The first week of Montessori school and I couldn’t be
happier. I know my previous post mentioned my tearful goodbyes and uncertainty
about leaving my baby with new providers but, she is thriving in her new
environment. I must admit that after note seeing her teacher when I picked her
up on the first day I was still very nervous so the next day I emailed her and received
the following message.
Then she took the time to call me twice to give me an update
on my lovebug. Our phone conversation made my heart smile and let me know that
my little Liv was right where she needed to be. Now I can relax and look forward
to a wonderful school year with lots of independent learning and growth😊.
But before I end this post I have to share this with you
all...
Do you see that?
That’s right my baby sat on the potty at school yesterday.
At SCHOOL Y’all.
I know she didn’t actually use it but after all I’ve shared
on our potty adventures I’m celebrating the fact they even tried and her
willingness to sit...1 point for team potty training.
Fellow HeartBEATS
How did the first week of school of for your kiddies?
Yes! I'm over here pouting and my face is bright red.
If you read this blog on a regular basis you can probably tell that this is a very sensitive subject for me as mom. Since, I've known my child has been ready to be potty trained for awhile but, her daycare doesn't support it until she is 2 (part of the reason she's out of there in September). You can read all about that here
Any who, as of late Liv (peep the new nickname) has been obsessed with the potty.
Like anytime she see's one she wants to stop sit, sit, and sit lol.
She loves coming into the restroom with me.
She clearly responds to questions like did you just poo poo, or do you have to pee pee.
She recognizes the potty
Just by those few examples you get the point but here's the kicker...
Over the weekend I took off her diaper in preparation to put her in the tub and got distracted with picking out her clothes for the week so she got to enjoy a little naked time (as my co-peep likes to call it). Everything was going fine until she came running in her closet and started grabbing my leg. When I looked down at her she points and says "pee pee mommy". At first I didn't see the pee so she grabbed as if she was going to lead me to a spot. But soon as I turned my body I instantly found it sitting just a foot or two behind where I was standing. Can you say shocked? Because, I sure can. I couldn't believe it however, I calmly gathered myself and proceeded to take her to the potty and let her know that is where her pee pee belongs. If that's not a sure sign her tale needs to be using someone potty I'm not sure what is and I honestly can't wait until she starts her new school on September 2nd because even if it doesn't solve all the problems I had with her previous daycare I know potty training won't be an issue. From day one kids are placed on the potty and is encouraged to be independent in that area.
But wait I'm not done. Let me add a little insult to injury by sharing a story from yesterday.
In preparation for my upcoming vacation I'm working late hours so I got to Liv's daycare later than normal so when I got there her she was down visiting the little ones in the 2 year old class. When I walked into this much larger classroom I couldn't see my baby but I heard her teachers voice so I followed the voices. Only to find the two teachers standing near in the restroom. One teacher was changing another little girl and Liv's teacher was watching her sit on the potty (fully clothed). When they spotted me her teacher looks directly in my face and says "She's Obsessed With The Potty". To which the other teacher proceeds chimes in with "Have you considered potty training her? She ready and fits in this classroom really well." We had a brief discussion about the challenges I've faced as a parent with regards to potty training and having my child moved up and needless to say I left the staff speechless. DON'T PLAY WITH ME lol
However, as a parent I can't help but pray that because this school isn't supportive of potty training at Liv's age we aren't missing our window of opportunity. At her 18 month appointment last month her pediatrician informed me that if a child shows interest in the potty between 15 and 18 months its best to capitalize on their interest. As the peek ages for potty training otherwise, she may not be trained until two and half or three. As we all know a month can make a drastic difference in a growing child's life so I let's hope my baby doesn't miss out because they'll be the ones I blame and send my diaper bills too lol.
This week I’m playing catch up. I feel like I’ve been saying
I’ll update you all soon and just never do so this is the week to catch up and
I’m starting with Potty Training. Since, my original potty training
post I’ve gotten a ton of inquiries about how things are going so as promised here’s
the skinny on Baby O’s potty time progress.
Things were going excellent, we were spending our evenings
and weekends having potty time. To be clear she wasn’t drag me too the potty or
anything thing but, we had a little routine going where I’d sit her on the
potty soon as we got home, after dinner, and again before bed (one the weekends
we did every two hours) and she was accident free. We were getting somewhere
and I even discovered that she was grasping the concept...
