Day two of potty training

Flawless! He got the hang of it so quickly, we are all shocked! From the first thing in the morning, shouting "I have to go!" from his bed, all through the day he realized evertime he had to go and we made it to a restroom or the potty seat evertime, to the end of the day in his PJ's and a diaper (for the night) and he yells from his bed, "I have to go!" and we get him up and rush him to the potty. Not one accident all day!

Day 1 of serious potty training

First thing in the morning I put him on the potty and then into big boy underwear. Every 20 or 30 minutes I say, "Do you have to go potty?" he says "no" most of the time but a few minutes later say "Oh-oh!" and we'd clean up the mess, change him into new underwear and try again. When he says, "I have to go!" we get him to the potty in time and celebrate! I pack a bag with a couple pairs of pants and underwear just in case. We get dressed to go to our swim class, get all the way over there, park and walk to the JCC only to find that it's closed for the Yom Kippur. Oy Vey, I was out of the loop somehow this time, but you think they would announce "Hey, we'll be closed next week" for the Shikse in the class.

On the way back to the car Skyler had his first accident of the day. He seems a little embarrassed to have a pee-pee pant accident happen in public. I tell him that it's no problem, accidents happen and when we get to the car I put clean underwear and pants on him. Then we drive home, park the car and walk over to Golden Gate Park and into the Japanese Tea Garden. As soon as we pay our $3.50 and get in the gate I say, "let's get over to the bathroom", he tells me that he doesn't have to go but I insist and take him to the restrooms. He can't go so I pull up his pants and we start to walk around. The first pagoda and Skyler says "Oops, Mommy I went pee-pee!” Back to the bathroom to change and off we go through the gardens. Five minutes later "Oh, oh!" We don't have anymore dry pants or underwear with us so I tell him that we have to go home and change but that we can probably come back later in the day, after nap time. He hates that idea and decides that he'll walk around for a little while with pee-pee pants.

Well, you get the idea, sometimes he would realize that he had to go and sometimes not. Later we went to run errands and I brought the potty seat with us in the car. He said "I have to go!" and I pulled over and sat him on the potty. While shopping at Target he had another accident but we just finished our shopping and I changed him in the car. Lots of accidents but some success with lots of praise and we’ll try again tomorrow!

Potty Training 101

We're at Tot's Gym today and I see a little boy sitting off to the side against the wall looking a little lonely. I said, "Don't you want to play?" and pointed to all the other kids jumping about and riding tricycles. He nodded his head but didn't move so I said, "I'll play with you, come on!", he looked happy, stood up and pointed to his shoes. I said, "Cute shoes, come on, do you want to climb?" He pointed down again and I lifted up his big orange tee shirt (that tells which nursery school he's there with) and saw that he had peed in his pants. I pulled his orange shirt back down and noticed that it had a big wet circle on the front. I said, "Oh-oh, you had an accident? That's okay, let me get someone to help you." I went over to one of the women who were watching the kids in matching orange shirts and told her that there was a little boy who had an accident. She said, "I know, he's potty training, he's okay, we're going to have some lunch soon and then we'll take him back and clean him up".

Well, it just so happens that I am potty training Skyler without much success, so I asked her if she had any tips. I told her that I was using pull ups but he didn't seem to be catching on. She said, "Oh please, pull ups don't work, they're just taking your money, it's the same thing as diapers only way more expensive". I said, "Well, what do you do?" She said that they put them in underwear, let them have some accidents and then, after a week or so, they get the hang of it. She pointed around the room to a few of the Skyler sized kids and said "that one's potty training - he just turned three, that one over there just started - he still has accidents, that girl with the dark hair is potty training and doing good but girls catch-on faster. You just have to put them in underwear, explain how it works and what happens when they don't get to the potty on time, and let the learning begin! Put a diaper on him when he naps or goes to bed; have him wear underpants the rest of the time and accidents are okay, that’s how they learn. After awhile of wetting himself he'll realize that he can control it so that doesn't happen until he gets to the potty. You'll still have accidents, but after a while it'll only be a once in a while thing.

So tonight we put Skyler in underpants around 5:00. He peed through the first pair of underwear (and pants and shoes and socks) almost immediately. It's now 8:00 and we've had 4 changes of clothes but also a lot of success! He's made it to the potty several times and is really proud of himself.

I’ll keep you all posted…

Skyler knows what he wants to be when he grows up

Skyler has decided that he wants to be a mommy when he grows up. We told him that little boys grow up to be men and that men are usually daddies, not mommies. He said, "No, I want to be a mommy, not a daddy".

All I can say is that being a mommy is the very best job I've ever had!

What we've been up to lately...

I haven't had a chance to catch-up on our blog so here is a short list of what we've been up to lately. We have new friends and old friends that we've met again. I'll try to fill in more details later but this is what I can think of right now:

Matt's band Smashup Derby plays - Skyler plays daddy's drums
Golden Gate Park: duck pond, turtles and feeding the squirrels
Randal Museum and a hike up the mountain and down the other side
Swim class & Lake Street Park (lake, ducks & playground)
Tot's Gym and the Marina Park w/ new friends Sharon & Little Brody
The Zoo with Nana
Work for Mommy, Skyler to the Park with nanny Carrie
Main Library Story time / Asian Art Museum / Civic Center Park
Exploratorium (no more dead turtle) & picnic at Palace of Fine Arts
Swim class & Pac Heights Story time / Friends from the past Kimba, Megan & little Hazel
Denise, Bill & little Victoria: Pumpkin patch & lunch at the airport for little planes in Half Moon Bay
Golden Gate Park / Conservatory of Flowers
Claudio & Charlotte (soon to have a little one) house warming party with Miss Lynda

Sorry it's not more detailed but as you can see we've been very busy!