More Progress On The Potty Front

Since my last post about Sebby using the potty, he has continued to make great progress. 

When we are at home he tells me when he is about to poo almost every time! If we rush to the potty quickly enough, it all gets into the potty. If we've forgotten to bring the potty into the room with us or he's wearing a diaper or underwear, only some of the poo tends to make it into the potty. However, this is a huge improvement and we are thrilled!

I have learned a few tricks that seem to work for Sebby:

1. Going bottomless!

A totally bottomless Sebby gets more pee & poo in the potty.

2. Potty in sight at all times

Bringing the potty into the room where he can see it helps him get to it in time. (He now tells me as he is about to pee or poo, which is far better than after he has done it or as he is doing it.)

3. Momma in sight at all times

Obviously this isn't realistic, especially because I need to get things done around the flat and can't be watching him constantly. However, sometimes when I leave him alone, he sometimes pees on the floor. He sometimes tells me when I come back in the room or if I ask him about the puddle.

4. Potty time

If I ask if he has to use the potty he will almost always so no. So if it's been awhile since he's gone, I just tell him that it's time to sit on the potty. He sometimes resists but usually will pee, even if it's just a little. I know that if he leaves it too long in between and I'm in and out of the room he's playing in, he'll miss getting there on time.

***

I'm really encouraged by Sebby's progress and he is proud of himself too. He now dumps the potty into the toilet himself every time and says "bye pee, bye poo" as he puts it into the toilet. 

The plan was to keep on practicing in the house till he's getting to the potty almost every time then  venture out sans diaper. However, today when we were at the botanics, he said he wanted to pee. So I sat him on the toilet. He didn't pee. We left and walked towards home and then he said he needed to pee again. So we returned to the botanics and I set him on the toilet again. Again, he didn't pee. I didn't put his diaper back on and told him to let me know if he needed to pee. We arrived home an hour and a half later with dry trousers. Probably just lucky...

Chatty

Love this girl and her chat.

It's non-stop these days!

Proud Parent Moments

Sunday we had a day of milestones for the Lung children. I wanted to blog about it that night but alas, I was tired and went to sleep soon after cleaning up after my sleeping children so I didn't get around to it.

Let's begin with Ophela...
 
 It all started late last week when Ophelia learned to stick out her tongue. By Sunday morning, she realized that she could also spit. She thought it was hilarious and did it off and on throughout the church service and the rest of the day. We thought it was cute too until at naptime when she spit and cooed for about a half hour before settling to sleep. At bedtime, she was even more fascinated by her abilities, staying awake hours past bedtime spitting and chatting. Finally, I fed her again then left her in bed spitting and eventually she fell asleep.

Unfortunately, over the past few days, these newfound abilities have really messed up Ophelia's sleep as she no longer wants to leave the soother in her mouth at naptime. She would much rather spit and make noises so this makes her incredibly motivated to pick the soother out of her mouth. She feels torn, though, because the minute she pulls the soother out, she gets upset and wishes she had it back in. Then once I help her put it back in, her hand is on it like a magnet, pulling it back out again.

I'm a bit at a loss about how I'm going to get her to nap in bed if she keeps this up. She's exhausted and has been mostly nursing to sleep while we've been out and about. This afternoon she was up about 5 hours...WAY too long for a 4 month old! I tried putting her down for a nap but after an hour in the room with her spitting the soother out and returning it to her mouth, I gave up and brought her back out to the living room.

I'm hoping the novelty of this new trick wears off soon or I'm going to have to find a new naptime strategy.

Now on to Sebby...
 

Over the past few weeks, I've been letting Sebby go without a diaper in the house so that he could practice using the potty more often. I'm not sure if he had more hits or misses but I do see progress. He almost always tells me when he is in the process of doing a poo or right after he finishes. He also really wants to wear underwear instead of diapers, last night he even wanted to wear them to bed! I told him that he can stop wearing diapers at night once he wakes up with dry diapers in the mornings.

Sunday afternoon he was playing in his room while I cooked dinner. He'd been quiet for awhile so I went to check on him and make sure he hadn't peed on the carpet in his room. Just then he ran to his potty and sat down. I asked him if he had to pee and he didn't say anything. A few minutes later he stood up and said, "WOW Momma. Poo!"

I was sooo excited! Not only did I not mention the potty but that was the first time that he has ever done a full poo in the potty!

He kept looking at it in the potty and marveling.

I even took pictures. Ha ha! 
Darren says no one would want to see it.

Comment if you want me to post a picture.

Bedtime with Two

Darren was away at a work conference last weekend and I had my first full weekend of solo parenting since Ophelia was born. We had a great weekend, a balance of relaxing at home and getting out to have meals and fun with friends.

Sebby got his face painted for the first time!
 He had fun looking at his doggy face in the mirror. 
Right after having it done he fell asleep in the carrier on my back so it was a bit smudged but he still thought it was awesome.

