2006 DVC Member Cruise - SSMC06 - October 22, 2006 Part 3

[curtdennis]

I agree Curt! Also, I didn't know that you were a veteran. Chris is too. He served in Iraq in the first Gulf War and also in Hungary/Bosnia/Croatia in 1996.

US Army 1984-1993 (Military Police - go figure)
Desert Shield/Storm with an Army POW processing unit.

Proud to say - Proud to serve. (No flag smiley)

 

[alikat99]

Amy, how is Madison doing with the potty training??

Well, she is getting stubborn on me. She now refuses to even sit on the potty, and just goes all over the floor and tells me she's wet. It is SO frustrating. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[alikat99]

US Army 1984-1993 (Military Police - go figure)
Desert Shield/Storm with an Army POW processing unit.

Proud to say - Proud to serve. (No flag smiley)

Chris was in the army from high school through just a couple of years ago. He made it up to Captain, but then went into the IRR. Then, he didn't keep up on his education, so he was processed out. He's happy that he went that far, and he enjoyed serving his country!

 

[Diana Lyn]

With all this "Army" talk, I need to pipe in and say Bruce the Shark was in the Navy's Nuclear Program for 8+ years and served in the first Gulf War too!

Cindy and everyone--the only thing with the Tea you have to be careful of is that it hits you all of a sudden. They go down so smooth, you forget you are drinking alcohol and then---you're sloppy. Trust me--I'm a professional!

Amy--no PT advice here. But some pixie dust. Julia has been watching Emma and chimes in with a round of applause when she's successful. When I give Julia a turn, you'd swear I was beating her she screams so loud.

 

[cgcw]

Well, she is getting stubborn on me. She now refuses to even sit on the potty, and just goes all over the floor and tells me she's wet. It is SO frustrating. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

Well, I've found that potty training is the one thing that kids have total control over us with. It doesn't matter how much we want them to be training, they are definately going to do it on their terms. Is Maddie 2 or 3 now? Old age makes me forget.

Some of the things that I have found/hear work. With Cameron, we gave him a sticker to put on the top of his little potty chair everytime he went. The top was covered with stickers by the time he was done. In fact, we've saved his chair for him so that one day he can have it -- not that he will probably want it, but it's up in the attic.

With other kids, getting 5 stickers and then a special treat works. As in earn 5 and get a sucker or a piece of candy.

With Walker, it was stay dry for x number of days and then we'd make a trip to the toy store to pick out a special small toy.

Other kids are just ready and do it because they are ready.

Good luck

 

[MaryJ]

Well, she is getting stubborn on me. She now refuses to even sit on the potty, and just goes all over the floor and tells me she's wet. It is SO frustrating. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

Amy, I don't really expect you to take this advice, but I thought you could use a laugh. I once had a friend that had triplets. This was what she told us once at our Mothers of Twins Club meeting.

Here's how you potty train your kids. You go to Sam's and buy a box of Dum-dums. Every time they use the potty, you give the kid a Dum-dum. They'll have rotten teeth, but dry pants!!

I just bought my girls fun underwear (Strawberry Shortcake as I recall) and told them "You wouldn't want to pee on Strawberry Shortcake would you?" That seemed to work surprisingly.

 

[Diana Lyn]

In fact, we've saved his chair for him so that one day he can have it -- not that he will probably want it, but it's up in the attic.

You mean you haven't sold it on ebay yet? (sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Emma's deal is she gets to go to dancing school--we have the paper for the summer workshops in the bathroom and it says right on the paper Emma needs to go potty in order to go to dancing school. Every time she sees it, she "reads" it. OK, it doesn't really say that, but she thinks it does, and it's working. What's a little white lie if it works?

Another thing I did, and Bruce is mad at me about it, but again, it's working---she's in love with Thomas the Train. So we were in the store and she asked for Thomas big girl panties. Uh--those are boy undies Em. Bruce was dead set against me getting them. I went home and thought and thought and thought. Yup--my little princess has little boys undies. She doesn't know they are just for boys and she really doesn't want to wet Thomas, so hey--whatever works at this point right?

 

[alikat99]

Thanks guys! I think that she just isn't ready to let go of her diapers. I've tried the "you don't want to get wet on xxxxx", she doesn't care. I've tried getting her to sit on the potty every 15 minutes, but she just holds it and then goes when she gets up. Now, sometimes, she wants to sit on the potty, but then she just gets up and goes in her panties a few minutes after she gets up. We've taken a little break and I'll try again in a week or two. She's only 2, so I'm not too concerned. However, she is a very headstrong little girl, so I know that I can't force her. But, she wants to go to "big girl school", so that's part of the motivation.

