Girls Weekend

Rori and I had a girls weekend this past weekend. The boys flew to Seattle to help cousin Jake celebrate his 8th birthday and baptism. I'll let them post more about their weekend later. Rori and I were super sad to miss it, but tickets to Seattle at Spring Break time were super pricey so it was decided that just the boys would get to go on this trip. It sounds like they had a great time and we are happy that they are back home again safe and sound. I'm also grateful that the baby decided to stay put and not create any issues while they were gone. It is still way too early, but in the back of my brain I didn't want to think of Rori being the only one around on the trip to the hospital.

So, on our girls weekend we decided that we would celebrate "Potty Awareness". On one of Lance's calls home to check on us he asked me how potty training was going and I quickly reminded him that we weren't potty training. We were simply doing potty awareness. Apparently my MIL and SIL overheard this and thought it was quite funny. My logic was that my end goal for the weekend wasn't to have Rori potty trained (although that would be wonderful), but rather to have her more willing to use and be observant of the potty.

Rori is a funny little girl. She's so sweet and cuddly at times and sassy as can be at other times. She's the kind of kid that you could have a huge battle of the wills with if you allow yourself to get in to the battle. I know with potty training that if I force her it isn't going to go well- it needs to be on her terms. So this weekend I attempted to help her realize that it is something she wants to do and I think we did fairly well.

On a side note- After Christmas we laid down the law with Rori letting her only have her binky (pacifier) at night. The kid had a serious addiction and since she wasn't talking up a storm we knew it had to be done. But as I said before she has her sassy moments where a binky made life so much more pleasant for the rest of us. Then when we made our trip to CA/ Disneyland I realized that I had forgotten to bring a binky. We debated what to do but decided to just try to go without. Well she never looked back. It didn't even come up at the hotel and when we got back home she asked for it at bedtime and we told her it had gone to the babies and it was over. I was shocked and knew that I hadn't given her enough credit. *For the record Kai had a binky at night about 3 or 4 months longer and has always been a huge talker. We traded him a binky for a 3-wheel scooter and he had one 1/2 hour of crying before never looking back.

So getting this girl potty trained is probably more like that. We've put it off because of my dread- not wanting to battle her, having to find every bathroom everywhere you go, carrying around extra clothes, dealing with messes, and on and on.

So Saturday we got up and put on mini mouse and sesame street big girl pants instead of diapers or pull-ups. I had gathered salty foods, new drinks (our kids drink water and milk 99% of the time at home), and some treat and game incentives to try and make things more exciting. The salty food was to make her thirsty with the idea that that would make her want to drink, which in turn would make her have to go. I figured the more she had to go the more opportunities to learn. In the end mini marshmallows, and mini slow drip Popsicles seemed to have been the best motivators. I don't tell her to go but I do remind her every now that if she would like a Popsicle, marshmallow etc. she needs to go. Letting it be her choice seems to be working much better. I've been also keeping the marshmallows visible.



For quite some time now Rori has told us after she goes, found places to hide when working on her business, applauded others on their successes etc. but refused to sit herself for more than 10 seconds at a time without a battle. We have had successes but they have been hit or miss and mostly only when I caught them. This weekend she was choosing to sit (granted with hope for the prize) which in my opinion was great steps forward. Over the weekend we only had 2 1/2 accidents and many successes. We are using a diaper for naps and night still so I don't count that.



So far so good this morning as well. The challenge is taking the show on the road out of the house and getting her to continue going. Anyone have any great tips on how to make that transition? Kai with his easy going demeanor was never one to battle about such things, but his struggle was remembering to stop playing and go before it was too late at this stage.

So our girls weekend wasn't really all that exciting but I think it was fairly productive. It did feel a little like house arrest. Now if we can only keep things moving in the right direction. Meaning if only I can stay motivated to keep her motivated. So seriously any tips out there?