Mom Stuff That Works

Future posts include:

• Weekend Potty Training
• Manners!
• Lovie Security Blankets
• Away with the Pacifiers and Bottles

I'm hoping to post one or two a day, but with our hectic life, who knows! Thanks Lovies!

Weekend Potty Training!

READ THIS WHOLE THING AND EVEN 
PRINT IT OUT BEFORE YOU START!

The  intro....

Okay so I know many of you are VERY skeptical that this weekend potty training works, but it does! Myself, a few friends, my sister-in-law and many others have tried it and had great success. This is not something to do nonchalantly.  This is a no nonsense, balls-to-the-wall, & do it by the book (or in this case blog), type of approach. So if your going to do it this way... STICK TO IT! Don't give up. It's gonna be a long weekend! So do your grocery shopping, Costco run, target run, etc. before you start. Stock up on juice, and salty snacks (helps with getting them to need to go to the bathroom.) If your going to go straight to the toilet instead of a potty chair, get one of the ones that go on the toilet. I have this one and I love it! It has the raised side or the little boys and doesn't cause a big mess. plus it's only $10! They do have ones like this one but personally I think it's a waste of $30 because your munchkin will only use it for a short time, and lets be honest, who wants to clean out the little cup ....every ... time...they...go...potty! Not me! 

(Okay real quick.... is this not absolutely ridiculous?! An iPad potty chair! The poor munchkins hiney will have a permanent ring if he sits there playing on it all day! It's a semi good idea in theory, but I personally wouldn't recommend it.)


Absolute NO NO's!

Please for the love of Pete, don't get pull-ups.... yes even for nap and bedtime. The munchkin feeling the yucky feeling of being wet is part of the learning experience. 

Have your washing machine on standby, get some waterproof mattress pads, and a few extra sheets, and suck it up and change the bed. 

• Is it gross... yes
• Is it smelly and makes you gag... yes
• Is it a pain in in the @$$ the middle of the night... yes

It's part of the process, and if done right, will only last 2 days! Pull-ups will hinder their progress because they feel like a diaper. There are kids out there that will hold it all day, and wait for the pull-up at nap-time or bedtime to go, and will fill it in a matter of seconds.... what does this mean? Yep... they've out smarted you!

The Plan

1. On Friday afternoon/night, take your child to pick out a potty seat, or if your so inclined, a potty chair. Don't give them to many choices! It will be overwhelming. Take them to the store, Target or Walmart have the best deals, and have your significant other, mom, dad, brother, whomever, to watch your munchkin in a different isle while you go and pick out 2-3 different potty seats. Bring them to your child and allow them to pick which one they like and make a big deal out of it. 
• Then take them to the "big kid" section and let them pick out their big kid underwear. They have a million different ones. My daughter preferred the Disney Princesses and my son chose Star Wars. They were SOOO excited! 
• Then go over to the candy isle and grab some M&M's, gummy bears, or some other small and munchkin friendly candy. (I'll explain this part later)
• Get either a fun "candy jar" or something simple they can decorate with stickers, to put the candy in.
2. When you get home have them share their stuff with whomever is home and make a HUGE deal about it and how excited you are for them to be a big kid and use the potty.
3. Then take all their diapers (yes all of them) and put them in a trash bag. (If you know someone that can use them, pretend to take them to the garbage, and put them in your trunk.) Make sure you have your munchkin help you. Of course leave out a diaper for tonight. Tell them it's the last diaper so it's time for big kid underwear in the morning.
4. After putting your child to bed, make a potty station. This can be in the bathroom with a potty seat or potty chair, or in the living room with the potty chair. Click here for a really good example.
• Quick side note: They have these little watches called Potty Watch and they are so cute and pretty useful. They are only $10 and you can get them easily online at places like BuyBuy Baby.
• You might also want to find your munchkins favorite doll or stuffed animal, put a tiny bit of water, for the potty chair, or a drop or two of yellow food coloring, into the toilet, and put their doll or stuffed animal on top. This way, when they get up in the morning, they see, "My Stuffy bear went potty!" ;)
5. Real quick: If you have hardwood floors with an area rug, pick up the area rug before starting. The hardwood floors make clean up a breeze. If you have only carpet floors, get a few bottles of Oxy clean and a Urine Gone type cleaner. (I know the label name is awful sounding!) Typically you can find them in either the cleaner section with bathroom stuff or, believe it or not, the pet store.

Okay now here comes the "fun" and yet exhausting adventure in potty training... REMEMBER! This is a strict process and you need to follow this exactly if you want this to work.