I know that she'll get it eventually, but you're right, Cindy, it's one thing that we can't "make" them do. Heck, when we were training Emily, she held it for 8 hours because she refused to go on the potty.

 

[rsschneck]

DH was in the first Gulf War too! He was a SGT. with the 82nd airborne division. He was a 13 Fox with the infintry unit. Basically he called for fire. Got out in the Fall of 1991 and never looked back. Got enough money from his GI bill to put himself through College and has been with Intel ever since.

DH's step brother is over in Iraq right now. He was sent over in October. DH's Dad and Granddad both retired from the Navy. Military is a way of life on his side of the family.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! Back to work today

 

[RRBB]

Not to scare you or anything Amy, but I have a friend whose youngest daughter refused to potty train until she was 3 1/2 - close to 4 years old. Boy was my friend frustrated. She tried all kinds of techniques, including following some book that had them locked in the bathroom for a day. (That sounded like torture - for both mother and daughter - to me so I'm not sure I'd even try that one.) On the other hand, my sister had pretty good success with her daughter by offering jelly belly's or some other candy treat when she went in the toilet, along with the incentive of getting to wear princess panties when she could stay clean and dry.

 

[Olaf]

DS was around 2 1/2 years when I started toliet training. I was really fearing it, as so many of my friends had had real issues with their boys. I got one of those dolls that goes potty, and I'd let the doll go potty and then gave the doll some M&M's. I used cotton training pants throughout, none of those pullups (which I think confuse children). I also made DS rinse out his dirty underwear (after I'd taken care of the worst of it). My friends thought I was horrible for doing that, but it worked. I thought it was important for him to realize there was an unpleasant consequence to messing in his pants. It took about a week, and then he was dry, even throughout the night. Before starting this, he'd had dry diapers in the morning and after his naps. I think he was really ready for it.

 

[curtdennis]

Ok ladies,

I admit I'm a chatty guy, heck it makes my day go by faster when I am stuck inside. But I have to draw the line. I just can not bring myself to participate in the PT chat lines. Call me chauvinist, give me all the grief you want (I fully expect no less) but I just CANNOT.

I fully respect and sympathize to all mothers (especially mine) so I do not belittle the task at hand. Call me a typical child free guy
– I don’t do Pooh!!


FIRE AWAY

 

[alikat99]

Thanks for the encouraging words, everyone! I know that this could be a long road, but she does show some signs of being ready. She likes to sit on the potty when Emily goes, so now that Emily's out of school for the summer, I think that I'll start sending Maddie with her to the bathroom.

And Curt, I can totally understand not wanting to partake in the PT discussions!!!

 

[chipscinderelly]

I'm never having children now! LOL

 

[chipscinderelly]

It's wonderful to hear how many of our men served in the military! Diana - does Bruce glow in the dark?

My family is full of vets - both Grandfathers (now deceased) served in WWII and my dad and uncle in Vietnam. Heck had my parents stayed in the military any longer I would have been property of the Army.

 

[cgcw]

I used cotton training pants throughout, none of those pullups (which I think confuse children).

Stephanie has a very good point here and one I forgot about. None of those pull-ups in our house either. It's either do or die (and it's die for the kids if they mess on my carpet ---- ---- seriously, I'd have that experience more times than I can count . But, hey, it happens.

Walker was fully trained before his 2nd birthday. It was at his doing -- he was bound and determined to get it done and get it done right. This was about Christmas time and I thought, what a breeze this is. Being my second child, I thought, he's learning from his older brother.

Then Walker decided that he had enough. He was finished with all that. But then he decided that he wasn't wearing diapers anymore -- just pull ups. Big, big mistake. That lasted for another 15 months or so until a year later, springtime came. I had enough by that point. I knew he was totally ready so I counted down with him the number of pull ups remaining and told him we were not allowed to buy any more (see, Diana, another one of those Mom white lies ) because he was already 3. It took just a couple of days that time.

I've had parents who have taken their children into the pediatrician and put them through a lot of "doctor exams" when they refused to go on the potty. IMO, the child was just not ready. I'd personally much rather be changing diapers at 3-4 than to tramatize a child going through that.

Robin, I think that lock in the bathroom technique is terrible. Please think really hard before you try something like that on Ian. There are so many better ways to go about this. Imagine the stress involved with both the child and mother in that case.




