This has been a pretty crazy weekend. (It’s about 1:30 on Sunday night, or Monday morning. Does that still count as weekend?)
I’ve had this wild fantasy that Phoebe might be out of diapers by the time the new kid arrives. And as is the usual way, time has been running away from me. Less than 7 weeks left till my due date…
I’ve hoped to find some time to really work with her, but John and I have both been so busy with work, and travelling so much, we haven’t seen much of a window in our calendars. But this weekend looked like a window. 3 days in a row with no travel, no outside commitments. And what better way to spend the Fourth of July! So I decided we needed to dive in with the potty training. (Ooh, bad imagery.) Of course, I hadn’t really planned on this also being a weekend of a big work crunch. Let’s just say that after 3 straight days of intensive potty training and 3 straight late nights of document editing and formatting, I’m pretty beat.
But look! We made a chart! And I’ve realized that the stickers don’t just motivate Phoebe, they encourage me. This chart represents a whole lot of work, but also, a whole lot of progress.¹
Also, Phoebe seems to have developed some pretty amazing manual dexterity and fine motor skills. One of her favorite activities now is folding paper. We have a pile of thin strips of paper that came as packaging for something, and I folded a few accordion-style while Phoebe played with toys. (Because I’m fidgety.) She is now able to fold them too, and quite quickly and well. And she loves to. It’s been one of things to keep her occupied while spending time on the potty. (And there has been a lot of time on the potty.) Now, can anyone suggest a market for accordion-folded quarter inch wide paper strips? We could start a one-toddler sweatshop.
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¹Maybe this is what I need for my degree requirements. Read an article, and get a smiley face sticker. Design an experiment, and get a puffy Hello Kitty sticker!²
² Funny to find myself using footnotes. Footnotes have been a major pain in the ass for formatting this proposal I’ve been helping with. Also images and their captions. Word really sucks, you know?
collecting tokens 
I dread potty training. I have a little while before then, right? :)
It looks like she’s doing well, though. Hooray!
ayup, word sucks the big one. especially for captioning things. the footnotes aren’t so bad, though.
um… there was something else… oh! folded paper – i used to take two paper strips and box fold them back and forth across each other. you wind up with a springy thing. marginally more useful than accordion-folded strips. or perhaps marginally less useful.
Stickers worked with my daughter, not at all with my son. Good going!
I’d cut up an egg carton and glue those on for legs.
It is very good practice for childs. My soon play every day.
Oooooooooo, Hello Kitty! Does Phoebe like/love Hello Kitty? Are you starting to (too), Alejna? ;b
Sounds like one heck of a weekend … but I like the idea of everyone being motivated by stickers.
On a side note: it’s very likely that Phoebe will suddenly find herself incapable of using the potty once the new kid comes. Most kids, I think, regress to trying to be a baby once a tiny new sibling arrives …
She could learn to make paper stars with long strips of paper folded into a five-sided shape then pressing in with her fingernails on each side.
Or any other origami.
Lol, anyway it’s awesome that she’s making things with her hands instead of sitting around watching TV all the time.
The stickers worked for our daughter, but not our son. With him, we just kept tlling him that on a certain date, he was going to “be a big boy” and he wouldn’t be allowed to use a diaper after then. He woke up on that day, said that he was a big boy now and the deed was done.
I don’t think it is supposed to be that easy, but it just was for him. More of a struggle with our daughter, but the stickers put her over the top.
dragonfly-
Yes, it is to be dreaded. I think that’s why so many wait these days.
laloca-
Word sucks royally. The images kept moving around with every minor reformatting. The trouble with footnotes came more from trying to condense something with a page limit. I’d cut out big chunks of text, but still not reduce the total length of the paper because the formatting would get hung up on the footnotes…
I’ve made those springy things, too. Maybe we’ll move on to those. You think there’s a market out there?
De-
I will take your craft suggestion under advisement. But we’re going to need a lot of egg cartons….
progledaj1-
Practice is good. Also playing.
YTSL-
I think Phoebe is getting to like Hello Kitty. As far as character merchandise goes, I’m definitely in favor of Sanrio stuff. Especially over the princessy alternatives. (Phoebe now has some Hello Kitty underwear, too.)
mimi-
Yes, I’ve heard of the regression stuff, too. But I’m hoping that will be a short lived phase, and that having once learned to use the potty, she will go back to it more easily than if we were to start during that time.
Chiya-
Yes, perhaps we will try origami. It may still not be marketable, but at least there’s room for variety. And thanks for dropping by!
morethan-
That’s remarkable about your son. How old was he?
It was just somewhere around 28 mos. He would have battled us if we tried the conventional way and he would still be wearing a diaper…he’s eight!
Even I’m motivated by that chart! It looks highly positive.
I kind of regret doing the whole M&M/pee pee candy thing, since now she will be calling M&M’s pee-candy forever. Which may get embarassing eventually.