Potty Training

We have been super busy around here with things.

I thought I'd take the time to post about our potty training plan though.

For starters, we bought a potty for N when she was younger than 12 months to get her used to it. I would occasionally let her sit on it when I was going. She was very proud of herself. She even peed a couple times. I went back and forth with myself on whether to really put effort in as we got closer to my due date with little E. N was about 16-18 months old, we were moving, and I'd read about regressions so I didn't push too hard. Although, I would've loved to be at least partially done with diapers at the time. Well, now she is 25 months. She had made some progress with our very relaxed, keep the potty in the living room, and give her a little candy if she decided to go on her own method. She did regress shortly after E's birth as I expected so I'm actually glad I didn't overdo it.

At this point, she is done with diapers, apparently. For one, she prefers to be nude 24/7. It's nearly impossible to keep her in a diaper or pull up at nap time let alone during the day. She also started calling them "baby pants" or "E's pants" and pretty much outright refuses to voluntarily lie down for a change as she has for the longest time. Oh no, she wants to be a little nudist.

For two, she has started very clearly letting me know when she thinks she needs to go. It doesn't matter if it's #1 or #2 she has shown a lot of awareness and will at least try to get the diaper/pants/underwear/dress up skirt off before she needs to go.

For three, she can communicate. She knows what the potty is and what it is for. She knows that she has a potty chair in the main area and a ring for the big toilet in the bathroom. She knows how to pull the little bucket out of the chair and dump it in the big potty. She knows how to remove and replace the potty ring on it's little hook at the side of the big toilet. She knows to go, wipe, flush, then wash her hands. I still help her a lot on all these points. We have a little stool for her but it is too small so she still needs help getting to the sink. Besides, she'd sit there and play in the water all day if I allowed her to do it all alone anyway.

So, with all of this. It's obviously about that time. Time to potty train. Since when do I have a toddler anyways?

I did a "Test run" several days ago to see how she'd do with a reward system. Um, awesome. Stickers for sitting on the potty and a big prize (a little thing of sparkly nail polish) for going potty and staying dry for a day.

This is going to be my system. I made up a chart. We'll buy stickers and pullups (for nap and bed, she'll wear them if there are princess on them . . .diva) tomorrow. For every time in a day she goes she gets to put a sticker up on her chart. For every FULL day she does well (day does not include nap or night time) she gets a coloring page! Amazing how very easily excited 2 year olds are by coloring. For this part I've printed several pages following a potty theme. (I'll share some of them via the links at the end) THEN, for every 7 days (or a week, but not necessarily consecutive) she goes to the potty and stays dry she gets a "big prize". I have 7 weeks on the chart with a variety of "big prizes" that steadily get more "valuable". Week 1 is new nail polish. Week 2 is a coloring book (yay dollar store!). Week 3 is a book (the potty book). Week 4 is NEW underwear she can pick out herself. Week 5 is a trip to get frozen yogurt. Week 6 is a trip to Chick-fil-a to eat and play. Week 7 we'll make a big cookie and go to build a bear (not something I'd normally go for BUT we have gift cards all ready) and she will get a "BIG GIRL" certificate which I will make up and print out. 

This may sound over the top to some but I don't care. In my head, I will be celebrating so much that I want to throw a party for the universe.

So there you have it. That's my plan.

We'll see how it goes. In 2 weeks I have finals. In 7-8 weeks we'll be doing a lot of traveling.

*fingers crossed*

Here's those pages I printed:

Blue's Clues
Hand washing
Toilet paper
Pull Ups
Baby on the Potty

P.S. Parent Bonus: You can keep the little chart, the coloring pages, and put it together with some pictures of your toddler on the potty to make a little booklet. PERFECT for embarrassing them later. Show off your kiddo's skills to all their hot dates!

Toddler Activities

I've been searching all over for ideas to keep my toddler occupied. Color wonder and puzzles are life savers. My toddler loves them. But, this spring and summer I want to be out of the house or outdoors as much as possible. Here is what I've found:


The Splash Park in Rogers (near the recreation center)

The Park on Horsebarn Road (Rogers) -- this is our favorite park all ready 

Crystal Bridges - Art Days (supposed to be offered starting in April)

Storytime at a local library (Rogers, Bentonville, Springdale, Fayetteville) -- Check their websites or calendars for details

I've been looking for a not-too-expensive class to enroll my almost-2-year-old in but it look like anything worthwhile will have to wait until she is 3 or 4. All of the above are FREE.

iPad. Yes Ma'am.

