Potty Training!

I haven't written about this yet, for fear of jinxing it.  Hell, I'm scared to say anything even NOW!  Emma is pretty much potty trained!  This is week 3 or 4, though I can't remember exactly.


We bought her a potty about a year ago, knowing that we'd need it "someday."  We tried twice, (once for a good 3 days, once for about a day) and were pretty unsuccessful.  She didn't seem to have the awareness that she was going at all, and would get VERY upset if she saw her prize (usually an M&M) and didn't get it.  She just wasn't ready.


And then one day, she was.  I changed a particularly nasty diaper and, whilst trying not to gag, said to her, "You know what?  We're done with this.  You're a big girl and you can use the potty now."  I put a pair of the itty bittiest panties you've ever seen (either princess, Yo Gabba, or Minnie Mouse) on her, and she did it.  I don't even think she had 1 accident that first day.  She was SO proud of herself!!  She's only had a handful of accidents at all and the ones that she has had,  have been because she was distracted.  She's clearly still learning to listen to her body.


I can't tell you how proud I am of her.  She figured it out almost instantly and there's been no turning back.  Her potty sings to her as soon as she goes, and she's thrilled with the sense of control it gives her.  She isn't trip trained - in fact, she will almost ALWAYS say "no" when you ask if she needs to go.  She knows when she needs to, and either tells me or just goes and sits.  She's such a big girl.  She also uses a toilet seat reducer ring on our toilet, though the little potty seems to have a bigger draw for her when we're home.


She has pooped several times on the potty, and has only had 1 of "those" accidents.  She often waits until after naptime and goes in her diaper before I get her up.  She's still diapered for nap and overnight, as those diapers are SOAKED when she wakes.  


I thought I'd go ahead and add a picture of her "doing the deed," as I'm sure she'll appreciate me for it someday.  HA!  Emma, if you're reading this as an adult, be sure that I wiped your little butt and washed your diapers enough times over the course of your 2.5 years to earn the right to post as many pictures of you sitting on the potty as I want to.  And I DO want to.  I will, however, spare you the picture of the first time she pooped on the potty.  Nobody wants to see that.

7 Months

I'll admit it.  I'm a horrible mother.  My last post was when Abby was 6 months old, and she's now 8 months old.  In my own defense, life FLIES these days!!  I usually don't get around to taking her monthly photos until the very end of the month anyway, but this last month just completely snuck by me.

I'll add in some fuzzy phone pictures (just about all I have this month!) and hope it suffices.

So what was Abby up to at 7 months?  A lot!  

She is sitting up pretty well, but has decided it's pretty pointless because she can now get up on all 4s and rock!  She seems to think I'm going to allow this, but she's mistaken.  She's been forbidden to become mobile until she turns 3.  Or maybe 4.  We haven't decided yet.

She's eating like a COW.  Seriously.  She eats a minimum of 4 ounces of baby food (around 2 jars, if she were eating processed baby food) and has come to discover the joy that IS "puffs."  She also loves Baby Mum Mums, which I have decided are God's gift to mothers.

She is still spitting up MUCH less than she was, now that she's on Zantac.  We are loving it.  

I'm not sure what she weighs, but I imagine she's still in the 14lb. area.  My joke these days is that with Emma, we played "count the rolls."  With Abby, we play "count the wrinkles."

She is finally in size 2 diapers, though she's still cloth diapered all the time.  We haven't bought a single new diaper.  She's in all of Emma's old ones.  Talk about saving money!

She wears 6 month, or 6-9 month clothes.  Technically, she still fits in 3 month and 3-6 month, but I have a TON of Emma's clothes to go through with her.  Emma's first winter, she was in 6-9 or 9 month clothes.  Abby's a full size below, at least.  As luck would have it, Emma literally had more clothes during that season than any other, and more than she could ever wear.  I've pulled out several outfits with tags still on them, so they're new to Abby!  I had 2 Rubbermaid boxes of 6-9 month clothes.  Ridiculous.

She had her first diaper rash this month and it was BAD.  We think it may have been from too much yogurt.  Still not sure.  A friend recommended Calmoseptine cream, which was a godsend.  We also did lots of nekkid time and some soaks in baking soda baths, as you can see.  

I re-discovered, during that rash, the biggest reason I hate disposable diapers.  In one day, she had 3 diaper explosions.  RIDICULOUS.  Had she been in cloth, none of them would have occurred.  Not to mention, I wouldn't have spent $10 on a stupid pack of diapers.  

She's still swaddled to sleep, and shows no signs of breaking loose.  We have tried to leave 1 arm out a few times, and it was a nightmare.  Just not worth it.  Emma proved to us, she won't go to preschool in a swaddle blanket.

She has been a pretty good sleeper at night, but naps have been shot to hell.  For some reason, she has decided that she only needs 1-1.5 hour naps in the afternoon, and no evening catnap anymore.  Mommy knows that she really needs more like 2-2.5 hour naps.

She ADORES her sister.  Emma can make her laugh harder than anyone else.  The love is so mutual these days.  Emma adores Abby and CONSTANTLY wants me to hold Abby up so she can dance with her.  She also likes to tell me where to "put" Abby.  

They take "sister baths" pretty frequently now, and both love it.  

I'm sure no one will be interested in this, but I thought I'd mention it for my own memory's sake.  Abby is a poop machine.  She spent the first half of her life maybe going once every 2 weeks, if we were lucky.  Now, it's a minimum of 4 times a day.  Seriously!  

She's coming into her own, so to speak.  She's got quite a personality, and it's pretty funny!  She tells you what she wants and when she wants it.  She DOESN'T wait well.  If she sees me getting her food ready, she starts complaining about how long I'm taking with it.  She's a mess.

She loves her food.  She particularly enjoys avocado, sweet potato, and pears.  She also loves peas, butternut (or acorn) squash, peaches, applesauce, bananas, prunes, and carrots.  All of those are mixed with baby oatmeal in order to thicken them.  She tolerates green beans.

She had her first REAL solid food this month - pizza crust.  She insisted that she needed it, and I was tired of listening to her yell about it, to be honest.  Second-child syndrome.  I don't think I ever would have handed Emma something like that to make her stop yelling.  Got to be honest!  She thought she had died and gone to heaven.

Month 8 update coming soon!!  :)