A Toilet Training Update

My eldest was easy to toilet train. She took to it just before her 3rd Birthday and was dry throughout the day within a couple of weeks and at night-time within a month. My youngest has been a completely different story, at times proving frustrating for the both of us.

At 3 and a 1/2 he took a lot more encouragement to get going but with help from home & Pre-School he began to get the idea. We had lots of attempts where he just couldn't pick it up and then suddenly things started to click into place for him; the addition of Spiderman boxers helped too!

It's been 2 months since he started toilet training and he's now got the hang of standing up to use the toilet and is beginning to need less prompting to 'go and try,' often taking himself off and going completely on his own. Over the last few days we've also started putting him in pants during the night. With a towel under his bedsheets and a week of dry nights in his pull-ups we all took the plunge and he's doing really well *knock on wood*

I'm so proud of my little man and it's hitting me just how quickly my two are growing up! It seems like just a few months ago I was blending food into purees and changing nappies and now my eldest is getting ready to start school and my youngest is following close behind.

Reasons To Be Cheerful #R2BC - 06

Reasons To Be Cheerful (#R2BC) has been hosted by the wonderful Ojo at Ojo's World for the month of April. Now it is May it has been passed back to the lovely Becky at Lakes Single Mum; make sure you pop over and say hello to the both of them.

POTTY TRAINING
The last couple of days have seen my youngest instigate potty training. After months of encouraging him and trying him in pants once a week or two with no real success and almost constant accidents I decided to call a halt to it. The next week, as if a switch was turned on, he just 'got it' and has started learning to use the potty/toilet (this is still early days though, *knock on wood* all goes smoothly for him). My eldest has been fantastic in encouraging him too; each time he does a wee on the potty/toilet she bursts into praise and applause, telling him how proud she is and how clever he is. It's really helping him :)

RE-DECORATING
We moved house almost a year ago and hadn't done very much, if any, decorating since. That all changed this week when I made a start on re-painting the entire house (I'm aiming to get it done by the Summer!); I began with our youngest's room. He chose a nice apple white paint. It looks really fresh and bright, a definite improvement on the marked and mucky magnolia that he had previously. I'm planning on buying new furnishings for his, and his Sister's room too, once I've painted the both of them. It's all very exciting, I love decorating and the kids are looking forward to enjoying their new rooms once they are complete.

GROWING OUR OWN
This is our third year of growing our own veg. Each year we've branched out a little and increased the amount of seeds we sow and vegetables and plants we grow. This year we are growing peppers (chilli's, bells & barancios), sunflowers, phlox, miniature marigolds and garlic (from kitchen scraps..more on how to do that soon!). We're also awaiting a tomato plant from my Mum & Dad's garden, it's become kind of 'a thing' that they grow an extra one for the kids to plant and care for. My two have had lots of fun sowing their seeds, caring for them and watching them grow. Fingers crossed we get some lovely flowers in time for the Summer and lots of tasty produce to cook and enjoy.

A Return Trip to Potty Training (with 5 top tips!)

It's been a good eighteen months since we last properly visited the world of potty training with Terror 1. She was almost three years old and we'd waited until we felt she was definitely ready for it; a tactic which proved helpful when she went from nappies to knickers within one to two weeks. Thinking back now, it seems like it was such a quick and easy ride compared to our current one.

It's the turn of Terror 2 and, unfortunately, things aren't going along quite as smoothly. He's coming up to three and a half (just gone three if you start counting from his due date) and despite numerous attempts it isn't quite clicking into place for him just yet. He's been showing some signs that he's almost ready for a few months; using the potty for poos ninety percent of the time, occasionally doing a wee on his potty, knowing when he's wet and wanting his nappy to be changed as well sometimes showing an awareness of when he needs to use the toilet.

We've waited for a while to see if Terror 2 will initiate potty training in his own time, as Terror 1 seemed to do, but I think he needs that little nudge, just to get him started. Which is how we've come to here, nervously approaching the land of potty training for the second time.

• Hunt down all of the loose fitting trousers, preferably with elastic waistbands, that your little one owns. Pyjama bottoms are brilliant while you're at home as they're easy for little hands to pull up and down and mean they're not fussing over buttons and poppers when they need to go to the toilet. If it's quite warm at home you could skip the trousers altogether and just put your little one in pants/knickers. Skirts, loose fitting shorts and jogging bottoms are a good option if you need to go out of the house during the first few days of initiating potty training as they're quick and easy to remove when the time comes.
• Put together an 'accident kit' for when your little one has an accident and keep it somewhere that is easy for you to get hold of. In my 'kit' I have a roll of kitchen paper for mopping up accidents, a small bucket of warm soapy water and a cloth for washing down Terror 2's legs and the floor and a towel for drying everything off.
• If, like us, you don't have a downstairs toilet or bathroom your little one can get to quickly, invest in a potty to keep in the living room that they can use when there isn't time to get upstairs.
• Take your little one to try for the toilet regularly, every quarter or half an hour should be enough. Try to make a note of when they last had something to drink; generally they will need the toilet around one hour afterwards.
• Take a potty or children's toilet seat with you where-ever you go so it's easy for your little one to use the toilet if they need to. Don't forget to pack a couple of changes of clothes, including socks and another pair of shoes, and some bags to keep wet clothes in just in case they don't quite make it to the toilet in time.