Sebby practiced wearing underwear & using the potty while we were at home.
He decided it was important to teach giraffe about the potty too. 
Wish I got a picture of giraffe in his underwear!

I learned a few things over the weekend but most importantly, I gained confidence at handling bedtime on my own with a toddler and a baby.

I'd had to do bedtime with the two of them a few times in the past but it was usually stressful, often involving both kids crying and waking each other up. Last weekend gave me a chance to have three consecutive nights to work out a strategy for tackling bedtimes solo just in time for Darren's busiest month at work (he'll be out many evenings at bedtime).

As I chatted with my friend about it the other day, we agreed that starting early and with  plenty of time is probably the most important principle when it comes to solo parenting bedtimes. 

Last Friday I did baths at 3pm. After the kids were dressed in pjs we chatted on skype my sister in law then around 5pm we ate a meal I'd previously prepared. It was great! We had time to read books and play and clean up before bed. No one was stressed or rushed or crying. Sebby got to bed by 7pm and Ophelia shortly after. 

Since then, I've noted that bedtime almost always goes smoothly if there is lots of time to spare.

Since it sometimes takes awhile to get Ophelia settled in bed, I find it works best if I get both kids completely ready for bed at the same time then nurse Ophelia while I pray and sing with Sebby. That way she doesn't get overtired and once Sebby is asleep, I can focus on putting her down and not worry about what Sebby is up to or leaving him playing on the iPad for 40 minutes. 

After having done it a few times, I no longer worry about handling bedtime on my own. 

She's A Roller

While Daddy was away at work last weekend, Ophelia was busy learning to roll onto her stomach from her back. It's been about a week and she hasn't looked back.

"Got Sophie!" 
Taken just after she rolled for the first time back to belly.

Now, every time I put her down to change her diaper, over she flips onto her belly. She is so motivated to get those clothes, toys and blankets into her mouth.

This afternoon I put her in bed for a nap on her back and she started teetering on her side but in the end decided to roll back onto her back before going to sleep. Wonder if she'll take  to start sleeping on her belly? She likes it to be as dark as possible before going to sleep (she pulls blankets, her hat or her clothes over her eyes) so I think she may enjoy burying her face in the sheets while she falls asleep.

Ophelia Meets Sophie!

Lately Ophelia has been grabbing for things, usually my food, shirt or earrings, and chewing on everything so we decided it was time to introduce her to Sophie.

They really hit it off!

They are great friends so far.

Ophelia is very motivated to reach for Sophie. When she drops her, she lunges forward, crunching her abs to try to reach her. If she doesn't succeed in getting her back, she lets me know it.

Even Sebby knows how much she loves Sophie. He often gets Sophie for her when she drops. Tonight while lying in bed with his giraffe, he asked if Obia had her giraffe. He probably finds it fun that both he and Ophelia have giraffes now.

And We Scoot...

A little update on our "leaving the house earlier" strategy so that Sebby can walk ....

IT WORKS!

If I leave early and allow Sebby time to walk until he is tired, he happily asks to get into the stroller and arrives a happy camper! On the way home, he asks to get in the stroller a lot sooner (within 5 minutes of leaving usually) and often falls asleep for a half hour nap.

I'm so thankful to have a happier traveler.

So far I have managed to always leave early enough to let him walk when we're going to need to take the stroller. After someone commented on my previous post, I realized that I neglected to explain that we walk far and we walk a lot. We don't have a car so we walk or take transit everywhere.

That strategy was specific to outings that are "far" for Sebby, a half hour walk or more one way. 

For shorter outings, Sebby does great walking or taking his scooter. He always wants to take his scooter when we go out and has gotten really good on it. He hardly falls over and is happy to scoot or get pulled along when he's tired. He can do fifteen to twenty minutes each way on the scooter without a problem.

Yesterday he really wanted to take the scooter to church. I knew that was probably "too far" because it is a half hour walk each way but I agreed to let him try. We made it over half way then he started crying and asking for me to pick him up. 

I didn't pick him up because carrying Sebby and Ophelia both is just too heavy for me so I told him he could either walk or stand on the scooter. He alternated between the two and I was happy that we made it to church in plenty of time for my Mums Bible Group although there were a few tears and quite a bit of whining. I was very thankful that a friend was able to drive us on the way back because it would have been a long, slow walk home.

Next week we'll take the stroller. He's making excellent progress on his scooter but the church is still too far away.

Fun In The Sun!

We went to Spain for a work conference. 

It was such a refreshing time! We got to enjoy the sun, hang out with old friends and learn from great speakers and teaching sessions.

It wasn't quite warm enough to swim but really enjoyed hanging out by the pool...

...and on the beach

We also enjoyed strolling along the the ocean front sidewalks in the afternoons.

Since it was low season, the conference got an AMAZING deal on beachfront apartments for the families.

Sebby & Darren SO happy to be hanging out on our beachfront patio.

Ophelia liked it too!

Feeling refreshed now that we're back in Glasgow and the days are already seeming much longer.