Owen is 10 Months Old!

It's crazy that Owen is so close to a year!
He has 6 teeth, claps, plays peek-a-boo, waves, climbs stairs,
and loves his sister and Hazel.
He actually throws the ball for Hazel.

So big!

Big Sister tries on Mommy's shoes

She loves Dingo (the dog formerly known as Big Puppy)

And, of course, Hazel

We are so blessed!

Potty Training Part Deux

A little finger painting as distraction

Hello Kitty Pez standing by as a reminder to stay dry

We gave potty training a valiant effort. Day 1 went as expected with a mixture of successes and oops. I was encouraged on Day 2 by not one, but two,
#3s (1+2) in the potty.
By Day 3 I was ready for an a-ha moment that never came.
Eliza was happy to sit on the potty.
She sat

and sat

and sat

and sat.

She would eventually go and get rewarded. She was also rewarded in between when she was dry. BUT, she never told me she had to go potty, so the accidents kept happening.

By the morning of Day 4 the house was a mess and I was weary. After 3 accidents in 45 minutes, I called it quits. I was setting a timer for 10 minutes, doling out candy at the five minute mark for dryness, then cleaning up an accident by 8 or 9 minutes. Something just didn't click as far as her telling me that she needed to go.

I didn't feel like letting her sit on the potty all day was "success". She has to figure out the time when she's not on the potty, and it didn't happen. Maybe I should have given it more time, but with an almost 10 month old climbing stairs, walking behind anything with wheels, and banging cabinets, I was losing my mind.

You know how when you have an infant and you always think you hear crying?
I smelled urine constantly.

So, I was worried that I was committing a huge parenting mistake by starting then stopping, but its like it never happened. I put a diaper on Eliza and she went about her day. She hasn't asked for the candy, hasn't asked for underpants, doesn't seem to care.

Where does this leave us? I don't know. We will start again at some point and I know that some day my child WILL be potty trained. (both children)

These 2 were just along for the ride, getting in the way whenever they could!

Tha Rivah

We took a little late afternoon trip to the Rivanna River. There's a playground
where Owen enjoyed swinging.

He's 10 months old next week and his hair still sticks up in a mohawk. I love it!

Hazel got to swim a little while Eliza played in the water.

Hazel got a bath when we got home and Owen was sad that she was banished to the porch.

Why I'm not classifying Potty Training Day 1 as a Failure

I'm exhausted. Who knew potty training would be so tiring? As Steve said, we finally got to a point where Eliza is old enough that we don't have to watch her like a hawk, as we do with Mr. I Crawl Really Fast and Open and Pull Up on EVERYTHING...and today we didn't take our eyes off of her.

So even though she went through 4 pairs of Elmo and Hello Kitty underpants, I feel okay about the day. She peed in the potty 3 times and was *really* close 2 other times. I definitely didn't expect her to get the hang in one day. Heck, I don't even know if she'll get it in one week. I still reserve the right to bag it after a few days.

There was a strong leaning towards labeling the day a FAIL when she sat on the potty for 30 minutes before dinner without going, then ate her applesauce while I watched pee stream down from her booster seat. The redemption came when Steve got her out of the seat and was cleaning it up. She was standing on the door mat and said, "Daddy clean this", pointing to 2 drops on the mat. He asked if she was going, and when she said "Yes" he took her over to the potty. She was able to stop going and did the rest on the potty. Redemption in my book.

So, I call the day a success

*because of the huge smile when she did go in the potty.
*because she went three times in the potty.
*because she was dry a lot of the times when we asked her.
*because she was dry when I checked on her during non-nap and said she needed to go. (but when I carried her down to the potty, she went in the pull-up)
*because she REALLY wants the Pez candy from the Hello Kitty dispenser.
*because the girl will sit on the potty for 45 minutes!
*because we survived the day without giving up.

Now, Day 2 and church...