Progress...

I don't know how to really describe this last week...the words that come to mind include:  painful, torture, unbearable, crazy and/or frustrating (well for the first 2-3 days of the potty training).  Potty training is probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do as a parent.  Little Miss Alli J. pushed my buttons to the limit and let's be honest here, patience really isn't my forte at times :).  Brian was gone so it was just me on my own doing this fun thing, so I would suggest having the daddy around to vent to and share in the torture :)  I almost cried a few times because it was so overwhelming, but in the end it was worth it!

We (and I say we because it feels like I was potty training myself too) are now successfully potty or "pee pee" trained.  After the first 2 days Alli started staying dry and telling me she needed to go to the potty. We started this whole process on Wednesday the 25th and by the 28th she was definitely staying dry-minus one accident while she was playing with some friends and got distracted(sorry Hunter's). Just yesterday we went out for most of the day-no accidents-and she told me when she needed to go to the bathroom.  It is AWESOME!  The other side is that she is afraid to go #2 still.  She waits until nap time and bedtime to do her business-she will often say she needs to go, but then just toots on the toilet:).  We put a pullup on her at those times because she has never woken up dry and she is a very deep sleeper (and I can't give up her 2-3 hr. naps right now).  We just change her after 10-15 minutes of putting her down and she says "Uh oh I poopy."     So, we will continue to work on that.  


I am very proud of Alli-I honestly didn't know if we were going to make it there for awhile, but she is a trooper!  I guess parenting is about trial and error and of course success too!  Here are a few pics of our adventures...

I wasn't going to do the little potty chair thing, but it made her feel safe on the toilet.  She didn't like it in the room, but preferred it in the bathroom so we just put the seat on the toilet and she has handles to hold on to.  When we are out and about she has not complained about not having her potty seat, we just set her up on the toilet and hold her there and she is fine with that.  At home though, she prefers her little seat and steps.

This was definitely not all smiles, but at times there was light at the end of the tunnel...
 

Day one...showing her the new panties that were going to take place of her beloved diaper...she obviously didn't know what they were:)


 

Alli is was not quite sure about the actual peeing in the toilet-it took quite a few pretend tries to get this one right

 We painted our toes together while we were in between accidents and or running to the bathroom

We also had to have some dress up time

Alli loves to wear Brian's gloves all the time-even when she eats-and yes she still loves baby food-I don't know why, but she does.

This whole process was not the best, but the results are worth it.  I really didn't think it was going to click with Alli and I had a fear that we would not be getting out of diapers anytime soon.  After reading and researching, every potty training experience is different for every child and there is no right or wrong way to go about doing it.  If they want to do it, they will, if they don't, they won't.  That's what I learned.  So we shall see what happens with the #2 situation and maybe one day Alli will surprise me again and just do it! Keep your fingers crossed! 

 Thanks Kristen for your ideas and words of encouragement:)

And finally here is our new little one at 29 weeks.  In all of the pictures that we tried to get she was sucking on her fingers or had her hands by her face.  It is always fun to see them from this perspective because all you feel is the strong kicks in places that don't always feel the best:)  Things are going well so far although I am definitely feeling very large and pregnant now.  This pregnancy is different in that I am feeling a lot more pressure in places that I didn't know I could ;) I have a feeling she is going to be bigger than Alli-my weight gain is going quite nicely(I really need to stop my sweet tooth)!   We are excited to meet her in person although I am so not ready to be a mother of 2!