Sunday, July 15, 2007

I Cannot Believe I Forgot To Do This!

All of this working I have been doing caused me to miss a MAJOR milestone. You guessed it--my second anniversary of writing this blog occurred in June and I didn't even notice. I'm also coming up on my 200th post. I will be expecting a party.

I recently realized that I have made a major error in childrearing. I forgot that I am suppposed to be potty training Genna. I came to this realization when we were in Indiana and some friends of ours from Cincinnati came to visit. Abby is two months younger than Genna and was going to the bathroom on her own and doing the job correctly. She even pooped. Without being prodded. Without being reminded every 10 minutes to go. She was wearing panties--not even a pull-up. Needless to say, I felt like such a loser. I can't believe I forget to get started doing this! It's not like I love chasing her around the house when it is time to change her diapers. I would love nothing more than to not spend $50/month on diapers and the $100 on wipes (Ok, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but we use a lot of wipes.)

Potty training was relatively easy to do with Ella because I was home with her full-time and she was going through her "less is more" phase of nakedness. I'm not sure how potty-training will happen consistently when I'm working the hours that I work. Does daycare help out with that? I don't even know! I'm sure they do, but I will probably have to give them about 7 changes of clothing. I have a hard enough time remembering to bring her bib and diapers into school when I am supposed to. I am the Mom they have to write notes in bold red Sharpee Marker to remind me to bring things . Three times. Now they have gotten smarter and start writing me notes in Sharpee Marker about two weeks before Genna actually needs it.

I'll be able to handle the weekends--it's daycare I am not sure about. Anyone have any advice? How do I keep things consistent? I used to say that I would pay $20 for Ella to teach Genna when the time came. Would that be bad?

7 comments:

Pendullum said...

I would suggest to start on the weekends(or on a long weekend...) and let the daycare know...
Good luck with it...
Summertime should be relatively easier than in the fall...

Lumpyheadsmom said...

I bet you could get Ella to do it for $10. It's worth the offer, let her bargain her way to $20. You'll be teaching negotiating skills! Useful!

Pinterest Failures said...

I like the way you think, LHM!

Kara said...

We started training in the summer by putting her in undies and- don't laugh- carrying around a timer. Every 90 minutes she was placed on the potty. I swear it worked. The problem was that at d aycare they toileted the kids every 2 hours...she had some accidents but got over it quickly. She wanted to move into the "big kid room' at school and couldn't go until she was trained. That was her big incentive.

MLB said...

Happy 200th Post Day! Enjoy the party!

Andie D. said...

Absolutely pay Ella to teach Genna! If your kids are anything like mine, Genna will want to do whatever Ella does anyway, so involve her ass.

Incentives work too.

I won't tell you how potty training my first while he was at daycare went. That won't do you any good. All I will say is make sure that you speak to the daycare about it on a consistent basis to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Anonymous said...

I am so clueless about starting with Monkey -- and I'm at home full time right now. That's pathetic. I better get on it though, so she can teach Bun in a couple of years.

albamaria