21 months

So far July has held a lot of fun. Here's Kate taunting the ball with laughter.

Kate's joyous spirit.

Getting horsey sitting just right...

Sitting in the big girl seat with horsey.

Water Fun

This weekend we headed to the outdoor mall to walk around. There's a splash pad there so Kate enjoyed playing in the water a bit.

We've also been enjoying having a free pool literally one block away from us. We've walked there a couple times a week, and Kate is slowly getting used to the water. She's pretty unsure of the whole thing, but seems to like the get-up.

Here she is trying out the "big girl" pool. There's a wading pool that she likes much much better, but we're trying to also get her used to kicking her feet and getting immersed (up to chin) in the water. We've learned she is obsessed with climbing the ladder to get out, and will do anything for the privilege of climbing the ladder. Don't you love how anything can be a "privilege"??

And our indoor pic of the weekend: Kate's insane, insatiable appetite for raisins. She sneaks them out of the pantry no matter where you hide them. This raisin obsession is making potty training a bit harder (er...) if you get my drift. She is now on a ration of both raisins and oranges every day. Some kids have a sugar ration... my kid pigs out on raisins...

Phone Girl

Yesterday, as part of our celebrating pooping and peeing in the potty, we called Daddy P to relay the good news. So as soon as she was done today Kate promptly said, "Call... Daddy!" We got out the phone and she called him (I think she calls him more than I do at this point). He picks up, and I can tell because she loudly proclaims "POOPS!" which cracks me up. But the reason that this conversation was my fav ever was because she then goes on to tell him about how we took Elly for a walk earlier that morning. Just hanging out, sharing her day with Dad. Killed me. I missed the "poop part" but here you can hear her "ack" for "walk" and her try at "Elly"...

(Sorry for the crappy quality... our camera is dying...)

O Potty

I get bored. You probably know this about me by now. I get bored and find projects. Your kid is not supposed to be your project.

Oh well.

I read this article about potty training cold turkey. Kate had been grabbing her diaper when she was going so I knew she was starting to make the connection. So cold turkey we went. Bought a bunch of panties, and stopped using diapers. Said it would take about three weeks all in all, expect a lot of accidents, expect discouragement, but that it can work if you keep at it.

The first day there were a lot of messes. Let's just leave it at that.

By the second day, she had figured out the whole feeling and event connection and went potty and poop on the potty (with Mom grabbing her and running her into the bathroom).

Third day, she was going just a teeny bit on the potty to make it play music (when the urine finishes the circuit at the bottom of the bowl it plays a song) and then stopping so that she'd be able to repeat the whole thing a couple more times. Daddy P didn't believe it at first when I told him this. Probably partly because that's such a girl skill. But at that point we knew she had the ability. She just might just be lacking the desire.

Then... the rash...

I tried to keep it going but she was so uncomfortable and miserable she wouldn't tolerate suggestions to go sit on the potty. At first we reverted to diapers but they were too itchy, so we went bums-bare a few days and then reverted to cloth diapers.

Then what? Try to go back? Just forget it? She had regressed while she was sick and also got tired of the whole thing, so it was becoming a struggle which I knew would lead no where good.

So, we compromised. Cloth diapers, the occasional pull-up for friends and family who are not cloth-diaper friendly and, when she wants them, Elmo panties. Reminders to use the potty, and a freaking ton of dance-filled, applaud laden praise when she goes.

At this point she is holding her urine throughout the morning until she either goes in the potty or during nap. On most mornings she will go in the potty when reminded. Sometimes she'll poop too, other times she asks for a diaper so she can do her business there. We don't even try during the night (crib and lazy parents).

She gets excited about Elmo panties (plus) but if I forget to remind her to use the potty I end up cleaning the floors more than I normally do (minus).

Unfortunately, the bottom line here is really that I would consider this "project" a success and reinforcing this project-mindedness is very very bad. Oh well.

Toddler Free House

The Grandparents have Kate. We are trying to figure out what we used to do before we had a kid. So, we cleaned the house.

Not quite what I had thought we'd do but hey, it works.