewards like m&ms. Might look into that. As for comprehension of what's going on, it's hard to know what is happening in those little brains, my little guy definitely doesn't have a CLUE what it all means, that's for sure. I swear he's going to be like 4.
    As far as the bed thing goes, I think I'd drop it and let her sleep in the crib for awhile, she may just need the security. Presumably you won't be using it on day 1 with the little one? Maybe you'll have to brainwash Audra into being a BIG GIRL and that cribs are for BABIES. I have lots of friends having number 2 with the same spacing as you and I and they have just planned to buy a second crib. I think with all the changes coming, you should try to keep as much stability as possible and if it means the crib, there are way worse things.
    On another note, we totally put our crib away like the next day after the toddler bed went up so it was out of sight, out of mind, that could be part of her deal - it's still there. I also think that when you do transfer it to the next child, you should make it look different (diff bedding, color, whatever) so it's not HER bed anymore. Child psychology...sheesh.

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  2. She may or may not be really ready to train, but give her the chance to try and see where it goes. She may take to it and voila, your life is easier. Or, she may do it for a little while and then not be interested in it anymore. You really have to be flexible as a mom sometimes, and this is definitely one of those areas. About the toddler bed, that is also your call. If it is really important to you that she be out of her crib, then take the crib down until you need it for the baby, or at least take the mattress out, eliminate it as an option. Take her shopping for a bedding set for the toddler bed that she picks out herself, that might make her more excited to sleep in it, and make her feel like even with the baby coming, some things are just for her. Just some ideas.

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  3. Hmmm, that is a tough one. You've had some great advice though from friends. As we seem to be going through similar things though with the bed....I just put all the baby stuff in the crib so that Logan couldn't sleep in it even if he wanted to. He hasn't really shown any interest to go back though. Although I'm afraid he will once the baby comes.
    As for potty training, I would just take the cues from Audra. If she's interested, let her be interested. But I wouldn't get your hopes up because there is that possibility of regression. But I'd let her try if she wanted to. You don't want to scare her away from it by telling her no at this point.
    My SIL had a similar problem. She couldn't get her 2 year old girl to potty train, but then she showed interest a month before the baby came and there hasn't been any problems since. No regression or anything. Each kid is different, you just never know what they'll do.
    Good luck to you!

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  4. I think we need to hide the crib as you all suggested. But, now she seems scared of her toddler bed so I don't want to push her. I guess with potty training I'll just let her keep sitting on the toilet but not push it- I really think she is just imitating mommy, not really wanting to go on the potty. But maybe she will accidentally go when she is sitting on it. Really I am just scared to try this before the baby comes- I am not ready for it!!

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