Love. I use it for my online classes(everything from writing assignments to reading etextbooks), sharing on facebook and twitter, teaching and entertaining the toddler, and even getting the baby to sleep with white noise app.

Here is a master list of my FAVORITE free Apps for iPad!

Education
Coursesmart
Kno
Flashcards
LS2 Mobile
Dropbox
Evernote
Idea Sketch
Dictionary.com
Blackboard Mobile Learn

Social & Entertainment
Netflix
HuluPlus
Pandora
Kindle
Facebook
Twitter
Skype
Groupon
Epicurious
StumbleUpon

Toddlers and Kids
Fisher Price Animal Sounds
Fisher Price Shapes and Colors
Fisher Price Where's Puppy's Nose
Fisher Price Let's Count
Toy Story
PBS Kids
DUPLO Jams
Art of Glow
Splatter
Play123
Elmo ABCs Lite
Talking Tom
NatureTap
Seek & Find
MusicSparkle
Candy Train
See Touch Learn

Kicking Postpartum Depression in the B-U-T-T

I have Postpartum Depression.

This is not my weakness. It is my challenge.

And, I will overcome it.

What is it?

SAHM + College + iPad?

OK, I remember being in elementary and middle school. I wasn't allowed to use a pen until highschool for the most part. Pencils. I like pencils.

But things are seriously changing.

After looking at all my options I'm going (primarily) the etextbook route this semester. My macbook needs several upgrades that are more than I can afford right now so I'm also getting an iPad.

I did MUCHOS research for my classes, future courses, and what other tools I could use or would need to see how cost sensible this was. Basically, hardbacks from the bookstore would've been 800ish depending on if I could get them used or new (closer to 900 new). So. Wrong. Through some finagling on half.com it was going to be down to 600. I decided to look into the ereader route to see if I couldn't save a penny and make my life easier (keeping up with books, notebooks, and pens, and other crap with the toddler . . . ohlawd). I found out pretty fast that nookstudy, which is what my school's bookstore offers the etextbooks through, does NOT even work on the freakin' nook! What??

So, I love Mac anyway and decided to google the possibilities with the iPad. Initially, it was all very contrary. Slowly I found a couple links and blogs with great information. Basically, the whole ereader for college thing is still a work in progress but this semester all but one of my classes has the etextbooks available. Each of the programs I found allows you to use an iPad, PC, or a regular Mac. Perfect!!

So now, with one hardback, one paperback, and 5 etextbooks (6 month "rental") my cost is down to just under 400!

Now some say the iPad is pricey sure. Right now I'm kind of bummed just because I know the iPad 3 is on it's way and I can't wait for it or for the lower prices on the iPad 2 since it may not come out until just before my midterms. Oh well. The total cost to repair my Macbook Pro is something like 800 dollars right now. I had relinquished myself to getting a basic, cheap, but decent PC notebook (ewwie ewwie ewwww) and I was going to end up spending around 600 for that plus money for a new printer plus some other software I needed for the Windows computer to meet my needs.


Then I found all of this:

Kno

Coursesmart

Amazon/Kindle for iPad

Pages

Things

Articles

iHomework

Flashcards


List of FREE Apps

So, literally, I've eliminated half the crap I bought my freshman year.

I'm not the typical student. I'm taking online classes and I'm a SAHM (stay at home mom). 

iPad = textbooks, flashcards, notebooks, pens, highlighters, research (via newspapers, articles, or the web), calendar, planner, organizer, alarm/reminders, sticky notes, calculator, dictionary, blackboard

Not to mention the non-school stuff . . . social networking, blogging, games and entertainment for me. learning games and entertainment for the toddler, a cookbook, workout planner, ebay, news, music, misc. reading . . .

All in one spot?? I'll take it.


Really, the only downside for me is being able to have all my pictures to update, edit, share, and store all in one place. Oh wait! They have adobe photoshop express, shutterfly for ipad, photobucket for ipad, and dropbox. It's not perfect using my husband's PC desktop but once we get a Mac desktop (the plan!) and my macbook pro is fixed up I will be workin' it for REALZ.

In the end, I think I'd rather spend the 800+ on the ipad, ebooks, and a few greats apps and accessories (they keyboard and smart cover, anyone?) instead of a load of giant textbooks and a slew of supplies from walmart!

It definitely can't hurt to try it.