Come on, Curt, you have to have something you can contribute. Would you rather we talk about puberty.

Julie, just think, by the time you and Matt have a baby and are even considering potty training, Amy & Diana will be experts and helping you through the steps.

 

[cgcw]

My family is full of vets - both Grandfathers (now deceased) served in WWII and my dad and uncle in Vietnam.

Julie, now I feel really older than my 29 years. My brother and brother-in-law were both in Vietnam. I remember going to visit my brother at boot camp before he was shipped out.

My Dad was in WWII. I know that my grandmother send him flower seeds that he scattered around the islands where they landed. In fact, I was named after the plane my Dad flew on during the war -- the Cynnie Ann. From what he told us, their plane was the only one from their group which returned with its entire crew. He always said if he had a daughter, she would be named after the plane. How I got the name being the third daughter, I don't have a clue. I guess he kept working at it until my Mom finally gave in and named me after the plane.

When my Mom & Dad were married, my Mom got onto a train in Chicago to meet my Dad in Charleston, SC. Going down, there were 4 soldiers also heading down that boarded the train. Between them, they had a bet that one of the soldiers won and his "prize" was sit with to the prettiest woman on the train -- which my Mom always said was her. So, the soldier sits next to my Mom - his name was Bob. They traveled down south and most of the trip, Bob tried to talk my Mom out of marrying my Dad. Finally, my Mom told him that she had a single sister back in Chicago and gave the man her name and address. Things were so different back then. When Bob returned to Chicago, he went to see my Aunt. They ended up getting married and raising a family of their own. I've always loved that story.

 

[alikat99]

Stephanie has a very good point here and one I forgot about. None of those pull-ups in our house either. It's either do or die (and it's die for the kids if they mess on my carpet ---- ---- seriously, I'd have that experience more times than I can count . But, hey, it happens.

Walker was fully trained before his 2nd birthday. It was at his doing -- he was bound and determined to get it done and get it done right. This was about Christmas time and I thought, what a breeze this is. Being my second child, I thought, he's learning from his older brother.

Then Walker decided that he had enough. He was finished with all that. But then he decided that he wasn't wearing diapers anymore -- just pull ups. Big, big mistake. That lasted for another 15 months or so until a year later, springtime came. I had enough by that point. I knew he was totally ready so I counted down with him the number of pull ups remaining and told him we were not allowed to buy any more (see, Diana, another one of those Mom white lies ) because he was already 3. It took just a couple of days that time.

I've had parents who have taken their children into the pediatrician and put them through a lot of "doctor exams" when they refused to go on the potty. IMO, the child was just not ready. I'd personally much rather be changing diapers at 3-4 than to tramatize a child going through that.

Robin, I think that lock in the bathroom technique is terrible. Please think really hard before you try something like that on Ian. There are so many better ways to go about this. Imagine the stress involved with both the child and mother in that case.




Come on, Curt, you have to have something you can contribute. Would you rather we talk about puberty.

Julie, just think, by the time you and Matt have a baby and are even considering potty training, Amy & Diana will be experts and helping you through the steps.

Yeah, same thing for us, we don't do pull-ups at all. I just go straight to panties. Now, with Emily, when we knew that we were going out, and she was still having accidents, we just put those cotton lined plastic pants on her, to at least control the "mess". It worked well.

I know that Madison is just exercising her right to NOT do it, and that's ok. I'm just going to keep on her, and eventually, she'll get it.

 

[RRBB]

Robin, I think that lock in the bathroom technique is terrible. Please think really hard before you try something like that on Ian. There are so many better ways to go about this. Imagine the stress involved with both the child and mother in that case.

Don't worry, it's not on my list of options. As I said before, it sounds like pure torture for everyone. I figure if you have to go through something like that then the child just isn't ready yet. (And from my friend's experience it didn't work anyway.)

Ian's only 18 months old - well next week - so I don't anticipate even starting PT for quite a while. Luckily the school where Ian's going in the fall (and for camp starting next week) doesn't have PT as a requirement to attend. I'm not sure if they have expectations by a certain age, but for toddlers diapers are a given.

 

[cgcw]

I know that Madison is just exercising her right to NOT do it, and that's ok. I'm just going to keep on her, and eventually, she'll get it.

Just ask any kindergarten teacher. None of the kids in their classes still wear diapers. Eventually, most kids get the hang of it. Good luck!