To be clear, by no means do her understanding equal actually
using the potty on her own. NOT AT ALL. It
actually turned out that while she did indeed where she should go potty it
didn’t prevent her from experiencing regression... She had begun to go potty in
her diaper and then walk over to the potty and take a seat or, use go in
her diaper immediately after getting up
from the potty. And for the life of me I couldn’t figure out where in the world
this little set back was coming from.
Originally I thought maybe I was too ambitious with my potty
introduction and she wasn’t ready. Until I did my research and discovered my
poor baby was probably just confused.
Since, I hadn’t engaged the school in our potty time
adventures we were totally sending my lovebug mixed signals. I was at home telling her it isn’t ok to go
potty in her diaper while, they were telling her the complete opposite for 8
hours of the day...YIKES. I had to get school involved because the only way
this would work was if everyone was on the same page. Being that she was in a
toddler room which had a restroom in it I didn’t foresee a problem. I set up meeting with her teacher and director
to discuss Baby O getting potty time throughout the day which seemed to go
well. We set a date to start and I spent
the entire weekend before hand trying to get Baby O back on track. I was serious like looked up YouTube videos,
read books, brought supplies, and picked my baby up early so we could get
started SERIOUS.
The Musical timer we set for every 30 minutes
Since Baby O is into baby dolls I got her a Baby Alive to demonstrate
how potty time works
The rewards board
The Packet I put together for the teacher to reward her during potty
time
Cute little seat
Big Girl Panties
Only to find out that the school wasn’t hence my comment“So you won’t potty train her until she’s 2?”
in the THAT MOM post. Y’all they played me, turns out they were
against my plan to potty train early and had given Baby O’s teacher very specific
instructions that made the effort a true waste of time and when I finally
discovered what was going on I was pissed. Yet, I decided to have a follow on
conversation with the director which enlightened me on the schools true
opinion...
The school doesn’t begin
potty training until children enter the 2 year old classroom. They didn’t want
to force a 13 month old to sit on the potty so, they were only willing to get
her used to the idea by sitting her on the potty every two hours if the teacher
wasn’t the only adult in the classroom at the time.
In my follow up conversations
with the teacher Baby O was enjoying her potty breaks but most times had
already gone potty in the diaper prior to getting sat on the potty. This meant
we were right back where we started and the only responsible thing for me to do
was call operation potty time quits. I can’t risk any further confusion on this
situation for Baby O it’s just not fair to her. And, although I know she’s
ready even more so now then she was three months ago I have to hold off until
she’s in environment that fosters growth and development on an individual level
instead of a place that focuses on a GROUP THINK philosophy.
So I failed to mention the epic P word (Potty) in my Olivia
Madison post because I wanted to share it with you all separately this way I
can go into a lot more detail.
Pause
Don't think I don't know that 9 out of 10 of you are sitting
behind your screens reading this and thinking I'm crazy as heck for even
mentioning the word Potty when my daughter is just over a year old. I noticed
and I’m going to share my story any way lol but, will clarify the following before
I proceed;
We (The Brown household) are exploring the potty
because she likes it.She loves singing and moving to the beat while
on it. And don't get me started on how much she loves to push the handle to initiate
the celebration once she's done.
My child does NOT cry, scream, or yell during potty time otherwise I wouldn't
place her on it. and there are no extreme amounts of pressure on her
to use it.
Most of the times she goes but when she doesn't
we say good job on sitting on the potty like a big girl we are so proud of her.
Lastly, she enjoys it so we make fun with
learning because we can :)
Now that we have that out the way. Here’s where we are...
In general conversation around Olivia's first birthday my
friend was providing motherly advice and strongly advised I start introducing Olivia
Madison to the potty. I mentioned that I didn't have one and low and behold she
purchased Olivia one for her birthday (Thanks Amber).I was just happy to have a
potty and check buying one of my list of to-do’s until, I realized the hip hip
hooray I kept hearing was coming from the box that contained it. Olivia was playing with the handle and trying
to rip the box open so she could continue to play with it. The next day I took it out the box and begin to explain
what it was to her. Thinking to myself that after dinner we could give the introduction thing a try.
That night I
sat her on it just about 5 minutes after she ate I placed her on the potty. She smiled while I sang, did her business (both number
1 and 2), and pushed the lever down. I was elated my tiny tot was using the bathroom like a big girl. We
celebrated with a song and dance and moved on with the rest of our nightly routine.
Since, her first night on the potty we have incorporated using the potty in our
nightly routine. Although, we are very limited on how much time she is able to spend on
it since, it’s not really something her daycare is reinforcing we will continue
to slowly add potty timet in other parts of her home routine. So stick around because I’ll be sure to keep you posted on
how she is doing with it :)
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