One little, two little, three little...

ninjas-in-training

Delightful Finch woke me up around 5am.  She seemed upset but I couldn't understand what she was saying.  I gave her hugs, told her the sun wasn't up yet, and sent her back to bed. Two hours later I came downstairs to find her eating dry cereal and watching Dora.
I'm pretty sure she just stayed up.  She's crashed on the couch tonight. I hope she isn't having nightmares again.
She still refuses to use any potty but the one in the kids' bathroom.  Instead of diapers or pull-ups, I've been putting her in swim diapers. They're great because they really don't work.  She peed in the first one and it leaked all over and ran down her leg which totally freaked her out.  Since that first time she's been keeping the swim diapers bone dry.  She comes and tells me when she needs to go potty....almost like she's asking for permission.  She hasn't gotten to the point where she just goes by herself.  I'm plan to leave her in the swim diapers for a week or two.
Seraph's speech therapist came today with lots of presents!  (little cups of food!) We discovered that Seraph hates Nutella and deviled chicken slightly less than she hates other food. She also cries when she's thirsty and can't reach her sippy-cup.  She points and tugs on your hand 'til you get in the right spot and hand it to her.
We watched Dora the Explorer while waiting for the therapist to arrive.  Seraph picked up some new words: "backpack" and "ya!!"
It was a good day :)

Babies take naps

my "sleeping" princess

Delightful Finch is having some potty trauma.  It started around Christmas time...and it's getting worse and worse.  After being completely potty trained for a month, she's having accidents without realizing it.  She's terrified of some (but not all) of the potties in our house.  The scary toilets rotate a bit.
I put her back in diapers...but she still tries to hold everything in til she can go potty.  So, we have to take off the diaper for potty breaks at various intervals.
No fever, no pain. Trying to get her to drink more water - with some success.  However, it hasn't changed anything.
I can't figure out what's going on with her.  Any ideas?

Finch Earns a Puppy

 There comes a time when you're willing to stand on your head while singing Elmo's song while juggling a ball with your toes rather than keep changing diapers.  Delightful Finch required just the right set of circumstances, but she is basically potty trained now!

I invite Angel to go potty all the time....and she tries, but nothing ever comes out......until today!  It finally clicked and she just got it.  Sexy Haqon agreed to take care of Seraph's meds/feeds/diapers/etc as well as feeding the kids and keeping the kids from getting bored so I could follow Angel around all day helping her learn this potty thing.
I'm happy with her progress.  At first she was surprised by ummm..puddles...but now she can hold it in for almost an hour before needing to go potty.  Soon, I'll be able to get Finch and Angel on the same potty schedule...and that'll be perfect.
Then I'll only have one in diapers!  I can sooooo handle just one in diapers.  Sooooo much nicer than 4 in diapers.  AEEEEEEE!!! Thank heavens they grow out of that stage :)

I'm lucky my lil Angel is such a good copy cat.  Way to go, lil roo.  xoxo
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Mom: Finch has been really awesome at this potty thing, so I'm gonna go ahead and get her a puppy.
Dad:[omg, are you crazy!!!] uhhhhh - don't you think we should talk about this first?
Mom: why?
Dad: ......
Mom: oooooh, not a real puppy, sweetie, ...one of those Leapfrog Puppies that says, "I love you, Finch" and sings her songs like Angel's and Seraph's.
Dad: Whew!
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Thank You, Scooby, for teaching my kids about scooby snacks!

Delightful Finch went potty 3 times today!  Strong Bear says it's not fair that she should get a treat each time she goes potty when he goes potty every time.  Hmmm...OK.  So, each time Finch goes potty, everyone gets a Scooby Snack.  They just have to tell her, "thanks for going potty, Finch".  and, yes, they bark like a dog.  Then I pat them on their heads and say, "good puppy."

After a while, the treats aren't enough and she asks for a diaper.  I tried pretending I didn't hear her once.  She finally just went and put on a diaper herself (backwards).

I don't want to push her too hard.  It has to be her idea or she'll never go for it.

Angel follows Finch around and copies everything she does.  (except going potty...how cool would that be??)

The Potty Miracle

Low on diapers today...so Bear agreed to do the potty thing.  After earning 2 treats for going potty, Delightful Finch decided to have a go.  First she just put tp squares in the potty.  Then she did that again.  Then she ran in the bathroom super fast and actually peed in the potty! (her first time ever.) Bear was very proud of her (and me too!).

The dream ended when she went on the floor...twice.  Back to diapers.  but....maybe soon.  I can't even imagine Bear staying in diapers once Finch figures out the potty thing.  I have so much hope!!!

Also....Finch learned how to climb out of her crib a few days ago.....so I transitioned it to a toddler bed.  We'd lost a few screws...I ended up lashing part of it together until the parts come in.  (Thank you, girls camp!) She was a little surprised when she went to bed tonight.  Hopefully she won't fall out..hehe :)

Potty Training.

FRIDAY:
Lately we've been letting Strong Bear run around bare for potty training. Friday I put some Diego underwear on him. He was doing great until he decided it was time to pee in the potty. He ran in, climbed on the toilet, and peed! ...next time I'm hoping he'll remember to take his underwear off first.

SATURDAY:
We're trying something new - a 3 day potty-training method. Saturday was day 1. Strong Bear did better than I expected. He had lots of accidents, but at the end of day he went poop all by himself without me reminding him....and his underwear was dry!

SUNDAY:
Day 2. It was pretty scary last night when he climbed into our bed after a bad dream....but he didn't pee on us - yay! We took Strong Bear out in the car with us. He went potty before we left. He stayed dry the whole time we were gone - phew!

Potty training a bear (paw 2)

We're completely out of size 5 diapers. The Albertson's guy is due to show up with our groceries at any minute. Strong Bear knows he CANNOT be naked when the Albertson's guy gets here. Will he put on his Diego underwear? Nope. I finally gave him a choice: underwear or wait upstairs in my room until Albertson's guy comes and leaves. Bear hates being alone. He marches up the stairs to wait it out. /sigh

But Strong Bear came downstairs too early. The truck had arrived. The door was open. Albertson's guy would be walking in any second. I grabbed Strong Bear and shoved his squirming feet into the Diego underwear. Then I picked him up and lugged him across the house to the back door. "Look. There's the truck." Strong Bear likes trucks. Loud truck.

He wasn't happy, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

Doh! Strong Bear is WAY too heavy for me to carry - what was I thinking?? Was it worth it? He's just gonna pull them off again as soon as Albertson's guy leaves. or as soon as he has to go potty.

An hour later, I checked. He'd peed in his underwear. "You can't pee in your underwear, honey. Quick, go potty." Tinkle, tinkle flush. Strong Bear ran back and put his legs into his underwear - trying to pull them on. Wow! What could this mean?....

We got him some fresh Diego underwear. He put it on without a fuss. ...and peed in it an hour later. So, ...why don't I feel like I won?

Potty training a bear

Strong Bear loves Diego. He loves his Diego pull-ups. Diego underwear is the next logical step, right? What better way to show the difference between diapers, pull-ups, and underwear than pouring a cup of water in each to see what happens? I am so cool!

...except, I guess instead of learning that it's very important to go in the potty instead of in his new underwear, Strong bear immediately learned that underwear is completely worthless. Therefore, he refuses to wear them or even try them on for size.

Outsmarted by a 2 yr old. again.