Potty Time!!

So, those of you who know me well know that my daughter, Emma, is not yet potty trained. She will be four years old on September 20. My oldest daughter, Hannah, was potty trained soon after she turned two and it was so easy! Well, all children are different, and Emma has not been so easy! We started "introducing" her to the potty when she turned two. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. She was perfectly content in diapers and was not even willing to entertain the idea that she would go pee pee in the potty. So, we determined that she "wasn't ready" and decided to wait and try again later. Well, we have tried, and tried, and tried and her position has not changed....until NOW!

Up until now we have tried every trick in the book. I took her to the store and let her pick out her own underwear (she chose Minnie Mouse and Ni Hao Kai Lan). That didn't work. We offered her M&Ms (this came highly recommended by many parents). That didn't work. I took her to the toy store and let her pick out anything she wanted. She chose a baby doll with all the accessories. I took it home and put it in the window sill across from the toilet and told her once she was going potty in the toilet, she could have the baby doll. Well, after 3 or 4 days she declared that she didn't want the baby doll anymore. Most recently, I have tried to use activities to coerce her into submission. She is starting preschool at the end of the month, wants to take dance, and will be going into Cubbies at church. The caregivers at all of these places will expect her to be potty trained and may not accept her if she's not. Well, she reasoned that she would just stay with Nana at Little Sprouts, didn't want to take dance anymore, and could stay in Puggles.

I could go on and on about the issues we've had around potty training (and some of you have heard me do so), but to make a long story short....we have finally had success!!!

Since she is starting preschool this month, I decided to take a few days off work and stay home with her for one last ditch effort. I determined that there would be NO MORE DIAPERS. She has to know that they are no longer an option. If she has an accident, she can change her clothes and clean up the mess. Yesterday was the beginning of the "potty training boot camp" and Emma did great!!! The morning was rough. She cried A LOT and fought tooth and nail to keep a diaper on and did NOT want to sit on the potty. I made up stories, sang songs, even painted her toe nails to keep her occupied. I have thought for a long time that if she could just experience going pee pee in the potty one time, that would be a real breakthrough and it would be much easier after that.  Well, FINALLY, it happened!  It wasn't a pleasant experience for either of us, but she did pee pee in the potty.  We made a huge deal of it, there were lots of hugs and kisses, and calls to Daddy and Nana, but she was very upset.  I truely believe that she was mad at herself for giving in.  However, since then she has had a lot better attitude.  There have been a couple of accidents, but there have been no diapers (even when we went out) and accidents have been few and fairly minor.  I've got three more days to work with her and I hope and pray that she will be fully potty trained very soon!

Beach Vacation!!

We just got back from the beach and we had a fantastic time!!! We stayed at Dunes Village Resort at Myrtle Beach. It is AWESOME!!!! They have 2 towers, newly renovated, each with an indoor water park! One is for smaller children and has a lazy river, 2 water slides, 3 hot tubs, a 3 ft pool with basketball goal, and a wading area with things that shoot and drop water. The other one is for older kids/teens and has 2 adult water slides, a lap pool, 3 hot tubs, and a 3 ft pool with basketball goal. There are 2 outdoor pools, an outdoor lazy river and an outdoor hot tub. So much to do and it's all spread out and easily accessible. It is perfect for families! They don't close the indoor water parks unless there is severe lightening. The rooms are really great, too. We had a 2 BR angle ocean view. The master bedroom has a king bed and a jacuzzi tub. I could go on and on....def worth it! I highly recommend it! Oh...and they also have cabanas that you can rent for $50 a day that have 2 lounge chairs, an ice chest, a ceiling fan with remote, and a TV/DVD combo with cable. PERFECT if you have a playpen or little ones that need naps or breaks from the heat.

View from our balcony

Hannah in the Lazy River

Even the grown-ups enjoyed the water slides!

  

 

 

The kiddie area was very popular on our last day! 

Um.......

 

Pa and Nana

We didn't spend a lot of time on the beach.  Peter LOVED it, but Emma wouldn't stay for more than 5 minutes and after the first time she wouldn't go back at all.  She didn't like the waves.  The ocean was a little wilder than usual due to Tropical Storm Emily swirling out there somewhere. 



Mid-afternoon each day we would head inside to shower and get ready to go out for dinner. 

On Wednesday night, we decided to go to Medeival Times.  It was an interesting experience (you can read more about it on my dad's blog).  We were served a four course meal (with no silverware) while we cheered for the blue knight!

We also spent time just hanging out in the room playing games and watching movies.  I tried to get everyone excited about Mexican Train, but I was not successful.

All in all, it was a GREAT week and I can't wait to go again next year!!!