Quick side note: This process requires your munchkin to be naked, minus a t-shirt, the whole weekend. Do however put on a pair of underwear going to nap or bed. Another reward you can use is if your munchkin goes in the potty, allow them to pick a pair of their awesomely cool underwear they picked out. Remind them that, "We don't want to get Princess Tiana all wet, so tell me when you have to go potty."

Ready... Set... Go!

Here are the No No's

1. No computers
2. No TV other than your munchkins favorite shows
3. No cell phones, tablets, iPads, or anything that can capture your attention. (If your anything like me, you might all the sudden realize you watching Sophia the First on Disney Jr. and anticipating what will happen next! Don't get sucked in!)
4. Do Not scold your munchkin for peeing or pooping on the floor. They are learning! Yelling at them will make the situation unbearable for all involved, and discourage your munchkin. In some cases the child will use the negative attention as their way to get attention. This whole weekend is about them. So constantly play with them and use lots of encouragement about everything your doing with them.
• "Mason I am so proud of you. Look at that awesome tower you built out of your blocks!"
• "Mommy & Daddy are so proud of you for going potty!"
5. So be crazy excited when they go even a little bit on the potty, and calm but sad if they have an accident.
• For example, in a very calm, and somewhat hurried, voice say things like, "Oh no! Hurry to the potty!" or "uh oh.... peepee (or poopoo) goes in the potty. I'm so sad it's on. I bet that feels really yucky. We've got to remember to hurry to the potty." Again do not scream or yell. Say it a calm but hurried fashion. If you catch your child peeing or pooping on the floor, quickly pick them up and carry them to the potty and immediately sit them on it. This will help in getting even a tiny bit in the potty for a reward, which in turn makes them want to potty on the potty.
• Yes you will probably have a fabulous trail of pee going through you living room, but they are learning!
• Rushing them to the potty while they are going helps them realize what the sensation is that they feel when they go potty. It's an "Ah ha" kind of moment.

Here are to Do's

1. Do make sure that you, your significant others, grandparent, aunt, uncle, big sis/brother, has their eyes on your little potty training adventurer at all times. (Don't worry, you get a break at nap time.... kinda.)
2. Try to have two adults (parents, parent & grandparent, or whatever) so if one of you needs a quick breather (or nap!) you can take a break without risking any progress.
3. Do make sure that you take your child to the potty every 20-25 minutes. Time can vary depending on how often your munchkin is drinking fluids.
4. Do make sure your munchkin has a full sippy cup at all times and encourage them to drink up!
5. Do allow your child to see you go to the bathroom. I know it seems weird, but every child looks up to their parent. If you have an older child that is potty trained, you can use them for an example.... Note: It's not the greatest idea to have your daughter watch Daddy go potty. It could be tramatizing ;)

The "Fun" part

1. While watching your munchkin like a hawk you will find them all the sudden going to the bathroom on the floor... don't panic! The dribbling of pee down there leg or feeling poop coming out will cause them to be VERY curious about their body. This is okay. The gears in their little heads will start turning and things will start clicking to them. This will alarm/fascinate them and make them realize that that's the sensation of going pee/poop. 
2. Quickly grab your child and put them on the potty.... This is HUGE....If they go even a little bit in the potty, show them and make a BIG deal about it! Then give them a sticker and 1 M&M (or whatever candy you got). You can make a potty sheet and have them put the stickers on that, or allow them to be creative and decorate themselves. Randomly count them so they can see how well they are doing.
• Making a big deal of the tiny amount they did get in there will help them start to understand that pee in the potty = a reward. YUMMY!
• Your urgency to get them to the potty will also reinforce them wanting to go in the potty. They will start to sense the sensation and try to make it to the potty.
• This is where the Potty Watch comes in handy. You set the frequency for every 15, 20, or 25 minutes and put it on your munchkin. When the timer goes off, put them on the potty. If it's only been 5-10 minutes since they went potty, wait another few minutes and start the timer again. NOTE: kiddos are sneaky and might turn off the potty watch on accident (or for some smarty pants', on purpose!). Set your kitchen timer or any other timer of your own to keep track, we used our smartphones. There is a cool free app on itunes called Lickity Split. (Here is a YouTube video that kind of shows how it works.) 
• When you put your munchkin on the potty when the timer "potty timer" goes off, read them a book, sing a song, play patty-cake, or whatever will keep them entertained. Do your best to keep your child on the potty for 3-5 minutes.... sounds impossible, I know, but if you have something to entertain them, it shouldn't be a problem. If you have a fun and quick iPad game suitable for their age you can use that too, but I recommend against it because they will want to continue playing it and will often times cause them to get sucked into it and forget all about potty training. 
• Throughout the day allow them to be playing with their toys, reading books, and allow them to run around and be the wild maniac they are. We want our little little munchkins to do things they do everyday, so we want them to experience going potty during their daily routines.
3. THE FIRST DAY IS REALLY HARD!
• You are going to find yourself wanting to give up halfway through the day because your munchkin has peed 8 times on the floor and only made it to the potty for a few dribbles 2 out of the 8 times. THAT'S OKAY!
• This s where I recommend two things
• If you have hardwood floors... you've got s huge advantage because cleaning up accidents will be a breeze. (If you have an area rug in this area, save yourself the heartache and roll it up and put in out of the danger zone ;)
• If you have carpet, I HIGHLY recommend either a Bissell Little Green Machine or Bissell SpotBot. Both are awesome and quick to clean up potty messes of the floor. (It works for pets too!)
• Take a breather, drink some coffee or tea and relax while your munchkin is sleeping. This is your time to watch TV, check your e-mail, and rant & rave on Facebook on how much you hate potty training! (I did!)
• Please, please, don't get discouraged! It's hard! I'm not goona blow smoke up your hiney and say it's a breeze. Because it's not. It WILL suck. But you will get through it, and be glad you did it. If you need to, have you and whatever other adult, if available, tag each other in and out of keeping tabs on your little munchkin. A few minutes alone to clear your head can help you keep calm.
4. Sleeping: Nap-Time or Bedtime - - - NO PULL-UPS OR DIAPERS!
• Limit fluids 1 hour before nap-time. This will help when taking the munchkin to the potty right before they go to sleep. 
• When it's time to go down for a nap take your munchkin to the potty and explain that they need to go potty before they can take a nap so they don't have a "yucky wet bed." Have them sit for at least 5 minutes. Maybe run some water, it sometimes works. 
• After 5 minutes if your munchkin hasn't gone potty yet, tell them that they can get off the potty but to try really hard not to make their bed wet because it's yucky.
• Put them down for a nap, say a little prayer they will wake up dry, and RELAX! 
• Here's the tricky part. If your munchkin is to smart for their own good, like mine were, they might try to get out of taking a nap by constantly yelling, "Mommy! I have to go potty!" Believe them everytime. Because at least one of those times, they are bound to go. (This is a great time to tag each other taking turns.) Go in, get your munchkin, put the potty and wait patiently. They will probably make their cute little, "You love me I'm so cute" devilish smile or start to giggle because they think they have gotten out of their nap. Don't show emotion to this!!!! Simply tell the to try to go potty, if they don't go, pull up their undies, and take them back to bed.
• Once they get up, if the bed is wet say, "Oh no. I'm so sad your bed is all wet and yucky. Help me take the sheets off and then we will go take a bath." 
• Your munchkin helping with the sheets will allow them to see, feel, and smell how yucky it is and cause them to want to try harder not to wet the bed. (Your munchkin is little, so when I say help you, I mean "help" you. Like in, you do most of the work, but have them pull a clean corner up of the mattress.)
• After a bath and your munchkin smells all yummy, continue the process from the morning. Be consistent and don't give up!
• For bedtime limit fluids 2 hours before bed. Put your child on the potty several times before they actually go to bed. Then one more time on the way to bed.
• Again, once they are in bed.... RELAX! You've gotta do it again tomorrow.... but it will be better! You'll be surprised how much they've picked up the 1st day.

Well folks, that's all she (me) wrote. If you have questions feel free to e-mail me at Imsuchamom.blog@gmail.com

HAVE FUN!



Lovies! Babies best friend

     Lovies have been the best way to help babies have a more secure feeling when left with a daycare provider or relative. With these simple instructions, your baby will have a piece of you wherever they are.

     Regardless of where you got your lovies, always have more than one!

1.  After receiving your lovies, wash them in the detergent you use to wash your clothes.
2. After washing, put the lovie in bed with you. You can just have it in the bed, sleeping with it on your pillow, or even in your shirt.
3. Sleep with the lovie several times before your bundle of joy arrives, the. again after your baby is born.
4. Once your baby is born, start holding, feeding, and playing with your baby with their lovie. This will help them in recognizing that their lovie is a comfort, and in return your baby will become a baby that always has a piece of home.

Doing these simple steps will allow your, and your spouses, pheromones to seep into the fabric of your babies lovie. In doing this, no matter where your baby is, they will have the comfort of your scent and the security of something they have from home.